Newsletter 3 - Friday 9th October

3
Friday 9th October 2015

School Council Fundraising day

The School Council did a fantastic job organising a fund Ben Board, from Seaflex came into assemblies to talk to
raising day last Friday. Having seen the tragic stories in the students about what the Centifloat life rafts are being made
media about Syrian refugees, Sandown Bay Academy for and how they are saving so many lives when ships in the
students were desperate to do something to help. The Mediterranean capsize.
School Council decided to raise money to go to Seaflex,
based in Cowes who are producing Centifloat rafts to send £1000 was raised and over 50 bin bags full of clothing was
out to the Mediterranean Sea. They also asked students, donated; including a huge bag of hand knitted hats, boots
staff and parents to donate warm clothing which island and cardigans for babies.
charity Samara’s Aid, Isle of Wight are shipping out to
refugee camps across the Middle East. Thank you to students, parents and staff for supporting this
event.

Curriculum Focus Day - Tuesday 13th October

The first Curriculum Focus Day for this academic year is Tuesday 13th October. The principle aim
of Curriculum Focus days is to allow the opportunity for experiences and activities which don’t
necessarily fit into a one hour lesson - including study visits, problem solving, confidence and
team building projects, workshops, careers advice, work experience, additional study support
sessions, performances and guest speakers and presenters. Students may also have the chance
to develop specific skills and undertake additional qualifications e. g. Sports Leadership.
Below is a brief outline of what each year group will be doing on the day.

Year 7
Each House Leader is running an Inter House activity. Students have selected the activity they
want to take part in.
Outdoor Adventure Activities (bring PE kit)
Flag making for Inter House competitions (wear school uniform)
Inter House singing, dancing and rhythm (bring comfortable clothing)
Competitive Sport (bring PE kit)
All students are to come to school in uniform and will change if necessary at the start of the
first activity.

Year 8:
Students are focusing within the PSHE themes of 'relationships and choices'. We have the
students in tutor groups on a carousel of activities starting with the 'Hate Play' by Box Clever
Theatre with a dynamic production on bullying for young people. Students should wear school
uniform.

Year 9:
Students are focusing within the PSHE themes of 'relationships and choices'. Students will be in
tutor groups on a cohort specific carousel of activities centering around the 'Hate Play' by Box
Clever Theatre with a dynamic production on bullying for young people. Students should wear
school uniform. Some students have selected to also follow a sports' leader programme for
some parts of the day and will need PE kit.

Year 10:
The day is split into three themes; Curriculum, PSHE and Enrichment. Students have been
selected to receive support in an area of their studies including English, Maths, Study Skills and
Revision Techniques. They will have a choice of a variety of Enrichment activities such as The
Transatlantic Rowing Challenge, 'Thoughts and Things' Musical Theatre, Community Project
Work alongside many more. They will also spend time in their tutor group participating in a
workshop about their Personal and Social development. Students should wear full school
uniform and bring all their normal equipment. They will also need their PE kit if they have
selected one of the active Enrichment sessions.

Year 11:
This is a curriculum day for Year 11 and most students will spend time in Science, English or Art,
where they will be supported to complete coursework. Some students will also have the
opportunity to work in small groups to develop revision schedules and share practical tips and
techniques for effective revision. Students should wear full school uniform and bring all of
their normal equipment.

Year 12:
Students will be taking part in a series of workshops on Mind Sets to prepare them for A Levels
and beyond.

Year 13:
Students will receive UCAS Support from Tutors & Mr Thatcher. There will also be Apprenticeship
guidance, Psychometric Testing with Ian Riley and CV Writing Support.
All students are to be in their Sixth Form dress code.

Pastoral update from Mr Vickers

What does caring for students look like ?

We have now got three 'progress rooms' where students can receive support and expert counselling when the need arises.
We welcome visitors and experts into school to work with our own teams. It may be an anxiety about a sick grandparent,
dealing with a bereavement or having the confidence to tackle dangerous behaviours.

Our Year Managers have incredible experience in pastoral care and have worked alongside your children for many years.
They are responsible for a thousand acts of kindness, serious conversations and the right amount of tough love every week.

Our school nurse Mrs McToldridge is able to tackle immediate medical concerns. She is working closely with Mrs Carie-Ann
Cartmel, our Well Being Officer who has a casebook of students who need a higher level of support. Mrs Smith is an essential
part of this team.

What is the impact of the short Tutor Check in the morning ?

Students need to be with the tutor at 8.35; which often means they need to be on their way there at 8.30. An 8.30 bell is now
recognised by students as time to move. The fact that the key registration time is shorter has led to an improvement in
punctuality. The register for lesson one also provides an additional check that students are safely in school.

What links do the Sixth Formers have with lower school ?

Many are fully involved in the whole school features like houses and sports leadership. The cast of The Sound of Music is a
mix of all ages and there were lovely long lists from all year groups for Global Rock auditions this week. The KS5 Academy
Captains, Alice Lyons and Reuben Lovell, have a lead role in the life of the school and the Student Council. There are lots of
opportunities for students to support the learning of younger students. It is terrific when sixth formers want to offer younger
students the support and inspiration they received themselves. Seeing Sixth Formers cheering on Year 7s is a SBA
speciality. But there is no pressure. Whilst it is impossible for sixth formers to avoid the youngsters altogether across the
site, they can simply focus on their studies in the sixth form centre.

Please support us by

 Not encouraging your children to cross the bus bays to get to you/your car- they must use the crossing.
 Not phoning texting/ students during the day. They will find this hard to ignore and may get their phones

confiscated. We can get a message to a student quickly if you let us know.
 Encouraging students to not just to have the right books and equipment in their bags, but also not to carry what they

won't need. Bags need not be overloaded with careful daily sorting.
 Not allowing them to bring precious items or large sums of money into the Academy. Theft is rare but losing and

forgetting things and accidental breakages are more common.

Show My Homework

You should all now have received your logins letters. Please From 2nd November all teachers have been asked to use

let us know if you have not. Please could you return the this feature.

parental slip to reception.

We have experienced a few problems with the software that

Thank you for bearing with us as we all learn how to use the providers are working on. In a small number of cases

Show My Homework and to embed it within our daily there have been some inaccurate class lists or duplication of

routines. All teachers at SBA should now be using it to set students appearing in the wrong groups. This has meant

homework for every year group. This should always be that some parents have noticed a homework that appears to

supported by setting the homework in their planners, as well be set for the wrong year group, or the wrong class, on their

in the lesson. homepage. Thank you to the parents who have brought this

to our attention.

In the next few weeks you will start to notice that teachers

are also now beginning to use the submission feature. Your Please do let me know if you spot any glitches

child's profile/homepage will show you if they have failed to in the system like this.

hand in a piece of work or handed it in late.

Susannah Campion, Assistant Vice-Principal

Inter House Rowing

Words cannot explain the atmosphere at Inter House rowing on Wednesday. The unity, togetherness and determination of
the students in Years 7 through to 13 was a pleasure to witness. Well done to all students and staff who took part and to Blue
House for regaining their title.

The total House points for this year are:

Blue  76

Green 69

Yellow  56

Red 53

We hope that students, staff and parents will all work together to complete the Transatlantic Indoor rowing challenge next
week – rowing nearly 26,000 kilometres!

Each day different year groups are scheduled to take part and they do this on an inter-house basis, in teams of 4-6
throughout the day. Outside of lesson time, anyone can have a go. It is a sponsored event and we hope to raise lots of
money for Seaflex, a charity helping Syrian refugees, as well as the very successful Academy rowing team who will soon
compete at the National Indoor championships.

Day Main Year group taking part Before school, during break, lunch and after school
Monday: school day

Year 8 Plus any staff

Tuesday Year 10 plus any staff All years
Curriculum Focus Day Year 7 plus any staff Staff, parents, family welcome
Wednesday

Thursday Year 9 plus any staff

Friday Year 11/ Sixth form plus any staff

On Thursday evening Year 6 students and parents can take part at the Year 6 Information evening.

The Fitness Suite in the Sports Hall will be hosting the event for the week and is open from 7am -5pm each day. If you clock
up a few km on the rower for the cause, that would be great. We hope to complete by Friday evening but it is a huge
challenge –any help from parents would be greatly appreciated.

Year 6 Taster Days

We were delighted to welcome Year 6 students into the Academy this week for a series of exciting taster days. Students took
part in a Technology and Computing day where they made robots and then turned them into computer animations. During
the Science and Maths day students undertook a variety of Science experiments including flame tests, precipitation
reactions and thermite reactions. They used their Mathematical skills to work out average reaction times and to work out the
percentage of the face that smiles. During the Music and Performing Arts day they made a musical composition, learnt a
dance and took part in a drama workshop.

The teachers were very impressed with the students’ behaviour, attitudes and knowledge. We hope the students enjoyed
these days and left well informed about the incredible opportunities we have to offer at Sandown Bay Academy.

School Council 2015-16 Extra-curricular opportunities

The School Council are going to work in Students have been enjoying the extra-curricular opportunities that we have on
5 areas: offer, it is great to see that so many students have signed up to our wide range of
clubs. Debate club has proved very popular; we have some talented students
1. Opportunities and events whose debating skills are shining through. Click here to view the programme.
2. Facilities, uniform and

environment
3. Teaching and Learning
4. Fundraising
5. Student support including our

Anti-Bullying Ambassadors

They will be meeting every Tuesday
from next week. Students should use
their form reps to pass on their
questions and ideas…

Wednesdays, 12.20pm, all years welcome  

Year 6 into 7
Open Evening

Thursday 15th October
6 - 8pm

Presentation at 6pm,
followed by tours.

OInpcproedrtiubnleities
Open Morning

Wednesday 21st October, 9.00-11.00am

Please call to book an appointment
If you would like any further information or to arrange to come and look around on

an alternative date please contact Miss Jane Chase, Transition Manager on
01983 409176 or email [email protected].
www.sandownbayacademy.org