Dear Parent/Carer

It is the end of another school term and we are now half way through the academic year, which is unbelievable. This term has been 5 ½ weeks long and in this time we have achieved so much. In January we took 10 lucky winners of our writing competition to see the Lion King at the Lyceum THeatre in London and they had a great time. We also held our celebration evening which was really well attended and gave us an opportunity to shine a light on all the great things that your young people achieve.

We had a brilliant trip to the Space Centre for maths, although we definitely added to our science knowledge. Our year 9 students visited the Police HQ and learnt more about the Police and how they work in our communities. Annie, our Art teacher, took students down to visit the most amazing art installation in London, where the whole room changed and altered whilst you were standing in it, mind blowing! 

We have developed a really positive relationship with the University of Nottingham. We are now participating in an 8 week long project looking at innovation and entrepreneurship. A group of our young people attend this project every week and the exciting aspect aside from the great experience, is that the students attending get paid to attend, isn’t that remarkable. Where else but Stone Soup?

We have had mock exams, which were well attended by our Year 10 and 11.  During those days our students in year 9 had the opportunity to engage in some off site provision at both Nottingham College and Motor vehicle and a bit of go-karting. We also found time to enter a national Maths competition and for the school to be awarded a national innovation award. All this in 5 weeks!!

Our focus continues to be raising the standard of literacy and we are running a number of writing challenges to improve the literacy levels of our young people. Attendance is still a focus as we cannot achieve anything if our young people are not with us. I wanted to say a huge thank you for your continued support to get your children into us on a daily basis. Remember that all students need to be on site by 9.15 so we would appreciate it if you could support us in having a big push on this next term.  

Next term is also looking so exciting for our young people with trips to expand their cultural capital to Cadbury World, workshops, a week long outward bound trip to Wales, an amazing trip to New York at Easter and our next opportunity to shine in the alternative provision football tournament which we need to win again this year.

I hope that you have a relaxing half term break next week. We return from the half term at the usual time for all students on Monday 20th of February and on the first day back we are having an amazing Asian feast at lunch time alongside our normal lunch time offer, which I am delighted about and hopefully our young people will enjoy within KS3 and KS4.

A few things we would really appreciate your support on moving forward are:-

Please ensure that vapes are not brought into school as they are not allowed on site and they will be confiscated and not returned to the students. Parents/carers will need to collect should they wish them to be returned.

Also as we hopefully move towards the warmer weather please keep a watchful eye on what  clothes are being worn into the academy. We do not have a uniform however we do not want to see exposed tummies, clothes that are too revealing or tight and shorts if worn should be loose and sit mid thigh. As a school we are trying to prepare our young people for the world of work and certain standards of dress have to be maintained.  We also cannot allow hoods/hats to be worn or balaclavas in school as this interferes with our CCTV system which is there to safeguard all our young people.

Working together with you we are far stronger and more effective. 

Thank you again for your support this term and I am looking forward to seeing our young people back on the 20th of February.

As always if you have any queries or concerns then please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind regards

Kerrie Henton

Principal