Dear Parent / Carer

Welcome to our winter newsletter. As usual lots of events, trips and success for our students this term to celebrate. Year 7 have just returned from their residential, tired but having had a great time! I hope you enjoy reading about some of our student activities to date. We say goodbye to Mrs Elton one of our School Inclusion Coordinators this term, she has been a fantastic ambassador for the school and staff and students will be sorry to see her go. All the best! I hope you have a Merry Christmas and a peaceful and successful New Year.

Mrs Allen

Principal

In this issue:

Of Mice and Men Year 11 Trip ................................. 3

Sociology Lecture .................................................... 4

Year 8 Leadership Programme ................................ 4

WWI and WWII Commemorative Exhibition ........... 5

RSA Academies Student Leadership Day ................ 6

Trust & Environment ............................................... 7

Girls PE News ........................................................... 8

The White Devil Post 16 Theatre Visit ..................... 9

Year 7 Invention Project ........................................ 10

MFL & International News .................................... 11

The Learning Resource Centre .............................. 12

Student Reporters Autumn News ......................... 14

Kamokita Senior School Visit ................................. 15

Boys PE News ........................................................ 17

Student Takeover Day at the RSA ......................... 18

Shoe Box Appeal .................................................... 19

School Diary ........................................................... 21

Health and Safety ................................................... 22

Advertisements ...................................................... 23

Whitley Arts .......................................................... 24

Message from the

Principal

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At the beginning of October, Whitley’s English department offered year 11 students an exciting opportunity to watch John Steinbeck’s ‘Of Mice and Men’, performed at the Crescent Theatre in Birmingham. The trip was chaperoned by Mrs. Secker and Miss Millard (myself). As soon as we entered the main theatre there was a buzz of excitement through the air, all of the students were wondering if the performance was going to reflect what they had read. After months of studying the text and trying to look into all of the different themes and analysis, coursework and exam preparation – this was going to be a well-earned treat! As the lights were dimmed and the curtain rose, everyone became captivated with that first well known scene introducing George and Lennie. The whole audience was entertained and moved by the witty, sharp remarks from George, and Lennie’s gentle child-like demeanor… The student’s attention was intent upon the drama that was unfolding. One of the students agreed: “My favourite part was when George and Lennie were at the pool at the start.” Another student said how: “I thought the man who played George was good because he had an edginess to him.” As the play progressed and more characters were introduced, the students built up a more detailed opinion of not only character analysis, but also in analysing how the play had altered parts of the storyline. One student stated that: “Even though it was a slightly different ending, I still thought it worked. It’s interesting how different people interpret things.” The students found that after having watched the play, they had built up more interpretations and multiple perspectives about ‘Of Mice and Men’. A lot of members of the audience laughed at the entrance of Curley, finding his shouts of ‘Come on you guys’ hilarious, and his aggressive temperament ironic coming from such a small man. However, a couple of our students said: “I felt a bit

uncomfortable when everyone was laughing at Curley – he’s not supposed to be funny!” The play really brought the storyline to life for the students, and added different layers to their opinions about all of the characters. Overall, all of the students thought “it was a great

afternoon” and a brilliant experience!

Of Mice and Men

Year 11 Students

Whitley News

Sociology Lecture at the University of Birmingham On Wednesday 19th November Miss Carroll took her group of 10 Year 12 AS Sociology students to a lecture of ‘Young People, Transitions and the making of Social Policy’ at the University of Birmingham. We had a most enjoyable afternoon out of school and the lecture built on previous learning we had been doing in class. I am really proud of the exemplary conduct of the students and the interesting and independent comments they made during the question and answer session. The lecturer was impressed at their maturity and the sociology group were a real asset to Whitley Academy. “I am really interested in studying at the University because it is easy to get to and the lesson was very interesting” “It was nice to treated as an adult for the day” “I enjoyed the fact that we learnt about where social policy came from and how the changes in government affect the making of social policies that affect young people, particularly the single room allowance until 33” “I never realised pay loans were affecting 18-20 years olds so negatively”

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Year 8 Leadership Programme On 16th September 2014, the RSA Family of Academies launched their Year 8 Leadership Programme (RSA8) at the RSA Academy in Tipton. RSA8 is a bespoke programme designed for the RSA Family of Academies, to include the citizenship ethos of the RSA. The programme includes a series of workshops taking place across the Family with reciprocal visits with 10 students from each of the Academies. The workshops will run in conjunction with RSA Fellows who wish to get involved with the young people within the RSA Family. The first of these days took place at the RSA Academy in Tipton, with fellow Matthew Green from Policyworks who introduced the programme by getting the students to reflect on 'What makes a good leader' and the importance of knowing 'The bigger picture,' he spoke about his experiences as a leader. Students then reflected on the session and wrote about what they had learnt about Leadership. 'Being a good leader requires you to understand and value others' 'Leadership is a not a role, it's a relationship' 'Great leaders think, reflect and work at being better' Next was a workshop about blogging. Fellow Lorna Prescott from Dudley CVO, a passionate blogger, lead the session with stories from people who were keen bloggers and the difference it can make to lives. She told the students about a young man who used blogging as a means of getting his book published as well as linking people together via her voluntary social media surgeries. For many of the students this was their first experience of blogging and Lorna delivered on generating enthusiasm from the students. 'Blogging is a great way to share your thoughts and ideas' 'Blogging can build relationships with people' 'Blogging can help you achieve!' Alison Critchley, Chief Executive of the RSA Family of Academies informed the students about some of the achievements and history of the RSA and gave the students a sense of what they were now a part of, including the RSA's rich historical past and a network of successful fellows. Year 8's from the RSA Academy then took their peers on a tour of the Academy to share their experiences and showcase what the Academy has to offer its students. Student Leadership is key area of focus within the RSA Family of Academies and RSA8 is just one of the programmes on offer across the Academies.

Whitley Academy held a

Commemorative WWI &

WWII Exhibition at the

Charterhouse, Coventry, attended by Lord Mayor,

staff, parents, students and the public.

This was organised by members of staff Michelle

Marsh (History & Opening Minds teacher), Lucy

Daniels (Art Teacher) and the Whitley Academy

Student Council co-ordinated by Becky Hilditch.

The work exhibited was from students, completed

both independently in their own time and during

lessons. It was a cross curricular whole school

project, which started in June, commemorating 70

years since D-day.

Other activities have ranged from Science lessons

looking at the advent of Penicillin (WWII) to PE

lessons looking at how sport was affected by the

outbreak of WWI. Within the Art department,

inspired by the instillation at the London Tower,

students created their own clay poppies.

The students have even been re-creating mock

WWII food recipes in Catering, which were

surprisingly tasty!

The history department looked at a range of topics,

discussing why after a hundred years it’s important

to remember WWI, to the evacuation of children

and Coventry Blitz during WWII.

A huge well done to all students who had their work

featured!

Whitley Students Display Work in Commemorative WWI & WWII Exhibition.

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As the day started, Mrs Elliot introduced herself to all the schools that visited Whitley and explained to us about the safety procedure. The schools that joined us were Holyhead, Ipsley, and RSA Academy. Megan, chair of Whitley Academy Student Council, and Sophie, Deputy Head girl, introduced themselves and started the activities off with an icebreaker, so everyone got to know each other. The ice breaker activity was to try and burst the opponent team’s balloons which were attached to their ankles. Finally the red team won! Very exciting start to the day! After the game everyone settled down and Mrs Elliot explained the agenda of all activities. There were two workshops. Everyone had to split up into two groups of roughly twenty. Group A had debating and group B was on presentation skills. Group A was in the conference room and Group B stayed in the auditorium. Group A began with a musical chair game to get them used to sitting with people they didn’t know. Then the trainer teacher told everyone to talk to the person next to them about debating. She explained what they were going to learn about in the workshop. They played a warm-up game: Zombie chairs. The point of the game was for the zombie to sit on an empty chair while the humans tried to stop the zombie. It linked to the debating because they were trying to find the gaps in the topic and fill them up.

RSA Academies Student Leadership Day

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After the game the students were split into 4 groups and in each group they had to debate whether same sex schools are good or bad and whether reality TV did more harm than good. The teacher then explained that student leaders need to be first, best, loud and proud. He then explained how to do these in public speaking using two key hints: jokes and anecdotes to engage the audience. In the presentation skill session the students were asked to make an opening statement about themselves that had to be personal. They split up into table groups that they felt comfortable with and were given five minutes to deliver their speeches. They then gave each other feedback to make their speeches better. Now it came to the ‘technical’ hints and tips to focus on their posture, standing, walking and sitting. Just before the workshop ended the students all had to make a presentation about their own schools to show all they had learnt on the day. All in all, the day was very productive and we learnt a lot which we surely find it useful for the years to come. Written by Divya and Eliana - Whitley Academy Student Reporters

On Tuesday 30th of September, I had the pleasure to sit

amongst skilled and trustworthy panelists who came to share

their great knowledge on the environment with the public at the

Free Word Centre in London. My very first thoughts about this

debate were completely different from what actually took place; I

thought we would be talking about emissions of carbon dioxide

and recycling, but the debate was so much more complex and

mature than that. From the first moments of the debate it was

clear to me how important the subject of climate change and

the environment is. I realized that, as adults and growing

teenagers, we have failed to live in harmony with the environment;

therefore how can we expect our kids or even siblings to trust us

with the knowledge that we pass on to them? After quick introductions the panelists moved on to a quick explanation of their skills. Tony Birch, an Australian author, said he has good communication skills as a teacher and a writer, and Claudia, a journalist, but also leading communications strategies for non-profit organizations, said she has determination and with the help of media pressure she was able to make a change. This made me realize that to be able to convey our knowledge of the environment we also need vital skills to be able to make us trustworthy. However, all of the panelists complete their individual research and this brings on an idea - who do they trust to give them their knowledge?

When this question was thrown at the audience most answers

were 'scientists' and 'academics', and I guess we will never know

whether this was because the audience feels they really trust them

or whether it just seems like the best option. Esha, an inspirational

17 year old who overpowered Michael Gove’s plan to drop

climate change with a petition, trusts the academics and her

teachers as well as the internet (which she commented might not

be the best place at all), but mostly she goes by her instincts. Tamsin, a strategy director for Green Alliance, said that it is the science that provides her a basic base, but also made an interesting point that if we were to match scientists with politicians, maybe we would have a more trust-worthy portrayal of climate change. Similarly Tony made a valid point that politicians fail to break through their debates to put forward their gained knowledge. An opinion that I wholeheartedly agree with is a statement Claudia made that it is 'difficult to generalize who to trust'. I guess the best place to discover the effects of climate change is to talk to the victims; direct witnesses have a underestimated power to change societies’ views on climate change, if only we looked past our local community and took a deeper look into what’s becoming reality in most countries. It’s all about who you trust in this world, and does this change your mind about whether what you believe is true? So, you may ask, what role does trust play in recognizing and dealing with recognizing climate change? To make sure that you fully trust whatever you are presented with you need to do research about the people, politicians or organizations and who support them.

Trust and Environment

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What will it take to change our views on climate?

Sometimes this person might even be a celebrity or a well-known figure. The panellists came to a conclusion that it’s annoying sometimes that only a certain figure can speak to so many young people and make them listen. However if they possess this power, we need to use it in a positive way. If this figure is the one they trust, they need to convey the relevant information and get young people interested. Their power is in words and actions! It’s becoming clear that this subject is starting to matter to a large quantity of people, but it requires organizations, the government or just people to take this long term situation and find alternative solutions. We need to find an approach which people will be able to relate to. Society will not know what is happening unless we show them the videos of farmers battling with the changing weather, or pictures of London flooding with solar panels on the roofs of houses. Society will not know because trust has lost its value. The last question that was presented during the evening was 'Who do we trust to fix the problems of climate change', and as good as this question may seem, I questioned it. If you think about this for a minute, it is not who will fix the problem, but who will stand in the way of fixing this problem. What we have outside our windows might pass in the blink of an eye if we don’t start taking action, and overcoming obstacles, to reach our goal; binding people together to put a full stop to climate change. We ask ourselves the question of what our world will look like in the future, when climate change takes over, we make theories and hypothesis but sometimes we forget that in many places on this earth, climate change is reality. As the debate came to an end, Orla Price read a poem, and one sentence stood out more than any. "We are doing our recycling but they're making more packaging". The irony.

Martyna Adam

This term is an exciting time for girls core PE lessons as the

following groups: Y7 S Band are focusing on a new scheme

of work of Cheerleading and Y10 E/F will have the

opportunity to complete some Orienteering at Coombe

Abbey. The Y7’s are enjoying their Cheerleading lessons

and are choreographing some amazing ideas. Keep up the

good work girls!

A big well done to Lucy Parsons (Y12) for coaching and

running the girls Basketball Club on a Thursday after

school on a weekly basis. She is doing a fantastic job and

the girls really look up to Lucy. A PE teacher in the making

without doubt! Keep it up Lucy! Also a big thank you to

Molly Wooliscroft (Y13) for all her volunteering work she is

doing in the PE department! Molly is a huge help within

after school clubs and attends every week night to a

different club, completing warm ups and drills with the

students involved.

We have a Trampolining enrichment club running every

Monday after school and Tuesday mornings from 8am. It

has been an enormous success with a huge amount of

involvement from the students. A variety of Trampolining

skills have been taught and students are now focusing on

completing different Trampolining awards. The students

have really enjoyed themselves and look forward to future

weeks.

Netball has also been a success this half term with many

matches taking place. There are some up and coming

matches for Y7, Y8 and Y9; we wish them all the luck. Lots

of pupils have represented the school from year 7-11 and

have worked hard to do us proud. The year groups 7-9 all

take part in the Coventry Schools Netball league across the

school year. Our Y7’s played against President Kennedy on

the 10th November and lost 5-1; they all played really well

and showed excellent sportsmanship! The Y8’s have won

both of their matches so far; fantastic effort – keep it up!

Girls PE

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Some of our KS3 students are in the East School’s

Basketball league and we had our first match on Monday

3rd November at Whitley against Blue Coat. The pupils

played well and all showed great sportsmanship

throughout despite not winning. They all made the school

proud, well done! We wish them all the best for their

future matches.

There are variety of clubs which are optional for all years

during the autumn/winter term. Please see the timetable

below for all clubs available. Alongside this we have a

loyalty card scheme running; if you attend an extra-

curricular club 6 times you will go into a prize draw to win

some fantastic sports equipment.

Duke Bracciano is besotted by the beautiful Vittoria. When he makes her an indecent proposal she can't refuse, she enlists the help of Flamineo to fool her husband, and begins an illicit affair. But their infidelity does not go unnoticed. Accusations of adultery are made and Vittoria and Flamineo find themselves snared in a web of corruption, passion and retribution as their single minded pursuit of personal gain reaches an epic and bloody conclusion. One of the great works of Jacobean theatre, Webster's violent tragedy, directed by Maria Aberg, is bang brought up-to-date for a modern audience. Taking inspiration from films such as ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ and ‘American Psycho’, Aberg has created a sharp-paced, gripping and witty performance. Post 16 students were lucky enough to see this performance at the RSC in Stratford. The students, who study Webster’s play for English Literature A-Level, were impressed with Aberg’s adaptation and found it easier to relate to as a performance rather than a written script. What’s more, students also changed their opinion on many of the characters in the play: “I feel more sympathetic to Bracciano and more dislike for Francisco” one perceptive student stated. The students will continue their study of the play in preparation for the examination next June.

The White Devil: A post 16 Theatre Visit

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25th November 2014 - 26th November 2014 On Tuesday, year 7 started work on a product that could be sold at Christmas as a new toy or invention for homes. All worked incredibly hard during this activity and tried their upmost to succeed. The demonstration of resilience and determination resulted in well delivered speeches and polished products. They only had one day to build the product prototype, create fliers, design posters and develop any promotional merchandise – The results were outstanding. On Wednesday morning, year 8 students, year 10 students and Vice Principal Jo Webb nominated their winners. They had to select the group that had the most interesting design and the best pitch. The winners were: First place The IPad strawberry Second place The CCTV penguin Third place The new robot

Year 7 Invention Project

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Special award William Walton – For extra hard work and effort preparing for the project. There were so many amazing projects; it was difficult to select just three winners. I would like to thank parents and carers for donating boxes and equipment to the students so that they could create the brilliant products. Well done year 7!

MFL & International News

French Visit to Normandy 2015 On Friday 22nd May 2015, YR8 & YR9 pupils will embark on a French adventure to Normandy, France where they will spend a week in an adventure centre and discover the history as well as the beauty of the Normandy region. Pupils will stay at the ‘Bon Sejour’ complex near to Caen and will experience days out to the D Day landings, to a French market, to Bayeux and to pay their respects at the British War Memorial. For parents of those attending, please be advised of the remaining payment dates: £50 by Friday 20th February 2015 £100 by Friday 27th March 2015 A parental information evening will also be organised and parents will be informed of the date of this prior to the visit. Year 7 Africa Day On Friday 16th January, there will be an Africa Day for Year 7; this will celebrate our link with South Africa and the partner school in PAARL. The day will focus on the art, history and culture of AFRICA and specifically South Africa; our intention will be to send a video of this to the link school as with our previous international days, FRANCE day and JAPAN Day.

European Languages Day On the 26th September, Year 7 enjoyed a cultural day focused on learning about Europe and its languages. Pupils completed a challenge around school to locate all of the EU member states and connect them to different teachers and departments. There was a lot of excitement at break and lunch times as pupils ‘pinned’ teachers down to make a note of the details they needed including how to say ‘Hello’ in that language. Each Year 7 student also received a ‘goody’ bag from the European Council in Brussels which included a sticker book, their own ‘mock’ EU passport and a fact-book about countries and languages in Europe. Lastly, all pupils experienced a European Language lesson where they worked with a Languages Teacher and their OM teacher to find out more about why languages are so important. Thank you to Year 7 and to Miss Williamson & Mr Cairon for all of their efforts on this day. French School Link We look forward to welcoming the students from Jean Mermoz college on the 22nd April 2015; YR10 & YR11 French pupils will be involved and will work collaboratively on topics ranging from the bombing of Coventry to fashion and the media. The day will further strengthen the link between our two schools which is now in its third year of twinning.

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The Learning Resource Centre

“Out-of-school reading habits of students has shown that even 15 minutes a day of independent reading can expose students to more than a million words of text in a year.” Latest titles available for loan:

‘The Long Haul’ is the latest instalment, the ninth one, in a worldwide known Diary of a Wimpy Kid series written by Jeff Kinney. The main character Greg Heffley

is a 6th grade student who more

than anything wants to become

popular, which is a usual

characteristic of kids his age.

Greg writes his diary which is published in the same

way he wrote it in his notebook, full of humorous text

and even funnier pictures.

Opal Plumstead might be plain, but she has always been fiercely intelligent. Yet her scholarship and dreams of university are snatched away when her father is sent to prison, and fourteen-year-old Opal must start work at the Fairy Glen sweet factory to support her family. Opal struggles to get along with

the other workers, who think her snobby and stuck-up.

But Opal idolises Mrs Roberts, the factory’s beautiful,

dignified owner, who introduces Opal to the legendary

Mrs Pankhurst and her fellow Suffragettes… And when

Opal meets Morgan - Mrs Roberts’ handsome son, and

the heir to Fairy Glen – she believes she has found her

soulmate. But the First World War is about to begin,

and will change Opal's life for ever…

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Ten Things You Don't Know about Jeff Kinney 1. He still doesn't have to shave too often. 2. His first decent drawing was of a turtle at the age of 3 (Jeff, not the turtle). 3. He plays the piano "very, very poorly." 4. Jeff's brother Scott has written one of the songs in the movie, Diary of A Wimpy Kid. 5. He created the kids' website Poptropica.com. 6. His favourite computer games are the Mario Kart series. 7. His favourite sandwich is peanut butter and jelly 8. His favourite song is 'Brownville Girl' by Bob Dylan. 9. He has two brothers and a sister. 10. At one stage he studied to become a federal law enforcement officer.

• Jacqueline Wilson always wanted to be a writer. As a child she loved to read and always made up imaginary worlds and games. • Jacqueline's favourite teacher was Mr. Townsend - a gentle, kind, funny and artistic man. He helped his pupils to write their own stories. • Jacqueline Wilson was Christmas card monitor in her school. • Sometimes here childhood was happy, and some times it wasn't. • She loved lots of books when she was a child, including: Black Beauty, What Katy Did, Ballet Shoes, The Flower Fairies and Nancy and Plum. When she was seven she used to spend all her pocket money on notebooks and filled them with her writing. • When she left school, Jacqueline Wilson worked on teen magazines such as Jackie, Red Letter and Annabel.

The Learning Resource Centre

Congratulations to the

following students for your great effort in reading for pleasure:

Courtney Connolly and Jamila Houmadi of 7 Helena Mowe and Khalid Abdulqadir of 7B Eleanor Summers and Owen Reynolds of 7C Abigail Rodgers and Emma Smith of 7D Chanell Williams and Benjamin Homer of 7E Abbie Chamberlain-Bates and Casey Meredith of 7F

Cinema Club – Monday afterschool Enrichment On Tuesday 4th November 2014 the whole

group of the Cinema club members went to

Warwick Art Centre for a great afternoon to watch the

film Gravity and take part in a short Q&A session.

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Such a hectic work schedule with the following projects so far…. Project Aston Martin on 12 September 2014

Join BBC School Report for the Scottish Referendum-the result on 19 September 2014

The Lord Mayor’s Youth Quiz on Wednesday 15 October 2014

Student Reporters - Autumn Term News

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Student Reporters - Autumn Term News

Thursday 13 November 2014 Four teachers (including the Principal) and 43 students of Kamokita Senior school paid a visit to Whitley Academy. They spent the morning and half of the afternoon working alongside the Whitley Academy students. The students took part in many interesting activities including a British Cultural quiz, origami and Japanese calligraphy. It was such an unforgettable day for all of the participants. Blake Smith of 8D said, “ I thought all the activities were really cool because I was able to take part in the origami and managed to make a flying swan out of a small piece of paper. Moreover, the fact I was taking photos for both the Japanese and Whitley Academy students made my day even more exciting (as you have to keep on thinking which angles were good for the photos). I also had opportunities to get to know some of the Japanese students by offering them biscuits, orange and apple juice during our short break. I even managed to write my name in ‘calligraphy style’.

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The BBC School Report November Practice Day (14.11)

Being trained in public speaking skills by Mr J. Stephenson – our Vice Chair of Governors on Friday 21 November 2014

Talked to teachers on an early Thursday morning of 27 November 2014 There will be more to come in the months ahead

Student Reporters - Autumn Term News

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Boys PE

Basketball The KS3 and KS4 Basketball Teams have been playing in the newly formed Coventry Schools Basketball League held at Grace Academy every 2 weeks. To date the KS3 team have really done themselves proud. They have drawn one game and lost one by 2 points in the dying seconds after some intense play. The KS4 team recently had new additions with the new year 10’s stepping up. They have thought hard and gelled well but have lost both of their opening games.

Rugby The rugby team has enjoyed more games already this year and have been performing well. The year 9’s played in an emerging schools tournament and had some very close games against Grace Academy, Cardinal Wiseman and also Ernesford Grange. Although they didn’t qualify for the final, Charlie McConachie played well and is currently training with Worcester Warriors and Brandon Boja also played well. The year 7 and 8’s have been playing in the all schools tournaments which are now based at Pinley rugby club. They have won all of their matches so far this year, and we are looking to play other schools in the future who are slightly more established in rugby. Harry Bates, Shai Jenkinson and Justin Dunkley have all played really well in all the matches.

Training will continue to run on Monday after school and everyone is welcome to come and give rugby a go. We have a specialist coach in place and more matches are being arranged for the future. Football The football season has been put on hold for the time being as it becomes too dark to play after school. However we do have a cup match arranged for the year 7’s and year 9’s and we are hoping for success in both of these. We also have some 5 a side tournaments coming up in the future. The year 10 team have managed to have one fixture with the assistance of the flood lights at Lying Hall School. They confidently beat them 2 goals to one with a Man of the Match performance from Adam Wilson and winnings goals from Macoist Grimes and Joshua Ullah capping off a brilliant team performance. Badminton Students played a fixture against Finham recently and they performed really well against a very strong side (most of Finhams team consisted of club players) Our year 7’s performed really well, winning all of Whitley’s points on the night, however all of the team played with determination and tried their best. It was a pleasant evening with students umpiring their own matches!

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Congratulations to Whitley Academy on your great pitch for your project to raise awareness of mental health issues. The judges thought it was a clever idea to use a silent movie to raise awareness of this often silent issue, and very much liked the prototype film that you made. I am delighted to enclose a cheque for £100 for you to get your project off the ground. Good Luck in your project. Alison Critchley Chief Executive, RSA Academies

Student Takeover Day at the RSA

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Shoe Box Appeal

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Oak Tree Cottage, Holt Road, Southam CV47 1AJ

Tel: 01926 811899/811535

Mobile: 07948 573235/07864 70575

Email: liz.eadon999@hotmail.co.uk

Website: www.crockerschristmastrees.co.uk

In October Martyna Adam one of our student council members, collected shoe boxes full of gifts to be sent to disadvantage families .

Free School Meals

Coventry Citizens Advice Bureau has teamed up with numerous schools across Coventry, including Whitley Academy, to deliver an innovative new project. The Children and Young Person Project (ChYPP) is aimed to help schools work alongside the Coventry CAB to support families and students to gain access to help, advice and information on various issues. The service is free, impartial, confidential and independent , it helps families and young people on a daily basis with various problems such as free school meals, food bank vouchers, debt, benefits, housing, immigration, language barriers, domestic violence and abuse, the ChYPP project has helped a large amount of families across Coventry. For further information please contact Laura Watson on 024 76 302 580. http://www.coventrycab.org.uk/chypp www.adviceguide.org.uk

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Friday 18th December School Term Ends 1pm

Monday 5th January Teacher Training Day

Tuesday 6th January Term Starts for Pupils 8.45 am

Thursday 12th February Year 8/9 Options Evening

Friday 13th February Term Ends

Saturday 14th February Half Term Holiday

Monday 23rd February Term Starts

Thursday 26th March Year 8 Parents Evening

Thursday 2nd April Term Ends

Friday 3rd April Easter Holidays

Monday 20th April Teacher Training Day

Tuesday 21st April Term Starts for Pupils 8.45 am

School Diary

Term Dates

Term Pupil Dates Teacher Days

Autumn 2014 (72)

Monday 1st September to Friday 19th December

Monday 1st September 2014

Tuesday 2nd

September 2014 Friday 28

th November 2014 (TBC)

Half Term Break Saturday 25th October to Sunday 2nd November

Christmas Holiday Saturday 20th December to Sunday 4th January

Spring 2015 (58)

Monday 5th January to Thursday 2nd April

Monday 5th January 2015

Half Term Break Saturday 14th February to Sunday 22nd February

Easter Holiday Friday 3rd April to Sunday 19th April

Summer 2015 (60)

Monday 20th April to Friday 17th July 2013

Monday 20th April 2015

May Day Holiday Monday 4th May

Half Term Break Saturday 23rd May to Sunday 31st May

Summer Holiday Saturday 18th July 2013 TBC

Building work Building work will be starting after Christmas. Pupils, parents and guardians are strongly advised to keep well clear of the perimeter fencing and comply with all the health and safety signs when this happens. Vehicles on Site Parents/guardians are advised NOT to bring their motor vehicles on site unless for medical reasons, as there are heavy vehicles involved in the construction of the new classrooms. Please help us to reduce traffic; your child’s safety is our priority. Lake If the lake is frozen, pupils are advised to keep well clear. The ice may not be as thick as it seems. No skating on thin ice on the lake. Winter Driving (Advice for Parents/Staff) Be prepared: Ensure vehicles are in good working order. Clean snow and ice from windscreen, roof and

lights

Allow extra time for journey Have warm clothes and appropriate footwear Have a phone in case of emergency. Stay in control: Use low gears Reduce speed Keep safe distance Apply brakes gently to avoid skidding Cycling in Winter Now that winter is almost upon us, can all parents/guardians please encourage your child to wear waterproof and high vis clothing. Ensure that the bicycle is in good, safe condition for winter use i.e. good brakes/flashing lights/tyres at correct pressure etc. Pupils are advised that they should ride along the drive safely, rather than the pavement or grass where they are a danger to themselves and pedestrians. If cyclists do not use the drive, they should NOT mount their bicycle until they have left the school grounds. Thank you for your co-operation in advance Mr D Singh Health & Safety Manager

Health and Safety

Family Learning

I would be interested in doing Family Learning at no charge. Tick as appropriate:

ART ICT COOKING Name of Parents: ……………………. …... Signature: ……………………… Name of Student: ……….. ………. …. ….. Tutor Group: …………………

Learn a new skill with your child in ICT, Art or Cooking after school

Is there any other class you would like? Please specify:

Please return to School Office or Contact: Mrs A Nagra on 024 7630 2580

Email: admin@whitleyacademy.com

Newly refurbished auditorium available at Whitley Academy for hire in the evenings and school holidays. 220 fixed seats, new sound system, large display screen projector Suitable for : conferences, presentations performances

Facilities

Presentation Hall

An all weather outside cricket pitch available for letting to local cricket teams this season.

Conference and ICT Room

For all your needs: Conferences, Training Courses, Presentations... Available for hire in term time and during the school holidays

For more information or any enquiries about our facilities please contact:

Mrs A Nagra

Phone

024 7630 2580

Email admin@whitleyacademy.com

Contact

Cricket Pitch

Our Whitley Arts students have been very busy with their artwork and producing their final pieces. We have updated our Whitley Arts shop with some of their work. Please support them and the Art department. The 2015 Arts calendar is ready to purchase at just £5.00.

www.whitleyarts.co.uk

Visit our shop online