NEWSLETTER 22nd July 2014 One Year Celebration Event On Wednesday 16 th July, we celebrated our first year as an ARK Academy. We were joined by the Mayor of RBKC, Maighread Condon-Smith, Venessa Willms, Director of Primary Education at ARK, lots of friends of the school and were glad to see so many parents present to share in the celebrations too. After some words from Mr Smith and our guests, we were treated to some great performances by children from across the school. After refreshments, guests were given tours of the school by some of our ambassadors. There was great admiration for the decorations and the cake. Thanks to Miss Davis for coordinating and to all the staff who worked so hard to make the event a success. Another example of the great teamwork we value so much at ARK Brunel. or wounded in battle, as this year marks both the 70th anniversary of D Day and the centenary of the outbreak of World War I. It was a great experience for all involved. Hannah, from Year 5, said: "I really enjoy being part of a choir with other ARK Schools. It helps to build your confidence.” Strong SATs Results Again ARK Brunel Primary Academy in Middle Row has shown improvements in results for Key Stage 1 students and continued strong results from Key Stage 2 exams. Students saw their Year 1 phonics screening scores improve to 90% in 2014, up from 80% in 2013. Combined SAT results also showed improvement, rising to 83% from 79% in 2013. We are already at or better than the national average in all areas, and we are working to continue to improve. Science Day Brunel at the Barbican On Monday 7 July, ARK Brunel joined 750 pupils from 25 academies in the ARK Schools network. They came together to perform in the sixth ARK Schools Music Gala held at the world-renowned Barbican Centre in London. A packed audience of around 1000 supporters celebrated the achievements of students from throughout the network. The Barbican Centre, which is normally home to the likes of the London Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Shakespeare Company, hosted ARK Schools children who performed a range of music from John Williams to Pharrell Williams. The event involved pupils of all musical abilities and ages, in a bid to prove that everyone has the ability to be a musician, given the opportunity. Performances included the Eurovision Anthem ‘We write the story’ written by ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, ‘Skyfall’ by Adele as well as Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy’. Pupils also performed ‘Hymn to the Fallen’ by John Williams, a moving tribute to those killed We were joined for the day on Friday 11 th July by the team from Science Boffins. They spent the day working with classes, exploring some of the wonders of science. Some children carried out their own experiments at home. Special mention goes to Elisa Rustemi who amazed Mr Smith with her bouncing egg experiment. The children and teachers made a real effort with dressing up and a great day was had by all. Special thanks to Miss Donaghy for organising the day. Computers, IT, internet, websites, social media… We are enjoying having new, up-to-date IT facilities in our new building. Our computers are fast and responsive and we are making great use of our new laptop trolleys in classes. Having extra computers at the edges of our classrooms means it’s much easier to integrate computer work into our daily routines too. We enjoyed having parents come in to use the school facilities to complete online surveys recently. We’re using our website more and more to publicise the great things that are going on at Ark Brunel. Have you had a look recently? www.arkbrunelprimary.org Are you a Twitter user? We are! Follow @ARKBrunel for regular updates about what’s going on. There’s also a link on our homepage. Hello and goodbye We look forward to welcoming Ms Helen Smith and Ms Melanie Lintott in KS2, and Ms Tiffany Leers in EYFS, who are joining us from September. We also welcome Megan Charlton and Joe Crosby who will be with us for the year, training to be teachers as part of the ARK ATT Programme. We are saying goodbye to Miss Rockcliffe and Miss Francis this summer, who are both leaving us for schools closer to their homes. Also, Miss Naughton will be leaving us to train to be a teacher herself. Great thanks to them for their hard work and dedication over the years and best wishes for the future. Priorities next year We have been busy planning for next year. One of our priorities for next year is to make sure that we are involving parents and carers in school life as much as we can. We will be organising more events that involve parents and look forward to building closer links in order to be the best school we can possibly be for the children. If you ever have any ideas or issues that you would like to discuss with us, please speak to your child’s class teacher or make an appointment to see one of us. We look forward to seeing you soon. Attendance This Year Building works You will have noticed that our old building is rapidly disappearing. While this has involved some noise from time to time, learning continues and we look forward to completion of the works, when we will have our main playground ready for use. The children have managed superbly well this term with only a small area to play in. Well done! Bristol Durham Exeter Imperial Kings 91.6 94.5 94.1 93.9 94.9 Lancaster Loughborough Oxford York 94.0 96.0 94.7 94.9 Our target for next year is 96%. If we can all do as well as Loughborough Class, we’ll get there! KS1 and KS2 Performances On Tuesday 15 th July, Key Stage 1 performed our new school’s first ever play! ‘The Highway Rat’ was a fantastic performance which was thoroughly enjoyed by both performers and audience. If you were lucky enough to see the play, we know you will have enjoyed it. Bravo, Key Stage1! Also, Key Stage 2 shared with us their production of Sherlock Bones which was a treat. We look forward to many more productions with in our lovely new hall. Please remember, holidays in term time will not be authorised, and may lead to a fine from the Educational Welfare Service. This is our final newsletter of the year. Thanks for your continuing support and have a great summer. Dominic Smith STOP PRESS! Many thanks to Corann Malcolm for organising the uniform swap. Many parents have commented on what a great idea it was!