Goffs Academy Newsletter

Dear Parents, Carers and Students

Thank you for taking the time to read this half-term’s newsletter. As ever, this has been a very busy and productive period; in particular, our Year 11, 12 and 13 students have been working extremely hard to prepare for their final examinations.

These exams represent the culmination of several years of education, and although I appreciate that anxiety relating to exams can be a significant burden, I hope that they can also be seen as an opportunity to demonstrate and apply all that has been learned. I am confident that students’ hard work will reap dividends come Results Day. I would also like to publicly recognise the incredible efforts of our staff, to ensure that students are as well prepared as they can be; I cannot imagine a more committed, supportive and enthusiastic group of professionals.

At this time of year, students have also been arranging their preferred destinations for future education, training or employment, and I am thrilled at the range of exciting opportunities into which our students will step.

In this newsletter, you will also read accounts from a wide range of exciting opportunities in which our students have been involved, including trips, visiting speakers, sporting events and our ongoing charity fundraising.

The remainder of the academic year also includes a large number of opportunities. Year 10 students will gain first-hand experience of employment as they embark on work experience placements, our History students will be visiting the battlefields and historical sites of Belgium and Germany, and students and staff from Goffs will complete the ‘return leg’ of our Chinese exchange programme as they visit Beijing. I hope that each event will prove to be a valuable, stimulating and memorable experience for all.

Finally, as we plan for the next academic year, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that I will write shortly with details of the school’s Strategic Development Plan 2019-20. This document is the fruit of much work across the school, and is based on a thorough analysis of all staff, student and parental feedback via our recent surveys, and I would like to reiterate my thanks for taking the time to complete this in such large numbers.

I hope you enjoy the newsletter.

Regards

Mark Ellis

Principal

Inter-house Dodgeball competition

Year 7 boy winners: Hawk

Year 7 girl winners: Falcon

Year 8 boy winners: Phoenix

Year 8 girl winners: Falcon

On Thursday 28th and Friday 29th March, Year 7 and 8 form groups battled it out for the winning position in the Inter-house Dodgeball competition. It is safe to say things became very competitive and when I entered the sports hall to spectate I nearly got hit by the ball on numerous occasions! Congratulations to all the winners listed above, and well done to everyone who took part. A big thanks to Miss Hague for organising the competition and for the sports leaders for helping to run the matches on the day.

Easter Charity Fete

On Wednesday 3rd April the house and student leadership teams ran a very successful Easter Charity fete for Years 7 and 8. A lot of planning had gone into the day with the students being given responsibility to design, organise and run their own stalls at the event. There were 13 stalls in total, including ‘The Crepe Stall’, ‘Sweet Pong’ and ‘The Nerf Gun Challenge’. A very special thanks must go to Miss Hague and Mr Spaul who took one for the team and became the targets for the ‘soak the teacher’ stall; students certainly made the most of this opportunity!

Thank you very much to all the attendees for getting involved so enthusiastically which meant that we could raise an absolutely superb £1008.85 for our school charity Essex and Herts Air Ambulance! We are very proud of this achievement as a house team and are extremely grateful for the generous donations.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all students for their contributions and commitment in regards to our school fundraising. So far this academic year, we have raised a superb total of £8372.73!

Ellie Myers

Director of the House System

As you will have hopefully seen in a previous newsletter, our Year 9 Art classes have been involved in the HEART Project run by Broxbourne Wildlife Park (Helping Endangered Animals by Recycling Trash), alongside other schools in the region. Our students have been exploring how so much of our rubbish is not recycled or recyclable – it has been quite an eye-opener.

Our Painted Dogs are really beginning to take shape. All of the sculptures produced are made solely from rubbish (recyclable and non-recyclable - apart from the glue and tape used to fix parts). Students have been weaving plastic and laminating it using ironing. We look forward to showing you the final results at the end of the year.

Many thanks to all of Year 9 Art for their hard work and also to Ms Brew & Mr Moules for developing and running the project.

All art work will be displayed in a special public exhibition at Paradise Wildlife Park from 25th – 27th May 2019.

Tiff Brown

Head of Art

Thursday 9th May saw ten Year 7 and 8 students venture to Balliol College, Oxford. The students took part in a maths workshop, received a tour of the college and explored some 'big questions' in an 'Oxplore' debate. The students were guided by current Oxford undergraduates who gave them an insight in to their studies - as well as telling them how many meals could be cooked with just a kettle! A thoroughly inspirational day, which we hope encourages many of our students on the path to Oxbridge!

Martha Booth

Teacher of English

The annual Netball trip to the Liddington PGL centre was again a great success this year! All three teams performed extremely well over the weekend and all represented the school with such pride. Some of the teams included players who had never played together before; this was a challenge for the girls, but one they relished. It was a pleasure to see their development into an excellent team unit. Although the Year 8 team missed out on the semi-finals by one point, their determination and team spirit was applaudable. We are yet to return from our Liddington trips without a trophy; this year it was the successful Year 7 team, led by Joley Moynihan, who were crowned winners of their competition.

All of the girls enjoyed taking part in the outdoor activities which included archery, zip wire and rock climbing. A great way to finish off the trip was meeting England netballer Eboni Usoro-Brown who was a great inspiration for the girls and they thoroughly enjoyed hearing all of her stories. Other highlights from the trip were the incredible vocals from all of the girls led by Miss McBride, the entertaining 'floor' tour rule, and Annabel Creer's bizarre eating habits.

A special mention must go to the following students who received awards for their performance over the weekend:

Achievement awards: Ashlee Willett, Poppy Gualtieri & Stella Morcom

Most Improved awards: Paige Arnold, Courtney Sprary & Izzy Penrose

The 'Student of the Weekend' award went to Annabel Creer for her excellent enthusiasm all weekend throughout the activities and in the netball tournament. Annabel was an absolute asset to her team and thoroughly enjoyed Liddington life.

Miss Hockley, Miss McBride and I are already looking forward to next year's trip!

Lynsey Hague

Teacher of PE

The Year 8 and 9 footballers have worked incredibly hard this year in their games in both the National and County cup competitions. They deservedly made it through to the county finals after winning the semi-final 3-1. The girls were hugely confident going into the final, which was helped by the huge support from family and friends who came along to spectate. The players were focused throughout the game and fought hard consistently. They came away at half time 2-0 up; a great start to the game. A massive credit goes to Sandringham School, their tough opposition, who were just as determined and scored a goal back in the second half. Our girls knew how much they wanted to win, held onto the lead and came away with a 2-1 win.

A special mention goes to the team captain Maddie Murchison who supported her team throughout the match with her high levels of encouragement and enthusiasm. Player of the match Josie Lewis, our outstanding goal keeper, kept calm under the enormous pressure and did not let her team down. A majority of the team have experienced successes in the past through winning the district league or 5-a-side tournaments, however winning the County cup is a prestigious accolade and demonstrates the team's outstanding efforts and contribution towards the school.

We are all extremely proud of the team and I managed to stay alive through the intense heart pounding games leading to the final! Thank you also to Paige Pryor (Year 10) and Mickie Palfreman (Year 12) for coming along to support the girls; exceptional footballers in their own right and great role models for the girls.

Onwards and upwards for girls' football!

Lynsey Hague

Teacher of PE

The Year 8 football team finished the season extremely strongly with a county cup semi-final, District Cup Winners and County Futsal winners. The boys played against a strong Richard Hale side in the District Cup Final where they were matched with physicality and skill. The boys put lots of pressure on Richard Hale in the first half and managed to score a wonderful team goal just before half time. Jake Simson came on at half time and made an immediate impact, a great through ball from Hayden Gray was matched with an excellent run by Kaya Hannson-Ramis who squared the ball across to Jake to tap in from 5 yards out. The boys battled extremely hard throughout the game and were led excellently by the captain Riley Warmerdam. They thoroughly deserved the 2-0 win. The trophy reflects their excellent work throughout the past 2 years and they have done the school proud with their achievement.

The Year 8 Futsal team produced two excellent performances in the Futsal County Cup to win this competition and become the second ever school to win the competition and create some history for Goffs Academy!

It has been an absolute pleasure to coach these boys for the last two years and I am looking forward to next season to see if we can better ourselves in all of the football competitions to achieve some more silverware for the school. Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the parents for their support and positive comments throughout this academic year.

Ben Spaul

Teacher of PE

The Year 8 netball District tournament was a huge success with both team finishing third in their group. Students applied excellent skill and determination throughout the evening. A last minute step-in from Chloe Ions was greatly appreciated. Well done girls!

An outstanding display of netball by our Year 11 and sixth form netball students at their District tournament. Considering it was their only time playing together this year, they showed fantastic team work and determination, which got them to the semi-final. The semi-final went to extra time and we narrowly missed out on a final slot. Player of the tournament went to Molly Blackford for exceptional shooting all evening.

Hollie Hockley

Teacher of PE

Goffs presents our summer dance show: All Around the World. The girls and boys involved have been working extremely hard learning choreography during Dance Club and in Motiv8 and BTEC dance lessons. The first half of the show will be a showcase of dance routines set against various songs, and the second half will be a trip around the world with a variety of dances from countries such as America, Ireland and Russia.

The dance show will be on the 6th & 7th of June, with tickets available to buy from the PE office. The charity we have chosen to donate money raised to this year is the Helen Rollason Cancer Charity – a charity enabling a better quality of life whilst living with cancer; the charity provides support for cancer patients and their families.

Emma Fleet

Teacher of PE

A mixed 11-18 comprehensive Academy with approximately 1450 students on roll, including a thriving and successful Sixth Form. Our Academy is extremely popular in the local area, with an average of over 800 applications annually for the 240 places available, and significant waiting lists for places across the year groups.

Email: admin@goffs.herts.sch.uk
Website: goffs.herts.sch.uk
Location: Goffs Academy, Goff's Lane, Cheshunt, Waltham Cross, UK
Phone: 01992424200