Our Year 9 Artists visited Sunderland Winter Gardens recently to view the exhibition of drawings by Leonardo da Vinci and the wider collection of stunning Artworks in their permanent collection. This was a rare opportunity to see original Art by this best known of Renaissance Artists. After a talk by a museum specialist curator, learners engaged with the masters works, copying sketches on loan from the Queens collection and marveling at his inventions and advanced knowledge of human anatomy. Learners are currently working on 'The Human Form' in their art lessons, and the resulting work has been inspired by this once in a lifetime visit. Many thanks to Mr. Lightfoot for organising this!

Our Year 9 Artists visited Sunderland Winter Gardens recently to view the exhibition of drawings by Leonardo da Vinci and the wider collection of stunning Artworks in their permanent collection. This was a rare opportunity to see original Art by this best known of Renaissance Artists. After a talk by a museum specialist curator, learners engaged with the masters works, copying sketches on loan from the Queens collection and marveling at his inventions and advanced knowledge of human anatomy. Learners are currently working on 'The Human Form' in their art lessons, and the resulting work has been inspired by this once in a lifetime visit. Many thanks to Mr. Lightfoot for organising this!

The National Citizen Service (NCS) has awarded Gold Champion School status to Kepier Academy. Houghton and Sunderland South MP Bridget Phillipson helped present the award to Principal Nicky Cooper and students at the school. The Houghton-le-Spring school has been given the accolade from the royal chartered NCS programme, which supports young people’s transition to adulthood by developing their strength of character and life-skills. The programme is open to 16-17 year olds and takes place during the summer holidays.The NCS team presented their summer opportunity to Year 11 students before the award presentation. NCS includes outdoor team-building exercises, a university-style residential and the opportunity for teenagers to create their own social action and make a difference in their local communities. Kepier achieved the award thanks to their commitment to the programme during the 2017/18 academic year, ensuring that 62 students signed up to take part in last year’s summer programme. As this was over 30% of the year group, the school were eligible to receive the Gold accolade. Nicky Cooper. Principal of Kepier, said: “NCS has been instrumental in supporting our young people to improve their life chances and experiences through adventure, discovery and action. We look forward to future programmes and will continue to support the strong connection between NCS and Kepier.” Darren Crawley, Senior NCS Recruitment Coordinator, said: “Kepier provide fantastic support to NCS each year as not only are students excited to take on the opportunity, their staff pull out all the stops to ensure they and parents are aware of the programme. “We’ve just presented to the current Year 11 – who I’d encourage to sign up as soon as possible as places are already limited.” NCS is making a positive contribution towards developing our country’s future talent and is proven to increase confidence, communication and leadership abilities. University participation rates for those who take part in NCS was on average 12% higher than those who didn't take part. Year 11 students can book now for just £35 at NCSYES.co.uk