It is already midway through the first half term.
Summer seems a distant memory and students should be nicely settled into classes, building new relationships with staff and immersing themselves into Academy life.
A week today (5th October), between 4.30pm and 5.30pm, we are running a Year 7 ‘Settling in Evening’.
It is an opportunity, five weeks into their secondary education, for parents / carers to meet their child’s tutor and have conversations around how they are doing, ask questions of the curriculum, and see images and videos illustrating what they have been doing so far.
The format is informal. Nothing needs to be prepared and if Year 7 parents / carers can only spare 10 or 15 minutes, that is fine. Please do drop in.
At the other end of the spectrum, staff are finalising the upcoming Year 11 exam timetable. They will be taking place in the two weeks commencing 7th November.
It is the first time Year 11 will have been examined against what they have learned to date in the curriculum.
The exams will give them a perspective and a marker as to what grades they might achieve in their GCSEs.
It is really early in the run up to next summer, but these exams need to be taken seriously. Year 11 should prepare, revise, and learn from the feedback.
Staff will use data from these exams to see how students are doing. The aim will be to stretch those who do well and put in the support for those who need it.
It is all about maximising your child’s potential.
We are five-and-a-half weeks away from the exams starting and we hope parents / carers encourage children to start planning. The timetables will be distributed in a couple of days and provide further focus.
This week is a huge one for harvest, an important and traditional part of our calendar.
I am really proud Scunthorpe Food Bank has said this Academy was the largest contributor at harvest last year and their representative who visited recently was full of praise for our students’ generosity.
Many boxes are full with food and, at the end of this week, we will be arranging for it to be collected and transported to the Food Bank.
Thank you to those who, in difficult times for many, are thinking of others.
We repeatedly talk about our values.
How terrific harvest allows us to demonstrate our generosity so soon into the new school year.
