Events
News
Mastermind Victory
This lunchtime saw a closely fought contest between our two Mastermind Teams. The team above were victorious in the first general knowledge round and will go on to compete individually with their specialist subjects next Wednesday for the Mastermind trophy. There were some controversial answers, not least Mr Taylor’s suggestion that Quicksilver was predominantly a brand for surfers rather than mercury! There was also a tense moment between Mr Strawson and Mr Sleight regarding Lincoln City. Thank you also to Mr Crocker and Mrs Porter for helping with the tie break and buzzer rounds and a big thank you to Mrs Hopkinson for being our quizmaster!
Winners-get revising your specialist subjects, (or in Mrs Hanson’s case, just watch TV!)
Spectroscopy in a suitcase
On the 8th and 9th of May, Dr Natalie Ben Alaya of The University of Lincoln visited us at the Academy and brought along two infrared spectroscopy instruments.
Our Year 12 Chemistry students were given the opportunity to use this equipment to test samples and then interpret the results to identify some unknowns. The students really enjoyed the sessions and, as Spectroscopy is a common examination topic, they should have really benefited from the hands-on experience.
Many thanks to Dr Ben Alaya for making the journey across. We hope to make it a regular fixture of our Year 12 teaching in the future.
Science Ambassadors learning to teach!
On Thursday 3rd May, a group of four sixth formers travelled to The Priory Witham Academy to take part in a Science Ambassador Day, led by the Institute Of Physics, aimed at introducing Year 8s into the world of teaching science.
As STEM mentors, our job was to facilitate a group of 8-10 younger students to complete various physics experiments which would lead to a presentation to the rest of the group at the end of the day. We could have never imagined the amount of experience that we would gain from one day, but fortunately we were proven wrong.
Not only did we help to encourage the Year 8s to complete a series of tasks, Jess and Emily also had the opportunity to do a presentation to the group about different presentation skills, including knowing your audience and how to give a presentation with confidence.
This whole experience was done to train Year 8s to teach the same content to primary school children (Year 5) in the upcoming weeks, so they can act at STEM mentors to the younger years.
Not only did this help to gain experience in Physics, it also helped with our confidence in talking to a group of students, as well as supporting other extra-curricular activities within the Academy, like the Introduction to Teaching scheme.
Sixth Form students
Millie Meyrav-Lawless
Deputy Head Boy Joe Haigh
Jessica Hulton
Emily Jago
Sixth Form Finance Workshop
On Tuesday 30th April, two members of the Lincoln branch of Santander came to the Academy to give a presentation to our Year 12s and 13s.
The workshop was aimed at those who'd like to learn more about finance, and those thinking about pursuing a career in the industry. Victoria and Abby discussed inflation through the ages, bonds, shares, and a range of other interesting topics.
Many thanks to our Sixth Formers for taking part and thanks to Santander for giving up their time to visit us.
Hopefully this will be a regular event, with different topics discussed each time.
Team Alpha are County Winners!
Thursday 19th April 2018 saw the 12 strong Young Enterprise team, Alpha, attend the Young Enterprise County Final at the Showroom. The hotly contested event showcased the entrepreneurial skills of eight teams from the area all desperate to take home the title of County Winner and move forward in the competition to the Regional Final.
The atmosphere was tense, the wait agonising, while the judges deliberated their decisions.
In total elevn awards were up for grabs. While each one was announced we waited with baited breath for 'Alpha' to be called out... and it was, with the team picking up the Health and Safety and Environment awards. Although the glassware is nice, there were still two awards remaining: Runners Up and Winners. Mrs Cavill and Miss Blackman are probably now arthritic from their enthusiastic finger crossing as they hoped that 'Alpha' wasn't read out for the Runners Up award. Yet they are pleased to say that the pain was worth it, as this was given to the team’s closest rivals and at this point they tried not to squeal in anticipation of the winners being announced. Obviously this went to team Alpha, and deservedly so!
The team's tenacity, resilience and pure brilliance saw them fight off the competition in a very tightly contested competition. Now team Alpha are looking forward to the Regional final on June 20th.
So who are Team Alpha?
Led by Alfie Lewis, Managing Director, they are:
Emily Jago
Jordan Knapp
Imogen Steiner
Roya Banki
Finlay Beresford
Sophie Fox
Craig Hockenhull
Tasneem Mahfouz
George Marshall
Gregor Hinchliffe
Ryan Morris
Leicester University - Medicine Calling
At 3.30pm on Wednesday 25th April, twelve Year 11 students, all with aspirations of becoming doctors in the future, set off for Leicester University Medical School. They were taking part in the ‘Medicine Calling’ evening, hoping to find out more about the medical profession and what universities are looking for in a successful medicine student.
The particular focus for the evening was the medical specialty of Psychiatry, with excellent presentations by members of the faculty who also practise in this field. As well as lots of detail about the role of Psychiatrists, we were given case histories of real patients who had been successfully treated by the doctors. The range of issues that individuals can face and the variety of treatments available to the practitioners was amazing.
We had the opportunity to talk to current medical students as well as course providers during the refreshments break, which gave us all chance to ask any questions we wanted. Once supper was over, we separated into groups to experience an interactive case-based workshop, looking at the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric illness. This was really interesting and provided us with a great insight into the reality of psychiatry.
After a final summary from our hosts, we left Leicester to return to the Academy. Although we didn’t get back until after our usual bed-times, everyone agreed it had been an enjoyable and informative evening where we all learnt something about Medicine and the specific field of Psychiatry.
The CCF march on!
Nine cadets and two staff completed in the 37th RAF Annual 2-Day March at RAF Cosford. Over 1150 military and 130 civilian marchers took part. The Priory Academy LSST CCF was one of 115 teams and was the only CCF team taking part.
Whilst the male cadets and Flt Lt Summers had the stone gymnasium as their accommodation the female cadets and Plt Off Lynch were accommodated in a barrack block.
Once the cadets had made up beds and had prepped their kit straight away so that the personal admin was done in the early part of the evening, the cadets had the rest of the evening to themselves to sort out feet taping or just general chilling out and meeting new people from air cadet units from across the UK. There were over 1150 people from across UK and european nations' military forces taking part in 2 Day Marches, so there was plenty of chance for the cadets to talk to marchers from other countries and also chat to other cadets.
Once the briefings were finished, all the cadets could get an early night and go to bed sleeping on the floor of the gym or barrack block. Most were asleep when the lights were put out at 22:00. Time of reveille for Saturday was 05:50. Cadets were up getting dressed for the first day of marching. The team pulled on their combats and boots and headed to the mess for breakfast.
After breakfast, the team picked up their packed lunch for the day and marched back to the accommodation where they would collect their bags and head outside ready to march around to the parade square for the day's walk. With all the teams formed up and ready, the first day's march would be started with the command from the March RSM. "By the left, quick march!"
At 07:50 the cadets were standing on the parade square ready to be set off by the March RSM. At 08:00 the RSM brought everyone up to attention and the next thing you knew it was "By the left, quick, MARCH!" and the whole detachment which comprised of 15 military and civilian teams, including girls from the Girls' Venture Corps Air Cadets, all stepped off with an eyes left and Flt Lt Summers gave a salute to a Colonel of the German Air Force who returned the salute in celebration of the 100 years of the Royal Air Force.
Towards the end of the first day and 20km later, the team marched back into RAF Cosford onto the parade square and gave an eyes left to the saluting officer.
Once we had moved off the parade square it was back to the accommodation to have a shower and freshen up after the long walk and then off to dinner at the mess at 16:30.
After food, the cadets had free time to sort out their administration for the next day and to get their feet taped. All team members completed the first day and all would be marching the following day.
It was the same routine for the Sunday as it had been for the Saturday and we gave an eyes left to the reviewing officer on the march off, and Sunday’s 20km walk began. Overall Sunday's walk was warm although we did get a bit of rain during lunchtime. It was important that all the team members kept drinking to keep hydrated. The team did a bit of singing, overtaking teams and ploughing on to the end of the day with a fantastic moral throughout the whole of the weekend.
By mid-afternoon the team entered Cosford, marched down the main road leading to the parade square where Air Commodore Dawn McCafferty took the salute with a final eyes left. Once finished the Air Commodore had a small medal presentation ceremony giving each team member their medals.
All cadets and staff successfully completed the RAF WARMA 2 Day Marches, albeit with some sore feet and legs but well worth the effort. The team from The Priory Academy LSST CCF were a credit to the Academy. Well done to them all.
LSST students win the Mars Rover Challenge.
On Tuesday 17th April a group of eleven Year 8 pupils went to Cambridge University for the ‘Mars Rover Challenge’ held at the world famous Cavendish Laboratory.
During the morning, we were given a tour of two different colleges that make up the university, Fitzwilliam and Churchill. The different histories of the two institutions was fascinating, one being developed in the garden of Charles Darwin’s widow, Emma, and the other being founded by Winston Churchill after the second world war.
We then walked across to the Cavendish Laboratory for lunch and a guided tour of the Science Museum there. Here we saw examples of the equipment designed at the end of the 19th Century to unify electric and magnetic theories and to discover the first sub-atomic particles. There was even a working cloud chamber where we could see the traces left by alpha particles and gamma radiation.
After lunch we began the Mars Rover challenge, where we had to design and make a rocket shell, a Mars rover, a landing craft and a spectroscope. We worked as a team, competing with groups from two other schools, trying to make sure each of our different components were suitable for their particular purpose. After a number of redesigns and modifications taking over two hours, we were finally ready for testing. The rover had to drive over deep sand and small boulders and then over a separate rocky terrain. Our large diameter wheels with added friction from rubber bands allowed our rover to complete both courses; the only vehicle to do so out of the three groups. The rocket was then tested in a wind tunnel, where a smoke trail showed how the air moved over the surface of the vessel. Finally our landing craft was tested with an accelerometer, where we were trying to minimise the forces on landing. Our craft, together with its parachute, soft nose-cone and securing foam straps won this particular round as well. When all the results were in The Priory Academy LSST were the overall winners of the challenge, and all the team members received a prize. It was the perfect end to a really interesting and enjoyable day.
Classics and Ancient World Day
On Wednesday 18th April, we hosted six academics from the Ancient History and Classics faculty at the University of Oxford, led by Dr Peter Haarer from both Lincoln College and Trinity College.
Over forty students from Year 9 had been given some preliminary reading material before the Easter holiday, in order to prepare for the event. In several separate groups, the students took part in four different sessions during the morning, covering aspects of archaeology, ancient history, classical literature and the opportunities arising from studying Classics at degree level. The aim of the day was to broaden the experience of our students in classical texts and history outside the usual school curriculum, and to give them an opportunity to ask any questions about the process of applying to a very competitive university like Oxford.
After a lunch for presenters and students in the Sixth Form common room, some of our Year 11 and Year 12 students had a choice of three afternoon sessions. These were in smaller groups covering some challenging material in the format of an Oxford tutorial. This provided the individuals involved with the opportunity to develop the skills, confidence and techniques which will be really important both in A level History and future interview situations.
The delegation from Oxford had a very enjoyable day visiting the Academy and it is planned that the Year 9 students who found the sessions particularly interesting will make a return visit to Oxford University early in the next academic year. The Year 11 and 12 students were encouraged to contact Dr Haarer and his team if they have any questions about the content of the day or the wider classical history field. We hope some of those involved will choose to apply courses at Oxford in the future.
CCF Basic Recruit Training Camp
Year Eight students from across the Priory Federation of Academies have once again had the opportunity to take part in an intensive four-day training camp this year in order to prepare them for entry into the Combined Cadet Force. The camp began with two days of classroom-based learning at both the Priory City of Lincoln Academy and the Priory Academy LSST covering the core areas of the RAF and Army syllabi, including military knowledge, fitness, first aid, teambuilding, drill and fieldcraft, following which the recruits deployed into the field at RAF Cranwell to complete a basic fieldcraft exercise and continue their introduction to the CCF.
Over the course of their weekend in the field, the recruits participated in a range of activities and lessons, including movement with a weapon, camouflage and concealment, nightline, the duties of a sentry, and patrols, amongst others, led by both staff and senior cadets. The recruits were also taught how to construct a shelter and to cook their own meals from a ration pack, both of which they put to the test over the course of the exercise. The camp was another great success for the CCF and it was wonderful to see so many enthusiastic young people working together and putting their new skills to good use. We hope to see many of them continuing their training with us for years to come.
A big thank you to the staff and seniors that gave up their time to support the new recruits on this training camp.
