Year 10
Contacting the Team
If you have any questions or concerns about your child, please don’t hesitate to contact a member of the Year 10 team by leaving a message with Reception or by emailing our enquiry address with, for example, ‘FAO Mrs Oakley’ as the subject.
We aim to respond to phone calls & emails as quickly as possible, & certainly within 48 hours. Please bear in mind that members of staff may have a day of teaching & may not be able to respond to non-urgent matters until the end of the Academy day or the following Academy day.
By telephone: 0121-464 2737 (main school switchboard)
By email: enquiry@harborneacademy.co.uk
Vision
Year 10 is a very exciting year to be a part of as it represents the beginning of KS4 and all that comes with it! Students have selected their options and are beginning their pathways towards their careers. There is definitely a maturity surge when students hit year 10 and they realise that they are in control of their futures and this journey is fantastic to be a part of.
As progress leader of year 10 I have several aims. I want to ensure that all students are on the correct pathway and are comfortable with their chosen subjects, I want to be sure that they have made the right choice for themselves. To investigate this I begin to ask students to really consider the career that they want, we support this at Harborne Academy through careers fair that year 10 will be invited to. We also support this through working closely with The Diana Trust who offer mentoring sessions linked to places of work as well as ensuring that we organise and run a very successful work experience programme. A further aim of mine is to encourage all students to consider a wide range of career options and sometimes thinking outside of the box. We encourage this through our planned PSHE days where we have a variety of people in to showcase their careers to year 10. This helps our students see endless possibilities as well as the importance of making correct choices for themselves. My final aim is to begin to prepare them for the rollercoaster of year 11. I remind year 10 on a regular basis the difficulties that year 11 brings and how they could help themselves much more now with focus and a determination to succeed. I truly believe that once each student has a good idea of their career then this will help motivate them through our final 2 years at Harborne Academy, I remind them to keep things as simple as they can and once they have worked hard then they are opening up a world of opportunities for themselves.
Mrs Oakley
Year 10 Inspirational Quotes
- “Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. Then somehow know what you truly want to become.” Steve Jobs.
- “The best way to predict your future is to create it.” Abraham Lincoln.
- “Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ‘I’m Possible!” Audrey Hepburn
Attendance & Punctuality
At Harborne Academy we expect students to be present in school every day. They should only be off school if they are very ill. A cough or cold is not a reason to not attend school. We are happy to offer support to overcome barriers to good attendance, please contact Miss Malpass if you have any concerns.
Year 10 Student Voice
Pastoral Student Voice Results (Summer Term 2019)
Student Council Representatives
During year 10 our students have the chance to become school prefects and this makes up the student leadership team. Any student who was part of the school council in year 9 automatically get promoted to a school prefect. During term 1 students were awarded a prefect tie for outstanding behaviour and attitude towards their learning. These were selected by the year 10 pastoral team, one of our prefects will be next years head boy and head girl so this is a really good opportunity. Due to year 11 pressure we have now opened up 10 more spaces for year 10 prefects. Students need to complete a letter addressed to Mrs Elbaz explaining why they would make a good prefect, how they are a role model and what they can bring to the student leadership team. Letters of application can be handed to Mrs Oakley to be checked but must be handed in to Mrs Elbaz by Friday 24th January.
**Good luck to all applicants! **
The Year 10 Prefects are:Alhagi, Israel, Molly, Omar, Oskar, Rachael, Ria, Tyler, Virgil, Jessica and Salimatu.
Events/Important Year 10 Dates for this Year
Year 10 Parents Evening
We had an huge 80% turnout for parents evening and we would like to thank each and everyone of the parents who showed great support for our year 10 students. This was a really succesful evening.
Year 10 Work Experience 6th – 10th July 2020
Students have been given the paperwork required for work experience. Students have been encouraged to find their own work experience placements and if they manage to do this then they need to ensure that they complete both sides of the paperwork and hand this into Mrs Oakley. Those students who are not able to find their own placements have indicated on areas that they would be interested in and have begun to complete their cover letters. Our aim as an Academy is to get all students placed by March.
Big Physics Quiz 2019 Birmingham University Previous Events with Year 10
Wrote by one of our students -
‘‘We headed out onto our long and less than amiable path. It was a pleasantly cold January morning, but we did not care for the cold, seeing as how were too busy exchanging our ideas on how the day would go and who would come out on top, which leads me very well to my next point.
My school was one of 40 that decided or rather were invited to take part in the competition. My classmates and I were (as is custom with teenagers looking to prove themselves the best at anything) ready for the challenge ahead and judged, rather biasedly, that there was no way we could do anything but come first, showing up everyone else and thus glorifying us in the history of our school.
When we eventually got to our destination, we were greeted by the shadow of a rather large and rather eye-catching clock tower. We walked right underneath the great structure and decided that we should take a picture ahead of the start of the quiz. After a few failed photo shoots, and a couple of minutes waiting for the sun to show its beautiful beaming face again, we finally settled on a picture on the steps to the reception of the university.
Walking into the main room, we were almost instantaneously struck by the rain bowed grace of the stained glass that was situated at the front and centre of the great hall. Our seats were shown to us and one after one, our would-be opponents slowly filed into the hall as we completed a word search to pass the time. After everyone sat comfortably, we were introduced to the professors who would be hosting the competition. We sat in anticipation as they said their names and professions and got our pens ready for the challenge ahead.
Throughout the rest of the day, we went through a range of topics from energy and famous science celebrities to a lecture about a certain device called the Antikythera Mechanism and the eventually break where we hungrily wolfed down our provisions. After this small feast and stroll, we were welcomed back to two more quizzes and then waited whilst the winners of the quiz were called out. We did not win but we didn’t really care after all, we just had an amazing day of laughter and also managed to learn a lot in the process and for that, I thank the University of Birmingham. We are still winners because were in 5th position from a total of 40 schools!”
TSA Mentoring Graduation
This year a small group of students were selected to be part of a mentoring course that supports ensuring all students achieve their full potential through the use of sport. They had both classroom and practical sessions with their mentors over a 12 week period. They then were able to take part in a graduation ceremony at Edgbaston Cricket Ground with a tour of the ground. Once this had finished they played an indoor tournament against the other participating school and managed to finish 3rd overall!
Girls’ Self Esteem Workshop
Last year, some of the Year Group’s girls had the opportunity to take part in a workshop to build self-esteem and confidence within their education. This was led by students from the University of Birmingham and was very successful. Each week they had a different topic of discussion and was able to share their own experiences and challenges.
Birmingham Schools’ Games Table Tennis Tournament
Some of our talented boys went to represent the school in the Birmingham Schools Games Table Tennis Tournament at Kings Heath Boys School. They did very well and won some of their games and was able to place third but unfortunately missed out on qualifying for the finals.
World Book Day
This year, Harborne Academy staff and students celebrated their biggest and certainly best ever World Book Day with a number of wonderful activities and events taking place. From our Big Booky Breakfast, to poets, cartoonists and even a staff and student fancy dress competition, we hope the day provided our students with a reminder of how books inspire us.
Red Nose Day 2019
The student council were asked to come up with some fundraising ideas for Red Nose Day, these included a campaign to ‘Soak the Teacher’! Much to the students delight, the Progress Leader and SLT link for each year group were nominated and on Red Nose Day the students and staff had until lunch time to add their money to the cause, the staff who received the most donations were soaked by the students!
PSHE Day – Relationships
Mental Health through Drama
This session saw our students take part in a lot of different fun games that helped them develop their confidence at the start of the session. They were working in a social environment and through each game they were encouraged to overcome any anxiety that they may have felt. The students were active during this session and had to awaken their endorphins and help them feel better. This allowed students to feel better and understand different ways in which they can develop their mental health.
The students really engaged in these sessions and all had a lot of fun.
Ismahan Osman: “it was nice to do the endorphin raising activities and learning what peoples ‘shields’ were.”
Relationships Seminar
All our students were given the opportunity to explore some of their human rights and where they stand when it comes to relationships. Students were engaged in this seminar and some asked some really good questions. This session gave students the chance to consider what a healthy relationship looks like and consider any hidden meanings behind messages sent between people. Students watched various videos and were handed a booklet to advise them on their rights.
Omar Edwards: “it informed me about the rights that I did not know I had.”
Communication and Teamwork
This session was all about making pyramids. Students had to work in small groups and were given the necessary equipment to make a pyramid. Once they had mastered the first triangle they then had to race between each group to see who could make the biggest pyramid in the class. The challenge was to ensure that these pyramids remained standing. During this session it was lovely to see how the students worked closely together and used their competitive edge to try and be the best.
Meran Mardan: “you had to work as a team to make something double the height of a person and you could not do it alone.”
Body Image and Self Esteem
This session gave the students the chance to consider the impact of fake news, celebrity photos and pressure of their own body expectations. This session allowed them to consider what they thought was wrong with themselves and why and the look at the celebrity news and see if they were making unrealistic comparisons.
Relationships
In this session students had to complete role play based on different relationships. This gave students an insight into how relationships change depending on who they are with and what the situation may be.
Jai Siddu “I enjoyed the role play aspect it engaged the whole class rather than just sitting and listening for an hour.”
The year 10 pastoral team would like to thank everyone involved in making the day an enjoyable experience for all.
