It promises to be a lovely, sunny last week of this half term before we break. I’d like to remind parents that students should bring a re-fillable water bottle so they can stay hydrated throughout the Summer: we have filtered water fountains in the quad that students can use at social times to fill their bottles up.
Last week saw our Year 11 students start their Summer Exams and these continue into ‘Week 2’ this week. I have scheduled exam and revision text alerts and the ‘Breakfast Boosters’ have been well-received by students. We recognise this is an exceptionally stressful time for Year 11 students and so to ease some pressure, I am giving them extended breaks in the sun after the Chemistry exam on Monday and the Physics exam on Thursday. Year 11 can choose to attend CORE Extra on Tuesday or not and I would also like to give them the opportunity to leave at lunchtime on Friday. We will have a full Year 11 assembly on Friday morning too to thank them for their start. I would like to remind all parents of the expectations around public exams and to support their child with a revision schedule over half term.
I’d like to thank Year 9 students too who have completed their GL assessments in core subjects over the last two weeks.
Elsewhere across the Academy, we have welcomed in grime artist, C4, to do some performance work with Year 8 students and Year 8 gems also attended the national Football Beyond Borders event on Thursday in London. This partnership with Football Beyond Borders has been brilliant in supporting students in Year 8 to take the discipline and respect in sport into the classroom and has had a real impact. We also have F2D in on Wednesday to work with our budding fashion designers and assemblies this week are led by Miss Powell and cover the topic of ‘Noise Action Week’. Year 10 students are again involved in an opportunity to explore careers in the NHS on Tuesday morning which is exciting.
We have a full week of learning until the end. Expectations of attendance are high. We schedule alerts to families to keep encouraging and promoting strong attendance and we will be having our ‘golden ticket’ rewards raffle on Friday to recognise those students who are committed to strong attendance. Please make sure your child attends every day this week, particularly if they have had time off for Eid this half term.
To online booking system to make appointments for Year 10 Parents’ Evening will go live shortly. It is important that parents of students in Year 10 are making appointments for the event on Thursday 8th June 2023 by clicking the link here.
Watch out for our half-termly newsletter which brings together all the highlights from a busy half term – this will be published later this week.
It was my pleasure to show around families on Wednesday morning who came in to have a tour of the Academy. We spent an hour walking around the school together and saw high standards, high quality teaching and learning, students shining in lessons. Excellence is expected here.
As always, you can call the Academy on 0121 729 7220, leaving a message if the line is busy and we will get back to you. Our line is very busy in the daytime so I encourage parents to use the voicemail facility by pressing option 2. If you would like urgent support, you can always reach Mr Bibb (our Designated Safeguarding Lead) on option 4.
You can always contact me directly at: [email protected]