Edition 14: Friday 15th December 2017 Droylsden Academy is

Great learning through politeness, honesty and hard work

Newsflash Edition 14: Friday 15th December 2017

Droylsden Academy is a good school (OFSTED September 2017)

The ‘Big 3’ Assemblies

Congratulations to students across all year groups who were acknowledged and rewarded for

progress, attainment and attendance during this week’s assemblies. Congratulations, in particular,

to the following students who were nominated across all three categories:

Year 7: Olivia Green, Joseph Herod, Abraham Joel, Samya Masur, Rosie McCormick, Wiktoria

Mecinska and Hafsa Waziri.

Year 8: Adam Ali-Brown, Hannah Davies, Zainab Ibraheem, Alex Leornard-Walker, Hollie McGuire,

Lily Mckenna, Mia Walker and Natalie Wu.

Year 9: Ellie Craven, Kacey McGowen and Megan Walker.

Year 10: Rachel Derbyshire, Jack Gee, Autumn Holmes, Erin Hume, Sophie Owen, Daniel Shaw, Ryan

Simpson and Imogen Wright.

Year 11: Adnan Alhassan, Djabu Balde, Dorcas Bawah, Kelly Dalton, Abigail Docker, Chloe Howard,

Anisha Joshi, Cassia Myers, Connor Nicholson and Saffron Rutter.

IN THE NEWS THIS WEEK


Christmas is coming…..

The Academy welcomed Senior Citizens living in the local community to a Christmas Party. Our

guests enjoyed a Christmas Dinner, served by our students, and were entertained by some of our

talented performers. We hope that all of our guests enjoyed their evening with us and we would like

to wish them a Happy Christmas and New Year.

We also welcomed Year 5 classes from Fairfield Road

Primary School, St Mary's C of E Primary School,

Manchester Road Primary Academy and Greenside

Primary School who joined us for Christmas Dinner…

…and on Friday, staff and students at the Academy sat

down together and enjoyed a Christmas meal too!

Thank you to Mr Marsh and the Catering Team for all

their hard work.


Grammar Stream Update

Following on from the successful launch of the ‘Grammar Stream’ sessions for the most able, Mr

Connelly delivered an ethics lecture this week on Utilitarianism with students evaluating the ideas of

Bentham, Mill and Kant. The group thrived on the challenge of a university-style seminar and on

analysing significant philosophical ideas. Students involved with ‘DebateMate’ also delivered a

session in which they used persuasive techniques to sell their classmates an everyday object!

The Academy closure on Thursday for students in Years 7, 8 and 9.

Unfortunately, due to flooding inside the Academy building on Wednesday night, we were unable to

use a significant number of classrooms on Thursday. As a result, the Academy had to close for

students in Years 7, 8 and 9. Students in Years 10 and 11 remained in school and attended lessons as

normal.

Hopefully we managed to contact all parents and carers by text, email or phone to explain what had

happened and we would like to apologise for any inconvenience that this unfortunate closure

caused. Students from Years 7, 8 and 9 who were unable to go home remained in school all day as

normal.

Also in the news this week

As Tameside Champions, the Year 7 7-a-Side Football Team play in the Greater Manchester Finals at

the ‘Power Dome’. In a really tough competition, the boys won 1 but narrowly lost 3 of their group

games. Well done to all the boys for winning the Tameside trophy and putting up a great fight in the

regional finals.

Well done to Lewis Yarwood in Year 11 who has won a ‘Play Station

4’ having entered the prize draw at the Tameside College ‘Taster

Day’ where students found out about the courses and qualifications

open to them when they move on to Further Education.

Forms 7D and 9D spend an evening bowling at the ‘Hollywood Bowl’

in Ashton. Thank you to Mr and Mrs Jackson, the Form Tutors, for

organising the event.

Parents and Carers of Year 9 students attend the Year 9 Parent

Teacher Evening. We hope that the parents and carers who

attended found the evening useful and informative.

Year 11 GCSE PE students continue their accredited climbing course

at the Manchester Climbing Centre.


A message from Mr Wilson

Another year, another stunning school production. Once again the audience was blown away by the

sheer professionalism, talent and hard work that was on display this week. We should be so proud of

our students, they were confident, professional and great ambassadors for our school. They

received a well-deserved standing ovation after the finale.

A big thank you to Mr Turnbull, Mr Acton and Mr Wakefield for their technical expertise and to

Debra and Kirsty for their support in ensuring that students were organised and extremely well

prepared.

The time, effort, skill and dedication that Ms Platt, Ms Sherlock, Ms Spacy and Ms Scantlebury have

put into this cannot and must not be underestimated. At one of the busiest times in the school year

they have given so much and this was plain to see in what was a superb production. Thank you on

behalf of our Governors, the staff, our parents and our students.

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST


A message from Mr Stuart Marshall, Headteacher at Mossley Hollins High School

Mr Marshall visited the Academy to watch the production on Thursday night and sent Mr Wilson the

following message after the performance.

“We were simply bowled over by the young performers, especially those who played the lead roles

with such professionalism and skill. The children of Droylsden Academy were simply wonderful.

Please pass on my immense admiration and appreciation. In your closing remarks you mentioned the

building of character and the opportunities such events provide to the young people in this regard,

not only for the performers but for everyone involved in the whole production. How right you are. The

sense of achievement and pride that everyone will feel this morning must be immense and will have

far reaching positive effects across the rest of their learning for a long time to come.”


A message from the Clerk to the Civic Mayor of Tameside

“I write on behalf of the Civic Mayor of Tameside (Councillor Joyce Bowerman) to say a very sincere

thank you for a lovely evening yesterday.

The Civic Mayor and her Consort (Mr Fred Bowerman) had a wonderful time at the school’s

production of “Beauty and the Beast” and they were both so very grateful to everybody involved for

such a fantastic show.

Please pass on the Civic Mayor’s thanks and congratulations to all and also her very best wishes for a

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.”

Congratulations to all the cast and, in particular, to the following students who played the lead parts:

Kelly Dalton (Belle) Liam Cook (Beast)

Owain Smith (Gaston) Daniel Waite (Lefou)

Jamie Rawson (Maurice) Imogen Wright (Cogsworth)

Jimmy North (Lumiere) Chloe Clark (Mrs Potts)

Daisy Smithson (Madame Bouche) Ellie Smith (Chip)

Sophie Frampton-Day (Babette) Niamh Hora (Madam D’Arque)

Dominic Baird (Monsiuer Darque) Anisha Joshi (Dance Captain)

Sadie Samways (Narrator) Melissa Larkin (Enchantress/Dance Captain)

The ‘Silly Girls’ were played by Sadie Samways, Lily Wrd, Lily Climance, Taliya Nash and Keira Hill.

The Lead Dancers were Sophie Fulton, Alicia Fenton, Louise Shaw, Melissa Larkin and Anisha Joshi.


Year 11, when you return after the Christmas Holiday there will only be 17 school weeks left, just

85 days in school, until your first GCSE exam.

All the teaching staff would like to wish our Year 11 cohort a Merry Christmas and a Happy and

Successful New Year. We hope that you have a relaxing break and return in January ready for the

final push leading up to the examinations in May and June. We hope that with commitment, hard

work and thorough preparation, you will meet and exceed your target grades and that 2017 will be a

year to remember.

Character Development

At Droylsden Academy, we aim to educate our young people by

providing them with a wealth of opportunities, both inside and beyond

the classroom. Our ultimate goal is to enable all our students to

develop a strong moral code so that they are able to take their place as

active citizens, ready to contribute positively to their communities and

the wider world around them.

Our Four Character Pillars

The four Character Pillars are fundamental to our school. We believe that all our students should

develop the ability to Learn, Lead, Serve and Participate. Therefore we encourage and teach our

students to demonstrate strong:

Learning The acquisition of knowledge or skills through study, experience, or being taught.

Leadership The action of leading a group of people or an organisation, or the ability to do this.

Service An act of helpful activity.

Participation The action of taking part in something

After Christmas, students in years 7 and 8 will be rewarded for demonstrating strong character

traits and we have developed criteria that will allow this to happen. For instance, a student may

show service by helping others in an organised community event or they may participate in a school

production or sporting fixture. Likewise, a student may demonstrate great learning by making strong

academic progress in a range of subjects, or they may show leadership by organising and leading

other students in an activity.

Under each of the Four Character Pillars there will be a menu of suggested activities that students

can complete to develop a particular character trait. Firstly, and most importantly, it will be each

student’s responsibility to record and evidence successful completion of tasks and activities related

to each of the Four Character Pillars. Members of staff, usually a subject teacher, the Form Tutor or

Head of Year, will verify completion of activities and tasks. Students will be shown how to keep a

record of activities that they complete.

GCSE COUNTDOWN

CHARACTER PILLARS


Successful completion of activities related to any of the Four Character Pillars will earn students a

prestigious enamel badge to wear on their uniform. There are three levels of achievement for each

of the Character Pillars, with each one having gradually more challenging completion criteria:

Level 1 Apprentice (beginner)

Level 2 Graduate (developed)

Level 3 Master (advanced)

Many of the suggested activities are not just task-oriented challenges that students are able to

complete easily or in a single act. They are challenges that are only achieved through continued hard

work, commitment and effort. These are the personal qualities that make students stand out and

demonstrate a great attitude to learning and strong moral character.

What you need to do next if you are a parent of a year 7 or 8 student:

Much of your child’s character development happens at home and the Academy is not necessarily

aware of the things that your child does beyond school. For instance, they may:

take sole responsibility for running an aspect of the household;

regularly take care of a sibling or other family member;

take part in sport outside of school;

be an active member of an organisation like Guides, Scouts or Cadets;

be involved in dance or music activities; or

receive recognition for other activities beyond those undertaken at school.

So that these qualities are taken fully into consideration please follow this link and complete a very

short questionnaire.

https://goo.gl/forms/LsI1yIywdYSpIgd33

Alternatively you can access this form via the school

website.

If you would like further clarification or would like to

discuss Character Development then please do not

hesitate to contact me.

Mr Stephen Jackson

Faculty Leader for Humanities

https://goo.gl/forms/LsI1yIywdYSpIgd33


Congratulations to Jack Taylor from Year 8 and Caitlin Railton from Year 11 who are this week’s

students of the week.

Jack has been nominated by the English Department as he recently produced an excellent and very

perceptive and detailed reading response about the characters from 'A Christmas Carol'. Jack is able

to analyse layers of meaning and also verbalises this detail in lessons really clearly. He is an

inspiration to his peers. Well done!

Caitlin has been nominated by the Maths Department as she worked exceptionally hard revising for

her Maths PPE, even emailing her teacher at the weekend to find extra revision work. Caitlin always

puts her best effort into her work in lessons and really wants to learn where she has made

mistakes. Her book is beautifully presented and will make an excellent revision guide for her exams.

The Academy will have a ‘Christmas Jumper Day’ on Wednesday 20th December. Staff and students

are invited to wear a Christmas jumper and make a donation of £1 towards the Wood Street Mission

which supports children and families across Manchester and Salford.

The Academy will break up for the Christmas Holiday at 12.00pm lunch time on Wednesday 20th

December.

The Academy re-opens for staff on Wednesday 3rd January. The Academy will re-open for students

at the usual time of 8.30am on Thursday 4th January.

On behalf of Droylsden Academy, Mr Wilson and Mr Duncan would

like to wish everyone a lovely Christmas and a Happy New Year.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

STUDENT OF THE WEEK

Documents

Edition 14: Friday 15th December 2017 Droylsden Academy is