Arts Week
March 2009

John Madejski Academy Arts Week got off to a great start with Monday evening’s amazing art exhibition and fantastic double bill of Shakespeare. Performances of Hamlet and The Tempest proved how talented and committed our students are. They even won an award for their performance on Thursday's Award Evening. The dramatic theme was continued on Tuesday evening with the brilliant Sixth-Form production of the classic Abigail'sParty. Wednesday evening gave the singers their chance to shine their evening of ABBA favourites proved very entertaining!

During the week numerous activities took place around the school. Live statues were created in the Agora, samba drummers took to the streets, giant fish were constructed, bands performed, junior school students came to taster sessions in Art, Drama and Music, lots of cross-curricular lessons took place, and a GTI Music Academy competition saw Nathan Hamblin win a recording deal. What a week!

The Awards Evening on Thursday was a real celebration for the Arts Directorate; a chance to showcase how talented, dedicated and full of potential our students are. The Academy paparazzi were on hand at the start of the evening to snap the guests as they arrived on the red carpet. Performances of the evening included a Year 7’s interpretation of The Ramayana, a story told through Javanese shadow puppetry, Gamelan music and dance, and sketches from Gareth Davidson, Jedina Pocock and Alisha di Bartolomeo. Over 50 awards were given out across the four Arts subjects: Art, Drama, Media and Music. The biggest Arts award of the evening was presented to a highly deserving Steph Harris.

No resting on its laurels though, the Arts Directorate will have summer term productions of The Wind in the Willows and The Motown Revue Tour. Watch this space for more information!

Most Improved School: Southern Region
February 2009

At a celebration dinner in London, Principal Catherine Shaw, picked up the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust Award for Most Improved School in the Southern Region. Well done, everyone.

Let's have a heated debate!
February 2009

The second University of Reading Street Law and John Madejski Academy Debating Competition Final was held last night at the University’s Law School. The initial rounds whittled the 76 students down to a final 12, who took part in the final last night.

The motion stated that ‘the house believes that schools should be able to issue Anti Social Behaviour Orders’ and was vigorously debated.

The final winners were year 10 students Jordan Bowyer and Nathan Stevens, with year 9 runners up Jamie Willmott and Callum Black. A special award was also given to Jason Green for his outstanding public speaking. Both the school and the University are already looking forward to next year’s competition.

Say no to knives
January 2008

JMA students watched a presentation by The New Destiny Trust about knife crime awareness. They spoke frankly about their personal experiences, and why young people should avoid the use of weapons, specifically knives. Students from years 8, 9 and The Sixth Form took part, all of whom enjoyed the experience and really benefited from the passionate and personal delivery.

And now for something completely different!
December 2008

The JMA Christmas Show was a huge success! The hall was packed full of parents, governors, staff and students all supporting the wonderful musicians, singers and actors on stage.

Performances included  Do They Know It's Christmas Time? By the Year 10 BTEC Performing Arts Group (Stacey Kurton, Nathan Stevens, Nathan Hamblin, Ruby Howes, Nicole Young, Rebekah Smith) Last Christmas by Brandon Hussain and Zarmane Dogar, Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree and Winter Wonderland by The JMA Choir, Silent Night by Nathan Hamblin an some show stealing comedy from Gareth Davidson.

The festive atmosphere was made complete by the Christmas crackers, outfits, music, laughs and mince pies. A great way to start the holidays.

Two years old!
December 2008

To mark the Academy’s second anniversary a Celebration Evening was held to honour the success of our leavers in their examinations and the achievements of other students who excelled in their progress and work.

Joining us to celebrate were Anthony Hudson, (Chair of Governors), Dame Kelly Holmes and Chris Armstrong (Reading FC) as well as staff, students and parents.

After a welcome address from the Chair of Governors Year 11 students were presented with certificates and books they had chosen by Mr French and Dame Kelly Holmes. Special awards were given to Danielle Opara who won Sports Personality of the Year and Charlotte Busby who received the Principal’s Award.

To round off the evening Nicole Young and Nathan Stevens, two of our students, spoke about their lives at the Academy, the opportunities they had been offered and the successes they had enjoyed.

Dame Kelly Holmes gave an inspirational talk about her life as an athlete and stayed until 9:30 to give autographs and pose for photos.

Take a look at out photo page here

Despite the freezing cold the JMA Drummers performed valiantly in Reading town centre to a very appreciative crowd!

Our drumming project was run in conjunction with Berkshire Maestros and Whitley Park Junior School.

Your tale, sir, would cure deafness
The Tempest 1.2

Much excitement surrounded John Madejski Academy students at The BBC Shakespeare Festival in Maidenhead last term when they performed The Tempest. Vanessa
Lorriman was, undoubtedly the star of the show, she has been presented with the 2008 Arts Directorate award for Year 8.

City Girls show us how its done
July 2008

The girls went down a storm!

Their dance routines were brilliant and really got the crowd psyched up! We think the boys fell in love (they didn't stop talking about the band for weeks afterwards) and the girls were awed by what ambition can achieve.

A fab afternoon's entertainment which the students and staff will not forget.

Thanks City Girls!

Sixth-formers have their say
11 July 2008

Jordan Crick, Grant Byrne and Martyn Jarvis took part in a Ministerial Consultation Event for young people this week.

The event aims to help generate feedback directly from young people that can help advise the Government when making final decisions about what new laws it will introduce to Parliament in the coming year.

BBC South Today were at the event, see our students' video here

Winnie's a Sparks top-five
24 June 2008

18-year-old, Winnie Oudemans thought of her idea for a web-based one-stop-resource-shop for prospective university students whilst she was going through the university application process herself.

When she submitted her idea to The Bright Ideas Trust and Virgin Media's Sparks competition the judges were so impressed that she was given a top five place.

Congratulations Winnie, and good luck in all your future projects, we know you will do well.

JMA Diploma Graduation
22 May 2008

This week saw our first year of graduations from the JMA Diploma course.

In order to graduate students must gain Diploma points from progress and target grades, House points, attendance, competencies and enrichment hours through the Academic year.

Students need 250 points to gain a bronze award, 350 for silver and 400 for Gold. They must gain over 250 to graduate to the next year group.

The Graduation ceremonies took place on Monday for Year 7, Tuesday for Year 8 and Wednesday for Years 9 and 10. During the ceremony students received their certificates with parents present.

We are delighted at our pass rate.
Year 7 – 98% graduated
Year 8 – 96% graduated
Year 9 – 96% graduated
Year 10 – 86% graduated

Well done everyone.

Academy wins Secondary School of the Year!
11 December 2007

Reading Sports Personality of the Year 2007 presented their Secondary School of the Year award to The John Madejski Academy during a glitzy ceremony at Rivermead. Lead Sports teacher at the Academy Adam Bousfield (pictured here with Councillor Paul Gittings) picked up the award which was given in recognition of the outstanding new sporting facilities, teaching and achievement.

Tony Blair opens the Academy
5 December 2007

It was a memorable day as the skies cleared for just long enough to allow us to seat the whole school and over 150 guests in the Agora for the Official Opening Ceremony of the John Madejksi Academy on Wednesday afternoon.

Tony Blair was all smiles as he delivered a heart-felt speech about education and the Academies programme. He was then taken on a tour of the school where he joined in various learning activities and witnessed some show case sporting action. He also cut the ribbon for the newly finished state-of-the-art Sports Hall.

Visit the Get Reading site here for a video of the events and visit our own monster photo gallery page - can you spot yourself?

Kes a roaring success!
December 2007

The John Madejski Academy's Christmas performance of an adaptation of Kes was roaring success!

An energising performance it made the audience laugh it made them cry.

The cast, including staff and students gave it their all and pulled off a brilliant erformance.

Special mention should go to James Rolfe who worked his socks off for 6 months to produce one of the best performances I have seen. James is to audition for the national Youth Theatre in May, so good luck to him.

The next school production will be Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, anyone who wishes to help or take part should contact Mr Robinson.

Academy wins Education Business Award
23 November 2007

The John Madejski Academy has won a 2007 Education Business Award, in the 'Academy Development Award' category. This award recognised a recently completed Academy project that has demonstrated sound project management and procurement skills in order to complete development on time and to budget. The award also recognised educational achievements including improvements in truancy. Massive congratulations to the whole Academy staff and project team for a well deserved award

Children In Need Day fun!
16 November 2007

In top charitable spirit we pulled out all the stops and organised lots of activities to raise money on Children in Need day.

During house time on Friday we ran a Beat the Teacher Penalty Shootout as well as other activities such as How Many Sweets in the Jar, Name the Jaguar and Treasure Hunt. Emma Godfrey from Lions house made Pudsey biscuits, cakes and sweetie bags which she sold with friends.

Students paid 50p to come to school in non-uniform to support Children In Need. Jessica Taylor, Emma Godfrey and Jedina Pocock from Yearr 8 were sponsored to wear pyjamas all day and managed to raise just over £120.

Students from Tiger house washed staff cars all week, in all weathers during break and house time and raised nearly £100.

Other students stayed behind after school with Mrs Tuck and Mrs Rawlinson to bake and ice cakes to sell on the day.

Panther house held a party before half term proceeds from this added towards a whopping total of £1097.26!!

Links to South Africa's Steynville Secondary School
October 2007

This month saw an intrepid trip by Lynne Carter (Vice Principal) and Nicole Abley (Advanced Skills Teacher) to make first contact with Steynville Secondary School in South Africa's Western Cape.

The partnership, between The John Madejski Academy and Steynville is supported by The British Council and Sports Trust and it aims to develop leadership through sport, as well as create links between the schools, teachers and their students.

The week began with a two day conference in Johannesberg, before the JMA teachers could visit the school. Here teachers shared and learnt about one anothers' cultures, as well as breaking down stereotype views. After this, the Lynne and Nicole observed lessons and chatted to the staff and students at SSS.

Nicole said, "It really opened my eyes to the similarities between children around the world. The students in Africa face many of the same issues and celebrations that ours do. I cannot wait for them to meet our stduents!"

Students enter the Lion's Lair
23 October 2007

With the help of some business coaching by Levi Roots of Reggae Reggae Source and Academy Governor Martin Salter MP students from the John Madejski Academy took part in Lion's Lair, a 'Dragon's Den' style activity with the aim of persuading local bsuiness men to invest in the Whitley Arts Festival.

Students pitched their ideas in a boardroom setup at the Verizon Business Park to the 'Lions' who were sat beside piles of money, waiting to be convinced to invest it.

Top chef cooks up a treat for Academy students
11 October 2007

Students in Year 10 received top pudding-making tips from Michelin-starred Alan Murchison of L’Ortolan restaurant when he hosted a cookery demonstration as part of South Reading’s the Family Learning Week.

Alan said: “I had first-hand experience as a teenage tearaway so I was delighted to be involved in an event that encourages local youngsters to think about their future and the opportunities open to them.” He is now considering offering two apprenticeships to students from the Academy to work in the restaurant.

Academy principle Catherine Shaw hopes the apprenticeships will start when the teenagers are in Year 11.

Nicole hits the headlines!
16 March 2007

Headlining in the TES magazine's article about new learning environments was Lead Media teacher Nicole Abley, talking about her new Media Centre at the Academy and the positive effect the new build is having on student behaviour and learning.

''Nicole and her students have been working in bright , airy splendour. The Academy's new, two-level media centre has white walls, proper ventilation and sound insulation, underfloor heating and a suite of 20 iMACS"

Read the entire article here

In a new initiative students at the John Madejski Academy will be using their mp3 players to access homestudy and lesson content. The A-level media class, pictured here with Lead Media teacher Ms Abley, were the first to use podcasting for this purpose, which will be used throughout the Academy next year.

Students are allowed to download educational resources and create them during lessons as well as listen to lessons again whenever they need to.

Making history
27 September 2006

History was made at the end of September as a time capsule filled with items chosen to reflect the spirit of the Academy and the news of the day was buried under the Agora walkway just outside what will be the reception area of the new Academy building.

A special ceremony, attended by students and staff of the Academy, the Sponsor, John Madejski and members of the project and building teams was held to mark the occasion.

Packed inside the lead capsule were an Academy tie and a Academy Sport T-shirt, the five Academy house cat badges, a Guardian newspaper of the day, a specially commisioned silver friendship challice, a poster showing the Reading Football team, two current cd chart singles from Shakira and DJ Shadow, a bar of Galaxy chocolate and a packet of Wrigleys peppermint chewing gum. Also inside was a DVD made by students on the A-Level Media course, interviewing staff and students about what they thought the Academy would be like in a hundred years time. This DVD was played for the press at the event and the Media students were invited to attend.

The lid was closed by the Sponsor John Madejski and students from the Academy helped to lower the capsule into the ground.

It's a wrap!
7 August 2006

In readiness for the launch of the Academy in September we have given the old Thamesbridge site buildings, which are to house the Academy temporarily until the start of 2007, a face lift.

We have commissioned a special semi-opaque wrap that has been carefully hung to cover the length of the dining hall. Its striking design really creates an impact and shows a labelled diagram of the new Academy buildings.

Students get the measure of the new Academy uniform
11 May 2006

There was much excitement in the hall at Thamesbridge on Thursday morning as students from current years 7 - 10 caught the first glimpse of the newly designed Academy uniform.

Modelled here by Martyn Jarvis and Sophie Brawn are the new American baseball-style fleece jackets in black with a blue lining and sleeve dart, and the blue Oxford cotton, short-sleeved shirts and blouses, which have the Academy initials embroidered on the sleeve.

There will also be a black tie, with a small cream lion motif in the bottom left hand corner, for all boys.

The students showed unanimous enthusiasm for the new uniform as they were measured up and everyone agreed that it looked very smart.

The Governors of the Academy are paying for a jacket and two shirts/blouses for each student and a tie for all boys. The rest of the uniform will consist of black trousers/skirt and black shoes which will need to be provided by parents/carers. As was detailed in a letter to parents, additional shirts can be ordered and bought at a cost of approximately £11.

John Madejski starts the building work
27 September 2005

The sun was shining on the bright new future for secondary education in south Reading as the turf cutting ceremony for the new John Madejski Academy took place. Sponsor John Madejski, Principal Catherine Shaw, Councillor Jon Hartley, Jeremy Eavis (Regional Director, Costain) and some lucky students from Thamesbridge College all gathered on the Hartland Road end of the site to officially start the building programme.

John Madejski showed great humour as he leapt into the driving seat of the JCB with Alisha Bartolomeo, Tara McCully, Bradley Lee, Liam Pyne, Leah Millard, Charlie Wood, Terri Trimby and Tyron Whale from years 7 and 8.

The local press and BBC Radio Berkshire were also at the event and captured the children asking questions about the new Academy and sharing their thoughts for the future.

Catherine Shaw joins the Academy
1 September 2005

Catherine Shaw began her post as the new Principal of the John Madejski Academy on 1st September 2005.

“This Academy is an amazing opportunity for the young people of Reading,” she said. “They deserve to have something very special. I feel extremely privileged to be part of this new sports Academy as sport is one of my passions. My aim, with the commitment of the whole community, staff, students and parents is to make the John Madejski Academy an outstanding school; a school that serves its community. The task ahead is both challenging and awesome.”

Catherine comes from Rossmore Community College in Poole where she proved herself to be a catalyst for change. She re-energised a whole community and created a place where young people and adults could learn at the same facilities.

As a true leader and innovator, Catherine believes in bringing together a wide variety of agencies to create a fantastic and vibrant centre for education.

Catherine’s vision is to make the John Madejski Academy the heart of the community, a place where all individuals in it are valued and nurtured, and that applies to her staff too.

Newsletter archive:

During the building work, in collaboration with Costain our building contractors, we have produced a number of newsletters.

You can download a pdf of these from the links below:

May 2006 (510 kb pdf)
February 2006 (403 kb pdf)
November 2005 (396 kb pdf)
September 2005 (281 kb pdf)

Press release archive:

Clipping from Building Services Journal
(1mb pdf)
Clipping from Architecture Today (827 kb pdf)
Time Capsule Burial (35.5 kb pdf)

New Principal for the Academy (36 kb pdf)
Schools minister's Academies statement ( 11kb pdf)
Decant work started (31 kb pdf)
Academy funding agreement signed (32 kb pdf)
New Academy gets the go ahead (39 kb pdf)
Clipping from QS News (105 kb pdf)
Clipping from the Architect's Journal (157kb pdf)
Wilkinson Eyre Architects get planning permision (42 kb pdf)