KAR Weekly Newsletter 03/03/2023
'Open Doors' careers trip to Glyndebourne Opera
On Wednesday 12 Year 9 students went to Glyndebourne Opera House to take part in their careers morning. After the huge success of last year's trip it was really interesting to see how they had expanded the opportunities for students to engage with the many varied roles which Glyndebourne houses. Unlike commercial theatre productions, Glyndebourne creates virtually all its products in house, so everything is designed and made by their own staff. It was really important for me to stress from the outset that this was not a 'music' trip, as our students quickly discovered.
Students got to meet and ask questions to staff from Content Production (including photography and video), Learning and Engagement (education staff), Front of House (ushers and guides), Catering and Hospitality (catering, restaurant and bar staff), Technical department (stage management, riggers and lighting), Wardrobe (costume, wigs and make up), Design (scenery, stage and costume design) and Props (all stage props large and small).
After this we had a tour around the Production Hub including their workshops, backstage area and the auditorium which was absolutely fascinating for our students to understand the number of different jobs involved in putting on a production as well as the amount of staff involved in looking after the 1200 capacity audience at each event during their festival season. We learnt that they have roughly 130 permanent staff including Administrative Staff and Human Resources building to 1000 staff during the season when performances take place. Additional staff fill roles included above as well as meet and greeting visitors and varied jobs such as waiting staff, silver service and car parking assistants.
We are hugely lucky to have been offered spaces this year as well as the past few years because Glyndebourne, understandably, wishes to reach as many different schools and colleges as possible each year. As our school is in closest proximity to Glyndebourne I strongly pushed for us to be included this year again. Everyone got so much out of the day, including Mr Duckworth, Head of Site Staff, who kindly drove us in the minibus and enthusiastically asked questions all morning!
For those families with young people in Year 11, I strongly recommend checking the vacancies page on the Glyndebourne website regularly (included here Glyndebourne Vacancies) as they recruit from age 16 + every Spring for the Summer season. This is an incredible opportunity to build a link with a local enterprise which is internationally renowned. Also - since much of the work is seasonal - it fits well around higher level study for example sixth form college and university. I was told yesterday the "tips are incredible" as many famous people and politicians visit this part of Sussex each year to watch opera at Glyndebourne. Maybe you could be serving drinks to the next prime minister?
If anyone wants to find out more about this please do come and ask me or email me at francesca.urquhart@kingsacademies.uk!
WORLD MATHS DAY 8 MARCH 2023
Since Pythagoreans created the word “mathematics” in the 6th century BC, numbers have been a beneficial and challenging part of life.
Whether the actual crunching of numbers sounds exciting or repulsive, celebrating World Maths Day can be oodles and oodles of fun! Maths is believed by many people to be one of the hardest subjects to achieve because of its strictness in needing correct answers, its abstract concepts, and the overall stress involved in succeeding. But don’t let that be intimidating!
For those who struggle with maths, World Maths Day is a chance to take your skills to the test, practice maths skills, and get involved in a worldwide event that celebrates the history of maths to improve the lives of students, parents, and teachers everywhere.
First held in 2007, World Maths Day, or World Math Day in American English, was originally celebrated on March 14 (3.14 or sometimes called “Pi Day”) but has since been changed to the first Wednesday in March.
Curious about how many maths competitors have competed against one another at one time? The Guinness World Record for the largest maths competition was set on World Maths Day, March 3, 2010 with 1,204,766 participants from 235 countries around the globe. Now that’s a lot of maths!
At King’s Academy RINGMER all year 7, 8 and 9 students will be involved. Lessons are being prepared, from a majority of subjects that involve number or shape. Art is working with geometry and tessellations, English is doing countdown and MFL is looking at sequences. Other subjects are also being encouraged to be involved in what will be a numerical fiesta of fun!
Eco Club
Thank you to the kind donations of the kneeling pads for our Eco Hub garden. The Eco Reps and Mrs Teague have been tackling the weeds over the last couple of weeks, trying to regain some control before things get too overgrown. We are finding a balance between the plants that were added last summer to help pollinators and the native weeds which have been cutting out their light and taking over. The Eco Reps have done an amazing job, and things are already looking smarter and will be easier to maintain. Anyone who still might like to donate a kneeling pad, or any garden tools (that are fully functioning) or equipment, we will greatly receive it. Please email Mrs Teague at liz.teague@kingsacademies.uk and we can make arrangements. Thank you.
Tree planting - 6th March
On Monday 6th March the Ouse & Adur Rivers Trust kindly donated trees and hedging species for our Eco Hub garden area. They are joining our Eco Reps and Mrs Teague to plant these on Monday and help improve the area for wildlife. We are excited to help develop this area and replace some tree seedlings we sadly lost due to the heatwaves and hosepipe bans last summer.
Rain Box Planter - 20th March
The Ouse & Adur Rivers Trust have also kindly donated to us at King's Academy Ringmer a SuDS (Sustainable Drainage System) Rain Box Planter, which we are putting outside reception under the canteen window. This will take water from one of the downpipes and use the water to sustain the plants we will be planting, but it also uses layers of soil, sand and gravel to store and slow down the water, helping to ease the impact on the drainage systems and water the plants which will help pollinators. The Ouse & Adur Rivers Trust will be helping us install and plant this up with the Eco Reps and Mrs Teague on Monday 20th March.
Eco Committee
Mrs Teague is proud to announce that we have now finalised our Eco Committee here at King's Academy Ringmer. We are planning our first meeting together with Mrs Teague, the Eco Governor and the Eco Parent in addition to the Eco Reps who applied for the roles in the organisation structure below. Congratulations to all of the Eco Reps who are now on the Eco Committee - well done!
Safeguarding
The rise of video games as the preferred medium for children and young people to blow of steam, has been going on for over three decades now. Ever since the launch of the affordable computer, and the gaming console children and young people have been hooked. And with every evolution, it is only a matter of time before the price of novel gaming technologies drops to the level that it becomes ubiquitous. When that occurs it doesn’t take long for it to filter into the common youth culture, creating terms of reference that are difficult for the layperson to decipher. The White Hatter has recently published an article which seeks to clear up some of the confusion presented by such popular phenomena. To read more follow the link below: