Goffs Academy Newsletter

As I write to you, we are in the midst of our busiest time of year - exam season. Our students across Years 11 to 13 are 'holding up' really well, staying focussed on their revision and remaining calm and collected for each exam. Year 11 students will be sitting anything from 15 to well over 20 exams and are managing this very well, but if you are the parent, friend or relative of anyone sitting exams at the moment, I am sure a few words of encouragement would go down very well. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate our students on all of their hard work leading up to this point and I hope that they secure the results they deserve in the summer.

Whilst this is going on, it is really fantastic to be able to celebrate in this newsletter so many of the extra curricular activities that have been taking place during the course of the last half term. Our students are always excellent ambassadors for the school during these activities, and it is great to see so many students gaining such rich experiences. If your son/daughter is not yet involved in any clubs or extra curricular activities, I would strongly recommend that they do so, as these experiences are what help to mould and shape young people for the better.

Finally, you may be aware that, following a very lengthy time working at Goffs, Maxine Padgham, Director of Learning for Year 13, is moving on later on this term. Whilst this is sad from our perspective as Maxine is a fantastic member of the Goffs community, she has taken the decision to relocate to sunny Devon, so I wish her all the best in her next endeavours and publicly thank her for her years of service and dedication to our students - I know she has touched many lives for the better.

Ben Pearce

Principal

Once again, the House team have had an amazing term fundraising, organising events and creating opportunities for our school community to come together. Over £8,000 has been raised for charity this year, through House events, such as non-uniform days, pop-up shops and the annual charity fete – an outstanding amount of money, all of which has gone to support worthy causes such as Macmillan.

Most recently, the House Captains created a ‘Big Fat Quiz of the Year’ for students to enjoy during ATM, where they could collaboratively use their know-how in an attempt to claim the prize as the brightest brains in Goffs! It was lovely to see all year groups getting involved, earning House points and sharing their knowledge. Winners will be announced after half term.

Next half term brings more House-related fun and games, seeing our first ever Sports Day for the Elderly; a colour run; a 24 hour sports event; another non-uniform day, and a summer pop-up shop, but to name a few! As we approach the last half term, every house point counts so students are encouraged to get involved in house events.

May the best house win!!

Laura Huseyin

Director of House System

We arrived at school at 3:30am on the 6th April, all tired and wishing we could go to sleep. We all then got on the coach and headed for Stansted airport. Once we arrived at Stansted we checked in our bags, headed for security and then got some breakfast before getting on our flight with Ryanair. The flight was quite short (only 3 hours) but some of us spent it sleeping. When we arrived in Valencia we got our bags and headed to the hotel, only to realise that Jamie had left his suitcase at Stansted!

When we got to the hotel we unpacked and had lunch. The first day involved a training session where the coaches of Villarreal had a chance to see what they thought of us. The main things we did were short passing and learning how to keep possession. Then it was straight to the Villarreal stadium for our tour. The stadium was actually quite big; it was the highest place in the city. We got a chance to sit in the media room and ask questions to a few of our fellow students. Then it was back to the hotel for dinner and bed; we all needed it!

The next day was an early breakfast and then an early morning training session where possession and shooting were the main aims. We took some free kicks - some of them were amazing. After we completed the training session, we headed back to the hotel to get changed for our match against a local opposition. It was good to see how the Spanish teams played. One of them played how we thought they would, with constant passing, and the other played quite like an English team. The results were Goffs 5-7 Sant Mateu and Goffs 1-6 San Lorenzo. Not really a good result for either game.

On the 8th April it was Maddie’s 13th birthday and we headed to the beach to relax in the sun. Only Ben and Alfie went into the sea because of how cold it was. The rest of us just relaxed or played football. We then went back to the hotel and had lunch, before heading to our next training session that involved more shooting, a bit of game play and some penalties. There were some great goals scored and some good saves made. Then it was back to the hotel for some pool time and a nice dinner.

It was now the last full day of the tour; it started with breakfast and a training session. This training session was one of the best as it was sort of a mini competition. We started off with some football tennis as a warm up before some matches. The matches were really good with great goals, skills and saves. It was then back to the hotel for some time by the pool before an hour on the hotel pitch. We took free kicks, penalties and had a small match. After that was done, it was time to pack and get ready for dinner before the Villarreal vs Athletic Bilbao match. It was amazing to be able to watch a Spanish match, to see all the passing and their style of football. Unfortunately, Villarreal lost 3-1 after not playing the best they could.

After a late night, it was an extremely early start to head back to the Valencia airport. We then got on our flight back to Stansted and headed on the coach back to the school. It was one of the best experiences we have ever had and everyone really enjoyed it. I also want to say thank you to Mr Ashdown, Mr Spaul and Miss Hague for taking us.

Edward Page

Year 9

The Athletics Season has kicked off with an impressive start. A team of 40 students across Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 have been travelling to various athletics tracks to represent our school every week in a variety of track and field events. The students have been extremely competitive and worked hard to strive for excellence during their individual events.

Lots of congratulations go to the following students for securing 1st place in one or more of the events:

Millie Warmerdam (Javelin)

Tommy Kenny (1500m)

Issac Bode (100m)

Sharon Hood (100m)

Jake Simson (Hurdles

Lillie Andrews (Javelin)

Well done Goffs – keep up the excellent work!

If any student would like to the chance to represent our school, or improve on their Athletics skills, Athletics training is on Monday every week after school, 3.15-4.15pm. We hope to see many new faces!

Carla Ball

PE Department

Well done to all the GCSE students for producing the following excellent products for their coursework.

Our Goffs Cadets had the rare experience of participating in a flying experience on a RAF Chinook Helicopter. St Edmund’s College CCF arranged with the 27 Squadron RAF to offer both staff and Cadets the experience of a familiarisation flight.

All fifteen of Goffs Cadets experienced two trips over Hertfordshire’s Countryside for around twenty minutes duration on each flight. Two of our Cadets had never even been on an aeroplane before. For the duration of the flight, the back door of the aircraft was open to allow the best scenic view and experience! Our Cadets had a fantastic afternoon and experienced an opportunity of a life-time.

On Saturday10th March 2018 Goffs Army Cadets participated in a training day at Colchester Barracks. During the day there were three activities for the Cadets to learn new skills, gain experience and have fun.

DC Douglas Dakota

This was a rare opportunity to learn about the history and see a beautifully restored Dakota. The DC Douglas Dakota has been lovingly restored back to its former glory. Our Cadets had the opportunity to sit inside and hear fascinating stories about this historic WW2 Aircraft. The Dakota has the famous D-Day stripes and is a VIP plane of Marshall Mont Gomery.

Goffs Cadets had the chance to learn new skills on an obstacle course. The obstacle course had around 15-20 different obstacles, and they completed the course twice. The course had various different challenges for the Cadets to face and conquer. They learnt how team work is important with certain obstacles, and conquered their fears to push themselves to achieve new technical skills.

The use of a state of the art digital range allowed the cadets to see how they should improve their shooting individually. This gave our cadets the opportunity to practice the skills covered within their core CCF syllabus. Each group shot five rounds of four groups at 100 meters. The cadets also got to digitally adjust their sights and record their groupings. Every single cadet showed brilliant understanding, knowledge and skills with their rifle making fantastic progress and improvements to their techniques.

Our trip to Liddington was so much fun! There was something you could do every minute. All staff were very kind and friendly; if you needed them they were there.

We also got to take part in many activities which included: big swing, abseiling, zip wire, leap of faith and many more. The highlight of our trip to Liddington was the netball tournament. The Year 7 team won overall and the Year 8s also got into the finals. Everyone was very proud and left with a great sense of achievement! Not forgetting meeting top star England netball star, Eboni Beckford-Chambers. This was an amazing experience and we recommend going.

By Lara Dervish & Ellie Young

Year 7

All Students represented the school proudly and were a credit to the school. Great achievements were demonstrated by all and we came back with a first and second medal. Special mention to the following students who won awards on the trip: Amber Daniels, Bobbi Bell, Stephanie Disney, Summer Young, Isabella Ioannou, Ella Hajittofis-O’Mahony, Caitlin O’Brein, Laci Hawkins, Talya Hansson-Ramis-Hayrettin, Millie White, Lucy Todd and Dayna Shepperdson.

Miss Hague

Physical Education Teacher

This year our talented students have been quietly creating a range of original and creative garments based on a wide variety of themes such as:

The Elegance of Nature

Modern Women’s Tailoring

Cherry Blossom

90’s Grunge

Gender Neutral

Sweets

50’s retro

Japanese Street style

The work our young women have created will count towards their NEA/coursework, and I am incredibly proud of the effort each and every one of them has made. I would like to congratulate:

Katrina Gibb, Year 12

Lisa Townley, Year 12

Laura Sutton, Year 12

Lucy Sween, Year 12

Nicole Welch, Year 11

Madison Osborn, Year 11

Neave Brookman, Year 11

Danielle Cabriga, Year 11

Lacey Chalk, Year 11

Katie Hewitt, Year 11

Esin Celebi, Year 11

In particular, I would like to wish a fond farewell to my incredible Year 13 students whom I have had the honour of teaching since they were in year 8 - I wish you the very best of luck for your future!

Lucy Down, Year 13 who has secured a place to study a BA Hons at the Fashion Retail Academy

Danielle McGuire, Year 13 who has secured a place to study a BA Hons Fashion & Fashion Business at Hertfordshire University

Pelin Ormandji, Year 13 who is pursuing her passion for special effects makeup

Leanne McKeown, Year 13 who has secured a place to study Ba Hons English at Essex University

Mrs LJ Abazi

Head of Fashion and Textiles

Year 7 students have been learning a range of Fashion & Textiles skills which they have been using to create original design ideas from. Currently, students are making an item of their choosing which must use 5 skills they have learnt, 2 different fabrics and be based on a theme of their choice.

Stay tuned to see the results!

All Year 7 students have the opportunity to learn about Technology, and this term they are learning about the effects of Fashion & Textiles on the environment. We have been encouraging them to back a campaign from a company called ‘Fashion Revolution’ and using the hashtag #whomademyclothes. Students have been creating postcards to send to their favourite brands, the best ones will be posted!

Mrs LJ Abazi

Head of Fashion and Textiles

Sixteen Year 12 students have been part of a Scholars Programme run by a company called 'The Brilliant Club' since the start of January.

The programme started with a lunch trip at Newnham College, University of Cambridge in January. Following this, students have been having tutorial sessions from current PhD students to complete a University-style assignment. Students followed either the Social Science Programme where their assignment was focussed on “Freedom as a Human Right”, or the STEM Programme where their assignment was focussed on “Dinosaur Footprints of the Isle of Wight”.

Newnham College, University of Cambridge:

Their final assignment was submitted a few weeks ago and graded in line with the University systems. I am extremely pleased to say that all students passed their assignments, with 12 students gaining the top grade of a 1st and 6 students gaining a 2:1 grade. These are the two highest grades that University students can achieve.

I would like to congratulate the following students for their hard work and success:

Social Science Programme - STEM Programme

Katie Andrew - Luke Bateman

Georgia Butt - Thomas Boucher

Charlotte Hunt - Lewis Harrington

Abigail Kiely - Jada May

Ryan Law - Katy Pinnell

Abigail Lemmon - Rosa Resmi

Oliver Perkins - Emily Sabatino

Olivia Turner - Theodora Youssef

Students were invited to attend a Graduation Ceremony at King’s College London on Saturday 28th April where they collected their certificates.

Please see below the excellent work being produced by our exam students. They have all worked really hard this year to produce some fantastic work, and I wish them all the best of luck as they begin their exams.

To see all the below and many more pieces of Art produced by the students, please attend the "Goffs Creative community showcase" on Wednesday 11th July.

Tiffany Brown

Head of Art & Photography

A mixed 11-18 comprehensive Academy with approximately 1350 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: http://www.goffs.herts.sch.uk
Location: Goffs Academy, Goff's Lane, Cheshunt, United Kingdom
Phone: 01992 424200
Twitter: @GoffsAcademy