The Academy were delighted to be invited to participate in Bedford College's Summer Performance Evening on 16th May 2012. Chelsea White, an outstanding singer currently in Year 9, was selected to perform and she certainly rose to the challenge. Her flawless vocal performance had the audience entranced and her mature and professional attitude was commendable; well done Chelsea!

Bedford College have strong links with our Music Department and have provided performance groups and technical support at several of our showcase events.

Seven Year 9 Sports Leaders walked away with a certificate in Badminton after attending a Sports Leaders Conference hosted by Bedford High School for Girls on 16th May. The students were joined at the conference by Commonwealth and Olympic athlete Anthony Ian Clark who gave the pupils an inspirational talk on how he mastered badminton.

The Academy Leaders took full advantage of the opportunity by talking to Anthony in their lunch break and getting their leadership t-shirts signed. Year 9 student, Michael Songa, commented: "Anthony talked to us about how he became the person he is today, how he was involved in leadership and volunteering and why that had such a big impact on his career.’

Leaving with a new understanding of Leadership and Teaching opportunities, Dev Bahra said, "Today has been a very good day, as young leaders we did training in how to make sport inclusive to all people and looked at volunteering opportunities!"

A successful day for the Sports Leaders, Kieran Newton, Tia Forbes, Dev Bahra, Michael Songa, Aaron Williams, Kane Honour and Rebekah Mitchell, who all left with valuable life skills. Staff running the event commented on how great the students from Bedford Academy were throughout the day.

An exciting global project took place on 8th May when Academy students took part in the BBC's 'Worlds Biggest Assembly'. A joint project between BBC World Class and BBC World Service radio, schools from all over the world were invited to take part and deliver an assembly on a topic that was important to the students of that school. Time differences between the schools taking part meant that the assembly was held over a twenty-four hour period and streamed live on the BBC World Class website.

Our students chose 'Big Local', a National Lottery initiative that allows Britain's communities to decide how £1 million is spent in their county, as their topic. Big Local representative, Carol Solaiman, was on hand to help answer questions and Harrowden Middle school Year 8 students ensured that younger students had their say. The assembly was a high tech affair with both the BBC live stream and new Bedford Academy twitter account being used (@Bedford_Academy). Students were able to tweet direct to the BBC live updates on how our assembly was going. This was amazing as students could see on the BBC live feed what other people across the world were discussing at the same time. Students from Austrailia, Indonesia, China, Mongolia, USA and our partner School Bishop Okiring in Kenya were all featured on the live feed. One school in India had an amazing 42,000 students!

The assembly was a big success with Carol Solaiman (Big Local) leaving with plentiful ideas and feedback. Special thanks to Fozia Kauser (Year 13) for helping to lead the assembly!

On 24th April, thirty Year 9 and 10 drama enrichment students took part in an all-day Puppet workshop. The workshop was led by Ameila Bird of Gomito Productions, a professional director and actor who runs her own Puppet Theatre Company.

The event was a huge success allowing students to develop new drama skills and learn about how to make and operate ‘junk puppets’. A fun, high-energy day filled with new creative experiences, students rose to the challenge and thoroughly enjoyed it. Excellent work was produced and skills learnt have been incorporated into drama and enrichment classes.

The Academy's Marathon Club enrichment students participated in the BBC World Olympic Dreams Run this month with great enthusiasm. During enrichment, students clocked up a total of twenty-six miles each in order to qualify to run with Kenyan athletes. On the day of the marathon, a one-mile course had been set up around Bedford Park for the students to complete alongside the Kenyan athletes, Shadrack Kosgei (wearing yellow) and Philip Langat. Both athletes served as pace setters for the London Marathon this year.

The project was set up by Bedford Borough Council Sports Development Unit and the Kenyan Community of Bedford. Through our Kenyan partner school link, with Bishop Okiring School, we have established and continued to maintain a wonderful relationship with the Kenyan Community of Bedford who have been to our school many times to support our partnership. It is always great to see that an International link can help to connect and create local links too!

Bedford Academy ran a charity raffle in aid of the RNLI this year and are pleased to announce that Mr R. White was the winner of a RNLI remote controlled boat!

A member of our local community, Mr C. Kirton, contacted the Academy offering to donate a model RNLI Lifeboat to help raise funds for the charity. We chose to hold a raffle and I am pleased that we were able to have had the opportunity to work with a local resident to contribute to the cause. This whole event was made even more special when Mr Ray White, a member of our staff and a gentleman who regularly donates to the RNLI, successfully won the raffle.  He was absolutely delighted to be able to give the boat to two young boys he knows that will be absolutely delighted to play with it. 

We are always keen to support local, national and international charities and are delighted to be able to and formally thank Mr Kirton for his kind donation of the RNLI lifeboat.

On a very cold evening in March the PE department ran a trip to see the MK Dons play the mighty Carlisle at Stadium:MK. A group of twenty students from years 9-11 came along to witness what was a fairly timid game in the first half – with both promotion rivals approaching the match in a very cagey fashion! In the second half the game came alive with a couple of penalties and a last gasp winner that sealed the Dons fate.

Carlisle ran out of winners 2-1 on the night, but a good evening and a great experience for the Academy faithful nevertheless. The Academy students were even mentioned in the programme! We hope to run another trip to the Dons at the start of next season and hope to see the Dons be promoted this summer.

Academy staff and students turned out in force to fundraise in aid of Sport Relief in March 2012. Sport Relief brings the nation together to get active, raise money and change lives.

Starting with staff versus student Disco Badminton and finishing with a tremendous Bake Sale, everyone involved had a great time whilst donating to the good cause. PE lessons saw every student take part in the Sport Relief Mile, whereby students had to run a mile with the breathtaking backdrop of the Academy’s new building.

The Bake Sale proved most popular, with Miss Underwood, Miss Powell, Mr Smith and Mr Deller baking delicious treats for sale. A dance off then ensued with PE staff versus students; the staff arose victorious! A fantastic £311 was raised in total.

Well done to all who took part; we look forward to an even bigger event next year!

Academy students made the news for real on 15th March with help from Stuart Pinfold of BBC World News, Miss Bye and Miss Greenacre. Thousands of schools across the UK took part in the BBC News School Report, a BBC project to engage young people in the news, but only a select few received a BBC employee to work with them.

Over the past few months, ‘Media Production and Journalism’ enrichment students in Years 9-13 have been working hard training to be top journalists, carrying out interviews and producing reports. Our new skills were then utilised on BBC News School Report day when we had to find, film and edit news stories to create a news broadcast for real.

Everyone involved has worked incredibly hard on the project, following the strict codes that govern all news reporting, and developed some great news stories for broadcast! Watch our news broadcast here: http://bedfordacademy.co.uk/bbc-school-report

Congratulations to William Dilling, Kieran Sleap, Luke Sims, Kyle Bonson, Frazer Cain, Hannah Robins, Sean Whiting, Aaron Garlic, Hannah Robins, Aaron Ghera, Ankush Sharma, Nesim Dida, Sultana Ali, Fatheha Khatun, Furjana Rahman, Nafia Kauser, Fozia Kauser, Lauren Wheatley and Aminoor Islam who all received a BBC Certificate in acknowledgment of their hard work.

On Wednesday 14th March, the Academy held its annual Easter Showcase. This was a great success allowing students from Year 9 to 13 to showcase their talents in music and dance; the audience was entertained beyond expectation by a wide selection of performances from rock bands to soloists giving the performance their all!

We enjoyed the biggest audience turn-out to date with endless praise for the students involved; well done to the students that were also involved in the stage design and stage management of the event making it an all-round demonstration of the many and varied talents of the Academy's Performing Arts students.

Eight lucky students secured the opportunity of a lifetime to meet Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II during her special Diamond Jubilee Commonwealth Day Observance at Westminster Abbey on 12th March 2012.

Hundreds of schools and youth groups across the UK applied for tickets this year and Bedford Academy has been successful in winning tickets thanks to the creativity of its students’ Jubilee Time Capsule entries. The Jubilee Time Capsule is a digital Diamond Jubilee gift for Her Majesty The Queen that shares memories and stories of the last sixty years through text, photographs and videos.

The Academy will be the only school in Bedford Borough that will be in attendance at the UK’s largest multi-faith celebration alongside the Prime Minister, High Commissioners and two-hundred VIP guests. The theme for this year’s event, ‘Connecting Cultures’, means that students are set to enjoy a thrilling mix of world music, dance and personal testimonies from the likes of Dr Jane Goodall DBE.      

Michelle Bye, Director of the Academy’s Independent Learning Centre and Marketing, stated, “This is a tremendous achievement by our students of whom I am extremely proud! The power and creativity of their entries is truly remarkable; I am glad that they have been rewarded with such a unique prize!”

A big thank you to everyone who took part in the ILC World Book day activities on 1st March 2012!

For a donation to Book Aid International, staff and 6th form students could wear fancy dress in the form of a book character; younger students then had to discuss the costume and book with the person in fancy dress before noting down the information to be entered in to a competition. Meanwhile, a student panel was hard at work judging the fancy dress and awarded Miss Longridge 1st place for the staff category in her 'Mad Hatter' outfit and Sonia Chopra (Year 13) 1st place for the 6th Form category due to her 'Minnie Mouse' costume. Book Aid International were delighted to receive their £50 donation.

At lunchtime, the ILC came alive with a World Book Day celebration that incorporated a BlueCross Fundraising Tea Party, mendi and nail bars, music and dancing, sponsored events and reading competitions. Sixth form volunteers were on hand to serve delicious treats and hand out World Book Day tokens. During the event, and through pre-planned sponsored events, we raised over £250 for the BlueCross; their Fundraising Events Manager, Tracey Chittock, said, "What a brave teacher you have there willing to cut her very long hair for charity and what a fantastic amount she has raised! It is amazing that your collecting tins are full; we really do appreciate the work that you and your students have put in!"

Don't forget that students can use their World Book Day tokens in exchange for an i-Book on their i-Phone!!! All they need is the code on the Book token.

Thirty-nine students visited London to enjoy the award-winning 'War Horse' adapted from Michael Morpurgo's novel of the same name. Having read the novel in advance, students were impressed by the puppetry and creativity of the stage adaptation. Prior to the performance, students took in the art of The National Gallery and enjoyed lunch in Covent Garden.

On 'Prison Me? No Way!' day Connor Poulter, Katryna Upshaw, Lequan Wilson, Rhian Wells, Mahib Ahmed, Billy Kell, Emily Blewitt, Aaron Mulraine, Layla Moxam, Tyler Pearson, Tameka Goodman, Tayla Allenden, Joshua Goauder and Jolita Vaitkute received awards for their outstanding contribution to, and engagement in, the day's activities.

The Practice Manager of a local Dental Practice visited the Academy during Oral Health Week (w/c 24th October 2011). The practice were taking on new patients, offering a free dental examination, giving advice on oral health including orthodonic treatments and handing out free samples.

Year 10 student, Jameela Khatun, took full advantage of their expertise and experience by asking about careers in Dentistry.

The Academy intend to make this a regular event and have planned the next visit for December.

The Academy held its second Parent Participation Day on 12th October 2011 providing parents with the opportunity to tour the Academy site, visit lessons and take part in Academy action. A particular highlight was getting to watch Mrs Black's anatomy lesson where 6th form students were dissecting animal organs. We hope to extend the amount of time that parents spend in their child's class next time round.

Parents that took part in the day listed the following as the best part of their visit:

• Visitng the lessons in action was enjoyable as you got a real feel for what it is like for the students and how the teaching is deilvered
• Seeing the Media, Food Technology and Biology lessons in action, which indicated the Academy's quality of teaching and aspirations
• Finding out more about the Academy's teaching ethos
• Observing children working in such a relaxed atmosphere, as a strong team and with natural ease of interaction with the teachers

Parents also left the following comments on the day:

• I think that it is a great idea to offer this Parent Participation Day; I learnt alot from this visit!
• Academy students were well-behaved in the lesssons!
• I was fascinated by the mix of unisex and single sex teaching that both have great benefits for the students
• I really enjoyed the visit, seeing how relaxed and focussed everyone was!