10th September 2020

Dear Parent/Carer

Welcome back to our new term at Stone Soup Academy. We are really pleased that so many of our students have returned ready and happy to learn. Our attendance is looking great and we thank you for your support. It is even more important that you continue to support your child to attend every day and on time so that we can support them to make up for the learning lost due to lockdown.

COVID 19 remains at the forefront of everyone’s minds as we move into autumn. I want to assure you that we are putting in every reasonable measure to keep your child and our staff safe through these challenging times. We are now asking our students to wear masks as they enter the academy as we cannot maintain social distancing whilst we are welcoming them in and checking temperatures etc. This is only for a very short period and I hope you understand the need to have these additional measures. 

As I have said in previous letters, whilst we encourage the wearing of masks inside the academy it is not compulsory. Students who travel off site to college and sport will be required to follow the health and safety requirements of those places and on public transport.

All this new information can be confusing and knowing what to do if your child becomes ill with COVID like symptoms is one of those times when you need to know what to do. To help you, we have put a COVID checklist on our website, on the parent’s page. Please have a look. If you are ever unsure, just ring us or your child’s personal coach and we will help. Remember do not send your child into school if they have a high temperature (38 degrees) and new and continuous cough. Ring us to let us know and we can advise you.

So, to this term, here is some information for you:-

Sport Lessons off site

Sport Practical will follow all Covid guidelines and the guidelines set for each sport governing body. Students involved will meet at NTU City Campus for 9:30am. If students would rather come into school and make their way to the sports hall with teachers at 9:10am then this is also possible. The session will last 50 minutes and then we will return to school.

Group B will attend Wednesday morning and group A will attend Thursday morning.

Please let us know if you require any further information?

Consent Forms

Please can I remind all parents / carers of the importance of returning your completed SSA ‘Consent Form Booklet’. As well as including important information such as student contacts and medical details, the completed consent forms allow us to take students out on local visits and enable students to attend college courses and extracurricular activities such as Ice Skating, which take place off site. Would you please complete the ‘Consent Booklets’ and return to us no later than Monday 14th September.

Friday Enrichment

On Friday afternoon we will continue with optional enrichment activities. This means that all students in years 9-11 will be able to register in the afternoon, then if they are not participating in the offered activities on and off site, they will be allowed to leave the academy at 1.05 p.m.

To support year 11 students, we will be putting on optional additional Maths and English lessons every week on period 4 each Friday. After the lesson they can choose to join an enrichment session or leave the site. We will also be putting on other lessons at this time to cover other option subjects for year 11. These are optional sessions but I would encourage year 11 students to take advantage of these opportunities to fill the COVID gap.

As Friday afternoon is optional, in the event that any student fails to behave in the expected manner, they will be asked to leave the academy or the activity so that other remaining students can enjoy the afternoon.

Visit from the Armed Forces

We have organised a visit from a Major in the Armed Forces on Wednesday 16th September and Thursday 17th September to speak to students who may be thinking about a career in the military. I hope that it will be interesting for our young people to see the broad range of careers available to them.

So all in all a successful and pleasing start to the new term. We are continually updating our website so please check this out if you want further information. All parent letters are posted out and also placed on the website. www.stonesoupacademy.org.uk 

As always, if you have any concerns, questions or queries please contact either me or your child’s personal coach and we will try our best to help.

Kind regards

Kerrie Henton

Principal

Stone Soup Academy