Principal's
Piece
Piece
Visits to
In our next recruitment window we are recruiting for Maths and Geography and our support staff roles. All new staff are in the process of writing introductions so that we can share these with students prior to September.
We have offered 180 places to new year 6 students for September, all of which have been accepted and the transition process will begin for them next module. The Academy had over 640 applications for year 7 2022-2023 and it is testament to the hard work of our staff and the outwardly positive celebrations from our current families in the community that we are already so over subscribed. Thank you for your ongoing support and for publicly championing Leigh Academy Rainham as a truly special place to be.
We have offered 180 places to new year 6 students for September, all of which have been accepted and the transition process will begin for them next module. The Academy had over 640 applications for year 7 2022-2023 and it is testament to the hard work of our staff and the outwardly positive celebrations from our current families in the community that we are already so over subscribed. Thank you for your ongoing support and for publicly championing Leigh Academy Rainham as a truly special place to be.
Our students grow from strength to strength in terms of their respectful and mature behaviours which they consistently model both within and beyond lessons. Every single candidate who has visited the Academy for interviews has commented on how delightful our children are to teach. We have had a busy recruitment window since January successfully appointing a number of new staff for the next academic year. I am pleased to share that from September the following staff will be joining us or moving into new roles:
Mr S Blinkhorn - Vice Principal (Promoted from Assistant Principal. Head of Turing College)
Mr R Silvester - Vice Principal (Head of Kingsley College)
Mrs J Plant - Assistant Principal (Promoted from English Curriculum Leader. Head of Angelou)
Mr J Finneran - Assistant Principal (Assistant Head of Kingsley College)
Mr B Smith - Director of Learning for Humanities (Leader of RE, Geography and History)
Mrs L Lawner - Design and Technology Teacher
Mr M Clark - Performing Arts Teacher
Miss K Thomas - Humanities Teacher (RE and History)
Mrs S Williams - English Teacher
Mr G Childs - PE Teacher
Mr K Lawrence - Science Teacher
Mr E Forson- Maths Teacher
Mr R Silvester - Vice Principal (Head of Kingsley College)
Mrs J Plant - Assistant Principal (Promoted from English Curriculum Leader. Head of Angelou)
Mr J Finneran - Assistant Principal (Assistant Head of Kingsley College)
Mr B Smith - Director of Learning for Humanities (Leader of RE, Geography and History)
Mrs L Lawner - Design and Technology Teacher
Mr M Clark - Performing Arts Teacher
Miss K Thomas - Humanities Teacher (RE and History)
Mrs S Williams - English Teacher
Mr G Childs - PE Teacher
Mr K Lawrence - Science Teacher
Mr E Forson- Maths Teacher
Visits to
LAR
Coding Session
Chris Tasker, a software developer from London, delivered some coding sessions for students, giving them an introduction to python coding. He will be returning to deliver the coding with the remainder of students later in the year. He also delivered an assembly highlighting careers in computer science. He enjoyed showing and explaining to students how computer science skills can be applied in reality and careers, something that was of interest to a number of our students. The blog post from the software developer company can be found here.
Oliver Nelson, a member of the Medway Music Association visited us at the end of this module to talk about how he came to be a musician and to showcase stringed instruments in the hope that we can inspire more students to have viola and violin lessons.
Violin Assembly
Events at
LAR
Drug Detection Dog Visit
We welcomed Steph Howes, our Schools Police Officer and Sam from the Dogs Drug Detection Unit. Students asked insightful questions about how he had come to be a dog a handler, the dog training process and were curious to learn about how Steph applied for the police force and what the application process was like.
Rainham News
Employment Lawyer
Madeline Thomas, a governor for LAR, is a discriminatory lawyer and she visited the academy in module 3 to talk about her role and what it entails. She shared her experiences of sexism when she first started in law and how this was challenged and the sorts of cases and training she has experienced in order to become so successful in her field.
Sandy Flemming from Rainham News delivered a session for students interested in journalism. She talked about her experiences throughout her career as a news reporter and gave relevant and helpful tips to students on how they can create their own recorded news reports. She has tasked students to find and capture their own news stories from our local community, recording interesting pieces for her to review.
Cambridge Visit!
Since January we have had a number of guest speakers with a particular focus on introducing our students to a range of careers, with opportunities to ask questions.
Students from Queens’ College Cambridge have visited to discuss all things related to university life and in particular Cambridge University. They spoke to our students about the academic, social and monetary aspects of university life.
Rainham News
Sandy Flemming from Rainham News delivered a session for students interested in journalism. She talked about her experiences throughout her career as a news reporter and gave relevant and helpful tips to students on how they can create their own recorded news reports. She has tasked students to find and capture their own news stories from our local community, recording interesting pieces for her to review.
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LEARNING IN LESSONSYEAR 7 CURRICULUM
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At Leigh Academy Rainham one of our goals is that students feel as though they have had the opportunity to travel the world through their studies with us, both figuratively and literally. Whilst we are planning visits for students in the future we have already begun our virtual visits.Loading...
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International mindedness is one of the key drivers of the MYP and our students are now seeing that whilst knowledge of Rainham, Medway and the UK are essential, being able to enhance this with a knowledge of Europe and the World only furthers their learning and depth of understanding. Loading...
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Teachers outline to students explicitly how the curriculum in different subjects overlap and how they differ, we refer to these as interdisciplinary links. Students are developing a rich knowledge of how for example art, history and RE all play a role in the development of culture and how through study, we can attempt not to repeat the mistakes of the past and build a brighter future.Over the last two modules students have been learning about Dynamic Places, such as hot and cold deserts and have been studying conflict in the Middle East. During the Dynamic Places unit, students looked at the characteristics of the different types of deserts, how animals and humans have adapted to the extremities of the different deserts and have also looked at the different threats to the different deserts. During this Module on the Middle East, students have looked at a range of historical and modern conflicts within the region, analysed why they took place and assessed the impacts of the different conflicts. Students have also looked at the Syrian refugee crisis in the Middle East and have used Google Earth to look at the journey they have taken in getting to safety. Students were also able to make comparisons from the Syrian refugees with the current Ukrainian Refugee. Next module students will be looking at sustainability in the module of Wasteful World.
Learning at
LAR
KINGSLEY COLLEGE
.
GEOGRAPHY
Over the last two modules students in History have been exploring different minority groups: Muslims, Jews and Medieval women. In Module three students examined the extent to which: money, religion and power caused conflict and events such as: The Crusades and arguments over the holy city Jerusalum. Within this module students also compared how these three factors caused events such as: Jewish persecution, Barons and Peasant rebellions against kings and why people strapped a chicken’s bottom under their armpit to treat the Black Death! In recent weeks students have been studying the Wars of the Roses-a civil war that divided England for almost 30 years! Students have been examining the roles of: Margaret of Anjou, Elizabeth Woodville and Margaret Beaufort. It has been a real pleasure to see students engage in this topic by highlighting key problems women experienced such as: sexism and patriarchy (male-dominace) in society. Next module students will be entering into a new time period in History: The Renaissance and will be studying Reformation and Rebellions under the Tudor monarchs!
SPANISH
HISTORY
Over the last two modules students in History have been exploring different minority groups: Muslims, Jews and Medieval women. In Module three students examined the extent to which: money, religion and power caused conflict and events such as: The Crusades and arguments over the holy city Jerusalum. Within this module students also compared how these three factors caused events such as: Jewish persecution, Barons and Peasant rebellions against kings and why people strapped a chicken’s bottom under their armpit to treat the Black Death! In recent weeks students have been studying the Wars of the Roses-a civil war that divided England for almost 30 years! Students have been examining the roles of: Margaret of Anjou, Elizabeth Woodville and Margaret Beaufort. It has been a real pleasure to see students engage in this topic by highlighting key problems women experienced such as: sexism and patriarchy (male-dominace) in society. Next module students will be entering into a new time period in History: The Renaissance and will be studying Reformation and Rebellions under the Tudor monarchs!
During Modules 3 and 4 in Spanish, students have been exploring the topics of school and hobbies and sports to be able to talk about what they do in their daily lives. In Module 3 they got to experience a virtual tour of a Spanish school and during Module 4 students undertook various short research tasks that allowed them to discover how different cultures enjoy their free time. Students formulated very insightful inquiry questions and discussed the impacts that our free time activities had on our mental and physical wellbeing and also on our environment.
ANGELOU COLLEGE
MUSIC
Learning at
Over the last two modules, students have been learning and developing their keyboard skills. We have looked at two completely different styles of music.
Last term we were looking at The Greatest Showman, particularly the meaning and significance of the lyrics. The students have been taught how to identify keys on the keyboard and use a guide to help them navigate how to play the songs. Most students know The Greatest Showman and so they were incredibly enthusiastic about listening to and learning the songs.
This term we have been looking at Classical music. Students have been taught about the elements of Classical music and the 6 historical style periods, understanding what inspired and influenced music from the year 450 all the way up the modern day. Students have studied Mozart and Ludovico Einaudi. Students have even started to compose their own piece of Classical music on the keyboards, mostly inspired by Ludovico Einaudi’s compositions.
Last term we were looking at The Greatest Showman, particularly the meaning and significance of the lyrics. The students have been taught how to identify keys on the keyboard and use a guide to help them navigate how to play the songs. Most students know The Greatest Showman and so they were incredibly enthusiastic about listening to and learning the songs.
This term we have been looking at Classical music. Students have been taught about the elements of Classical music and the 6 historical style periods, understanding what inspired and influenced music from the year 450 all the way up the modern day. Students have studied Mozart and Ludovico Einaudi. Students have even started to compose their own piece of Classical music on the keyboards, mostly inspired by Ludovico Einaudi’s compositions.
LAR
ART
In module 3 and 4 in English, students have been reading “Oliver Twist” and learning about the context of Victorian England. Students were able to use what they had learned about prejudice and inequality from the novel study “Roll of Thunder” at the beginning of the year, and apply this to how the poor were treated in Victorian society.
In module 3, students focused on writing in “real life” contexts such as newspaper articles, reports and fact-files. Using their own research, students were able to apply their writing skills to persuade readers that more needed to be done to help the poor - just like Charles Dickens’ did in the 1800s! We also learned some fascinating facts about life in the Victorian era - did you know that a person could face the death penalty for stealing a sheep?
In module 4, students worked on analysing how Dickens’ used his descriptions of characters and settings to force his readers to confront how badly the poor were treated after the introduction of The New Poor Law. We considered how Dickens used language techniques such as imagery, metaphor, juxtaposition, personification and sensory language in order to make his readers feel like they were in the workhouse. We have also started to consider how an author’s viewpoint can be affected by their own experiences and using the MYP skill of empathy to understand how Dickens’ own childhood is reflected in his novels.
In module 3, students focused on writing in “real life” contexts such as newspaper articles, reports and fact-files. Using their own research, students were able to apply their writing skills to persuade readers that more needed to be done to help the poor - just like Charles Dickens’ did in the 1800s! We also learned some fascinating facts about life in the Victorian era - did you know that a person could face the death penalty for stealing a sheep?
In module 4, students worked on analysing how Dickens’ used his descriptions of characters and settings to force his readers to confront how badly the poor were treated after the introduction of The New Poor Law. We considered how Dickens used language techniques such as imagery, metaphor, juxtaposition, personification and sensory language in order to make his readers feel like they were in the workhouse. We have also started to consider how an author’s viewpoint can be affected by their own experiences and using the MYP skill of empathy to understand how Dickens’ own childhood is reflected in his novels.
The art room was abuzz with printmaking practicals, introducing this creative process as a new way of making for many of our students. They designed a tile using plant based lines, motifs and patterns inspired by and responding to Islamic Art. They used a polyblock and ink to produce a repeat print using rotational symmetry. The resulting surface patterns are aesthetically beautiful and are adorning the school.
Having been inspired by Islamic design from the Mediaeval period, our Art curriculum next took us into The Renaissance and to an investigation of one of the masters of both Art and Science: Leonardo da Vinci. Students analysed Leonardo’s anatomical drawings and developed their written communication skills through the critique of Leonardo’s art. Students revisited drawing skills as the fundamental building block of art and have been drawing from primary sources skeletons inspired by our investigation. We have been using pen and ink and mark making as students continue to experiment with different drawing media and techniques.
Having been inspired by Islamic design from the Mediaeval period, our Art curriculum next took us into The Renaissance and to an investigation of one of the masters of both Art and Science: Leonardo da Vinci. Students analysed Leonardo’s anatomical drawings and developed their written communication skills through the critique of Leonardo’s art. Students revisited drawing skills as the fundamental building block of art and have been drawing from primary sources skeletons inspired by our investigation. We have been using pen and ink and mark making as students continue to experiment with different drawing media and techniques.
We have travelled to Syria and Greece this term as we learned about refugees - why they leave where they are from and how they are treated when they arrive in a safe country. Students showed great maturity whilst they debated whether the way countries support refugees is fair. Students used their improvisation skills and non-naturalistic drama techniques to create an advert aimed at encouraging people to do more to help. In light of the current situation in Ukraine, pupils were able to sensitively and maturely discuss the UK Government’s response to refugees and use flashbacks to perform how people’s lives might have changed as a result of the conflict.
ENGLISH
In module 3 and 4 in English, students have been reading “Oliver Twist” and learning about the context of Victorian England. Students were able to use what they had learned about prejudice and inequality from the novel study “Roll of Thunder” at the beginning of the year, and apply this to how the poor were treated in Victorian society.
In module 3, students focused on writing in “real life” contexts such as newspaper articles, reports and fact-files. Using their own research, students were able to apply their writing skills to persuade readers that more needed to be done to help the poor - just like Charles Dickens’ did in the 1800s! We also learned some fascinating facts about life in the Victorian era - did you know that a person could face the death penalty for stealing a sheep?
In module 4, students worked on analysing how Dickens’ used his descriptions of characters and settings to force his readers to confront how badly the poor were treated after the introduction of The New Poor Law. We considered how Dickens used language techniques such as imagery, metaphor, juxtaposition, personification and sensory language in order to make his readers feel like they were in the workhouse. We have also started to consider how an author’s viewpoint can be affected by their own experiences and using the MYP skill of empathy to understand how Dickens’ own childhood is reflected in his novels.
In module 3, students focused on writing in “real life” contexts such as newspaper articles, reports and fact-files. Using their own research, students were able to apply their writing skills to persuade readers that more needed to be done to help the poor - just like Charles Dickens’ did in the 1800s! We also learned some fascinating facts about life in the Victorian era - did you know that a person could face the death penalty for stealing a sheep?
In module 4, students worked on analysing how Dickens’ used his descriptions of characters and settings to force his readers to confront how badly the poor were treated after the introduction of The New Poor Law. We considered how Dickens used language techniques such as imagery, metaphor, juxtaposition, personification and sensory language in order to make his readers feel like they were in the workhouse. We have also started to consider how an author’s viewpoint can be affected by their own experiences and using the MYP skill of empathy to understand how Dickens’ own childhood is reflected in his novels.
DRAMA
We have travelled to Syria and Greece this term as we learned about refugees - why they leave where they are from and how they are treated when they arrive in a safe country. Students showed great maturity whilst they debated whether the way countries support refugees is fair. Students used their improvisation skills and non-naturalistic drama techniques to create an advert aimed at encouraging people to do more to help. In light of the current situation in Ukraine, pupils were able to sensitively and maturely discuss the UK Government’s response to refugees and use flashbacks to perform how people’s lives might have changed as a result of the conflict.
In conjunction with our History and Art departments, we are excited to take the children to Rochester later this year, where we will visit a Charles Dickens exhibition as part of our day.
Next module, our students will be studying an introduction to Shakespeare - where they will investigate a number of Shakespeare’s key characters and scenes from his most famous plays. Students will also learn the “7 basic plots” and how plays and films are still structured in the way that they were in Jacobean England. In module 6, we’ll be visiting The Globe Theatre in London for a theatre workshop where students will have an opportunity to apply the knowledge that they have learned to a real performance!
In module 6, students will be studying a series of poems that challenge the way that we see the world. This will allow students to use the Leigh Learner Value of “Leadership” to show how positive messages can be spread to our community with the power of words.
Next module, our students will be studying an introduction to Shakespeare - where they will investigate a number of Shakespeare’s key characters and scenes from his most famous plays. Students will also learn the “7 basic plots” and how plays and films are still structured in the way that they were in Jacobean England. In module 6, we’ll be visiting The Globe Theatre in London for a theatre workshop where students will have an opportunity to apply the knowledge that they have learned to a real performance!
In module 6, students will be studying a series of poems that challenge the way that we see the world. This will allow students to use the Leigh Learner Value of “Leadership” to show how positive messages can be spread to our community with the power of words.
Learning at
LAR
TURING COLLEGE
SCIENCE
Over the last two modules students have had the opportunity to study key concepts across each of the three science disciplines. Students have had the opportunity to explore the respiratory system and how the body responds to exercise Students have had the opportunity to study separation techniques. In particular they were able to explore the need for desalination as an alternative for obtaining fresh drinking water in Australia and Lanzarote. Students finished the module exploring principles of energy and forces. Students were able to evaluate the effectiveness of different machines from teppanyaki grills to parachutes.
Over the last two modules, students have developed a range of mathematical skills in a variety of different topics; these include: exploring the different rules of angles and lines, discovering all the possible outcomes in probability, manipulating roots and indices, finding factors, multiples and primes, as well as developing numeracy skills in multiplication and division.
In the Angles and Lines unit, students have had the opportunity to discover how the structures of angles and lines contribute towards the aesthetics of artwork and how it makes different pieces pleasing to the eye. In our last unit of probability, students learnt about an Indonesian game of paper, scissors, rock (Semut, Orang and Gejah). They discovered how to find the total amount of outcomes by drawing a range of probability diagrams, such as a sample space and tree diagram. Students realised that by using these diagrams they could systematically find probabilities in a logical way.
In the unit of multiplication and division, students investigated what it was like to be an interior designer. Students had to independently decide what is the most cost effective flooring for the ground rooms of LAR, through calculating the areas of these rooms and then their corresponding prices. Students then had to decide whether this was in the given budget and what they would suggest to change if the cost was too high.
In the Angles and Lines unit, students have had the opportunity to discover how the structures of angles and lines contribute towards the aesthetics of artwork and how it makes different pieces pleasing to the eye. In our last unit of probability, students learnt about an Indonesian game of paper, scissors, rock (Semut, Orang and Gejah). They discovered how to find the total amount of outcomes by drawing a range of probability diagrams, such as a sample space and tree diagram. Students realised that by using these diagrams they could systematically find probabilities in a logical way.
In the unit of multiplication and division, students investigated what it was like to be an interior designer. Students had to independently decide what is the most cost effective flooring for the ground rooms of LAR, through calculating the areas of these rooms and then their corresponding prices. Students then had to decide whether this was in the given budget and what they would suggest to change if the cost was too high.
Students have taken an alternative viewpoint when learning about indices, by exploring the legend of The Tower of Hanoi. Students showed tremendous resilience when trying to find the minimum amount of moves to move different size rings from one tower to another. As a class, students discovered, and then reasoned, how they can use indices to find the minimum amount of moves needed to move any amount of rings.