Dear Parent/Carer
It has been another hugely successful term here at the Academy. Our sports teams continue to do well. Some of the highlights include: Year 7 Girls Football County Cup runners up; Year 8 Girls Rugby League County Champions; and the Year 9 boys were crowned the Allerdale District Champions. Alongside this the Year 9 boys have progressed to the Rugby League County Cup Final and are into the second round for the National Rugby League Cup. I am immensely proud of our sporting heritage, and long may we continue to perform at the highest level.
In other news, we have a number of Academy students who have just returned from the trip of a lifetime to Iceland. I do hope they got to see the Northen Lights. We also had 17 sixth form students taking part in the Dream Placement scheme during February half term, a record number for the school. This programme places post-16 students with local companies, enabling them to trial a wide range of working environments. It plays an important role in guiding students towards their ideal career pathway.
As our Year 11 and Year 13 students start their GCSE and A-Level examinations in May, we wish them all the very best for their future. We have been delivering tuition for Year 11 students through the government’s NTP (National Tutoring Programme) and to date over three quarters of the year group have attended these sessions. Tutoring has been running alongside a whole range of interventions and support for both Year 11 and Year 13, including a significant number of intervention classes running throughout the Easter holidays.
I would like to thank those of you who participated in this year’s parent survey. It provided a lot of very useful information on how we can continue to improve the work we do at the Academy. The survey was very positive overall, in particular with regard to your child feeling safe in school and that high expectations were set for all students. Through this survey you identified some key areas we needed to improve in.
These included:
- Sharing with parents what their child will be learning throughout the year.
- Sharing all the personal development opportunities we have in school with parents.
- Communicating in a timely manner with parents who have contacted the school.
We have been working on these areas and I will write to you early in the next term to identify some changes we have made.
I have included a summary of activities per year group, and I am sure you will agree we have provided a wealth of enrichment activities and opportunities for our students this term.
Finally, I would like to wish you all a happy and restful Easter break and look forward to welcoming all our students back into school on Tuesday 16 April, (Monday is a teacher training day).
Yours faithfully
Mark Bedford
Headteacher
