Recently around the Academy, you will have noticed some new faces. One of these, Mrs Langley, recently took over the English Department. We wanted to get to know some of the new staff, so we went to catch up with her.
 
We began by asking her why she wanted the job at Manchester Academy. She told us that the new academy has been running for over three years now, and has really attracted the attention of the public.

She said she had been "astonished" by the cleanliness of the building and the well behaved students.

She was extremely impressed by the standard of work being produced by the students she saw on her first visit.

On top of our obviously brilliant behaviour (!) she was drawn to the job because she is originally from Manchester, and was brought up here, so working at the academy feels like she is at home.

We were anxious to know why she chose to be head of department rather that just an English teacher, and she explained that it was because she wants to help other teachers as much as possible. Also, that she'd started teaching because she wanted to help people, and now she is more experienced, she wants to be able to share her knowledge with new members of staff.

Since her arrival, she's dived straight into after school activities, by organising different English based clubs... One of the schemes she's set up is called E-buddy, where older students from Year 9 and Year 10 pair up with Year 7 students to help them improve their reading skills. She has also set up a book club, to try and promote reading as a fun thing, rather than a chore.

Finally, we asked Mrs Langley to share her vast knowledge with us by giving us her top three English tips, and here they are:

1. Read a newspaper every day, it helps you to write in different styles.
   
   
2. Always have a novel on the go; it helps to widen your vocabulary.
   
   
3. Always listen to your teacher's advice; they know what they're talking about!

Welcome to Mrs Langley, and we hope that this is just the start of a great career for her here at Manchester Academy.