News - Page 4 of 35 - Magnus C of E Academy

Author joins students for workshop

Magnus Church of England Academy has gifted every year 7 student a book for Christmas on an exciting day that also saw the book’s author, Helen Rutter, delivering a talk!

Magnus’ Learning Resource Centre Manager is Heather Jackson who said she hoped the day was inspirational for students. “We have gifted a book to our Y7 students for a few years now, and we couldn’t wait to be able to have an author back in school in person this year.

“We feel blessed that Helen could join us to talk to Year 7 about her book ‘The Boy Who Made Everyone Laugh’, and answer any questions they had for her. It’s so important that our students get the opportunity to hear from a published author, to understand what inspired them, see where that creativity stems from and where that creativity leads. We hope it will inspire them to read Helen’s book over the Christmas break and encourage them in their own writing.”

Following Helen’s workshop students were able to get their books signed and she explained why she enjoyed meeting students. “I enjoy visiting and speaking to students directly for various reasons; it gets me out of my writing shed and speaking to people! But also, it helps me to meet with the people I am hoping to connect with on the page. Hopefully for students they will see that writing, and being an author is a real job and something they can do too.

“As a young person I can’t remember ever meeting or talking to an author, and I don’t remember feeling like being an author was an option for me. It wasn’t part of a plan at all. I didn’t feel particularly academic back then and so want to talk to students about the idea that writing is creative, -that the important aspect is being emotionally in tune with yourself and the world around you, to be able to tell stories.”

Helen talked to students about her book, inspired by the story of her son Lenny. “The book was inspired by my son who is only a little bit older than these students and I hope that helps create a connection for them. I also explore the ways you construct your writing so there is practical advice for students. Students also do their own writing exercises.”

Helen says that she hopes that students are able to see themselves as writers. “The message is that anyone can do it, and the message from this book is that if you feel different, it’s not necessarily going to hold you back, it might be the thing that propels you forward.”

Year 8 Parents’ Evening – Tuesday 30th November

Year 8 Parents’ Evening – Online Appointment Booking

Our online Parents’ Evening is taking place on Tuesday 30th November between 4.00pm and 7.00pm. This is an important event which will provides you with an opportunity to check your child’s progress with their subject teachers.

The Academy will continue to use the online appointment booking system called SchoolCloud. This allows you to choose your own appointment times with each subject teacher and you will receive an email confirming your appointments. Appointments are now live and it will close for bookings at 2pm on the day of the parents’ evening, after which time bookings will no longer be available. From Wednesday 24th November we will begin to contact parents and carers who have yet to make appointments so please endeavour to do so before this date. You will need your child’s legal name and date of birth to login successfully. If you experience problems when logging in please try alternative titles (Miss/Mrs/Miss).

Prior to the evening please ensure you have read all of the information material below and ensure that you have downloaded the correct browser for your device. On the evening please ensure you are logged into SchoolCloud in good time (perhaps 10 to 15 minutes before your first appointment) as the platform does not allow teachers or parents to change the appointment time once the evening is underway, or extend the time of the appointment. To ensure the punctual running of the evening, appointments automatically end once the allotted time has expired. SchoolCloud recommend that parents use a compatible web browser such as Safari, Chrome, Microsoft Edge or Firefox, as it is not possible to access the meetings via Internet Explorer.

If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Magnus C of E Academy students shine in prestigious Scholars Programme

All 11 students taking part passed with one student attaining a rare 1^stclass result

Since January 2021, eleven Year 9 students from Magnus Church of England Academy have been following the ‘Scholars Programme’, a challenging course aimed at giving students a taste of high-quality university tuition.

The course, accessed through The Brilliant Club, is an award-winning university access charity working throughout the UK. All Magnus students taking part worked with a PhD researcher and passed the course, with one student attaining a rare 1st class result.

Magnus as a whole also surpassed the national average of students who gain a 1^st or 2:1 in their final assessment, -achieving a praiseworthy 92% when the national average is 70%.

Mr Peyton, is Assistant Principal at Magnus Church of England Academy and he said, “The Scholars programme gave our students the opportunity to experience University style learning through tutorials led by a PhD Graduates. Working with a world class researcher is a rare experience for secondary school students and reflects the Magnus Academy vision of developing young people who achieve excellence.”

Mr Peyton said that students had shown commendable commitment to their work. “Our scholars attended 7 tutorials over 3 months led by an English Literature PhD Graduate. In addition, there were weekly assignments to complete and a final 2000-word assessment essay.

“This was all delivered to replicate University style learning and marked on a degree grading system. Through this study our Scholars have developed their critical thinking and metacognition skills, but most importantly, a new confidence in their ability to overcome challenge. Graduates of the Scholars Programme are twice as likely to progress to highly selective Universities such as Oxford and Cambridge.”

Student Jess Mellon (Yr9) gained a 1^st class result and said, “I really enjoyed the Scholars Programme, it wasn’t easy, but I worked really hard. I’ve learned lots of useful skills, for example writing a critical argument. Before I started the course, I wasn’t sure about going to university, but the Scholars Programme has made me much more confident.”

Mr Peyton says that Magnus students demonstrated they were equal to the challenge and were a source of pride for the school community. “I am incredibly proud of our graduates; all passed the final assessment with 80% achieving the second highest grade of a 2:1. One student was awarded a first-class honours grade. This was the only student to achieve the highest mark possible across the multiple schools their PhD Tutor worked with!

“This achievement is even more significant due to the effect of the second lockdown. A large part of this programme was delivered remotely, -only through the highest levels of dedication were our scholars able to be so successful. They were supported through the whole programme by Magnus English teacher, Miss Jackson, who went above and beyond to make the programme a success.”

Students who took part were Annie Grattage, Shannon Lambert, Esme Potter, Jess Mellon, Evie Richards, Alan Wilkinson, Rebekah Hough, Mason Shepherd, Libby Howson, Gracie Miller and Masie Hardy.

Parent Governor Vacancy – Ballot

Please see below a ballot form for our current parent governor vacancy. You can print off the form and drop it into main reception, or complete it online and return by email to tward-walters@magnusacademy.co.uk by 3pm on Wednesday 21st July 2021.

Parent Governor Vacancy - Ballot Form

Year 10 Takeover Day!

It was amazing to have Year 10 shadowing staff yesterday for Takeover Day as part of their work experience. We had students joining the site team, teaching lessons, helping admin staff and some joining the senior leadership team!

Here are what a few of them got up to!

Jasmine F shadowed Mr Semmelroth and was given the chance to find out what a typical day as Head of School at Magnus is like. She assisted him with lining up students for lessons, completed lunch duty and also helped him in a year 9 maths lesson. Mr Semmelroth also set Jasmine the task completing a report and data for intervention which she said she found quite easy but some aspects of the day, such as talking to others about their experiences, was hard. Jasmine said that the job was not at all what she expected it to be but she enjoyed learning about what Mr Semmelroth does.

Charlie A spent the day with Mrs Jagger, Head of English, and took on many tasks throughout the day including helping deliver two year 6 transition lessons. Charlie said he learned that teachers do so much more than just teach – they have to organise a lot, plan , complete break/lunch duty and help students as well.

Mrs Ward-Walters was helped by Wadani T and she gave her lots of jobs to do! She taught Wadani some new Excel skills that she used to create a spreadsheet for year 6 tutor preferences by inputting the data and grouping students by their current friendship groups ready for their first day in September. Wadani also helped with year 6 transition by distributing and collecting registers. She also attended the Primary and Marketing meeting with Mrs Ward-Walters, Miss Phillips and Miss Chick and their year 10 students Amber, Martin and Nia. Mrs Ward-Walters said she didn’t think Wadani knew what to expect going into takeover day as she has such a broad job role with lots of different aspects, but expected Wadani to have found a lot of the work she did quite easy!

Thank you again to Year 10 for their hard work and fantastic behaviour, they really rose to the challenge of taking on roles in school. We hope they enjoyed it as much as the staff did!