Welcome to the first edition of our newsletter.
I am delighted to be sharing with you our first newsletter! We will be developing a newsletter each month in order to showcase some of the academic excellence and amazing experiences that our founding cohort are participating in. Each month a subject area will be focused upon; we will start with English this month.
I am sure that you will enjoy reading about everything that we are doing and I know that you will be proud of the children’s accomplishments.
Please do let us know of any exciting awards, events, prizes and competitions that your child takes part in out of school and we will add them to the newsletter. Additionally, let us know if you would like any information that you as a parent/carer require to help support your child’s learning at home and we will add detail for you. It has been an incredible first few weeks and I am so proud seeing children thoroughly enjoying their education with us. #TeamTrinity is establishing itself well.
UPCOMING EVENTS…
Our library is almost completed and we have a wide range of fiction and non-fiction texts that students will be able to borrow. There will be an opportunity for students to design a library mascot which will then be created into a digitalised image. We will shortly be launching our ‘Reading Ambassadors’ who will support and be involved in reading activities over the next year.
Our English Department have been incredibly impressed with students who have consistently shown an outstanding attitude to learning and commitment to developing their English studies. Staff will continue to look out for English Heroes who will be announced and celebrated during assembly time. Keep up the fantastic work Year 7!!
Half term – 18 to 29 October
Inset Day – 1 November
Return – 2 November
Harvest Festival – 13 October
HUMANITIES: GEOGRAPHY
Students have been learning how to explain their place in the wider world as well as developing key geographical skills. We have been using atlases to identify continents, countries and counties and we even took an imaginary boat trip where the class had to direct the boat using only compass directions. Luckily, we did not crash into the sandbanks!!! Issues that we will explore throughout Year 7 have been discussed and students have shown a key interest in environmental geography. 7SEN began by recycling old tin cans into pen holders for the Humanities classrooms.
PASTORAL UPDATE!
Wow! What a fantastic first couple of weeks with our founding cohort at TASE. In a short space of time, we have achieved and experienced so much together.
We have already awarded over a thousand positive achievement points and kept our attendance over 98%. We launched our house system and the whole school community got involved in team challenges to earn house points. After an intense afternoon of challenges/games our overall winner was House Hawking. All students received a gold medal to celebrate. Interform competitions are now underway and 7SEN won the competition for the most Achievement points awarded. 7JST won Best Attendance with an outstanding 100% attendance record. Both forms enjoyed their early break and lunch pass.
We have celebrated our first ever TASE HERO subject learners. These students demonstrated an awesome attitude to learning and going above and beyond for academic excellence. The applause, postcards and sweet treats were greatly received. Staff had the opportunity to nominate students as our “Absolutes Heroes”. These students had the pleasure of being part of ‘Hot Chocolate Friday’ with Mr Allen.
It was a pleasure to meet our founding cohort’s parents/carers during our Year 7 ‘Settling-in’ evening. It was such a positive experience for all involved and provided both staff and parents with the opportunity to meet face to face and for parents to meet their child’s form tutor. The Pastoral Team will send regular updates via the newsletter and we will add top tips for topics to help support our #TeamTrinity families. Growing up is hard, and growing up with social media is even more challenging. We will offer advice, guidance and information to support parents/carers to develop their knowledge. Please do let us know if there are any subjects that you would like us to include.
We have had an English and languages house week where children and staff got involved in planned activities to earn points for their respective house. We are keeping an ongoing record of house points and will crown a half term winner in the next few weeks.
ENGLISH UPDATE
This half term, students at St Edward’s are developing their skills of analysis through reading the novel ‘Cirque du Freak’. ‘Cirque du Freak’ by Darren Shan is a gothic text which in the midst of much excitement, true terror raises its head. Students will focus on their deduction and inference skills in order for them to produce independent analytical responses.
During form time, students are reading the text ‘Once’ by Morris Gleitzman three times a week. Here is what a few members of 7AMY had to say about their initial impressions of the novel:
‘Once’ is an amazing book and it has lured me in to wanting to read more of it – Frankie.
I am enjoying our form time reading because it allows me to understand more about life in WW2 from a child’s point of view – Amelia.
The book ‘Once’ is a great book and it is really entertaining. I really enjoy reading in form time because it is interesting and relaxing – Bradley.
Each half term, form groups will read a different text to enhance their reading skills; critique the texts they read; broaden their knowledge; demonstrate the school’s core values. Through ‘Masters of Recall’ students are learning both spellings and new knowledge once a week. This new knowledge will support students through their English curriculum. A spelling test is taken once a week during the students’ reading lesson.
FRENCH UPDATE
What a first fortnight it’s been! The response from students in their French lessons has been ‘fantastique!’ There are some tremendous accents and some real attention to detail as we focus on our use of phonics to achieve the correct pronunciation. I’ve been really impressed! Excellent travail! Students are working hard to learn all the elements needed in order to hold their first unscripted conversation!
There are plenty of other exciting opportunities happening in the French department for students to be involved in. Our INVOLVE sessions on a Wednesday have been great fun, with crypto hacking whilst learning not only French, but Spanish, Polish and our next language is Italian!
On Tuesday we began our penfriend partnership with Collège Pierre de Ronsard, in Lille. Students have started to prepare their first letters and are looking forward to finding out who they have been partnered with – look out for more information appearing about this soon.
We have been very much looking forward to our languages celebration week as part of European Day of Languages. The students brought in cakes, buns and biscuits on the first day and we were absolutely amazed by the time and effort they had put into them. AMAZING! The bake sale was a huge success with all proceeds going to our chosen charity Club Kampala.
MATHS
In our Maths lessons we have been looking at linear and non-linear sequences. We have been comparing different representations; including diagrams, tables and graphs and seeing if we can decide whether the sequence is linear or non-linear using any of these representations.
HISTORY
We have started our studies in History with the Anglo-Saxon period, considering the impact invaders have had on our national history and identity. We have commenced building key historical skills such as chronology and source work. Students have completed timeline tasks that help to build and develop mathematical skills and developed reasoning and judgment based around the reliability of different sources. A number of students have developed these skills further through INVOLVE clubs by joining the Archaeology Society.
RELIGIOUS STUDIES
What is the meaning of life? Who am I? What happens when I die? Key philosophical questions that underpin many world religions have been introduced this month. Students have developed their own world views and begun to study the founders of Western philosophy- Plato and Aristotle. We are very proud of how the students have built their ability to debate and discuss such challenging topics.
PSHE
This month we have focused on the parable of the lost sheep (Matthew 18:10–14) to explore the network of support available at St Edward’s. We have started to build the key skills required to help with the transition from primary to secondary school and developing new friendships.
SCIENCE
We had a fantastic start to Science Club last week. Our theme: ‘All about Me’ gave students the opportunity to learn about how their own body works in more detail. Above is a picture of a model hand that we are working on at the moment. Next week, we’ll look at how exercise can affect our bodies.
ART/DT UPDATE!
ART
During this term students will be looking closely at observational drawing and making connections between how observational studies form the core pillars of an art and design education. Students will be researching this topic and looking
in-depth at colour theory, through the work of Pablo Picasso.
DT
During this term students will be looking closely at isometric drawing and making connections between how isometric projection is used within the realms of art and design. Students will be following this topic and looking in-depth at perspective drawing and its application within architecture.
ENRICH PROGRAMS
During the next few terms we will be rolling out our TASE – post-16 outreach packages. They have been designed to give our students the maximum exposure to the best tertiary education and employment within the region.
DISCOVER LEEDS
A selection of our students have been selected to take part in a 10+ year research program looking at the effect high quality targeted university school links can have on the uptake of STEM subjects within secondary school.
FUTURE ME
Every student will be given the opportunity in the next few years to work closely with local universities. Exposing our students to the full range of opportunities and life chances a tertiary education has to offer.
JUNIOR MEDICS
We shall be holding 3 yearly outreach packages working with local medical professionals and industry representatives. This would be beneficial for anyone interested in a medical career be that a doctor, nurse, research analyst. The list is endless!
INVOLVE FOOD CLUB
Students will be split into small groups and will receive demonstrations on how to cook several basic recipes. This will be conducted in the school cafeteria or at a local catering provider.
INVOLVE MASTER CHEF
The school will be running a house Master Chef Challenge, this will involve a small selection of students aiming to gain house points via a school cooking challenge.
HOME CHALLENGE
(Optional) During Term 5 the students will be asked to create a series of simple cooking tasks and asked to provide photographic evidence of their creations!
Check out these lovely quotes From our Settling-in evening!
Really impressed with everything, from the staff, work and communications. Very impressed with the building!
I am so pleased we decided on this school!!
Trinity Academy St Edward’s was the best decision we made as parents!