Longfield Academy Newsletter
Key Dates:
1st September - start of term for Years 7, 12 & 13
2nd September - start of term for All Years
Principal's Welcome
As we come to the end of another academic year, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to you for the challenge, support and encouragement you offer which has enabled us to continuously improve. Like I have remarked on many occasions, it is when we work in partnership that we are able to help our students, your children, to maximise their potential.
I am continuously amazed by the talents of our students and how as a community we have bounced back from the many challenges associated with the previous year. For the first time since 2019, students in years 11 and 13 were required to sit their GCSEs and A Levels. As a school, we offered all our students every opportunity to succeed despite these challenges. Students were offered Saturday school sessions, holiday sessions, one-to-one and small group tuition, as well as many other interventions. We also paid for late buses to ensure that our students were able to access the many after school revision sessions we had organised. I am pleased that we left no stones unturned for our students and I look forward to celebrating their many successes with them on results day.
I am also pleased that we were able to keep our school open every school day this academic year. Undoubtedly, school is the best place for students to develop their academic and social skills, and it fills me with great pride that we were able to keep our doors open to our students despite the many challenges associated with COVID-19 and staff absences on occasions.
Unlike in recent years, we have been fortunate enough to celebrate the successes of our students. We had an outstanding sports day in June. We were also able to celebrate the many achievements of our students with their parents during our celebration evening. The event was well attended and we are grateful that the Mayor of Dartford, Councillor Paul Cutler, and our Chair of Governors, Joanne Gall, were able to join us in celebrating our students. I am sure that our year 11 leavers will fondly remember their prom, and the year 13 leavers their barbecue. Last week, we had two excellent evenings where our arts students treated us to a special 'Hairspray' performance. The talent at school is momentous and I therefore hope that more parents would attend future events.
Year 6 transition evening was another success. We continue to be oversubscribed in year 7, and I look forward to working with the incoming year 7 students and their parents towards ‘achieving beyond expectations’. We have planned an excellent summer school for the students and I hope it will be a wonderful opportunity for them to make new friends, know the school environment and get ahead for the upcoming academic year.
I hope you have had the opportunity to read our Challenge Partners and safeguarding reports. The reports reflect the hardwork and commitment of our students and staff, and I am particularly pleased that the academy was determined to be “a happy and relaxed atmosphere where the students feel safe” (The Education People, KCC, March 2022), and that “students, regardless of their learning needs, are able to take a full and active part in academy life” (Challenge Partners Quality Assurance Review, March 2022).
Ahead of the next academic year, I would like to ask for your support in ensuring that our students attend school regularly so that they can maximise the opportunities available to them. Unfortunately, our average attendance has been significantly below our target of 95%. I understand that some of these absences have been attributed to covid, anxieties about returning to school and mental health issues. However, I hope that we can work together in partnership to ensure that all our students, your children, are in school regularly benefiting from the excellent teaching and learning experiences available to them. I will also ask for your support as we work towards a disruption-free learning environment where teachers can teach the excellent lessons they are expected to deliver and students can learn.
Sadly, Mr Hinks leaves us at the end of this academic year after 31 years of meritorious service to the academy. Mr Hinks has been a fountain of wisdom whom we have all had to lean on and I hope you can join me to wish him well as he embarks on the next phase of his life.
Mr Shaw will be moving over to Matisse as its new Head of College from September. Mr Anderson, an experienced senior leader from the Harris Federation, will be leading Anderson College as its new Head of College. Mr O’Leary will continue to lead Galileo college as its Head of College.
Our best wishes also go to Mr Bird who will be moving on after securing a Deputy Headteacher position at another school. Mr Lowe will be replacing him as the Assistant Head of Galileo College.
I wish you all a safe and happy summer holiday.
Celebration evening
On Wednesday 6th July we held a celebration evening for 100 students and their parents to receive a certificate and award. Students were chosen by their teachers for excelling in lessons and making a positive impact in their work. Some students also received special personal achievement awards.
We had all Heads of Colleges presenting awards and also the Mayor of Dartford and Joanne Gall (Trust Governor) in attendance. Throughout the night there were performances from various students including our school choir, band and a short snippet of ‘Hairspray’ our summer show which will be played in full next week.
The principal's award for academic year 2021/22 was presented to Eray Arslan who was nominated for awards in 7 different departments. We are proud of his success and see him as a role model as he leads the way in Achieving Beyond Expectations.
The evening went extremely well and fun was had by all.
Post 16 Trip
During the last year, Post 16 have participated in a range of beneficial school trips, helping them piece together their futures. These trips included going to various universities such as University of Kent and University of Sussex. This allowed students to get a feel for the student life and additionally giving them a better understanding of courses available to them. Students wishing to specialise in Science, Chemistry, Biology and Forensics in the future were offered trips to Canterbury Christ Church and University of Greenwich in Medway, which gave them the opportunity to find the information specific to their interests. Moreover, Geography students were given the opportunity to take part in field trips to Margate and Walton-on-the-Naze where they collected primary data to inform and support their coursework.
Whitstable Trip – Longfield on Location
On 25th May 2022 the year 10 photographers went on a trip to Whitstable seafront to create some photography for their current project, Distort. The students had a really productive day, looking for unusual angles, compositions and viewpoints to photograph. The photography they have produced will now be incorporated into the work they had already to create interesting and unusual outcomes.
Year 10 Trip to Rochester Castle
Year 10 history students recently visited Rochester Castle as part of their GCSE course. It was a beautifully sunny day and the students were able to spend time exploring the keep and bailey. The visit helped students to consolidate their learning about the castle and gave them the opportunity to observe its features firsthand.
During the visit, students explored the unusual southeast tower. The tower was rebuilt after King John destroyed it during the siege of 1215. It was built in the concentric style to improve the castle’s defences; and the circular tower stands out among the straight lines of square stone keep. Students also took the opportunity to enjoy the extensive views from the castle battlements. This helped them to understand the geographical and strategic importance of the castle.
Overall, the visit was a great success and the experience will really help students with their ongoing work on Norman England.
Charity Event
In the last week of term year 12's took on the challenge of hosting a charity event to raise money for The Aiden Goodwin Foundation. Year 12 successfully managed a 'Beat the Teacher’ penalty shootout, where students from all year groups had the opportunity to attempt to score while a teacher was in goal including Dr Donkor, Mr Pearson, Mr Punungwe and Mr Bird. Many students enjoyed this and had a great time taking part. In addition, year 12 also organised a cake bake sale running through break and lunch times, selling cupcakes, biscuits and many more sweet treats. This cake sale was extremely popular and made many sales. Similarly some students also did an ice pole sale, which was unsurprisingly very successful. Not only did Post 16 raise money during school hours, while the school production of ‘Hairspray’ was being held, there was a raffle that the audience could take part in to win a ‘Hairspray’ cake, baked by one of the post 16 students ‘Rebecca Shillito’. In total the Charity Event raised a spectacular £229.73.
Science Trips
On Thursday 7th July the Science department held a celebration event for the top 10 scientists in year 7 based on how they have done academically this year. It was in partnership with the Royal Engineers and the STEM ambassadors across Medway, the students took part in a range of activities and competitions and India Hornett was part of a group that won one of the activities on the day.
Here is a summary from a few students of the day:
“First we had robots with balloons on the back and we had to build a defence mechanism to pop the other teams balloons. I was in a team with Paris, we made a stick with a pin in the end. It may not have worked as successfully popping other balloons but it held its defence until nearly the very end when another team came from a different angle and popped our balloon.
We then made some Lego, one person had to be a builder another was a communicator and last was a describer We then had to recreate a hidden module.” – Arabella year 7
On the school trip I really enjoyed playing with the Lego mars rover, it was fun to work in a team and coordinate what to do.” – Markus year 7
Science University Trip
Some students visited Medway University for a Science trip, this is what one student had to say about his experience:
"When we went on a school trip to the Universities of Medway every single minute of it was enjoyable. My favourite task was when we used efit (the software that the police use to get photos of criminals by eyewitness reports). Although the others were also very fun and enjoyable. Overall, I would highly recommend that if you want to go to a local university you should consider going to this University."
Eray Arslan
Sports Day
On Friday 1st of July, Longfield Academy students years 7 - 10 took part in sports day where they completed both track and field events. Our three colleges, Anderson, Matisse and Galileo went head to head in a number of events such as track events of 100m, 200m, 300m, 800m, 1500m and field events of, high jump, long jump, shot put and javelin.
Three students managed to beat the school record for events, Carys - Matisse, broke the record for year 7 100m with the time 13.23 seconds as she galloped past her opponents with ease. Tilly - Galileo, dazzled the competition getting a record distance of 7.15m for year 7 shot putt. Kian - Matisse, soared his javelin through the sky, beating the year 10 record with the fantastic distance of 32.15m.
Overall Matisse took the victory with Anderson in second place and Galileo in third place. This was a big achievement for the whole of Matisse, but an even bigger victory for Mr Hinks- Head of Matisse, as this was unfortunately his last sports day with Longfield Academy, but it was certainly one to remember!
Celebrating Success in Post 16
Recently, there was a ‘Celebrating Success’ event where a select group of year 12's were chosen and given a reward which congratulated them on a personal achievement or skill recognised by a member of staff. The rewards for post 16 were: Jessica - Post 16 Community Award, Raphael - Post 16 Leadership Award, Francesca - Post 16 Work Ethic Award and Jimmy - Post 16 Recognition Award.
Parents and carers were invited to this event to celebrate their children and their achievements and overall it was an extremely successful evening of joy and triumph.
Hairspray!
Every year students from various year groups join together in working hard to put on a performance for the end of the school year and I think many people would agree that it never disappoints! This year the school chose to do Hairspray the Musical, a story of an overlooked teenager who becomes a television superstar overnight. However her ‘fame’ is not smooth sailing as she finds herself in a battle of racism, fighting for equality. This story was portrayed fantastically by our students and their singing, acting and dancing skills shone through.
The lighting and sound by Scott and Toby was highly effective, the use of spotlights and microphones made the students’ voices shine. The music from the band including Mrs Evans, Zoe, Helen, Damian, Mrs Dillion, Andrew, Noah and Callum worked well complementing the students’ singing and dancing (choreographed by Ben and Daniella) creating a powerful, unforgettable performance. In addition the stage set and props by Miss Dawson, Mrs Smith, Ms Marsay, Sophie, Emily and Rebecca were fantastic and super impressive.
The hard work and time spent putting this show together from director - Mrs Pike and assistant directors - Miss Clements and Amy was evident in the successful performance, giving the students an opportunity to show their skills and passions.
The cast's energy and enthusiasm was inspirational and the confidence presented by students was sensational. Once again proving the amazing effects the theatre can have with bringing all different types of people together.
Word Millionaires
Congratulations to the following students for reading one million words or more this academic year, keep up the great reading!
Issac Yau
Isabel ling
Arabella Hutchins-Sturley
Rose Speakman
India Kingsley-Ducane
Emily Glithero
Eray Arslan
Grace Garford
Oliver Mason
LRC Grant
Good news from the LRC Mrs Cripps has been able to secure a grant from the Foyle Foundation for £4000. This money will be spent on getting new books for the library.
Please ask your child to visit the library in the new term to look at some of our new books.
Reminder
Please remember to put your child's name in all clothing, especially PE kits.
On occasions there are times when students lose their kits and it helps to relocate these to the right student when they are named.
Changes to the school day
Please see the table below for the new times of the structured school day.
