Goffs Academy Newsletter

Dear Parents, Carers and Students

I write as we approach the end of an extremely busy and exciting academic year. As I read the many articles which make up this newsletter, I am overwhelmed by the sheer number of opportunities which our students have been involved in through recent months, and their energy and commitment which are common themes throughout.

The end of the summer term provides a welcome chance to pause, reflect, and recognise past efforts and achievements. The Year 11 Celebration Assembly was an excellent example of this. Reflecting on the 5 years which this cohort of students has spent at Goffs, I felt immensely proud of what they have achieved. They have undergone a transformation from anxious Year 7s, to confident young people well placed to take on new challenges ahead. The majority will return to the Sixth Form, but regardless of whether the ‘next step’ is at Goffs or somewhere else, I wish all of our students the very best of luck in their future endeavours. Those who are leaving at the end of Year 11 or 13 – stay in touch. It is always a pleasure to hear from our alumni.

Again, I would like to acknowledge the immense amount of work that all our staff have undertaken with students this year, working tirelessly but always with a ready sense of humour. The summer holidays will indeed be well-deserved. This is also the time of year to say goodbye to the staff who are leaving Goffs at the end of the academic year, many of whom move on to promotion or to relocate. In recruiting new colleagues for next year, I am pleased that the both the number and calibre of interested candidates has been high, and we have made several very strong appointments who we have recently welcomed for induction. At a time when the national challenges around recruitment in education are well publicised, I am delighted with the experience, professionalism and enthusiasm that these new colleagues will bring.

Finally, it was a pleasure to welcome 240 Year 6 students to Goffs last week, taking their first steps into the Goffs community. During their induction day, students took part in Drama, PE, Science, Languages, and Art; just a small taste of the exciting learning opportunities which await in September.

I would like to close by thanking all involved with Goffs Academy for their support throughout the year, and wish everyone an enjoyable summer break.

Mark Ellis

Principal

Sports Day Tuck Shop

At the whole day Sports Day on Wednesday 10th July, in a bid to keep the students cool on such a humid afternoon, the House and Student Parliament team sold ice-lollies and drinks. It is safe to say that we underestimated how much we would sell meaning we had to do a trip back to the shops half way through the event to re-stock!

A big thank you must go to Chartwells who also sold us some of their ice-lollies at cost price allowing us to sell them on and make profit for the charity.

We made a whopping £300 profit for our school charity Essex and Herts Air Ambulance. A massive well done to the students who were involved in the organisation of this tuck shop; a special thank you must go to Georgie Lapinksi, Evie Pringle, Andy Kraja and Danni Lethbridge for all their hard work.

Suggestions Box

In one of our House meetings this half term Lily Munson (9I) voiced that she wanted to give students who aren’t part of the Student Leadership groups a chance to give their ideas. Lily proposed that we create a suggestions box so that students can offer their ideas for clubs, competitions and opinions on school-based issues. In our recent Student Conference, Lily, Ashlyn Harrington, Jessica Marlow and Molly Smith designed and decorated this post-box box ready for it to take pride of place at Student Reception. The House team will encourage all students to drop a suggestion in the box in September, so we can discuss and review all ideas at the next conference.

Trip to the Ambulance Air Base

On Monday 15th July, Miss Myers, Miss Hague and the house team were invited to visit the air ambulance air base in North Weald to find out more about how our donations support the charity.

The whole experience was an absolute eye opener for us as a team as we had the opportunity to be a part of what an average day is like at the Hertfordshire air ambulance base. Upon arrival we met up with Jeannie, the charity coordinator, and were swiftly advised to get a quick photo in front of the helicopter, as at any point there could be a call out and the helicopter and crew would need to depart. Each student, and even Miss Myers, were lucky enough to sit in the pilot’s seat of the helicopter and were able to witness the array of switches, buttons, and screens that surround the two drivers when on a mission. We then had the opportunity to meet the crew and we were talked through the rapid response following an incoming call - usually there are three members at work, a paramedic, a doctor and a pilot, all awaiting that call from one of the 3 Ambulance controllers in the East of England.

The visit was also extremely informative. While conversing with members of the crew, we were talked through some simple statistics and details of how the EHAA run. On average there are about 3 missions a day, each flight costs roughly £2500, so the £8597.46 that we have proudly raised as a school, would pay for about 4 flights, with each flight saving a potential life.

Whilst we were on board taking photographs and chatting with the crew we heard the signal alarm begin to ring. At this point the crew snapped in to action and we swiftly got out of their way and to a safe area so we could observe the take-off procedure. Kate Davies was sat in the helicopter and the time and had to jump off very quickly as the crew set up for take-off. Although this was an exciting experience for us, it really resonated that as we watched the helicopter depart they were on their way to save someone’s life.

We were shocked to discover that the Air Ambulance does not receive any funding from the NHS and is an independent charity of which relies heavily on external fundraising. As stated above, as a school since September we have raised a phenomenal £8595.50 for the Essex and Herts Air Ambulance. The charity are so grateful for our donation and explained that our donation by far exceeded any amount other schools have been able to raise for them in just one year. Jeannie explained that one school have been fundraising for them for 10 years and have just hit £9,000. This made us feel extremely proud of our achievement and that we were able to donate such an astounding amount to such a worthy cause.

Although we will be putting the air ambulance back in to our charity vote it cannot be guaranteed that our students will chose them for next academic year. When talking to Jeannie she explained that 60% of their donations come from their charity lottery, so if you are interested in continuing to support the charity this might be something you want to sign up to as a family, all the details for this are on their website.

Upon returning to school Miss Myers received the following email from Jeannie:

“So nice seeing you today, and what a lovely bunch of kids! Adam and Tony commented on how bright and well-presented they all were. I hope everyone enjoyed themselves as much as I did today, I’m so glad you got to have a look in the helicopter and see it take off, days like today are why I love my job!”

Overall we had such an excellent day and it was a fantastic way to end such a successful year of fundraising for the charity.

Cindy Long

Year 10

2018/19 House Point Totals

The winning House for the 2018/19 academic year will be announced during the whole school assembly on Tuesday 23rd July. At the time of writing, the final results are yet to be determined, so the final House point totals and the winning House will be published in our October edition!

Thank you

I would like to take this opportunity to say a final thank you to everyone across our community for supporting the House system this year, be that donating money or getting involved in competitions. The House team are extremely grateful for all of your support.

Alongside this I would like to congratulate all of our House team members for their commitment and organisation this year; it has been a pleasure to work alongside you.

Over the last 12 months, the House system has gone from strength to strength, and has seen more House points awarded, more events held and more money raised than ever before! We have raised an astounding £10, 830 for our school charity EHAA, superseding our target of £9,000.

Keep your eye out for new competitions being introduced next year as we continue to expand and improve the opportunities offered to you here at Goffs. We look forward to many more successes next year.

Ellie Myers

Director of the House System

Our trip to Beijing was a truly unique, challenging and wonderful experience, which has enriched the lives of all involved. During both legs of the exchange each of our 22 students showed themselves to be incredibly brave, resilient and generous. They seized every opportunity, from Tai-Chi lessons and dumpling making, to climbing the Great Wall, with both hands and really made the most of this once in a lifetime experience. They are a credit to the school and we are very proud of them. In this newsletter, I will leave it to the students to share their experiences of the exchange with you.

Miss Poag

Associate Assistant Principal

I would like to thank Miss Poag, Mrs Legg and Mr Holding for the opportunity of a lifetime. I would 100% recommend the Beijing exchange to literally everyone! Before the trip began, people would ask if I was nervous about a stranger staying with me, or staying in someone else’s home in China, or having to eat the food. After the trip I can say that Jack, my partner, was never a stranger. As soon as we met we got along, almost instantly, and Jack loved England. On our family day we took Jack to the Olympic Stadium in Stratford and we both really enjoyed going down the slide, the Orbit. This was a new experience for me too, and it was nice to share it with him.

China was incredible. I have lots of funny memories and lots of amazing ones too. Before we went, Miss Poag warned us A LOT about how they drink hot water in China, so that we were prepared. Once we landed in China and Jack and I were reunited we went straight for lunch. We had been on a plane for 10 hours, been in immigration for 2 hours and I was sooo thirsty! I asked the waiter for a glass of water and downed it as soon as he brought it over. That was a BIG mistake, but Jack found it very funny.

My experiences are ones that I will never forget. The best was definitely the Great Wall of China. It was even better than I was expecting, especially as I and several others made it to the highest point. The views were incredible and I remember thinking that this was something I would never do again. It was very special.

I am so grateful to my parents, my teachers and the other students who went on the trip for making the exchange so worthwhile. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Noah Dell

Year 8

Firstly, I would like to say a massive thank you to the staff who organised this trip and provided us with this amazing experience. I had an incredible time in Beijing and it is something I will never forget.

During both legs of the exchange, I developed many friendships, which I hope will last a lifetime. I also learned many new things about the Chinese culture, but also about myself. I am incredibly grateful for this opportunity to see the world and develop my independence.

Melissa Ward

Year 9

I would also like to thank the staff of Goffs and No.19 High School for giving us this fantastic opportunity. China was truly incredible and I wish I could go back and visit the school and my friends again.

My experience in China taught me a lot about a culture that is very different to my own. My Chinese speaking has also improved - which I am very proud of! The exchange was a once in a lifetime experience and I feel so privileged that I was able to go. I will remember it forever.

Lottie Milligan

Year 9

In May, the Computer Science department arranged to take a group of girls to the Rightmove Office, based in London.

During their time at the office, the girls learnt about the potential careers that Computer Science can open doors into, and how to cooperate efficiently as a team . Additionally, they took part in a fun activity that strengthened their team work skills and developed their knowledge of the roles that the women do at the company. They listened to a talk about what each job involves such as a Business Analyst, Web designer and Programmer as well as the coding they do to keep the site going. They were extremely kind and polite to us during our stay at their wonderful office.

The girls all had a fantastic time at Rightmove and are extremely thankful to the company and the Goffs staff for letting them have this experience.

Hasina Nessa

Head of Computer Science

On Tuesday 11th June 2019, Year 9 and Year 12 Computer Science students went to Bletchley Park National Museum of Computing for the day. The students arrived at the museum and were instantly taken on a tour of the dank and musty World War 2 code breaking facility. The students were greeted by gigantic, outdated machines, one of which still needed work before it could run and one which was in working order and was an astonishing 68 years old.

We took a walk the timeline of computing including old Apple and Microsoft computers. At the end of our tour we walked into a room full of retro games, This was the best part, there was PacMan, Space Invaders, Sonic the Hedgehog and some others.

After lunch we went into a room filled with old computers and we got the chance to code them with the set of instructions that they gave us and we created a snake game.

After we went into a room with modern laptops (finally) and tried to code an Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Riley Skillett and Chloe Gentleman

Year 9

The Semi-finals

On Friday 6th June the finalists from Years 7 to10 performed their winning speeches in front of their respective year groups, all in a bid to be crowned Goffs Academy Public Speaking Champion 2019. Harry Thurgood’s (Year 10) personal and emotive speech rendered the judging panel speechless, whilst Connor Mortimer’s (Year 7) speech ‘Why we should all be feminists’ epitomised the amazing talent and sophistication that our students here at Goffs are capable of. It is definitely worth noting the incredible bravery held by each student that participated as it is no mean feat to stand in front of an entire year group competing against some of the school’s best public speakers.

After much deliberation the following twelve students were selected to battle it out in the finals on the 26th July:

Year 7 - Connor Mortimer, Molly Reynolds, Travis Cunningham

Year 8 - Sharon Hood, Alyssa Chitolie, Meryem Tutuman

Year 9 - Ethan Yardley, Jessica Blake, Chloe Martyn

Year 10 - Leon Joseph, Abigail Hockney, Harry Thurgood

The Final

The day had arrived for our somewhat apprehensive finalists to perform their final speech to a panel consisting of our Principal: Mark Ellis, Chair of Trustees: Andrew Clarke and Whole School Literacy Coordinators: Ms Hawkridge and Miss Wakeling. Our finalists were invited to write a speech on the topic of fame – primarily who should be deserving of fame in modern society. As ever, our students were incredibly brave and the standard of speeches blew the judges away. It is worth noting a few memorable moments, such as Ethan Yardley’s speech on the responsibility of the media (which demonstrated outstanding heights of sophistication) and Jessica Blake’s impressive stage presence exuberating confidence throughout. After an extremely difficult discussion the panel finally agreed on our joint runners up:

Meryem Tutuman (Year 8)

Connor Mortimer (Year 7)

And our overall winner:

Sharon Hood (Year 8) - with an exceptional speech that demonstrated the power of poetry coupled with an emotive use of prose and personal anecdotes. With that said, we couldn’t be more proud of all our amazing students who participated, and will be looking to recruit new faces for the 2019 annual Mayor’s Debate! Stay tuned…

Eleanor Wakeling

Whole School Literacy Coordinator

Students have been working towards completing their Duke of Edinburgh Bronze and Silver Awards this year.

Year 10 students completed their Bronze practice and assessment expedition weekends this year. The students practised their navigation skills in Thetford during April for the practise expedition then worked well together in their groups to navigate the footpaths surrounding Tring during the assessment weekend. We were especially pleased to receive feedback from the campsite owners who commented on their outstanding behaviour during our stay.

Five Year 13 students completed their Silver expedition on 28th-30th June in the rural areas of Tring. The determined five successfully walked 35 kilometres in total through the blistering heat of the weekend and managed to rest with lengthy games of Uno once settled at the campsites.

Thank you to all the staff that assisted with these expeditions.

Mrs Swaile & Miss Fleeman

Duke of Edinburgh Coordinators

As part of their revision programme before the summer exams, our Year 13 Chemists took part in the 'Spectroscopy in a Suitcase' workshop. This workshop was run by students from UCL, a university which two of our students had in their choices for next year, and supported by the Royal Society of Chemistry.

The students were given an overview of different types of spectroscopy used in Chemistry and worked through a number of problem solving tasks to identify the molecules from their spectroscopic data.

The team from the RSC also brought with them an infra-red (IR) spectrometer and a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer. These were mini versions of the type used in universities and industry and allowed the students to run spectra themselves using equipment which they would not have been able to access at school.

The workshop increased the confidence of our young people working with spectral analysis and the engagement of students was praised by our visitors.

Liz Nicholson

Teacher of Science

During our first year of sixth form at Goffs, 15 of our GBA group worked together to improve employability skills. We audited our skills at the start of the course, and throughout the year,we developed key skills in teamwork, communication, leadership and money management. In our first term, we participated in a ‘tenner challenge’ in which we created enterprises with the budget of just £10. Across the group enterprises ranged from a cross bar challenge, car washing, snack shop in half term for students on exam intervention, and a film viewing with popcorn. This allowed us to expand our skills in working cost effectively within a team.

Following on from this, our next enterprise was selling a range of organic and/or fair trade products throughout the school whilst trying to maximise profits. This was particularly useful in developing our selling skills and ensured we looked for what products sold the most and targeted the right customers to sell at the highest price. Unsurprisingly, teachers were an easy customer base for the chocolate and fair trade coffee!

Finally, in the summer term we focused on developing our employability skills through developing our CV’s and personal statements. We also carried out extensive research in possible future careers, apprenticeships and possible university courses. This allowed us to have a wider understanding of possible careers and studies post our Sixth Form journey.

Ultimately, GBA has given us an insight into the skills and determination required to build a business. It also enabled us to focus on skills that would equip us well for the world of business.

If students wish to join the GBA in Year 12 next year then they can speak with Mrs Bailey in the Business Studies department.

Lucy Harris

Year 12

In another stunning year filled with activities, excitement and promotion, the CCF cadets at Goffs Academy have shone across the board. The cadets have marched, ambushed, kayaked, abseiled and 'bashered up" amongst a whole host of different activities through the year. Every Tuesday throughout the year, the students have attended St Edmunds school to parade and be taught the many skills required to be a cadet, as well as taking part on a range of activities such as shooting, how to use a ration kit, perform first aid in the field and how to march correctly.

In addition, students have attended many trips which all culminated in a six day summer camp which saw new CCF Under Officer Mr Gill on his first residential with the cadets. To say the week was packed is an understatement, every day was full of thrills, challenges, military precision and very little sleep! The event gave our cadets the opportunity to show their full range of skills in the presence of other CCF contingents and we are proud to say that they were exceptional and did the school proud. In particular it is worth mentioning Lance Corporal Jackson who obtained his Marksman standard on the rifle range, and Corporal Curtis for his sterling efforts in their last summer camp.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate every cadet who achieved a promotion this year:

• Corporal Curtis

• Lance Corporal Zaliaduonis

• Lance Corporal Lines

• Lance Corporal Collins
  

Sadly, we are losing some dedicated cadets this year as they venture off to start their careers or further education. Every single cadet brings so much to Goffs Academy and St Edmunds CCF Contingent and you will be missed by everyone next year. We would like to thank the following for your hard work, determination and resilience this year:

• Corporal Curtis

• Lance Corporal Jackson
  

• Cadet Pottle

• Cadet Warner

• Cadet Brown

• Cadet Smith

Finally, we would like to take the opportunity to thank the cadets, their parents and the CCF for their ongoing support of this wonderful programme, and wish everyone a restful summer so we are ready to go in September with full enthusiasm.

Second Lieutenant Scripps & Under Officer Gill

Directors of Combined Cadet Force (CCF)

We were delighted to welcome a group of Spanish students to our school this term. They were all partnered with students from Years 7-10 and attended all of their lessons. It was great to see Goffs students speaking in Spanish with our visitors.

A big thank you to the following students who will all be awarded R4s:

Year 7: Nathan Hyde Ethan Milbourn

Year 8: Freya Hackett Kayla Gulsel

Year 9: Chloe Flunder Marianna Theodorou

Harrison Champion Isabelle Mannan

Year 10 : Kara Harvey-Hill Anastasia Holland

A few words from our students:

“I’ve had a great experience looking after Edurne, my Spanish student. She has improved my Spanish and made me laugh. I’ll be sad to see her leave!” Chloe Flunder

“I really enjoyed having Amaia with me. It was good to always have someone to talk to in Spanish. We will be keeping in touch and I’ll miss her!” Marianna Theodorou

“I’ve enjoyed spending time with Hugo and I have helped him improve his English. We’ve also spoken in Spanish a little and this has helped me lots!” Harrison Champion

Comments from some of the Spanish students:

“My favourite thing about the school was the people because they were lovely! My Goffs partner was very helpful!” Ana López.

“I enjoyed the new lessons . I loved Psychology and Food Technology - they were so interesting! I loved the food at the canteen too- it was amazing. Thank you for making this possible!” Amaia López

“Thanks for teaching me about the culture, traditional English food, and helping me with my English. Thank you so much!” Hugo Antón

As you will hopefully have seen from previous newsletters, Year 9 Art have been involved in the HEART Project run by Broxbourne Wildlife Park (Helping Endangered Animals by Recycling Trash), alongside other schools in the region. Our students have been exploring how so much of our rubbish is not recycled or recyclable; it has been quite an eye opener. Our students created two African painted dogs with an African backdrop. All of the sculptures produced were made solely from rubbish (recyclable and non-recyclable - apart from the glue and tape used to fix parts). Students used techniques such as weaving plastic and used ironing and heat guns to laminate and fuse parts together.

The piece went on display at the park in late May. Aaron Whitnall who now runs the park with his family, came to speak to us about the project. This project has helped to raise money to buy an anti-poaching vehicle for a wildlife park in Africa. Many wild animals are left orphans as their parents are killed by poachers for money; many of these orphans do not survive. This truck will ensure that some of these animals survive, therefore protecting species from possible extinction. Aaron told us how his Grandfather purchased the park back in the 1960s, originally for his coach business. As a young boy, Aaron lived in a house with a lioness! He also told us about how much it costs to run Paradise, which we were rather taken back to discover!

As a thank you for taking part, all students involved were given a discount ticket and we have the opportunity to have a guided tour of the park. We will also be adopting one of their many animals. We also were given a mascot for the class of a lion, made out of recycled ‘flip flops’.

Tiff Brown

Head of Art & Photography

On Friday 5th July, Year 12 Art and Photography visited the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy. This famous exhibition has been running without break since 1769, and is a great way to see well known artists exhibit alongside lesser known artists. The aim of the trip was for students to gather primary research for their A2 Personal Investigation. The exhibition displays over 1500 pieces of art in all sorts of medium: painting, sculpture, photography, printmaking and architectural design.

https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/summer-exhibition-2019?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIpJ-087yl4wIVzJztCh1YaAfIEAAYAiAAEgIP5vD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Tiff Brown

Head of Art & Photography

On Thursday 11th July, we welcomed four classes of new Year 6 students into the Art Department. We explored the work of Russian painter, Wassily Kandinsky. Kandinsky had a condition called ‘synaesthesia’. This is a mix up in the sense responses and in his case he saw vivid representations of colour when he heard music.

The classes worked in groups and created large A1 responses using oil pastel, whilst listening to Moby’s ‘Porcelain’. They used colour, shape and patterns to represent the layers of the music they heard and created some fantastic abstract pieces. They all collaborated on their pieces really well. We look forward to welcoming them in September.

Tiff Brown

Head of Art and Photography

We are very proud to announce that Beth Forrow, Year 13 student (pictured right below), has won a bronze medal at the Junior European Championships in the C1 event.

Beth had qualified through from the semi-final as the fastest competitor, beating all U23 athletes, however the final race was a tough one! She hit a rock during the this race and capsized, whilst on target to win gold, but recovered her run within seconds to spectacularly win a bronze medal.

She has now moved on to Krakow in Poland to train and prepare to race in the World Junior Championships. All at Goffs wish Beth the best of luck for another world medal!

On the 6th and 7th of June, Goffs' dancers performed in the show ‘All around the world.’ The students did an incredible job and were an absolute credit to the school. The money raised from the raffle and refreshments was donated to the Helen Rollason Cancer Charity; a charity which aims to provide a better quality of life for cancer patients and their families. We managed to raise a huge £828.47, and I know they are so grateful for the donation. We had a representative from the Helen Rollason charity watching the show on the Friday night. She said the show was ‘one of the best she has ever seen.’ Well done to all that were involved; Miss Fleet and Miss Hockley are extremely proud of all of you and are blown away by your talent!

Emma Fleet

Teacher of PE and Dance

As a department we always look forward to an excellent County and District season. We are blessed with some fantastic athletes at Goffs; those who represented the school did themselves proud in competing in a variety of disciplines and making the department very happy with their contribution and efforts.

Two typical students in this category are Year 9 student Isaac Bode and student Year 8 Sharon Hood who always perform phenomenally in Athletics competitions, the former often winning his 100m races at both County and District competitions. Sharon has undertaken her events with a smile and a steely determination, also often coming first in the 100m. However, this year we have also had some outstanding performances from Year 7 students in the District Athletics competitions, with Nate Shivrattan-Scott winning the 1500m, Freya Brown winning her Hurdles heat and finishing second overall and Annabel Creer winning the 200m and finishing second in the Long Jump.

Our Year 8 students have also fared well with Harry Brunton winning a Hurdles event, Mason Rolfe winning his 200m County final and second place finishes for Jake Simson in the Long Jump.

Richard Ashdown

Head of PE

The Year 7s have the biggest squad and it is great to see so many students interested in getting involved. Unfortunately the results have not yet matched the enthusiasm, and we have lost the two games we played. Some notable student performances have come from Nakai Solomon, Bobby Blackford, Alfie Tilley, Freddie Norman and Jack Kiamil, although all students involved have been a pleasure to coach and I look forward to taking them to at least the semi-finals next year!

The Year 8 team have suffered due to the weather and have only played one game as a squad, with a loss to John Warner. It was a fantastic bowling performance by Zain Abid and Leo Holland, however we hadn’t put enough runs on the board to see the game out, and John Warner completed the win with two overs to spare. This is a talented year group backed up by the Year 7 students, so I’m hoping for a better faring (and weather) next year.

The Year 9 team reached the District semi-final after gaining enough points to finish second through runs scored and wickets obtained, despite not winning a game in the group stage. They played Simon Balle at St Margaretsbury CC which made for a special game. The boys fielded and bowled well, but it was their batting and decisions when in bat that cost them; losing by 37 runs in the end. They will need to work that little bit harder next year to gain a trophy.

The Year 10 cricket team also reached the District semi-final after a good win against Freman College and a loss to Leventhorpe School. Jack Coppola has been one of the outstanding performers for the team despite being a Year 9 student, gaining key wickets and racking up the runs. They play their semi-final on Thursday 11th July and we hope for a positive result.

Richard Ashdown

Head of PE

Rounders has seen an improvement in numbers and successes this year. The Year 7 girls were determined to succeed and made a huge improvement in their performance and learnt how to work effectively as a team. Exceptional communication and decision making were demonstrated by Hannah Gibson and Poppy Gualitieri.

The Year 8 Rounders team were consistent with their high standard performances throughout all of their friendly matches. Deservedly they won the District Rounders tournament due to their dedication and team spirit. The district winners were; Chloe Ions, Zara Spence, Chloe Dwyer, Laci Hawkins, Lyndsey Engelbrecht, Josie Lewis, Sharon Hood, Holly Barnham, Summer and Ellie Young. This was an outstanding performance; one which the school and the PE department are very proud of.

Lynsey Hague

2nd in PE

A Year 13 student approached me earlier in the year about running a self defence class, which was something I was really keen to do for her. It did take longer than I had hoped to organise, but Chris Clarry came to our aid and undertook a 6 week block for the girls. This was a fantastic opportunity for them to get a simple guide into how to get out of confrontational situations should they have no option to run or avoid the situation. Chris was a really enthusiastic external coach, a thoroughly nice guy, had a good rapport with the girls and seemed to take great satisfaction in demonstrating a few moves on my poor neck and arm!

This is an initiative we would like to run again for any students who didn’t get a chance to participate in it this year so keep your eyes out for advertisements of it in the next academic year.

Richard Ashdown

Head of PE

The Goffs Sports Academy has had another successful year consisting of 30 successful applicants who have helped endlessly within the school and the local community. The leaders have dedicated their time to help increase participation and lead extra-curricular clubs, house competitions and primary school sport events. The highlight of the year was the sports leaders' planning and running the Sixth Form team building induction. They were enthusiastic and confident in giving large group instructions, demonstrating how their leadership skills have developed over the year. A special mention must go to Emma Jeeves and Mickie Palfreman who have exceeded expectations as sports leaders and have been an inspiration to other learners.

Lynsey Hague

2nd in PE

On the week commencing 8th July, Goffs students took part in a variety of sporting events for Sports Week. This consisted of tutor group Dodgeball and Rounders competitions and all of the Athletics field events for Years 7, 8, 9 and 12.

A very high standard was set from the first Year 7 boys’ game to the last Year 12 girls’ match. The tournaments allowed each tutor group to play at least three games of Dodgeball and Rounders and score points based on where they finished in the overall tournament. The games through all year groups had high levels of intensity and the skill levels on show were of an excellent calibre. The encouragement and attitude shown from the students throughout the week were tremendous[E1] . A big congratulations to all of the students as everyone got involved to work towards gaining points for their House.

On Wednesday 10th July, we also held a whole school sports afternoon for Years 7, 8, 9 and 12. This afternoon allowed students to compete in a variety of the track events in Athletics. The crowd of students and teachers were extremely enthusiastic throughout the afternoon and cheered on all of the competitors. The sporting talent that we have at this school is outstanding; all students that took part in any race should be extremely proud of themselves.

It goes without saying that all students that demonstrated excellent sportsmanship deserve to be branded as winners, however one particular House did score an amazing amount of points. This year’s Sports Week positions are:

4th Place: Hawk

3rd Place: Phoenix

2nd Place: Falcon

1st Place: Eagle

Many thanks to all students and teachers who got stuck into the biggest competition! Bring on next year where we hope to see the same intensity and nail-biting moments as the students cross the finish lines!

The PE Department

A mixed 11-18 comprehensive Academy with approximately 1450 students on roll, including a thriving and successful Sixth Form. Our Academy is extremely popular in the local area, with an average of over 800 applications annually for the 240 places available, and significant waiting lists for places across the year groups.

Email: admin@goffs.herts.sch.uk
Website: goffs.herts.sch.uk
Location: Goffs Academy, Goff's Lane, Cheshunt, Waltham Cross, UK
Phone: 01992424200