2 October 2015

INASecondaryNewsletter

Olympic Park cycling trip

P. 8

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Dear Parents and Carers,

This week in assemblies Mr Clift-Matthews challenged us all to think about the question “Who are you?” (a question you might want to discuss as a family over the weekend!) He presented a

powerful argument for the potential that we all have to shape our legacy and to ensure that we are remembered in the way that we would like to be.

It was great to see so many Year 10 students and their parents/carers at the information workshop that Ms McEvoy and Mr Singh ran last night. The presentation was full of great advice which can be found on the INA website under ‘community/resources for parents’.

And lastly, we have our annual Secondary Open Evening next Tuesday, 6th October. As many student are involved and it will be a long evening, we have a late start on Wednesday 7th October at the secondary school, with students lining up an hour later (9.25pm)and lesson 1 cancelled. Students will need resources for their period 2-6 lessons. This does not affect the primary school.

With best wishes,

Rachel Macfarlane,

Principal

>>> News

Year 10 Vaccinations for Diphtheria, Tetanus, Polio and Meningitis C – Monday 5th October 2015Apologies for the administrative error on the part of the team of nurses which meant the Year 10 students could not be vaccinated earlier this week. The vaccinations have now been rescheduled and will take place on Monday 5th October. Thank you

Eleanor Seale, Office Manager

AnnouncementsCycle to School Challenge: 5th – 16th October 2015As part of our school travel plan, Isaac Newton Academy is taking part in the Redbridge Cycle to School Challenge between 5th and 16th October and we want to encourage as many students as possible to cycle to school during these two weeks!

Every time your child cycles to school during the challenge weeks they will be given a raffle ticket. The more they cycle, the greater chance they will have of winning a prize.PLUS the class with the most cyclists during the challenge will get a trip to the Lee Valley Velopark at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park!

So let’s get cycling and see which class can cycle the most!

Mrs Chamberlain, and Mrs Vanlint INA Youth Travel Ambassadors.

Year 8 University trip updatePlease note that our University of Bedfordshire visit has been postponed. We’re still keen to visit and the university are looking forward to hosting us, so we look forward to announcing a new date in the near future. I know students and parents were excited when they heard about this opportunity. Once the date is confirmed, we’ll put a message in the newsletter and send out an updated letter. Many thanks for your ongoing support. Ms E McEvoy, Assistant Principal

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>>> NewsYear 10 students will complete a work experience placement from Monday 20th June 2016 – Friday 24th June 2016 and we need your help!

If you feel you can offer a placement, please read the placement guide below and contact Mr Crowther-Green by email: info@isaacnewtonacademy.org with the title ‘Work Experience’.

Please provide a work address, brief details of the type of work, potential duties and include a contact name, telephone number and email.

Placement guide

• Employers must have a Health and Safety policy and Public Liability Insurance• Placements should be easily reachable from INA by public transport• Students should not be working in a confined space with a single employer (safeguarding reasons)• Employers offering placements will need to complete an agreement and send details of dress, days,

times, tasks and any specific information• Students will complete a project which they will work through during their placement

We welcome friends and family of INA students to offer placements to INA students. We want students to broaden their horizons and we want students to be completing a work experience that they could not easily organise themselves. Therefore students cannot complete work experience with family and friends.

If you have an questions please contact Mr Crowther-Green by email: info@isaacnewtonacademy.org

Thanks in advance for your continued support in developing our students together .

Mr Crowther-Green

SAVE THE DATEBRIDGES Parent Workshop for Primary and Secondary Parents/Carers

on Thursday 15th October 6.00-7.00pm in the KS3 Hall

You are invited to a workshop to find out more about our BRIDGES programme and how

you can support your child in developing these key characteristics. Please inform the

primary or secondary school office if you would like to attend.

Year 8 University trip updatePlease note that our University of Bedfordshire visit has been postponed. We’re still keen to visit and the university are looking forward to hosting us, so we look forward to announcing a new date in the near future. I know students and parents were excited when they heard about this opportunity. Once the date is confirmed, we’ll put a message in the newsletter and send out an updated letter. Many thanks for your ongoing support. Ms E McEvoy, Assistant Principal

Work Experience – We need your support!

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Black History Month 2015: A Time to Discover OUR HistoryOctober is the month to reflect and remember the History of Black and Minority Ethnic communities in England and the world.

The beginnings of Black History Month go back to 1926 when black historian Carter G. Woodson began what he called “Negro History Week” in the USA. In 1969, the week’s celebration was expanded to a month and in 1976, Black History Month was endorsed by the US government. In the United Kingdom, Black History Month has been celebrated every October since 1987.

Black History Month provides us with a focus to celebrate the achievements of Black and Minority Ethnic people from the UK and overseas. The Black community has used this month to share with the rest of the world the contribution that Black people have made to human development. It is a time to demonstrate pride in, and respect for, the creativity, intellectual achievements and sporting prowess of Black and Minority Ethnic people.

The Prime Minister, David Cameron, who is leading support for Black History Month has said: ‘This month is a great opportunity for us all to pay tribute to the tremendous contribution that generations of Black and Minority Ethnic people have made to our country. And I think it's really important that we recognise the efforts and achievements of so many who have helped to make our country the vibrant, tolerant and diverse society that it is today. So I hope this month can be a time not just to reflect on what we can learn from the past - but also to focus on how together we can shape our future. A time for each and every one of us to ask what more we can do to help each other and work for the common good.”

Currently Britain is also host to the Rugby World Cup. Here is the story of James Peters, the first Black Rugby player to represent England:

James Peters (August 1879 – 26 March 1954) was an English rugby union player and, later, a rugby league player. He is notable as the first black man to play rugby union for England. He was also known as “Darkie Peters”.

James Peters’s Jamaican father, George, had been mauled to death in a training cage by lions. His

mother was Hannah Gough from Wem in Shropshire. He found himself in Fegan’s orphanage in Southwark and the Little Wanderers’ Home in Greenwich. Greenwich Admirals Rugby League

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Club now celebrate Peters’ life with an annual challenge game.

Peters worked in printing and his trade brought him to Bristol, where we played for Bristol Rugby Club. Peters then moved on to Plymouth.

He played rugby union for Devon, and in 1906 was to play the South Africans in front of 20,000 fans at the Plymouth County ground. However, tourists had belatedly noticed Peters’ colour and were seething at playing with a black man. Initially, they refused to play but eventually the South African High Commissioner, who feared a riot if the game was cancelled, persuaded the team to play.

In 1906, England played South Africa for the first time; James Peters was withdrawn from the England squad after the South Africans objected to playing against a black player.

On 17 March 1907, Peters played for England against Scotland. The Sportsman commented that the “dusky Plymouth man did many good things, especially in passing.” However, The Yorkshire Post pointed out, “his selection is by no means popular on racial grounds”.

He was to play a further game, against France, in which he scored a try. Six weeks after playing against South Africa, for Devon, he was not picked for the next game against South Africa on racial grounds and was not to play another game for England.In 1910 Peters lost three fingers in a dockyard accident, but continued to play until 1912. It was not injury, but politics that forced James Peters out of rugby union.

Clubs in the South West of England attempted to join the Northern Union (later Rugby League), form a Western League of the Northern Union with competitive fixtures.

He was suspended for accepting payment from Devon Rugby Club, which was illegal according to the codes of rugby union. Many players including Peters and also RFC Plymouth were suspended by RFU. Plymouth Ground closed signalling the end of Plymouth RFC. The rules of professionalism often owed more to politics than finance.Peters, by then 34 and disillusioned with rugby union, was accepted into rugby league. Returning to his native North West of England, Peters played for Barrow-in-Furness in 1913, and then transferred to St. Helens in 1914 until his retirement from rugby

At Isaac Newton Academy the students will be celebrating and reflecting on the achievements of Black and Ethnic Minority groups each week in October. There will also be a special lunch in school to showcase different foods to students and staff on the 22nd October.

Rebecca PriestleyLead Teacher of History

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Well done to the following students who are this week’s Mathematicians of the Moment

Here are the scores after the first week.

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The Mathematics department would like to encourage all students to enter next week’s Mathematician of the Moment competition. Have a look at the problem below.

Answers to be written on a Maths postcard to be placed in the Maths post box no later than 4.10pm on Wednesday 7th October. Good luck and may the best form win!!!

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THIS WEEK IN P.E……………….............AT ISAAC NEWTON ACADEMY Olympic Cycling Trip

On Tuesday 29th September, five INA students had a fantastic opportunity to cycle the four disciplines of track, road, mountain and BMX at the World Class Olympic Velo Park Stratford. It was

an amazing day where pupils conquered their fears, tried new challenges and supported each other throughout. Well done Esher Bahara, Rajan Virdee, Rohan Bhogal, Aqsa Bano Rafiq and Aniqa

Ahmed on your achievements!

Fixtures last week….Year 8 1st Football Team started their season off with a double header against Forest Academy. The game was very close after 20 minutes with the score stalemate at 2-2. With INA loosing focus and concentration for 10 minutes in the game they found themselves 6-2 down at half time. The team showed great character and perseverance to continue to battle throughout the 2nd half. As the final whistle blew the scores was 7-3 to Forest Academy. There were some outstanding performances from Zayd Selant, Faruq Sultan and Abdi Omar.

Year 9 FootballThe Year 9 Boys Football team have had a mixed start to the season with 2 games played as far. They started their campaign last Thursday with a hard fought 2-1 win against King Solomon. Goals from Gyane Sanderson and Max Cameron-George saw INA battle to victory. Man of the match, with a composed display where he hardly gave the ball away, was Jonah Robinson. On Wednesday of this week the side went to Wanstead High School to play in the first round of the cup. Yameen Aslam put INA in front with a very good finish on his left foot. However, Wanstead ended up being too strong for the boys on the day, running out 4-1 winners. Man of the match on this occasion was Max Cameron-George.

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THIS WEEK IN P.E……………….............AT ISAAC NEWTON ACADEMY

IMPROVE YOUR SKILLS! TRY

SOMETHING NEW! KEEP FIT! MAKE

NEW FRIENDS! UNLEASH YOUR

ENERGY! INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF

GETTING INTO A TEAM!

Fixtures coming up…..• 5th October year 10 1st football team vs Chadwell Heath (away)• 7th October Yr 7 1st football team vs Mayfield (Home)• Year 8 1st football team vs Valentines (Away)• 8th October Year 9 & 10 Netball team vs Ursaline (Home) Year 9 1st football team vs Loxford (away)

PE department extra-curricular and enrichment clubs

After school

Lunch time clubs

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AT

TE

ND

AN

CE

Year Groups

Leanne Abbott-JonesYear 9 Pastoral Leader

Year 7 84.8%

Year 9 82.3%

Regular attendance is a crucial factor in students’ educational development and ability to achieve their full potential.

At Isaac Newton Academy every student is set the target of 100% attendance. We know that attendance has a direct link to progress, and would urge you to really consider if a day off school is necessary.

The attendance totals for all tutor groups were lower than usual last week, due to a number of students taking part of a day, or a full day off to celebrate Eid.

I hope to be able to share the news that many tutor groups have achieved the 100% target next week.

7N 88.3% 8A 83% 9A 81.8% 10I 86.8%

7C 87.4% 8T 82.4% 9W 86.1% 10N 85%

7T 87.4% 8N 82.2% 9S 85.9% 10T 85%

7I 84.8% 8I 81.8% 9I 85% 10C 83.6%

7S 84.3% 8C 80% 9T 81.5% 10E 83.3%

7E 82.8% 8S 77.1% 9C 80.9% 10S 81%

7A 82.4% 8E 75.6% 9N 78.3% 10A 79.4%

7W 79.4% 8W 69.6% 9E 76.3% 10W 77%

Year 10 82.6%P

rais

e and

Rec

ogni

tion

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Pra

ise a

nd R

ecog

niti

on

Form Totals

M e r i t s

Jennifer ByrneYear 8 Pastoral Leader, i/c Praise and Recognition

Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10

S 151 C 128 T 188 W 42

E 141 I 105 E 148 E 39

T 133 N 101 N 52 T 27

C 121 T 99 S 51 I 28

I 115 S 98 W 45 N 23

A 108 A 85 I 44 S 22

N 69 W 83 C 35 A 20

W 65 E 80 A 27 C 15

Ahmed Al-Khafaji Award (Peer Commendation Award)After consultation with students, I am pleased to announce a new award at Isaac Newton Academy: the Ahmed Al-Khafaji Award (Peer Commendation Award). This award will be decided by students rather than teachers. Each year group will have their own trophy which will have Ahmed’s name engraved at the bottom. The idea is that the previous week’s recipient decides the next week’s winner. The previous winner will award it to the next winner, stating their reason at their year group assembly. Ahmed was well known for being kind, for helping others and for being extremely polite. He was also someone known for his hard work and absorption; the idea, therefore, is that the winner should be someone that encapsulated one of these qualities in that week. It might be that the previous week’s winner saw how well the next winner helped out people in his/her group during group work, or perhaps he/she saw a potential winner helping someone out who fell or perhaps they saw how hard the winner worked on an IL project.

The first awards will be decided by Pastoral Leaders and given out in the next year group assemblies.

Good Deed FeedHave you seen someone do a good deed either in or outside of school? Please make sure to let your Pastoral Leader know as their name and good deed could appear on the digital screens around school very soon!

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Saturday Stretch: Law

On the 26th of September, INA welcomed Michelle Manyati, a Law undergraduate from Southampton University. Her Saturday Stretch session was

delivered to twenty three students across years 8, 9 and 10.

The session began with Michelle speaking to the students about her journey from Zimbabwe to Britain; at the age of 8 Michelle spoke very limited English. She focussed all of her energy into her education and is now thrilled to be studying Law at her university of choice.

Michelle opened the session by defining murder; murder is defined as the unlawful killing of a reasonable person, under the queen’s peace, with malice aforethought, express or implied. As a group, we broke down what this really meant and arrived at the conclusion that actually the law can be very ambiguous and is often open to interpretation. We contextualised our understanding with some very rich discussions about crimes we know about from the media such as the case of Stephen Lawrence and the Hillsborough disaster. We then moved onto learning about the different types of defense that can be used to pardon a defendant to include self-defense, mental instability and even pre-menstrual tension!

After discussing the roles and responsibilities of a jury, things got very active as we split into various teams to do some research in preparation for our very own live courtroom. We appointed both a defense and a prosecution team, we cast a defendant (a jealous husband charged with the murder of his wife’s lover), a grief-stricken wife, a witness for both the defense and prosecution, a jury and of course a judge. We used the laptops to conduct some research on the case and there was certainly an air of competition in the room!

The court case itself was very heated both the defense and the prosecution put forward well-reasoned arguments. The jury decided that the defendant was guilty with an almost unanimous vote. All in all, it was a fantastic experience and opened the students’ eyes to a possible route of study at university. Michelle, who delivered the session said “I found the students of INA very friendly and open, I saw some future ruthless lawyers amongst them!”.

MS Rayner, Saturday Stretch Coordinator

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Music Recital

The 1st Music Recital of the year will be on Thursday 12th November at 6pm. It is an opportunity for students to perform in a small space in front of a small audience. Students are welcome to sing, rap or perform on any instrument they play in or out of school. We would like to invite

students from all year groups to sign up on the sheet in F26 if you would like to take part.

Ms HopeMusic teacher

Year 7 Settl ing In Evening Wednesday 21st October 6.00-7.00pm

How we build learning power and develop character at Isaac Newton Academy

“We build too many walls and not enough bridges.” Isaac Newton

The secondary BRIDGES programme commences on Monday 14th September. BRIDGES are habits of mind or learning characteristics that develop a student's character and learning power and enable them to grow into well rounded individuals and resilient learners.

On a two weekly cycle throughout the year, Year 7 and 8 students are introduced to one or two new habits of mind or learning characteristics that will permeate throughout the curriculum. This will take place through a range of interactive activities. In addition, the students will experience BRIDGES learning objectives in each and every lesson throughout Isaac Newton Academy. Year 9 BRIDGES lessons will focus on strengthening certain BRIDGES learning characteristics through exploration of PHSE topics and themes.

Each fortnight you will find top tips in the newsletter of ways of supporting your child to develop the BRIDGES habits of mind and learning characteristics within the home.

B R I D G E S

Our Settling In Evening for parents/carers of Year 7 students will take place on Wednesday 21st October 2015 from 6.00pm to 7.30pm. It is important that every Year 7 student is represented by his/her parents/carers.

The Settling In Evening is an opportunity to learn more about key policies, such as Behaviour for Learning, Independent Learning and Pastoral Care, and how we measure and track attainment and progress at INA. We will also explain a little more about the BRIDGES lessons at INA. We will offer advice on how you can most effectively support your child with Independent Learning and reading.

Following the presentations, there will be an opportunity to meet other parents/carers, the senior leadership team and your child’s Pastoral Leader in the dining room and to visit our school library.

We look forward to seeing the parents of every Year 7 student at this key transition event.

Jo Spencer, Vice Principal Jody Lapish, Year 7 Pastoral Leader

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I N A B R I D G E S A d a p t a b i l i t y a n d F l e x i b i l i t y

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A d a p t a b i l i t y a n d F l e x i b i l i t y

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Key Dates for the Autumn Term 2015: Secondary

Tuesday 6th October Open Evening 6-8pm. Wednesday 7th October School starts at 9.25am8th, 9th & 12th October Open Mornings 9amThursday 15th October Parent Workshop re BRIDGESSaturday 17th October Saturday Stretch: MedicineTuesday 20th October GCSE Music performanceWednesday 21st October̀ Year 7 Settling In Parents Evening, incl Library Induction26 – 30 October HALF TERMMonday 2nd November Staff Training: school closed to studentsThursday 5th November Parent Workshop re safetyWednesday 11th November Year 7 Maths ChallengeWednesday 11th November Shakespeare Schools FestivalThursday 12th November Music recitalThursday 19th November Parent Workshop re LiteracyWednesday 25th November Staff Training: school closed to studentsSaturday 28th November Saturday Stretch: PsychologyTuesday 1st December Year 9 Options EveningTuesday 8th December Community PartyFriday 11th December Christmas LunchSaturday 12th December Saturday Stretch: GeographyThursday 17th December Winter ConcertFriday 18th December Awards Assemblies. Term ends at lunch time.

Spring Term

Monday 4th January - Thursday 24th MarchHalf Term 15th - 19th FebruaryINSET days: Monday 4th January and Friday 12th February

Summer Term

Monday 11th April - Wednesday 20th JulyHalf Term 30th May - 3rd JuneINSET days: Thursday 23rd and Friday 24th June, Friday 8th July