Year 11 students who took examinations in certain subjects in January have received their results. It has been heartening to see so many students receiving a Level 2 Pass, Merit and Distinction in their first external assessments in Creative IMedia, Sport, Health and Social Care and IT. This is hopefully the start of a Summer of success. Students in Year 11 continue into their second week of crucial mock exams. These results will allow us to support them to close any gaps before the Summer exams begin. We have posted a provisional Summer exam timetable online here.
I have written a letter to all parents and carers regarding the issue of young people vaping, which is a concern both locally and nationally. It is important you speak to your child about the dangers and the law. All parents/carers have a duty and responsibility to make sure their child does not bring any items into the Academy which might harm themselves or others – and vapes are part of this list of ‘banned items’. I would advise you check your child’s blazer, coat and bag regularly and get in touch with the Safeguarding team at [email protected] if you need further support.
Collaboration is so important in the relationship between school and home and communication is vital to this. I must insist that parents/carers get in touch to book meetings if they want to speak to a member of the pastoral team. Heads of Year have full teaching timetables and Year Group Co-Ordinators have diaries with commitments. We are always happy to meet but will need advance notice so as to make sure we are available and not leave anyone disappointed. Email addresses are on the Piota app and on the back page of our newsletter. It was great to see so many parents come along to our ‘SEND Coffee Mornings’ last week and we had some lovely feedback from parents about how the school supports their child to learn and achieve. I look forward to welcoming parents in for the next Parent Symposium on Wednesday 30th March at 5.30pm.
It was brilliant to see students in Year 9 at Shakespeare’s Globe theatre in London last week as part of their GCSE preparation to watch a performance of ‘Macbeth’. We also welcomed students from across the CORE family of schools as students competed against each other in netball in the latest CORE Games fixture.
I’m pleased to announce we have been successful in our bid to provide a FREE Spring Sports Club through Aspire Sports for 4 days during the Easter holidays. Details of how to apply for this will be shared shortly.
Attendance and punctuality are more important than ever. We take a strong stance where these fall short of the expectations we set: we have had our first case go to court to prosecute due to poor attendance. Equally, if your child is constantly late to school, arriving after 8.35, this is not good enough.
We were visited by Sabrina Dennis, the CEO of one of our most valued partners First Class Foundations, o Thursday. Sabrina was full of praise for the culture of JQA.
Finally, it is important we take time to reflect on the importance of the report around ‘Child Q’ which has been in the news in the last week – which makes for truly upsetting reading. We have, as you aware, a very strong police partnership and it is important that the community we serve has the confidence and reassurance that protecting our children is our first duty and procedures in place at JQA have this concept at their very heart.
I hope you enjoy the sunny weather this week.
Please call us on 0121 729 7220, leaving a message if lines are busy, and we will support you.
You can always contact me directly at: [email protected]