Overall achievement was high with 80% of students getting five A* - C’s in any subject, this being above the national average of 69%, with 46% of students achieving five A* – C’s including English and Mathematics.

Year 11 students also excelled in ICT with 95% of the ‘class of 2010’ leaving the Academy with an ICT qualification. There was also a significant rise in the amount of students achieving higher grade passes, A* - B.

The very pleasing results are a credit to all the hard work and determination shown by students and the excellent teaching and support from teachers, Academy staff and parents.

Deputy Head Teacher Ms Haselden congratulated students on their performance saying, “When you consider that this is year one of the Academy, this is an exceptional performance. Well done and our very best wishes for the future go to all students!”

   
Academy students celebrate GCSE examination success

The Academy has demonstrated an excellent start in promoting the international dimension across the school and highlighted benefits of learning in a global context. The commitment to extending and embedding internationalism in the curriculum is a valuable aspect of the Academy ethos. Next Steps: The Academy will work towards gaining the next level which is the Intermediate level and will involve: • Finding partnership schools in other countries • Forming links with the partnership schools • Students taking part in a minimum of three international curriculum based activities

More information on the International School Award can be found on their website, www.globalgateway.org

All Year 11 students will receive a CD with high quality photographs from the Leaver's Prom night, slideshow and a copy of the video below on Results Day, Tuesday 24^th August 2010.

The programme lasts 10 months during which you'll be paid £100 per week, employed by a Microsoft partner and gain your industry recognised certifications at one of QA’s Academies.

For more information on this position, please visit the Careersbox website.

Students got to meet international players, coaches, and also received quality coaching and took part in a tournament where they won two games, drew one and lost another.Nevertheless students came away from the event having learnt a great deal in addition to experiencing a new sport in which the majority had never played before.

All students whom accompanied Academy Sports Co-ordinator Miss Sanderson had a fantastic day and she would like to thank and congratulate all those involved.

James Furness John Patton Jack Ward Ryan Smith Aashi Yaseen Paige Phillips Hollee-Ann Walker     Courtney Livesey Sam Holden Laine Callaghan Erin Longsden Lucy Miller Lucy Yates Adam Lorne

Further photos of the Pop-lacrosse day can be found in the Photo Gallery

'The Big Picture' in the Art department, saw students re-creating Picasso's 'The Weeping Woman' in their groups. The finished products were voted for by the students and the winning group - Group 7 won themselves 100 VIVO's each, followed closely by Group 2, who earned themselves a respectable 50 VIVO's each. All the final creations will be displayed around the Academy.

All students earned their 'Pass' to the fitness suite at the Manor Road site, during their time with the PE department and some students even stayed after school to use the facilities. Students also enjoyed writing their own limericks and these were shared in the afternoon assembly on Friday.

Well done to Year 8 who embraced their transition with an outstanding level of behaviour and enthusiasm!

Photos from the Transition Day can be found in the Photo Gallery.

Thirty seven Student Ambassadors have been chosen at Cryer Street and will be called upon to do the following activities in the Academy:

• Greet visitors and show them around the Academy
• Help at Academy events
• Work with the Year Managers to care for and support other students
• Work with Mr Dixon (Director of Learning) to evaluate the quality of learning
• Work with Curriculum Leaders in a particular subject to collect student ideas and opinions

The Ambassadors will also be invited to apply for the positions of Senior Ambassadors where a female and male position are both currently vacant. To do this they must write a letter to Saif Rehan and Jade Scrivner our present Head Girl and Head Boy, outlining why they should be chosen for the position by Friday 9^th July 2010. The selection process will involve a short interview with the Head Boy and Head Girl.

The position of Ambassadors will be reviewed every term and students who are falling below expectations will not continue and students who have earned the chance to be an Ambassador will be selected.

Students will be choosing which Curriculum Area they wish to be linked to and will work with the Year Managers to decide how they will support students in the Academy

In the French session students sat down to a French café style picnic on the Academy playing fields with brioche, croissants, pains ou chocolat and fresh orange juice served, followed by a lesson in how to play the traditional game of boules. The Ukrainian session involved the 2000-year old Ukrainian folk art tradition of egg painting, known as Pysanky. Students learnt that this ancient art can take many hours to complete with each egg having a different colour and meaning depending on its design. The Japanese session focus around the oriental culture of Japan with a physical outdoor activity into the martial arts Jujutsu, literally meaning the 'art of softness', or 'way of yielding'.

The outcome of the day was to allow students to be in touch with different cultural elements and take them into a journey of discovery of new cultures. Asked about how the MFL Language Day went teacher Mrs Watson-Parris commented, "I think the day went well and thought that the students were really receptive to learning something new."

From 'Student Voice' evaluations of the day's events, it seems that students particularly enjoyed the outdoor activities and being outside of the classroom, with one student commenting, "I liked the game of boules as it was fun and involved body movement, and it was good getting out of the classroom and into the fresh air." Another comment that frequented student evaluation sheets was that it enabled student's to 'express themselves'.

Students were also asked for ideas for future days like the Language Day with varying ideas being suggested, such as other languages, actively cooking continental style dishes and even involving current affairs such as a themed World Cup day! With the positive feedback received from the Academy's first Language Day, who knows what theme the next event may surround!

More photos from the Year 7 Language Day can be found in the Photo Gallery

QuadKids is a new and exciting sporting concept designed to give more children the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of athletics and also to help identify the stars of tomorrow. For more information on Quad Kids visit their website, quadkids.org.uk.

 Any questions then do not hesitate to contact Mrs Isherwood who will answer any questions that you may have.

The format of the day will be as follows - there will be two two-hour sessions, each split into three equal sessions of 40-minutes with each focused on the country/culture's of France, Ukraine and Japan.

The French session will give students the opportunity to have a traditional French game of boules before sitting down to a café style picnic with their tutors. The Ukrainian session will be surrounded around the 2000-year old Ukrainian folk art tradition of egg painting, known as Pysanky. Egg painting can take many hours to complete with each egg having a different colour and meaning depending on its design. The Japanese session will focus around the oriental culture of Japan with activites in martial arts and Japenese writing.

The outcome of the day is to allow students to be in touch with different cultural elements and take them into a journey of discovery of new cultures.

Year 7 and 8 Sports Day - Cryer Street

The format is as follows:

• Period 1 and 2 - Students taking part in field events will be released from lessons to do their events. No spectators.

• Period 4 and 5 - Students taking part in track events will be released from lessons to do their events. Spectators allowed – with supervision from class teacher.

Further information to follow and Sports Captains from Mandela and Pankhurst houses will be contacted soon to organise their teams.

Pictures of the progress made to date, Eco-Garden - Progress June 2010.

All students and staff are welcome to participate by collecting and signing for a sponsor card from Miss Tennent at Cryer St or Miss Thompson at Manor Road.

Remember reading means books, magazines, newspapers, comics, e-mail, instructions, cards, sign posts, anything with letters or numbers really!

Please join in the fun as we have raised £400 already, lets see if we can tip it over the £500 mark.

For more information about Readathon please click here.

• Access to the site has been made via the existing opening off Lewis Road and the contractors have started to form a new permanent access off Lewis Road.

• The contractors are currently stripping the top-soil prior to removing from site along with the reduced level dig to the access road; they will then cut and fill the road up to the main footprint of the building.

• Week commencing the 24^th May 2010, the erection of the timber hoarding between the site and the existing schools buildings will commence. A letter has been sent to all local residents with regard to the construction work.

The full group was split up into games, with each game having a Green and Red Team. In both games Mr Swindlehurst aka 'TOMMYGUN' for the evening, was the winner, although this was very controversial! "We both hope every prefect enjoyed the trip, because they all deserve it with the amount of effort put in this year," commented Head Boy Saif Rehan when asked on his thoughts the evening's events.

The trip to Laser Quest at the Trafford Centre is another example of Droylsden Academy's policy on rewarding students that work hard. Reward trips are regularly organised by the each individual curriculum area to reward positive and improving academic achievement, behaviour and attendance at the Academy.

The Academy Choir will be peforming to year 7 and 8 students at the Cryer Street site on Monday 16^th and Tuesday 17^th May 2010, promoting the choir in the hope of recruiting enough Cryer Street students to create a lower school choir to rehearse with Ms Manning on a set day.

The Academy Choir are also lined up to perform at local primary school Manchester Road on Friday 21^st May 2010.

Congratulations to the following students for making the finals which will take place on Friday 14^th May 2010

Year 7

Sally Forrester
Erin Longsden
Paige Marsh
Katie Lee
Laine Calleghan
Lucy Miller

Year 9 and 10

Kyle Fisher
Dillon Alderson
Callum Monk
Sally McIntyre
Chris Kinsey

• The erection of a temporary heras fencing around the perimeter of the site will commence and the boreholes will be completed. Heras fencing is a low cost metal/mesh fencing which can be removed easily to allow access; however, it is very sturdy and can be made reasonably secure.

The following students have been nominated and will be rewarded with a place on the trip:

• Adam Sandiford
• Cerys Rhodes
• Harvey Stanthorpe
• Jessica Greaves
• Anthony Bate
• Dylan Pace
• Paige Marsh
• Laine Callagham
• Sarah Greenwood
• Katie Hussain
• Muhammed Ali
• George Thompson
• Adeela Sajawal
• Hira Sagir
• Laurie Cabbin
• Jessica Smith
• Scott Nesbit
• Charlotte White
• Calvin Lai
• Kiera Lee

Well done to you all, keep up the hard work.

Jack recently won the Academy Chess Club Competition that was held at Chess Club on Friday’s in Cryer Street LRC. He will be presented with a shield at his house meeting next week.