As we draw to the end of another fantastic year at The Dorcan Academy it is time to announce the term 6 and overall winners of the Character Counter Trophy.

The term 6 winners were Osprey with 276 counters however, the overall winners, beating Osprey by just 6 counters were Kingfisher.

Congratulations to Kingfisher and a massive well done to all of our students who have continued to develop their character enabling them to stand out as model citizens.

The Swindon Youth Festival of Literature has been awarded the 2023 Community Award from The School Library Association.  The Awards took place at the Hilton in Swindon on Tuesday 11^th July with the awards being presented by the author and illustrator Steve Antony who is also the School Libraries Champion for the SLA. 

The evening also celebrated the Primary and Secondary School Librarian of the year and the winners of the Enterprise Award.

Winning the Community Award has been an amazing recognition of the Festival which is in its 16^th year this year.   The week-long festival takes place every year in November and involves 12 Swindon Secondary school and over 60 partner Primaries and is run by the librarians in each of the Secondary schools. Each Secondary school hosts an author visit, a poetry event, a primary transition author event and takes students to the Wyvern theatre to see the headline author which this year is Jacqueline Wilson. Every event is free for students to attend. We also run a creative writing competition, judged by the author Helen Dennis this year, an Illustration competition judged by Steve Antony and a poetry competition judged by the poet Ash Dickinson.  The finale of the week is an inter school book quiz.

The Festival is funded by the Swindon Association of Secondary Heads and our competitions are sponsored by a Swindon Solicitor’s firm Bower and Bailey and our local independent bookshop Berts Books.

Kate Murphy, the librarian at The Dorcan Academy and the coordinator of the festival said:

‘To win this Community Award is a wonderful acknowledgement of the fantastic team of school librarians whose enthusiasm and hard work ensures the Festival happens in their school communities every year. I am so proud to be part of it’

And Sherryl Bareham, the Headteacher at The Dorcan Academy said:

‘The Swindon Youth Festival of Literature is a highlight of our school calendar. Promoting a love of reading is a high priority for us as a school and having famous authors and poets coming in to school is both inspirational and educational for our students. I know that my colleagues across Swindon feel the same. It is an excellent example of collaboration and community working at its best and I am very proud and delighted that we were nominated for, and won this prestigious award’

Well done to all.

The Dorcan Academy Performing Arts Department was proud to present Matilda The Musical Jr. at Dorcan on 11-13 July 2023.

The cast of around 50 students told the story of Matilda, an extraordinary little girl with extraordinary powers, through music, drama and dance. All students have shown commitment and dedication over several months to culminate in the final production and there were many stand out performances by both the main and supporting characters. Matilda was ably played by Year 7 student Gabby Cruz, who put across the powerful message that even though life can be hard, ‘nobody but me is gonna change my story’ so ‘sometimes you have to be a little bit naughty’. Her inspiring teacher, Miss Honey (Kasey de Boer in Year 11) gave an amazing final performance as a Dorcan student and Joseph Richards in Year 8 had the audience in stitches with his portrayal of the cruel headmistress Miss Trunchball! (I hope he hasn’t been taking notes from Mrs Bareham!). Stand out chorus numbers were, ‘When I grow up’ and ‘Revolting Children’ which brought the house down.

We wish to thank our wonderfully talented Performing Arts teachers, (Miss Durston, Mr Roke and Mrs Hodges) for giving up their time to put on the show but also the many other staff who willingly supported the show in various ways – without you, it would not be possible.  We would also like to thank parents for helping your children learn their words and music, supplying the costumes, helping them get organised and coming to see them perform. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed putting it on. We couldn’t be prouder of the teamwork and resilience displayed by everyone involved – it has truly been an extraordinary collaborative effort. 

Congratulations to Emily who has been selected to join the Team Bath Netball Athlete Development Centre, for athletes aged 14-18, after being part of the Wiltshire county pathway for 4 years. She will be part of one of the nine hubs across the south west of England, benefitting from an elite environment with top-class coaching, as well as lifestyle and sports science support.

Year 8 Students had a fantastic time in French this week, taking part in a treasure hunt : all of the directions  and clues were given in French involving some problem solving and great team work. The treasure at the end was enjoyed by all!

We had a great turn out for our first PTFA Science Roadshow, with scientists from different organisations volunteering.

Great feedback from the attendees. We hope to run another one soon!

Thank you to everyone from Dorcan who sent in soft toys for the PTFA. We ran a Teddy Tombola stall at Goddard Park Fete on Saturday 24th June and raised £109.50. Thanks to all the volunteers that helped out. The PTFA are always looking for more members so if you would like to join please contact the school who will put you in touch with us.