May 2017

Brilliant Club 2015/2016 Update

As this year’s cohort of Brilliant Club members prepares to head off to

Bristol University for their Graduation trip, one member of last year’s

cohort has even more to celebrate.

Every year The Scholar’s Programme who run the Brilliant Club scheme

publish a magazine in which they include a small selection of the

assignments completed by students from across the country. As a

mark of the high standard of the work she completed, one of our

students, Alyssa Khan (year 11), has been included in this year’s

publication. Her assignment considers whether activities increase

satisfaction and happiness in adolescents and she was highly praised

by her mentor for her commitment throughout the programme.

Congratulations Alyssa.

DEAR PARENTS/CARERS

What are you reading at the moment? A thriller? Short stories? Biography? What

made you choose it and would you recommend it? These questions are buzzing

around the academy as all of Year 7 (and Year 8 from September) are involved in

DEAR (Drop Every And Read) where the students and staff literally put everything

else to one side and enjoy reading. Not surprisingly it’s proving to be incredibly

popular and making a difference to reading skills. Students have recommended books

to staff and vice versa.

Best wishes for a happy half-term.

DRAMA DEPARTMENT THEATRE VISIT On Thursday 4th May students from Years 9, 10 and 11 visited the Tacchi-Morris

Arts Centre, Taunton to watch Exeter based Theatre Company, Le Navet Bete’s

production Dracula, the Bloody Truth.

The name Le Navet Bete (when literally translated it means “stupid turnips”) brought the perfect amount of mirth to this

treasured fable. The company, which specialises in physical theatre, coupled ghoulish goings on with plenty of japing and an

affectionate sending up of the classic horror genre.

Performed by an exceptional quartet (Nick Bunt, Dan Bianchi, Matt Freeman and Al Dunn), who all portray a myriad of colourful

characters, the story was conveyed partly as a series of memory monologues and partly through a deliberately nonsensical set

of theatrical scenes.

Set beneath a crumbing proscenium arch, students witnessed some sensational slapstick, frantic costume changes and airborne

props, all strung together with clever dialogue and hilarious wordplay. A particular favourite of ours was the revolting sick in a

bag routine. Brilliant! We cringed every time the actors stood near it.

The trip was a GREAT success thanks to the exemplary behaviour of students and fantastic support from parents. Students even

managed to get a photo with one of the actors after the show. Thank you

Mrs Willson

Headteacher Deputy Head Deputy Head Assistant Head Assistant Head Assistant Head Business Manager

Mrs Browncey

Alumni Survey

Are you an alumni of Bucklers Mead Academy? Do you have a success story that could help

inspire our current students and celebrate your success? If so, we would love for you to

participate in our 60th celebrations and our ‘inspire’ program. Please either complete our short

survey by following the link on our web page, www.bucklersmead.com or by contacting us by

email, to office@bucklersmeadacademy.com with Alumni Survey in the subject box.

Buckler’s Mead to receive £700,000 for

school building improvement work

The Academy has secured Capital Improvement

grants from the Government. Buckler’s Mead is the

only Somerset school to have been awarded funding

for two premises projects this year. The Academy has

been awarded the Conditions Improvement Fund

grant to replace the Science block roof, as well as

replacement boilers in the Maths, Humanities and

Science blocks.

Our Academy, which was the most improved school

in Somerset, Devon, Dorset and Wiltshire has got

some of the best facilities in South Somerset after

over £3.25 million of improvements in recent years.

We are delighted to receive another large lump sum

of funding from the Government which will be used

to improve the site further. We continue to target

every bit of money in the right places, to help make

our Academy even better for our students. We

already have a fantastic site and we are thrilled to

receive this additional grant.

PRIDE Club

PRIDE club has begun for our LGBTQ students plus

their friends. We had a great first session, ably supported

by Lisa Snowdon-Carr from the organisation '2BU', Miss

Cunningham and Ms Kennedy. Ms Kennedy commented,'

I felt privileged to be in the same room as these fantastic

students.' Students were asked to share five ideas they

wished other people knew which generated lots of

positive discussion. Miss Cunningham will continue the

group in LSB 2 (the blue hut behind art) every Monday

after school and all are welcome.

Forest school

We are very lucky at BMA to have a Forest School

on site which is managed by

our own fully qualified Leader.

Now in its second year, students

have had the benefit of

working outside (wind and rain

included!) and witness the

amazing changes that occur in

our woodland at the turn of

each new season. 30 students

across all of the year groups

currently access weekly Forest School sessions, and

this year their experiences have improved their skill

sets, enabling them to challenge themselves

further. Fire lighting has been amongst our more

popular challenge with every student achieving

BMA level 1 fire lighting award and some achieving

BMA level 2 fire lighting award. The students are

taught to respect fire and fully understand how it

works, giving them an excellent understanding of

the fire triangle and the range of tinder, kindling

and fuel required to experience success. The

hammock is another popular piece of equipment

and knot tying improves as a necessity when

trusting yourself to swing

in it. Many creations

have been made using

only woodland materials

(and occasionally a bit

of clay!) from stickmen to

reindeer at Christmas.

Many students have also

enjoyed the chance of cooking on a camp fire.

Pancakes are a huge hit, along with peppers

stuffed with couscous and cheese, roasted in the

hot coals and chocolate brownies baked inside an

orange plus of course bananas stuffed with

chocolate buttons!

Mrs Witham

Miss Wadham

Mr Wood- Business Manager

The Flying Start Challenge 2017

A small team of students (Chris Lintern, Liam Parry, Ryan Collins)

took part in the Regional Heat of the Flying Start Challenge. The

Competition consisted of the Glider Fly Off followed by a quiz and

other engineering tasks. Our team worked very well together,

completing the quiz in a quicker time than the Graduates at

Leonardo took to complete the same task. Our Glider performed

well and we came top in the Regional Finals, making us one of the

10 teams (out of approximately 160 teams who started the

competition) to compete in the Final at the Fleet Air Arm Museum,

Yeovilton.

The Final consisted of engineering challenges, lectures, quiz, presentation of the team and glider to the

judges and finally the Fly Off and the team had a great day. They all gave a very professional talk to the

judges on the Glider and its construction method.

The Final Fly Off took place on the Carrier Experience Flight Deck.

Chris Lintern was called up first, and made an outstanding throw,

setting the bar very high. The crowd gasped as the glider seemed

to hang in the air before colliding with a Blackburn Buccaneer

further down the flight deck, cutting the flight short. The other

contestants flew their gliders with only one (more of a projectile

than a glider) just edging ahead of ours.

We came second in the Glider Fly Off which we felt was a good

result. All the students received a trophy plus a radio controlled

helicopter from Leonardo as their prize for winning the Regional Heat and doing so well in the Final. After

the prize giving the head judge offered our team real glider flights as he was so impressed with their

presentation and the performance of the glider. A great day and a fantastic result for all their hard work!

A week later the team visited Leonardo Helicopters to see the Merlin and Wildcat Helicopters being built

and test flown. We all went in Norway One, the Norwegian Coastguard Search and Rescue Helicopter.

Everyone had a go at the multi-million pound Flight Simulator for the Wildcat. All the students did very well

but Mr Tofts crashed while trying to land (must check the airspeed in future).

We are all now looking forward to next year’s competition.

United Kingdom Mathematics Trust - Maths

Challenge

Earlier this year a selection of students participated in the UK Maths

Challenges. These are charity events designed to encourage and

develop mathematical skills. Students performed well as a whole,

and some achieved results which gained them bronze and silver

certificates!

Junior (Years 7-8):

Hannah Beedle 7IH - Bronze

Taylor Steels 7IH - Bronze

Stacey Gavin 8DSM - Bronze

Jack Mills 8DSM - Silver

Kushal Magar 8CC - Silver

Ellis Greenslade 8LT - Silver

Intermediate (Years 9-10):

Hayden Perry 10DHU - Bronze

Jessica Beedle 10RB - Bronze

Finn Ementon 10GC - Bronze

Sam Pollard 10DHU - Bronze

Jak Howes 10GC - Bronze

Well done to everyone that took part!

Mr Norris

Year 11 Art GCSE Exam Work

In Art the themes explored were Detail,

Shelter, Surroundings and Out of Place.

For more GCSE Artwork from Year 11

please look at the school website. Mrs Williams

Mr Tofts

Welcome to the Aspens App!

Want to know what’s on the menu at school today, tomorrow or next week? The Aspens App has

been developed for students and parents to check what’s on offer with just a couple of presses on

your smartphone. It’s simple – install the App from the App Store or Google Play, add the unique

Buckler’s Mead Academy PIN and you will be able to view the current menu and any offers

available.

The PIN for Buckler’s Mead Academy is: 61180154

This will make it so much easier for planning and make sure those favourite

meals aren’t missed! You can also:

Click directly to Aspens website to read more about the catering

facilities and Aspens as a provider.

Ask any questions relating to our menus and the food on offer.

Ask questions regarding school meal payments and the potential for free school meals.

Provide feedback about the meals so that we are able to maintain the high standards that

we continually strive for.

Find out more about Aspens Services, upcoming promotions, our approach and

commitment to healthy eating, quality and the environment.

At Aspens we want to be able to communicate in the most effective way, making sure you have

the latest information about our school meals and current promotions at any time.

Aspens Website

Each school also has a unique page on our website with a direct link to a pdf of the menu to be

viewed and printed if desired. It also has the school’s unique reference for downloading the Aspens

App. Follow the link to our page from your school’s website.

We appreciate your co-operation with this change and look forward to sharing our menus in a

timely manner. If you have any questions, please do get in touch and we’ll do all that we can to

help.

E: apps@aspens-services.com

Safeguarding

Buckler’s Mead Academy now have access to a new feature in 'Connect' which will allow students to raise

concerns directly to a member of staff without the need to initially discuss the issue face to face. The 'report

issue' icon should be used to highlight to staff concerns such as bullying. The concern raised will be sent to

an appropriate member of staff to deal with.

Please remember the Buckler’s Mead Academy safeguarding website is full of information about a range

of topics such as staying safe online. The website is being constantly updated so please have a look for

support and guidance.

Mr Mattocks

Important Dates

Monday 5 June – Return to school after half-term

Thursday 22 June – Year 11 Prom

Thursday 29 June – Year 7 Parents Evening

Tuesday 4 and Wednesday 5 July – Year 10 Yeovil

College Taster Days

Wednesday 5 July – Year 6 induction day

Thursday 6 and Friday 7 July – Year 8 Aim Higher Yeovil

College Taster Days

Thursday 13 July – Sports Day

Wednesday 19 July – Sports Awards Evening 7pm – 9pm

Friday 21 July – Last day of term for students

Monday 24 July – Inset Day