It was a great pleasure to welcome residents from across the local area to the Academy, when they joined us for our Community Christmas Lunch. Our visitors enjoyed an afternoon filled with warmth and seasonal cheer, that defines the Christmas season.
In a heart-warming initiative to support the local community, the Academy's staff and students joined forces to collect non-perishable food items and toiletries for the Fusion Food Bank in Dewsbury. Mrs Sheard, a Science teacher at the Academy, organised the collection, encouraging each form group to fill a box with donations.
Year 10 Performing Arts students embarked on an inspiring and enriching day-long visit to Production Park, an iconic hub of creative industries. The trip was designed to give students an opportunity to network with industry professionals and gain valuable insight into future educational and career pathways within the arts sector.
We are delighted that our annual Careers Fair, which recently took place at the Academy, was a resounding success. Representatives from a diverse group of training providers and local colleges participated in the event, where they shared valuable information about future career opportunities available to our students.
We were pleased to be able to provide a special communications workshop for our students when we welcomed trainer Mike Doody from the Talk the Talk organisation to the Academy.
Thornhill Secondary School, as it was initially named, was officially opened on its present site on the 25th November 1964. At this time, it was part of the County Borough of Dewsbury Education Committee. Kirklees Council did not exist in those days. The school’s former premises on Edge Lane became the local Junior and Infant School, which remains the case today.
Academy staff and students commemorated Remembrance Day with various special activities to mark the occasion.
We were delighted to welcome SSGT (Staff Sargeant) Joshua Peel to the Academy, where he delivered a series of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) workshops to our students. In Years 7-9, students taking part were put forward by their Science, Technology, and Maths teachers, whilst students from Years 10 and 11 were given the opportunity to put themselves forward, having expressed an interest in a STEM career in the future.
We are thrilled to announce that the Academy has been awarded the bronze level accreditation in the Heart of the Community scheme, launched by Yorkshire Ambulance Service and Yorkshire Ambulance Service Charity. This accreditation recognises our commitment to providing life-saving CPR skills and ensuring the availability of defibrillators to ensure the safety of our students and the wider community in the event of a cardiac arrest.
In a special training event led by staff and volunteers from the Yorkshire Ambulance Service, Academy students learnt how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation, more commonly known as CPR.
Students in Year 11 were put through their paces in mock interviews as part of the Academy's extensive careers programme. The Academy provides mock interviews to prepare students to take part for real when they apply for places at college.
We were delighted to welcome Mark Powell from Bletchley Park to the Academy, where he ran a series of workshops for students organised by the Maths department.
