Academy News

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Academy News
Friday 7th November 2008
Obamania Hits BDA!
Dear Students and Parents, The Academy has been
buzzing this week following the success of Barack
Obama in Tuesdays presidential election.  So
what can we at Burlington Danes learn from the
extraordinary rise of the first African American
president?   Perhaps Obamas victory is a
reminder that success in life is open to us all,
regardless of age, race or social background. 
Barack Obama was raised by a single mother in
Hawaii and Indonesia. Success at school enabled
him to attend
university, before beginning a career in
community relations, law, and then politics.
Confidence and commitment, combined with an
ability to connect with a wide range of people,
have enabled him to gain the most powerful job in
the world. In Britain we are still looking
forward to our first non-white Prime Minister. 
The events of this week suggest that the best
jobs in the world are open to us all.
All students will have their photograph taken
next week. These will be available for parents
to purchase before Christmas. Make sure you are
looking smart!
Photographs
Sneak Preview - Next Week at a Glance
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Year by Year
Good afternoon Year 8. I hope you have all had
a positive first week back after the half term
break and have settled in nicely into the Stanley
Fink Building. The Chessington trip last half
term was absolutely fantastic and make sure you
look out for some amazing photographs which are
going to be on display very soon.   Congratulation
s to our new student of the week, Edward Sutton
(8L) who has had a whole heap of mentions in the
day book already this week! Well done Edward. Ms
Aitken
The Year 7 rank orders have now been produced
based on the recent Progress Exams and pupils
will change classes, if necessary, from Monday
morning. All pupils will have a meeting with
either Ms Mintey or myself in the coming weeks in
order to improve or consolidate their position in
the year group.   30 pupils will be going to
Nandos in Westfield on 20/11/08 for a meal paid
for by the school to recognise their achievement
in gaining the most merits in their Advisory in
the first half term. Congratulations to all of
those students.   Mr Maslona
 
I hope youve all enjoyed your new form rooms
in the Stanley Fink building! You now have state
of the art facilities and you should feel really
privileged. Your English and Maths teachers, who
are also your advisors, have high expectations of
how youre going to perform in these new
classrooms - dont let them down.   Well done to
those of you who impressed your advisors with
your exercise books on Tuesday morning. We will
do that again soon so make sure your books are
kept in good order.
In year 10 our sights are firmly set on the
modular exams taking place over the next couple
of weeks in Maths and Science. Students will be
given opportunity for revision during advisory
periods, but will obviously need to spend
considerable amounts of their own time revising
too. Important Dates Maths Modular Exam
Thursday 13th November Science Modular Exam
Thursday 20th November As discussed in assembly,
theres no such thing as good luck, only good
preparation. Mr Jerred
Mr Benson
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It was good to see so many of year 11 students
in for revision during the holiday. Well
done. You must know by now about all the exams
you have coming up in the next 2 weeks in Science
and Maths, and you must be revising for them. I
cannot stress enough how important they are.
Remember the countdown for your mock examination
is also on, so you must be spending at least an
hour and a half every evening revising.
Congratulations to the 15 students who got awards
in assembly today for achieving 200 or more
merits last half term. Start banking those
merits now so you can be in the top 10 to
achieve an award at the end of term. Ms Annan
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Notice Board
BDA Sixth Form visits the BBC
Gifted and Talented
On Thursday evening Burlington Danes hosted its
first ever Gifted and Talented evening, for
students who have been identified as possessing
notable skills in specific subjects.
BDA Sixth Form has already formed partnerships
with local corporations, such as the BBC.
Led by GT co-ordinator Ms Moule, students were
presented with a Blue Ribbon for their blazer.
Parents and students were then given a chance to
sample some of the activities we provide for our
most able students, such as the Debating Club,
early entry for GCSE and A Levels and our new
Sixth Form.
12 prospective Sixth Form students recently
visited BBC television centre, and happened to
see the final Jonathon Ross show being filmed
before he was suspended! Applications for the
Sixth Form are now being received.
PTA Meeting 13 November 2008
The Burlington Danes PTA is an exciting way to
get involved in the life of the school and
support both teaching and non-teaching staff to
get the very best for the children of the
Academy. We plan to have regular meetings to
discuss ways that we can all work together to
raise funds, encourage an achievement culture, or
just socialise and network in order to provide an
environment in which parents and teachers feel
comfortable working together. Research shows
that children in schools with a thriving PTA
achieve more and go on to be a greater success in
later life, a feature that I am keen to develop
here at Burlington Danes. Consequently I would
like to invite you to the next PTA meeting
scheduled for 6pm on 13 November 2008 in room
132. At this meeting we plan to discuss our
first event a quiz evening for parents and
teachers. Please note that this PTA meeting is a
business meeting for adults only and therefore
students are not required to attend on this
occasion. I do hope you are able to attend the
meeting next week. If you have any questions, or
would like to speak to me about the PTA generally
then please do not hesitate to contact Mr G Moore
here at the Academy. Mr G Moore, Assistant
Principal
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Key Dates 2008-09
Academy Holidays (all dates inclusive) Christmas
Monday 22nd DecemberTuesday 6th
January February Half Term Monday 16th - Friday
20th February Easter Friday 3rd Monday 20th
April May Half Term Monday 25th Friday 29th
May Summer Break Begins on Monday 20th
July Year by Year Year 7 Parents Evening
Thursday 20th November Monday 15th December
Hilltops Outward Bound Residential Parents
Evening Thursday 26th February Year 8 Parents
Evening Thursday 5th March Year 9 Parents
Evening Thursday 12th March Options Evening
Thursday 26th March Year 10 Parents Evening
Thursday 27th November Parents Evening
Thursday 14th May Work Experience Monday 22nd
June Friday 3rd July Year 11 8-18 December
Mock Exams Parents Evening Thursday 22nd
January Sixth Form Evening Tuesday 3rd
February Sixth Form Taster Day Monday 13th
July Other Events Thursday 13th November PTA
Meeting Wednesday 19th November Official
opening, Stanley Fink Building. Monday 1st
December Staff Training, no students in
school Wednesday 3rd December Christmas
Concert Thursday 15th January PTA
Meeting Thursday 26th February PTA
Meeting 24th and 25th March Musical Production
Evening Thursday 23rd April PTA
Meeting Monday 4th May Bank Holiday
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In the House
All students and staff in our school community
belong to a House. Make sure you know what house
you are in and pay close attention to the words
of your Head of House below.
CHANGE HAS COME!!! Marie Curie has helped
towards this vision of change giving hope to all
people.   Equality is at the heart of every
Colossian. Lets put aside all prejudice, may it
be colour, class, sex, religion or any form of
social barriers.
What a fantastic start the Philippians have made
to the new academic year. The first inter-house
sports event took place on the 21st 22nd of
October. The Table Tennis tournament saw an
emphatic win for the Philippians house in the
overall competition. Fabian Piotrowski beat
Leshae Reid-Clementson in the final of the Year 8
competition and Montell Maurictte-Hawkins won the
Year 7 tournament. Well done boys!
I want to congratulate all Corinthians on their
continued efforts within the academy and for
spreading the message of love! Here is a summary
of our message   Love is patient, love is kind.
Love does not insist on its own way. Love bears
all things, believes all things. Hopes all
things, endures all things. Love never fails.
I Corinthians 134-8
Salutations Galatians I welcome you back with
very big open arms and very big smile, I hope you
had a wonderful Half term break. It is important
that every Galatian remembers our core
beliefEquality for all. Burlington Danes Academy
is a community with ethos that is all about
achievement, success and equality for both Staff
and pupils.

• Once more, I would like to say Congratulations
  to the Ephesians for playing an active role
  during the House competitions. Our commitment
  remains the same- winning', not in the sports
  sense of beating your opponent but by seeing the
  team succeed and knowing you have contributed to
  the success.
• The journey has just begun Ephesians! Nothing can
  stop us now from achieving as a team!

Fellow Romans, congratulations on being lucky
enough to be a Roman. I look forward to working,
and winning, with you during the year. Well done
to those who participated so well in the table
tennis tournament. A special mention must go to
Ahmed Nur who won the Year 9 event. Overall we
finished in 2nd place next time I want
1st!    What we do in life, echoes in eternity
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Last Words
Principals Commendation for Student Leadership
I would like to recognise the ongoing efforts of
our team of student ambassadors, who have already
contributed to a number of academy events. At
last nights Gifted and Talented Evening our
ambassadors played a key role, with a special
mention to Mohamed Abubaker who impressed us all
with his maturity and charm.
Word Search 6 Vital Organs
Brain Heart Liver Lungs Skin Stomach 
Quotation of the Week
Barack Obama We are the ones weve been waiting
for. We are the change that we seek.

• 5 Facts you might not know about Libya
• Your weekly guide to obscure facts and figures
  from the BDA community of countries, provided by
  Head of Learning Support Mr Preston.
• The name Libya originates from a name by which
  the ancient Egyptians knew a particular Berber
  tribe, Libo. The Greeks used the name Libya to
  apply to most of North Africa.
• The capital, Tripoli was founded by the
  Phoenicians and expanded by the Romans.
• Libya has no natural rivers.
• Libya is the only country with a
  single-coloured flag. Its green.
• 95 of Libya is covered by the Sahara Desert.
  The Arabic word Sahara means desert so we are
  actually saying desert desert