A message from Mr Hoffmann
Dear Parents and Carers,
I hope you are enjoying the run up to the Christmas holidays, it is certainly a busy time and here at school it has been even more jam-packed than usual. It is great to look back on this time of year and thanks to the staff and students for all of the fabulous events, awards and extra-curricular activities they have taken part in.
This term's fabulous production of We Will Rock You was enjoyed by nearly 1000 visitors. The whole production was superb. Students from across the school were absolutely brilliant on all three nights, with the singers, dancers, musicians and production team all excelling in their roles. Staff and students worked around the clock to put this event on, with Mrs Trott, Miss Marsh, Mrs Shepherd and Mrs Shuttleworth shouldering much of the responsibility for what was a great show of brilliant talent. A special thanks goes to the Weymouth Pavilion team, Phil Saye and Louise Dominy for their much-needed production expertise and support. They have been amazing. The show was also attended by 500 excited primary school children from St Augustine’s, Conifers, Holy Trinity and Chickerell Primary schools. They had a great time and it was wonderful to see so many people enjoying the show. I know students are eagerly awaiting the staff pantomime, though the talent on show will certainly be more questionable.
We also held our annual Christmas Fair in December, and it was great to see a busy and industrious Hub backed by the sound of carols from Chickerell Primary School. The fair raised almost £1000 which will be shared between the Year 11 Prom Fund and the Young Minds Charity. On Tuesday, we held our annual Senior Prizegiving presentation for the current Year 11-13s. This was a great opportunity to celebrate the successes of our senior students over the last academic year. In particular it was a chance to focus on our student's progress and attainment, alongside their contribution to school life and wider achievements. Students enjoyed being the centre of attention, and in-particular it was great to see them applauding their parents and teachers for the support given to them over the years. It was great seeing ex-Budmouth students returning from university, colleges and work-places to pick up their awards. Sophia Bell, who left us last year to study medicine at university returned to present the main address. It was fabulous to hear the progress she has made in her chosen career and also to hear her speak so fondly about the support offered to her here at Budmouth. What a role-model.
All that remains is to thank you again for the support you have given us, as members of the Budmouth community; parents, teachers, support staff and of course our wonderful students. I wish you all a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Regards,
Mike Hoffmann
Principal
The Aspirations Edge
At the Budmouth Academy we believe that there should be a clear and consistent focus on all students’ aspirations – their dreams, hopes, goals and their present efforts to reach those goals. Our core belief is that we should inspire all students to dream about the future and inspire them in the present to work towards those dreams. These efforts are fostered through the 3 Guiding Principles – Self-Worth, Engagement and Purpose – and the 8 Conditions that help drive each of the Guiding Principles.
The Aspirations Edge is a programme that we have designed to encourage all students to engage in activities that will help develop the 8 conditions, as well as developing key skills such as resilience, initiative and communication. For many students they will already be engaged in activities that are linked to the Guiding Principles, so this programme provides them with an opportunity to build their own digital portfolio. For many others they may well need more direction and the encouragement and support to engage in activities that will foster the 8 Conditions. The programme has four levels (Apprentice, Pioneer, Graduate and Master) and each student is able to work through the levels at their own speed and in their own time. Here are some examples of the activities completed by two students in Year 7 last term.
Students in Years 7-9 will receive an Aspirations Edge session once a week as part of their tutor programme and this might involve the opportunity to add activities to their digital profiles. Students in Years 10-11 do have access to the programme and are encouraged to speak to Mr David if they are interested in finding out more about it.
If you ever need any further information or support do not hesitate to contact Mr David at andydavid@aspirationsacademies.org
Mr David
Director of Student Leadership and Engagement
Edge Success
Congratulations to Year 8 student Lottie May for completing the second level of the Edge. Some of her five activities included, writing an original story, regularly attending a club outside school, performing in front of a large audience, interviewing someone to find out more about them and devising an original game. Well done Lottie!
WORD COUNT COMPETITION
Year 7 and 8 students have been busy reading and reviewing their books this term. Once a student has reviewed their book, the amount of words in that book is added to their class total. The number of words read in each class were very close but the winners were 7B and 80. Both groups were invited to the Resources Centre for a Christmas film and popcorn and where they were also presented with their class certificate and trophy. The competition starts again in January with the winner announced just before the Easter break. Happy reading!
Remembrance Day Poppies
DT students have worked really hard producing their poppies for Remembrance Day. Year 8 student Callum Parsons is pictured looking very proud of what he has done and so he should be! Fantastic work on show.
Bath University Trip
Fantastic trip to Bath Univerisity for a group of sports students today, summed up by this lovely message from one of the coaches involved with our students. "I hope that you enjoyed today: it was a great success, your students were a credit to the school and honestly a pleasure to coach - listening well, with every one of them giving their very best in all of the games and exercises" Well done to everyone involved!
Year 2 Sports Festival
Budmouth Sports Leaders hosted a festival for Year 2 primary students from our local schools. The aim of the festival was for the year 2 students to have fun, learn and practise physical literacy skills and to make new friends. The Budmouth sports leaders ranged from Yr 12 and 13 Extended Diploma Sports students to our Yr 8 and 9 Sports captains. The primary school staff offered wonderful positive feedback throughout the morning regarding the leadership skills of our students and Miss Ray was extremely pleased with how the event ran. We are now looking forward to hosting the next event.
Year 7 Cross-Country
Budmouth Year 7 girls took part in the Leweston Cross-Country Races and came away with a runners-up medal! We managed to put out two teams of Year 7 girls and they all performed incredibly well considering they were racing Year 8's. You know you are doing well when you finish in the top three with Millfield!
Area Race
Budmouth hosted the final Area Race of the season and it was attended by nine schools from Weymouth, Dorchester, Portland, Lyme Regis, Bridport and Beaminster. A school must attend all three races in order to qualify for an individual or team medal and trophy. Team results are as follows;
Year 7 Girls - Budmouth Academy Weymouth
Year 7 Boys - Beaminster School
Junior Boys - Colfox Academy
Junior Girls - Woodroffe School
Inter Girls - Beaminster School and Colfox Academy
Inter Boys - Beaminster School
Huge congratulations to the Year 7 Budmouth team for winning the first Area race for Budmouth and remaining undefeated across all three races. Mr Hoffmann came out to present the trophy and congratulated the team on their success.
Table Tennis News
Forget Super Sunday, it was Super Friday for the Budmouth PE department today! Our U16 table tennis team narrowly missed out on the quarter finals but the U19’s were crowned Dorset Schools Champions and have qualified for the National Championships early next year. Well done!
The under 16 boys football team progressed into round 5 of the national cup today winning 4-0. They will be playing Priory community on Tuesday 6th to see if they can make it into round 6. Huge congratulations!
Generation Tech Event
Budmouth students took part in the Generation Tech event at JP Morgan as part of their Emerging Talent programme to design an app for social good. The students, Naira Mutagirova, Grace Roberts, Jayden Townsend and Archie Warren are all in Year 11. Initially they were placed as pairs in teams of six with students from other schools in Dorset. Naira and Grace's team won first prize for their amazing development of an app that tracks food mileage called Carbs. Both students won a plaque and a Sphero mini robot. All students had an amazing day- one of the highlights was linking up to a sister event in Delaware, USA where the students talked to their American counterparts over a Zoom link. They all received a hoodie and goodie bag. The students were accompanied by Sally Emms, Vice Principal who said how proud she was of their creativity and confidence in the delivery of the projects.
Big Christmas Fair
The 30th November saw the re-start of our annual Big Christmas fair. 40 stalls with a wide range of products from across the local area filled the hub. Parents and children enjoyed singing from Chickerell Primary Academy, one of our feeder schools along side mince pies, games and an exciting selection of gifts, food and decorations.
The fair raised a few pennies short of £1000 which will be shared between the year 11 Prom fund and the Young Minds charity. So huge thanks to everyone who helped make it such a huge success.
We are already planning for the next fair and hope to see you all there!
Thank you so much to Mrs Cartwright and her huge team of elves for making this happen.
Football News
Huge congratulations to our Year 7 football team, winning 4-2 away at Poole High to progress into round 5 of the National Cup. Next game to be played before Xmas break.
