1. science

Keeping parents and students informed
Term 4 Letter 4 Friday 20 March 2015
Science Week Special
What we did during Science Week
British Science Week began last Friday with nationwide events up and down the
country. For our own celebrations we began with a Busking Event followed by a
variety of lunchtime specials where students were introduced to scientific fun facts
Biology Treasure Hunt
On Monday Year 8 students
participated in a Biology
Treasure Hunt in the
Auditorium where, in House
groups, they undertook a
variety of science based
puzzles and quizzes including
a Tarsia - a triangle based
question and answer puzzle.
They endeavoured to answer
different riddles and match the
organ to its definition.
The mobile quiz certainly
had the students thinking especially when they had to match the animal picture with
a clue. For every clue answered incorrectly there were less points on offer for their
house. Congratulations to Voyager who won and well done to all who took part, it a
was very tight competition.
Science Busking Event
Last Friday lunchtime sixth form
students demonstrated a variety of
hands on demonstrations of important
science theories to KS3 students.
Similar to the side shows at a fair each
section vied for a student audience to
show off their scientific wonders.
Students had great fun trying to
balance a cork on their nose, shaking
water bottles that miraculously changed
colour before their very eyes or have
their blood pressure taken. They tried
their hand at putting a wooden skewer
into a balloon without bursting it and
took part in a four person human origami
relying on each other to hold their
balance without falling down.
Who would have thought science
could be such fun whilst learning
astonishing facts. We thank Miss Steele
and her team of Year 12 Buskers for a
lively yet informative fun filled lunchtime.
Chick Watch
Everyone has been excited at the arrival of the chicken eggs and have, through
a live video stream, watched in anticipation to see them hatch in the incubator.
We have been mesmerised trying to guess which would hatch first. A little crack
appeared in one of the eggs and it started to wobble about and then another
poked its beak through the shell
- the excitement was just too
much. During the early hours of
Wednesday night all nine eggs
hatched and we were confronted
with little fluffy chicks on arrival
at school on Thursday. They all
seem to be doing well and we look
forward to seeing them grow over
the next week or so.
The first chick hatched has been
named ‘Alpha’ which means ‘first
born’ in Latin.
Biophysics Presentation
Ms Armstrong gave an interesting
presentation to an invited
Year 9 audience about vision
incorporating Physics with
Biology.
The students watched a
presentation on the ‘eye’ and had
the opportunity to perform an
eyeball dissestion!
Speed Networking
On Thursday Year 9 students and Sixth
Formers had the chance to meet with
scientists from a variety of backgrounds,
such as energy, optical, electronic,
forensic, biochemical and medicine.
This was particularly of interest to
students who are seriously thinking
about a career in science but not sure
which career path to choose.
Ashcroft Technology Academy 100 West Hill London SW15 2UT Tel 020 8877 0357 Fax 020 8877 0617 email info@ashcroftacademy.org.uk website www.ashcroftacademy.org.uk
Love Jack
On Monday this week, Year 12 Performing Arts BTEC group
performed their devised piece ‘Love, Jack’ as part of their
BTEC course. They really excelled themselves by taking on
characters that truly expressed raw emotion. The students
used the stimulus of ‘your past depicts your future,’ to create a
performance that fully communicated how a negative decision
made by a young boy, Jack, prevented him from positively
progressing in life.
‘Outstanding performance, that sent shivers down my spine.
Very much like a west end production, I would pay to see this
performance again,’ were one of the comments made by one
of the astonished audience members. Well done to Sophie
Bradford, Abby Coppard, Kymabli Williams, Sean O’Sullivan,
Adam Trzcinski and a huge thank you to Miss Clarke and Miss
Smith for their constant support throughout the process.
London Schools’ Hydrogen Challenge Final
Congratulations to STEM Club members Charlie Wickham
(7t6), Joshua Craig
(7t2) and Sonny Tatham
(7t3) for reaching the
London final of the
Hydrogen Challenge
held at City Hall. The
boys won their heat to
reach the final where
they had to design and
build a car that was
powered by a hydrogen
fuel cell. The car travelled an impressive distance of 15m,
which placed them in the top ten of 35 teams competing. Well
done to you all!
Girls Football
Well done to the girls Under 13 team for their excellent display
in the Chelsea Foundation Girls Football tournament this
week. The tournament began with two back to back games
against St Cecilia’s and St Marylebone School. We beat both
teams 1-0 to set up a tough game against our arch rivals,
Graveney School. Despite being in a tough league against
some strong teams that we haven’t encountered before,
they managed to qualify for the semi final against Greycourt
School. Unfortunately we were beaten by the tournament’s
eventual winners who proved to be physically stronger and
more aggressive than our girls.
Despite the team’s obvious disappointment they should
be proud of their performances and a particular well done
should go to Sope Johnson who was
chosen by the Chelsea coaches as
their player of the tournament for her
outstanding display of shot stopping
in goal. The team would also like to
thank Matthias Abebe for his endless
enthusiasm in coaching the team on
the day.
Well done to: Zoe Armstrong,
Chelsea Traore, Madeleine Blinkhorn
Jones, Atlanta Downes, Allison
Dalgleish, Sope Johnson, Noora
Saarno, Olive Jones, Charlotte Cuff.
FAB Author visit
FAB Award Shortlisted Author
James Dawson visited our
FAB book shadowing group
on Monday in LRC1. James,
who is shortlisted for the
Wandsworth schools FAB
award for best teenage fiction
in 2014, talked about his work
and judged our students’
efforts to draw an alternative
book cover to his shortlisted
novel, ‘Say Her Name’.
James kindly signed a book
for winner Alisa Ahmad 8T4.
Business Marketing Mix
A Night at the
Movies
A Night At The
Movies
A musical showcase in aid of
Wednesday 29th April
2015
6.00PM
F BLOCK, Studio
Adults £2 | Students £1
Tickets are available from Reprographics
Presented by BTEC Music Students:
Year 9-Year 13
students and
their parents are
invited to a ‘Night
at the Movies’ on
Wednesday 29
April to share an
evening of song
from the movies
presented by our
BTEC Music students
and performed by
students. Tickets will
be available from
Monday 23 March
from Reprographics.
The following students have gained 4 A* grades for the
outcome of their New Healthy Cereal Project designed and
developed for 3-4 year old children meeting the healthy
cereal guidelines. Their approach was creative and rigorous
- appealing and professional. They were led by the students
highlighted who showed tremendous skill in managing and
motivation – deploying all the coaching they have had in their
Management workshops and lessons for Business.
Well done to: Ismail Adam 12T5, Shaiharyaar Asif 12T6,
Max Bidgood 12T4, Craig Bothwell 12T7, Mahamed Mahamud
12T2, Saifadden Monajed 12T4, Diana Mougharbel 12T2,
Axel Reay 12T6, Zuheeb Sheikh 12T7 and Bryan Weifeng Li
12T7.
Comic Relief Cake Sale
Thank you to all the students who supported Comic Relief
by purchasing the scrumptious cakes voluntarily baked or
donated by our staff. We managed to raise an incredible
£270.74 for the charity.
Jessica
Bagdonas | Olivia Taylor | Jodyann Wright
Lunch rota for next week
1st sitting Year 11/8— 1.05
2nd sitting Year 9 — 1.15
3rd sitting Year 7 — 1.254th sitting Year 10 – 1.35