#ThisWeekatSAW – 27th January 2023

[27 Jan 2023]

Message from the Head of School:

Hello,

It’s been a pleasure to visit some lessons this week to observe the students in their Maths lessons. Please continue to support the academy and your child’s progress by encouraging them to complete their work on Sparx Maths at home. Homework remains a priority for the Academy for all students. Please support your child’s academic progress by encouraging them to complete their homework each week. There is always a clear correlation between the grades achieved by those students who practice at home as well as at school. Every child has a reading book and dedicated time each day to reading in the Academy. Please encourage your child to continue reading at home and visit the LRC where a range of new and exciting books are available

There have been lots of opportunities outside of the classroom this week for our students here at Sirius Academy West. Year 11 students have been to Barnsley to visit FlyBe as part of their Travel and Tourism qualification, and our Year 11 Geographers have been out on their fieldtrip to support their GCSE coursework. KS3 students have had the opportunity to visit the Holocaust Museum in Newark as part of their PSHE learning as well as the sporting events and fixtures. It’s great to see so many students engaging in opportunities as part of our Personal Development and enrichment programmes.

The Academy continues to be successful with our sports teams and events, please check our Facebook and Twitter socials for an up to date view of all Academy events and visits.

Attendance remains a significant priority for the academy. Please continue to ensure your child is attending the Academy every day to ensure no learning is missed.

Kind regards,

Gemma Ransom (Head of School)

 

RESPECT for Community- General Academy news

Whole-School Production Practice

Thank you to the cast of our The Addam’s Family production and Ms Willis, Miss Prichard and Miss Treloar for their support with Christopher Pickering Primary School last week.

The first opportunity for our cast to perform in front of a live audience.

Pupils from Year 5 at Christopher Pickering then had the chance to participate in themed workshops in Drama, Dance and Art.

All the students, and staff, give up an incredible amount of time after school each week to rehearse. Well done!

We can’t wait to see the final production in March.

BSL Classes

Students are learning the fundamentals in British Sign Language. The club has specifically been designed to enable students to acquire a basic ability to communicate BSL in everyday situations. We have covered hand movements/shapes, as well as the importance of facial expressions and lip patterns to demonstrate what students want to say. Students are now able to communicate greetings and are able to introduce themselves using BSL. Students can confidently sign the alphabet, questions/responses and we have also covered modes of transportation.

In addition to learning these signs we been playing some BSL games to reinforce their learning and enable them to practice.

Year 11 Science Information

Starting WC 30/1/23, Year 11 Combined Science students will receive a weekly exam question to complete at home and return to school. This will then be marked in class with feedback given to students.

This is to increase the level of exam practice as we head towards the summer exam and refine exam technique to secure marks.

Year 8 Holocaust Visit- PSHE Reward Trip

Selected students in Year 8 visited the National Holocaust Centre as a reward trip for their involvement in PSHE lessons.  Students toured the museum and memorial garden, had a lesson about how the Holocaust happened and how some countries are still persecuting their people.  They then listed to a survivor story.

Rugby information for next week

Monday- Year 11 Boys at home v South Hunsley in the ¼ final of the Yorkshire Cup, 2pm KO.

Thursday- Year 9 Boys away at Beverley Grammar in the 1^st Round of the Yorkshire Plate, 2pm KO.

Friday- Year 8 Boys Rugby Training after School.

 

Sporting successes this week

Our Year 7 Rugby boys travelled over to Outwood Freeston (Wakefield) in the Yorkshire Cup Quarter-Final. Despite a tremendous effort, up against some adversity, the boys lost out 18-10. They now enter the Yorkshire Plate, hoping to cap a strong 1^st year in the Academy.

 

On Thursday the academy travelled to the Tigers Trust Arena to compete in a Futsal Competition against teams from eight other schools in the local area.

The academy was represented by both boys and girls from Year 9 and Year 10.

The boys went unbeaten throughout the day. Scoring the most goals in the tournament, including a 7-1 victory over St. Mary’s.

However, two draws in their seven games meant they lost out to eventual winners Archbishop Sentamu.

Highlights from the day included eleven goals from Alfie M, an unstoppable free-kick from Charlie B and some incredible saves from Jake-Jones W in goal.

 

RESPECT for Education – Lesson 1 Content

This week the students have completed the following tasks in their Lesson 1 lessons. Please discuss with them as we continue to develop the knowledge of our students:

Culture Task

This week the students looked at the inventor of the internet, Tim Berners-Lee. This task tied in with our assembly theme on Safer Internet Day.

Votes for Schools Topic (Key Stage 3 students only)

This week the students discussed the topic of ‘Are you interested in Harry and Meghan?’.

Character Education

Character Education is a time-tabled lesson within our Lesson 1 curriculum in which students focus on skills and traits which will allow them to be successful in not only their academic studies but also in other aspects of their life.

This week students have focused on:

Year 7 students have begun looking at factors that can damage a person’s mindset and what impact this can have academically and also socially.

Year 8, 9 and 10 students looked at the next stage of their positive communication module. Students focused on two challenges for their communication and were set the task to start revising for upcoming interviews.

Year 11 students looked at beginning to create solutions to the identified ‘dirty dozen’ factors which impact on success in the run-up to exams.

RESPECT for Education- Curriculum Area ‘Students of the Week’

Each Curriculum Area will nominate a student each week who has shown through their lessons that they have met the RESPECT values of the Academy. The reason for the selection is highlighted below:

Final thought

“Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny”

The next parental bulletin will go live on Friday 3^rd February 2023; enjoy the week ahead!

Mr A Kay (Assistant Head Teacher- Pastoral and Attitudes to Learning)