On Tuesday 17th September a group of Year 11 students attended Skills North East, the North East’s largest skills, career and apprenticeship event for 14-24-year-olds, at Newcastle Arena.
The inspiring event included up to 60 exhibitors made up of employers, universities, colleges and training providers.
Before the event students were encouraged to reflect on their own personal future by thinking about what they enjoy, their strengths and how they could apply/improve their skills in a career. They also prepared by looking at which companies they wanted to approach and pre-planning their questions, maximising their chances to benefit.
During the visit, students took the opportunity to have one-to-one conversations with employers, enter competitions, and take part in inspiring and informative, interactive activities offered by a range of experienced opportunity providers.
The impartial information and advice given helped the students to get fresh ideas and make plans for their own future, and to examine/validate, or alter the decisions they have already made. The skills event also gave our young people access to a wide range of professionals from careers they may have never considered.
All of our students enjoyed the event and left feeling inspired about their future with the confidence to think positively about their own career and learning paths.
Miss J Leigh
To support the Year 11 pupils in their studies as they work through this important year we have a number of study support opportunities throughout the week. Pupils will need to prioritise their English, Maths and Science
subjects. Our option subject departments are offering a number of times that pupils can stay back after school or through lunchtime for some extra support and revision. The benefits of these extra sessions will have a positive impact on the final results for your child. If their subject teacher needs your son/daughter to attend an after school session for support this is to be encouraged.
Please be aware that a number of subjects, especially creative and practical ones, still have compulsory coursework that must be completed in order for your son/daughter to achieve in these subjects. Art, Graphics, Photography, PE, Product Design, Food and Nutrition, Child Development, Business, ICT, Music, Dance, Drama and Media all have these components. The sessions offered by these departments are vital in providing more time to support the pupils in achieving the highest possible marks for their work.
Our performance subjects such as Drama, Dance and Music use their sessions to offer creative and choreography time to pupils working in groups to have the time to refine their work ready for their final performances and practical exams.
If you or your son/daughter is unsure of which subjects to prioritise or needs support in identifying which sessions to attend please speak to subject teachers at our Y11 parents’ evening on Tuesday 8th October.
Mrs C Veide
SUPPORT SESSIONS
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Students at Lord Lawson celebrated success in their GCSE examinations this morning as they received their results. Many students have achieved outstandingly well, gaining excellent grades in GCSEs that have become much tougher in recent years. Grades are now given from 1 to 9, where 9 is the highest. Top performers included Amy Lamb, who gained six grade 9s, three 8s and one 7. Other top students were Holly Laing, Mark Burrows, Scarlett Hart, Ryan Hall, James Hutton, Thomas Deas, Ben Dixon-Scurr, Max King-Lough, Lauren Weallans and Joshua Hopkins.
Many students also made very good progress, the result of their own hard work and dedicated support from parents and teachers. Among the students who made the most progress were Maheed Ahmed, Amy Ross-Sanderson, Rebecca Tindale, Charlotte Dyball, Lewis Laben, Eva Lubwiewski, Hannah Close and Zak Wong.
The Academy’s new Principal, Andrew Fowler, was on hand to say ‘well done’ to students and their parents, and to thank their teachers. He said, “It is a pleasure to see so many students delighted with their results today. We know that success in examinations matters, so that young people have the freedom to make choices about their future. I congratulate all our students on their success, and hope to see many of them continue their studies in our sixth form.” Sixth form enrolment at the Academy is on Friday 23 August, 9.30-11.30, and on Monday 2 September at 12.45.
Mr A Fowler – Principal
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Lord Lawson of Beamish Academy is celebrating another excellent year of A-Level results. Over 56% of students achieved A* to B grades with nearly 80% achieving A* to C. This is higher than last year and indicative of the hard work and dedication of all our students and their teachers.
Many of our students are now looking forward to attending prestigious universities such as Bristol, Durham and Newcastle to study a wide range of subjects from Law and Biomedical Sciences to Marine Technology and Psychology. Many have also gained higher apprenticeships working with the NHS and HMRC.
Behind the statistics though, there are many stories of personal success and we are proud of each of our students and their individual achievement and wish them every success with their future.
Five of our students were part of a Gateshead schools visit organised by Jesus College to encourage students to consider university and applying to Oxbridge. Students enjoyed taster lectures, a tour of several colleges and faculties in Cambridge as well as completing fun team building games and a university budgeting challenge. Students got to stay in student accommodation at Jesus College.
Yr 13 students will get a similar visit in September to discuss applications, interviews and personal statements with admissions tutors
Mrs Jordan
A successful day of enterprise for our year 12 business students at Northumbria University. Lots of creativity today but Olivia Innes, Sophie Hughes and Katie Wealls won the award for ‘most innovative business idea of the day’ with a fab business idea for biodegradable/re-useable dog waste collection bags.
Miss Ness
The Performing Arts Department are thrilled to announce that the next 2019 Academy Production will be….JOSEPH and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Auditions have been held over the past four weeks. As always we are incredibly impressed with the talent, enthusiasm and commitment from all of our Lord Lawson Performers. We are excited to announce that casting is now complete and has been announced to students.
Luke Mallon, Year 10 has secured the role of Joseph and is very excited to begin the rehearsal process, “I’m so happy to have been selected as Joseph, it is an amazing opportunity for my first lead role. As soon as I listened to the Joseph soundtrack, I knew it was a great choice of show and I can’t wait to get started in rehearsals” Luke Mallon, Year 10
Joseph Rehearsals will continue on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 3.15- 5.00pm.
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream will be performed from Tuesday 15th October- Friday 18th October 2019. Tickets will be on sale soon with more information to follow before the end of the academic year.
Please note that although casting is complete there are many opportunities for our New Year 7 students to join the production in September. Year 6 will receive further details during their upcoming transition days.
If you have any queries about the production please contact Miss Brown via email at sbrown@lordlawson.org.uk
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On Wednesday 5th June Yr 12 students visited Eagles Arena in Newcastle for mock interviews with 85 employers. The event was coordinated by the ESH group and was the culmination of a year’s preparation in school. Throughout the year students have heard presentations and completed 5 Checkpoint tasks as part of the Building my Skills programme with local businesses and employers. Each session has been delivered by a different business guest who has provided students with insight into the world of work across different sectors and information about a variety of careers and career pathways. Students have learnt invaluable employability skills which they can transfer and develop in their future career, and ultimately become more employable. The programme of employability portfolio tasks has included the students mapping their career path, completing a financial budget, tidying up their appearance on social media, writing a CV and cover letter and learning how to prepare for an interview.
The students found the interview practice a very useful experience, especially as many were with employers in their chosen career fields. The advice and feedback given will help the students prepare for University and Apprenticeship interviews next year.
Mrs Jordan
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On Friday 3rd May we took 13 of our Year 12 Science pupils to visit the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland.
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator. The LHC consists of a 27-kilometre ring of superconducting magnets with a number of accelerating structures to boost the energy of the particles along the way.
During their visit, the students received a lecture on the work of CERN from one of the Physicists working on the LHC before being taken by them for a tour. During the tour, the students visited the Synchrocyclotron, the first accelerator built at CERN (pictured). The 600 MeV Synchrocyclotron (SC), built in 1957, provided beams for CERN’s first experiments in particle and nuclear physics. In 1964, this machine started to concentrate on nuclear physics alone, leaving particle physics to the newer and much more powerful Proton Synchrotron (PS).
After this, the students visited the ATLAS experiment. ATLAS is one of two general-purpose detectors at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). It investigates a wide range of physics, from the search for the Higgs boson to extra dimensions and particles that could make up dark matter. Although it has the same scientific goals as the CMS experiment, it uses different technical solutions and a different magnet-system design.
During their visit, the students were able to have a look around the Microcosm, the CERN visitors centre and experience a more hands-on approach to the work that was carried out. They also visited the Globe, an art installation on the site.
During the trip, the students also got the chance to explore the historic old town of Geneva including the Reformation Wall, the Cathedral of St. Pierre, and the L’ancien arsenal. On Saturday morning the students visited the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum, learning about the history and work of the organisation and viewing an exhibit about prisons around the world.
The trip ended with a quick pop over the border to France and a trip up the Mont-Salève cable car for a hot chocolate and a snowball fight (there was still snow in May!) before visiting the Natural History Museum.
Mr Carruthers