Altos de la Ciudad City Heights Academy Friday 10th October 2014. Issue No. 5 Autumn Term Noticias del Director friends and family to come along if they have children in Year 6 or Year 5. Dear Families and Carers, Parent View Many thanks to the 16 families who have added their views to this survey. We now have 31 contributions. We hope that more of you will take the time to add your thoughts too. There is now a Parent View link on our website which makes it even easier for you to navigate there. External Review As I write we are just putting our final arrangements in place for our E-ACT External Review which by the time you read this will be completed. I have spoken to all of the students in assembly and I know that they will have been ambassadors for the academy. I hope to share some key findings with you before half-term. Open Morning We had our second open morning on Wednesday. This was attended by 38 families bringing our total visit numbers up to 240. I was delighted by the positive feedback I received from our visitors and particularly by the very complimentary comments about our Year 8 tour guides. They were wonderful ambassadors for the academy. We have two final open events next week so do encourage Please remember: If your child is absent for any reason please leave a message on each day of absence by dialling 020 3691 4600 and selecting option 1. Meet the Tutors A reminder that we are holding an early evening event on Thursday 23rd October for all of you to come with your children to hear from me, to meet their tutor for a quick chat and get a tour of our building. Year 7 families should arrive for a presentation from me at 5.00pm and Year 8 families at 5.20pm. The evening will end at 6.30pm. I hope that many of you will be able to come. INSET Day Friday 24th October A reminder that the following day will be an INSET day. Staff will be discussing the next steps in our development and reviewing our successes so far. This will not be a school day for students. HAVE YOU COMPLETED THE OFSTED PARENT VIEW SURVEY ? Please remember to complete the OFSTED Parent View survey. There are 12 questions to select a response to. This will only take a few minutes. Please visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk Enter: City Heights E-ACT Academy and our postcode: SW2 3PW GOOGLE CLASSROOM YEAR 7 ENTRY for SEPTEMBER 2015 OPEN EVENTS Open Evenings Wednesday 15th October 5.30 - 7 pm Mr Garcia, Director of MFL Open Mornings Friday 17th October Please note that under the Families Section of our website there is guidance for how parents can help children with Spanish homework. www.cityheightse-actacademy.org 9 - 10.30 am LOST PROPERTY DATES TO REMEMBER Dear Parents/Carer, END OF TERM: Please remember to write your child’s name on all items of uniform including bags and outdoor wear. Lost uniform cannot always be correctly returned to the rightful owner if items are not clearly name-tagged. School closes at 3.40 pm THURSDAY 23RD OCTOBER (INSET DAY FRIDAY 24TH OCTOBER) School re-opens on Monday 3rd November Thank you. ¡Novedades del Mundo! Harry Potter y el récord mundial de Guinness A 37 year old lawyer who lives in Mexico City has just been confirmed by the Guinness Book of Records as owning the largest Harry Potter collection in the world. It has taken Menahem Asher Silva Vargas 15 years of collecting to gather together the 3,097 pieces of paraphernalia that fill two whole rooms of his house. His Gringotts-sized collection ranges from magic wands and toy figurines to Gryffindor scarves and replica Quidditch brooms. While he is delighted by the award, he recognises that it is not without cost. As he says, “mi sueldo, mis primas, todo terminó aquí” (my salary, my bonuses, it has all ended up here). Jim Henderson, Principal SCIENCE On display in History on Display SPANISH LESSONS FOR PARENTS our new science department window is a small piece of space exploration history. This is a small piece about 2cm wide of one of the three Apollo 16 parachutes mounted in acrylic. The parachutes helped get the astronauts back from space in 1972 after they had returned from the Moon and explored the surface, having driven a small electric car on it! The display is combined with a beautiful solar system mobile made last year by one of our pioneering year 7 pupils. Mr. Coltman, Science Technician We have already had our first free Spanish lesson for teachers and City Heights parents who want to brush up their language skills in order to go beyond the now perennial "Hasta la vista baby" and "Dos cervezas por favor". In a relaxed atmosphere we talked a little bit about the origins of Spanish language, its other name: Castilian and how easy it is to get by with a couple of verbs and expressions that can help you to ask for, and describe, many things and sensations. The lessons are for beginners and are totally free every Wednesday between 4.30 and 5.30pm. We are operating a first come first served policy. There are a few places still available and we hope to see you here from next week. Hasta pronto Señor Toledo, Teacher of Spanish Year 7 CAT tests: an update… I can now confirm that these tests will take place next week from Monday 13th October The Cognitive Ability Tests are similar to what other schools use as banded admissions tests. The test assesses a student’s ability to reason with and manipulate different types of material through a series of Verbal, Non-Verbal, Quantitative and Spatial Ability tasks. We will use the results to identify students’ strengths, weaknesses and learning preferences, providing accurate and reliable information that is essential for personalised learning. The more we know about a student, the better position we should be in to offer a learning environment and ways of teaching and learning that allow students to maximise their potential. We will not be sharing the test results with students or families. Students do not need to revise for the test and should not do any preparation other than to get a good night’s sleep and have a big breakfast. They will of course need to make maximum effort during the test. Mr Guerin, Vice Principal City Heights E-ACT Academy is proud to be part of the Windmill Cluster of Schools. For more information about the schools in the cluster and how we work together, please visit the About Us section of our school website: www.cityheightse-actacademy.org Mr. Henderson, Principal