Welcome to another impressive edition of the fortnightly blog and our first of the summer term.

The Academy has been featuring a lot in the local press over the past two weeks and I hope that you saw the staff and students of our Hearing Impaired provision, of which we are enormously proud, on BBC Look North last Thursday as they featured in a section asking why British Sign Language is not a full GCSE qualification taught in all schools?  Reporters were keen to see not only how our hearing impaired students make excellent progress here in Sandhill View, but how non-hearing impaired students also have opportunities to learn sign language outside of their normal lessons.  We hope that in the future we have even wider opportunities here within the Academy to deliver BSL to both students and staff alike.

In this edition of the blog we find out how former student Jack Gray got on when he came in to coach current students from the Hearing Impaired facility.  This was also captured for a short film by BT and The Foundation of Light.  We receive a report on the Easter ski trip to Italy and find out about the range of rewards activities selected by students on Activities Day at the end of last term. Elsewhere, we catch up with Science Week, how our Year 10 students performed in their Work Experience placements and share in the success of the recent Leading Edge debate which took place with Mr Bunn.

To round off the blog we receive an update into the work which the academy conducts in order to help the community, meet our newest member of staff MR hardy in our regular feature ‘Staff in the Spotlight’ and we celebrate the success of our attendance and Headteacher’s award winners for last term.  

We hope you enjoy this edition of the blog.

Richard Carr
Head of School

Recently, a North East politician took a campaign to the House of Commons - to make British Sign Language a GCSE subject.  Unfortunately, this was rejected but the campaign continues to get BSL the recognition many feel it deserves as a curriculum subject.  In response to this, the BBC asked the British Deaf Association if they knew of a school in the North East which was teaching British Sign Language as part of the curriculum.  The BDA recommended Sandhill View Academy as a model of good practice.  Last Wednesday a BBC film crew  joined us in school to interview our Deaf students and get their opinions on the topic.

Well done to our students who took part in the recording and for representing the school and our Hearing Impaired Department on local television proudly.

Sandhill View teamed up with our extended family at Southmoor Academy  to run another successful ski trip over the Easter break to Claviere, Italy.  With help from the beast from the East, perfect conditions met the group of 38 students and 5 members of staff for an unforgettable week on the slopes.  The group ranging from Years 7-11 enjoyed 5 hours of skiing or snowboarding per day at heights of up to 2400m.  All students were extremely resilient, mature and a pleasure to have on the trip.  Their impeccable behaviour was praised by other schools visiting the resort which is a credit to all students who attended.  Another fantastic week had by all.  Ski trip 2019 will be launched in assemblies this half term and letters of interest available from the PE department.

Just before the end of term our students once again cashed in their well earned praise points to enjoy a range of different activities out of and around school.  19 of our Year 11 pupils took the chance to visit Newcastle Castle.  This trip was also linked to their History GCSE exams learning about the development of castles under Norman rule.

Meanwhile Year 9 Drama and Art students visited 'Infinity Pitch' at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art.  An interactive art exhibition where participants are encouraged to create, play and pose! 

Year 9 also practiced their freeze-frame and posing skills for photo-shoots around the Newcastle as part of their Activities Day visits there.

Meanwhile, back at school we once again held our termly Countdown competition with Year 7 & 8 tutor groups flexing their literacy and numeracy prowess in a head to head competition to beat the countdown clock.  We hope our students enjoyed their activities and look forward to offering more interesting and enjoyable options for our final term.

Just before Easter, Year 7 celebrated National Science Week with a slime making workshop.  Hosted by Miss Cook, Mrs Thompson and the Year 8 Science ambassadors, students had a great time making A LOT of slime - it was our goopiest recipe yet!  Watch out for more from our Science Ambassadors who are planning another workshop, this time with Rockets!

Mature, professional and positive.  Keen and enthusiastic.  A real pleasure to work with.  Outstanding.  Professional.

These were just some of the comments made about our Year 10 students after they returned from their work experience at the end of last term.  Understandably our students were very nervous about working in a totally different environment, but many of our work placement providers commented that the students gained in confidence as the week went on.  Our students have also commented that they discovered that they could rise to the challenge and could do more than they thought themselves capable of.

Every Year 10 pupil has the opportunity to complete a week of work experience as part of their work-related learning.  It is an opportunity for students to spend some time with an employer or other organisation, allowing them to experience as far as possible the hours, working conditions and regulations they may encounter when they go to work themselves.  Many of our students worked hard to find their own work experience placements, showing initiative in contacting employers and arranging interviews.  Several of our students so impressed the employers that they would have been offered an apprenticeship if they had been eligible!  Our current Year 9 students will be seeking work placements for next year.  If you would like to offer our students a work placement in, please contact our school office.

On Thursday 19^th April three Year 9 students took part in 'The Leading Edge' debate session. In this session the students had to form opinions on topics such as “Should all drugs be tested on animals before humans can use them?” and “Should drug use be allowed in elite sport?”  These topics naturally caused a lot of difference in opinion but our group were very mature throughout, using their scientific skills to form opinions that were backed up by Science that they have learned in Sandhill View.

The students were interacting with SEVEN other schools and, I’m pleased to say, they were absolutely brilliant.  These students were a real credit to our school and I’m sure they will continue to enjoy The Leading Edge Project and are already looking forward to their laboratory days in May, where they will be looking at how cancer cells spread in the body and how certain medications can cure cancer.

Congratulations to Chloe May (Year 8) and Rebecca Ward (Year11) for scooping the grand prizes in our Easter Eggstravaganza attendance competition.  The girls were drawn from a pool of over 400 pupils who managed to maintain 100% attendance over the period.  Chloe took home £100 worth of gift vouchers whilst Rebecca walked away with a brand new iPad mini!  Well done girls and everyone who took part the initiative. Watch out for more attendance competitions in the near future.

Training in Silence

Last week we were visited by Sandhill View alumni, Jack Gray. Since leaving Sandhill Jack has worked with football coaches from the Sunderland Foundation of Light and is now training to be a coach himself with this establishment. BT, in conjunction with the Foundation of Light, are in the process of making a short film about Jack's story, from being a deaf student at Sandhill, to working towards being a professional coach. As part of the film, they wanted to come into school to see where Jack had started his story.

Whilst in school Jack completed a coaching session with all of the Deaf students from the Academy. We were also joined by two S.A.F.C players; Goalkeeper (Lee Camp) and Winger Duncan Watmore.  The film produced will be shown at half time during a home match next season. We wish Jack all the best of luck with his coaching career.

As part of our Numeracy initiatives at the Academy, we are giving you the chance to test out your own mathematical skill by challenging yourself to our Numeracy Puzzler Challenge.  The conundrums can be found below. Participants who have managed to solve all five problems correctly will be entered into a prize draw!  To enter click the button at the end of this article and fill in the form on our Academy website.

Congratulations to this term's Headteacher's Awards winners for having enough praise points to put them in the top ten numer of points earnerd out of the entire school.  The winners were: Leia Thurlbeck (7GJ), Macey Redpath (7GJ), Kaitlyn Stephenson (7LT), Anthony Kirtley-Wright (7GJ), Hayley Barker (7EW), Chelsey Rigby (7GJ), Katie Atkinson (7GJ), Kelly Maw (7EW), Jessica-Jane Scott (10LL) and Layla Anderson (8GR).  Well done everyone!

What do you do at Sandhill View?
I facilitate language interpretation between English and British Sign Language for D/deaf children.

Who was your favourite teacher at school and why?
Miss Worswick because she treated me like a person and not a child.

What do you like to do in your spare time?
I enjoy acting and am currently involved in two plays at the Peoples’ Theatre in Newcastle.  I’ve had to grow a moustache for one role.  It’s not a style choice!

Who is your favourite musical artist or band?
I love rock music, particularly punk.  I really like a band called Rancid.

What's the best thing about Sandhill View?
The fantastic integration of D/deaf children in a mainstream, hearing environment.

What's the one thing you could never be without?
Other than my wife I would probably choose my bicycle.