On 5^th March, LSST Dance students enjoyed a trip to the University of Lincoln for a “Be Inspired Day”. They enjoyed taking part in contemporary and creative workshops and had the opportunity to watch a performance by the university students and finish with a Q&A. All the students engaged superbly. Well done all!

Here are the winners of our Junior Chess Tournament for 2024. They played chess against different opponents every lunchtime for a week and accrued points based on the results. Chess is popular at The Priory Academy LSST and, as well as being fun to play and bringing students from different year groups together, it’s great exercise for the brain. Chess has been shown to have benefits for mental health, concentration, planning and problem-solving skills.

Our intention has been to celebrate the values of the Academy- Aspiration, Inspiration, Respect, Resilience and Innovation. We offered the students involved the chance to show the importance of these values through the development of the project.

Students from three year groups have worked in collaboration to design, and create our felted sculpture. Key Stage 3 ‘Art Club’ students produced drawings and designs inspired by what they thought ‘Lincolnshire’ was famous for and what they felt was important to them within our Lincolnshire culture, both currently and historically.  Their skills were combined with the Year 10 students using their interpretation, whilst acting with respect to transfer the younger students’ designs into felted art work.

We chose felt as a technique to do this for a variety of reasons. Our Year 10 students have recently experimented with the technique of felting whilst exploring pattern, emotion and colour. They particularly enjoyed the needle felting technique and the ability to draw with fibres. Traditionally felt was used in Mongolia where tents, yurts, clothing and furnishings were created by hand to aid survival in their environment, exhibiting resilience and innovation. This is something we wanted to reflect with our heart.  Students worked on individual sections of the design which were then brought together onto the sculpture.

  The physical technique of felting really gave the students an opportunity to continually build on their existing skills whist engaging in team building. They developed self- confidence and resilience, where they were relying on their own and each other’s judgements to succeed in over-coming artistic challenges, being respectful to each other in doing so.

Successfully completing the project filled them with a sense of pride and achievement which can be celebrated together.

Our LSST students really enjoyed their trip to Ling Moor primary school. There have been many presentations and demonstrations with students participating in experiments such as Oobleck, pop rockets, elephant toothpaste, Coca-Cola and mentos, the digestive system, and more. Even though there were a few ups and downs, the students at Ling Moor and the students at LSST had an amazing experience teaching and learning. The Ling Moor students, ranging from reception to Year 6, enjoyed being taught by the LSST students. The younger students listened to everything that the LSST students talked about and asked amazing questions based on the lesson. This whole programme was run by the Year 9 students, who designed, ordered, and delivered their lessons. The 6^th form students who came helped support them in difficult areas and helped the Year 9 students whenever they hit a bump. This would not have worked if it were not for the amazing and fantastic technicians at LSST who gathered all the material for the Year 9 students to use. The students are thoroughly looking forward to venturing to different primary schools in the future.  

It’s official - The Priory Academy LSST is delivering high quality computing education and the digital skills young people will need for their future. The Priory Academy LSST has achieved the new national Computing Quality Mark, after evaluating its computing education and demonstrating high quality provision. The Priory Academy LSST completed the National Centre for Computing Education’s ground-breaking new programme, the Computing Quality Framework(CQF), which recognises excellence by awarding the Computing Quality Mark.

Mrs J Hopkinson, headteacher, said; “We are delighted to receive this award.  It truly is a reflection of the hard work of staff in ensuring the curriculum in computing builds a solid foundation, with relevant life-long skills, in which all of our students can excel and have the confidence and courage to challenge themselves.”

Mr Donaldson, computing teacher, at The Priory Academy LSST, said; “This is a fantastic achievement which has been made possible through the hard work of all in the computing department to ensure that all students at the Academy know they are getting a high-quality computing education.”

The Priory Academy LSST completed all seven aspects of the CQF in order to receive The Computing Quality Mark, which recognises achievement in:

●     Leadership and Vision

●     Curriculum and Qualifications

●     Teaching, Learning and Assessment

●     Staff Development

●     Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and SEND

●     Careers Education

●     Impact on Outcomes

Claire Garside, senior lead facilitator at the NCCE, said;

“Congratulations to The Priory Academy LSST, on becoming an National Centre for Computing Education (NCCE) ‘Computing Quality Mark’ school! They’re among the schools leading the way to deliver high standards in computing education. The Computing Quality Mark recognises the quality of their provision to ensure all students receive the computing skills and knowledge so valuable for today and in their future careers.”

NCCE is funded by the Department for Education and supporting partners, to improve the provision of computing education in England. Since the NCCE’s establishment in 2018, it has engaged with 34,000 teachers from more than 19,000 schools in England, created the Teach Computing Curriculum which has seen half a million downloads of lessons.  It has now added the CQF to its provision.

Zohra Ehsani, a current Year 10 student, has continued to impress since winning the International Journalist of the Year 2022 competition (run by 'The Day').  In July she joined The Day team at the ACT Citizenship Teaching Conference in London to share her experiences as a budding young journalist.  She spoke with passion and maturity in front of an audience of citizenship teachers, and shared her thoughts about journalism in schools, including her views on our own Priory Press. Zohra had been invited to the conference as a result of her winning piece of journalism on 'The Silenced Women Under The Taliban', which was described by the judges as 'beautifully written' and 'very accomplished'.  Well done, Zohra - a true example of someone who is making the most of every opportunity that is on offer to them!

To read the full article, please click this link:  https://theday.co.uk/global-young-journalist-international-category-winner-zohra-impresses-at-the-act-conference/?utm_campaign=2192274_2022%20GYJA%20Newsletter%20Template&utm_medium=email&utm_source=The%20Day&dm_i=32K1,1AZKI,8KB1EM,53C3Y,1