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Newsletter
(March 2015)
If you would like a hard copy of this newsletter, please ask at Reception.
Term Dates for 2014 – 2015
Term 3 5 January – 13 February 2015
Term 5 13 April – 22 May 2015
Remaining Inset Days: 20 July 2015
Term 4
Term 6
23 February – 27 March 2015
1 June –17 July 2015
Comments from Mark Trusson, Principal:
Sponsorship update
I am writing to provide the latest update regarding the Academy’s sponsorship. I am very pleased to announce
that Richard Huish College have formed a new Trust and The Taunton Academy (TTA) will move to be sponsored
by this Trust from the 1st April 2015.
I am delighted that we are entering into this new phase with Richard Huish College. They are an outstanding
FE college that can support our progress in many ways. Of course, many of our students move onto Richard
Huish and there are lots of curriculum and educational continuity projects we can undertake that will advantage
our students. Indeed, this is already beginning to happen, for example, Richard Huish students buddying with
reluctant readers in Year 7. Many more examples of this type of working will be actively considered and
introduced.
The new Richard Huish Trust has also secured significant funding to support school improvement. I am sure
that we will appreciate the benefits of high class advisory work, CPD developments and other support to help us
to move to our aim of “outstanding” in as short a time frame as possible.
You may be wondering why we are changing sponsor? Quite simply, the Diocese sponsorship arrangement we
currently have has been superseded by new arrangements nationally and the Diocese have created a new multiacademy trust to sponsor academies. We are not able to consider being part of this new trust as it is completely
primary school focussed. The Diocese cannot continue to sponsor us separately (i.e. not within their multiacademy trust) so we needed to consider other options. This coincided with Richard Huish’s application, as an
outstanding FE college, to become an academy sponsor. They were successful in this application and our
conversations with them have been extremely positive, creating a strong vision for education from Primary to
Secondary in North Taunton and into FE.
A new local Governing Body will be formed. This will have some of the existing governors, but also some new
governors from the new trust. The new Governing Body will have Dr Peter Avery (currently TTA Vice-Chair) as
Chair (Mary Cridge is standing down voluntarily due to work commitments) plus a number of other existing
governors based on expressed interest and a skills audit. It will also contain parent governors and staff governors
and election details will follow next term. I am really pleased Dr Peter Avery has agreed to be Chair. His
experience and expertise in education (formerly Principal at Richard Huish College) is really helping to shape our
improvements and his leadership will be vital and welcomed. Mary Cridge will be a loss as her leadership has
been superb, but she may continue as one of the new executive board members – the discussions are ongoing.
Best wishes for a happy Easter.
The Taunton Academy uses ParentMail, a service used by over 5,000 schools, nurseries and children’s clubs to
collect payments and send correspondence to parents and carers. Parents can make online payments to the
school for dinners, trips, etc. You can give permission for events or trips online and receive letters via email and
text straight to your mobile phone. A letter was sent out recently to anyone who hasn’t yet registered with a
new code that will run out at the end of April so if you haven’t already registered, please do so as soon as
possible. Please email [email protected] if you have any questions or need further
information
Page 1
Fairer Funding for Somerset Schools
The fairer funding for schools campaign, through the establishment of a national funding formula, has been in the
local press in recent weeks. Currently, Somerset schools are amongst the worst funded in the country. Consequently,
secondary school students are likely to suffer from larger class sizes, fewer support staff and inferior facilities
compared with students in other authorities. I am sure you will agree that this is unfair, and that the quality of
education should not be a function of postcode.
Current Funding Arrangements; The Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) from central government comprises three blocks,
namely a schools block, an early years block and a high needs block. Local Authorities devolve this money to schools
via a “Schools Forum”, comprising Local Authority and Headteacher representatives. Schools Forum distributes this
money based on local factors – in Somerset these include:




Schools sizes (ranging from 20 to 1,400).
An age weighted pupil unit (AWPU).
School types include first, infant, junior, primary, middle, secondary, upper and all-through schools.
A sparsity factor which applies to a small number of rurally located schools.
However, the overall DSG varies between authorities due to replication of historic spending patterns, the absence of
a rationale for the allocation of early years and high needs allocations, and the introduction of the minimum funding
guarantee. The table below shows that per pupil funding varies greatly across the country, and far beyond what
can be justified by virtue of levels of deprivation and higher wage levels in London.
Local
Authority
City of London
Tower Hamlets
Nottingham
City of Bristol
Reading
Somerset
Leicestershire
Total Dedicated Schools
Grant
Rank Total 2015/16
DSG funding
expressed as
£ per pupil (5-16
only)
1
£12,159
8
£8,991
28
£6,536
26
£6,582
38
£6,299
137
£5,250
150
£5,086
Schools Block funding
only
Rank Schools Block
2015/16 per
pupil
1
2
18
46
98
121
141
£8,587
£7,007
£5,301
£4,710
£4,447
£4,343
£4,229
The Pupil Premium, designed to support disadvantaged pupils is paid at a blanket rate across the country. Currently,
the level of DSG and Pupil Premium combined, means that disadvantaged pupils in Somerset are funded well below
the level of an affluent pupil in better funded authorities.
F40 – www.f40.org.uk
Somerset is a member of the f40 group of low-funded authorities that seeks the implementation of a national funding
framework for schools, to be introduced from 2016/2017.
F40 proposes that:
 The existing DSG structure continues, i.e. with blocks for schools, early years and high needs, but that each
element is based on a proper formula, and all reliance on historic spending patterns is removed.
 That implementation should be phased over a three year academic period, the first of these years being
2016/2017.
 That all school funding should be through a single stream, with no specific grants, and incorporating the
Pupil Premium.
 As now, Schools Forum should continue to distribute the DSG on the basis of local need.
We ask for your commitment in implementing a fairer funding policy based on the principles of the f40 group and
look forward to your considered response.
How can you help?
Please consider writing to your MP to highlight this issue. The more letters received, the greater the response is
likely to be.
Page 2
Prefects announced for 2015/16
Congratulations to the Year 10 students who have been appointed
as Prefects; Conor Allbury, Agata Bembnista, Daria Cugier, Megan
Dowdeswell, Alex Du Heaume, Shannon Elliott, Scott Farmer, Paddy
Ford-Copham, Natasha Fowler, Summer Greaves, Charli Harriss,
Megan Haynes, Daisy Howard, Jacob Kelly, Allana Kingston Lace
Jones, Jamie-Leigh Lock, Lily Moore, Jack Monnelly, Harvey NollJefferies, Ayesha Parsons, Maisie Reynolds, Rebecca Rogers, Lisa
Sully, Tom Thirlwall, Georgiee Trim, Ben Walford, Connor Walker,
Louisa Webb, Ruby Williamson.
Pride of Somerset Youth Awards
April Sage, from Year 13, has started a
peer mentoring service for students who
find life difficult.
Chaplain, Rev Mike
Haslam, said “April has been an
outstanding student in many ways. As a
peer mentor, April gave a huge amount of
time to listen to students and to help
people to come together and listen to and
understand each other. Her work had a
real impact.”
April recently won a
Somerset Anne Frank award for her work
as a Peer Mentor in 2013. She has also
been heavily involved in helping to raise
money for Kelsey’s cancer fund. April has
organised raffles and other activities to
raise money to help pay for Kelsey’s
treatment. As part of her health and social
care course, April volunteered at Open
Door in Taunton where she went far
beyond the call of duty. Congratulations
April on all of your achievements!
World Book Day
Spring Forward Dance Festival
On Wednesday 25th March TTA Dance Company have been invited
to perform at the Spring
Forward Dance Festival. The
evening is sure to be a
wonderful
display
of
performing arts talent in
Somerset and a fantastic
opportunity for students to
watch other schools work,
meet other dancers and gain
valuable
performance
experience. If you would like
to come and support the
Academy dancers the show is held at the Tacchi Morris Arts Centre
and tickets are available from the box office. The show begins at
7.30pm.
To celebrate World Book Day, the whole of
the Academy dropped what they were
doing and picked up and read their
favourite books. The students enjoyed this
opportunity to delve into a realm of fiction
and escape from the stresses of the real
world.
Visual Performing Arts Showcase
On Friday 20th March the Taunton Academy hosted their
annual Visual Performing Arts Showcase. The evening was
jammed pack with music and dance. Students from Years 711 performed and showcased their talents in the arts. There
was a variety of performances; the Taunton Academy's choir
sang on entrance, then the show took off with appearances
from TTA Dance Company, GCSE Music and several
individuals with a passion for performing. It was a great
evening and we would like to thank all the students who
participated, all the staff that made the evening happen and
to everyone that came out to support us.
Page 3
Developing Aspirations…
What have our more able students been up to?
There have been a number of opportunities for our
more able students this year. Following their successful
conference exploring the ethics of third world drug
testing at The Genesis Centre, our Challenge Plus
students have undertaken two in-house tutorials
exploring the theories and philosophies behind miracles,
led by Mrs Kolek. The students were tasked to deliver
individual presentations to a governor, Mr Trusson and
a visitor from the Diocese. Mrs Kolek was really
impressed by the outcomes. This group now has an
exciting opportunity to look forward to at FlyBe
headquarters, Exeter Airport, next week where they are
going to experience running an airline through a
simulation activity. As before, our students will be
working with other able students from other south west
academies. Our Challenge Plus students are Maisie
Reynolds, Natasha Fowler, Harvey Noll-Jefferies, Ben
Walford, Ruth Hancock, Robyn Dampier, James
Dumbleton, Ben Shackell, Oliver Currow and Carly
Barrington.
In addition to the work of the Challenge Plus group, we
have welcomed The Brilliant Club to our Academy. This
is a charitable organisation that works with able
students in schools in order to encourage and give them
the aspirations to go to one of our top universities. The
programme was launched by a visit to Oxford University
where the students had a tour by an undergraduate and
participated in study skills workshops; they were also
invited to consider what sort of courses they might opt
for at university and find out what A-Level requirements
each course has. This launch visit has been followed by
four tutorials delivered a PhD student, exploring the
question, “Can terrorism ever be justified?” This
programme culminates in the students submitting a
1500 word essay and going to a graduation ceremony
at another Russell Group university. Our excellent
Brilliant Club students are Oliver Currow, Laura
Culverwell, Hubi Wejnerowski, Alfie Thain, Lewis Taylor,
Summer Mockridge, Harvey Harris, Bethan King, TylerLeigh Dixon and Sam Hudson.
Science Stars!
The Science Stars left the Academy just after 9 and had
a comfortable coach ride down the M5 to Plymouth. We
started with guided tour from Julianna who highlighted
some of key areas and exciting things to look at. We
started with 3 sections that are typical of the British
coastline.
Did you know that a Star Fish can re-grow a new limb if
it loses one? Also, if the removed limb has part of the
central body, it will grow 4 new limbs and form a new
Star Fish. The top section also displayed some
"mermaids purses" which contained some unborn, but
moving shark babies.
Moving to the deeper water, the Science Stars saw how,
even at depths of 25metres, there is are still "layers of
fish", who swim along different levels, with sharks
moving between layers of rays, at the bottom, pollock
in the middle and sea bass at the top.
From the British coast line the Science Stars moved to
the deepest fish tank in Britain. Here there was a large
variety of organisms and Julianna spoke about the feed
relationships they had in the wild and in the tank, where
the Sharks won't eat a fish unless it's ill or injured, so it
won't waste energy, they have learnt that they will be
fed, so they don't waste energy chasing and eating the
fish they live with.
The last section of the Aquarium was the warm water,
which at 28 degrees is like swimming in a warm bath.
This was a lot more colourful. Here they showed a coral
reef, which is an animal with a photosynthesising
bacteria within the cells that provided food for the coral.
Dying coral will often be pale as it releases the bacteria
when attacked leaving it all discoloured. There was also
a clever octopus which, every day, has its food delivered
in a jar, which it has learnt to open using its 8 legs.
After a short trip to the gift shop, where Ruth was
incensed that they sold tortoise products, when they
only had turtles in the aquarium, it was then time to
return back to the Academy. All students had a great
time and were an absolute credit to themselves and the
Academy. The Science Stars would like to thank all staff
who helped organise and staff the trip, so thank you
Mrs. Boreiko, Mr Wood and Mr Brown.
Finally, we are about to launch a reading group with our
more able Year 7 readers. They will be given a pin to
wear and will meet on a weekly basis to discuss a book
they have been tasked to read. Invitations will be
arriving soon.
Lost Property
All items held in lost property will be disposed of
during the holidays. If you have lost any personal
items please see your College Support Worker to check
lost property before we break up on Friday 27th March.
Reception
Reception will be open from 8.00am – 4.00pm Monday
to Thursday and 8.00am – 3.30pm on Fridays. Calls
outside of these hours will go to voicemail and will be
picked up when Reception re-opens.
Page 4
Year 8 and 9 Student Art Workshop
A group of Year 8 and 9 students worked in the
art room for 2 days producing large scale art
works on the theme of Nature; earth, air, fire
and water. Students researched animal images
and experimented with compositions before
beginning the large acrylic paintings. The
students worked incredibly hard and completed
the works in 2 days. These can now be seen on
display around the school. Well done all!
France Trip 2015
During February Year 10 and 11 students from the Taunton Academy visited northern France on a culinary
experience. The 3 day trip involved many outings to small and bespoke artisan establishments. Students took part
in making French baguettes and rolling their own croissants. They flipped crepes and saw how sweets were made soft and chewy as well as the hard boiled style. Students visited a farm and saw how cheese was made, they tasted
fresh goats and cows cheese, as well as visiting a chocolate factory which was rich and indulgent. The final day was
spent seeing how to make Flemish waffles and taking part in a cookery session with a local chef. Nearly all the
students that went study Food or Catering and all gained valuable insight into making lots of traditional French foods
as well as taking in the atmosphere and having opportunity to practise their French speaking skills.
Page 5
Year 10 Football v Courtfields (Written by Sam Currow and Harry Glynn)
After losing to Courtfields two weeks ago, the opposition had an air of confidence as they swaggered onto the
pitch. After training hard the Academy squad had changed their formation and within 5 minutes of the whistle
blowing, Chandler Anderson hammered it home for us. Another 5 minutes of good, strong football and Chandler
netted another one. The boys carried on playing well but Courtfields beat the defence and made the score 2-1.
The attack for the Academy was fluent and unstoppable as Chandler grabbed a hat trick.
The half-time whistle was blown and a few substitutions were made. The boys still looked strong and Keeper,
Craig Swinburne, was unstoppable and made some cracking saves. Late into the second half a break down in
play lead the Academy conceding another goal, making the score 2-2. With less than 2 minutes to go Luke Hellier
received the ball enabling him to score a screamer for the Academy. The whistle blew for full time minutes later
and the Academy boys had won. The key players were Conor Allbury, Harry Thompson, Harry Glynn, Chandler
Anderson and Craig Swinburne, although every player gave it their all. Well done boys!
Take Over Day – Your money will make a difference!
Following many weeks of fundraising at The Academy, we thought it was important for staff and students to know
how their efforts have helped various different charities.
On Wednesday 5th March Year 7 students visited the Conquest Centre to present a £50 cheque to sponsor 3 horses
during the next year. On Thursday 6th March Val Fanning from the charity ‘Stand Against Violence’, was presented
with a cheque for £60 and the fundraising pot (this was the money raised by selling Stand Against Violence
merchandise).
In addition, a cheque for £50 has been sent to ‘Save the
Children’ to put towards school equipment for the
children of Afghanistan, and to ‘War Child Gaza’ for lifesaving treatment for very young children. The
fundraising will make a difference, for example - £3 will
buy water purification tablets, £25 buys a ‘Safe Birth Kit’
which allows women to give birth in their own homes,
and £50 will buy 2 hygiene kits (soaps, towels and
toothbrushes for families).
The Takeover Day evaluation reported the best and
most successful day ever with 44,000 children taking
part across the country - 71% of these felt it was a good
experience for young people to be involved in.
A huge thank you for all your support, patience and
participation in making the Taunton Academy Takeover Day a real success.
Page 6
At Bristol - Human Lifespan Development Trip
We are studying The Human Lifespan Development unit as part
of our BTEC Health and Social Care. We have researched how
and why we physically and intellectually change as we get
older. As teenagers/adolescents the social and emotion factors
influencing our growing up are now starting to make sense.
On Monday 9th March we visited At Bristol, hands-on Science
Museum for the afternoon. There we were able to have a go
on exhibitions all about the nature of being human. From model
eyes to a real brain, heart dissections and measuring your heart
rate. We were focussing on the changes in our body from
foetus to later adulthood, particularly the brain. One exhibition
was to weigh a brain: The human brain changes over a lifetime
and will become surprisingly heavy!
“Genetics, genetic therapy and new research into having perfect babies were very interesting facts we learned in the
DNA laboratory area of the building. Here we are holding life size foetus of three different stages of development.
They were so life like!”
Year 11 Revision/Booster Sessions
Below is the revision/booster timetable and Easter revision sessions. Contact email addresses for each Head of
Department can be found on the next page, should you need them.
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
PE D001
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
Drama
DT
DT
Geography
LUNCHTIME
Art &
Photography
drop in
AFTERSCHOOL
Art & Photography
drop in
Art &
Photography
drop in
Photography/Art
English
Art &
Photography
drop in
Music
Geography
History
History C/W
A/S RE
RE
Art &
Photography
drop in
DT
DT
DT
Science
Science
Science
Science
Science
Art drop in
Maths drop in
Maths drop in
Art drop in
Maths drop in
Page 7
Head of Department contact details
Subject
Name
E-Mail
Art
Mrs Watts-Esmek
[email protected]
Business Studies
Mr Keitch
[email protected]
Design and Technology
Mrs Webb
[email protected]
Drama
Mr Kerr
[email protected]
English
Ms Lam/Mrs Logsdon
[email protected]
[email protected]
Health and Social Care
Mrs Hansen
[email protected]
History
Mrs Motion
[email protected]
ICT
Mr Keitch
[email protected]
Maths
Mrs Truman
[email protected]
MFL
Mr Shrimpton
[email protected]
PE
Mr Mason
[email protected]
RE
Mrs Motion
[email protected]
Science
Mrs Cook
[email protected]
Important dates to remember for 2014/15
24/03/15
25/03/15
27/03/15
Reports sent home
Year 10 Parents’ Evening
End of Spring Term 2 (normal finish of 3.10 p.m.)
30/03/15 – 10/04/15
13/04/15
04/05/15
19/05/15
20/05/15
22/05/15
Easter holidays
Students return to school
BANK HOLIDAY
Reports sent home
Year 7 Parents’ Evening
End of Summer Term 1 (normal finish of 3.10 p.m.)
25-29/05/15 Half term holidays
01/06/15
15/06/15
26/06/15
30/06/15
01/07/15
03/07/15
07/07/15
08/07/15
10/07/15
17/07/15
Students return to school
Non-uniform day
Year 11 Leavers Assembly
Year 6 Induction day, 1 of 2
Year 6 Induction day, 2 of 2
Year 11 Prom
Reports sent home
Year 8 Parents’ Evening
VPA showcase
End of Summer Term 2 (normal finish at 3.10 p.m.)
13/08/15
20/08/15
A Level Examinations Results Day
GCSE Examinations Results Day
Page 8
CATERLINK Summer Menu – Meals £1.95, Dessert 70p, Meal Deal; Meal & Dessert £2.50
Week 1
W/c 13/04/15
Week 2
W/c 20/04/15
Week 3
W/c 27/04/15
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Main
Sausage &
Mash
Lasagne
Roast of the
day
Sweet & Sour
Chicken
Catch of the
day
Vegetarian
Vegetarian
Sausage
Vegetable
Fajitas
Vegetable
Gumbo
Quorn &
Vegetable
Curry
Cheese &
Leek Quiche
Dessert
Fruit Crumble
Chocolate &
Orange
Sponge
Bread &
Butter
Pudding
Wholemeal
Banana
Sponge
Iced Sponge
Main
BBQ Chicken
with Rice
Tuna Pasta
Roast of the
day
Spaghetti
Bolognaise
Catch of the
day
Vegetarian
Cheese &
Pepper Swirl
Quorn &
Vegetable
Stir-fry with
Rice
Lentil &
Vegetable
Quorn Roast
Vegetable
Fajitas & Rice
Pepper &
Cheese
Frittata
Dessert
Fruity Flapjack
Carrot Cake
Trifle
Apple Strudel
Lemon
Drizzle Cake
Main
Chicken Chow
Mein with
Noodles
Turkey Curry
& Rice
Roast of the
day
Cottage Pie
Catch of the
day
Vegetarian
Vegetable Curry
& Rice
Vegetable
Risotto
Vegetable
Wellington
Macaroni
Cheese
Vegetable
Enchiladas
Dessert
Peach Upside
Down Cake
Yoghurt &
Raisin Cake
Jelly & Ice
Cream
Pineapple
Cake
Chocolate
Shortbread
Page 9