Students and staff recently set up a special radio station at the Ramsgate lifeboat station to raise money for the RNLI. We had to use a fishing line to raise the antenna wire high enough across two lamp-posts!
Please note that next Tuesday 10th January, we will be closing at 2:35pm. This is due to the fact that during the Christmas break Mr Michael Tulloch, a highly respected and long serving member of staff unexpectedly passed away and a large number of our staff and students wish to pay their respects and attend his funeral which will be held at Thanet Crematorium at 3:30pm on the same day.
Families flocked to the Marlowe Academy Christmas Fair last Saturday to buy wares such as Xmas cakes and festive chutney made by students.
Children and their mums and dads queued for one of the Fair’s main attractions - a visit to Santa Claus in his well-appointed grotto complete with a snow machine worked by his elf, evening cleaner Samantha Barnett.
Beneath the bushy white beard and portly red attire was Carl Wakefield, the Academy’s Interim Principal (pictured right). Students urged him to play the role but, in truth, he needed little coaxing - revelling in ho-ho-ho-ing and impromptu seasonal tunes. Staff, students and visitors thought he was a natural.
The grotto - more a highly desirable single storey dwelling furnished with a picture of Rudolph - was designed and built by Marlowe facilities officer, and a former engineer, Fred Haynes.
On hand to record the visits to Santa was prospective A level Photography Marlowe student, Tim Prescott. He was helped by Hospitality and Food Technology teacher, Danni Warne, who churned out instant prints for the families.
Other stalls included prize-winning hook-a-duck, a well-stocked raffle table run by examinations officer Pat Cox and stalls selling more festive goodies and balloons. Throughout the afternoon, fair goers were serenaded by a Marlowe choir and band and enjoyed food and refreshments prepared by the Academy’s award-winning catering team and by students.
The Fair had an educational purpose as well as raising money to go towards paying for more exotic food ingredients for food technology students and to help fund the on-site radio station, Academy FM, raising a total of £544.06.
"Marlowe year 11 and year 10 hospitality students organised, ran and served at the event" said the Academy’s lead Food Technology Teacher Gerry Haynes. Mrs Haynes, who helped to direct the event with teacher Danni Warne, said the Fayre was “a great success”.
Marlowe Head of Dance, Vicky Goldfinch, pictured wearing festive antlers, took advantage of the large crowd to drum up box office sales for the Academy’s Dance Platform - showcasing exam work throughout the year by dance students. The show was staged in the Academy’s Theatre from 7pm until 8pm.
On Tuesday 6th December year 10 & 11 GCSE Geography students braved the cold to travel, by mini bus, to London to investigate aspects of "Urbanisation" and "Globalisation". On arrival at Blackheath we walked through Greenwich Park to the Royal Observatory where we were treated to some spectacular views of London. We then Travelled by river bus to London Docklands to Investigate how much the area has changed since the 1980's.
After a whistle-stop tour of the area we picked up the river 
bus again and travelled to The Embankment. We then embarked on a tour of central London taking in The Houses of Parliament, Whitehall, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, Regent Street, Carnaby Street, China Town and Covent Garden. On the final leg we travelled back to Greenwich from The Embankment, again by river bus where we thoroughly enjoyed the stunning sight of the Christmas illuminations on both banks of the Thames.
It was back to school for local MP Laura Sandys when she toured classrooms at Ramsgate’s Marlowe Academy last Friday (11 November) and was surprised to be set a brief Spanish (Castilian) language test to the amusement of on-looking students.
She was also pleasantly taken aback when young pupil, Mark Golds, rose unprompted from his desk and strode confidently to shake her hand.
Not surprisingly, Mark’s second career ambition is to be a politician - his first aim though is to be an astro-physicist.
Laura Sandys, Conservative MP for South Thanet, toured the school, greeting many of her young constituents, while on a fact-finding mission with Marlowe Academy’s interim Principal, Carl Wakefield.
In other classrooms she viewed lessons including maths, tourism, and art with silk-screen printing. She also dropped in to see a food technology lesson where dishes were being prepared including upmarket salads, Cornish pasties and rosemary potatoes.
Mrs Sandys offered to include Marlowe students in a special local tourism seminar early next year which could help the Marlowe tourism students with their studies. She said:
“Local organisations are looking at what we can deliver to tourists - and I am happy to include Marlowe students as part of my presentation to a group of about 80 people in the tourism and leisure sector in East Kent. They can do part of the presentation work.”
Reflecting on her visit, she added:
“I have been here many times before - but what I have seen is a very committed team of teachers and there is a very positive feeling about this school. Of course there are challenges, but one thing that is important is that students, no matter how challenging their circumstances, should not lack ambition.”
Marlowe interim Principal, Carl Wakefield, said: “It was good of Laura Sandys to take time out of her busy schedule on Armistice Day to visit our school. We showed her most aspects of our Academy and spoke frankly about the challenges we face - there were no hidden areas. She made a number of helpful suggestions and a positive offer of help for our tourism students.”
