Festive fun at The Bushey Academy

The penultimate week of this term has been an exciting one at the academy. Our student choir got up very early on Thursday morning to share some festive spirit with the commuters of Bushey, singing carols while collecting for a local charity. They braved the cold for three hours to help spread Christmas cheer. Many commuters stopped to say how wonderful it was to hear them singing - I couldn't be prouder of them.

Ash Mair, the 2011 Professional MasterChef champion was in the academy on Tuesday. He has been working with our caterers, Cucina, to develop new recipes for our school dinners.

Students and staff had the opportunity to try several types of bubble tea and this went down very well.  The students gave glowing feedback, so we are looking forward to it making a more permanent appearance on our menus in the coming months.

Our sporting success has continued this week at the county Table Tennis Championships. All teams we entered - Under 13, 16 and 19 Boys and the Under 16 Girls - were crowned County Champions! What an amazing achievement by all the students involved whose hard work has really paid off.

More sporting news comes from within school, with 88 year 11 students undertaking their PE practical examination over three days. They were put through their paces in the same way as they will be in the examination in summer.  It was a great success with 71 of the students achieving an A or A* grade.

House sport competitions are also continuing and I am very pleased to report the following results of House Dodgeball:

Year 7 winners - Edison, Year 8 winners - Marconi, Year 9 winners - Whittle, Year 10 winners - Whittle. Overall 1st place was awarded to Whittle.  Well done to all involved.

John Hegley, performance poet and author, led a lucky group of year 8, 9 and 10 students in a workshop on Monday.  Pupils from three other schools joined us and all were inspired by what they saw.

Rehearsals are in full flow for the House Drama competition that will take place on 11th February. More information on tickets will follow in the new year, while the summing up of this term will be with you next week in the termly newsletter.

Finally, I very much hope to see many of you at our first ever Christmas Fair tomorrow, Saturday 12th December, from 11am-3pm.  There are 38 stalls - so come along and pick up some Christmas presents.