Communication between the Academy and home is crucial to students’ successful outcomes – so I am delighted to announce a big step forward in this regard.
Parents / carers will be receiving, over the coming days and weeks, emails with log in details for our new Arbor app.
It will enable a personalised, confidential communication channel between home and the Academy and become our primary direct link with parents / carers.
From it, they can:
- Discover a child’s attendance, including their average attendance and that for the academic year so far;
- Edit and keep up-to-date vital contact details quickly and without needing to call the Academy;
- See a child’s merits and, indeed, any demerits to keep parents / carers informed about their effort and behaviour;
- Access their child’s timetable so they can track any changes to lessons or teachers and help conversations at home about the school day;
- Note any detentions.
In the future, a child’s assessments and grades will be put on Arbor, as will report cards and homework given out.
The app will also be uploaded with key dates, such as parents’ evenings and school trips and details.
It also has a notices section, which will be used for distributing key information, rather like a rolling feed.
The website will remain the number one place to discover how the school runs and operates but Arbor, with its easy access on the move via a smart phone as well as a PC or tablet, will become a child’s confidential, one-stop portal.
It is a brilliant system, with everything at a parents’ / carers’ fingertips, and we are excited to launch the rolling programme to get all parents / carers logged in.
Ahead of being sent the individual details, the app can be downloaded for Apple phones from here https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/arbor/id1448707412 or androids here https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.arboreducation.parentapp&hl=en_GB&gl=US
Next week’s half term and I shall be breathing a sigh of relief.
Since the New Year it has, unquestionably, been the most difficult period of the pandemic for this Academy.
We have seen rising Covid cases and record numbers of children and staff absent. But we have made it through without closing the school or sending a year group home.
I am proud of that. There are some very different stories around the country.
I know the efforts gone to have been appreciated by the wider community.
I have had conversations with parents / carers grateful the Academy has remained open. They are trusting, supportive and communicate when they need help. Thank you for that.
What I would now like is for staff and children – particularly those in Year 11 who have had three weeks of exams – to have a good break.
Please come back refreshed and ready for the final push of this academic year.
