The Lord Mayor's visit and other news, March 2012

All growing together


The formal Opening of Hammersmith Academy by Alderman David Wooton, The Lord Mayor of the City of London, took place on the 7th March. The academy was washed clean by the torrential rain but it did not dampen spirits. The students performed their mini-plays and sang wonderful songs to celebrate the fantastic work of students, parents and staff to make the academy launch such a success. Thanks were given to the many unsung heroes from builders and architects, to teachers and governors who all had significant parts in bringing the academy together over a six year period. The day finished with a balloon launch with tagged messages from the students, indicating their hopes and dreams for the future. The sun managed to break through so that the afternoon finished in a blaze of sunshine, good feeling and shared exhilaration.

Students are focused on the lead up to Easter. Our focus as always is progress and for the year 12s how best they can prepare for the final push to the exams in mid-May. The revision starts now.

We are also in the midst of interviewing prospective sixth formers for September. We make offers but all depends on results this summer. Those in Year 11 must concentrate on those GCSEs and ensure they get the grades to join our current students next year.

Book Week was a tremendous affair. A big thank you to Ms Hartnett, our dynamic librarian. She organised inspiring events, including the visit by children’s authors, Andy Briggs and Dan Freedman, both real inspirational characters and role models for our year 7 students.

Well done also to our girls and boys year 7 indoor athletes for winning the Hammersmith and Fulham Indoor Athletics Championship. A real credit to the academy. You have set the bar very high for the following year groups.

Congratulations to those current year 6 students that have been offered a place at the academy starting this September. We look forward to inducting you in the summer term and getting you organised for uniform and information. Get those acceptance letters in ASAP.

Our Student Council is now up and running and providing a voice for our students. Nominations for House prefects continue as we add layers to our student body representation.

The summer beckons and with the good weather our outside table tennis tables take on a whole new dimension. Silky skills and whipped forehands really have the competition ‘hotting up.’

We have also employed 18 new staff for teaching in September 2012. A marathon of interviews and short-listing has proved to be rewarding as we have some outstanding staff joining the ever expanding academy team. This will lead to even more Session 3 opportunities next year.
I sign off with the imminent launch of HA Radio. Our web-based radio station will give students to really get a sense of developing different industry type skills or simply develop additional skills and interests.

Happy New Year! Welcome Back for the Spring Term

Going for gold every day!

It is with much anticipation that I welcome you back for this Spring term.  I hope that you have had a restful festive break.   We are looking forward to adding to our collective achievements in this Olympic year.

The first term was quite remarkable for making history and launching this much needed school in west London. The end of term Winter Fayre was a wonderful celebration of the talents and creative endeavours of our year 7 students.  This showcase really highlighted the wonderful collegial attitude of our students and staff.  It was a really fun way to end the year with art showcases, singing, dancing and drama sketches written and performed by the students.

The crowning event for the term was the naming of the academy houses.  Sixteen different presentations were made by the tutor groups with four major names selected by the sponsors.  The chair of governors, Tom Ilube, on behalf of the sponsors pitched each idea to the whole student body who then voted for their preferred choice.  I can now reveal that the new house names are:

Green House                     Gates House

Yellow house                     Lovelace House

Red House                          Berners-Lee House

Blue House                         Tesla House

Our focus for this term is very much on maintaining and expanding the excellent ethos created last year and pushing up the standards even more over the coming months.  We will be entering a busy period of staff recruitment and thus continue to build and develop our teams to provide an inspirational educational experience.

Students will be launching immediately into module 4 and the 6^th formers will be sitting their first formal modular exams throughout January.  We wish them good luck and look forward to receiving their results.

As we approach the coming months we will see more daylight as the days lengthen but please can parents ensure that their children have appropriate winter coats and footwear for the conditions (please see dress code on our website).

Our first Talent Month competition will be held throughout January.  It will culminate with a formal contest, where the top acts identified and selected from dancing to art, comedy to juggling and many others, go head-to-head to become the winner of  HA’s Got Talent 2012.  All talents are given the chance to shine. I am sure we will also see some staff entries!

I look forward to sharing more throughout 2012.

Warming Up Nicely & Keeping Winter at Bay!

The half-term seems but a distant memory and we race towards the Christmas holiday period.  Sixth form are feverishly completing their modules and preparing for their first mock exams at Hammersmith Academy.  These are in preparation for the real module exams in January.  Focus is the order of the day but the extra time put in now will pay off come the summer results. The year 7 students continue to impress with their enthusiasm for the challenges given to them.  They have embraced our culture of 100% as a reflection of their ambitions.

The Lords Mayor’s Show parade was a tremendous success.  I’d like to give special thanks to our sponsors for the marvellous breakfast at the Mercers’ Great Hall prior to the show.  It was great to sense the history of the hall and the size of the pageant.  Students paraded brilliantly and exhibited great pride in their academy.  They marched with zeal and energy and were one of the loudest groups of participants, engaging with the crowds throughout the route. One special mention for Frank, who was completely unfazed by his interview with Clare Balding during the BBC coverage.  One of a number of potential future broadcasters

Tutor groups have been leading the assemblies for this half term with lots of high quality assemblies produced by the tutor teams during Anti-bullying week (wb: 14^th Nov.) and Charity Focus week (wb: 21^st Nov.).  There has been a tangible collaboration of talents between our 6^th form and year 7 students in each tutor group.  Each group has raised the bar for the next group in their house.

The launch of the Moodle for online curriculum access has increased the number of activities and the overall amount of independent study completed by students.  The laptops have certainly increased the range and types of activities that are stretching all to achieve more. 

Our Session 3 programme of after academy activities (4-5.30pm) has really taken off with lots of sporting and vocational activities starting this term.  Table tennis before the academy day, trampolining, football and basketball, Art Club and Glee club for our performers, library support and reading clubs.  Please see the website for more details of the programme.   

The 6^th Form Open Evening was well attended.  I know it seems early for year 11 students to be thinking of next year but applications should be handed in as soon as possible.  Through being able to show the academy in its full glory and with our current 6^th form students demonstrating the range of qualifications on offer, there will be much wider interest in the places available for September 2012.  Early applications will ensure an earlier interview and an offer being made.  So do not delay.  Use the website to download an application form and email or send it in!

We aim to have some community use of our MUGA weekdays from 5.30-7pm.  See our website for details. Thanks to QPR for providing the coaches for these sessions.  Look out for the posters.  Further, we aim to launch our Parent and Community Advisory Council after Christmas.  We are still finalising details but the voice of our community is important to us and can help to make us more successful.  From all at the academy, thank you for your support.

Heads Newsletter - October 2011

I would like to start with a very big thank you to our parents and carers for the support that you have provided your child and the academy in the transition from primary to secondary school.  Students have been punctual and very well presented and ready to learn daily.  They have responded brilliantly to the high expectations we set for their appearance and performance inside and outside the academy. The next two weeks provides the opportunity for a well-deserved rest.  We have set some independent learning work for students on the Moodle for the second week to ensure they are ready to return bright and focused for the next half term. 

The last six weeks have flown by but it has been a hive of activity here at the academy. Students have used the entire academy from DT on the ground floor through to Science at the top.  We have held various show events for prospective parents and students, as well as a large opening event with our sponsor, The Worshipful Company of Information Technologists.  On each occasion our students and staff have performed as if we have been at the academy for 6 years rather than the six weeks.

Many trips have been taken in year 12 and year 7.  Trips to the Royal College of Music, who have also kindly donated 3 pianos, a Bafta gaming conference, the British Technology Show, the World Skills Careers Conference, a history trip to the docklands and many more.  It is a great way to enliven the learning and make real connections for our students.  Also, girls’ and boys’ teams have played and won football and basketball matches against local schools.  An auspicious start to our sporting future.

We have celebrated Black History Month throughout October.  Students have researched and learnt about the history and impact of black culture in class, tutor time and through assemblies.  Further, I have been amazed by the science projects brought into the academy by year 7 over the last couple of weeks, dinosaurs with different textures in Art, a celebration of poetry in English and many other projects across the subjects.  Year 12 continue to push to reach their targets as the mock exams loom in December.  Our learning culture continues to strengthen. 

It has been a wonderful start for the academy and I would like to thank my staff whose dedication and hard work in the summer and throughout this term is driving our ambition to be outstanding.  Further, I would like to thank the wider community for your continued support and kind messages. 

Enjoy the break and we look forward to seeing staff and students on Monday 7^th November.

Up and running at last!

We have now completed our second full week since opening.  The students’ arrival has transformed the building in to a live functioning academy and it feels brilliant.  To see our incredibly smart and professional student body arriving on day one, with anticipation and excitement, made my heart leap.  All the hard work of the whole academy team came together with the smooth transition into a place of learning.

Parents’ anxieties were soothed by the confidence of their sons and daughters.  Last kisses and hugs at the gate and a wave goodbye after our ceremonial cutting of the ribbon at the entrance.  It is always a tough transition from primary to secondary for parents, as well as students.

Our students have come from many different primary schools and secondary schools for our first cohort of year 7 and sixth form.  The preparations have paid off as I visit classroom upon classroom where students are engaged in their learning.  Books being read and journals written in, questions being answered and sports facilities ringing to the sounds of excited action.  It is music to our ears.

The tie ceremony on the first day really made our opening day special.  Students recited our mission statement to their Head of House and committed to be an HA learner.  They have already taken ownership of what it means to be a Hammersmith Academy student and are setting the very high standards required of others in years to come.  Also, the competition for naming the houses has begun.  It will culminate with presentations by students to the governors to select the four best. The theme, of course, is technology around our specialisms in IT and creative and digital media.

And so we begin again.  The Open Evening on the 10^th October is fast approaching.  We are two weeks into opening and we are thinking about the transition of the current year 6s.  It will be so much easier this year.  We have an academy and our own students to show off and I think parents and their children will be impressed.

We are also able to take on a few more sixth form students.  We have had to split courses because of large numbers and so have a few additional places available.  If you are a sixth former and have the grades, then make an application now.  

Contact us at the academy and send in a completed application form available through the website at http://www.hammersmithacdademy.org/

Well, I sign off now with pride in the way our students have risen to the challenge of being the founding members of Hammersmith Academy.

Only days and hours to go....

The final splashes of touch-up paint are going some of the walls.  We want it to be perfect! Pin boards and display cabinets are being erected.  They look empty without the work of students displayed within them.  Furniture is being moved into position.  Cleaners are hoovering and dusting.  No doubt a daily job for the next few months.  Parents are arriving with excited year 7s collecting uniform and asking last minute questions. We await the final plants and shrubs for the bedding areas around the academy. 

This ‘intelligent’ building is new to everyone and we are all quickly learning how it works. Rooms have automatic lighting and filtering of air.  Windows that know when to open if it’s too hot and close when it’s raining. 

The induction of our staff continues.  The buzz of excitement is tangible.  Teachers are beavering away making final adjustments to the curriculum and taking delivery of equipment and books.  They are itching to meet their new charges in both year 7 and year 12. 

Our new catering contractor, Innovate, is providing excellent food for our staff.  Students will be impressed by the sparkly Restaurant area and choices on offer.  We are using an online payment system called ‘Squid.’  Letters have been sent out to parents on how to do this. This means parents can pay online so that students do not have to bring money to the Academy.  Another technological solution to support our student community.

All we need now are the students.  The long summer holidays draw to a close and the anticipation is building toward day one, Thursday 8^th September.  We have enrolled a fantastic group of students into our sixth form and expanded some of our courses as we continue to enrol late applications.   Courses are filling up and teachers allocated, so be quick.   

The vision is truly becoming a reality.  

Energised by our outstanding founding staff and students

The excitement is building. The countdown has truly begun.  We have been meeting with our founding staff and students over the last month and we’re now moving purposefully towards our September start.

We really enjoyed meeting all our year 7 students and parents to find out more about them, organise uniform and answer key questions about the Academy.  We look forward to meeting them again at the Academy in July. 

The building is completed and we are now waiting for the delivery of furniture and equipment to change spaces into operational classrooms.  We’ve got a really busy summer ahead for all staff in getting it all perfect!

We held an excellent Founding Staff Induction Day at the Mercers’ Hall on the last day of the month.  This was a chance for all 30 staff, both support and teaching, to meet each other for the first time and start working towards achieving our vision and values in more detail. It was a fantastic event with staff travelling from as far as Bradford and Southampton. We ended our day at the Academy with a continued sense of excitement when many of the staff saw their curriculum areas for the first time – their eyes lit up in anticipation of teaching in such cutting edge facilities. We felt a real sense of pride and collegiality as we became aligned to the vision of starting this exceptional Academy.  It feels like we’ve been working as a staff together for years rather than just one day…

We are still interviewing for more support staff over the next few weeks to widen the team supporting our students with their learning. There’s no let up in meeting our project plan and getting all the right people to join our team.  Keep checking the website if you are interested in working for the Academy as support staff.

The sixth form acceptance letters keep flooding in.  If you want to make a late application, there’s still time, or if you have not had an interview, please contact admissions to arrange one by emailing tahliacoleman@hammersmithacademy.org . 

We are planning to hold a sixth form Open Event on the 23^rd August to give you an opportunity to see and feel the Academy and talk about options for September.  In the mean time, well done for completing your exams, get a good rest and we look forward to hearing about your successes when you come to join us.  Remember to confirm your place as soon as you get your results - we will be waiting for you at the Academy.

Our City Dreams competition was a tremendous success and congratulations to Rowan Enis Race and Hamza Khayoun for their winning entries.  Prizes will be given out at the Academy to inspire the new Year 7 students in the creative and digital media opportunities offered by the Academy.

So the preparations continue.  We will move into the new Academy completely within the next 3 weeks, checking and testing everything to ensure a smooth start for opening on 8^th September.  We are extremely grateful to St Paul’s Girls’ School for hosting us for over a year and look to continue our warm and close partnership over the coming years.