Shirebrook Academy

The dual specialisms of the Academy are science and construction. These specialisms build on the links with the Academy sponsors All Roads and Sheffield Hallam University. The specialisms will serve to enhance our broad and balanced curriculum. The Academy will make links with a range of experts from industry and the community to enhance the learning and opportunities which are offered to our students. This will include working with STEM POINTS and STEM ambassadors. These links will particularly be used to enhance teaching and learning in the specialist subjects.
The Specialism Strategy Group are a cross curricular group which meets on a half termly basis to discuss how the specialism can be developed in all areas of the school. The strategy group are currently planning National Science and Engineering Week. During National Science and Engineering week all curriculum areas in the school develop activities on a cross curricular theme. In 2011 the theme will be sustainability.

Science and engineering week 2011

Shirebrook Academy took part in National Science and Engineering week by looking at sustainability and how this is communicated. Activities included:
• Science: Year 8 students were able to design and build wind turbines in order to make them as efficient as possible. The students were able to consider the designs and data for the wind turbine which will form part of the new Academy building.
• Design and technology: students in Year 7 were able to build solar powered games and make clothes from recycled materials
• English: students in Y7 were able to design and describe a garden which would allow them to be self sufficient
• Arts: students were able to build instruments from recycled materials
• Maths: students considered energy reports linked to wind turbines
• ICT: students were able to use spreadsheets to consider energy use
• Humanities: students in Y9 sought sustainable ways of helping people who live in French Guiana. The winning form were 9JF who designed Filter Phil to help supply clean drinking water and provide solar power to a number of homes within a village. All of the ideas were presented to a dragons den style panel.
• During form time students considered how to reduce the schools energy use and were able to give points to staff for leaving lights and computers on. The staff and students were successful in reducing the energy use by 7% in one week. They were also asked to recycle batteries with several form groups collecting in over 100 batteries for recycling.
• Information was sent home to all parents with information on how they could consider reducing energy use at home.
The staff and students had a fabulous week and many of the sustainability activities will continue as the Academy looks forward to its new build.

K’nex challenge
On 17 November 2010 students in Year 6 were able to take part in the official opening of Shirebrook Academy by taking part in a K’nex challenge. Teams of students worked together to design and build models of a new playground area for Shirebrook. The students first selected a location within Shirebrook for the playground and identified the reasons for the selection. Each team also had to identify which materials they would use to build their equipment for real. In order to make these decisions students needed to discuss which properties of the materials made them suitable for inclusion within a childrens playground. The students approached the problem presented in a range of different ways but each team worked together to decide on the best solution. It was fantastic to see the students working together and sharing a range of different ideas.
The morning was supported by Graham Lee and Ruth Biddulph of Bowmer Kirkland who supported the teams by acting as mentors and experts in the field. Whilst Graham and Ruth made the decisions about which teams had won the students evaluated their projects identifying what they would do differently next time. Suggestions included more space and including a fence around the playground so that parents would know where their children were.
The winning teams from Langwith Bassett, Whaley Thorns and Brookfield each received a box of K’nex for their schools.

Construction and the built environment taster day
Sixty Year 9 students were able to take part in a construction day on 23 November which had been organised in partnership with the Construction Industry Council (CIC). The students were able to take part in a range of activities aimed at raising their awareness of courses and careers in construction. The activities included the bridges to schools project run by the Institution for Civil Engineers, Town planning delivered by Planning Aid, an architecture session run by Bond Bryan and Aim Higher and a careers session provided by CIC, Construction Skills council and Chesterfield College.

Visit to Astrazeneca
On 9 February thirteen Year 10 students and three members of staff visited the Astrazeneca research and development site at Alderly Park near Macclesfield. The students were able to learn about the process which is used to design and develop new medical drugs. The students were given tours of the laboratories as each step of the process was explained by the scientists who work in each area. One of the highlights of the day was a visit to the 3D room where students were able to visualise is 3D how drugs fit into the active sites of proteins. These images were available due to the x-ray crystallography of the protein-drug combination.