Principal's Review 2011
Looking back over what has been a very rewarding year at Macmillan Academy, I wish to thank the commitment and dedication of all those who contribute to the life of the academy, fuelling its dynamism and its success; aspirant students, supportive parents, highly committed teachers and effective governors who support the leadership team.
I am passionate about education and in offering young people the very best standards of care and guidance to prepare them for life and work. I also believe that Macmillan Academy offers amongst the best educational experiences for young people anywhere so was understandably delighted and honoured to take up the post of Principal in September.
As we entered our twenty-fi rst year, it was great to welcome back over a hundred former students to the academy in July when we celebrated with a reunion dinner. Many of the guests spoke of the positive memories they have of their time here and were also very impressed with the ways the academy has evolved in more recent years.
While it is always rewarding to see former students, it has also been a real pleasure to welcome our new Year 7 students to the academy. They have impressed many with their exceptional shoe sculptures and risen to the many challenges encountered so far with zeal, including some brilliant efforts at Ullswater.
Also pleasing is the number of students we have welcomed to Post-16 study in Year 12, both from our previous Year 11 and externally. The rising numbers of Post-16 applications is testament to the very high standards of attainment reached in recent years and the value students place on the level of support, quality of teaching and personalised learning they receive.
This review focuses on some of the year’s highlights. More information about events covered here and other events and news can be found on our website www.macmillan-academy.org.uk.
Examination Results
Key Stage 4
This year 89% of students in Year 11 achieved 5A* - C passes in all subjects, with an impressive 75% of the cohort achieving 5A* - C passes including English and Mathematics.
We are particularly pleased at the increase in the core subjects of English and Mathematics, as we realise just how much employers value these two areas and we have really emphasised their importance.
Key Stage 5
We were delighted with this year’s Post 16 results which are the best in our history. The average points score per student was up to 311 UCAS points. A Level students achieved 55.6% of results graded at A*-B and there was a pass rate of 98.6%.
It is exceptionally pleasing for the academy that so many students achieved their first choice offers at university, especially due to the competitive nature of applications this year.
Competitions and Awards
- Jessica Temple and Alysha Ali have achieved success by winning and coming runner-up in a national competition to design an Olympic Stamp with the London 2012 Games in mind. They attended an awards presentation in Newcastle in September hosted by Michael Wolff, an internationally renowned designer and stamp design expert.
- The academy won the Award for Sustainable Schools at the North of England Teaching Awards in June and made it through to the national final in London in October. This highlights the progress made by the Eco Council over the past five years in pushing the sustainability agenda.
- For their achievements in promoting reading for pleasure, a group of Year 8 boys have been given awards by the National Literacy Trust.
- Six of our Post-16 Biologists were successful in The British Biology Olympiad (BBO), an annual competition which forms part of the International Biology Olympiad (IBO). The winners attended an awards ceremony in London where they were presented with medals by Professor Steve Jones.
International Travel
- In the last week of September 2010, GCSE Spanish students went on a successful cultural visit to Suances in Northern Spain, where they visited a local secondary school, the Palaeolithic caves at Altamira and a number of art galleries and museums including the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao.
- Forty-six Year 10 students and four staff went on a History visit to Ypres in Belgium and to the Somme in France, where they visited World War I battlefield sites and laid a wreath at Tyne Cot Cemetery in Passchendaele, the largest British war cemetery in the world. They also attended the Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate in Ypres.
- At Easter, there was a successful Ski & Board visit to Austria. The snow conditions were excellent and students were skiing and boarding at 1800 meters at Kitzbule, with fabulous panoramic views over the Austrian Alps.
- Four of our Year 12 students went to Lille in France during February half-term for a week’s work experience with companies based in the city. The students enjoyed the experience and gained a lot of confidence and independence whilst improving their spoken French.
Key Stage 3 Curriculum
Students have been given many opportunities to develop key competencies through a number of important cross-curricular experiences designed to develop the critical skills. This year, these have included:
- The introduction of a Key Stage 3 Baccalaureate qualification which brings together core learning,
enrichment, community and service, a personal project and enterprise. - A successful Design Technology day for Year 8 students in which they designed and produced a model stadium fit for the 2012 Olympics.
- A successful ‘Enterprise Week’, designed for Year 9 students to develop skills in collaboration, risk taking,creativity, innovation, problem-solving, reflection and evaluation.
- CaVes (Cultural and Vocational Experiences),week long courses selected from a wide range to provide the opportunity to develop a particular area of interest, from architecture to motor vehicle maintenance.
- Challenge and Sustainability weeks, in which several departments worked collaboratively to develop Year 7 and 8 students’ critical skills and engage and enthuse them about important aspects of the curriculum today.
- A Year 9 Technology cross-curricular project which enabled students to design and construct wind turbines.
- A murder mystery challenge in English for Year 8 students who became ‘English detectives’ and learnt about writers from the English literary heritage.
Enrichment and Visits
- Year 9 students participated in a range of media related activities for the national ‘BBC School Report’ day, working in a simulated news environment to produce reports across four formats; print, web, TV and radio.
- Year 13 Religious Studies students went to see the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical ‘Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat’ at Darlington Civic Theatre.
- Year 8 students joined with students from other local schools in a themed day entitled, ‘Where Science Can Take Me’. They made rocket powered cars, made a necklace out of their own DNA, showed teamwork in building a model compressor and experienced a ‘bangs and smells’ science demonstration about rocket power.
- In the Library there have been a number of exciting events and guests to inspire students and promote reading, including; ‘Premier Reads’, competitions and events focusing on the World Cup and Halloween, ‘Reading Champions’ and author visits.
- Year 8 students went on a field trip to Robin Hood’s Bay to learn about how this ‘Dinosaur Coast’ was formed over two hundred million years ago, how it is quickly being eroded and weathered away and how the sea defences try to prevent this.
- Ten Key Stage 4 students were selected to attend the Durham University Gifted and Talented Summer School in which they participated in academically challenging and stimulating sessions led by leading experts in fields including Modern Languages, Physics and Business.
- In May, the academy held an election campaign for our students to mirror the General Election campaign around the country.
- Year 9 students attended a conference at Teesside University designed to help them understand both the creative and technical skills involved in computing.
Charity and Community
- Over the May bank holiday seventeen students and staff completed what is now the annual coast to coast cycle ride. This year the chosen charity was The British Heart Foundation.
- Year 12 Health and Social Care students raised £125 for local charity Zöe’s Place on our Open Evening, by offering therapeutic hand massages to visitors who had come to look around the Academy.
- Six members of staff and several students took part in the Race for Life event at Ormesby Hall in June. The Macmillan ladies raised in excess of £800 for Cancer Research UK.
- Year 9 students designed and sold key rings to raise money for the Great North Air Ambulance.
- Student volunteers visited Woodside Grange Care Home in Thornaby and Longlands Care Home in Middlesbrough to sing and perform for elderly residents.
- In December the Year 13 BTEC Business Group successfully undertook the Salvation Army Christmas Appeal, on behalf of the academy.
Sustainability
The ‘M’ team got through to the finals of the national Npower Climate Cops competition in March with their excellent work on reducing paper use both within the academy and in the wider community.
Students and staff were delighted to have spotted a rare Bee Orchid (Ophrys apifera) in the academy’s Eco-garden in June. This rare fi nd is further evidence of increasing bio-diversity in the well-tended Ecogarden.
In March, the academy held events for Fair Trade Fortnight to raise awareness and encourage the support of greater equality in international trade to ensure that businesses and people in less developed countries receive a fair deal.
In November we hosted a visit from Middlesbrough Mayor Ray Mallon who came to see the progress that the academy had made in reducing its eco-footprint through the ‘One Planet Living’ Framework.
Music
- In December, we enjoyed the annual Christmas Concert with the concert band and all the department enrichment groups and a drama performance. The concert band and Post-16 vocalists also performed at our annual Awards Evening.
- The academy’s guitar ensemble played at James Cook Hospital in January.
- In July, the hugely successful Summer Concert was held, with all the department enrichment groups performing as well as the concert band performing to fi lm footage of Grease and Glen Miller.
- Student musicians have supported events at the academy throughout the year, for example; piano and clarinet players performed at the reception of the Principal’s Open Forum in February, the concert band entertained visitors at our Year 6 Induction Evening in June and at our ‘Twenty - Year Anniversary’reunion dinner. Guitarists and pianists also provided music for our annual Open Evening.
- The academy’s choir won both classes at the Saltburn Music Festival in June and the concert band took part in its first ever competitive festival and won.
Mr P Latham
January 2011
