Last week students from Year 7-9 had their timetables suspended to enable them to take part in a range of exciting challenges and activities.



Last week students from Year 7-9 had their timetables suspended to enable them to take part in a range of exciting challenges and activities. Year 7 were involved in 'decisions week', Year 8 had 'challenge week' and Year 9 took part in CaVEs (Cultural and Vocational Experiences). Find out more below:

Year 7: Decisions Week
Year 7 'Decision Week'features three days within the science department and a further two days with the English and geography departments.

Physics - Space Day:
Students designed, built and tested water powered rockets looking at modifications to increase flight time and then to design a suitable landing craft to safely return their EGGstronauts back to Earth.

Chemistry - Reaction Day:
Students got to learn about polymer chemistry by investigating how to make plastics from natural materials. Students then designed their own experiment and studied the effects of varying reactant concentrations on product yield.

Biology - Nature World Day:
Students got a chance to get outside and see what is living and growing around the grounds. Activities included bug hunting, nature art, ice sculpting and global warming animation.

English - Newspaper Reporter:
Students spent one day working as a newspaper team in order to create a complete newspaper by the 3pm print deadline. They needed to debate the ethical and environmental issues that their readers will be interested in before following the story through to publication.

Geography - Robin Hood's Bay:
Students headed out on an excursion to Robin Hood's Bay to introduce them to the process of gathering data whilst out in the field which is a key geographical skill needed in Key Stage 3 and 4.

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Year 8: Challenge Week
'Challenge week' saw Year 8 students take on tasks created by a number of departments across the academy; this included physical education, maths, English, ICT and outdoor learning.

These tested the students physical and mental capabilities along with their reasoning, perseverance and collaboration skills. Students worked together in their tutor groups to complete challenges throughout the week, scoring points for how well they managed to do so.

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Year 9: CaVE Week

This year, 19 CaVEs were offered to students, of these 6 were brand new CaVEs for this year.

Students were keen to sign up for the activities, and their enthusiasm did not stop there. All students were allocated one of their three choices, meaning that no student had to participate in something that was not their choice.

Popular CaVES, as expected, included Face to Face, A Confident New You and Adventure. The average size of groups were smaller than usual timetabled lessons benefiting both the students and the teachers. The CaVEs involved visits to and from local businesses and schools including Physical FX, Middlesbrough Football Club and Archibald Primary School. In addition, we also had some German students visiting the academy which included some time spent in the local area seeing the sights of Middlesbrough and the true Teesside experience, the 'Parmo'.

Behaviour was excellent throughout the week with student and staff enthusiasm and enjoyment being clear to see. The commitment and preparation from staff enabled a well-planned, exciting and unique experience for all students.

At the end of the week, there were food tastings, theatre performances, music and entertainment, and many displays and presentations where students proudly showed off their work.

All in all, an excellent week for everyone involved in all aspects of our bookend curriculum - well done and thanks.



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