Dear Parent/Carer,
It has been a very busy start to 2022 with so much happening around school, despite the ongoing issues with staff and student absence caused by the pandemic. We continue to be thankful for the support of parents/carers in such challenging times. There has been such a buzz around the academy, which we have all missed so much!
Vocabulary at NGA
This term, we have done an awful lot of work with students and their teachers on enriching and broadening their academic vocabulary. Students are taught ambitious and challenging vocabulary explicitly in every lesson to ensure that we are introducing them to, and helping them to become fluent in, academic language from year 7 and building this through into year 11. Words such as megalomania, hierarchy, patriarchy, syncopation and phototropism, along with so many others, have become commonplace around school, as well as the 50 most common and general academic words that students will encounter over the course of their lives. Words like validity, component and era are again explicitly taught to our students in a strategic and sequenced way to launch our students confidently into a superb academic future at the school!
Year 11 information and revision evening
We were delighted to welcome year 11 students and their parents to the school who braved a wild and windy Wednesday 16th February to begin the vital work of helping and supporting year 11 revision and thus giving the students the best possible chance of excelling in their GCSEs. The evening was introduced by Mr Easton, Mr Ayres and Mr Fryer before parents were invited to return to the classroom once again, only this time accompanied by their sons and daughters to find out how best to facilitate effective revision and learning habits at home. They did so under the expert guidance of Mrs Coverdale, Miss Willis and Mrs Stewart Heads of English, Maths and Science respectively. After a difficult few years and the huge disruption caused by the pandemic, the link between the community and the school is more important than ever in helping our precious young people build a bright future. Thanks so much to the huge number of families who braved Storm Dudley to attend!
Attendance & Punctuality
As a school, we want the best for our students and that is why we have a strict policy in place to ensure attendance is good. There is a very clear link between attendance and ensuring that grades are higher. Poor attendance has a negative impact on future outcomes and opportunities in further education/apprenticeships, which are so often denied to young people because of a poor attendance record that they may hold. We want to stop this from happening to our students!
Please can I remind you all that holidays will not be authorised during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances. Again, too much valuable learning time can be lost. Medical and other appointments should be made outside of school hours wherever possible and we do reserve the right to request to see appointment confirmation letters.
Sanctions will be imposed for repeated poor attendance or punctuality. If improvements do not occur as a result of these measures then legal action can and will take place.
We do have many attendance incentives across the school and students can be well rewarded for good attendance. Recent incentives have included Love2Shop vouchers, film screenings, take away pizza, and we have some great trips out of school arranged for next half term.
Attendance is a shared responsibility between the school, student and parent or carer. Let’s work together to improve the prospects of our young people!
If you would like to discuss attendance further then please contact school on admin@northgosforth.co.uk or 0191 236 1700.
Junior Leadership Team
NGA’s new Junior Leadership Team will take up their new posts after half-term, students from each form class have applied and 2 have been chosen to represent their class.
Our Junior Leadership Team is an opportunity for students to have a wider role in shaping the future of our school.
The role of the JLT is in truth up to our students, but in general, students will have a say in things like:
- The general day to day running of school life.
- Meeting with the senior leadership team to help to shape policies.
- Meeting with Governors to discuss the vision for the school.
- Helping to interview new staff members on interview days.
- Have an active role in developing the Learning for Life curriculum.
Introduction to UK Parliament
On Thursday 17th February, NGA was delighted to welcome North Tyneside MP Mary Glindon, along with Gillian Bell (a Senior Education & Engagement Officer for Parliament) into school to deliver assemblies to all year groups and run a workshop with our newly elected Junior Leadership team representatives from years 7 to 9.
In the assemblies, the students were taught about how the UK Parliament and government work and how laws are created. The students were also given the opportunity to ask questions. There were some very insightful and wide ranging questions asked in all assemblies, and both Gillian and Mary spoke very highly of our students, praising their behaviour and engagement.
In the afternoon, Gillian led a workshop with 26 students from years 7 to 9 who have all been appointed to be representatives on the Junior Leadership Team. The students were tasked with creating their own bill in small groups, which was then debated and voted on by the rest of the group. There ensued a very lively debate, worthy of the House of Commons, and the students did themselves, the school and their parents and carers proud with the passion, knowledge and thoughtfulness that they demonstrated in the session.
PROUD event
We were delighted to host members of our Academy Advisory Group into school on the 11th February- this coincided with our third PROUD event for Year 7 and Year 8 students. Students were asked to bring along work that they had made the most improvements in this half term and it’s safe to say that we were extremely busy! It is a highlight for all members of our community to come together and celebrate the phenomenal effort that is put in in our classrooms on a daily basis. Sometimes it is vital to just pause for a moment and ensure that this is celebrated and rewarded properly. Well done to the hordes of students who volunteered to come down and share their achievements with us!
Design Technology
We are very proud of our Year 9 students who have completed their accessory boxes this half term. This is the largest project they have undertaken so far and it gives them a flavour of the size and scale of the GCSE project in Year 11. We are really pleased with the results and all students were very proud of their hard work and achievements. On the slideshow below you can see some examples of the hand drawn and computer aided design work as well as their final practical outcomes.
Spanish Spelling Bee
Students have been working very hard in languages to prepare for the Spanish Spelling Bee after half term. There are 2 separate competitions - one for year 7 students and one for year 8 students. Students will first of all be competing against each group within their class and they will then go head to head in the final against the winning teams from other classes. Students have been given a set of words to learn in the run up to the Spelling Bee. Good luck to all who are taking part!
Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year started on 1st February this year, Year 7 and 8 classes learned about traditions for what China calls the Spring Festival. We welcomed the Year of the Tiger by decorating our doors with Chinese 'door couplets' made by Year 8. With help from Art club, we made a Wishing Tree for reception, which was covered in traditional red envelopes made by Year 7.
That wasn't all - our Food Tech department were keen to get involved, so North Gosforth students have made Chinese dumplings for the first time! Chinese families make and eat these together every year at this time of year.
If you haven't sampled them already, your child might be making them after half term, so watch out for those!
Sport and Extra Curricular news
- U14 basketballers were involved in the North Tyneside CVL at Burnside this week. The boys have been coming in huge numbers every week to lunchtime basketball and their dedication is paying off!
- U13 Netball won two games vs Marden Bridge and Kings on Monday. Points were scored by Aimee Welford and Brooke Pearcy.
- Y10 boys footballers beat NSB 3-1 last week.
- U14 girls football activators are now in place - the girls got their hoodies last week and are going to be responsible for promoting football to other students.
- U13 girls badminton enjoyed the North Tyneside CVL competition at John Spence last month. The girls represented the school so well!
- U14 girls football CVL has one final date left. Last month, the girls played John Spence, Valley Gardens and Marden. Their attitude was outstanding and was commented on by staff at other schools. Well done everyone!
We are very proud of the extracurricular activities that we offer as a school and are delighted to say that we regularly have over 300 students participating each week. Examples of the activities on offer are our Spanish cinema club, chess club, art club, Masterchef, basketball, fitness etc. and you can find the timetable attached below.
NGA Masterchef
Masterchef runs every Thursday night from 3.10-4.30pm. It is open to students in year 9-11 on a first come first basis and allows students the opportunity to develop their cooking skills.
Last week Oliver, Kole and Danny in Year 10 all made their own pasta and it was delicious!
I wish you all a lovely half term break and look forward to seeing students back in school on Monday 28th February.
Pete Fox
Principal