Week A

Monday 11th Dec Parent Surgery, 5.30pm

- 6.30pm Assessment Week for

Year 7-11 GCSE Mock Exam Week

Tuesday 12th Dec Under 16s Boy

Basketball Match, 3pm at James Hornsby

School Assessment Week for

Year 7-11 GCSE Mock Exam Week

Wednesday 13th Dec Assessment Week for

Year 7-11 GCSE Mock Exam Week

Thursday 14th Dec Year 7 Music and Drama Christmas Concert, 7pm Yr 7 & 8 Netball Match,

3pm at Hassenbrook Assessment Week for

Year 7-11 GCSE Mock Exam Week

Friday 15th Dec Christmas Jumper Day Assessment Week for

Year 7-11 GCSE Mock Exam Week

Week B

Monday 18th Dec Parent Surgery, 5.30pm

- 6.30pm Assessment Week for

Year 7-11 GCSE Mock Exam Week

Tuesday 19th Dec Hassenbrook’s

Christmas Lunch Assessment Week for

Year 7-11 GCSE Mock Exam Week

Wednesday 20th Dec Assessment/GCSE Mock

Exam week ends until the new year (2nd Jan) End of Autumn Term -

1pm finish.

Assessment and Mock GCSE Exam Week

From Monday 11th December to Friday 5th January, all students have their ‘Exam Week’.

There are assessments for KS3 and mock GCSE exams for KS4.

Letters have been sent home with the timetable attached via email and all students have received a hard copy of the timetable.

If you didn’t receive a letter, then please have a look at the ‘Letters Home’ section on our website to find an electronic copy. The timetable is also on the website.

Dates for your Diary

There are some really good revision websites out there to help with all different subject revision.

Check some of them out.

https://studywise.co.uk/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/education

https://www.s-cool.co.uk/

Aspire Course Presentation

Over the last ten weeks, six of our year 9 students, Bethany Smith, Gracie Lowe, Matthew Prater, Jersey-Lee Sharpe, Panache Rusike and Harrison March completed their Aspire Course with the 24/7 Prayer Stanford team. The course completed is built on two core principles: who am I and who do I want to be. This was such a great opportunity for all the students involved, giving them a chance to realise their unique value and to help them understand that education is the gateway to their future.

During their presentation at the end of their ten-week course, all six students showcased what they have learned in front of their parents, the Ortu Trust Governor Mr R Harman, Headteacher Ms J Williams and Mayor of Thurrock Councillor Tunde Ojetola.

All were incredibly impressed with both the course and the students and we are so proud of them all too. Well done!

Thank you This autumn term has drawn to a close with Christmas fast approaching. This is such a busy time of year; I wanted to highlight some events happening at Hassenbrook in the next week and to highlight some of our achievements this term. You will be aware that 100 minute lessons were introduced at the beginning of the academic year and we are very pleased with the impact this has had on both learning and behaviour. We have had such positive feedback from both staff and students. We have celebrated many successes already this year with our Conduct Card draw and our Attendance League. Our latest celebration was for our ex-year 11s’ Class of 2017 with their awards evening. Over the last year we have been making improvements to our learning environment which is now a priority; you may have seen our reception under construction at the moment. There are many other refurbishments and decorating due to take place over the next year. We have had many enriching activities which students have had the chance to take part in. We've had our Annual Christmas Fayre, many different career masterclasses and trip for all years, and many different sporting events such as the District Cross Country and the Badminton Districts. And we have some to come; this week we have our Christmas Jumper Day, raising money for the Save The Children charity and our annual Christmas lunch on offer next week.

Finally, the last day of term, Wednesday 20th December, is a half day; pupils will be dismissed at 1pm and the school bus will leave at that time. The holiday dates are: Thursday 21st December 2017 until Monday 1st January 2018. We resume school on Tuesday 2nd January; registration is at 8:40am and school finishes at 2:45pm, normal time. I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and thank you as always for your support. Ms J Williams, Headteacher

Vivo Rewards

Vivos are Hassenbrook’s way of rewarding students in school. All students have an account and are

encouraged to check their progress regularly. The points awarded can be exchanged for a variety of fun

gadgets, stationery, vouchers and more! Form Tutors advise tutees of who has the most Vivos in their

year group weekly with certificates for King and Queen! Below are the reigning

champions for the whole school year so far. Mrs N Braybrook

WELL

DONE! Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10 Year 11 PLC

Queen Sofija

Satkovskaja Grace

Catterick Bailey White

Elizabeth Asubiojo

Stefany Osagie

KING Reece Clarke-

Ford

King Harry

Dowler Harry

Gardner Ryan

Harrison Tife

Falayi Bailey Nuttall

KING Andrew

Thompson

Class of 2017 Celebrating Success Evening

On Thursday 30th November we had our Class of 2017 Ex Year 11 Celebrating Success Evening. It was such a lovely event for all of our students, a great time to catch up with friends and old teachers as well as a chance for us to celebrate their successes and show them just how proud of them all we are. We had several different awards, as well as trophy awards, attendance awards and examination success awards. We also took this time to present our students with their GCSE exam certificates.

The evening was a huge hit, with Mr Lewis compèring and awards presented by Ms Williams, our Headteacher, Mr Nash, the Chair of Governors at the Ortu Federation, Mr Burr, the Chair of Governors at Hassenbrook Academy, Mr Ohene, Head of Maths, and Mr Flynn, who was an Assistant Headteacher here at the Academy for many years; presenting an award in his name. Mr and Mrs Foreman also attended our evening and they have been attending our award evenings for many years. They donated an award to our Academy in memory of their son who tragically passed away. We present this award every year. We want to thank everyone who came to the

evening and celebrated our Class of 2017 success with us.

And thank you to all of the staff who helped organise the event. We would also like to thank Swallows Florist for the beautiful flower arrangements.

Year 9 Trailblazer Trip

We had a very early start to the day, taking twenty two Year 9 students to the Big Barbican Workshop. On arriving, students were given an image of a closed door, behind which was a hint of bright light. They were asked to write down their ideas about what was behind the door and then what

perhaps the world was like beyond that. Much thinking and deliberation was had!

The students were then put into groups by the workshop leader and having nominated a spokesperson, they chose a post-it note of each colour to determine their object and an idea about their world. They then had to experiment with Drama, Music and Art to decide and demonstrate what their world was like – what was behind the closed doors.

The students were extremely focused for a long period of the morning, having to work under strict time pressure and then sharing their work with each other. All were engaged positively and enthusiastically with their group, demonstrating some very creative ideas in the process. Their sounds were recorded and they gave interesting presentations about the sculptures they had created. And all of this before lunch. It was an absolute privilege to see these students respond so intelligently and maturely to the stimuli. Every group had an interesting and unique interpretation of the world beyond – from a civil war between fire and ice (a requiem to climate change)

to a comic but horrific world of the chicken nugget (a pastiche to the virtues of being vegan perhaps?!). A funny idea but cleverly produced.

Finally, in the afternoon, with cameras rigged and places set, the students became the animators of their world, combining artistic endeavour and modern technology. Fast paced and fun.

As we left the creative day behind us, with beaming faces, tired but satisfied, it was fantastic to hear, ‘Miss, best day ever!’, ‘Best trip I’ve ever been on!’, ‘Miss, any chance we can do that again? It was

awesome!’, ‘Thanks miss, loved it!’.

Thank you all twenty two of you – you’ve made one Drama teacher very happy and proud to have witnessed it. Now use that knowledge and experience in the classroom and beyond.

Mrs J Chappell

Year 11 Art Mock GCSE Exam

On Thursday 7th and Friday 8th December all of our Year 11 GCSE Art students took part in their GCSE mock exam.

The exam was a total of 10 hours long, which sounds like an incredibly long time, but that time goes so fast when you are concentrating.

Our students have been working on the coursework that is themed ‘Culture’. They have looked at work ranging from all different countries: China, Africa, Russia and Australia to name a few. As well

as doing research on culture from different countries, the students also look at several different artists that use culture as the main focus of the work.

One of these artist is Robbi Joy Eklow, an artist that the students will be studying. She is an artist that uses cultural objects and patterns to create her signature work with an overlapping

style. This inspiration is what the exam is based on.

All students did so well and we are so pleased with their results. Their work will be marked and used for their coursework as a final piece to end the culture topic. Well done to all.

Readathon for Read For Good charity.

As some of you may know last month we held a Readathon to help raise money for the Read For Good charity. This charity raises money to help buy books for children hospitals.

Over the last few weeks we have been collecting in the sponsorship money from the students that took part and we are so happy with how much money we raised.

We raised a total of £258.00 for the charity and we are so proud. Thank you to everyone that sponsored one of our students, we are so grateful for your support.

Hassenbrook’s Winter Concert

On Thursday 14th December, Hassenbrook will be hosting their Winter Concert. The concert will be full of musical items performed by some of our music classes, year groups and some talented individuals from years 7-11.

The audience can expect to hear everything from musicals to pop, singing, beat boxing, piano, guitar and drums.

It would be great if you could come and listen to the hard work and effort our students have put into their music lessons and extra curricular clubs this term.

Tickets are available free of charge from Miss Waters.

If you are interested or have any questions then please contact us on 01375 671566 or admin@hassenbrook.org.uk.

Hassenbrook’s Christmas Lunch

Like every year, we have

one day near Christmas

where we offer a

Christmas Lunch to all

students and staff. And

this year we are offering

our Christmas Lunch on

Tuesday 19th December.

If you would like to take

part then make sure you

have bought a ticket

through WisePay. If you

have any questions then

please contact us.

Annual Christmas Fayre

On Friday 24th November, Hassenbrook held their annual Christmas Fayre. It was such a fantastic event and we want to thank everyone who came along and supported us.

We had so many different stalls, there was a great variety; it was a great place to start your Christmas shopping off early. We had our choir singing Christmas carols at the beginning of the fayre, which added to the festivities. We also had a raffle draw which was a huge success with many different prizes up for grabs. We really hope you had a great time like we did, and hope

that it added to the Christmas feeling!

A massive thank you to all the stall holders who came along and to all the staff and students who helped out at the event and prior to it. We can't wait for next year!

Thank you again!

Christmas Jumper Day

On Friday 15th December we are going to be taking part in Christmas Jumper Day. All students and staff are invited to wear a Christmas jumper with the rest of the uniform to help support the Save The Children charity. This charity helps children all over the world, helps to promote children’s rights,

provided relief and helps support children in developing countries.

If you would like to take part then please throw on your Christmas jumper on top of your uniform (blazers can be left at home) and bring in £1 on the day to donate to the Save The Children charity.

As part of the Safeguarding Guidelines at the Academy, parents should be

reminded that they should endeavour to drop pupils off in a safe and

considerate manner. Hassenbrook Road becomes too congested and young

people are having to negotiate many parked vehicles. If you need to come

into the site, this should be via the main gate as visitors can be seen on

camera. We have large buses that drop pupils off in the designated area, they often have

difficulty negotiating both residents' and visitors' vehicles. Although this seems a small

matter to some, the safety of our pupils is a very important element of our responsibility

of pupil safety. Parking on the zigzag lines around schools means that children cannot see

over your car when trying to cross the road. If you park in a dangerous place, you may be

issued with a penalty charge notice. We thank you for your support with this matter.

Do you, or someone you know have a talent or

achievement that deserves recognition? Please get

in contact with us at:

academyinaction@hassenbrook.org.uk

Remember to check our Website, Facebook and

Twitter accounts for updates, school letters,

notices, reminders and much more!

Hassenbrook Attendance League

Don’t forget, we are running our Attendance League. This is a competition that we are going to be running weekly. Depending on what your attendance percentage is for the week depends on if you get

entered for the prize draw at the end of each half term.

Posters explaining the Attendance League will be up in Tutor Rooms. If you have any questions, please ask your tutor or Mr Ruck.

Bully Stop

Our most important aim: to show respect to each other by the way we speak to and treat each other.

If you have a problem, tell either a friend, teacher, parent or a trusted adult. Telling about bullying is not ‘telling tales’ or ‘grassing’. Instead, report it online anonymously and email bullystop@hassenbrook.org.uk.

At Hassenbrook Academy students should enjoy a caring and safe environment.

Be free from fear of humiliation, oppression, verbal, physical, social, sexual or racial abuse. We are committed to identifying and dealing with any form of bullying, being proactive and taking action to stop bullying. If you have any questions then please contact the Academy.