Summer Term 2014— edition 166 — Page 1
Taking to the skies
For the past two years, Daniel Batchelor (Y11) has been following
his dream to fly. Daniel has been a junior member of Staffordshire
Gliding Club and his ambition has been to fly a glider. Meeting each
weekend, Daniel has attended as often as he could (time and weather permitting) to work and fly with the club. As well as flying, there
is a need to ‘retrieve’ gliders when they land by towing them behind
an adapted golf buggy. Daniel has had 65 flights during his time at
the club, and, in March 2014, he successfully completed his first solo
flight – an amazing achievement considering he is not yet old
enough to drive a car! Daniel has now completed several more solo
flights with an aim to be ‘soaring’ long distance in the coming
months. Daniel is also a keen member of the Air Cadets and has applied for a flying scholarship to obtain his wings.
Drayton Manor challenge
A group of year 9 students represented Shire Oak Academy in this year’s Education Business Partnership Challenge at
Drayton Manor Park. The main challenge for the day was to plan for the regeneration of a run down zone within the
park to include two new rides, new merchandise and catering facilities. Following a tour of the existing zone to be
regenerated the group got to work and had less than two hours to design all the new features and present their ideas
and designs to a panel of business advisors. Team Shire Oak were up against eight other schools and faced some
tough opposition, however they came through victorious to win the overall challenge. “It was brilliant creating new
rides and being part of the regeneration programme taking place at Drayton Manor” – Albert Thompson (Year 9).
Their designs included a new music zone which played current chart hits, a food dispensing cart in the shape of a
musical note, an elevator with a choice of rides, music based food products and merchandise. Drayton Manor were
very impressed with team Shire Oak’s ideas designs and may use them in their future plans for the park’s development. The year 9 students demonstrated a fantastic display, they were Maia Kaur, Joseph Wood, Chloe Lakin, Albert
Thompson, Eloise Turner, Zak Wyton, Lewis Roberts, Adam Hayes, Katie Meakin and Isabelle Webster.
Summer Term 2014 — edition 166 — Page 2
Walsall Netball League 2014
The Shire Oak Academy netball teams have participated in the Walsall Schools’ Netball League this half term. The
squads have shown an incredible commitment to the academy by training every Monday night and contesting
fixtures each Wednesday. League results will be published in due course but before then a huge thank you to all
squad members and congratulations to all the girls that have played this season.
Year 7 squad : Elle Smith, Lauren Rankin, Niamh Lidgbird, Amber Lole-Millard, Libby Porter, Luichai Mattinson, Ellie
Benton, Molly Davies, and Shannon Staples.
Year 8 squad: Jess Harvey, Harriet Edwards, Molly Burgess, Brodie Meredith, Kate Beresford, Elise Stewart, Tasha
Greenwood, Abi Boulter, Sam Kelley, and Demi Wilkes.
Year 9 and 10 squad: A special mention to the year 9 girls who entered both the year 9 and year 10 leagues.
Maggie Broomer, Isabelle Webster, Mia Stone, Georgiamai Storey, Abi Geoghan, Ellie Cooling, Chloe Baker, Elouise
Turner, Emily Couchman, Rachel Duckham, Lauren Hickinbottom, Charlotte Simms, Ellie Chalk, Lydia TaylorWilliams, Ellie Hampson, Chloe Lakin, Isobelle Price, Chloe Lindsay, Hollie Adshead and Imogen Bennett.
Year 11 squad: Ellie Copeland, Tyler Kent, Ashton O’Connor, Jade Davies, Eden Meredith, Tatenda Mtetwo, Hollie
Auburn and Millie Williams.
Skills Factory Challenge Event
A group of our students had a great day at the
‘Skills Factory Challenge Event’ recently. They
worked really hard and behaved impeccably. We
did not win the main event but did win the health
and safety award for being the tidiest group of
students. Well done!
River Wye Canoe Club Trip
The second Shire Oak Academy Canoe Club
weekend river trip built on the success of the
first one last autumn. Tom Andrews, Alex Fulford, Josh Garrington, Connor Lloyd, Max Clinton,
Joe Cooper, Mitch Riggan, Jake Arnold, Jack
Sears, Mykolas Cerniauskas, Roger Mead, Josh
Tomlin, Cameron Thomson and Cameron Mountford joined Mr Eley, Mr Deavall and canoe coaches Mark and Nick on a two day river trip, based
at Biblins Youth camp, near Symonds Yat in Herefordshire. After settling in and an evening meal
of chicken curry, the group started gathering the
wood for the log burner. Unfortunately Jake had
an argument with an axe and ended up in A&E at
Hereford hospital with Mr Eley and
Mark. Meanwhile Mr Deavall and Nick took the
other students on a night walk through the
woods to Symonds Yat - no injuries here, fortunately. 15 weary faces ariose for the first day’s
river trip on Saturday morning. The group was
joined by Nick, at Kerne Bridge, where we got on
the river. The water was fairly high, meaning
there were plenty of fast bits of water to challenge the paddlers. After a break for lunch, we
arrived at Symonds Yat, home to the infamous
Symonds Yat rapids. Paddlers from all round
England and Wales come to these rapids to practise their white water skills. The first open boats
successfully made it down the rapids.
Then came Jack Sears on Mr Deavall’s sit on top. Having navigated safely down the rapids, he turned too quickly to get into
the final eddy and ended up having a swim. Mr Eley made sure
Jack was ok before setting off to recover Mr Deavall’s sit on top
and paddle. All other students made it through the rapids
safely. Four boats were then carried along the river bank to
get back to the top of the rapids so students could have another go down them.
Meanwhile Mr Eley and Mark showed students how to ferry
glide across the river, only to both end up having swims,
through lapses in concentration.
The four boats successfully made it down, although Alex and
Josh and Max got to the bottom with their boats going backwards. Saturday evening saw weary bodies forced into another
night walk after lashings of spaghetti bolognaise for tea. Sunday heralded a sunny day with some beautiful scenery. A lunch
on the river bank and another quick paddle and we arrived at
our destination in Monmouth.
All in all a cracking weekend was had by all.
The next canoe club weekend will be in September. The
plan this time is to camp, so more fun and games await.
Curriculum Award 2000 and 2002