Communications Blog
February 2011
Year 11 students enjoyed a "horrifying" theatre trip to see The Woman in Black in London thanks to Mrs Yates. Many students (and staff) were far more scared than they cared to admit!
We have a busy time ahead with final completion of controlled assessments for both Years 10 and 11; a new syllabus is exciting but very hard work for everyone concerned.
Finally congratulations to Year 11 who have already achieved 53% A*-C in their English GCSEs. Keep up the good work - English resits and GCSE Literature still to come.
October 2011
Staff and students are working hard to include “The word of the week” in their lessons. The first one was endurance, which is something we all need plenty of at the start of a new academic year! Year 7 students have begun their reading challenges using Renaissance Learning in the Learning Resources Centre, so I’m looking forward to seeing how well they perform in their quizzes.
Our budding journalists have made a start on our plans for BBC School Report day in March next year. We meet every Thursday lunchtime in the Learning Resources Centre. Anyone from years 7 to 11 is welcome to join us – see you there.
September 2011
Our year 7 students are settling in well to their language studies; we’ve now introduced German for half the year group alongside French. Our options groups in year 9 are enjoying the challenge of GCSE French and BTEC Travel & Tourism. Both courses offer our students the chance to work in new ways, with a great deal of emphasis on independent online work.
We hope Mr Jenkins, who was due to join us at the start of this year will be in good health soon, so that he can begin his work in MFL and Homebase.
September 2011
A new term, a new team.
Welcome to Ms Grace who has joined the Communications Faculty as a full-time English teacher; she will be an excellent addition to our already strong team.
Congratulations to our current Year 10 students for their success in their first English GCSE module this summer. It was a brand new syllabus and they coped very well with the demands.
Congratulations also to our current Year 11 students who achieved some excellent results in their full GCSE English exams this summer. The hard work continues though with a tight countdown to resits in November. Remember intervention and study support sessions are available, and clear your diaries on Monday 24th October, and Saturday 5th November for a last minute push to achieve your full potential and our highest grades yet.
June 2011
Welcome to the new Communications Blog – all the latest English & MFL news.
It’s been a time of change for the English team this year with an exciting new GCSE course underway, bringing with it the challenges of controlled assessment. As the new course is completed in modular units, it also meant that Year 9 sat their first GCSE English Language exam this summer – working so hard towards it and behaving impeccably on the day. Well done to all of you!
The hard work continues with Gifted and Talented students in Year 9 having the opportunity to travel to London to work with expert mentors from the English Speaking Union later this month. They will take part in inspiring workshops called “Discover your Voice” designed to give students the confidence and skills to engage with challenging topics and ask probing questions about current affairs to a range of experts.
It’s also the time to say goodbye to Mrs Wilkinson who has been with us this year covering maternity leave and other absences. Her hard work will be missed and we wish her well for the future.
And finally a sad farewell to Mr Boden, who has decided to leave us, following a year of ill-health. We are all really sorry to see him go, as he has been a cornerstone in our department for many years and had a huge impact on the success of many students from this academy. His former students and colleagues wish him all the best for a long and happy future.
On the MFL side, Mr Peacock and Miss Rogers are nearing the end of their first year at OSCA. We are looking forward to welcoming Mr Jenkins joining the Department in September.
Just before the end of the Summer Term there will be a Specialisms Day when students will have the opportunity to study the origins of different languages and begin to develop their own language.
Currently we are busy preparing for two new courses for Year 9 – Travel and Tourism and GCSE French.
Bonnes vacances à tous!
