Volume 2, Issue 3

July 2015

Dear Parents and Carers,

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for supporting the amazing progress that has been achieved at Longspee Academy this year. Wow… this term has seen such excellent progress made by all pupils across the curriculum. Thank you to each and every one of our pupils for all their hard work and determination which has really paid off as all pupils have achieved their challenging end of year targets for reading, writing and maths. Staff and governors across the school have also worked their socks off to help all our pupils close the gaps in their learning and extend their knowledge, skills and understanding.

It is at this point in the year our Year 8 pupils leave us to extend their journey of success into their new schools, we are very proud of all the boys moving on, some to mainstream and some to specialist provisions.

We also say farewell and good luck to Mr Fisher, Mrs Traynor and Ms Baker who move forwards into pastures new to transfer their extensive skills and vast experiences in new contexts. Special thanks from all at Longspee for all the support that you have all provided to our pupils. As part of this transition, our pupils have already met and benefitted from fantastic teaching from Miss Thomas, Mrs Griffin and now Mr Wathan in a new teaching role.

High Expectations on the Journey to Success is our mantra and this has certainly been realised at every level this year. We wish every one of our very valued community at Longspee a very happy and safe summer holiday. I look forward to seeing all our pupils on 3rd September 2015 in smart school uniform, ready to reach for the stars and progress further on our journey of success.

Best wishes, Mrs Burt

From our Associate Principal

Associate Principal Report

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Vice Principal/Head Girl

2

Oak class 3

Lime Class 4

Birch 5

Finance Manager 6-7

Ash 8

Ash 9

Elm class

Beech/ B4L

Term Dates /Chair of AAC and Infor-mation

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11

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Inside this issue:

Longspee Leader

‘High expectations on the journey to success’

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This Summer term, the pupils have continued to thrive in both the classroom learning environment and outside the school setting. The creative curriculum has allowed the learners to have rich and relevant experiences and consolidate their previous learning. I again feel proud that progress has been made by all pupils academically, socially and in their manners used around the school. It has been a very busy term and the pupils and staff have worked tirelessly and I hope all involved with Longspee have a well-deserved rest over the coming weeks. We will of course start September with a relentless drive for progress and engagement.

Mr O’Connell, Vice Principal

Head Girl’s Report

What have you enjoyed about this term?

Maple: staff helping me do my learning properly, fishing trips, spending time with my friends, work that has been set out for me, cooking and eating burgers and jam tarts and pop art.

Ash: trips, cooking and PE.

Lime: maths and literacy, doing my work, playing draughts, music lessons and art lessons.

Elm: having work and building rockets, visiting the dinosaur museum and Studland beach.

Birch - spending credits in our tuck shop, Judo with Mr Wathan and our trips to Marwell Zoo and Paulton’s Park.

Oak – seeing the jelly fish at RSPB Arne and making a bird box to take home. Visiting Tesco and seeing behind the scenes, fantastic teachers, good sportsmanship, all of the trips, Judo, velodrome, baking cakes to help learn about angles and fractions.

Paige could you summarise the term as Head Girl?

As Head Girl I have enjoyed the challenge, especially attending the Anti-Bullying week at Poole High and the Caribbean Global learning session at Poole Grammar.

I feel that the staff and children have been really friendly and kind since I started here at Longspee. It has made coming to school more enjoyable. I like all of the trips we do and my favourite two were Brenscombe Outdoor Education Centre and Rifle Shooting at Butchers Coppice.

Paige C

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From the Oak Class

Oak Newsletter

Wow, what an amazing and extremely busy Summer term!

SATS tests, high and low rope teambuilding activities, worm charming, sowing and harvesting crops, building a bug mansion, collecting eggs from chickens, building a bird box, farm to food field trips, learning about ancient technology, I know I have missed a few things out but I am running out of breath whilst reading this back!

Alongside our main work, where possible ,we have been learning about current affairs. The children are learning how to debate and are able to give sensible viewpoints. They are now aware of the Magna Carta, St George, St Valentine, the July 7th 2005 bombings, 7Oth Anniversary of Victory in Europe Day and the bicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo. Test their knowledge over the Summer to see if they can remember anything.

I also feel that as a class the children are maturing into rounded young adults, they have developed a great sense of humour whilst understanding where to draw the line.

I hope you feel that the children are having a positive learning experience in Oak and that they share with you what they have learnt. I am really excited about our next topic and will explain more in September.

Thank you once again for your support over the term, have a fantastic summer holiday and we will look forward to seeing your children in September.

Kind regards

Mrs Walton – Class Teacher & Mrs Henderson – Teaching Assistant

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Over the past two terms, Lime class have undertaken a series of Lego building projects that have helped improve social interaction and team work.

Each project had a different outcome, focused on a variety of social skills e.g. Build a beach fairground in pairs (but not using the same colours) by negotiating OR build a house decided upon by a group leader (who is the only one who can speak).

The children have had lots of fun and enjoyment (mixed in with

a little frustration), which has enabled them to work together

like never before!

LEGO SOCIAL SKILLS PROJECTS

From Lime class

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Birch Newsletter – Summer 2015

We have had an exciting term of learning in Birch Class. Our topic after Easter was ‘Dinosaurs’, and since the half-term we have been exploring the topic of ‘Beach Combers’.

Before the half-term, our topic of Dinosaurs was great fun. We discussed and shared information about dinosaurs, we researched about dinosaurs, completed timelines to show that Dinosaurs were alive a LONG time ago and explored reasons as to why the Dinosaurs are no longer on the Earth. We also

took a trip to the Dinosaur Museum in Dorchester.

Most recently we have been exploring the beach, sea animals, rock-pools, how we can keep the coast clean, identifying coastal areas and having fun! The pupils have thoroughly enjoyed our topic, and have really deepened their skills, knowledge and concepts in many areas. Some of us also had a fun day out to Paulton’s Park, thanks to the Rotary Club!

We have been continuing to engage in a positive thinking skills approach, and the pupils have been completing regular learning reviews to help them plan the next steps in their learning. This has been a really positive way forward for Birch pupils, and we continue to focus on the development of the Whole Child.

We look forward to an exciting Autumn Term, during which time our topics will be becoming ‘Street Detectives’! More news to follow in September…

Best wishes for a great Summer and thank you for all your learning support and positive communication over the past year.

Mr Franzen and the Birch Team

From Birch Class

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PE & Sports Grant 2014/15

The government has allocated additional funding on improving physical education and sport in primary schools over the 3 academic years 2013/14, 2014/2015 and 2015/16. This additional funding is being allocated directly to schools. The PE & Sports Grant for Longspee Academy for 2014/15 was £8,145. This additional funding has been used to provide the following: Football Coach Clive Saunders Football Coaching School have delivered sessions every Friday throughout the academic year. Judo Lessons Wathan Judo Coaching provided judo sessions after school every Thursday throughout the Autumn and Spring Terms. Fishing Pupils have attended lake side fishing sessions offsite throughout the academic year. PE & Sports Equipment This has been purchased throughout the academic year in order to support and enhance the delivery of PE lessons. Two significant purchases are a springboard and large safety crash mat. Activity Week Inflatables A 2 lane bungee run and penalty shoot out were hired for pupils across the school to enjoy during our Activity Week.

From Finance Manager

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Easter Fair 2015

financial update

CLASS STALLSET  UP  COSTS

GROSS  PROFIT

NET  PROFIT

Willow Egg  Raffle  -­‐£  100.10£  100.10£Beech Cake  Stall  -­‐£  31.83£  31.83£Lime Cakes  -­‐£  17.00£  17.00£Maple Splat  the  Rat  -­‐£  10.80£  10.80£Elm Cream  Crackers  -­‐£  3.45£  3.45£Birch Guess  Weight  of  Egg  10.00£  12.30£  2.30£

 10.00£  175.48£  165.48£

OTHER STALLSET  UP  COSTS

GROSS  PROFIT

NET  PROFIT

Egg  Hunt  -­‐£  30.00£  30.00£Outreach   Chocolate  Fountain  -­‐£  22.30£  22.30£

BBQ  18.26£  37.10£  18.84£Teas  -­‐£  14.96£  14.96£Donations  -­‐£  28.20£  28.20£

 18.26£  132.56£  114.30£

 95.80£  32.11£  10.00£  7.20£

 145.11£

Well  done  everybody!    Thank  you  for  all  your  efforts  and  a  superb  result!!    It  is  also  fantastic  that  there  were  so  many  donations  by  staff/pupils/parents/carers  that  our  set  up  costs  were  so  very  minimal,  which  all  helps  to  make  an  overall  higher  net  

profit.

TOTAL:-­‐

TOTAL:-­‐

LESS  OTHER  EXPENDITURE

     Engraving  Shields    8  x  Medals  and  Boxes10  x  Buttons  EggsEggs  for  Egg  Drop

TOTAL:-­‐

TOTAL  NET  PROFIT  FOR  EASTER  EVENT  =    134.67£

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From Ash Class

Final News from Ash Class Ash class has the oldest students in the school, it was put together as a new

class at Easter this year. The class has been run by Mr Fisher and Mr Wathan with the support of Miss Cutler and was set up to support our older students in their transitions to their new schools – often an anxious time for teenagers.

The students in Ash have been continuing their academic learning of the core subjects alongside a very practical activity based programme learning outside the classroom. The purpose of this programme is to help the students adapt to new and unfamiliar environments, learning how to cope with change and challenge in a positive structured way so that they are better prepared for future changes in their lives. They have risen to the challenges well, as you can see in the photos, learning to face any fears and manage any anxieties in a positive way. We are very proud of the way they have given every new activity a go, often excelling at new sports. They have also successfully worked with a wide range of unfamiliar instructors and invited and supported students from other classes to join them in their challenges.

Those students that are leaving at the end of this term have also been taking part in a gradual induction process at their new schools. We will be sorry to see them go and wish them all well in their future lives.

Thank you also to you the parents and carers who have enabled us to

support your child in the time that they have been with us at Longspee.

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From Ash Class

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Elm have been having a brilliant summer term!

Elm try to keep this a closely guarded secret, but we have loads of fun in our class.

In the first half of the term, we were studying dinosaurs and trying to outdo each other on pronouncing the most complicated names. One of our pupils learned 20 dinosaur names for his spellings!

We visited the Dinosaur Museum in Dorchester as well as the Red House Museum in Christchurch, to see various models of dinosaurs and to carry out some research.

In the second half of the term we have been studying beaches and visited Studland at the end of June, which was brilliant!

From measuring length, capacity and weight to making block graphs from big lego, to collecting information and putting it into graphs, maths is always challenging and very practical.

In literacy we have turned our hand to writing poetry, creating posters, reading plays, using speech marks and loads of other impressive things that make the pupils in Elm amazing!

From Elm Class

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Beech Contribution – Newsletter

This half term, Beech class have been studying Romans, Celts and Gladiators. We have been focussing on these in our Creative Curriculum lessons as well as our Literacy lessons, where we have been writing menus, invitations and letters as a Roman soldier.

(Insert - example from Kian.)

Beech class have also enjoyed feeling summery this half term, and have been creative with their

imaginations!

From Beech Class

This half term pupils across Longspee have been taking part in a games tournament. The children have put their chess, draughts and connect four skills to the test in a competition which is in the quarter-final stage at the time of writing. So far we have seen some nail-biting contests and all-round fantastic sportsmanship! The winner of the final match, which is to take place during the last week of term, will win tuck shop credits, points for their house team and a special games-themed prize… so good luck to all our fabulous competitors!

B4L team

Behaviour for Learning

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Autumn Term 2015

Staff Training Days: Tuesday 1st, Wednesday 2nd September Term begins for pupils: Thursday 3rd September

Half-term holiday: Monday 26th October– Friday 30th October Term ends for pupils: Friday 18th December

Ambitions Advisory Committee Chair of AAC Caroline Macleod

Vice-Chair of AAC Bryan Sullivan Associate Principal Sharon Burt

AAC Caroline Macleod

Bryan Sullivan Dorothy Ashby

Laura Carrington

Senior Leadership Team

Chief Executive Officer Brian Hooper

Director of Special Education Nicki Morton Associate Principal Sharon Burt Vice-Principal Gavin O’Connell

Longspee Academy Learoyd Road Canford Heath

Poole BH17 8PJ

Telephone: 01202 380266 Email: reception@longspeeschool.co.uk Website: www.longspeeacademy.co.uk

The Governors of Longspee School became an Advisory Committee [AAC] approximately a year after the School

became an Academy. Basically it means the same thing! We work with the staff through a process known throughout the Ambitions Trust as ‘Challenge and Support’ to make sure that Longspee remains a good and ex-

pectantly outstanding school and continues to progress and prosper. In turn, we are held accountable by the Trust. We meet as a committee twice a term and AAC members also visit school at other times. I try to be in

school most weeks, sometimes officially, and frequently in an effort to get to know your children and all their

staff. You may also have seen me in the servery offering teas and coffees etc at Longspee’s various celebratory and fund-raising events! I was a teacher at Longspee for nearly 18 years, retiring an almost unbelievable 4 years

ago and a Staff governor for many years. I do try to keep up with educational changes with reading and through training with the Ambitions Trust.

I became the Chair in January this year and Mr Sullivan is the Vice Chair. Mrs Ashby, Head of Outreach, and Mrs

Carrington, whose son attends the Academy, are also committee members. We are joined at our meetings by our Clerk, Ms Gale, our finance expert Mrs Tyler and, of course, our Associate Principal, Mrs Burt. We are always on

the lookout for new AAC members as we would like to extend our areas of interest and expertise. If you feel that you, or someone you know, would like to be involved, and that your skills would help the AAC to support Long-

spee, please contact Ms Gale at the school. I or any other AAC member would be happy to meet and talk with you

at the Academy.

Have a happy holiday!

Best Wishes. Caroline Macleod