News and gossip from inside the Academy walls

DeputyMayor,CounsellorRaymond Knapton andCounsellor Marilyn Bowmandropped in to the Academy fora caribbean treat!

Issue 3

CHAMPIONSCityLewis Kerr • Jordan Hodgson • Bryce Dean-NormanCarl McDermott • Dominic Shiels • Ashley ShielsDavid Osbourne • Ben Campbell • Daniel FaugheyCallum Gardner • Connor Casey • Luke Surtees

Sean Campbell

VIPVISITORS

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SPORTSWEEK

02 THE ACADEMY

Welcome, everyone, to the final Newsletter of ourfirst year. It has been a very exciting time for all ofus. We have grown from a school to an Academy,

we have made huge progress in improving outcomes for ourstudents and we have designed our new building and started theprocess of building a Sports Village. It has been a tremendousfirst year!

In this newsletter you will find examples of the great work wehave all achieved this year, from learning activities in the academysuch as the F1 Challenge and learning outside such as Forest

Schools and field trips, to raisingengagement of students at theSSAT Conference and sportingactivities such as the 50 mile walkand the Kielder Challenge. Thatwas all just in this term! We areplanning an action packed nextyear with even more learning,achievement and fun. I hope you enjoy the newsletter, it is a tasteof what is to come.

FOND FAREWELLS

This term we are saying goodbye to some members ofstaff who are moving on to pastures new.We would liketo wish them all the best for their future ventures and

thank them for their hard work and enthusiasm.

Special mentions must go to Mrs Fullerton and Mrs Bradburywho are both retiring at the end of term.They have given manyyears of service to the school and we would like to thank themfor their dedication and commitment.

September will see some changes in school for the start of the new term. Some physical changes will be happening overthe summer break as work for the new building begins.

We will also be welcoming many new members of staff including a Director of Learning for Gelt Zone, some new teachers,and support staff.We would like to welcome them all to the Academy and we look forward to working with them in the newterm.

WARMWELCOMES

Message from THE HEAD

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PrimaryTaster Days

PARENTS’VOICE

OnMonday 29th June untilWednesday 1st July many students fromvarious primary schools visited Richard Rose Morton Academyfor a taste of secondary school life.The 3 days had a Caribbean

theme and many activities took place all over school, including makingcarnival puppets, dancing and drama, learning circus skills, playing in a sambaband and cooking Caribbean style food.

The three days culminated in a celebration festival with music, singing,juggling and some food to sample.There was also a visit from the DeputyMayor, Counsellor Raymond Knapton and Counsellor Marilyn Bowman,Alex McGeorge and Sean Hamilton went along to find out more.Whenasked what they thought of the performance they had just seen they saidit was: “Absolutely brilliant, fantastic, first class. We really enjoyed theperformance and think it is a great idea for primary students to beintroduced to secondary school in this relaxed and fun way.”

On Friday 5th June, 5 members of theRichard Rose Morton Academy’s SchoolCouncil visited the Pines Hotel in Chorley

for the North West Specialist Schools AcademiesTrust Conference. Ms Little, Lucinda Sara, AlexMcGeorge, JamesWalker and Sarah Short visited theLancashire town to attend a conference thatconsisted of students and staff fromAcademies in theNorth West region of England. The conferenceconsisted of everybody splitting into groups anddiscussing things about their school.Many points, suchas a school’s good and bad points,were discussed andtaken down by theAcademy’s 5 representatives. Somestudents from a school in Sweden came to talk aboutschool life in their country. It was a great experiencefor all of us and gave us many more ideas about whatwe would like to recommend for the new Academybuilding.

Alex McGeorge

Since Parents’ Voice was set up at the start ofthe year, the group has been meeting monthly.A lot of work has already been done with

regard to formalising the group, appointing officers,and agreeing terms of reference. Most of this hasnow been completed, and the group is lookingforward to pushing ahead with it's plans to supportthe Academy by engaging with as many parents aspossible. The group is still relatively small but will belooking to recruit additional members once the newschool year starts in September. Already the grouphas carried out a number of activities such as beingpresent at Parents Evenings, the Year 11 Prom, andthe legendary 50 mile walk. One of the memberstook the opportunity to spend sometime in theAcademy recently observing lessons to gain a feel forlife at the Richard Rose Morton Academy, and earlyimpressions are that he was very impressed.

Details of the Parents’Voice group including, how tocontact us; how to get involved; our aims andobjectives a well as minutes of previous meetingsshould all be available on the Parents section ofthe Academy website in the near future.

Tony Mills - Chairperson

SSAT CONFERENCE IN

CHORLEY

THE ANNUAL50MILEWALK

Year 8Miss Alison’s Year 8 Spanish classes celebrated the end of term

with aTapas Bar.Café Sol opened on 7th July offering tasty tapastreats for them to sample.

On the menu was: albóndigas, tortilla española, sardinas, jamón serrano,chorizo, queso, aceitunas, naranjada, agua con gas, zumo de fruta, limonada.Many thanks to Miss Alison for this special treat.

Year 10IN KESWICK

SPANISH

Year 10 Geography students have been ona field trip to Keswick. The case studythey are working on looks at the effects

of tourism on this National Park town and is thebeginning of their coursework for their GCSEwhich they will sit next year. Many thanks to MrsAlexander who organised the trip and well doneto all the students who completed their workenthusiastically and efficiently.

PARALYMPICS

Agroup of students fromRichard Rose MortonAcademy with physical

disabilities have enjoyed beinginvolved in assessment and trials for theParalympics.They have had two days of trials, thefirst was at the Sands Centre where the pupilswere assessed alongside students fromWilliamHoward and James Rennie .They then enjoyedanother day at Penrith Leisure Centre where thestudents had the opportunity to try out differentsports.The highlight of the day was working withsome Paralympic finalists from the last Olympicsin Beijing and some who are in training for thenext Olympics in London in 2012. Everyoneenjoyed and was inspired by the day.

The students were also successful in beingawarded tickets to theVelodrome in Manchesterto see the Paralympic time trials. They had a

fantastic day and would all like tothank Miss Hedley for applying forthe tickets and making the daypossible.

Lee Purdham Amy Jeffrey Amy Morris Emma Hodgson

Mrs Armstrong Rachel Parker Ms Houlden Mati Sobolewski

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On Friday 19th June allYear 10 students took part in the annual 50 mile walk.

The bus left the school gates at 4.30 am and headed forTalkinTarn. At 5.30am the first lap was under way – only 35 laps left to go!

Of the 51 students who took part, 37 completed the full distance. Manycongratulations to Rob McCartney who finished first at 5:11pm. Well doneto all the students who took on this enormous challenge!

Congratulations to Ms Houlden for completing all 36 laps and facing theworst of the weather well into the early hours of Saturday.Well done to MrsArmstrong who ran 23 laps and still managed to smile while doing so.

Many thanks must also go to Mr Armstrong for organising the whole eventand to all those staff members and parents who came along at various stagesthroughout the day to help and support everyone.

Rob McCartney finishes the 50 miles first in a time of 11 hours 41 minutes

You will find the Connexions office in the Key Stage 4dining area where Shirley and Ros, the Connexionsadvisors are happy to help.They have an “open door”

policy meaning anyone can drop in or make an appointment toget some help or advice.

Shirley deals with helping Year 11 and sixth form students tochoose their right career path whether it is applying for jobs orchoosing the right university. She will make half hourappointments to see allYear 11 students but anybody who wantsto discuss their options can make an appointment with her. Roshelps out students who are aged 13 and above with anyproblems or issues they need help or advice about, for examplehealth issues.As well as working with some students on a one-to-one basis Ros also does group work in school;most recentlyshe organised an Enrichment Day for Year 9 students.The firsthalf of the day was an introduction to Connexions and thepathway into Key Stage 4.The second half of the day looked atsocial issues affecting young people today: Drug Awareness,Sexual Health and Risk Taking. At the end of the sessions thestudents were given a goody bag and further information to takeaway.

Ros and Shirley both said they very much enjoy working for theAcademy and the best part about the job is being able to helpstudents to deal with problems and seeing them move on. Theytold us that the Connexions door is always open for students todrop in and have a chat and they are always open to anysuggestions that students have about what they thinkConnexions can do for them.

Just for fun: If they weren’t working for connexions then Shirleysaid she’d probably have joined the Police Force and Ros said herideal job would be working on a beach somewhere hot.Theyboth said that Indian food was their favourite take-away and theirfavourite holiday destination isAustralia for Shirley and Sri Lankafor Ros.

There will be many activities taking place throughout thesummer holidays for students to take part in. Contact Ros orShirley for further details.

REMEMBER: Connexions are inschool to help you!

WHO,WHAT,WHEN,WHERE,WHY ?Sophie James and Amy Walker interviewed Shirley Jones

and Ros Willatt to find out!

On Friday 19th June allYear 9 students took part in a PersonalEnrichment Day organised by Mrs Rigg in conjunction with theConnexions team in school. The main theme of the day was anintroduction into Connexions and Risk taking.The first half ofthe day was an introduction to Connexions and the pathwayinto Key Stage 4.The second half of the day looked at socialissues affecting young people today: Drug Awareness, SexualHealth and RiskTaking.The students all made 'friendship' hands

during the day which made a brilliant display outside theConnexions room. They also made posters to sum upconnexions with prizes being awarded for the best ones.The winner was… Emily Hartness who won a £10 gift voucher,The two runners up were Sarah Smith and JamesWalker whoeach received a £5 gift voucher.At the end of the sessions the students were given a goodybag and further information to take away.

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CONNEXIONS ENRICHMENT DAY

Aspart of National SportsWeek, which ran from 29 Juneto 3 July 2009, Richard Rose Morton Academy’s PEDepartment organised many different sporting

activities around the city for all students to take part in.

Friday 3rd July was a whole school sports day.Therewas athletics at the sheepmount and football,rounders, cricket, mini olympics and a sportsquiz taking place in school.

Sports Activity Day was onWednesday8th July. Students inYears 7, 8 and 9 hada wide variety of options for the dayincluding:

• Canoeing,Orienteering and ShelterBuilding atTalkinTarn

• Pool, Snooker and Bowling atHollywood Bowl

• Mountain Biking and Orienteering atWhinlatter Forest

• Golf at Swifts

• Cricket at Edenside

•Tennis, Football,Assault Course, Boxing,

• Paintballing, Swimming,Archery,Taekwondo, Boccia,Dance and Gymnastics all took place in school.

Year 10 students had a Young Enterprise project for the day.Their challenge was to create a football club includingdesigning a strip, club logo etc. Some help was on hand in theform of representatives from Carlisle United who guided andinspired the students when making their decisions.

Both events went really well. All students took part in someform or another and were pleased to be given the chance to trya sport they would not normally have access to.

Many thanks must go to Miss Hedley,MrWilson and Mr Moffatfor organising the events and to all those members of staff andparents who helped out on both days.

NationalSportsWeek

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The Richard Rose Morton Academy ForestSchool ran each Saturday last half term atTalkinTarn and all students involved did really well – not least getting

out of bed on a weekend!!The idea behind Forest Schools comes from Scandinavia where it is part ofmost children’s education and it is becoming more and more popular in GreatBritain.Our Forest School was pretty unique in this area as Richard Rose MortonAcademy is the onlyAcademy or School that offers this type of learning outof the classroom to Key Stage3 and 4 students at the moment.During the project we collected environmental data, learned about the naturalenvironment and related this to citizenship and wider issues.We also madetools, furniture, shelters , cooked wild food and brewed nettle tea on an openfire.There was also time set aside for self-led experiential learning - whichmainly involved climbing trees!The project was a success with the group enjoying the experience and willhopefully run again very soon – watch this space!

Mr Richardson.

The Formula 1 challenge has arrived!Two teams from Richard Rose Morton Academy,fromYears 7 and 9, have been given the challenge ofdesigning a Formula 1 style car.

The Year 7 team are designing a car based on theBloodhound SSC. TheYear 9 challenge is based ona design for a Formula 1 car using CAD software todesign the cars, they will then have to findsponsorship, etc.The cars will be made out of balsawood and fired down a track by compressed gas.The regional finals will take place in the autumn.

The teams are:

Year 7 - Jo Buckley, Alex Boyd, AndrewBradley, Sean Wilson, Sophie James, KelseyOsbourne.

Year 9 -Alex Shiels,Kathryn Cockbain, JamesWalker, Alex McGeorge, Sam Chalk, SeanHamilton.

ForestSCHOOL

Good Luck to both teams.

Formula 1CHALLENGE

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This year Richard Rose Morton Academysent 2 teams to take part in the KielderChallenge.

The Kielder Challenge is an inclusive nationaloutdoor adventure competition which has beenrunning for over 20 years. It involves outdoorproblem solving activities that test the skills of ateam to work together, communicate, plan andevaluate.The activities challenge teams of eight13 to 16 year olds, four with and four withoutdisabilities.All team members play an active rolein solving the challenges and the inclusion of all isa key goal for each team.

The RRMA GreenTeam: James Farish,LaurenArmstrong,Mark Brunskill,Natasha Graham, Sarah Short, SamSowden, Katy Bradley,Hannah Brown.

The RRMA BlackTeam: Steven Glen,RyanWard, Rachel Dalton,Oliver Reid,Maxine Blaylock, Jason Irving, ClareCampbell, Dean Dunn.

Teams’ mascot and general good helperVicky Little.

ORIENTEERING

KIELDERCHALLENGE

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This term a team of students took part in the Borederliner’s Schools’Orienteering League.The Richard Rose MortonAcademy came a veryrespectable 4th place, competing against other schools from all over

the county.

There were a total of 6 different courses to be completed at:Kingmoor ParkNature Reserve, Talkin Tarn, Rickerby Park, Hammonds Pond, TheSheepmount, and our very own Richard Rose MortonAcademy. Each coursebrought about different challenges meaning they all had to work welltogether as a team.

The team members were:

AndrewAshburn, Lee Brodley, James Noble, SeanLymer, Aaron Corrie, Amy Walker, Alex Shiels,Beth Pearson, Alex Potts, Karen Bulman andRachel Connolly.

OnFriday 24thApril allYear 9 students took part in a St.George’s DayChallenge organized by Mr McGuire. Various departments gotinvolved and the activities included were:

The English Challenge – performing a dramatic version of Georgeand the Dragon

The Library Challenge – English Icons quiz

The Music Challenge – Group Singing event

The Flag Challenge – Making English Flags

The History Challenge –Who was St.George?

At the end of the day there was an assembly, awards were presented to thewinning team and the teachers all gathered together for a hearty renditionof “Yellow Submarine”. Everyone enjoyed the day, had fun and it was a greatlearning experience.

CHALLENGESt. George’s Day

OnFriday 22nd May all staff and students raised money forthe CFM Cash for Kids charity by coming into school infancy dress. Some students also charged staff to have their

cars washed.

FANCY DRESS

PERFORMING ARTS

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OnWednesday 17th June Mrs Nicholls organised a trip for 28 students to visit The Sunderland EmpireTheatre to seea performance of “WeWill RockYou”.

The production is a tribute to the music of the band Queen and was written by Ben Elton.The story is set in the future, atime when music is banned, and a group of friends are trying to bring rock music back into everyone’s life.The actors wereall excellent, the music was brilliant and everyone who went on the trip really enjoyed themselves.

OnThursday 25th June 2 choirs visited school from Sefton Arts College and Formby High School.Two short concerts wereheld in the theatre where all students had the opportunity to see some school choirs in action. There were also someworkshops for those students who are working towards their Performing Arts GCSE and any other students who wereinterested in taking part.The concerts in the theatre were not only entertaining but very inspiring.

The totalamount raised was a

fantastic £500

10 THE ACADEMY

OnThursday 25th June all year 11s had a great night at Carlisle Racecourse fora gala evening of celebrations.The evening went with a swing, many studentsarrived in limousines and all were exquisitely dressed.

Voting took place on the evening for various awards:

Babe of theYear:Ruth McCartney

Stud of theYear:David Temple

Joker of theYear: Josh Skelton

Genius of theYear:Debbie Harrison

All round Good Egg:Melissa Bennet

Best dressed male: 1st: Michael Stalker; 2nd Harry Richardson;3rdTom Harty

Best dressed female: 1st:AlexTownsley; 2nd Kayleigh Broughton;3rd SallyWard

King and Queen of Irthing: Leanne Nicholson and Callum Temple

King and Queen of Petteril: Lauren Hope and Ryan Scott

King and Queen of Eden: Shona Crook and Tom Harty

King and Queen Gelt:Michael Stalker and Lisa Battersby

Many thanks must go to Mr Marshall for his witty compering on the evening, to MrStainton for his care, attention and guidance to all the year 11 students over the last year,to Mrs Rigg for organising the whole event and to all staff and parents who turned upon the evening to support and applaud them all.

YEAR 11 BALL

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TheYear 7 boys football teamhave had great success thisterm. They are now CITY

CHAMPIONS. Well done to thewhole team.

In May,many students took part inthe City Athletics event at TheSheepmount. Sixteen studentswere selected to compete for all Carlisle Schools against the other districtsof Cumbria after impressive performances:Abbie Cuthbertson,Rachel Dalton,Chloe Moore, Mike Bromley, Danny Scott, Tom Barker, Simon Little, AlexMcGeorge,BenThomson, Lisa Battersby, JodieArmstrong,AlexTownsley,KatieMarrs, James Hartley, Steven Brown and Andrew Ingledow.

A special mention must go to Chloe Moore inYear 8 who has been selectedto compete in the English Schools’ Athletics Association National Finals inSheffield in July. Chloe threw over the 29metre entry standard in the Javelin.This is a HUGE achievement as it is the standard distance set for year 9students. Chloe is one of only 24 students from Cumbria between 12 and 16years old to be invited to compete!Well done to Chloe and good luck in July.

Also on the sporting front the Year 7 Cricket team recently played in atournament and got all the way to the final.Well done to the whole team.

The Girls’ football teams have all been very busy playing in the schools’ leagues.The under 12s, under 13s and under 15s all got through to the finals – althoughthey didn’t win they all did extremely well.

At the end of another busy year I have beenpleased not only with the number offestivals we have had, but the variety of

sports we have organised and the way the studentshave taken on the challenge.One of our targets isto have as manyYear 5 & 6 pupils taking part in ourfestivals, if possible all of them.

Table tennis proved to be very popular and therewere some very proficient players by the end ofthe festival.Table football was also very popular.

Badminton was our next festival and again allstudents adapted well and we had a verycompetitive singles and doubles tournament. MrGlaister was by far the best player in the end! Ourfinal festival was indoor rounders and cricket.

In Newtown School we had two sessions of quickcricket where there are some good cricket skillsdeveloping.

In Newlaithes Infant School every pupil wentthrough a session on multi skills and my year 8leaders were fantastic in their first leaders’ role.

It is good to see our pupils with disabilities gettingthe opportunity to become more involved in sport.Nine of them were involved in the day foridentifying Gifted andTalented pupils. From this day,five were chosen to go through for furtherDevelopment and Assessment.

The PE department has made the most of theopportunities for coaching ultimate golf, squashand cricket.

I was pleased to be asked to help with the Healthweek in Newtown and Newlaithes infant schools.I can only do this with the help of sports leaderswho have come on so well this year.

I would like to thank them all for their enthusiasmand professionalism, they are a pleasure to workwith.

Richard Fullerton SSCO

Richard RoseMortonACADEMY CLUSTER

YEAR 9 ASDANOnThursday 25th June the Year 9 Asdan group led by Mr Shaw all

achieved their BronzeAward which is recognition of their personalqualities, abilities and achievements, after successfully completing

new activities and challenges this year.

Congratulations to: Lewis Bainbridge,Adam Carr, Bobby Cherry,Kyle Clark,Abbie Cuthbertson,Daniel Dunbar,Keely Foster,DarrenGreen, Liam Greig, Amy Johnston, Ricky Learmount, SeanMcAdam and Ben Queen.

Many thanks go to MsLittle, Mr Richardsonand Mr Graham fortheir contributions.

All Year 9 students have visited CatterickArmy Base for a gruelling but enjoyable day.

The students gained an insight into a workingArmybarracks as well as taking part in many team buildingactivities.

SportingSUCCESS

CATTERICK

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

www.richardroseacademies.org

FROMTHE ACADEMYTEAMAmyWalker, Sean Hamilton,Mati Sobolewski,Alex McGeorge, Lee Purdham,

Jo Uttley, Sean Lymer,AndrewAshburn, James Noble, Sophie James.

JOINTHEACADEMYEXPRESSTEAMWant to be a journalist?Have you got what it takes?

Interviews for a new team of journalists willtake place in September.

See Mrs Scholey for further details.

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