Monday, 25 April 2016

Award winning progress!

The Bushey Academy has been, for the third year running, recognised for the outstanding progress students make during their time here.  We were again in the top 20% of schools nationally for pupil progress from Key Stage 2 to Key Stage 4.  What a way to start a new term. You can read about it in the Watford Observer here:

http://m.watfordobserver.co.uk/news/14424435.School_wins_award_for_exceptional_GCSE_results/ 


Over the holidays, a group of 67 students and 9 staff embarked on a football tour in Holland.  The week consisted of training sessions with top coaches and football matches against Dutch teams ending in a tournament against other British schools.  Our under 16s A team players were crowned champions of the tournament, winning all matches and conceding only two goals, while a student from each team was recognised as the player of the week. Well done to all involved.

Just before the Easter break, all students were involved in the first ever Bushey Academy Science Week. Bridges were designed, constructed and tested, experiments conducted to link music and exercise, boundaries between science and design explored and genetic design investigated, leading to the proposed creation of some new species, some of which were a little scary. 




Year 12 students, as part of their Futures Week, have been exploring post-18 pathways. They visited the National Apprenticeships Show in Milton Keynes which opened their eyes to the world of work-based learning with exhibits from a variety of industries. Global companies such as KPMG, Volvo, Santander and Vodafone were exhibiting as were the Army, Mercedes, Aldi and many more. Following this, students attended a careers event at Sir John Lawes School. The day was a mix of speakers from different industries and a careers exhibition where even more companies and organisations were vying for their attention.
 
Before Easter, the Music Department took some of our gifted and talented musicians to the Purcell School to compete in the Community Festival Competition.  Our students did not disappoint, winning a Gold Medal in the Duo Round - Amelia Dunstone Young on Saxophone - and a Bronze Medal in the Ensemble Round - Evelyn Holmes on Piano, Ellie Hobby-Gilberton on Piano and Hannah Collins on Violin, playing Pachebel’s Canon in D. Well done to them all. 

And to cap all of this off, we received a letter earlier this week congratulating us on Music GCSE results from last summer, which placed the school in the top 130 for the percentage of pupils achieving A*-C grades in the subject. Have a look at the report of this in the Watford Observer with this link. 

http://m.watfordobserver.co.uk/news/14440385.School_in_top_130_for_music_nationally/