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Click to read more about our latest news articles:
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We are very excited to bring you the news that we have managed to secure the services of Norman Randall who will join us on Tuesdays in September to coach some of our students in the sport of fencing.
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Norman is the Director of Coaching Education & Management for England Fencing and has over 30 years of coaching experience in the sport. We are really looking forward to giving students the chance to try something completely different.
Fencing is a fast and athletic sport, very different from the films you see at the cinema or on television. It is highly challenging physically and also suits individuals who are able to make quick and effective decisions under pressure. Rather than swinging from chandeliers or jumping off balconies, modern fencing takes place on a 14m by 2m strip. The action is so fast that it is judged electronically rather than by eye.
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We are hoping to invite some youngsters from our feeder primaries to have a go at mini fencing in the mornings, with safe foam foils (the proper name for the sword!) before letting some of next year’s Y10 students loose on the real thing. We are also considering an after school club and there is even talk of a community session, that would allow parents the chance to see how nifty they are with a sword!
As with all the activities we are planning, we are keen to build in an element of sustainability. With this in mind, at present there is no fencing club within the Mansfield area and we are hoping that if things go well, we would be able to establish one at The Samworth Church Academy! On Guard!
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After well over a year of hard work and planning, the preferred contractor for our new building has now been selected by Nottinghamshire County Council. We are delighted that Kier Group PLC has been declared as the preferred bidder for this project.
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The Kier team have produced a fantastic design that we are confident will help us deliver the ambitious vision of the Academy. The design reflects our five school structure, but most importantly, the designers have really taken on the vision and ethos of the Academy. Representatives from Kier Group PLC will be making a presentation to parents at our Parental Communication Event on Wednesday, 25th June.
We will now be working very closely together in order to prepare the important planning application. If everything goes to plan, we expect work to begin very early in the New Year with the building completed in the summer of 2010.
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The cost of our new facilities are over £20 million with almost £2 million being allowed for the most up-to-date information technology system. Gary Wintersgill, Senior Framework Manager at Kier said: "We are absolutely delighted to be named as the preferred bidder for The Samworth Church Academy project. We are joining a team of people who are totally committed to creating a world-class Academy, we want to play our part in helping to provide world-class facilities that will support the broader aims of the Academy. We can bring our specialist support to a team of education professionals who are of the highest quality."
We are absolutely delighted with this appointment, it was very important to us that our design and build contractor becomes part of our team in helping us to turn our vision into a firm reality. We have absolute confidence that Nottinghamshire County Council have made an outstanding choice and that Kier Group PLC are now part of our team.
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As part of our Outdoor Education Programme all our Year 7 students will take part in a 5-day residential trip to the Outward Bound centre in Aberdovey, Wales during week commencing 23rd November 2009.
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The Outward Bound course we have chosen focuses on building effective teams, creating a common bond for pupils from different feeder schools and developing the skills and confidence to meet new challenges and opportunities. Our students will gain confidence and develop a sense of achievement which will be carried throughout their teenage years.
Our Year 7 residential trip to Aberdovey is just one of the opportunities we will offer as part of our Outdoor Education curriculum. We are particularly excited about working with the Outward Bound team who have tailor-made our trip to Aberdovey to suit the needs of our students and will deliver an exciting programme of learning whilst maintaining the aims and ethos of our Academy.
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The decision to link up with the Outward Bound organisation was a key factor in helping us to achieve our main educational goal, that of student achievement. It would have been easy to arrange an outdoor education residential experience for our students with any number of providers. Outward Bound, however, are unique in their approach to the outdoor experiences that they bring to children and are committed to developing young people through an educational process based on action and reflection. Experiences are intentionally designed, presented and reflected upon so as to instil value and promote the development of skills that we will continue to use throughout life. The co-founder of The Outward Bound movement, Kurt Hahn, dedicated his life to the development of young people through experiential education. Kurt Hahn also founded Gordonstoun School in Scotland, with whom we are already developing our partnership to ensure that our students have the opportunity to experience the widest range of outdoor activities.
Through these experiences we will embed some of the key skills and competencies in our young students, that will enable them to grow in confidence and independence and achieve their full potential.
For full details of the Outward Bound residential trip to Aberdovey click here.
For links and information about Aberdovey click here.
Samworth Church Academy students have participated in a prestigious mini rugby tour to Gordonstoun School.
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The students played a fixture on Tuesday 10th March 2009 against Gordonstoun under 15s rugby team. Putting up an excellent fight to a team more experienced and with more games under their belt, they lost to Gordonstoun with a respectable score of 41-12.
The students were also invited to make use of Gordonstoun facilities during the trip including rugby, kayaking lessons, use of the obstacle course and a climbing wall.
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The esteemed Gordonstoun School in Scotland has educated three generations of the Royal family including Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Charles, Prince of Wales, Princes Andrew and Edward and Zara Philips.
Samworth's Vice Principal for the School of Sport, Outdoor Education and Performing Arts, Simon Fletcher said, "The students have risen to the challenge well and demonstrated real determination and perseverance in working together as a team. We therefore decided to offer them an opportunity of a mini tour and were delighted that Gordonstoun accepted our offer to fixture against them."
To view the Gordonstoun photo gallery click here.
Samworth Church Academy students held their first celebration of dance.
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The evening of Thursday 7th May 2009 entertained the audience with a wide variety of dance styles. Many of the 110 Academy students involved had never danced before.
Shortly after the Academy was formed, it was important to try to establish the study and joy of dance through all year groups. Dance Club on Monday and Tuesday evening's for Key Stage 3, 4 and 5 students soon became popular which led to the introduction of the Samworth Church Academy Dance Company (SCADC).
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The Company has previously participated at the county-wide Youth Dance Platform, 'Episodes '09 and, resulting from this, the students were invited to perform at the regional launch for 'Change for Life' at the Mansfield Civic Centre.
A special thank you was paid to Sutton Centre Community College and the Performing Arts Department for the use of the theatre and technical suport.
Please click the link below to access the purchasing site for the photograph taken by the Chad newspaper of the pupils Dance Extravaganza.
Crammed like sardines, the audience waited patiently for the show to begin. Back stage, staff and student acts gathered their nerves and warmed up their voices.
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The curtain opened. The amazing Year 11 band, 'Yellow Snow', opened the evening's entertainment. Luke Pearson and Tom Harrop compared the show, sharing funny anecdotes with the audience and installing confidence in the performers. Backstage, other members of the team worked hard to organise the acts and ensuring that all the technical stuff was sorted to a professional standard.
It is difficult to find the words to express the energy, excitement and talent that filled the hall; act after act were truly inspirational and the quality of the performances was superb! We have very talented staff and students at the Samworth Church Academy and the Ravensdale stage was the platform for this breathtaking show! Singers, musicians, dancers and actors left the audience wanting more!
The S Factor raised over £710 for charity - all proceeds were split between The Alzheimer's Society and the Year 12 Orphanage project.
Well done to everyone who made the show a success. The S Factor has put the talent of people at the Samworth Church Academy on the map.
Modern Languages welcomed a visit from Sally Fagan, a Business Champion working with the East Midlands Development Agency, who came to talk to over a hundred of our Year 8 and Year 9 students about the importance of languages in the business world.
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Sally explained the influence of languages in her own career. Among the staggering facts that Sally mentioned to our students was that having a language, even at a very basic level, could mean earning 8 - 20% more - which could mean more than £145,000 over a career! Food for thought!
Sally explained that learning a foreign language is so important because 94% of the world's population do not speak English as their first language and 75% do not speak English at all. She also explained to our students that one fifth of UK businesses lose business because of
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language and cultural barriers and that UK firms have to have a global outlook in order to succeed. Businesses value people with knowledge of languages as they are good communicators. Sally told us that, surprisingly, firms prefer to take on someone who can speak a language and then teach them a skill like, for example media, computer or engineering skills, as it is easier to teach these other skills from scratch than it is to teach a language. We were treated to a look at some of the languages spoken by celebrities , ranging from Ellen MacArthur, who speaks French, Daniel Craig, who speaks German, to a clip of Gary Lineker speaking Spanish (he also speaks Japanese). Sally ended her presentation by teaching students and staff to count to 10 in Japanese!
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On Tuesday 30th June 2009 over 100 Year 9 students took part in the Stock Market Challenge. In teams of 4 students competed to make the most profit on a fictional stock market. This interactive learning resource used the experience of trading to create a competitive and rewarding team activity. Current share prices were projected onto a big screen with a constant news feed as well as news flashes and radio announcements at intervals throughout the day. A trading bell and market background noise completed the setting.
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A team of gifted and talented Year 10 students were employed throughout the day as the sellers in the 'trading pit'. These students showed great business skills and used their own initiative to come up with systems and processes to speed up buying and selling. They also impressed with their quick calculations of prices and their leadership skills in controlling the Year 9 students visiting the trading pit.
The participating Year 9 students were challenged to buy and sell shares in 9 companies
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as well as investing in the dollar in order to maximise their portfolios. The challenge aimed to assist the development of students' enterprise skills, financial capability and work-related learning as well as bring the excitement of live trading into the Academy. Each member of every team had their own job role; the Media Analyst had to watch news bulletins and read the daily newspaper to identify how their companies could be affected, the Investment Analyst had to keep track of the team's portfolio, the Finance Analyst had to keep track of incoming and outgoing cash and finally, the Floor Trader had to go to and from the trading pit, buying and selling their shares. Students embraced these job roles and the teamwork and leadership showed by a number of students was very impressive.
The students involved got very excited and the atmosphere throughout the day was buzzing. Students competed on a group level but with the added element that groups were school based so they were competing for their school. Feedback from students included:
'It was really fun; we should definitely do it again.'
'A good experience and quite realistic.'
'I learnt how to work in a team; it was different and interesting.'
'It was very exciting and fun and it inspired some people to be stockbrokers.'
The winning team was the one who made the most profit. Every student in this team was given a sum of money to invest in the real stock market with help from the teachers running the event. There were several other prizes including scientific calculators, chocolates and even an engraved spoon for the biggest loss! All prizes were awarded to students by the Principal in a ceremony at the end of the event.
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Samworth Church Academy teacher David Hunt is on his way to the Twenty 20 cricket finals to be held at Derby County Ground, which is to be televised by Sky Sports on 28th September 2009.
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With 550 teams taking part in the competition, David's club at Cuckney went through to the finals after beating Knowle and Dorridge Cricket team on 13th September.
David, 24, is proud to be Sports Co-ordinator at Samworth Church Academy and is successfully using his talents to improve the student's cricket game with his expert knowledge. His employers at the Academy are delighted to give David the time off to take part in the competition and are proud to have such a gifted teacher for their students.
David said "Being positive in life brings about positive attitudes and styles which can lead you to being the best you can be! The benefits of being given this opportunity of playing cricket on TV is that I can be a role model for our future stars within Samworth Church Academy's community. I hope all the children who I work with at the Academy will start to play cricket especially when they see a member of staff on the PE team performing on TV. My future goals are to put Samworth Church Academy on the cricketing map by producing a star of the future!"
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Sir David Samworth was recently recognised in the Queen's Birthday Honours and awarded with a Knighthood.
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Through the charity set up by Sir David Samworth's family they were able to support the development of the Academies as well as various other charities both in the UK and in Africa, particularly in the field of education.
All staff at the Samworth Church Academy received a gift box from Sir David Samworth acknowledging his gratitude for all their hard work and commitment, enabling his vision for three Academies in the East Midlands to become a reality.
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Two Samworth Church Academy teachers are leaving rainy Britain for Tanzania on a mission to help orphans.
The teachers, Vicky Price and Rebecca Leeney, will find fifty orphans who are of secondary school age who need sponsoring in order to receive their education. Each child's education costs £70.00 for the year and all fifty tutor groups at The Samworth Church Academy will each 'adopt' one child and raise the funds to pay for that child's education for the year.
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Vicky Price of Samworth Church Academy said "The Mango Tree is a charity which supports orphans in gaining an education; we are flying out to the Tanzanian project with a view to identifying fifty orphans who will be financially supported by students at The Samworth Church Academy to ensure they are able to go to school.
Also preparations will be made for teams of staff and sixth formers from various departments at the Academy to visit Tanzania during the summer holidays in 2010. The itinerary will include teaching in the local secondary schools and providing resources.
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We will continue working with the Mango Tree Orphan Support programme in the future to raise money and awareness that the education we take for granted in the UK has a high price for orphans in third world countries. With each tutor group paying for and supporting one child, we will support fifty orphans to gain a better education and therefore hopefully a brighter future.
The teachers return from their trip on 30th October.
On Thursday 12th November 2009 the Year 7 cohort visited Southwell Minster to participate in a conference called 'Skin Deep'.
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The day was the first of many events planned to develop the Christian ethos of our Academy and to build stronger links with our co-sponsors, the Church of England diocese of Southwell and Nottingham. The event was organised in such a way as to complement the Religious Education programme of study and to be accessible to students of all faiths, or none.
Students watched an interactive drama presentation by the theatre group Footprints which was about life on both sides of trench warfare in World War I. They also participated in a variety of workshops on peace, tolerance and the importance of 'inner' beauty. The workshops included one in which the idea of training for sport was used as an analogy for training to be a good person, another on arts and crafts using the Minster itself as inspiration, as well as one on storytelling, which took place in the Chapter House.
The conference afforded students the time and inspiration to think about some important issues like the importance of virtuous character traits as well as recognising how airbrushed body images are used by the mass media and how these false body images might affect our behaviour.
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Staff and students alike enjoyed this 'hands on' approach to RE so much that we have booked the same experience for next year's cohort of Year 7s and we are planning a return trip for our existing students to enhance their learning in Religious Education in Year 8.
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Samworth Church Academy's Christmas Fair had a special visitor this year in the shape of a Siberian husky called Odin.
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Odin expertly played his role in Santa's grotto regaling Academy students and their families with tricks and play acting. The dog's owner Kirsty Price is a teacher at the Academy and has previously used Odin to do charity work and visit children with special needs.
Miss Price said "Though Odin may be nearly 13 he still loves to come into the school to meet and greet the public. Whether he's showing off his tricks like being shot; waving goodbye or cuddling the children both young and old, Odin calmly transfers love and affection to all who meet him."
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Having studied the past in Mansfield, Year 7 students had the chance to design a piece of the future.
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Working with Richard Bowden (from Bowdenland Planning) the 'brief' was to design an open area for the proposed 'Lyndhurst' development which may be built off the MARR.
After a presentation by Richard Bowden, students worked in groups to present their plans. Jordan Evers, Abbie Woodward and Amy Wright produced the winning design. This will now be digitised and submitted to the architects.
Jordan, Amy and Abbie will spend the day with the architects and see their design go from paper plan to digital model. They will also work with the builders as the development is under construction, helping to lay out the park for future generations.
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On 6th February 2010 28 students and 4 staff travelled to Courmayeur, Italy for a week of snow sport experience.
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Despite a long coach journey, the clear blue sky, sunshine and perfect snow made us all so excited and raring tog et up to the top of the mountain. Both skiers and snowboarders progressed very well over the week with all receiving certificates of merit and although there were a good few falls, thankfully no injuries were received.
The aprè ski, whether bowling, pizza night, crepes or disco was thoroughly enjoyed, despite tired limbs! All in all it was a marvellous week where friendships were forged and strengthened within the group and each student went home having tasted a little of Italian customs and culture.
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The staff members felt that it was an absolute pleasure to take the students abroad where they represented the Academy so well in all respects. It was heartening to see how much everyone got from the experience so here's to Samworth Snow Sports Team 2011!
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Congratulations to Hayley Grainger who receives an Interski goodie bag for her poem below:
A letter from school is how it started,
A year from that letter we had all departed
For a skiing holiday in Courayeur
A first for the Academy in its second year,
We went to a meeting where we ordered our hoodies
Which we wore on the journey because we were 'goodies'.
The excitement was building throughout the year,
Then finally the 6th February was here.
The journey was great, although it was long,
Every now and again we would break into song.
It wasn't long before we saw mountains and snow,
We knew by then we hadn't far to go.
By lunch we were there, we forgot we were tired
As we made our way up the mountain for the equipment we'd hired.
By Monday morning we were up on the slopes,
For our skiing ability we all had high hopes.
Some had never been skiing before,
Which gave us some laughs that was for sure.
the sun was shining, the sky was blue,
The snow was perfect, the skiing too.
With a disco, bowling, karaoke and pizza night
As our après ski - we had a great time all right
And at the end of the week after so much fun
Our skiing instructors presented us with the badges we'd won.
We'd all done so well of which we were proud,
We'd had such a great time and become such a close crowd.
The reason we had such a wonderful break
Was down to our teachers, especially Miss Lake.
So thanks to you all for your help and good cheer
And on behalf of us all, we can't wait for next year!
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Year 10 Art students visited the Tate Modern and The Victoria and Albert Museum in London on 24th February 2010 to study artwork and cultural artefacts first hand.
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They looked at specific artists and cultures in connection to their current and forthcoming GCSE and BTEC projects. All students were brilliantly behaved and represented the Academy in the best light. They were friendly, polite, hardworking and despite the long journey, they remained enthusiastic.
A great experience had by all!
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Last November pupils in 7S1 wrote letters of support to Adam Walkman, an engineer in the RAF who was on a tour of duty in Afghanistan.
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Adam is a mechanical aircraft engineer and was spending three months at Kandahar Airfield preparing and servicing the Tornado GR4 bombers.
Pupils were delighted when Adam not only wrote back to them but also sent photographs of himself and his colleagues both in uniform and their favourite football shirts.
Dear Class 7S1 of Samworth Church Academy
We have been deployed for three months to Kandahar Airfield in Southern Afghanistan which is about two kilometres from Helmand Province. Our mission out here is to provide close air support to the troops out in the field. This basically means if the troops come enemy fire or feel threatened they can call us in to provide air support. Normally all we need to do is a really low fly past, at about 50 to 100 feet, known as a show of force. The speed, noise and sight of the aircraft scares the enemy and they realise that we're watching them and they give up. The aircraft are fitted with up to three, laser guided five hundred pound bombs. However we try not to use these due to the fact that most of the time the show of force (fly past) is enough to put off the enemy. Another of our roles out in Afghanistan is to provide detailed imagery of the ground using state of the art equipment attached to the aircraft. This allows us to spot any roadside bombs or mines that could injure or kill our patrolling troops.
Pupils also received a poster of the Tornado bomber signed by members of the 31st Squadron.
Adam returned safely from his mission in January and is now back at work in RAF Marham.
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Nottingham Playhouse was the venue for the youth county dance platform 'Episodes 2010' where 21 of our Samworth students performed in striped pyjamas!
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It was the second year the Samworth Church Academy Dance Company had been invited to perform at this prestigious event which was also attended by the Schools' Minister, Vernon Coaker MP.
The levels of excitement (it was an X Factor type of audience!) combined with nerves was evident in our performers waiting to go on stage but our piece 'Star of David' (hence the striped pyjamas depicting Jews in the Holocaust) was performed to perfection and each student was a credit to the Academy. It was also pleasing to note that we were just one of a very small number of educational establishments representing the county and city. Staff, family and friends were there to support this evening of dance which will remain in the memory for a very long time.
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On Friday 5th March the Birchall Brothers, winners of the 2009 Sidecar World Championships, visited the Academy to inspire our students.
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Ben and Tom are local boys who brought their sidecar in for students to see whilst joining us for a whole Academy assembly which was was linked to a theme of 'Persistence and What It Takes To Be A Winner'.
Click here to listen to the interview with Ben and Tom.
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