Congratulations to Nottingham Academy (Ransom Road) pupil Mary Angel who has been chosen as UNESCO Young City of Literature Ambassador.
Mary Angel was nominated by a school teacher because of her passion for writing short stories, poems and reading literature,
Young City of Literature is a new programme to put young people at the centre of promoting literature in Nottingham.
Fourteen ambassadors have been chosen across Nottingham to take part in the programme.
The new programme has been made possible through a funding award of £59,398 from Arts Council England’s National Lottery Project Grants programme.
Throughout the year Mary Angel will take part in a programme of workshops focused on reading and reviewing books, meeting and interviewing local writers and poets, attending festivals, setting up a book club for young readers and planning a city-wide reading and writing competition.
Each ambassador can choose a mentor for the programme. The mentors will be authors and poets.
Mary Angel said: “I didn’t think I would ever get chosen for such an amazing opportunity.
“Poetry, short stories and literature is everything to me. I enjoy critically analysing text and then comparing this to other people’s prospective on it.
“At the moment the book I am reading is Noughts & Crosses but I can’t chose a favourite author, there are too many good ones.
“All the ambassadors have been give the book Scavenger to read and review, I am looking forward to coming together and hearing the different views on the book.
“That is what is so interesting about literature, one piece of text can have a different meaning to people.
“People have a different perception on literature, there is no right or wrong. It is about how people interpret it.
“I am looking forward to meeting other inspiring young ambassadors. Our love for literature will bring young people from different schools together.”
As well as her love for literature and books, Mary Angel keeps busy at school. She is part of Nottingham Basketball Academy, she plays athletics, the guitar, and the piano.
Mary Angel can speak four languages; French, Portuguese, English and Lingala (Congo), which is her native language.
When she is older Mary Angel wants to be a Paediatrician or a Physiologist.
She said: “I want to do a job where I can help people and put a smile on their face.
“Literature and writing short stories and poems will always be my passion which I will always continue on the side of my career.”
Nottingham Academy is hosting a careers day to give pupils an insight into potential career choices.
The aim is to provide pupils with meaningful experiences that will enhance their college and career readiness by providing them with the tools and pathways for their future.
The careers fair will offer pupils an opportunity to learn more about higher education and careers they might be interested in.
We will expect pupils to be asking questions about potential pathways and to be seeking advice on required training and networking for their potential career choices.
Pupils from year 8 through to sixth form will attend the careers fairs at different times throughout the day.
Year 8 pupils will be in the process of choosing their Key Stage 4 option choices (GCSE’s and Technical qualifications) and will be encouraged to think about potential future careers and education pathways whereas Year 11 and sixth form pupils will be making their final decisions on post 16 and post 18 destinations.
Aims of the Careers Fair
Greenwood Road Secondary Campus – Wednesday 3rd April
Ransom Road Campus – Thursday 4th April
Formal consultation on the proposal to split the Nottingham Academy into 2 separate academies ran for 6 weeks between 9 November and the 21 December 2018.
The extent of community and parental response to the consultation was relatively modest in number. However, there was strong overall support for the proposal to split the Nottingham Academy and establish 2 separate academies. There were 2 significant issues that were consistently raised during the consultation:
The consultation indicated a significant majority who were in favour of keeping the Nottingham Academy name for Greenwood Campus and a significant majority who were in favour of a completely new name for the new academy at Ransom Road. However, there was not support for the proposed name; the Mapperley Park Academy.
Based on the feedback received from consultation, on 25 January Greenwood Academies Trust’s Board agreed to submit an amended proposal to the Regional Schools Commissioner to split the Nottingham Academy into 2 separate academies where:
Nottingham Academy welcomed a group of students from Ulsan Foreign Language High School in South Korea.
Our visitors spent three days at Ransom Road campus where they teamed up with our Pupil Parliament to take part in a programme of activities including drama, sport, music and cooking.
The visit began on Friday 8th February 2019 when our Pupil Parliament introduced themselves and Nottingham Academy.
They spoke highly of the academy and celebrated the diversity of it, by talking about the variety of nationalities of our pupils.
Visitors then took part in a quiz about how well they know Britain's history, as well as their knowledge on Nottingham. They scored very highly in all the quizzes.
Activities based around the British culture and Nottingham's Robin Hood were then held.
Ms Wilkins, who is a SEN Learning Mentor at Nottingham Academy, handed out traditional British sweets to her group, who watched the Mr Bean film & listened to English music, such as Stormzy.
To finish the day, some of our pupils performed dance and drama routines.
On Monday 11th February, our visitors and Pupil Parliament took part in team building and sport activities where they had to communicate to each other non-verbally.
They also hosted a tea party where they served scones they had made during a cookery session and. They served this with jam, cream and tea.
In the afternoon our visitors gave a presentation on the history of South Korea and helped our pupils make name tags in Korean letters.
On the final day our visitors took part in an art activity and a music workshop where they played a range of instruments.
Charities Key4Life and Epic Partners visited Nottingham Academy as part of a programme to educate youngsters about the impact of knife crime and violence.
The two charities delivered a presentation based around development, resilience and respect to year 9 and 10 pupils at the Nottingham Academy Greenwood campus and Ransom Road campus.
Key4Life helps reduce youth reoffending through rehabilitation and Epic Partners, is a community-based charity, which delivers diversionary activities to enrich the lives of young people.
Louis Donald, Associate Assistant Principal and Safeguarding Officer at Nottingham Academy, said: “The powerful presentation included personal testimonies, music and video.
“A small group of privileged pupils were given the opportunity to complete smaller group workshops with the team of presenters.”
The individual workshops explored how drill music drives youth culture, including gang associations and violence, the cause and effect of gang and knife crime and personal decision making.
Next month, some pupils will go on a short residential trip to Paddington Farm in Somerset, as part of a continuation of this programme.
The pupils will be introduced to an exciting range of experiences to support the development of team building, leadership responsibility and other essential life skills.
There will also be a series of workshops relating to the risks of negative association, incorporated alongside traditional sports activities.
Pupils at The Nottingham Academy are being offered a free healthy breakfast each morning.
Bagels are served to pupils before they start their school day in a bid to boost academic performance.
The academy has joined the government's National School Breakfast Programme (NSBP), which is being delivered by the charities Family Action and Magic Breakfast.
The aim of the programme is to improve the pupils’ concentration because research shows at least half a million children in the UK arrive at school each day too hungry to learn.
The breakfast aims to give pupils energy, protein, vitamins and minerals, and will be low in sugar, salt and fat.
From Monday 14 January, all Academy pupils will be able to access a free breakfast bagel provided by The National School Breakfast Programme.
Thank you to everyone who has shared their views about the proposal to de-merge the Nottingham Academy. The consultation ends at 5pm today so if you wish to provide your views please emailconsultation@greenwoodacademies.org
We held two consultation meetings on 6 December and the views raised from the meetings and emails received will be collated and reported back to the Trust Board for them to review and form their decisions on whether to proceed with this proposed change. If the Trust Board decides to proceed with the proposal following this review, the decision will then be subject to final approval by the Secretary of State for Education.
Updates will be posted on the Greenwood Academies Trust and the Nottingham Academy websites.
An update on the proposal to de-merge Nottingham Academy
Consultation launched on school plan to raise standards further for almost 4,000 pupils at the Nottingham Academy
Greenwood Academies Trust Free School Application to open a new Primary Free School in Nottingham