Cloughwood AcademyApril Newsletter 2017

Dear Parent/Carer

Welcome to our Easter 2017 newsletter. Once again I hope it

gives you a flavour of some of the exciting things our boys have

been experiencing since the beginning of the year. As ever, there

have been lots of successes and achievements to celebrate and

news to keep you informed of our plans for the future.

So, as the Summer Term approaches, with examinations for Year 11 pupils just around

the corner, I’m sure you will join me in wishing our school leavers every success in

getting the best grades possible and securing themselves a really good college or

work-based destination next year.

Wishing you a peaceful and relaxing Easter break,

Adrian Larkin

Principal

Friday 31st March - Break up for Easter

Monday 3rd - Friday 7th April - Easter

‘Coast to Coast’ cycle

Monday 17th April - Easter Monday Bank

Holiday

Tuesday 18th April - INSET day

Wednesday 19th April - Return to school

Monday 1st May - May Bank Holiday

Wednesday 17th May - Year 11 GCSE

examinations begin

Friday 26th May - Break up for half term

Monday 5th June - Return to school

www.cloughwoodacademy.co.uk 01606 288090

Residential

Dear Parents/Carers

During the Spring Term the directorshave been busy fulfilling theirstrategic role, we have reviewed theStrategic Plan - the current planidentifies goals in the areas ofGovernance, Pupil Outcomes, AssetManagement and Development,Human Resources and FinancialViability. I am pleased to report thatwe are on course to achieve amajority of the goals set out in thatplan.We have also ratified a number of theAcademy’s policies. Two of the mostimportant ones being the Teachingand Learning Policy, which outlinesthe way in which we want our

teachers to teach and our pupils tolearn at Cloughwood. The second isthe Rewards and ConsequencesPolicy, which has been updated toinclude the Primary Department.These and many other policies areavailable to read on the Academywebsite, under the ‘About Us’ tab.The directors have also made anumber of visits both to classes and tothe Residential Provision over theterm. It is always a pleasure to see thepupils hard at work, or enjoying one ofthe activities such as the recent ArtDay with students from LiverpoolHope University. After Easter, we arerunning the ‘Triple P’ Parenting courseagain – this was received very well byparents who attended the last course

so please get in touch with the schoolif you are interested.Finally we say a fond farewell to ourVice Principal (BusinessManagement), Mrs Jenny Whiston,as she moves to a new role at aSecondary School in Crewe after theEaster break. We would like to thankher for her dedication and hard workover the past four years and wishher all the best at her new school.As we now look forward to a busy butenjoyable summer term I would liketo wish you all a Happy Easter.

Hannah MadeleyChair of Board of Directors

A message from the Academy’s directors

For all the latest school news, updatesand reminders

Like us on Facebook -‘ ’

“I like dorm because they take us out and Pete takes usout to football and we lean to cook. We do ICT andsometimes we go to the park and I talk to staff aboutstuff.” Jamie

“I like Resi because we go swimming and to thepark and I.T. and carvery and football matches.” Zac

“I like Resi because we go out swimming orfootball with Peter and carvery and Val teachesme to cook and make omelettes.” Olli

“I like Resi because we go swimming and to the park.We also went to Urban Air. I love the I.T. suite themost. I like the food we eat at Resi, sometimes we goto the carvery or McDonalds.” Callum

Primary updateIt has been a very busy half term for our KS2 bunch!

Both primary classes have been working with

Georgio and Mr Ravenscroft to develop their self

defence skills through Judo. Mr Ravenscroft is a

Commonwealth Gold medal holder and Georgio is

native to Romania, a country renowned for their

Judo skills.

There has also been weekly trips to John Dean’s

swimming pool where they have been working on

their swimming strokes; a number of children have

gained progress certificates in distances.

In more sporty news, Year 6 spent three days with a

team of trainers from the ‘Bikeability’ group and

worked on Bike Handling (Level 1) and Road

Awareness (Level 2). The majority of children passed

Level 2 and have been awarded badges and

certificates. Please ensure they wear a helmet and

stay safe on the roads at home.

In the classroom, both classes have been reading a

book called ‘The Shadow Forest’ by author Matt

Haig. Mr Snowden’s class have sent book reviews

and thank you messages via email to Matt.

The boys were very excited for ‘tortoise week’ when

Mr Burton’s mum brought in her 100 year old

tortoise called ‘Tortie’, Cameron brought in his

tortorise ‘Tessa’ and Kieran brought in his tortoise

‘Dora’. The boys learnt all about tortoises,

evolutions and habitats and adaptation to

environment. They also painted some beautiful

watercolour pictures of the special guests.

Finally, Dee, a volunteer from St Peters church,

came in to facilitate an Art Day with the pupils - they

looked at anger and frustration and painted

portraits in the style of Edvard Munch - The Scream.

The portraits will be displayed in a gallery at the

church next term for all to see!

Motivational and Outdoor LearningEnrichment on Mondays and Tuesdays for years 7 and 8 is time spent

exploring the local woodland, and watching the seasonal changes. This will

go toward the John Muir award which will presented to the successful and

enthusiastic before May half term.

We are also busy preparing for Easter camp, which will be a cross country

cycle tour starting from Whitehaven and finishing in Tynemouth. We will

start with our back tyres in the Irish sea and finish 140 miles later with our

front tyres in the North sea!

This term’s DofE has seen us complete bushcraft and survival skills in

Delamere Forest including map reading, fire lighting and cooking on an

open fire. For the voluntary phase we are now working around

Cloughwood for forestry work and Lostock Lodge a care home where we

take the guests out walking and for day trips to local areas such as Marbury

Park and Tattenhall.

On Thursday 9th April students from Liverpool Hope

University joined pupils in KS3 and KS4 for our annual Art

Day.

Year 7 looked at Japanese Noh masks and created several

designs based on the main types of Noh masks whilst

exploring links with contemporary culture.

Years 8 and 9 worked on the theme of Islamic art and

explored such themes as calligraphy and geometric

patterns. Year 10 explored the theme of ‘assembled’

where they researched the artist Joseph Cornell and

produced wax entrapment collages and assemblages in

the style of the artist.

Year 11 participated in a range of small group workshops

in pairs and in threes; the architecture group learnt about

classical architecture and brutalism whilst the music in art

group researched Kandinsky and produced experimental

drawings to different styles of music. They also

experimented with a range of paint textures to represent

these styles of music.

Focus on Art

Focus on MathematicsYear 7 have been focusing on

sequences and ‘nth’ terms, as

well as factors, lowest common

multiples and highest common

factors.

Year 8 have gradually worked

through ways in which you can

manipulate fractions into

decimals and percentages and

applying these to real life

situations. They have also been

covering prime numbers,

square numbers and ‘like’

terms in algebra.

Year 9 have wrangled with laws

of indices, averages, area and

surface area and have been

adding and subtracting

integers, as well at conquering

BODMAS.

Year 10 have worked on

Pythagoras, interior angles of a

polygon and trigonometry.

In the lead up to GCSEs and

mock exams, year 10’s and

11’s have focused on problem

solving activities.

Year 11 have been doing well

on their GCSE preparation and

have been applying Pythagoras

to a 3D shape, trigonometry

and quadratic equations.

Photos

Happy Easter!

Primary get ‘hands on’ with Tortoises

Year 10 tackle Warrington Escape Rooms

Primary learning about the Easter story at StPeter’s Church

More work from the Art Day

Going wild at Chester Zoo!

HOLIDAY DATESCLOUGHWOOD ACADEMY

1 SEPTEMBER 2017 - 31 AUGUST 2018

DATE OF CLOSING DATE OF OPENING

AUTUMN TERM 2017 TUE. 5 SEPTEMBER 2017

AUTUMN HALF TERM FRI. 27 OCTOBER 2017 MON. 6 NOVEMBER 2017

CHRISTMAS FRI. 22 DECEMBER 2017

SPRING TERM 2018 TUES. 9 JANUARY 2018

SPRING HALF TERM FRI. 16 FEBRUARY 2018 MON. 26 FEBRUARY 2018

SPRING BREAK THUR. 29 MARCH 2018

SUMMER TERM 2018 TUES.17 APRIL 2018

MAY DAY BANK HOLIDAY MON. 7 MAY 2018

SUMMER HALF TERM FRI. 25 MAY 2018 MON. 4 JUNE 2018

SUMMER 2017 FRI. 20 JULY 2018

STAFF INSET

MON. 4 SEPT 2017

MON. 8 JAN 2018

MON. 16 APRIL 2018

MON. 23 JULY 2018

TUE. 24 JULY 2018