Archive for December, 2015

Ellis Guildford’s Christmas treat from Aquinas!

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2015

Saturday 19th December 2015 saw Nottingham Forest take on MK dons at the city ground and a group of students from Ellis Guilford were in for a Christmas treat as a reward for good performance at school this term.

Our Nottingham secondary consultant Max accompanied the group of students/staff members to the game and what a day it turned out to be! Upon arriving at the city ground the adults were treated to a glass of prosecco and the students to a complimentary soft drink. They were then directed to the box and had a chance to browse the programme and team sheets in the build up to the game whilst enjoying a pre match meal.

forest match max 1

The students were in their element as some of them had never experienced a live football match. It was great to see their faces as the crowd flooded into the stadium before kick-off and it made it even sweeter seeing everyone sat outside in the cold as they were in a warm, cosy box. The excitement didn’t stop there as the mighty reds went 1-0 within the first 3 minutes! What a start! Ryan Mendes then stabbed in at the second attempt from a Daniel Pinillos cross to double Forest’s lead.

forest match max 3

The staff and students were in very high spirits going in to half time as the reds were 2-0 up. If this wasn’t enough for them, they were then surprised by ex-forest star Robert Earnshaw who spoke with everyone and also answered any questions we could think of.

forest match max 4

It was a great performance from Forest on the day and in the end got the win with the game finishing 2-1. The win moves Forest up to 13th, while MK Dons drop to 21st, just a point above the relegation zone.

LINEUP, BOOKINGS (2) & SUBSTITUTIONS (6)

Nottingham Forest

  • 01 de Vries
  • 02 Lichaj Booked
  • 05 Mills
  • 04 Mancienne
  • 31 Pinillos (Hobbs – 71′ )
  • 15 Mendes da Graça (Ward – 80′ )
  • 10 Lansbury
  • 24 Vaughan
  • 38 Osborn
  • 29 O’Grady
  • 17 Castro Oliveira (Trotter – 84′ )
  • Substitutes
  • 18 Trotter
  • 19 Ward
  • 20 Williams
  • 23 Blackstock
  • 25 Hobbs
  • 26 Evtimov
  • 32 Tesche
  • Milton Keynes Dons
  • 01 Martin
  • 12 Spence (Baker – 76′ )
  • 05 McFadzean
  • 06 Kay Booked
  • 03 Lewington
  • 14 Carruthers
  • 08 Potter
  • 38 Hall
  • 10 Reeves (Murphy – 63′ )
  • 09 Bowditch (Gallagher – 77′ )
  • 28 Maynard
  • Substitutes
  • 02 Hodson
  • 07 Baker
  • 13 Gallagher
  • 17 Powell
  • 22 Cropper
  • 31 Murphy
  • 39 PoyetAtt: 19,975
  • Ref: Simon Hooper

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Jermaine Jenas visits Burlington Danes Academy London

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2015

Jermaine Jenas paid a special visit to The Burlington Danes Academy in London to launch a 12 week programme. The programme was created and designed to target a small group of students studying for their GCSE’s who were looking to improve attainment.

Boys achievement Burlington Danes

Jermaine attended the launch and gave a heart felt motivational speech explaining the importance of discipline, perseverance and hard work.

Boys achievement Burlington Danes 2

He was there to give them focus and to let them know that they could still turn things around if they put their mind to it. They discussed the 3 A’s which Aquinas use in all of our training programmes… Achievement, Attainment and Aspiration.

The day was a huge success and we wish the students all the luck in their forthcoming course work and exams. We will be keeping in contact with the programme facilitator and look forward to hearing about how some, if not all of the students involved have managed to turn things around for the better.

Attendance project Launched at St Thomas Canterbury School London

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2015

st thomas primary emblem

The Aquinas Foundation have provided St Thomas Canterbury School with a brand New Mountain Bike as an incentive for their Attendance project. They will be running this project throughout the year and whoever receives 100% attendance will get entered into the prize draw to win the bike!

Good luck everyone!

The Aquinas Cup London

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2015

Aquinas cup 2

The Aquinas Foundation recently organised and hosted a football tournament at Burlington Danes Academy London for secondary schools around West London. The schools that took part were;

Kensington Aldridge Academy

Burlington Danes

Phoenix High School

Hammersmith Academy

Elthorne High School

Fulham Boys School

Aquinas cup 1

Aquinas took Junior Hoillett along with them as a special guest, Junior is currently playing for QPR and Canada (international)

Aquinas cup 3

A great day was had by all and the winners of the cup were Phoenix High School!

Aquinas cup 4

Well done to everyone who took part and see you all again next year!!

 

Southwold Primary School Attendance Project Launch!

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2015

bike southwold

Southwold Primary had an extra special delivery from The Aquinas Foundation last week! we have provided the school with a Brand New Mountain bike which will be used as part of their Attendance Project! The school will be rewarding the students who succeed in gaining 100% attendance by pulling a name out of a hat at the end of term… Good Luck Southwold!

Tune in to Notts TV Tonight!

Thursday, December 10th, 2015

notts tv

Aquinas’s MD Craig Anderson along with Ex Head teacher Michael McKeever have been asked to join Notts Tv tonight as special guests on the show! They will be discussing the shortage of trained teachers in the UK and how they have both been on a mission to recruit from around the globe.

Aquinas strive to provide the Best of the Best teaching staff… we run training sessions in school holidays and refresher courses to make sure the staff are confident and well prepared when going in to different school environments. These training sessions are ran by Dave Harris from Independent Thinking and have become very popular amongst our database of teachers.

However there has become a shortage of teachers so both Craig and Michael have been to Ireland, USA and have other places to visit in the pipeline in order to encourage teachers in training to think about the opportunities they have in the UK once they have completed their course.

Tune in to Notts TV tonight!

Freeview: 8
Sky:117
Virgin:157

A little note from the boss…

Thursday, December 3rd, 2015

craig

2016 is set to be a great year for the foundation with Projects already in full flow.

This year has been a very successful year, with schools improving their attendance and literacy levels by using new and exciting projects to raise attainment in school.

We have some great charity events in the pipeline and we hope to have some fun fund raising events which we would love to see your friendly faces at!

This year alone Aquinas have helped hundreds of children to stay in school and achieve. A huge thank you and well done to all of those children. I would also like to say well done to all of the teaching staff and our staff at Aquinas for making this possible.

I hope you have a fantastic summer break

Craig

Christ The King Mock Interviews

Tuesday, December 1st, 2015

Jack Cole and Max Pembleton from Aquinas Education were invited to Christ the King School for an afternoon to provide the year ten students with a realistic interview in preparation for their upcoming work placements and post 16 development.

Rebekah Ali the schools work experience co-ordinator had organised for both Max and Jack to attend the school after the success of the assembly they presented on interview techniques and job preparation.

max and jack interview 2

They arranged the room as a formal interview setting and the candidate had to walk into the hall and greet either Max or Jack for their interview.

Key Questions the students were asked;

1: Tell me a little about yourself

2: What would your friends say about you?

3: What subjects are you studying?(Do you have a favourite)

4:What are your plans at the end of year 11?

5: What is your greatest strength?

6: Why would you be a good person to employ?

The interview lasted for 10 minutes and then there was a five minute feedback session where they could discuss how they think they did.

Each pupil was given a rating ranging from needs development up to Excellent on the following areas.

  • Speaking clearly
  • Making eye contact
  • Seeming confident
  • Seeming well prepared
  • Able to talk about themselves with understanding
  • Any other positive information
  • Any areas for development.

It proved to be a very successful exercise and I am sure it will be useful to the pupils as they set out to organise their work experience and their future employment.

Aquinas Education will continue to support Christ The King with this and are looking forward to hearing about the work placements that the students take on.