Goffs Academy Newsletter

Welcome to our first half term newsletter. As you will see from the articles below, it has been a very busy start to the academic year, with many trips, sporting successes, and other events already taking place.

It has been a pleasure to welcome our new Year 7 students. Despite having only been in school for a few weeks, the majority of Year 7s acted as guides at Open Evening, and did a superb job, welcoming over 1,400 visitors to the school. We have also enjoyed welcoming our new Sixth Formers; the new Year 12 cohort includes many students joining us for the first time, in addition to many familiar faces from Year 11. There are now 167 students in Year 12, a record number, which includes 37 students joining from other schools, 9 of whom are from Goffs-Churchgate.

Following the tremendous fundraising efforts to support Macmillan last year, students have voted for the school charity for 2017-18, and have chosen to support Essex and Herts Air Ambulance (EHAA).

I hope that you all have an excellent half-term break. A reminder that school will resume after the half-term break at 8.30am on 5th November 2018.

Mark Ellis

Vice Principal

I am delighted to be the Head Girl of Goffs Academy and am really looking forward to implementing both mine and the Top Team’s ideas throughout the year ahead.

With a hope to pursue a career in cancer and stem cell research, I am currently studying Biology, Chemistry and Maths A'Levels. As well as this, I am also undertaking an EPQ focusing on an area of scientific research that I am particularly interested in.

Since joining Goffs, I have had the opportunity to be an Anti-Bullying Advocate, attend numerous student conferences, mentor year 11s and be part of the Lead Prefect Team.

This year, along with the other Senior Lead Prefects, I hope to be able to introduce some exciting plans, strengthening the community in not only Goffs, but also throughout the Generations Trust.

Being Head Boy of Goffs Academy is a privilege and a title I am proud to hold.

Over the years I have been involved in many student societies including, the House Team, Student Parliament, Digital Leaders and Lead Prefects. I have also been involved in the Drama Department’s shows over the years, running both sound and lights. Some of the shows I have been a part of include: Little Shop of Horrors, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, and Bugsy Malone. In January 2018 I attained an accreditation in leadership from "The Schools, Students and Teachers network" (SSAT).

I am currently studying BTEC IT and Photography and hope to do a degree apprenticeship in IT and ultimately become a Network Engineer, as IT is something that I am particularly interested in.

I hope that before I leave the school, myself along with the Head Girl, Deputies, the Lead Prefects and the rest of the Top Team, can make a difference to the school both for staff and students, making Goffs Academy and the Generations Multi Academy Trust (MAT) even better.

On 20th September, prospective students and their families visited Goffs for our Open Evening. The evening was extremely well attended, with approximately 1,400 attending. As always, hundreds of our current students attended the event to act as guides. In addition, students from the Cadets assisted with seating for speeches, the Digital Leaders were on hand to explain how the latest technology is being used in school, and many students acted as helpers in departments across the school. The student guides were wonderful ambassadors for the school with parents commenting that the guides were "beyond exceptional". Particular thanks must go to the new Year 7s, who acted as guides for visitors only a few weeks after starting at Goffs themselves; students conducted themselves with confidence and maturity throughout the evening. Further comments made by parents were that the "classrooms looked amazing", "the teachers were interactive", and "the drama and dance routines were fantastic".

Mark Ellis

Vice Principal

On Wednesday 3rd October 2018, the Maths, Economics and Businesses students from Year 13, Year 12, and Year 11 were invited to a thoroughly engaging presentation by a representative from the Bank of England. During the discussion, several points were addressed, including the Bank’s use of expansionary and contractionary monetary policy to stimulate economic activity in the UK. The representative had graduated from the London School of Economics and now subsequently works in the department of the Bank which collects and analyses data about the UK economy, which can be used to advise Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England since 2013. This data is vital as it is needed to assess the performance of the UK economy. For example, in August 2018 the inflation rate rose to 2.7%, 0.7% above the UK government’s target of 2%. Consequently, the Bank of England is expected to increase interest rates to reduce borrowing and to increase savings, in order to decrease the inflation rate. The representative also gave information on the possible roles available in the Bank of England, both for school leavers and graduates, as well as apprenticeships and internships, providing details of the website which provides further information.

Charlotte Hunt

Year 13

Beth (Year 13) flew out in September to Rio Brazil to compete in the Canoe Senior World Championships.

Beth won GOLD in the Team C1 (Canoeing), 1st in the C1 Solo Semi-Final and came 8th place in the World C1 (Canoeing) Competition.

Later this month Dani Duerden will be representing England at the 10th WUKF European Karate Championship in Malta and this is the first time that she has competed in a competition outside of England. Dani has been fundraising for her trip to compete in Malta in October by having cake sales, but she needs some help – I would encourage you to donate on her GoFundMe page here: https://www.gofundme.com/representing-england-in-karate which I am sure she would greatly appreciate.

Samuel Edwards

Head Boy

On Tuesday September 18th 2018, Melissa from the notable Theatre Company Frantic Assembly, came to deliver a 4 hour workshop with Theatre Studies students from Year 12 and 13. Notorious for their innovative approach to theatre, Frantic Assembly are arguably the leading physical theatre company in the UK - with some of their most famous works including ‘Othello’, ‘Love Song’ and the movement in ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time’.

Melissa was here to teach our students the exciting methods Frantic use when devising new movement and choreography for their theatrical pieces. After doing a physical warm up, students were challenged to create their own strings of material by using approaches such as ‘Hymns Hands’, ‘Crane lifts’ and ‘Quad’.

The students found the experience really inspiring, saying, ‘it was good to have someone come in as an expert who represented that particular style’. The Year 13 students who are currently devising themselves noted that the workshop was ‘approachable and (it would be) easy to apply the methods explored to their own work.’

Melissa’s praise for our students was very positive. She mentioned several times how focused the students were and that she was shocked the students were from different year groups, considering their energy and collaborative skills throughout the day.

This was an excellent opportunity for our students, which they seized with vigour. Already the methods used are being used by the students which is making their own work far richer and complex.

Clare Holland

Head of Drama

The house team have had an extremely successful first half term. In ATM sessions students voted out of a choice of four local charities and I am pleased to inform you we are going to be supporting Essex and Herts Air Ambulance (EHAA) this year. I hope you agree this is a fantastic cause to donate to.

I also want to say thank you for your support with the Harvest Food Collection. Students and staff donated a phenomenal amount of food with 645 items donated in total to Broxbourne food bank. The winning house is Phoenix who donated 75 more items than any other house. Hawk came 2nd, Eagle 3rd and Falcon 4th. Phoenix has therefore be awarded the 10,000 house points for their amazing fundraising efforts.

The infamous Great Geography Bake Off was another huge success with a range of original and exciting bakes ranging from The Great Wall of China to Solar System.

This last week of term has been a spooktacular affair with the year 7 Halloween which was a night full of tricks and treats. The students who were brave enough took on the Haunted Walk and the majority of them left running out the other end screaming in fright. The costumes were some of the best yet and it was very evident the students had gone to a lot of effort. The winner of the costume competition was Eran Dopran. This event raised over £900 for our school charity. Alongside this our non-uniform day, where students came in to school dressed in red or yellow to celebrate our charity raised £1200.

Once everyone has had the chance to recharge their batteries over the half term, the House team are back to business – hosting a plethora of events for the whole school cohort to enjoy. There will be games, competitions and pop-up shops for all to enjoy, as well as Christmas quizzes and non-uniform days.

The House team would like to thank everyone for their continued support with all of these events and look forward to sharing more successes with you next half term.

Ellie Myers

Head of House System

On Wednesday 10th October 2018, the Geography Department held ‘The Great Geography Bake Off’ House competition open to students in all year groups. This is the third year that the Department have run the competition and there were an amazing total of 25 entries from Years 7-12 who thought of a ‘geographical’ cake idea to bake. The categories of our winners were: taste, originality, uniqueness, physical and human geography features and professionalism. The standard of the cakes made were incredible. Well done to all of the students who took part in ‘The Great Geography Bake Off’. Please see below for a table of entries. All first, second and third places for each category were awarded a certificate, a 1000 House points and a chocolate prize. Thank you also to all of the parents who supported the students during this competition. We look forward to running the ‘The Great Geography Bake Off’ again next year.

Please see below some of the amazing cakes.

Klaudia Car and Jennifer Fleeman

Head of Geography

On Tuesday 25th and Wednesday 26th September 2018, the Geography Department took 96 Year 10 students to Stratford, London to complete their compulsory Human Geography fieldwork for their Paper 3 exam. The students were investigating whether regeneration in the area had been a success, and completed a variety of data collection methods to find this out: questionnaires, sound level survey and taking photos at a range of sites. Students will then present the data collected and analyse their results, before coming to an overall conclusion for their enquiry.

On Tuesday 18th and Wednesday 19th September 2018, 125 Year 11 students visited Walton-on-the-Naze to complete their Physical Geography fieldwork. Students collected a range of data to find out whether groynes had affected the process of longshore drift. To do this, students worked well in their groups measuring the beach height, width and the direction of longshore drift by throwing an orange in the sea to see the direction it travelled. Students will now present the data collected and analyse the results, before coming to an overall conclusion for their enquiry.

On Friday 14th September 2018, 21 Year 13 Geography students travelled to Stratford, London to collect data for their Independent Investigation which is worth 20% of their Geography A-Level. The students have independently chosen their title for this and there are a range of interesting themes including whether Stratford is a clone town, what impact the 2012 Olympics have had on Stratford, and whether social and economic inequalities exist in the area. Students are now focusing on a write-up of their results, deciding on their own data presentation techniques and analysing their data, before coming to an overall conclusion for their enquiry.

Klaudia Car

Head of Geography

Year 8 took part in a Curriculum Enrichment Day held by Prison Me No Way. This national charity delivered a variety of sessions to the students on Prison, Rail Safety, Arson, Making Good Choices and being Street Wise. All students engaged brilliantly in every session and many said they found the information to be ‘shocking’ but the message would ‘stay in their minds for a long time’.

The aim of the day was to educate the students on their choices and consequences, and the feedback was that the students were polite, interested and very willing to engage in the sessions and they are a credit to the school and local community.

A huge thank you goes to Mrs Thornton for arranging the day for our Year 8 students.

Olivia Garner

Director of Learning Year 8

Over 160 Year 12 students participated in ‘The Hub Challenge’ run by Wise-up. The weather was perfect and it was great to see them working together in their groups, encouraging each other and getting involved with various activities and challenges.

After a short presentation outlining the day, students moved outside to focus on their team work skills in their groups. The emphasis was on students taking ownership of their learning, using critical thinking to develop ideas on how to solve the challenges. Another aim was for their social skills to be enhanced as they learnt to communicate with their team mates, on plans and solutions as well as evaluating their own performance after each activity.

Here are the views of a few of the students who took part:

“Yesterday we took part in an activity filled day. Wise-Up were very good when helping our team to understand and complete challenges to a high standard. The activities were enjoyable and required team work to complete. As well as being mentally challenging it also required physical aspects to complete.”

“The team activity was really effective when allowing us to interact and work with people that we usually wouldn’t have to work with. The activities were challenging enough to make us have to think and plan effectively if we were to complete the tasks.”

"Yesterday we did multiple team building challenges which helped us to improve our collaboration skills and help us with working together. My favourite activity was called Gutter Ball where we had to hold half pipes together and try and get the ball from the orange cone down the line and into the box. The activity was very challenging and we had to be very resilient as it took multiple tries to complete. Personally I had a great time."

The Year 7 Rugby team travelled to the fantastic facilities at Cheshunt RFC to play their first competitive games. There were due to be 4 schools attending, but in the end only Chauncy arrived, meaning we ended up playing them three times! The boys were brilliant in all of their duels, especially as this was their first game together and for some, their first competitive experience of Rugby against another school. The tackling, especially from Bobby Blackford, Lenny Colley and Luke Ellery, was solid and didn’t allow a lot of time for the Chauncy students to play. Their coach kept asking his players to pass the ball wider, but Goffs just didn’t give them a second to make those decisions by preventing any fluid passing. We beat Chauncy in both our first games and drew with them in the last game meaning we did win the tournament even though it was just us and Chauncy. The boys involved were Bobby Blackford, Lenny Colley, Luke Ellery, Blake Coleman, Luke Neoptolemou, James Doody, Adam Hockett and Okkes Palit.

The Year 8 team travelled a stone’s throw to Cheshunt RFC to play their first competitive fixtures at a tournament organised by the RFU. The team consisted of only 5 boys (Taite Williams, Henry Steed, Tommy Bowden, Antonio Torrpo and Freddie Wiles) due to some drop outs; however, it didn’t deter the students from having a fantastic team spirit going into their first game. With Morgan Jackson (injured) helping out from the side-lines, the students won their first game against John Warner who lent us two players to ensure the game was 7 a side. They went on to also beat Haileybury Turnford in their next game with another two students joining our side to make the sides even with numbers. This meant our last fixture against Chancellors was the decider to see who won the tournament. It was a great team effort with all of the boys putting in strong running, tackles and heart and desire to beat Chancellors and gain their first competitive tournament win. Taite’s leadership from his talking and his play was impressive to see and the boys all stepped up when it mattered to put in big tackles when required and score the tries to help us win overall. Well done to all the boys that took part.

The Year 10 Football team ventured off for their first game of the season in the County Cup against Roundwood School. It was a long journey so the boys were not best pleased to only been given a 2 minute warm up before starting the game. It was clear Roundwood were a well drilled side who tried to play football the right way. Possession was shared in the early exchanges before Goffs started to influence the game with a more assertive approach. A great delivery from a corner saw Torion Edmunds, not known for his heading or his height, power a header past the keeper to give us a one nil lead. It was still a tight affair with Roundwood hitting the bar and having a few chances, before a break away saw Henry Creer’s shot spilled by the keeper and left back (after another marauding run) Freddie Hills tapped in to make it two nil. Winning 3-0 at half time after a Stef Georgiou goal, we were now coasting but in typical fashion, we sat back and let our opposition ruin the defence's fantasy points for a clean sheet and conceded! The game could have become a much closer affair, but the players hit back almost immediately with Stef Georgiou, Joda Amanya and Henry Creer getting amongst the goals to leave us 7-1 up. Roundwood got another goal back to close the scoring at 7-2, but it was a fantastic display, and I’m really looking forward to how far the students can go in the District, County and National cup. Man of the Match went to Louis Aylott after a very good display ensuring the back four were well protected and starting the majority of attacks with simple passes.

Richard Ashdown

Head of PE

The Fashion & Textiles department took students in Years 11, 12 & 13 to the Victoria & Albert museum on the 17th September. Students are currently working on both coursework & exam content and need access to primary methods of investigation.

We went to see the permanent History of Fashion collection and two temporary exhibitions: Fashioned from Nature and The Future Starts Here. It provided students with a deeper awareness of ethical and environmental design, and where we can expect to see Fashion & Design in the future.

Students had this to say about the day…

“Inspiring exhibitions which will help me with my studies”- Nicole Welch, Year 12

“I really like the History of Fashion exhibition as it opens up your eyes to the styles of the past”- Lisa Townley, Year 13

“Highly educational and fascinating” – Danielle Cabriga, Year 12

Laura Jane Abazi

Head of Textiles

On Wednesday 26th September 2018, we celebrated European Day of Languages with a series of activities and quizzes in languages lessons throughout the week. Students enjoyed learning about other European cultures and countries and a variety of interesting facts!

We also held the first Languages Spelling Bee for Years 7 and 8 at lunchtime. Students had to learn words in different languages and compete against each other. The winners of the first round went through to Thursday’s final.

It was a close final and the winners were.:

Year 7 Grace Gaffrey

Year 8 joint first position Aleksandra Kolenda and Meryem Tutuman.

Natasha Andreou

Head of MFL

In the last week of the Summer Term, we took 23 Year 8 -10 students to the beautiful region of Andalucía, southern Spain. Staying by the coast and in sweltering heat, we visited the famous Alhambra palace in Granada and the picturesque city of Seville, amongst many others!

All students were impeccably well-behaved and made an effort to speak the language and learn about the culture of the region. Despite the delay in our return flight, it was a great trip!

Natasha Andreou

Head of MFL

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