This term, Jason Wright, owner of J Wright Roofing, has provided the funding for our Construction Department that provides an early introduction to the learning of trade skills that has now expanded into bigger premises due to the increased take-up.
Our Head Teacher, Mr Fisher, worked together with Jason on a similar project from 2008 until now at Bulwell Academy.
The extended department was officially opened earlier this term by the Rt Hon Robert Jenrick, MP for Newark.
Representatives from Newark construction businesses Gusto Homes and Derry Building Services were present at the official opening to meet the students and staff.
The project will teach and develop a number of skills to the students and provide a direct link to the industry, including post-16 apprenticeships.
Mr Fisher said: “I am incredibly proud to be able to offer our students a variety of routes through their education experiences whilst at Newark Academy, and of the staff who enable that. We are passionate about ensuring students have the knowledge and skills to achieve their ambitions and the construction department is providing it for this group of students. It is fantastic to have Derry and Gusto, two significant figures within the local area onboard and we hope to forge strong relationships which will support our students on their journey.”
Jason said: “The reason I got involved is that as a local company we were struggling to get apprentices and, not just apprentices, but the right calibre apprentices. If a local business like Derry or Gusto wants to take on a youngster, this is on their doorstep. For me as a company, it’s creating a lasting legacy, which then creates this conveyor belt of talent coming through, and that’s what we’re trying to achieve here, albeit in a small way.”
Jerome Wright, from Gusto, said: “The young guys here today are interested and showing an interest in construction at this age, having the opportunity to get their hands dirty and to physically build things, hopefully inspires them to want to get into construction. It also gives us as a business an opportunity to engage with them and identify the ones that we want to invest in and bring into the business.”
Robert Jenrick added: “Newark has a really strong history of construction industry, jobs and number of successful businesses. It’s really important to build strong links between schools and local businesses, to encourage the businesses to meet young people at an early age, inform them about their choices and encourage them to go down the apprenticeship route and view that as an equal standing to post 16 academic qualifications.”
Martijn Benitez recently received an award at the Rotary Clubs' Annual Award of Courage.
Now in year 9, Martijn has been a student at Newark Academy since the start of year 7. During that time he has had to contend with his mum being seriously ill sadly resulting in her death shortly after Martijn started in year 8.
Martijn's attendance at school is outstanding and he always gives 100% in everything he does.
Congratulations Martijn on receiving the award.
Year 10 Work Experience
Well done to all year 10 students who have completed their work experience this term. We have received so much fantastic feedback from local employers and we've been incredibly proud of our students. We hope that this has provided them with a real insight into expectations of the workplace, together with knowledge to inform their personal aspirations. We've also launched X12 work experience this half term and are extremely excited to see what placements they will secure.
National Careers Week
Students had access to various talks from local employers as part of this week. Our Head Students went out into the community to interview local employers are past Alumni students, providing local labour market information and insight into particular companies and career paths. During this week, we also launched our Career Spotlights and were very fortunate to have John Burgess (retired Judge), in to talk to some of our students who are interested in legal pathways.
When Lorenzo started to attend Newark Shotokan Karate Club training twice a week, he quickly come to realise that karate was the sport for him and said he no longer wanted to play football (he was Newark Warriors goalkeeper since the age of 6). He wanted to be a black belt and be in the England squad. In the following years Lorenzo increased his training from 2 to 5 classes a week, he also started to take part in various competitions and really started to develop his skill and technique.
In September 2022 he won a competition and was spotted by a member of the JKA England squad and was invited to attend an England junior development training session in London. After attending he was then asked if he could attend the England squad selection in November in Westminster. Lorenzo was selected to join the England squad. They train once or twice a month in Westminster and training is compulsory and only the best students are selected for competition.
Two weeks ago Lorenzo achieved his second dream and graded for his black belt.
Last week Lorenzo received the news that he had been selected to represent England as a junior at the Czech Republic National Karate Championship. Lorenzo absolutely loves this sport and is very passionate and extremely hard working.
Congratulations Lorenzo on your amazing achievements!
A Year 7 student from Newark Academy is turning heads in the sporting world with a number of medal-winning performances.
Lucy Beardsmore is not just content with being crowned Midland biathlon champion, but she’s hitting the heights in a whole range of sports including triathlon, netball, athletics, cross-country and swimming.
Lucy represented the region at the National Championships in Redditch. The Newark youngster achieved personal-bests in her 800-metre run and 50-metre swim to finish in the top 40 in the whole of the UK.
“It was amazing to compete at this level,” said Lucy. “To come and be part of this really was unreal.
“I know I can do better and that will drive me on to improve next year.”
She also took part in the trials for laser shooting, which is one of the disciplines in the Modern Pentathlon.
Lucy put in impressive performances and now has her sights on the British Laser Run Championships in April, alongside her the push for the Biathlete Championships and European qualifers.
Chris Fisher, Head Teacher at Newark Academy said: “Our students never fail to amaze me.
“The talents they develop through hard work and dedication are an inspiration for our academy community.
“The school is incredibly proud of Lucy and her achievements.”
Ben Allen, a Year 8 pupil is making a name for himself as one of the top young chefs in the country after reaching the final of a prestigious culinary competition.
Ben was part of the final stages of the National Final of the Inspiring Culinary Generations Competition.
He said: “It was a challenge preparing for the actual final, but the day itself was very testing due to unfamiliar working areas, time pressures and different ingredients to what I had been used to.
"I managed to push through and use my initiative to adapt the recipe I had created to the ingredients I had available. It has definitely encouraged me to want to enter again and also pursue a career as a chef.”
Ben created a dish of beef roulade, sautéed cabbage, red wine jus and pomme puree.
The competition was a a life-changing experience for aspiring student chefs to compete in a national inter-college/school cook-off, which was judged by an elite panel of professional chefs including Lesley Waters.
The final took place at Bournemouth & Poole College with competitors taking part from all across the country. Ben was a runner up and received a culinary goody bag.
Congratulations Ben.
As part of the ongoing work our library assistants continue to do in order to encourage more and more children to start or continue reading at home with their families, Mrs Horner our librarian, and a group of students created dioramas this term to share with younger siblings at home.
Our library provides all of our students in the Academy with the opportunity to loan a huge selection of books, which can be taken home, enjoyed and shared with younger siblings.
In this diorama activity each of our students chose a book that would be suitable for a younger reader and then pick out a specific page to represent in their box - which all look amazing!
These are now on show in our library for all to see and admire.
A fantastic job by all, well done.
World Book Day
Newark Academy celebrated World Book Day in style on Thursday 2nd March. Our fabulous students had the opportunity to take part in several different book related activities including book themed lessons, library treasure hunts and the Masked Reader competition which saw staff members reading a small section of a book in various disguises ranging from a bee to a lion. Plenty of staff also needed no excuse to get the fancy dress costumes out and dress up as a famous book character for the day.
Crews also did an outstanding job of decorating their crew doors with all things bookish in the ‘Dress the Door’ competition. It was amazing to see the creativity and flair on show across all year groups but one crew stood out from the rest with their ‘Gangsta Granny’ decoration – a huge well done to Crew Mowat in Year 10 who won the coveted ‘Best Dressed Door’ title.
While we love getting into the spirit of World Book Day we know that reading is vitally important all year round – it is proven to support academic progress, help with mindfulness and encourages empathy. That’s why we want all students to be readers. Students in Year 7 and Year 8 have all been provided with a library book and a recommended reading list and we would love it if all our students were reading independently for 15-20 minutes a day. Students who love reading also have the opportunity to join in with our Book Club which takes place on a Thursday after school.
English Trips
KS4 and KS5 students have enjoyed the chance to see the texts they are studying come to life on stage this term. In January many of our Year 11 students visited the Theatre Royal in Nottingham to see a fabulous performance of ‘An Inspector Calls’ ; while in February our A-Level English Literature students attended the Newark Odeon to watch a live broadcast of the National Theatre’s production of ‘Othello’. This was a fantastic opportunity for students to enhance their own learning and understanding of the plays.
This term we have been working hard on putting together the latest of our Newark Academy School productions... 'HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL!' Rehearsals are in full swing now with our very own head student Tommy Storr playing the lead role of Troy Bolton. Tommy has also been head choreographer of the show and is seen here working with younger students on the dance for ‘Getcha’ head in the game. There are over 30 students again involved in our school production as the cast, crew and reputation of our Expressive Arts faculty continues to grow.
We are all looking forward to an amazing show again this year and we thank Ms. Reynolds, Ms. Bailey and Mr Williams for all of their work behind the scenes making all of this possible.
The show will be on the 4th-5th of July at Newark Academy and tickets go on sale after Easter... so keep you're eye peeled - this is not one to miss!
As a whole school crew we have started to really tackle misogyny and its impact on everyone. All students took part in a 50 minute session lead by our school leaders and other staff pulling apart misogyny. Students had staff share personal stories with them as a way to connect the harmful dangers of misogyny on our young students. We showed them how to be activists, tackle every day sexism and shared amazing male role models. This session and follow up sessions in crew are a response to the changing national picture and the exposure young people have to poor role models such as Andrew Tate.
For more information on how to support your child/children on this topic or for further information on why we felt our response was necessary please see;
This term our latest crop of Mental Health Mentors have been working hard with our catering team at the Academy (Aspens) acting on our latest student voice feedback. Students throughout the school have recently been provided with the opportunity through various platforms to feedback what they would like our student leadership team to bring to the 'table'. In this case, it was querying our catering team in what they can better offer the students throughout the school in terms of menu variety and the cost of food.
Students were provided with an amazing opportunity therefore to work with senior members of our catering team to work together on changes to benefit the whole student body. This work has lead to a wider variety of food options being made available for our students and feedback taken away by the catering team for further discussions behind the scenes. As part of this work, our leaders were invited to taste test the new menu items, and whilst eating chicken curry isn't normally something on the menu for our students at 8.30am, it was a roaring success and an empowering opportunity for our students.
To see the current menu please see https://www.newarkacademy.co.uk/page.php?p=dining
Year 10 students Jersey Hade, Maisie Kirk and Abbi Corley have launched a school wide initiative this term to help students off-load their negative feelings. The idea behind this wellbeing idea is to write down any consuming or negative feelings and drop the note into the bin which is then emptied at the end of the day. This idea is designed to help students verbalise their feelings, especially if they don’t have time to stop and discuss them. Often this first step can help us to feel more balanced and more in control. These bins have been distributed to various rooms throughout the Academy and including all pastoral hubs, the Library and room 1.014.
Well done ladies for putting student well-being first!
This term some of our year 7’s have been looking at the religion of Hinduism. They have been learning all about the key beliefs including reincarnation and Brahman. They have taken part in different crafting workshops creating diva candles used at Diwali, creating Mehndi patterns and designing their own Rangoli patterns. Well done 7S2 for being so hands on!
Our current Year 11 RS students welcomed the revered Anglican Priest, literary scholar and Nottingham University professor Alison Milbank to discuss Christianity with them this term. We met Alison at Southwell Minster during a trip last year where she impressed us with her seemingly infinite knowledge and passion for Christianity. Students got the chance to ask questions, unpick theological conundrums and be exposed to what studying Theology at University could be like. This opportunity has allowed our Y11 students with the unique opportunity to expand not just their curriculum knowledge, but the enriched knowledge to take away and apply in all areas of life.
For more information on Alison please see https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=6TmqFm0AAAAJ&hl=en
The music department continues to flourish with increasing numbers of students and expert equipment to boot! Thomas and Jodie, two of our trainee drummers, have been delighted to put their skills to the test using our brand new Yamaha drum kit. Sincere thanks to Mr Athey and Enrichment for supporting the purchase of this wonderful equipment.
With in excess of 60 students now choosing to study an instrument at the Academy, we are delighted to provide high-end tuition throughout each week. Lessons available include, strings, brass, woodwind, guitar and of course, drums!
Our second GCSE Music course is firmly underway with thirteen high-quality musicians already well into their KS4 music journey. Eve, Erin, Charlotte, Lee and other members of the course are making full use of a wealth of resources and high-quality texts to support their studies.
The GCSE course is both rich and varied in its content. With 60% of the course content appointed to composition and performance, students enjoy developing their musicianship on and off the concert platform. Considerable time is spent using superlative music writing software to compose music in a wide range of styles.
Mylo has arrived! Leading our new Rockband, he has been quick to show everyone how things are done on the guitar. Our enrichment offer continues to grow to suit an increasing desire and need for different musical and performing arts styles and we are only too happy to oblige!
Mr Chris Snow, a local instrument maker rock band enthusiast, has kindly committed to establishing and rehearsing our new Rock Band each Wednesday after school. With a developing musical catalogue which includes music by Metallica and Nirvana, students are thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to train as fully-fledged Rock musicians. Thanks Chris!
We have been delighted to welcome Maddison both to the Academy and now to the music department. Having enjoyed classroom music, Maddison enquired about opportunities to study the violin and now enjoys weekly lessons with Ms Perkins, our strings specialist.
Maddison has also taken Mr Williams up on his invitation to her to join the Academy orchestra. Being in a musical group provides our instrumentalists with an opportunity to perform together and grow friendships outside of the normal day-to-day school routine. The Orchestra forms the backdrop to our end of term concerts frequently entertaining over 200 parents/carers and friends of the Academy.
Our Year 7 classroom music students are our newest Academy members and green shoots! They continue to make their way through their first year with commitment, drive and aplomb!
Our music curriculum aims to provide something for everyone! With music theory and history housing practical opportunities, such as singing and keyboard playing, students become quickly accustomed to honing their musical skills in a fun and exciting way each week.
Our instrumentalists and vocalists are excited to be preparing for our first Recital due to take place on Thursday 30th March. Featuring around fifteen students, we look forward to offering a rich and varied programme of music for our audience to enjoy. With hits from the musicals to contemporary flute solos, our eclectic mix of music will be sure to excite everyone.
Having the opportunity to present and perform in front of audiences is undoubtedly very much part of becoming the complete musician. Underpinned by our Academy GREAT values, our musicians and vocalists are given the opportunity to speak publicly prior to then performing their latest piece of music for all to enjoy!
Djing (or Turntabalism) is becoming an increasing feature of our enriching music curriculum. Using a DJ controller to beatmatch tracks is one of the many skills required in this latest performance skill. Hunter enjoyed trying out our new decks and, along with the GCSE music course, is looking forward to visiting DJSchoolUK in Leeds to work collabortivley on developing key skills.
DJing features within the AQA GSCE specification. Beatmatching, chirping, back spinning and hot key drumming are all skills which students must have ‘under the fingers’ to gain a strong pass within GCSE music performance.
A massive well done to our Y7 girls football team making it all the way to the semi-finals! Throughout this term the girls successfully won four games showing amazing teamwork, tenacity and excellence.
Looking forward to see how far they get when they return in year 8!
Newark Academy
Train to teach with the Nottinghamshire Torch SCITT