22 May 2020Keys handed over for brand new School of Science and Technology Maidstone
Keys to Valley Invicta Academies Trust’s (VIAT) brand new School of Science and Technology Maidstone (SST), were formally handed over today, Friday 22 May 2020, marking the end of the 18-month construction project, led by BAM, and a six-year plan for VIAT to build a new school.
The site will welcome 180 Year 7 students, as its founding cohort, in September, when it opens its doors for the first time.
The state-of-the-art building has 11 Science rooms, six Computer Studies suites, along with specialist Music, Drama and Design Technology provision.
VIAT’s Chief Operating Officer, Richard Hayden, said: “It’s an absolute pleasure to see this amazing new school complete. Many people have been involved in the planning, development and building process over the last five years, and the vision has always been to create something unique for the local community. I am confident that we have done exactly that. The school will be an incredible facility and resource, not only for the students, but also for staff and stakeholders, moving forward.”
Chief Executive of Valley Invicta Academies Trust (VIAT), Julie Derrick, said: “Today is the culmination of six years of dedicated and professional team work from across the Trust. This is a hugely exciting time for the Trust and we feel incredibly fortunate to have this fantastic extension to our main VIAT campus. I’m delighted that we will be welcoming our founding cohort of students this September and I have no doubt that our Headteacher, Van Beales, and her outstanding team, will do a fantastic job.”
The brand new school will welcome Helen Sharman OBE, the first British astronaut to go into space, in November, to host a formal opening of the building.
VIAT’s brand new Sports Hall, located between the new SST building and Valley Park School, is expected to be complete by early July and will provide modern sports facilities to be used by all the nine schools across the Trust. The facilities will also be available for hire by members of the local community.
14 May 2020STEAM Competition!
Following the huge success of our Stay Creative competition, which saw over 250 entries submitted, we are launching our next Trust community competition! This time, we are having a STEAM focus; asking students to demonstrate their skills and interests in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics.
The competition has been created by teachers across the Trust and is for ALL students at any of Valley Invicta Academies Trust schools to take part in!
All you have to do is visit: https://valleypark.padlet.org/DFuller/3romwzaft4j0bvf8 and enter the password VIATsteam2020! (don't forget the exclamation mark!)
You will then be able to see a host of STEAM-based challenges and projects you can replicate or take inspiration from. Once you have created your own piece of work, you please send a photo of it to: steamcompetition@viat.org.uk to take part in the competition. You can submit as many entries as you want to.
Once you have submitted your work, it will be uploaded into a padlet here: https://valleypark.padlet.org/DFuller/d3gpj0gjvgkyga9r, using the same password, where you will see your initials, your year group and the VIAT school you attend.
The deadline for the competition is Monday 1 June. After that date has passed, a vote will be opened for people to choose their favourite primary and secondary entries. Winners in each category will be announced when the vote closes.
New ideas, videos and tutorials will be added to the site on a daily basis to inspire your STEAM skills and creativity. We can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with!
5 May 2020Stay Creative Winners Announced!
The Stay Creative competition has now closed, and winners have been chosen!
The project, which was created by Lead Practitioner for Art, Graphics and Photography, Chris Spurr, at Valley Park School, for all students at any of the Valley Invicta Academies Trust schools, to take part in, had over 250 entries. The idea behind the initiative was to boost creativity while we all get used to the new way of working and learning from home.
The entries included painting, photography, crochet and digital illustrations to name but a few, and the standard of entries was incredibly high.
The winners have now been announced via a new padlet which you can see here: https://padlet.com/c_spurr/StayCreative2020WInners
If you see your initials, school and entry, then you have been selected – well done! A number of teachers have also received an honourable mention for their efforts!
You can still see a gallery of all the amazing submissions here - https://padlet.com/c_spurr/StayCreative2020 then enter the password stayingcreative.
CEO of Valley Invicta Academies Trust (VIAT), Julie Derrick, said: “We have been absolutely blown away by the standard of entries and the incredible pieces of work put forward by students, and in fact staff, from all the VIAT schools. It’s so important we all stay creative during these challenging times and these brilliant submissions are a wonderful representation of that.”
28 Apr 2020Welcome to VIAT
We are delighted that you will be joining one of our secondary schools (Invicta Grammar School, School of Science and Technology Maidstone, The Lenham School and Valley Park School), all of which are part of Valley Invicta Academies Trust (VIAT), this September. We thought it would be a great idea for us to get to know you better before you arrive, especially since you are not experiencing a typical Year 6 at the moment.
So, we have set up a VIAT initiative which we would love you to participate in – in fact, we would encourage you to take part as many times as you like! You can find all the information you need by following the link below:
https://valleypark.padlet.org/MHutchinson/mwfw75fkh7r
and by entering the password, which is: VIAT2020!SeptWelcome (case sensitive). You can also scan the QR code provided below, using a smart phone or tablet.
We have put some ideas on the padlet already, which you might like to try – or be original and come up with your own – we will really enjoy celebrating your abilities! To get started, perhaps you could:
Design a sustainable house for the future;
Describe your day when you wake up in another dimension;
Write an algorithm that sorts insects;
Take a tour of the Palace of Versailles;
Write a poem about what it means to move up to secondary school;
Create an impactful piece of Art;
Take a photograph of a dish that you cooked from scratch;
Escape from Hogwarts – see the padlet (link above) for more details.
All you need to do is email your contribution to gettingtoknowyou@viat.org.uk, attaching a photo of your work and letting us know your full name, which primary school you attend and which school you will be joining in September. We will upload your masterpiece to the website (make sure you look out for it!) – please be assured that we will identify you only by your initials and your primary school name, rather than publishing your full name on the site.
You are very welcome to explore the website to search for inspiration, and to learn about the skills of other students who will be joining you as part of the VIAT family in September. We look forward to hearing from you!
