Boxing Academy Year 11 student Ruben won the Young Hackney Art competition this week with an amazing photo of the view from his window! Congratulations to Chanel also, another BA student, who was runner-up. Great to see them doing positive creative things during lockdown.

The Boxing Academy was honoured to receive the Youth Participation Award 2020 from the Sport and Recreation Alliance on 6th March. The Awards celebrated initiatives in areas such as youth development, mental health and volunteering, with each winner receiving an award and a prize of £1,000 presented to them by HRH The Earl of Wessex. Guests also enjoyed a talk from BBC Unsung Hero Award winner, Keiren Thompson, who spoke about his motivations, ambitions and the importance of projects like his Helping Kids Achieve programme in Nottingham. 

We would like to thank the SRA and congratulate all the other wonderful projects that were shortlisted. You can read the full report here.

The Boxing Academy is delighted to announce that it has been graded Outstanding in all areas its first full Section 5 Ofsted inspection! This is a testimony to the dedication and hard work of all staff and governors. We are proud of our students and our school. Pleased as punch!

You can read the full report here.

The last day before departure involves a lot of running around. For anyone who has ever staffed a school trip, this is not news. The Boxing Academy (as usual) has taken it to the next level though, because to get 17 of our pupils on a plane and to the slopes requires far more than most schools will ever expect to do. In no particular order, these are the things that we have supplied to get this trip off the ground:
 
1.     The entire cost of the trip with the school travel company – flights, coach transfers, accommodation, food, skiing lessons and apres-ski activities in the evening.
2.     17 sets of ski jackets and salopettes, thermal underlayers, gloves, goggles and socks: the full kit for the slopes, all inclusive!
3.     Supplementary clothing where lacking: some tracksuit bottoms and jumpers, layers for underneath, shoes for travelling, underwear for some pupils and in one case, luggage to put it all in.
4.     10 passport applications, including the cost of a naturalisation certificate for a ‘Windrush baby’ parent who, while having been granted the right to stay in the UK, had not been issued with a certificate by the Home Office and this was preventing their child receiving a passport.
5.     Toiletries, including toothbrushes, for a few pupils.
 
Our wonderful friends at KitKing and Mountain Warehouse supplied beanie hats and mini-rucksacks, so we are all good to go.
 
Our preparation this week has included:
 
•       Alpine geography (thank you Mr Pilling)
•       Basic French lessons, in Maths (thank you Ms Craig)
•       Reading “Touching the Void” in English (Ms Tristham-Brown, who is coming skiing)
•       Planning the Art GCSE project using disposable cameras to document their trip (Ms Oakland’s brilliant idea)
 
While trying on clothes and discussing the journey to Les Deux Alpes it came apparent that some pupils thought we were flying to France to go to an indoor ski centre: if you could have seen their faces when they realised that they are going to the mountains!
 
However this week, as departure got nearer, the pupils’ behaviour deteriorated markedly. Rather than the typical excitement and silliness one might expect (although there was some of that) we have observed creeping negativity. Some pupils have become argumentative; trying to get themselves in trouble so they might be banned from coming. Others have been irritable, sad, or withdrawn.
 
When asked why he was so subdued this week, one pupil told me “I don’t expect anything good to happen. It’s like I got used to bad things, and I’m scared that something will go wrong between now and Sunday.” We reassured them, but actually it won’t be real for them until they are on the plane; maybe not until they are on the mountain. Our lovely SENCO did a refresher session on attachment disorders to inform the staff response: address the poor behaviour and then kill them with kindness!
 
Bags are packed, disposable cameras at the ready, the coach is picking us up in the early hours of Monday morning for the flight to Geneva. Expect equal parts of excitement, joy and terror. 

Welcome to the blog for the 2019 Boxing Academy ski trip to Les Deux Alpes in France! 

We are a week away from departure, and frantically running around trying to get all the last minute planning and packing done. This blog will attempt to document this trip of a lifetime and  

The Boxing Academy is on tour from 21^st - 25^th January 2019. We are going skiing in France and will attempt to blog this journey for your entertainment and interest. In this week leading up to departure we will be adding some comments from the pupils about what they are thinking and feeling, but before we start the blog properly there are some thank you shouts we must get out:

1. To our incredibly generous and kind donor who paid for this trip (and wishes to remain anonymous)! You are a superstar; this means the world to us. Tears of joy have already been cried and we haven’t even got on the plane yet.

2. To KitKing who donated beanie hats with BA logos on them! They have been our uniform suppliers for years but this was amazingly kind, and we all look like an Olympic team in our matching hats.

3. To the people who sent money through our Virgin Giving page! It has been used to make sure the kids have everything they need because for disadvantaged children the basics are out of reach.

4. To Mountain Warehouse who donated small rucksacks! Perfect for the slopes!

5. To the people who donated their old ski clothes, we thank you - they will come in useful (you can never have enough layers)!

Why Skiing?

Why not skiing? There is nothing more alien to inner city London kids than the snow-topped Alps! At the Boxing Academy we believe our duty to provide a good education involves so much more than classroom teaching and exams. It must give children a flavour of the world outside their bubble, a world that they may well find uncomfortable at first. They need to experience the challenges and opportunities for skill-building that are essential in order to grow strong; if they can overcome their own mental barriers they can be successful in the adult world. We take them out of their comfort zone, but with all the wraparound support, love and encouragement that our noisy family of a school provides.

This trip is about skiing and fun, but there is a serious purpose also: to avoid educational and social isolation, children need to work through their fears and conquer their doubts. If you help disadvantaged children see the world and get understanding of how other people in other countries live, you build resilience and this gives them aspiration, confidence and choices. As the saying goes; “prepare the child for the road, not the road for the child”. Well, this road leads to Les Deux Alpes!

Our lucky students are going on the trip of a lifetime this January and we need your help to make sure they are kitted out for the snow! Any skiwear donations like jackets, trousers, gloves or goggles gratefully received. Thank you!

The Boxing Academy was delighted to host a visit by Damian Hinds, the Secretary of State for Education this week. It was a fun-packed visit, with the minister visiting lessons, including English and maths, as well as a boxing training session led by the students. He even got the gloves on and had his first coaching session! We enjoyed the opportunity to show how our unique and innovative approach works, and demonstrate the power of relationships in the gym.

The Boxing Academy was honoured to host a press conference for the upcoming night of boxing at the Copper Box in Stratford. The bill includes James DeGale, Lee Selby, Daniel Dubois and Anthony Yarde. 

The Boxing Academy was the subject of a short film broadcast on the One Show on BBC1 tonight. You can view the film on our youtube channel or through this link:  https://youtu.be/sDu9WKJrCA0​