Friday 18th December 2016

RUSHEY

MEAD

ACADEMY

Newsletter

ISSUE NUMBER 8

STEM club: Bronze Crest Award

Students in the Year 8 STEM Club have been busy this term working towards their bronze CREST awards. The CREST award, accredited through the British Science Association has provided our students with a practical based enrichment activity. It is a nationally recognised accreditation scheme for project work in science or STEM based subjects.

The STEM club participants created their own investigations to test their hypotheses. Throughout the award, students developed their independent enquiry and practical skills. At the end of their project, students analysed and evaluated their results and presented their findings to the regional STEM assessor, key stage 3 science coordinator and science teachers. The assessor was extremely impressed with the quality of the presentations and their ability to answer questions following the presentations.

‘I would not have thought the group were year 8s as they were very confident in their delivery and clearly had done their research for their projects. The practical skills demonstrated throughout the project have been of high quality and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to each of the presentations.’ Jack Payne, STEM CREST Award Assessor.

We look forward to celebrating your success in the next achievement assembly. Congratulations to all the STEM club students! Jigisha Patel 8MEM, Nishaly Rana 8MEM, Jevin Jethwa 8BEM, Jai Majithia 8HAM, Harjot Singh 8MEM, Kurren Adatia 8HAM, Sakshi Gupta 8BOR, Janki Patel 8BOR, Jazmin Kaur 8BER, Mary Ezeh 8BER, Mehwish Bhatti 8BER, Krish Thanki 8MER, Vraj Barot 8MER, Fatima Mohamed 8HAM.

Studio 79 Dance performance

On Friday 2nd December BTEC National Diploma Dance students from Studio 79 dance company performed in our theatre. The performance was an hour long and contained an ensemble of dance pieces in a variety of different styles including, ballet, jazz, musical theatre, street dance and contemporary dance. The performance was shown to a selection of Year 9 students, the Arts

Award group and the year 11 BTEC Dance pupils. It was a great opportunity for the Year 11 pupils to see what options and courses are available to them after they have completed their BTEC level 1/ 2 First certificate in Performing Arts Dance and for them to see the standard of performance skills and technique that is required at that level.

In addition the performance gave the 9 students an insight to what BTEC Dance is about and what it has to offer them as an option in Year 10. The Arts Award students had the opportunity to see a live performance and wrote a review as part of their qualification. The question and answer session with the performers after the performance was valuable to all of the students as it gave them an insight into the level of hard work and commitment that is required at A-level. Overall the performance was enjoyed and appreciated by all, inspiring and enthusing the pupils.

‘The dancers were so professional and their formations and facial expressions were excellent, the question and answer session was really useful to the Arts Award programme.’ Meghna Pattni 9CHS

Season’s greetings from Rushey Mead Academy

So You Think You Can Dance 2016

The annual city wide dance competition ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ run by the School Sports Partnership was held on Wednesday 30th November at Hamilton Community College this year.

Every year the partnership choose a stimuli for all of the dances, this year the dances had to be inspired by famous people who had passed away during 2016, David Bowie, Mohammed Ali, Terry Wogan, Prince, Victoria Wood and Gene Wilder to name just a few.

The dances were a tribute to the celebrities and the standard of performance from all of the entered schools was very high.

Rushey Mead Academy was represented in both the solo and group categories, Mary Francis Ezeh 8BER performed an energetic

and vibrant solo to Prince’s Funkroll and she came third overall. Kalaia Hill 7CHM, Shaniya Rayarel 7BEM, Kiran Kumar 11BER, Sujni Madlani 11BOR, Radha Mistry 11CHR, Dalisha Patel 11CHM and Purvi Fulbaria 11HAM performed a beautiful contemporary waltz to Christina Perri’s A Thousand Years in the group competition. The students performed the group dance flawlessly, displaying excellent technical and interpretive skills and won the group competition. Well done girls, what a fantastic achievement!

‘This was a great opportunity to see other dancers from other schools performing, as we could share our enthusiasm for dance.’ Kiran Kumar 11BER BTEC Dance

Rushey Dance Academy auditions

At the beginning of the academic year on Friday 16th September the dance department held its auditions for the Rushey Dance Academy. Approximately fifty students across the school attended the audition and the standard was incredibly high and seventeen students successfully secured a place in the Dance Academy. All of the students have been working extremely hard this term and have demonstrated excellent dedication and commitment to engaging in technique class and learning new routines. Kiran Kumar a Year 11 BTEC Dance student leads the Dance Academy and has choreographed the set routines and goes above and beyond to tailor the classes to suit the students’ needs.

The Dance Academy has been working on dances inspired by Michael Jackson’s Music and the Musical Thriller and The Dance Academy will be performing in the school production in February next year. As promised the Dance Department is holding auditions again in January to include more dancers for the production. If you are interested in joining the Dance Academy and auditioning the auditions will be held the first week back after Christmas on Thursday 5th January. During the audition you will learn a set dance and be asked to perform in groups, you will not be asked to dance alone or to present your own choreography. Well done and thank you to all of the current Dance Academy dancers listed below for all of their commitment and hard work this term.

Kiran Kumar 11BER, Radika Chauhan 9 BEM, Pratiksha Carsane 9CHS, Maryfrancis Ezeh 8 BER, Maya Gohil 11HAM, Brinthini

Vickneswaran 11BOM, Karishma Vora 11MEM, Anaya Bulsara 7MEM, Anais Laxman 7BOR, Shivali Patel 7HAS, Shivani Pancholi 7BOM, Purvi Fulbaria 11HAM, Dharvika Premgi 11CHM, Maya Patel 11CHR, Esha Bharakarda 11MER, Meera Pancholi 11BER, Meera Patel 11MER

Top A2L and most Improved students—Year 10 and Year 11

Congratulations to the following students who have the best overall Attitude to Learning scores and also to the students with the top Most Improved Attitude to Learning scores.

TOP A2L MOST IMPROVED

JIVAN Prashant 10BEM VINAYKUMAR Arun 10BES

JIVAN Punit 10MES RAJGOR Anjani 10MES

CALANE Vidhi 10BOR RAJANI Rahul 10MEM

GANDHI Krina 10CHM PATEL Shrey 10BEM

RAVAL Urvi 10MES PATEL Priya 10CHM

CHANDEGRA Shivam 10HAR MAHAMED Rasha 10BEM

JENTILAL Apexa 10MES JOSHI Rohan 10BES

MAHENDRA-KUMAR Shivam 10MER JOSHI Rahul 10BES

SIAN Sophiya 10MES GANI Mohamed 10MER

BURFORD Kane 10HAM

TOP A2L MOST IMPROVED

HIMATRAI Shashank 11BEM PANDIT Anjli 11CHR

CHOTAI Bhavita 11MER MALIK Aqib 11HAR

MISTRY Radha 11CHR YUSUF Khadijah 11HAR

GIRISH Foram 11BOR KOTECHA Rushil 11BOR

JOBANPUTRA Vinay 11CHR PARMAR Amit 11BOR

REGINOLD-RAJENDRAN Christina 11CHR ABDI Ahmed 11MEM

DHARNI Tanvir 11MER MUPINGA Munotida 11CHM

DIPAKLAL Ashish 11MER VAJA Nikita 11BOR

KANDEL Sabina 11HAR VORA Karishma 11MEM

LIMACHYA Jay 11CHM ABDI Haron 11MEM

PERINPARAJAH Vineathan 11HAR PATEL Dillan 11CHR

THANKI Ria 11BOR

Team of the year 2016 Winners

Well done to all the team members for this fantastic achievement. A very proud moment and well deserved recognition of your efforts, dedication, motivation and desire to improve over the last three years. Congratulations to Mr Bardolia who coached the team.

2014 – Leicestershire indoor Champions

2015 – Leicestershire indoor competition runners up

2016 – Fred Trueman Cup winners – Leicestershire Champions

2016 – East Midlands group winners

2016 – Midlands runners up

Carol singing

On the 12th December, students went to our local Sainsbury’s store on Melton Road to perform some Christmas carols in store to the local community. The students did an outstanding job and sounded really great singing a range of traditional Christmas carols. Whilst there, we were raising money for the Rushey Mead Foundation and over a period of an hour and a half, a young girl conducting and dancing her way through our set and a member of the public even joining us in a sing a long. Students have raised an incredible £115.14

A great morning of singing and money for a great cause! Students were a credit to the school and the community. We would also like to thank Mrs Philipa Jackson, singing teacher and Choir Master at Rushey Mead Academy. She has worked hard getting the students ready and the quality of the singing is a testament to her guidance and encouragement.

We would also like to thank Sainsbury’s for inviting us into store, and to the staff for being incredibly welcoming to us.

Rushey Reading

We are passionate about books and reading at Rushey Mead and encourage students to read as much as possible, when they can. Please encourage your child to read at least two books over the Christmas/new year break. Thank you for your support.

Rushey Mead ‘Art Club’ Exhibition

On the 14th December, Rushey Mead’s ‘Art Club’ students hosted their own exhibition, demonstrating their own original Art and Photography.

The artwork and photography on display was the culmination of many weeks of exploration by the students in a regular after school club. The underlying theme they were exploring was emotions, exploring how they can use art in its many forms to express how they feel, and how they can show people those emotions.

The exhibition was visited by many staff and students, with ‘Art Club’ students acting as hosts and guides to the exhibition of work, but also challenging guests to both the scribble challenge and the 3minute mini-picture challenge. The event was also accompanied with live performances by Dylann Patel, who recently successfully completed his Grade 1 Piano exam with ABRSM. The exhibition went well and had a really great atmosphere with everyone, both guests and hosts, having an enjoyable experience.

Through the ‘Art Club’, all the students involved have also successfully completed an Arts Award at Discover level. This award is a nationally recognised award aimed at promoting engagement within the Arts. Well done to all the students involved, they should all be very proud.

The Session

On Monday 12th December, BTEC music students hosted an intimate after school concert to a small invited audience. There were performances by a number of bands

and solo performers, as well as the school choir fresh from a morning of carol singing. The concert was even visited by Santa himself, ‘rocking out’ with the bands. The concert went very well with some outstanding performances. Well done to all the students who were involved, we look forward to your next performances.

End of term arrangements

On the last day of term, Friday16h December, school will close early for the Christmas holiday. There will be four shortened lessons which will finish at 12.30pm after which students should make their way home. We look forward to welcoming students back in the new year. School will re-open to students on Wednesday 4th January 2017.

Forthcoming events

School reopens to students on Wednesday 4th January 2017

Year 11 Information Evening - Thursday 26th January 2017 Year 9 KS4 courses evening Tuesday 31st January 2017 Year 8 parents evening - Thursday 8th February, 2017