Altos de la Ciudad City Heights Academy Friday 30th January 2015. Issue No. 15 Spring Term Noticias del Director Dear Families and Carers, General Election countdown This week saw the start of the 100 day countdown to the General Election. This is likely to be the most unpredictable election of my life and I will be watching with interest to see what all the parties have to say about education matters. I know from talking to our students that many of them have a keen interest in politics and we are keen to engage them in debate about the key election issues. I am hoping that we can get some local politicians from a range of parties to come and talk to our students and that we can hold a general election here in the school with students representing and canvassing for the key political parties. Can I have some more, sir? As you will see elsewhere in the newsletter, Ms Demetriou is beginning plans for a production of Please remember: If your child is absent for any reason please leave a message on each day of absence by dialing 020 3691 4600 and selecting option 1. Oliver! in late-June/early-July. After the fantastic production of “West Side Story” I know that many students will be keen to audition for parts or offer to help backstage. If your child loves the greasepaint and limelight or if they have never acted before but would like to try, please encourage them to audition. Staff recruitment Believe it or not, we are already beginning the planning for recruiting our staffing needs for next September. As well as appointing teachers, we will be hoping to recruit Learning Support Assistants and office staff. We hope to hold a couple of recruitment fairs in March and I hope that some of you may be keen to apply or know other people who would. I will highlight the Recruitment Fair dates once we have fixed them. Mr Henderson, Principal NON UNIFORM DAY It was great to see students all dressed up in their very fashionable attire for our first non-uniform day. We raised almost £200, which will be split between a "Lend with Care" contribution(www.lendwithcare.org) for details) and an El Consejo fund, which our student council members will use to fund student-led initiatives. Well done to Isis and India (Year 8) for writing the proposal and making it happen! Mr Conaghan Assistant Principal HAVE YOU COMPLETED THE OFSTED PARENT VIEW SURVEY ? We have had 54 responses. Can you help us get it to 70 by next week? Please remember to complete the OFSTED Parent View survey. There are 12 questions to select a response to. This will only take a few minutes. Please visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk Enter: City Heights E-ACT Academy and our postcode: SW2 3PW Year 8 Parents’ Evening A reminder that Year 8 Parents’ Evening is on: Thursday 12th February from 5—7.30 p.m Please return reply slips confirming attendance or follow the link below to fill in a short form. http://goo.gl/2wWn4l Mr. Guerin, Vice Principal ¡Novedades del mundo... ! El último grito para su smartphone viene de Argentina We have all seen crazes like Angry Birds and Candy Crush sweep across the world’s smartphones. The latest to hit the headlines is an app called Trivia Crack which has now been downloaded over 100m times worldwide. The app was developed by an Argentinian company one year ago and spread through Latin America before an English language version was released last summer. Its Spanish name is Preguntados. It is a trivia quiz with an international database of over 1 million questions. This allows you to select questions from your local context or see how much you know about Argentinian Entertainment, Art, History, Science, Geography and Sports. Like many games, it is free to download but the company earns money from adverts and selling spins, coins and boosts. It allows you to play on your own or, virtually, against other players. You can also write your own questions and have them rated by others online. With Argentina’s economy still wobbly, could this game be the export that brings foreign money in? Or will it follow the path of so many other app crazes and disappear after six months? Mr Henderson, Principal The Music department is offering instrumental lessons for your child. The lessons will take place during the day or after school and care will be taken to ensure minimal disruption to your child’s school day. There will be 4 students in each session. Lambeth Music Service will be providing an exciting programme for the following instruments:  Trumpet and Trombone (Break time on Tuesdays)  Saxophone and Flute (12.55pm or 1.25pm on Tuesdays – through lunchtime) Drums “Its Wicked Mad Sick!”- Lamar Ebanks “Great teacher!'“- Luke Mullings (3.45pm on Wednesdays)  The cost will be £5 per session of 30mins, based on 4 students in a group. In addition, if you need to hire an instrument (with the exception of drums) from Lambeth Music Service, they charge £15 per term. If your child is interested in learning any of the instruments, please can you get a letter from Reception and pay as soon as possible. Due to the fact that lessons are starting midway through the term, we will be charging for 7 sessions from next week, which will bring us to the Easter break. Reply slips should be sent via your child to Reception along with the payment of £35 (+£15 for instrument hire) by the end of this week. —————————————-I am very excited to announce that City Heights students will be performing “Oliver!” on 2nd and 3rd July 2015. We are starting the audition process on the first week back after the February holiday. Subsequent rehearsals will take place the following week and will continue every Monday and Wednesday from then on from 3.50-5pm. There will be a rehearsal schedule and any child involved in the show will be expected to attend all rehearsals they are required for. Tickets will be on sale after the Easter holiday. However, you can register your interest by emailing me on [email protected]. Tickets will cost £5 per adult and £4 per child/concession and we expect to sell out. Please encourage your child to get involved in the production; whether it be acting, singing, back stage or promotion. Miss Demetriou Subject Leader for Performing Arts URBAN DEBATE LEAGUE On Thursday 22nd January, City Heights hosted the first round of the Urban Debate League. Eight teams came along from five different schools and the City Heights team, once again, did themselves proud, winning their first debate to give humans the right to sell their organs. The Debating Club will continue to run as an Enrichment Club every Friday, but after half term, we will be running an additional session for all those students who are interested in representing City Heights in future competitions. Please see Mrs Ampofo for more information. Mrs Ampofo, Director of English DATES TO REMEMBER END OF TERM: School closes at 2.45 pm Friday 13th February School re-opens on Monday 23rd February at 8.30 am