Weekly Bulletin
Module 5: Week 2 - 28th April 2023
Be Inquisitive - Be Resilient - Be Respectful - Be Kind
Principal's Message
Mr Jon Richardson - Principal
It has been another fantastic week at Strood Academy, our Year 11 and Year 13 pupils continue to show great resilience in preparation for their examinations, we've had sporting fixtures, a parent forum 'meet the SLT' evening as well as many other events taking place within the Academy.
Our pupils continue to work especially hard each and every day, and our focus within the classroom this week has been our 'DO NOW' tasks, this being delivered within the first 5 - 10 minutes of each lesson. The purpose of these tasks is to aid retrieval practice and enhance long term memory, a factor we know to be so important as our pupils continue to strive for excellence.
This week we have also had a mammoth drive on mobile phones and earphones, our pupils have responded to this brilliantly. I also thank you as parents/carers for supporting us with this. Following the letter you received from Ms Lindsay, much research shared the negative impacts that mobile phones have for our pupils so therefore removing this distraction from our learning environments has been a really positive step forward.
As you're aware we are currently managing strike days, one which took place on Thursday 27th April and another on Tuesday 2nd May, we will still remain open as per usual for pupils in Year 11 and Year 13 and also our key worker and vulnerable children.
Enjoy the long bank holiday weekend, enjoy a rest and engage in activities of interest and fingers crossed for some lovely weather.
I look forward to seeing pupils back in the Academy next week ready for another week of learning.
Mr J Richardson
Principal
Strike day information
ALL STUDENTS in YEARS 11 & 13 should attend school as normal on Tuesday 2nd May 2023 .
Non-attendance on these days for students in year 11 and 13 will be managed as it would on any normal school day.
All other year groups will be asked to study remotely during strike days and live online lessons will take place in line with the normal timetable where possible. Where a lesson was due to be taught by a member of staff that is striking we will endeavour to set work, but where this is not possible students should engage in independent study, revision or research into the topics they are studying in that subject.
Vulnerable students and the children of key workers will be able to attend school as normal and will join their classmates in virtual lessons under the supervision of our staff. Break and lunch times will operate as normal with appropriate supervision in place in the normal way. If you are a key worker please contact us as soon as possible to confirm that your child will be attending on strike days. If you do not require a place for your child then they can attend virtually along with other students.
Year 10 Parents evening
This evening is an opportunity for us to discuss your child's progress and any concerns that you may have regarding their education. We strongly encourage you to attend this meeting as it will provide you with valuable insight into your child's academic and personal development.
During these meetings, we will discuss your child's academic performance, behaviour, and any challenges they may be facing. We will also share strategies that can help your child improve in areas where they may be struggling. We believe that a collaborative approach between parents, teachers, and students is essential for success in education.
Appointments can be made up until the 4th May. All appointments are restricted to 5 minutes to ensure that you have time to meet as many teachers as possible. If after this time you require more information, please contact the academy with your details and a member of the team will get back to you.
If you are unable to attend the parents' evening, please inform us as soon as possible, so we can arrange an alternative meeting time or provide a summary of the discussion.
How to book your appointment
Please visit https://stroodacademy.schoolcloud.co.uk/ to book your appointments. You will be asked to enter some personal information to access your personalised area and from here you will be able to manage your appointments with teachers.
Year 9 Options
We have worked very hard to ensure that students are given the ultimate choice when coming into Key Stage 4. The options process can be a difficult time for year 9 but we are pleased to confirm that the majority of student choices are approved and for the minority where there is a need to make an alternative choice, you, Mr C. Pleasant and Mrs Henderson will contact both the student and parents to inform them of their choices available.
More information will be released once this is finalised with the curriculum team.
From the Head of 6th Form
Good luck to all the year 11s who start their formal exams this month.
The 6th form team is looking forward to welcoming you to our KS5 provision in September where we can offer you a range of subjects to study, including the international baccalaureate. Your journey towards excellence starts here, where you can follow in the footsteps of previous 6th form students who are now studying English Literature at Canterbury Christchurch University.
Year 11 PROM
4657
Golden Tickets
Year 11 pupils have been awarded golden tickets for outstanding work in lessons and this will contribute to their prom experience.
Final deadline for tickets is the 5th May.
Letters are coming out soon with more information
PE fixture
On Tuesday 25th April the year 8 boys had a football fixture against Rainham Mark grammar. This was always going to be a tough fixture but the boys all tried their best and kept their heads up throughout the game. They also scored a great goal through Chris. The boys included were Luca, Stanley, Olly, Bailey, Jayden, Danny, Billy, Chris, Riley, George, Freddie, Kieran, Noah and Harry.
Well done to all the boys that have proudly represented the academy.
Hercules
POINTS
1549
Trafalgar
POINTS
1248
Victory
POINTS
2262
Attendance
Year 7 -91%
Year 8 - 91%
Year 9 -89%
Year 10 - 88%
Year 11 - 90%
OVERALL - 90%
Year 7 and Year 8 are leading the way with 91% congratulations
Moving forward all year groups need to improve. If you are not in, you are not learning.
Reminder, if you are ill, try your best to come into school, if you continue to be ill in school, we have a nurse on site that can support you and if necessary contact home if needed. If you are too ill to come to school please make sure the school is contacted and any medical information is sent to the attendance team.
Uniform- This is a huge thank you to all Victory students and parents for your support this term on uniform. Students are looking amazing and following uniform expectations, including blazers on, no trainers, no air pods and no mobile phones. The please continue this positive behaviour moving through this term
Victory let's be Victorious
Key dates
Thursday 4th May - Year 10 parent's evening
Week beginning 15th May 2023 - Year 12 work experience
Week beginning 22nd May 2023 - Year 10 work experience
Meet The SLT Event
The event continued regardless of the national teacher strike. We had an significant increase in the number of families that represented the parental stakeholder opinion.
The evening was a great success, Mr Richardson shared the key priorities of the academy and discussed how we would be tackling each objective in more detail. Parents also met out 3 Vice Principals, Mr C. Pleasant, Miss J. Lindsay and Mr M. Pigott, each Vice Principal spoke about their role within the academy and their strategic vison for improvement.
Parents were give the opportunity to raise any concerns they they the had and were able to speak openly about what the parent experience was for the our community.
The leadership will now go away and work on developing strategies to overcome and improve o current policies and procedures to improve the issue that were raised
Feedback from the evening will be presented to parents on our next Meet the SLT Morning on Tuesday 20th June from 09.00 - 10.00
If you would like to join our next event please sign up using the link below.
Click here: Meet the SLT 20.06.23 (09.00-10.00)
Strood Academy - Key Priorities
The academy have set the following key priorities for module 5 and 6. This is to allow a clear strategic planning and implementation on improvement throughout the academy. These key priorities will be used to measure the progress within the academy and allow all stakeholders to be aware of what is happening within the academy.
The key priorities are as follows;
To provide stability to all stakeholders during a transition in leadership
To enable Year 11 pupils and Year 13 students to achieve excellent examination results
For all stakeholders to be involved in creating a new 5 year vision for Strood Academy
Improve culture for learning throughout the Academy
To provide our pupils transitioning between key stages the support and experiences to succeed
To relaunch our College systems providing pupils pastoral care through revised structures
Technology in school
All mobile phones and headphones must not been seen in school, these must remain out of sight and switched off. This decision was taken for a number of well-considered and well-researched reasons:
To improve our children’s health and wellbeing from the impact of social media
To protect them from the negative impact of cyber-bullying whilst they are in school
To protect our school community from phone cameras being used within the school environment
To improve educational standards by removing the constant distractions that mobile phones pose
To ensure that students are not distracted from key examinations that shape their future
We at the academy appreciate that communication with your child is important and therefore please be assured if you need to contact them urgently you can do so via the school main reception on 01634 717121 and the message will be passed through the pastoral team to your child.
Below are the key processes that have been shared with all pupils about the expectation and the consequences in relation to the use of technology in school.
Phones/Headphones MUST NOT be seen in school.
If Phones/Headphones are seen in school, they will be confiscated.
30 minute same day detention for mobile Phones/Headphones.
Collection of Phones/Headphones from reception (once 30 minute detention has been completed)
Phones/Headphones must not be used in the classroom.
If Headphones are being used, we will confiscate Headphones and the mobile phone that they are connected to.
Any student that refuses to hand over their Phones/Headphones will be placed in the behaviour for learning room and parents will be invited in to collect phones.
Phones/Headphones must be switched off and in bags or lockers.
