Welcome to the Final Issue of the Abbey College Community Round up for 2021/22
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Welcome to the Final Issue of the Abbey
College Community Round up for
2021/22
Welcome to the Summer Term edition of our Community Round Up. We’ve made it to the end
of another amazing year at Abbey College. We’re very proud of all of our students and their
achievements, as demonstrated by events such as the Year 11 and Year 13 Prize Giving
Ceremony, the flash reward for 60 students for displaying great intuition and the summer party
for students in Years 8 and 10 who were awarded their Bronze Spirit badges.
We welcomed our new Year 7s into school for a two day induction event which was supported
by our newly appointed School Prefects. Miss Lane, Year 7 Raising Standard Lead and Year 6
transition Lead said, “It was a huge success and I just wanted to say thank you to the Prefects,
your work with the Year 6 students was outstanding. What an asset to our school!”
We wish those students leaving us good luck and best wishes in their new adventures and look forward to seeing the
rest of our students, including the new Year 7s, in September.
New Prefects
We have welcomed Prefects to Abbey College this term—a group of sixteen Year 10 students who are positive and
enthusiastic, encouraging and motivating for all students. They support by leading by example, ensuring the pursuit
of academic excellence and behaviour. The students went through an application and interview process with Miss
Dowd and Miss Beel, who were both very impressed with the students.
Although the role is still developing, some of their duties and responsibilities will be to support with Year 7 reading
interventions, be present at social times around school, be a part of the
road safety campaign and support at key school events. Being a Prefect
will give the students experience in leadership, team work and time
management and help them develop their confidence, communication
and organisational skills.
In one of their first roles, the Prefects did an amazing job of supporting
at the two day Year 6 transition event. Miss Beel, Year 10 Raising
Standards Lead, said “I would like to say how proud I am of the hard
work and dedication they showed. They were super organised and
helped in any way they could.” One student said “they were really
helpful and helped us to get to know the school.”
Good luck and keep up the good work!
Community Round Up
SUMMER TERM
Governors Update
This term we welcomed a new Parent Governor, Mr McFarlane, and two new Staff Governors, Mrs Gregory and Mr Huggins,
onto the Governing Body. We look forward to working with them as we move into the new academic year.
This half term, we have heard from the MFL and Performing Arts Departments and had an update on the successful OOP (Offer
and Opportunity Programme). Governors attended when external audits were carried out
to monitor our safeguarding practices and SEND provision, we’re pleased to report that both
audits found that the school has robust practices in place and that the quality of our
provision meets all legal requirements. We were delighted to be invited to attend the Year
11 and Year 13 Prize Giving Ceremony, it is such a pleasure to see how well our students are
achieving at Abbey College.
Our Parent’s Forum continues to go from strength to strength engaging with parents and
fundraising for the school. Parents and governors have enjoyed hearing about different
aspects of school life. Our thanks go to all involved for their great work and support.
Governors hope that all staff, students and their families enjoy a wonderful summer break.
2022 Science Competition Winners!
On Friday, 8th July, a team, consisting of four Year 9 students, and four Year 10
students, completed a series of four challenges, all based on A-level required
practical tasks:
• Biology: finding the concentration of an unknown solution using calorimetry.
• Chemistry: constructing an iodine clock reaction that changes colour at exactly
70 seconds.
• Physics: evaluating different methods for measuring gravitational acceleration.
• Design: design and make a water filter using natural materials.
Our team placed 1st in both the Chemistry and Physics challenges and were described as ‘pretty awesome’ by the
organiser, we agree and are incredibly proud of them! The experience allowed the students, who wouldn't normally
work together, to develop their communication, teamwork, mentoring, practical and scientific method skills. It was
a great opportunity to compete with a wide range of students within the Meridian Trust and we look forward to
competing in more competitions in the future.
Community Round Up
SUMMER TERM
CSI Enrichment Event
On 13th July we had our very own CSI event in school led by the Criminology, Science & Performing Arts
Departments, with a serving CSI and local police officers supporting. Year 12 Criminology students and some Year
10 students interested in the career area, donned their crime scene suits and were led around a mock crime scene
set up in the Abbey grounds. Students learned about photographing a crime scene, how to set up a cordon, using
different forensic science equipment and analysing the techniques and the roles of different professionals. They
then had to determine what could have happened in the lead up to the crime and
hypothesise the cause of death. Drama students also completed a performance of a
fake news report live from the scene.
In the afternoon, our students hit the science labs for some hands on experience to
learn how to measure blood spatter, determine blood types and how to carry out
finger printing. One student said “I think it was really informative on what it would
look like if you progressed in that career area. I really enjoyed it!"
Well done to all involved, what an amazing experience!
Performing Arts
It has been an incredibly busy year for Performing Arts, but this term has been jam
packed! Our Senior Band and Senior Dancers performed at the Meridian Trust Arts
Festival, performing fantastic pieces to a large audience. The Junior Band
performed at the Award Ceremony for parents, guests and students in our
wonderful Abbey grounds. There have been lunchtime concerts from the amazing
Year 9 BTEC Music students which had great lower school attendance.
Year 11 worked incredibly hard on their Devised performance and Music composition pieces. We hope they have
a wonderful summer and look forward to seeing them on results day!
During lessons, KS3 have been developing their skills in Dance in the style of the Brazilian Martial Art Capoeria and
in Drama understanding emotions and feelings based on the Pixar movie Inside Out. In Music, students have been
learning what it means to be a part of a band and developing skills on multiple instruments.
There was a Trestle style masked theatre workshop for Sixth Form induction and lots of planning is taking place for
OOP offers, a Year 7 curriculum re-vamp and our school Musical, which we hope to take place in Spring 2023 -
watch this space!
Community Round Up
SUMMER TERM
Careers
Our Careers Team continued their excellent work this term with several events,
including:
A Year 8 Meet the Professional activity, where employers from various career
sectors were interviewed by the students to find out information about their job
roles.
An inspirational Year 7/Year 12 Interview event with our very own Sixth Form
students, where they interviewed one another about their future aspirations and
career goals. It also gave an opportunity for our younger students to get a flavour
of what it is like being a Sixth Form student.
There have been supportive mentoring sessions with governors for some of our Year 10 students and Year 11
careers guidance interviews have begun with a selection of Year 10s.
Key Dates
End of Term picnic and close at 1pm Friday 22nd July
A Level Results Day Thursday 18th August
GCSE Results Day Thursday 25th August
Inset Day—Staff Only Thursday 1st September
Years 7 & 12 in school Friday 2nd September
Years 7, 9, 11, 12 & 13 in school Monday 5th September
All years in school Tuesday 5th September
Years 7, 8 & 12 Meet the Tutor Event Thursday 15th September
Year 11 Meet the Raising Standards Lead Event Thursday 29th September
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