The Halley's Comment

Issue 21 - Module 6

“Our Academy values - respect, achievement, collaboration, integrity and resilience - permeate everything we do"

A message from Mr Russell, Principal

In this module, the calendar has been inundated with events that typify why The Halley Academy is such a great learning community. Whether in our Celebration Assemblies or Cultural Capital Week, our MYP Celebration Event or Sports Days, Work Experience Week or the First Give Final - our students have worked relentlessly hard to the very end of the year to get the most out of the learning experiences that we are proud to provide.

The end of any academic year combines a mixed combination of feelings - simultaneously celebrating the successes of our students, whilst also saying farewell to our Year 13 students who are moving onto the next stages of their educational journies. We were delighted to have received an excellent set of International Baccalaureate results in July, meaning our students can proudly progress onto the university, apprenticeship, or work-based training courses of their choosing. We are similarly looking forward to celebrating similar successes with our remaining Year 13 and Year 11 students in August, a culmination of all their hard work throughout their Key Stage 4 and 5 courses.

You will see in this final edition of Halley's Comment how our values inform and shape our work at the Academy every day - coming together collaboratively and respectfully to celebrate the achievements, endeavors and progress of our students.

On behalf of all the staff at the Academy, we wish you and your families a wonderful summer break, and we look forward to welcoming students back to the Academy in September.

Mr Russell

Principal

“Those who can imagine anything can create the impossible”

Turing School

There has been much to celebrate this academic year in Turing School. The whole team is ending this year with a great sense of pride at the achievements of so many of our students.

The Prom provided a fitting farewell to our Year 11 cohort who, throughout examination season, embodied the core values of our school: respect, achievement, collaboration, integrity and resilience. The success of the evening demonstrated the dedication of our Small School Manager, Ms Halliday, who has led the Prom Committee from strength to strength over her years at the Halley.

We now look to our Year 10 students to exemplify the high standards we expect from Turing students. The Year 10 Sports Captain, Kevin continued to show his student leadership skills, supporting the P.E. department with the organisation of our annual Sports Day. Despite the weather, all Turing students encouraged the competitors on the day, showing the spirit of our Small School.

It was lovely to see Uchechukwu in Year 9 invited to receive her award at the MYP Celebration evening. As one of our most enthusiastic and confident Year 9 pupils, she embodies the ethos of the MYP and its mission to ensure that students conclude their MYP years with global knowledge and a wealth of transferable skills.

Academically, Turing students have excelled, with learning inside and outside of the classroom enabling them to achieve excellent MYP outcomes; these outcomes would not be possible without the support and conscientiousness of parents who drive home the importance of 100% attendance. At the end of this year, we celebrate an overwhelming number of students with 100% attendance: Daniel (10T1), Najmasama (10T1), Bibiana Rebeca (10T2) Divine (10T2), Sam (8T2), N'Tay (8T2), Alfie-Lee (9T2), Prince (9T2), Bobby (7T1) and Leo (7T1). These young people represent a small sample of the students whose academic progress has been supported by their exemplary attendance. Well done to all the other many names who were presented with their certificates at the Turing Celebration Assembly on the final day of term.

Finally, this year we say a heartfelt farewell to Turing's Director of Progress, Ms Jess, who has written the message below to students and families. We wish her all the best in her next phase as an excellent educator:

"For the past four years as Director of Progress I have had the privilege of witnessing the Turing students and those students I teach grow, learn and blossom into remarkable individuals. It has been an incredible journey in so many different ways and I am grateful for the experiences and memories we have shared together.

Throughout my time here I have had the pleasure of working with a team of dedicated staff, supportive families and vibrant students; together we have worked hard to create a place where students feel inspired to pursue their dreams.

As I move onto a different school to start a new chapter in my life, I wish the Turing School and the wider Academy community all the best in their future endeavours and I look forward to hearing about their successes in the future".

We hope that your summer is restful and fun-filled and look forward to seeing you all and our new cohort of Year 7s in September.

If you would like to contact someone from Turing School at any point, please email us at turing@thehalleyacademy.org.uk.

Mrs Panton

Deputy Head of Turing School

Easley School

It is incredible to think that another academic year is drawing to a close. This year has gone by so quickly and as always, there is much to celebrate in Easley.

Our students have continued to embody our Easley motto of ‘you can do anything you want to, but you have to work at it. . This was perhaps best illustrated by the commitment of our Year 11s to their GCSE examinations. Our students were studious and demonstrated an outstanding scholarly commitment to learning. They remained focused throughout the whole examination period and what never ceases to amaze me is the stamina our students have. I am already excited about celebrating their successes in August and welcoming many of them back to the Sixth Form at The Halley Academy, where the Hawking School motto will encourage them to ‘remember to look up at the stars and not down at their feet.’ They certainly looked like stars for our first post-Covid prom. It was a wonderful evening of celebration filled with happiness and warmth.

It was a pleasure this module to welcome our new Year 7 students during their induction day which is always an exciting time. They had the opportunity to meet their tutors and some of their teachers and our Easley students modelled the values of both the Academy and Easley with great pride.

Sports Day kicked off our Cultural Capital Week again this year. The students had the opportunity to enrich their education with a wide variety of trips and visits throughout the academic year, as well as a myriad of workshops and external visitors being welcomed to the Academy. These days serve to ensure that the personal development of our students remains outstanding, deepening their understanding of the world around them and enabling them to apply knowledge developed through the formal curriculum.

A number of Easley students have represented us at the Greenwich Athletics Competitions this module and went on to represent the Academy admirably at the LAT Sports Day. It was lovely to see two Easley students invited to tea with the Principal for stepping out of their comfort zone and representing the Academy in events that they were less familiar with. A huge well done to all!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our staff and students for making Easley a wonderful small school, every day. I would also like to extend an enormous thank you to our parents and carers for working together with us this academic year in ensuring that your child is happy, safe and takes advantage of all of the opportunities offered at the Academy.

We are looking forward to the next academic year, and celebrating the great achievements of our students. However, before we get to September, I would like to wish you all a happy and safe summer break.

If you would like to contact the Easley Small School then please do so by emailing easleyschool@thehalleyacademy.org.uk.

Mrs Cronin

Head of Easley School

“You can do anything you want to, but you have to work at it”

“All that is necessary is the belief that by doing our best we shall come nearer to success andm that success ..... is worth attaining”

Franklin School

As we conclude this academic year, I would like to thank you all for your cooperation with the Franklin small school team as we support your child/children at the Academy. This academic year has been very exciting and I would like to congratulate all the Franklin students for their achievements.

The Franklin small school team is proud to be working with our students who have continued to embody our Franklin mantra of ‘All that is necessary is the belief that by doing our best we shall come nearer to success and that success is worth attaining’. All our students have shown determination, focus and courage throughout the academic year leading to the successes they have accomplished. The majority of our Year 7 -11 students have continued to be exemplary role models to their peers and I am confident that this will continue in the next academic year.

We are very proud of the resilience that was shown by our Year 11 students who have recently completed their GCSE examinations. We are looking forward to celebrating their success on GCSE results day in August and also welcoming them into our Sixth Form at The Halley Academy, where the Hawking School motto will encourage them to ‘remember to look up at the stars and not down at their feet.’ They certainly looked like stars for our first post Covid prom. It was a wonderful evening of celebration filled with happiness and warmth.

It was a pleasure this module to welcome our new Year 7 students during their induction day; welcoming our new students is always an exciting time. Theyhad the opportunity to meet their tutors, some of their teachers and our Franklin students modelled the values of both the Academy and Franklin with great pride.

Sports Day kicked off our Cultural Capital Week again this year. The students had the opportunity to enrich their education with a wide variety of trips and visits throughout the academic year, as well as a myriad of workshops and external visitors being welcomed to the Academy. These days we ensure that the personal development of our students remains outstanding, deepening their understanding of the world around them and enabling them to apply knowledge developed through the formal curriculum.

Among the outstanding achievements this academic year, there are a number of Franklin students who have represented the Academy at the Greenwich Athletics Competitions this module and went on to represent the Academy admirably at the LAT Sports Day.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our form tutors and small school staff for all the work that they do to support the Franklin students.

We are looking forward to the next academic year, and celebrating the great achievements of our students. I wish you all and your families a well-deserved break and we look forward to seeing you in September.

If you would like to contact someone at any point, please email us at franklin@thehalleyacademy.org.uk.

Mr Kamya

Head of Franklin School

Hawking School

Our Year 13 students following the International Baccalaureate Career-related Programme (IBCP) received the results of their IB Diploma subjects on Thursday 6th July 2023.

This was our largest-ever cohort of IBCP students, and we are all immensely proud of them and their achievements. This is of particular relevance in the context of the last three years and the fact that, for many, this will have been their first opportunity to sit external examinations since before the pandemic.

Particular successes include:

Harry achieved a Grade 7 in HL History, a Grade 6 in HL Psychology and a Grade 6 in SL Mathematics (Applications and Interpretations), as well as a Grade B for his Reflective Project. Harry awaits the result of his BTEC Business results in August and hopes to study Computer Science at The University of Nottingham.
Ivan achieved a Grade 5 in SL Mathematics (Applications and Interpretations) and a Grade 4 in HL History, as well as a Grade A for his Reflective Project. He is planning to secure an apprenticeship in Engineering.

A huge congratulation to our students and we had a special time celebrating their results. As an Academy, we share in their pride in their achievements and wish them every success in the future.

We look forward to celebrating more success when this cohort receives their remaining Level 3 results in August.

If you would like to contact the Hawking Small School then please do so by emailing hawking@thehalleyacademy.org.uk.

Mr Harrison

Head of Hawking School

"Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet"

British Biology Olympiad

This year Halley students entered the British Biology Olympiad (BBO) from the 1st to 10th of March. The BBO challenges and stimulates students with an interest in biology to expand and extend their talents. Students were presented with topics and ideas which they are not familiar with and competed with their problem-solving skills and understanding of core principles. We are incredibly proud of and wish to congratulate the following students on their achievements:

Awards Achieved

2 Gold: Alisa & Zona. 3 Silver: Daniel, Grace & Sara. 3 Bronze: Crystal, Ellie-May & Murewa. 3 Highly Commended: Alice, Emmanuel & Selina.

First Give Programme

As part of our MYP Service as Action Programme, our Year 8 students have been engaged in the First Give Project throughout modules 5 and 6. First Give is a charity that helps to inspire young people to make a difference in their local communities.

Within their tutor periods, our students chose a charity of their choice based on research and discussions revolving around local community needs. Once the charity had been chosen, the students worked together in their classes to partake in social action and raise awareness and money for their charity of choice. These activities ranged from bake sales, drama productions to toy auctions carried out within and outside of school.

The classes then partook in a grand final which took place on Thursday 29th June. Families and charities attended to watch the students showcasing their work and explaining why they had chosen their charity of choice to the judging panel involving teachers, sixth form and two of our councillors from Greenwich.

The students were incredible ambassadors for their charities and the Academy. They were articulate, confident and passionate about their social action. It was a true celebration and highlighted the positives of the Middle Years Programme in engaging our students to become life-long learners. The event was completed with the winning group being presented with a £1000 cheque to provide to the charity of their choice. Additionally, the two councillors from Greenwich were so impressed with the resilience and empathy of our students, that they also provided a further cheque of £500 to another tutor’s group for an excellent cause. We look forward to our current 7s partaking in this project in the next academic year whilst the skills learnt for our Year 8s will set them up for success in their Community Projects which will take place in Year 9.

Quote from the winning Charity: "Isn’t that such wonderful news!! I’d like to personally extend my thanks to your fantastic, brave and hardworking 8F1 students. I was extremely impressed with their engagement and motivation to help survivors of domestic abuse; we are feeling very proud of them! GO #TeamWomensAid! I hope your tutor group are celebrating as our lifesaving work would not be possible without fundraisers like them!".

Water Bottle Scheme

In October, the Geography department announced that The Halley Academy was one of only three schools in London that had won a Climate Change Kick-Start grant of £10,000 to make our Halley community more sustainable. Since October, a series of small projects have been carried out by The Halley students and staff.

As part of this scheme, we are excited to announce that we ordered all students from Year 7 to 10 a metal reusable water bottle. These bottles were distributed by the small school teams in tutor time. A presentation was delivered to all students about the importance of using reusable water bottles, where to find the Academy water points and how to keep the bottles clean.

As a result of this project and in an effort to reduce the amount of plastic waste within our community, we will also be adding more water stations around the Academy. We will be expecting all students to bring their bottle to the Academy on a daily basis. We would like to take this opportunity to also remind all students that glass bottles should not be brought onto the site.

The Junior Physics Challenge 2023

The Junior Physics Challenge is hosted by the British Physics Olympiad through The Halley Academy. It takes the format of an online competition where pupils answer 60 challenging multiple-choice questions across two tests in just 50 minutes.

The Junior Physics Challenge is designed to engage and stretch pupils by offering a range of problems to solve. It provides a low stakes opportunity for pupils to apply their curriculum knowledge of physics practically while engaging in a competition at a national level. A huge congratulations to the Year 10 students who took part in the British Junior Physics Challenge:

Gold: Mateen & Alisa. Silver: Kelechi, Selina, Daniel, Murewa & Julian. Bronze: Haneef, Ahalaban, Anastasios, Ellie-May, Bernard, Ela, Suuzi, Julian, Michael, Zona, Ani, Jacob, Luvhas, Luca, Hannah, Tegan, Grace, Tanzim, Amira, Folawe, Lira Laure, Matheus, Mac, Aisha, Najmasama, Clenzia, George, Kevin, Sara, Timothy, Cayenne, Crystal, Reema, Daniel, Mayowa, Federick, Janae, Alice, Leah, Kaamilah and Luana.

Year 11 Prom 2023

We are delighted to inform you that our Year 11 Prom 2023 which was held on the 29th June was a resounding success. The stylish venue, Club 1905, was perfect with a red carpet and a beautiful balloon arch to greet the guests on arrival. Maleeha made a unique Halley Academy prom cake which was shared and gratefully appreciated by everybody.

Our Year 11 students looked fabulous, wearing outfits worthy of a Hollywood Film Premiere. The evening was joyful as students and staff danced the night away, creating fond memories which will last forever.

Thank you to the Prom Committee and staff helpers for your contributions ensuring the success of this special night.

We look forward to creating and working with the next prom committee with the current Year 10s for the next one!

Culture Capital Week

Cultural Capital Week proved a huge success for all students, and was a fitting end to an eventful year. Activities ranged from stadium tours, TED Talks on the science of roller coasters at Thorpe Park to the final rotation of museum visits for Year 7 pupils. From textiles, African drumming and dance, orienteering in Oxleas Woods and a Whodunit 'Murder at the Tower' workshop led by ex-Scotland Yard detectives, our ambition to ensure that students experienced a range of interesting and diverse activities outside and inside of the classrooms was realised through the various workshops students participated in. Please look out next year for even more exciting opportunities for students across the Cultural Capital events.

Sporting Fixtures

Module 6 has been exciting and action-packed for all things PE and athletics.

In early June the Academy took part in the Greenwich Schools Championships that saw Years 7 to 10 go head to head with other schools in the Borough. Competition in Greenwich is always fierce and competitors from the Academy gave 100% in each of their events. Best performances across the 2 days included: Crystal (200m), Brianna (Long jump) and Ange (high jump).

As we progressed through module 6, students worked hard in both lessons and during extracurricular time to develop and perfect their skills in preparation for the Leigh Academies Trust Sports Day, an annual event filled with excitement, determination and high levels of competition where schools across the Trust battle it out for supremacy. Each key stage had its own day of events that would combine in points for the overall standings.

KS3 was competing on day 1 and put the Academy in good stead going into the second day of competition. We had victories in the Year 7 girls 800m and Year 8 boys javelin with a very close second in the Year 8 girls 4x100m relay who stormed to victory in their race but were pipped by time from the winner of race 2.

As we moved into day 2 it was all to play for and the Year 9s and 10s were up for the challenge. Each student fought for victory in their chosen events with a wider range of victories coming the Academy's way.

At the end of the day we were proud to say our Academy came 5th overall in the boys' event and 7th overall in the girls' event. Huge congratulations to all those who represented the Academy.

To top off the module the PE team hosted their annual Sports Day on Friday 14th June. Unfortunately, the weather didn't play ball but this didn't prevent the day from going ahead. Sports Day moved into the sports hall and adaptations to events were made to ensure the day remained competitive and exciting for students to compete. As always, the competition was close, with each small school coming out in force to compete for victory.

Earlier in the same week, the Infinity Hub took part in their own Sports Day consisting of "run, jump and throw". Students were excited to compete and gave everything they had when competing. Each result the students produced contributed to their small school and would prove to have a pivotal role in the overall standings. Congratulations to the following students from the Infinity Hub: Marius, Willyam, Ryaan, Khalid, Keane, Jack and Tobi.

Cambridge EAL Results

Congratulations to our EAL students for the fantastic 100% pass rate in both Cambridge EAL exams.

Cambridge A2 Key for Schools: Candidates: 17, ranging from Year 7 to 11: Pass with Distinction: 3, Pass with Merit: 6, Pass: 8.

Cambridge B1 Preliminary for Schools: Candidates: 6, Year 11: Pass with Distinction: 2, Pass with Merit: 1, Pass: 3.

The UKMT Junior Challenge

We are delighted to share the outstanding results from the highly acclaimed UKMT Junior Challenge, a prestigious national competition designed to ignite a passion for problem-solving among students in Years 7 and 8. Our Mathematics department extends its heartfelt gratitude to all the talented participants who showcased their skills in this exhilarating event. We take immense pride in announcing the remarkable achievements of the following students who went above and beyond in their performances:

Year 7 : Bronze - Harley-Marie (Best in Year), Samuel, Josiah, Artemii, Bennett, Ruxandra and Malhaar.

Year 8 : Gold - Malik (Best in School). Silver: Daniel and Luna. Bronze: Lilly-Rose, Supriya, Crystal, Aurora and Kayden

Parental Workshop

Our final Parental Teaching and Learning Workshop of this academic year was held on Thursday 6th July between 5.00pm and 6.00pm. This is part of the Academy’s focus of working with families to support students' learning and development; parental involvement and engagement have been recognised as key determinants of academic progress and achievement. The feedback we have had from our previous workshops has been overwhelmingly positive and we are keen to develop and continue to foster this partnership.

Our team of Lead Practitioners, expert teachers in their field, facilitated this session which was aimed at preparing all students for the new academic year. This workshop allowed parents/carers an opportunity to develop a greater understanding of our curriculum expectations and homework schedules. It also introduced them to the learning platforms which we now use as part of our online teaching practice.

STEM Challenges

This year our students participated in a series of STEM challenges run by The Smallpeice Trust, culminating with 60 year 10 students participating in the National Grid challenge. Working in teams, students were challenged to build a working generator, and at the same time learned more about ways of generating electricity. Each team of students then presented their models and findings to the rest of the participants.

STEM Club

In this module, STEM club has been working on a test project from the British Association. The project is called Machines of the Future, and it looks at the potential of AI to influence our lives in the future. Once completed, both student and staff feedback will be important to help develop the kit into a working set of materials, and our STEM club members will be able to achieve a CREST award too.

The STEM team are currently working on a new and exciting programme of STEM activities and clubs for the next academic year, so watch this space for details!

STEM Quiz

The first round of this year's STEM quiz has now been held, and teams to represent each of the small schools are being selected. The grand final to determine this year's winners of The Halley STEM shield will be held early next module.

The Halley Comet Greenpower Racer

The Halley Comet now has most of its body panels, with just a few including an aerodynamic nose cone to be completed. Once this is completed and any last snags have been ironed out, we should be ready to race in the Autumn. The races are endurance fixtures, with the number of laps completed on one battery charge counting towards the win. Winning teams will be eligible to enter the international finals at Goodwood and pit their skills against racing teams from all over the world. To compete we need to have a team of at least 12 students aged 16 and under - three of the team will be able to drive at each race meeting.

Bees

We now have two colonies of honey bees on site. One colony was a collected swarm, and so quite small whilst the other was a purchased nuc (a starter colony). Both colonies are settling into their new hives, and are happy and productive. It is however unlikely that we will have any honey this year, as the colonies need to build up in strength and numbers before entering the quieter winter months.

Luckily, both bee colonies seem to be very friendly, and are not really bothered by human visitors. This makes it much easier to carry out the required checks and maintenance throughout the active season. We have also been fortunate enough to have year 12 students helping out with the bees - they have been a huge asset to us so far. New beekeepers are always welcome.

EcoSchools Project

Miss Needham-Bennett and members of the Student Voice restarted The Halley Academy's EcoSchools project in the last two modules of this year. The EcoSchools project is an international scheme that encourages students to look at their own environment and take action to help improve it. The students have completed the first stage of the project - this is an environmental audit of the Academy. The results of the audit will be used by the students to formulate an Academy action plan. The group members have undertaken three environmental projects in the areas of energy, biodiversity and school grounds, and are hoping to apply for a Green Flag Award at the start of the summer holidays. The projects chosen are: planting a new fruit tree hedge, preparing posters to encourage staff and students to turn off lights and projectors when rooms are empty and developing the number of habitats available by building a bug hotel and a mini pond.

The fruit tree hedge will be planted along the fence between the playing fields and the outer quad. The trees are all native fruit bearers: hazel, blackthorn, dog rose, elder, rowan and crab apple. They will provide food, shelter, a corridor for movement for wildlife, act as a windbreak, help to prevent flooding and help to absorb both air and noise pollution. The trees will provide early nectar sources for insects and will make an attractive backdrop as they all bear flowers as well as fruits.

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