Easter Newsletter 2013 - Whitley Academy

Dear Parent / Carer
Welcome to our Spring Newsletter. You will see there is a fantastic
collection of exciting visits, trips and events ranging from the purely
academic to the outright principle of having fun and raising money for
Comic Relief!
This term there has been a big emphasis on student preparation for
their external examinations as year 11 and year 13 near the end of their
courses. Please continue to support your sons/daughters hard work
and commitment to their studies. The Easter holiday school timetable is
enclosed and we urge you to encourage your child to attend.
I hope you enjoy the newsletter and wish you a Happy Easter.
Mrs Allen
Principal

What’s it all about?
Welcome to Whitley Arts! The project idea of Whitley Arts was commissioned by the
Principal, Mrs Allen, after initial discussion with the Art department and the Business
manager. The aim is to develop an ecommerce website to sell unique student
artwork, whilst at the same time showcasing the excellence of Whitley Academy
students to a local and national audience.
The Principal perceives there to be a significant gap in this area, not just for Whitley
Academy, but for all schools. If successful, this project could be rolled out through
the Family of RSA Academies and beyond.
We hope you enjoy our ‘student showcase’ of talent, please view our website to
view and purchase our students work. Monies raised from the ecommerce site and
purchase of student Art will help support the Arts, the students, and their learning.
Please visit our website at:
www.whitleyarts.co.uk
The shop is now up and running!

Teachers Bake Off and the Harlem Shake!
Mrs Allen and Mr Taitt getting down with the kids doing
the Harlem Shake for charity
Congratulations to team Roberts who won the teacher’s
blindfold bakeoff. Mr Purslow was very naughty and not
only cheated, but also ruined Miss Sloyan’s cake.

On 29 th of January, thirty Year 11 students attended the “Poetry Live!” revision conference at Birmingham
Symphony Hall to see, as the title suggests, poets performing live, as a part of their preparation for
English Literature GCSE. The challenge was laid down – can poetry be anything other than dull and
dusty?
The event kicked off prestigiously with the current Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy and Gillian Clarke, the
National Poet of Wales. Their thoughtful – and thought-provoking – contribution was warmly received,
although the next poet, Simon Armitage was an instant hit, his sardonic approach appealing to the
masses, although he also provided one of the more moving moments of the day when he shared his
recollections making a documentary on the 9/11 bombings and the poem he wrote after watching footage
of one of the victims waving from a window before jumping to their death.
The final poet was perhaps the biggest hit of the day: John Agard’s enthusiastic, energetic readings are
guaranteed to raise a smile, no matter what your opinion is of “poetry”. If the organisers’ mission was to
show that poetry isn’t all about dusty old books but instead about real things that we share in our lives
then “mission accomplished”.
Checking Out Me History by John Agard
Dem tell me
Dem tell me
Wha dem want to tell me
Bandage up me eye with me own history
Blind me to me own identity
Dem tell me about 1066 and all dat
Dem tell me bout Dick Wittington and he cat
But Toussaint L’Ouverture
No dem never tell me bout dat
Toussaint
A slave
With vision
Lick back
Napoleon
Battalion
And first black
Republic born
Toussaint de thorn
To de French
Toussant de beacon
Of de Haitian Revolution
Dem tell me bout de man who discover de balloon
And de cow who jump over de moon
Dem tell me bout de dish ran away with de spoon
But dem never tell me but Nanny de maroon
Nanny
See-far woman
Of mountain dream
Fire-woman struggle
Hopeful stream
To freedom river
Dem tell me bout Lord Nelsom and Wateloo
But dem never tell me bout Shaka de great Zulu
Dem tell me bout Columbus and 1492
But what happen to de Caribs and de Arawaks too
Dem tell bout Florence Nightingale and she lamp
And how Robin Hood used to camp
Dem tell me bout ole King Cole was a merry ole soul
But dem never tell me bout Mary Seacole
From Jamaica
She travel dar
To the Crimean War
She volunteer to go
And even when de British said no
She still brave the Russian snow
A healing star
Among the wounded
A yellow sunrise
To the dying
Dem tell me
Dem tell me wha dem want to tell me
But now I checking out me own history
I carving out me identity

Seven students in 7C have become published authors, winning a competition to write a short story
connected with Roald Dahl and his books.
Some students linked their stories to ‘Matilda’ and some to ‘Charlie and The Chocolate Factory’ putting
a new spin on these well loved tales. Their short stories appear in a collection which has been
published as a book and their writing is displayed in the foyer of the academy. Well done, budding
authors of 7C!
To read our student’s stories please visit our
website under the latest news section

Some students in Year 10 were lucky enough to have
Professor Clare Wood come and visit to run a
workshop on texting and internet messaging.
Year 10 are exploring the view that text and internet
language are very creative forms of language for their
English Language GCSE. Mobile phones often get a
bad press and much has been written about the
negative impact texting and messaging has on
children’s spelling and punctuation.
Clare, however, has discovered that texting actually
helps children to learn standard English grammar and
spelling. Year 10 students asked her about her
research, their own ways of texting and how Twitter
has changed the way that people communicate.
All in all the students got a lot from the session,
particularly to use in their Controlled Assessment, and
Clare said that she got some useful ideas for her
research from our students that she plans to
follow-up!
Mrs Secker - English Department

Year 7 French Day
Friday 18th January 2013
On the 18th of January, Whitley Academy held a French Day
for year 7. The event was organised by Mr Purslow – Head of
MFL and Heleena Chauhan – a year 12 student.
There was a huge variety of activities for the pupils to enjoy.
There were Art lessons, Drama, cooking, fashion and a
range of other events.
In Art with Miss Bradshaw, pupils from 7B were making
paper lilies in the style of Claude Monet - a famous French
artist.
Charlie from 7B said “It’s fun, I like origami, and I do it at
home a lot”.
In a drama lesson Miss Burton was teaching about mime and
physical theatre. It was a very fascinating lesson.
Also in Food room the class of 7A they were making
profiteroles. Can you imagine how you would feel with a big
plate full of profiteroles topping with chocolate? They were
delicious! Year 7 had an extremely lovely French Day!

Royal Navy Cooks
Wednesday 30 th January 2013
Chefs from The Royal Navy spent a day’s visit to
Whitley Academy to teach GCSE Catering students
how to create a main meal for fellow Navy officers.
Students made a chicken curry dish with pasta. They
were also taught about the benefits of healthy eating
required for the officers due to the physical work they
conduct.
Students all had a very enjoyable day working under
the pressures of a real chef.
All students were also introduced to a secret ingredient
required in a curry dish…. which was a coconut
chocolate bar. Due to shelf life and accessibility of
ingredients when chefs are working on the submarines
they need to have long life products. The coconut
chocolate bar added a sweet but creamy flavour to the
curry pasta.
Mrs Devgun – Catering teacher

GCSE Mathematics
Parents Information Evening
Wednesday 30 th January 2013
Parents of GCSE students were invited to Whitley
Academy on the evening of Wednesday 30th January
2013 to learn more about the different ways that students
can be helped outside of the classroom.
This included demonstrations of online learning
resources subscribed by Whitley Academy, and looking
closely at how questions are asked and written in the
current exam format.
Parents also had the opportunity to look at a
personalised analysis of their child’s previous exam
results with hints and tips of how to improve next time.
Sessions were held for parents of students at all levels,
from those aiming to achieve a grade C, right up to those
who were reaching for the heights of the A/A* grades.
Mr Skelton – Curriculum Leader Maths Department

My Money – I Care!
Monday 4 th February 2013
“Our Year 7 students enjoyed a very full session of
activities working with our Academy sponsors, RSA,
and a new initiative, ‘MyBnk’.
The day focused upon Money, in all its different guises
and forms. This developed into considering what Legal
Tender actually meant and finally, a comprehensive
look at foreign currencies and exchange rates.
The external deliverers, ‘MyBnk’, commented on the
student’s enthusiasm and endeavour in making sure
that every activity was completed with real
commitment.
This is certainly a day that will be repeated in the very
near future!”
Mr Price – Business Teacher
My Morning ICT Showcase at
Whitley Academy
Thursday 7th February 2013
The ICT department has been liaising with the
community by inviting local primary schools in to
teach ICT to groups of pupils. This is a benefit to
both Whitley Primary and Whitley Academy
because the primary school teachers are
supported to develop and enrich the pupils ICT
skills.
The pupils worked on a project where they used
and developed their own spreadsheet database,
they then used the database to set up filters
which allowed them to find specific data that
they could then use to produce a set of
publications for a given scenario.
Mr Patel –Deputy Curriculum Leader ICT

Girl’s PE
It has been quite a relaxed term in girls PE as the
majority of our matches were played in the Autumn
term.
Both Year 9 and Year 10 came 2 nd in their rowing
tournament earlier this month, showing great
enthusiasm and competitiveness. We also had some
Year 7, 8 and 9 girls take part in the Coventry
Schools Swimming Gala last week. They
demonstrated excellent perseverance, gaining 5 th
place overall.
The girls in Year 7 and 8 did us proud on Monday
11th March participating in the Warwickshire Schools
football final. A brilliant performance was given by
each of the girls, but they were unfortunate to be up
against some other very talented players.
Netball matches have been quiet this term, although
some outstanding matches have been played
against Sidney Stringer. The Year 7’s have a netball
rally to look forward to on Saturday 16 th March,
where they are up against some very tough
competition. Both Miss Brown and Miss Sloyan are
now looking ahead to the summer term, getting lots
and lots of rounders competitions and athletics
meets organised. Let’s just hope we have some
lovely sunny weather!!
Post 16 BTEC Sport students have been out and
about this week visiting Coventry University sports
science lab. Four students from Post 16 attended an
external workshop based around cardiovascular
responses to exercise. A big well done to Toby,
Jack, Liam and Josh who really extended their
subject knowledge through the use of: ECG’s; blood
pressure equipment; and fitness tests, such as the
Wingate!
It is not long now until the eagerly awaited school ski
trip to Alpes D’Huez. Both pupils and teachers are
counting down the days and have two sessions at
Ackers dry ski slope (14 th /21 st March) to get them
ready for their skiing adventure.
The Year 8’s are also eagerly awaiting their trip to
Doly Moch at the end of April where they will have a
fun filled and challenging residential trip for four days
as they will participate in numerous amounts of
individual and team challenges such as gorge
walking, kayaking, rock climbing, raft building and
many more exciting activities.
We look forward to a fantastic summer term of sport
and urge all of our ambassadors to continue making
Whitley Academy proud!
Boy’s PE
City Football Leagues
Although the New Year has bought some inclement
weather which has reduced the number of fixtures
being fulfilled, the City wide Football leagues have
started up again in recent weeks. During this time our
teams have had some very pleasing results in both
league and cup competitions against some
challenging opponents.
A strong Woodlands team knock unbeaten
Whitley out of Cup competition
After such a promising start to their season (winning
all their previous matches) the Year 7 team were
drawn against a strong Woodlands team in the
Coventry School’s Cup Quarter Final. Although
Woodlands scored two early goals, Whitley
responded with a well taken goal by Riley O’Sullivan
to half the deficit with the score at 2-1 during the halftime
interval. The fight back was momentarily short
lived as Woodlands were awarded a penalty which
they converted and soon after made it 4-1. The team
never gave up and continued to pass the ball to
create several good chances, with one chance falling
to Louis Sweeney who coolly slotted the ball past the
Woodlands keeper to make the score 4-2. With time
running out, Whitley pushed players further up the
pitch to try and get the two goals they needed to take
the tie into extra-time. As a result, this left gaps in the
Whitley defence allowing three unmarked Woodlands
players to attack and score the final goal of the game
to put the result out of Whitley’s reach, losing the
game 5-2.
In their only other fixture, the Year 7’s played against
Grace Academy winning the game 3-1, courtesy of
goals from Riley O’Sullivan and Tyler Dean. This was
another good performance from a very promising
year 7 team.
Back to winning ways for Year 8
The Year 8 team have played two fixtures since
February half-term, losing 8-2 to a well organised
Grace Academy team & winning at home 3-2 against
Stoke Park. The team have also beaten Caludon
Castle this year in another very tight game. All the
pupils involved performed very well and now need to
build on the success with victory in the final fixtures of
the season.

Boys PE Continued...
Progress to the Semi-Final for Year 10
A bitterly cold and windy afternoon at President
Kennedy was the venue for the Year 10’s Coventry
School’s Cup Quarter-Final. The team who were
unbeaten this year faced a President Kennedy team
who were enthusiastic & determined to reverse the
5-1 defeat suffered to them last season. The
Whitley team led by Connor Tallett in the absence
on long-term injury player Tom Neenan started the
game very brightly playing some attractive Football
which seemed to settle the team down. Their
reward for such a positive start was a 3-0 half-time
score line courtesy of well some well taken goals by
Daniel Lamon and Finlay Mbella scoring twice. The
second half followed a similar pattern as the first
with Whitley pressing the ball high up the pitch
causing the President Kennedy players into making
mistakes. Further goals from Daniel Lamon &
Jordan Fesel secured a comfortable 5-0 win setting
up a Semi-Final encounter against Woodlands
School.
Year 11 Basketball
The year 11 team have been working very hard to
improve their skills and team play. With some new
additions to the squad the team have improved and
are performing well. The competed in a tournament
at Blue Coats, and although they only won one of
their games, finished fourth due to an excellent
points difference. In fact all of the games were so
close they only ever lost by 2 x points. The team
also had a fixture against Stoke Park. The Whitley
team played exceptionally well and beat them 38
points to 12. This was an excellent victory. The
stand out performers were Doyle Macheka and
Shekinah Bioko. James Warwick also score 2 x
points, these were his first points scored for the
school!!
Rowing 2013
Whitley entered a boys and girls team for indoor
rowing for years 9 and 10. All teams made a
tremendous effort in their individual 5 minute row
and combined 4 minute relay. The distances
were added together to create an overall team
distance. The year 10 girls fished 4 th overall and
the year 10 boys came in 2 nd , only 198 meters
behind the winning team after a fantastic
individual row from Ellis Checklin. The year 9
girls went onto finish 3 rd overall and year 9 boys
went all out taking 1 st position which qualified
them for the next round. Danny Lamon, Jordan
Fesel, Rhys Wignall and Hugo Hildreth went to
Coventry Sports Centre to represent all the
schools in East Coventry where they finished 6 th
overall with Danny Lamon having the 6 th furthest
individual row from all the competitors across
Coventry and Warwickshire. Well done to all
students who took part.
Year 11 Dodgeball
The year 11’s also had a one of match of
dodgeball against Stoke Park. This was an
enjoyable event for all the boys involved. Again
Whitley were the outright winners, beating Stoke
in 7 out of the 8 games.
Backlog of fixtures as Year 9 team have
games cancelled
As mentioned earlier in the report, the inclement
weather has forced staff to cancel many fixtures
in recent weeks and as a result, the Year 9
team haven’t had a fixture so far this year. We
have re-arranged fixtures for the year group with
Cardinal Wiseman and Grace Academy taking
place week commencing 18th March and the
remaining fixtures taking place after the Easter
holidays.
The year 7
football Team
v’s Grace
Academy Away

A snapshot at the most read authors chosen by Years 7, 8 and 9 students:
Nationally
At our school
1) Roald Dahl & Jeff Kinney (author of
1) Francesca Simon
Diary of a Wimpy Kid series)
2) Francesca Simon (author of Horrid
2) Jacqueline Wilson (especially her very recent
Henry’s series)
books Emerald Hetty Feather)
3) Suzanne Collins (author of Hunger Games 3) Roald Dahl
series)
4) J.K Rowling 4) Cathy Cassidy
5) Michael Morpurgo 5) Jeff Kinney
Trips
29th January: Students of Years 7, 8 and 9 went to Bishop Ullathorne School to meet Deborah White.
Deborah doesn’t write many books for teenage readers however her books ‘Wickedness’ and ‘Deceit’ are
very popular. The story’s backdrop started using the bubonic plague outbreak of 1665-1666, in which 20%
of London’s population died…. and two red-haired girls, fourteen years old and living in London, but four
hundred years apart - are all united by blood and by a devastating prophecy.
We enjoyed Deborah’s talk a lot. She shared with us some facts about London history back in the 1660s.
Accelerated Reading quizzes
Congratulations to the following year 7 students who have tried very hard to read on their own and
completed a lot of quizzes with 100% results during Spring Term:
Imogen Foley 7A
Tayla Twigger 7B
Harrison Osborne 7C
Dafydd Roberts 7D
Rudolfs Raikovskis 7 F

28th February: We went to Westwood School to meet Marcus Alexander. Marcus has a very colourful life
in which he has travelled to many countries around the world (from Asia to South America). He told us
how he felt when he tried to eat snails, snakes and very strange food on his trips.
Origami After School Club
This is our brand-new after school club with 8 very regular club members. It is very relaxing and full of fun.
We make paper cranes, transformers and big flower vases!

Some highlights of our very hectic but rewarding journey:
24 th January: We made ‘ January Winter Wonderland @ Whitley Academy’ as our BBC School Report
Practice Day news.
31 st January: Hot-Spot presentation to teachers in Staffroom
8 th February: report on Tinnitus Week campaign at the school with the participation of Councillor Jim
Cunningham MP, Councillor Jim O'Boyle (Coventry City Council –Children and Young People) and staff of
Action for Hearing Loss (the charity HQ in London)
8th February: Youth Speaks competition at Bablake senior school

Thanks to the commitment of Lisa (PR Ambassador of Sainsbury’s Coventry) we were able to do 3 more
bag packing opportunities (13/2; 15/2 and 7/3) to raise fund for our link-school New Orleans Paarl South
Africa. So far we have raised loads of money!
Thursday 7 th March – Fair Trade Week, Sainsbury’s organised a Fair-Trade workshop for our school bag
packers.
The students got involved in many activities such as ‘Fair-trade treasure hunt’, word-search, Fair-trade
quizzes and an origami activity.
They also had time to go around the shelves on the main floor of the Store to look for Fair-trade products.
The winning teams were given some very nice presents.
Louis 11 years old of 7A said
‘I really enjoy the bag packing experience. It was for a good cause. I learnt a lot from the Fair-trade
workshop like the famers in Africa get fair money from fair trade products and that in the UK Fair-trade
bananas are very well bought by consumers.’

Easter School Time Table 2013
10 -12 noon Lunch 1-3pm
Monday
8 th April
Performing Arts Year 10
MFL Year 11
Business Post 16
English C/D
Performing Arts Year 10
MFL Year 11
English A/A^s
Tuesday
9 th April
Performing Arts Year 10
Citizenship Year 11
GCSE PE Year 11
Business Post 16
Performing Arts Year 10
Citizenship Year 11
GCSE PE Year 11
Wednesday
10 TH April English
Year 11
English
Year 11
Thursday
11 th April
Science Year 11
ICT Year 11
Geography Year 11
Graphics Year 10 & 11
Science Year 11
ICT Year 11
Geography Year 11
Graphics Year 10 & 11
Friday
12 th April
Graphics Year 10 & 11 Graphics Year 10 & 11
Please visit our website for more information regarding KS4 exams
and year 10 and 11 assessment dates/exams.
There is also a useful revision guide for examinations.

A lovely evening was held on Thursday 14th February to celebrate the success and hard work of
our students.
Our guest speaker was Vikki Heywood, Chair of the RSA, which was a real honour. She talked
about her background and success in life to encourage our students to continue to strive after
being the best they can be.
Congratulations to all those that received a prize for their hard work.

Mr Abbott
Years Teaching 65/150
6
Qualifications 100/150
BA Hons Physical Education Secondary with QTS
Currently Teaching 100/150
PE & Citizenship
Hobbies 130/150
Football (Semi-professional level)
Golf (Handicap better than Mr Billyeald)
Badminton
Half-marathon running / General Fitness
Total Score = 395/600

Thurs. 28th March
Mon. 15th April
Tue. 16th April
Mon. 6th May
Thurs. 9th May
Fri. 24th May
Mon. 3rd June
Fri. 28th June
Fri. 12th July
Fri. 19th July
End of Spring Term
Teacher Training Day
Term Starts
May Day
Awards Evening
Half Term
Summer Term Starts
Post 16 Summer Ball
Year 11 Summer Ball
End of Summer Term

Parent governor vacancy
WE CURRENTLY HAVE A VACANCY FOR A PARENT GOVERNOR,
COULD IT BE YOU WE ARE LOOKING FOR?
'School governors are people from the school’s community who wish to
make a positive contribution to children’s education. Qualifications are not
necessary, just an enthusiasm to make a difference.
So what do the Governors at Whitley Academy actually do?
Governors are required to attend meetings each term to monitor, evaluate
and encourage the work of the teaching staff and to ensure that each child is
receiving the best possible opportunities for learning and social interaction.
These meetings are held in the early evening.
In addition Governors are invited to attend socially to get to know staff,
parents and students, i.e. parent consultation evenings, curriculum evenings
and new parent evenings, and on a lighter note our quiz night, Christmas
event, summer festival, sporting events, etc. Governors are very
enthusiastic about their roles but it is recognised that they have a full or parttime
job and other commitments and each governor participates according to
their ability.
Governors are closely linked with the day to day running of the school, and
we currently need a new Parent Governor. Anyone who is interested please
telephone my P.A. Mrs Baker and we will send you some further information.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Mrs Allen

Pay for your SCHOOL
Dinners EVERY Half Term
Please complete the slip below if you would like to pay for your child’s school
dinners every half term.
Pupil Name .........................................................................................................
Parent/Guardian Name .......................................................................................
Contact Telephone Number: ...............................................................................
Whitley Academy’s catering and cleaning department are
committed in working together insuring the health and
wellbeing of each student.
Lakeside Diner have on sale Mucky pups hand foam:
retail at £1. This stops 99.9% of bacteria , viruses, fungi
and bacterial spores.
Catherine Black
Catering / Cleaning Manager

With the health and safety of your chid in mind, could parents/guardians please encourage your child NOT
to congregate around the SITE ENTRANCE before and after school.
If you are collecting/dropping off your child, could you please do
this in Abbey Road, away from the main gates.
Please do not park your car on site, unless there is a medical
condition that the child is unable to walk through the pupil gate.
If you require further assistance please phone the school
reception for advise.
If walking to and from school, please encourage your child to
use the pavement and not the road.
I have been advised by staff that some of our students are not using the Pedestrian Crossings properly on
the London road. Can parents/guardians please remind their sons/daughters only to cross the road when
there is a green signal.
Skateboards
Please do not use skateboards on the school premises, especially near parked cars or on the driveway.
When using skateboards/cycling, please ensure that you are wearing a safety helmet and other PPE
equipment.
Cycling
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 bicycles until they
have left the school grounds.
The Lake
All pupils are reminded to stay away from the
lake. It is deep and not safe.
Post 16
Students and parents are reminded not to bring
any cars past reception towards the Post 16
area, even when dropping off pupils.
Thank you
Mr Singh
Health and Safety Manager

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

(Cook a meal for 4 and take home – class and all food FREE!)

Whitley Academy
Fundraising
CHARITY
Friday 8th May 2013
7.30pm - 1.00am
at the Holiday Inn
London Road, Coventry
Come and help raise money for
our partner school in South Africa, providing much
needed resources that our school takes for granted
£30 per head
For tickets and more details call
Miss Hilditch
on 024 7630 2580