Dear Parents/Carers
We have come to the end of a long, busy and very productive term and the whole school community is looking forward to a well-earned rest. We hope that Easter brings some better weather and enables us to refresh, ready for the summer term.
Year 11 closed the Spring term by working hard to complete their final trial examinations and we look forward to their results in April as they take their final steps towards the external examinations. We are confident that students in Years 11 and 13 who work hard and take advantage of revision sessions on offer during the Easter break will enjoy many personal successes this summer.
There has been a literary theme running throughout this term, with the continuation of paired reading to further develop the reading culture of the school. Year 10 have participated in The Royal Shakespeare Company’s live ‘Romeo and Juliet’ event and Year 12 have enjoyed the live streaming of Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’. In February the Harry Potter night in the library saw some wizard quizzing and on World Book Day staff dressed as their favourite fictional characters and all lessons had a fictional flavour. The Year 11 visit to ‘Blood Brothers’ held at The Sands Centre, Carlisle was an invaluable learning experience supporting the students’ revision for English Literature.
Whilst some students from Year 7 went to Newcastle on a ‘Uni-Venture’ in March, career representatives came into the Academy from The Cumberland Building Society, The University of Cumbria and Newton Rigg to deliver high quality careers advice. Most students in Year 11 and the sixth form are engaging in the careers process and being invited to interviews for a variety of courses and apprenticeships. Many are receiving guidance from INSPIRA and some are very proactive and are signing up for spring university taster courses. Three of our Year 12 students recently attended Oxford and Cambridge University seminars. Preparations and fundraising for the World Challenge summer Expedition to Swaziland are now in full swing.
There have been a number of initiatives to support the personal development and welfare of all our students. The travelling theatre company ‘Alter Ego’ came to the school to deliver a performance to Year 8 students to raise awareness around Child Sexual Exploitation and we have raised the profile of online safety through Safer Internet Day.
Our students have also been proactive in considering the wider community. They have collected items for Easter hampers and held a cake sale to raise money to support our exchange friends in Taiwan, following a damaging earthquake. We have also had several cake sales this term to raise awareness of Muscular Dystrophy and Downs Syndrome. Students have also worked hard alongside the PE department not just to be successful on the sports field but to raise money for Sport Relief and to purchase a defibrillator. During the final week of the term a number of students took part in ‘Champion Schools’ rugby tournament with Year 9 girls as winners and Year 7 girls as runners-up.
The new term begins on Monday 16 April and we look forward to welcoming Mr Bird, our new Headteacher, to Workington Academy.
We hope you have a pleasant Easter holiday,
Yours sincerely
Mrs R O’Hagan and Mr M Bedford
Heads of School
