Our third annual M Stars Musical Theatre Competition was a sell-out show and an unforgettable evening filled with incredible performances, heartwarming moments, and an overwhelming sense of community.
Three of our talented performing arts students recently took the West End by storm, delivering a show-stopping performance at the Shaftesbury Theatre.
Building on recent rugby successes, we have further exciting achievements to celebrate!
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Families are invited to join the Everyone's Invited: Parents Talk webinar on Wednesday 30th of April at 6pm.
Mati's zest for life and endless positivity shines through in everything she does and she has been an integral part of the Dance Department since she started Churchill in Year 7.
On Wednesday, ten of our Year 12 students joined peers from across the Southwest for another installment of the prestigious HE+ Conference held at the Kings of Wessex.
The spirit of competition was alive and well this week, as our students demonstrated their passion and dedication across a range of sporting events.
Join us as we recap the key moments and celebrate the collective effort of our school's athletes.
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On Thursday, Leo demonstrated exceptional spelling skills at the Lighthouse Schools Partnership Regional Spelling Bee Final at Backwell School, tackling challenging words like "aficionado" and "connoisseur."
Four Year 12 students are completing the Lessons from Auschwitz programme with the Holocaust Educational Trust. This included a seminar with a Holocaust survivor and a one day excursion to Auschwitz-Birkenau.
We caught up with Miss Hockin, who lead the trip, to give us insights into this thought-provoking and incredibly moving programme:
Pre-trip programme
Before the visit to Auschwitz, students attended a seminar where they heard from a 94-year-old Holocaust survivor called Mala Tribich, who managed to survive through ‘luck’.
During the Q&A session, Theo asked Mala if any Nazi official had ever shown her kindness. Mala replied that she’d never been asked that question and she couldn’t think of any example showing she had.
This saddened us, but her message of survival and bravery of the victims encouraged us all to want to seek out further findings during our trip to Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Trip to Auschwitz
We started our tour at Auschwitz 1. This concentration camp is famous for having a sign saying ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’ (Work Sets You Free) at the entrance.
We heard about individual stories and learnt about the reality of what life at Auschwitz 1 was really like. Sadly, the work did not set the 1.1million people free.
Putting faces to some names was very overwhelming, and we recommend looking at the Book of Names to get a small perspective of our experience.
We were also shown around the different blocks, utilising the information from pictures, belongings, videos, human remains and uniforms to help us understand the camp in detail.
The Auschwitz 1 tour ended with us seeing Commandment Hess’ house and walking through the gas chamber and crematorium. This was a powerful experience and a reminder of what human beings can do to each other in their actions of intolerance.
Throughout the day, the Holocaust Education Trust asked us to look out for signs of resistance. Small but decisive acts where the victims knew they most likely wouldn’t survive but wanted to try and make a stand against their oppressors.
When you look at the letter ‘b’ on the entrance sign (in Arbeit), you can see a very good example of this resistance.
The prisoners who were tasked with creating the "Arbeit Macht Frei" inscription on the main gate deliberately reversed the letter "B" as a subtle act of defiance and resistance against the Nazi regime. This was a sign of hope for future generations that could witness this sign’s imperfection and demonstrates the bravery of the prisoners in the face of evil.
Tour 2 was seeing the Birkenau site. This site is recognised by the train tracks and sorting platforms. The vastness of this site, the destroyed remains and the Holocaust Memorial, were some of the standout pieces of the afternoon.
Our guide shared information on the Red Cross, the camps holding Roma Sinti people, women and children, and the train travel. There was so much to take in here.
The day ended with a reflection led by a Rabbi with readings and prayers in remembrance. His final message for us was based on the signalman working at Auschwitz who said after the war that he ‘was only the signalman’, that despite anyone’s role in perpetration, everyone has a choice to make a small difference.
Whilst we know that he wouldn’t have been able to stop the Holocaust, one small change of a signal could have saved at least one train carriage of 7800 victims, and that could have made a significant difference for the victims and their loved ones - family, friends, and their religious community.
This is thought-provoking and has given us more to reflect on, including how we lead our lives and the small changes we can make not to commit or to be complicit in the by-standing of hateful actions of intolerance. The day left us with even more questions and answers to seek out.
We are so thankful to the Holocaust Education Trust for giving us the opportunity to delve deeper into learning about the Holocaust and as time goes on, we hope we will discover the answers to the additional questions we have come away with. I urge anyone to see the museums and sites to help learn more lessons from the Holocaust. It was incredibly powerful to walk through the sites and retrace the final steps of so many people.
From the students
The Year 12s will be completing a follow-up project with the Trust and we will share more with the Year 9s (who are studying the Holocaust at the moment) and in the newsletter in the near future.
To finish sharing this part of the programme, I will share the shortened reflections of the four students who were privileged to attend these sites of remembrance and reflection:
“A quote that stood out to me was, ‘Those that deny Auschwitz would be ready to remake it’ - Primo Levi.” - Theo
“I found the carelessness of the medical experiments showing the oppressive nature of the staff in another role in the camp, shocking and that I wasn’t aware of before going.” - Freddie
“I appreciated the comments when we were leaving Birkenau when the Rabbi told us that the Jews didn’t get the privilege to walk out of the gates, so we mustn’t take things for granted.” - Isla
“I found the final ceremony with the prayers really respectful and inclusive in summing up a busy and interesting day.” - Rachel
You can read more about Mala Tribich’s story here:
Our Dance team travelled to High Wycombe last week to participate in the annual national dance competition, Dance Live!. This competition brings dance teams from across the entire country together to compete for the gold in dance.
Our dancers have been rehearsing for months, giving sneak peeks at their performance at the Open Evening and during the recent Dance Festival, leaving us eager to see what they could achieve at this year's competition after taking home the Silver last year.
Their performance, Let Her Speak, is about the relationship between humans and Mother Nature.
In an absolutely beautiful performance, the dance team once again made the Academy proud, bringing home the silver medal for the second year in a row. It was incredible to see everybody’s hard work pay off.
The judges provided detailed feedback and compliments on the performance, giving us ideas on developing and preparing for our run for gold next year. Here are just a couple of things the judges had to say:
"Shoutout to the elements, especially with the contact work. Characterisation from each dancer was beautiful, and they almost acted as their element with the quality of dance they displayed. I love that you all came together and had a moment just to shout, really working together as a team! It was a beautiful montage of our planet’s beauty, fragility, grace, and power. You captured our hearts with the energy and power of the entire performance. Well rehearsed, with lovely use of silks, great emotion that took us on a journey. The lifts were executed well, and the formations were well thought out. All the dancers executed moves excellently, with a lovely set of dancers that elevated the performance."
"The Earth cape with lights going around it was a nice touch. Using the black fabric as mascara, which evolved into movement and then into dancers, was visually beautiful. The costumes were epic. The effort you all put into them was clear, and they were beautiful. The costumes for earth, water, and fire were identifiable and stood out on stage."
We are pleased to give you a sneak peek of the professional photos taken at the competition below. The full set of images will be available for purchase next week and the funds raised will go towards Dance Live! 2027.
You can watch the full performance here:
In celebration of International Women’s Day on Friday 7th March, Team PE put together a three-day football festival as part of the Girls in Football initiative started by the UEFA.
The Academy hosted nine other schools for the occasion, seeing 22 teams compete across three tournaments.
Day one of the festival brought together 270 KS3 students, some playing their first-ever football match whilst some were already a part of team setups. The sun shone, creating a fantastic spring feeling as the tournament began.
Worle School and Backwell School took the crowns for the Year 8 and 9 matches, whilst the Year 7 matches proved too close to call!
Day two saw an equally sunny afternoon, which brought 80 KS4 students to the Academy for the festival. There were some intense matches across the board, and the final came down to an exciting penalty shootout between Churchill and Clevedon, with Clevedon snagging the victory.
The third and final day of the festival allowed our female students to participate in a fun-day in-house football tournament during their PE lessons in a bid to empower girls to take up the sport.
It was great to see so many schools and girls come together and celebrate International Women’s Day in such a fun and active way. Check out some photos from the day below!
On Friday 14th March, Year 12 students had the opportunity to visit the UK University & Apprenticeship Fair at Ashton Gate Stadium in Bristol.
Representatives from a wide range of universities, apprenticeship providers and employers (including local businesses, the armed forces and Avon & Somerset Police) were on hand to give advice and guidance on the opportunities available.
The students were also sent this information pack, full of hints and tips on how and when to apply, how to prepare for interviews, student finance and much more.
This was a great way for the students to start considering the options available to them once they have completed their Sixth Form studies.
Further support with post-18 options will be available in assemblies, STP and the tutor programme throughout the summer and autumn terms.