Hadrian’s (Wall) Paper
December 2014
Produced by pupils and staff from Hadrian School
Hadrian School of the Environment, Technology and Design
Often I will write to parents, just as
I am now, to tell you how well things
are going in school. You must
occasionally wonder how I can be so
certain. Well, we have the
examination and test results, of
course, which as you know have
improved considerably every year
since the Academy opened in 2008.
What is particularly impressive is the
achievement and progress of all our
pupils, which places us amongst the
best performing schools in the North
East.
Additionally, as you know, we
monitor and promote good
attendance which has also improved
dramatically in the last six years and
is now regularly at or above national
averages.
Behaviour is, I understand, a major
concern for parents, and you will
doubtless be reassured that our
recent Ofsted inspection in
November confirmed the previous
judgements that pupil behaviour in
and around the Academy is of a high
standard.
goals. The range and quality of
work is brilliant.
As ever, I remain extremely
proud and amazed at the
quality and consistency of
teaching and learning in Hadrian
School and Excelsior Academy.
The staff work extremely hard
to ensure that your son or
daughter enjoys their lessons,
makes progress and achieves
their full potential. I would like
to thank them all publicly for
the outstanding job that they
do. I must also congratulate the
children for continually
stretching the standards and
performing at such a high level.
Most importantly, we look at what I would also like to thank you,
goes on in the classroom. We have the parents and the community
seen pupils demonstrate
for your continued support for
independence, determination,
Hadrian School and Excelsior
problem-solving skills, creativity
Academy.
and team work. We have seen
My best wishes for a wonderful
them express, calculate, act,
Christmas and of course a happy
write, run, cook, sing, read,
and successful New Year.
paint, dance, program and score
Craig Taylor
Excelsior Academy Awards Evening this year was
held at the Centre for Life. The event held on
4th December was again a huge success which
saw over thirty Hadrian pupils presented with
achievement awards. A variety of awards and
prizes were given out to a number of outstanding
Hadrian pupils, ranging across the subjects and
year groups from Year 7 to Year 11. This year's
guest speaker was Jeremy Edwards -TV actor
from Holby City and Hollyoaks.
"I won the award for EAL, it felt good to be
nominated and win, when I had to go to the front
and everyone was looking at me and clapping I
felt happy. I am going to try and get more
awards." Lidia Mihai
"I feel really happy to be nominated and win an
award at the Academy Awards Evening. My award
was for contribution to the school, I would like
to say thank you." Dominic Baird
"It felt amazing to be nominated; I didn't think I
had it in me. On the night I won three awards for
Geography, Hadrian Role Model and Design
Technology. For each one I got a glass trophy."
Nathan Redford.
Season's
Greetings
Academy Awards
Annual Presentation Evening 2014
Celebrating
Achievement
On the last three Tuesdays in December, KS3 and KS4
pupils took part in a Christmas assembly. These
assemblies were to celebrate the achievements of
pupils from Hadrian. Teachers from all subjects had
nominated pupils for effort and attainment, each
pupil who was nominated received a certificate.
Each year group had a subject winner and then an
overall Key Stage 3 or 4 winner was decided. They
all received a Christmas selection box!
The assembly also saw pupils showcasing their
talents by singing and dancing in front of the whole
school. It was a great way to celebrate the
wonderful talent that Hadrian School have and many
pupils are looking forward to the next one.
Chislon Ayoade said "I won my award for ICT. When I
got the award I felt proud and happy of what I have
done since joining Hadrian School".
Georgianna Herman said "When I won the award I was
really excited and happy".
Supporting Charities
Over this term Hadrian School has
supported and raised money for a
number of charities.
A special thanks to Elga Negana and
Salimata Kone who worked tirelessly
selling cakes on Review day to raise
funds for Macmillan Cancer Care. The
overall amount raised for Macmillan by
Hadrian school was a fantastic £81.82,
well done to all involved!
In the week running up to Children In
Need Day, Hadrian School designed a
range of different activities which
would raise money for the charity.
Within Meet and Greet, Break time and
Reading time, Mentor groups and pupil
helpers from all years gathered
together to raise as much money as
possible. The activities that ran
throughout the week were Mentor
competitions, sponsored silences by
selected pupils and Miss Armstrong
organised a daily cake and biscuit sale,
as well as a cake, teddy and a sweet
hamper raffle.
After a very competitive week, Hadrian
school raised an impressive £435. Well
done and thank you to everyone who
took part, amazing team effort!
On 12th December, Hadrian pupils and
staff put on their Christmas Jumpers to
raise money for the Charity Save the
Children. Well done and thank you to
all who contributed and joined in.
Spanish
Spelling Bee
In September all pupils in Key Stage 3 from across the
Academy took part in a Spanish Spelling Bee. Pupils
met up in the Hall to put their Spanish language skills
to the test. In the Year 9 competition - Team Hadrian
came 2nd, in the Year 8 competition Team Hadrian was
triumphant with Anthony Popescu and in Year 7, Lara
Garratt was the winner. Anthony and Lara gave an
account of what happened at the competition.
"In the spelling bee we had to write down words by
listening to them being pronounced. I also had to look
at a word on a piece of paper and pronounce it
correctly. We trained for it by practising what we
would have to do in the competition as a class and had
our own small competitions to decide who got to
compete officially. I felt surprised and excited before
feeling proud of what my mum would say. I really
enjoyed the competition, it was great fun and an
honour to represent Hadrian School. It helped me by
learning how to pronounce words easier and write
them down from hearing them." Lara Garratt
"I felt really happy and proud when I was announced
The Shakespeare Schools Festival is now in its
14th year and this is the second year running
Excelsior Academy has participated in the event.
Pupils from across the Academy came together
to perform Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The
performance was a huge success and received
the highest praise from the festival team and
other schools. Excelsior pupils rehearsed for a
number of weeks after school perfecting their
skills ready for a performance at the Northern
Stage in Newcastle in front of hundreds of
spectators.
the winner. At first when we started I really didn't
think that I would win so it was a bit of a surprise
when I did.
I really enjoyed the competition, it was fun. I
would definitely encourage others to take part
next time as it was a great experience and helped
me to learn Spanish and have fun at the same
time." Anthony Popescu
"Be not afraid
of greatness"
"The more we performed it the
nerves got less and we had fun. I
really enjoyed performing on the
stage." Jemima Kimvula
"It was fun to perform
on stage and I loved
it." Samantha Dixon
"I had butterflies in
my stomach, I didn't
want to do it at first
but it was really fun."
Hannah Johnson
Emma Thompson. Lara Garrett. Lucy Todd. Allan Sanca Gomes, Samantha Dixon, Jodie White,
Sarah Lamb, Hannah Johnson, Jamima Kinvula, and Mr A Davison.
Year 8 leading
the way in Science
For a week in October Year 8 pupils were involved in
a project working with research Scientists in their
Science lessons.
The 'Leading the Way' project involved a real research
scientist from the Centre for Microbial Biology. The
pupils were introduced to the topic of biomarkers and
spent Monday carrying out their practical work.
They were able to extract DNA from strawberries,
extracting juice from apples using enzymes,
agglutination and looking at proteins, they finished
the day with some analysis from the data they had
collected.
The rest of the week was spent working closely with
Scientists who use biomarkers in their research work
on a daily basis. Pupils had to complete a
research poster to provide information on how
and where biomarkers can be used to help us.
Some of the applications of biomarkers they
researched included: Osteoporosis, Ebola,
Diabetes and Breast Cancer. The week closed
with a straw tower building challenge followed by
a celebration assembly where their achievements
were celebrated and a winning research team was
chosen. They will be to spending a day in the lab
with Dr Phillip Aldridge in the New Year.
Dr Aldridge was extremely impressed by the
calibre of work completed by the pupils from
Hadrian School.
Innovation Days
This term the pupils have been taking part in Innovation
Days. An innovation day is where the pupils spend time
with one particular subject doing a variety of fun and
engaging activities. So far the innovation days have
taken the pupils on a number of adventures. Year 7
pupils visited Beamish, Year 8 pupils visited St James'
Park and the Discovery Museum, Year 9 pupils
completed Math challenges and Year 10 pupils visited
Dance City and the beach.
"The best bit of Beamish was when we went into the
houses because it showed what the rooms would have
been like." - Lucy Todd -Year 7
"I really enjoyed the full day but the yummiest bit of
the day was the sweet shop. It was like a world of sugar
rush." - Sarah Lamb - Year 7
"The best thing about Beamish was being with all of the
Year 7 pupils from Hadrian, because this was the first
trip with the full year group. " Kerry Anne Simpson Year 7
"The best thing about today was going to the farm
house and seeing all the animals!" Taiyeb Ahmed Year 7
"The best part of going to St James' Park was the tour
around the ground, it made us realise what the players
must feel like when they walk out of the tunnel."
Aimee Cody - Year 8
"The best part of going to Dance City was learning to
perform a range of different dances. The instructor was
really nice and I will definitely try my best to go to
lessons at the centre." - Year 10 pupil
Hadrian At
The Beacon
Keeping in touch with our parents and the wider community is an
important part of what we do at Excelsior Academy. Every Wednesday
during term time, the Academy is represented at The Beacon, on the
West Road by pupils who are nominated by their School.
Year 9 pupils, Denisa Raiminusova and Lucie Cickova recently
represented Hadrian at the
'Drop in' session. They said,
"When we went to the Beacon
with Mrs Murray we had to
answer questions about
Excelsior Academy. We both
really enjoyed meeting people
and representing Hadrian
school."
Mrs Murray said, "Different
pupils are nominated by their
school each week to attend the
'Drop In's' so during the school
year there can be at least 100
different pupils involved.
Parents can come for a chat
and a coffee either with a
member of staff or with the pupils, whether it is about their child
or one of the many events in our extremely busy Excelsior calendar.
We get so many positive comments about our pupils especially how
smart and well mannered they are every single week".
Year 7 Game
Programming
This term, Year 7 pupils have been learning how to
program their own games. Billy Dodds said, "This
half term we have been making computer games
using a piece of software called Scratch. I designed
and planned my game before using the
programming language to make my own game. I
have really enjoyed making my own game".
"I made the script to make my character move
around my game, I like making games". - Tahmid
Ahmed
"I have enjoyed using Scratch to make games". Marcos Alves
Miss Humphries said, "The pupils have enjoyed
researching, designing, planning and making their
own games. Some pupils have a real gift for games
design and we could end up with a future games
designer from Hadrian School".
Hadrian Supports
The Shoebox Appeal
In November, Hadrian School took part in the 'Operation Christmas Child
Shoebox Appeal' for Samaritan's Purse. Mentor groups set about gathering items
to fill a shoebox with gifts and presents, each mentor group had to try and put
together one shoebox to be sent to a child in another country.
Miss Armstrong said, "There was a huge team effort by Hadrian School, mainly
from our enthusiastic and competitive mentor groups. I would like to thank
Year 8 pupils Jennifer Anderson and Sydney Kirby who supported me by
fundraising and wrapping boxes. After 2 weeks of hard work and goodwill, we
finished on 42 full shoeboxes and raised £60 to post the boxes away. This
doubled the amount of shoeboxes made last year".
Jennifer and Sydney said "When helping Miss Armstrong sort the shoeboxes, it
made us feel trusted and responsible. We felt proud and lucky because we
raised £60 and sent 42 shoeboxes to children for Christmas."
Improving Attendance
This year Mrs Morris and Mr Turley have been working hard to improve
attendance in Hadrian School, overall attendance is now 94.98%.
Mrs Morris said "We would like to say thank you for welcoming us to Hadrian
School. We have seen an improvement in attendance over the term and it is
all down to your continued support and hard work. This week we will be
handing out Kindle Fires for improved attendance and we are looking forward
to awarding more prizes next term".
Hadrian Triumphs in
Intra Schools Competition
In October, approximately 120 Year 8 & 9 pupils
from across the Academy took part in our 'Intra
School Competitions' - Football & Benchball.
It was a very close competition and after all
matches had been played, two teams could not be
separated by points alone therefore, the
results were concluded by goals
scored/goal difference
with Hadrian coming first
in 3 out of 4 categories.
Miss Brunskill - PE teacher
and organiser of the event
said "The pupils' conduct was
exemplary and their effort
outstanding".
Scrum Down
New rugby team off to a great start
PE on twitter
Do you want to know what is happening
within the Excelsior PE team?
Have you got a Twitter account?
If the answer to these two questions is
yes, you should follow ExcelsiorPE on
twitter, there are lots of pictures and
information about our sports teams
uploaded by the PE staff.
www.twitter.com/ExcelsiorPE
DATES
This year has seen the Academy's first
Rugby team start playing competitive
fixtures. Hadrian School is strongly
represented in the Year 8 team by
Dominic Baird, Louis Calvert, Anthony
Popescu, Brandon Davidson, Dylan
Morris and Kurtis Chapman.
Over the course of this term, the team
has been to two Newcastle Schools'
tournaments and are looking to
continue the success in the New Year
with more fixtures. Training is on
Tuesday after school and the team is
always looking for new players. If you
would like any more information
please see Mr Pluskal.
Start of Spring Term
Monday 5th January 2015
Half Term
16th - 20th February 2015
Review Day
Friday 27th March 2015
End of Spring Term
Thursday 2nd April 2015