Acle Academy

On Thursday 25th November, Mr. Bliss took the Year 10 rugby team to North Walsham Rugby Club to play in a triangular tournament against Aylsham and Hellesdon under floodlights. Sadly, due to an injury in the first game the Hellesdon team had to leave meaning that our boys only got to play Aylsham. However, in really tricky conditions, with the wind and sleet making the rugby ball handle more like a bar of soap, the boys equipped themselves really well and got stuck into the Aylsham side. Some great tackles early on from Freddie and some great work at the breakdown from Seb meant that Acle were quickly able to assert their dominance on the game. With the excellent wing play of Cullen, whose pace proved too much for the Aylsham defence, the game began to become a little one sided as he ran in a number of tries. This was a tremendous achievement from our boys as Aylsham had a large number of club rugby players, who had no answer to the excellent teamwork and commitment that the Acle boys were showing. Further tries from Michael, Charlie and Seb put the icing on what was an excellent all round performance from the whole team. A great number of positives to build from and the team looks to have a bright future moving forward. A special mention must go to Freddie who played up a year group and was excellent throughout. He also managed to kick some valuable points on a difficult pitch in some horrendous conditions. Well done boys - a great win!

For our first drop down day, the enrichment service area focused on improving teamwork and communication skills through physical activity. Research from the NSSA reports that 85% of job success comes from having well-developed soft skills which are more commonly developed outside of a classroom environment. The enrichment sessions were designed to test students' leadership, problem solving and interpersonal skills through fun and exciting opportunities which are not a normal part of the curriculum. Year 8 and 9 were given three options to choose from; a multisport trip to East Norfolk Sixth Form College, tree planting or a laser/airsoft session. Though each session approached team building differently, most students agreed that the activities were not only fun but productive too with lots of chances to play different roles and overcome challenges together. Highlights of the day include our beautiful new saplings growing by the boat shed, sporting successes at East Norfolk and watching our head boy "slaying" in the laser arena. Some students also received a presentation about our new student media team and some of the amazing opportunities and roles we will be recruiting for soon. The staff and student service area leads had a fantastic day of fun, laughter and excitement and are looking forward to seeing Year 10 and 7 on our next drop down day

On Wednesday 24th November we held our first parliament meeting of the year. Students worked in their houses, where they represented the voice of their form group. Their suggestions were then collected and motions put forward to the senior prefects, who will vote on which proposals to present to the leadership team and to work on within their service areas. The students also completed a pupil voice survey in form time activities, as well as putting forward ideas to create our 5 Principals of Acle Academy parliament, on how we would like it to be run. I was so impressed with the suggestions, discussions and engagement from all the students. Thank you to all who took part - your behaviour was impeccable and we are very proud of you! Ms. Skarin

Please join us for our parent workshop on understanding self harm on Thursday 2nd December at 6pm- 7pm.

On Wednesday 18th November, Mr. Bliss took 15 Year 8 boys to North Walsham Rugby Club for a skills clinic and tournament. Nine other schools from across the local area brought teams along to take part in the day and provided some stiff opposition for the boys. The students have been making remarkable progress in their PE lessons and have benefited tremendously from having the additional coaching provided by North Walsham once a week. The boys thoroughly enjoyed the morning's skills carousel working on all of the fundamentals of the game, including passing, tackling, rucking and kicking before moving into tournament matches in the afternoon. Acle were drawn in a pool along with Hellesdon, Stalham, Neatherd, and Jane Austen and blew all of the opposition away winning all of their pool games. A special mention has to be made for the performance against Hellesdon who had a team full of club players, all significantly larger in stature than our boys. An excellent tackling and rucking performance saw Acle win this match 2 tries to 1. Having won the pool, Acle played Aylsham in the final match. Again, a team full of club rugby players. A well fought match saw the game end in a fair 2-2 draw. In the awards ceremony at the end Leo was rightly named player of the day for Acle, for his excellent footwork and speed, and for scoring some exceptional tries during the games. An honourable mention must also be made for some of the other players who were outstanding across all of the games; Kenzie for his excellent ball carrying; Tommy for exceptional tackling and rucking across all of the games; and Stan for never been afraid to stick in a tackle, regardless of the size or speed of the opponent. A great day all round. Well done boys, I was very proud of you all!

Congratulations to Jasmine, Willow, William, Thomas, Catherine, Kira, Phoebe, Lewis, Aimee, Grace, Tasha, William, Alexander, Olly, Samuel, Sam and Matthew for their Star of the Week nominations.

Year 10 and 11 pupils enjoying their rewards lunch at McDonald's last week for their fantastic commitment to using GCSEPod as a key revision resource. Well done for all your hard work!