29th March 2021

Dear Parent/Carers

I hope that my end of term letter finds you well. It has been a strange 4 weeks back at the academy as we all get used to being back at the academy full time. I think that some of our students have found it a challenge to get back into the swing of being in school, but the wellbeing day that we put in place on Friday the 26th of March has helped to give them something to enjoy and it supported the development of positive relationships with staff and it was great fun.

In our next academic year we are planning to run a wellbeing day for our parents and carers, so that you can join us for some fun experiences and get to know the staff and the academy a little better. We will let you know more about this as our plan develops.

Although we have only been back for a short time we have crammed a lot in. All students took part in the mock exams for English and Maths last week and to be honest they were superb. It really demonstrated how brilliant our students are. The exam results will go towards the GCSE grade for our year 11 students and it will be great practice for both year 9 and year 10, as we go back to normal exams next summer.

Attendance of our students has been very positive and I am treating those students who have achieved 100% attendance since the 8th of March to a cheeky Domino’s pizza on Wednesday afternoon. If they manage to maintain 100% attendance until the last day. Attendance is so important and thank you for encouraging your children to attend on a daily basis. As a little reminder year 10 and 11 should arrive at the Academy at 9 a.m. and year 9 at 9.30 a.m. It is important that they do arrive on time as they will not receive their DOJO money unless they achieve:-

90% attendance

90% punctuality

90% behaviour

With sums of money up to £800, it is well worth the effort!

We also completed immunisations over this term for those students who had missed them in mainstream. Two lovely NHS nurses came into the academy and administered the jabs. There was a little excitement mixed with a little fear I think, but the students dealt with it really well and to be honest, I was very impressed.

We are making progress with our bid to develop a new satellite site to house our key stage 3 provision for years 7 and 8. It will be called Stone Soup Academy ‘Stepping Stones”. We hope that you have managed to complete the consultation questionnaire and read the information that we sent out. Please let me know if you would like further information. If successful, we could be looking at having this up and running in the summer of 2022.

During the Easter Holiday we will be opening for catch up sessions for Year 11 students only. Students are welcome to join us to ensure that we have enough evidence to support their grades in their qualifications.

Easter 2021

Year 11 Catch Up Sessions

When we return after Easter we will be pushing forward with the level 2 functional skills exams and we hope that any year 11 student who has achieved their level 1 functional skills and would like to achieve the level 2, can speak to Helen Spurr our SENCO to organise.

We will be using the evidence that we have for each of our year 11 students to submit grades to the exam boards. The deadline for students to complete their evidence to support their qualifications will be Friday 28th of May 2021.

GCSE students will receive their results on Thursday 12 August 2021. They will be emailed out to students.

Covid Testing

Students should be continuing to test themselves at home using the covid testing kits that we provided at school. We advise that tests are taken on a Sunday and a Thursday every week. This should continue all through the Easter holidays. We will be giving out 2 boxes of tests on Monday 29th March to any students who would like them. This should be enough to cover the Easter holidays.

Please be aware that the academy closes on Wednesday 31st March at 2.45 p.m. for the Easter holiday and we will reopen to students on Monday 19th April.

I hope that you all manage to enjoy the Easter break and that you all continue to keep safe and well.

Thank you for your continued help and support.

Kind regards

Kerrie Henton

Principal

Stone Soup Academy