Kepier Summer Concert

On Monday 10th July Kepier hosted it's annual Summer Concert featuring around 60 learners from across all our year groups, including some of our Year 11 learners who have just left us but came back to take part in the event.

In front of an audience of around 150 people, the school orchestra and choir performed a range of classic and modern songs and orchestral pieces, and as always put on a brilliant show.

Head of Music at Kepier John Hall said "this is always a great night, and it's lovely to see those who have just left us coming back to perform, and the newest members of the orchestra and choir getting to perform in front of an audience for the first time. They all put an awful lot of work into rehearsing for the event, and should all be immensely proud of themselves."

Year 7 Reading Challenge

To encourage one of our Year 7 coaching groups to become more involved in reading, a 'million words' challenge was set for them.  With the help of our Literacy Coordinator Miss Sood and their Form Tutor Mr. Mason; and with the promise of edible rewards! - the learners encouraged each other to read more and take book quizzes which they did at break and lunchtimes, as well as at home.
With over a million words now read, our Principal Mrs. Cooper has now set them a two million word target in Year 8, something we are sure they will achieve!

Mr. Mason said "I'm extremely proud of the effort they have all made to read more, and it's lovely to see how much they have enjoyed it."

The Stephenson Trail Project

Learners from Kepier worked alongside tutors Stephanie Sykes, Dawn Routledge and Margaret Daglish from MBC Ceramics on a heritage inspired fused glass workshop to commemorate the importance of The Stephenson Trail in the Coalfields area of Sunderland. Participants learned about the important part the local area played in the history of locomotion in mining, as well as taking part in practical glass cutting and design activities. Learners engaged in work on how to use inclusions in glass, and learned about the chemistry behind glass fusing. Each learner created an individual glass tile, which will be fused alongside over 350 more individual pieces to create a steel, fused glass and light coal tub installation to commemorate this rich element of our local heritage. The project has been made possible by funding from The Sunderland Strategic Initiatives Board.

Young Writers Competition

Five learners from Kepier have been successful in a national 'Young Writers' competition, having submitted short stories around the theme of 'Fictional Worlds'.

Miss Cassidy, Teacher of English at Kepier said "as part of Kepier Academy's dedication to foster a love of writing in our school, a number of learners were recently entered into a national competition organised by Young Writers.  Learners were challenged to create a fictional world before writing a mini saga, a story in just 100 words, inspired by their world. Our entries ranged from tales of alternative, dystopian realities to a saga that explored ideas surrounding time. Five learners from the school have been selected to have their work published and also received a certificate in recognition of their efforts.'

Photographed with Miss Cassidy are Jake, Keira, Kieron and James, together with Principal Nicky Cooper.

English Schools' Track and Field Championships

Kepier are delighted to have had 3 students selected to run for Durham County at the English Schools' Track and Field Championships in Birmingham on 7th and 8th July.

Bearing in mind the strong competition for places, this is a fantastic achievement both for the school which, despite our very strong record across all sports, have never had this kind of representation at this event, and for the three learners involved. Jonny Langley, who has just completed Year 11, will represent Durham County in the Intermediate Boys' 1500m Steeplechase; Henry Johnson (Year 9) in the Junior Boys' 1500m; and Will Bellamy (Year 9) in the Junior Boys' 1500m

Principal Nicky Cooper said "the boys have worked extremely hard and I am very proud of them.  You could not meet three more focused and dedicated children."  

Sun FM's 'Next Generation Water Safety Campaign 2017'.

Miss White and a small group of our Year 7 learners have been working through the rounds of  Sun FM's 'Next Generation Water Safety Campaign 2017'.

Competing against groups of learners from KS4 (Year 9 - 11) from across the city, who had the opportunity to  record campaigns in professional studios, our group of learners, under the tutelage of Miss White, managed to come a most creditable 3rd in the final presentations to Sun FM earlier this week, despite only having 24 hours to prepare.

Miss White said "we managed to get down to the final four which meant that we were invited to a tour of the Sun FM studios, met the presenters, had a brief 'shout out' on live radio and took part in a training session of how radio adverts are made and received advice on how to create our presentation. All those involved should be immensely proud of themselves."

Miss White is pictured with Lily-Marie, Nikki, Jasmine, Holly and Sarah, who attend the after school drama club Miss White runs, and their award.

Visit from multi Guinness World Record Holder, Ian Drummond

Just before half term, Kepier were delighted to welcome Ian Drummond from Team 3Sixty, a bicycle stunt team based in Houghton-le-Spring.

Ian performed numerous stunts for a group of our Sports Leaders from Key Stage 3 (Year 7, 8 and 9) and talked to them about how he got into the world of bicycle stunts and displays.

Ian holds the following Guinness World Records:

1) Longest bunny hop on a bicycle
2) Highest drop onto a target which he broke twice
3) Highest 180 bunny hop on a bicycle
4) Most consecutive bunny hops which I broke 2 twice

That’s 6 official Guinness records in total, and the 3Sixty team have broken 11 records in total.

Ian said "I attended Kepier to show pupils our display and talk about how I turned a hobby into a successful lifestyle business. It was the hottest show I’ve done this year with the afternoon sun being at its peak and I was very impressed with how engaged the pupils were and how many questions they had for me throughout my visit."