Academy News

Our Year 12 Performing Arts students recently enjoyed an exciting and rewarding visit to Chew Valley School, where they joined students from other secondary schools across the Trust for a unique collaborative challenge celebrating the performing arts.

Working in mixed-school groups, students were given a creative brief and just three hours to devise and rehearse an original performance piece incorporating all three performing arts disciplines: acting, dance and music. The challenge pushed students to think creatively, communicate effectively and work collaboratively under pressure to bring their ideas to life.

The event provided a fantastic opportunity for students from across the Trust to meet, mix and learn from one another, while also encouraging them to step outside their comfort zones and challenge themselves artistically. The standard of work produced in such a short space of time was truly impressive and showcased the creativity and talent of everyone involved.

We were made to feel incredibly welcome by our hosts at Chew Valley School, who looked after us brilliantly throughout the day and helped make the event such a success.

We were also delighted that Gary Lewis, CEO of LSP, was able to attend and watch the final performances, witnessing first-hand the outstanding display of talent, teamwork and creativity on show.

Our Churchill students were exceptional ambassadors for the school. They demonstrated maturity, enthusiasm and professionalism throughout the day and showed just how incredible they are as leaders within our school community. We are immensely proud of the way they represented Churchill and contributed to such an inspiring celebration of the performing arts.

Our Performing Arts students recently enjoyed a fantastic trip to the Bristol Hippodrome to see the touring production of Legally Blonde. A total of 65 students attended the performance and were treated to an energetic, vibrant and thoroughly entertaining evening of theatre.

The cast delivered an outstanding performance, with Hannah Lowther shining in the role of Elle Woods, bringing charisma, humour and determination to this iconic character. The production was packed with energy, memorable musical numbers and impressive performances that kept our students engaged from start to finish.

For many of us, the trip was particularly special as it brought back wonderful memories of our own production of Legally Blonde, which we proudly staged at The Playhouse Theatre in Weston-super-Mare back in February. Watching the professional production provided an opportunity to reflect on the incredible achievement of our own students and served as a reminder of just how talented they are. The comparisons only reinforced the high quality of our own production and the exceptional performances delivered by our cast and crew earlier this year.

The visit was not only an inspiring theatrical experience but also a chance to celebrate the hard work and success of our students' own Performing Arts journey. We are incredibly proud of the way our students conducted themselves throughout the trip. Their behaviour was exemplary, and they were a real credit to the Academy, representing us with maturity, enthusiasm and respect at all times.

The evening created lasting memories for everyone involved and provided plenty of inspiration for future performances and productions.

To recognise and celebrate students who have consistently demonstrated our Academy’s core values throughout the year, the ADT Faculty hosted a special two-hour practical food workshop.

The workshop was open to students who had achieved more than 175 reward points while maintaining fewer than nine behaviour points, reflecting their commitment to positive attitudes, excellent behaviour, and sustained effort. A large number of students met these impressive criteria, demonstrating the high standards achieved across the academy.

As places were limited, a ballot was held among all qualifying students who completed a Google Form to express their interest in taking part. The initiative supports one of the ADT Faculty's key objectives: fostering a positive culture of achievement while increasing student engagement through rewarding and enriching experiences.

During the workshop, students prepared and cooked their own burgers, developing their practical food skills while enjoying a well-earned reward for their hard work and dedication throughout the year.

A huge thank you goes to all the fantastic students who took part and to the parents and carers who kindly supplied the protein for the workshop. Their generosity helped make the session a great success, and the delicious burgers certainly reflected everyone's efforts!

Last week, our Year 12 Biology students embarked on an exciting three-day residential field trip to Nettlecombe Court, a Field Studies Centre located on the Somerset Exmoor border. The visit provided an invaluable opportunity for students to develop their practical skills, deepen their ecological understanding, and complete essential components of their A Level Biology course.

Throughout the trip, students took part in a range of fieldwork investigations and classroom-based theory sessions, including two of the required practical investigations that contribute to the Practical Endorsement in A Level Biology. They learnt how to measure vertical height along the shore and compared species diversity across the lower, middle, and upper shore zones, gaining first-hand experience of ecological sampling techniques.

The group also explored grassland ecosystems and carried out freshwater invertebrate studies, developing their understanding of biodiversity and ecosystem health. In addition, students learnt how to analyse their findings using a range of statistical tests, an important skill for biological research.

One of the highlights of the trip was the opportunity to participate in an overnight small mammal survey. Students helped set humane live traps as part of a population monitoring study and were delighted by the success of the survey, which recorded both wood mice and shrews.

The residential concluded with each student completing an individual ecological investigation, allowing them to apply the knowledge and practical skills they had developed throughout the visit.

With fantastic weather throughout the three days, there was also plenty of time to relax and socialise. Evenings were spent enjoying games of rounders and badminton with students from other schools, making the trip both educational and memorable.

The field trip was a tremendous success, providing students with valuable practical experience while creating lasting memories and strengthening their enthusiasm for studying Biology.

Thursday evening saw yet another successful and crowd pleasing ‘Strictly Dance Fever’. The talent on show was sensational, as every performer fought to win and demonstrate their skills to the audience who were jam-packed into the auditorium for the sold-out show. The very difficult task of deciding on the winners was made by the four judges: Mrs Lippe, Miss Cook, Miss Shopland and our current KS4 Dance Captain Hannah. 

Three categories were performed on the night; the winner of the solo category was Leah (Year 9). Oviya and Olivia (both Year 10) won the duet category, and this year, for the first time, we had joint winners for the group category: Leah, Mati and Flo (Year 9) as well as Lily, Willow, Amelia and Ruby (Year 10).

The overall winning piece was a technically demanding and showstopping performance performed and choreographed by Leah, Mati and Flo (Year 9), and this proved to be a very popular decision as they were presented with the ‘Strictly Dance Fever’ trophy. 

The ‘Best Performer’ trophy was then presented to Elsie (Year 8) for her outstanding performance throughout the show.  

Emily was chosen for our 'Future Star' award as she impressed everybody with her energy and beautiful dance style.

On the night, we also presented our two new Dance Captains with their badges - Isabelle will be our new KS3 Dance Captain, and Evelyn will be our KS4 Dance Captain. Both girls have big shoes to fill, but we are confident they will do a fantastic job. 

Congratulations to all our winners and a big thank you to everybody who took part in making this evening a fantastic event!