Employability Programme November 2018

4th December 2018Mr T Ahamed

On Friday 16th November, a group of Yr 10 students successfully completed the 8 week Employability Programme. During week 7 the students were invited along to the prestigious law firm Linklaters which is based in the corporate area of London; where they took part in Mock Interviews with lawyers. Culminating in a tour of the law firm, a presentation of what the students had learnt on the programme and a graduation on week 8.

Poetry from the Battlefields

4th December 2018Mr T Ahamed

Students Nasrudiin Muhyadin and Sude Ulgu spent four days exploring the First World War battlefields of France and Belgium.
They experienced life in the trenches at the Memorial Museum at Passchendaele and then enjoyed some poetry at dawn as the mists cleared above the trenches. They also took part in a dramatic performance of R.C.Sheriff’s Journey’s End.
 
Over the weekend, we visited numerous cemeteries and heard the heroic and tragic stories of the poets that fought and died during the war. This included a visit to the exact spot where Wilfred Owen was trapped for days, waste deep in mud and constantly bombarded by artillery. He wrote the poem ‘The Sentry’ based on this experience. A hundred metres away, in a bombed out shell hole, he later lay for days in freezing temperatures. This inspired him to write the GCSE power and conflict poem ‘Exposure’.
Sude was privileged to be chosen to lay a wreath as part of the Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate in Ypres. Every single day since 1928, Ypres falls silent at 8pm to remember all those that perished in the war. The memorial records the names of thousands of soldiers whose bodies were never recovered.
Over the four days, we experienced the devastating global reach of the war. We saw graves from Germany to Canada, from France to India, from Italy to New Zealand.
We went to the places where they died. At the front lines of the Battle of the Somme, we moved over the tops and across the fields. Sixty of us crossed. In the war only three of us would have made it to the other side of the field.
It was a truly powerful and poignant experience. Standing at the spot where letters and poems and plays were written, we really felt the voices of those soldiers speaking across the bridge of time.

 

Accelerated Reader winners visit to Vue cinema

29th November 2018Mr T Ahamed

Well done to the 26 yr 7 and 8 students who won an Accelerated Reader visit to Vue cinema in Wood Green. The reward was for exceeding their points target and was courtesy of Into Film.

 

We all enjoyed a showing of Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs. Everyone agreed it was an excellent story and not the type of film students would usually choose to see.

Celebrating success at Duke’s Aldridge Academy: meet some of our inspirational students!

27th August 2018Mr J Rennalls

Here at Duke’s, we are over-the-moon with our GCSE results, which continue to rise, year up year. We are privileged and inspired to share four of our students’ stories.

 

Khadija has been characterised, throughout her time with us, as relentlessly determined, driven and brimming with intellectual curiosity. She recently featured on Radio 4’s Poetry Please. She leaves us as the highest achieving student in the year group – a hugely well-deserved accolade. All of her grades were 8 or 9 or equivalent – the very top possible grades. Well done, Khadija. Khadija is destined to make this world a better place and we look forward to hearing about her future successes.

Omar’s lunchtime conversations were characterised by everything from philosophy and politics to the inner-workings of a guinea pig (often changing at lightning rate in between the them)., Omar has a sparky intellect and has shown amazing grit and resilience to secure a set of superb results despite a significant amount of time away from school due to serious illness. His results include top grades in Maths, Chemistry and Physics. Omar is now making his way to the prestigious Rugby School, where he should thrive.

Sarantis has been one of our unsung heroes. Greek is his first language, and he came to us with primary school exam results which suggested he would need plenty of support. With perfect conduct and quiet self-restraint, Sarantis has grafted his way to making outstanding progress, averaging four grades above his minimum target across his subjects. Sarantis’s combination of humility and determination ensure he has a bright future ahead of him.

Maksymillian arrived in England from Poland in 2014, speaking no English. Within months in the school, his rapid progress brought him to the attention of school leaders. To the admiration of his teachers and peers alike, Maks became known for making unique and thought provoking points in class and his passion for developing an impressively wide vocabulary (and teaching his teachers new words!). One day, Maks came in to show us the beginning of his second novel. Maks is an aspiring writer, and with the top grade in English Literature, we look forward to seeing him published in the very near future.