LAR Virtual Newsletter

13/09/24

LEIGH Learners of the Fortnight

(Most reward points received in the last fortnight)

Angelou - Benjamin J - 40 Points

Kingsley - Tobi O - 34 Points

Turing- Harrison T - 44 Points

Upcoming Themes of the Fortnight:

Developing: Integrity

“Being honest and having moral principles; the state of being undivided and whole”

Principal's Message

It has been a wonderful start to the year with our new year 7 cohort slotting in seamlessly to Academy life here at Leigh Academy Rainham. Thank you so much to all our parents for preparing them and setting them up for a hugely successful start to secondary school life! Year 10 have returned with renewed vigour and focused attitudes in their chosen GCSE option subjects and the changes to the structures of the day with the new year group mixes for break times and lunch times is working well for our students. It has been delightful to see so many of our new year 7 embracing the LEIGH Learner way, speaking to staff with respect and politeness and remembering their greetings and manners as they pass and interact with staff. They have made an exceptional start to the year and we are proud of all of them!

We are hoping that in the next week the outside dining area will be open to provide even more space for students to sit and eat lunch as part of our community lunch. This has been an ongoing project, funded by Medway, in recognition that we have supported the council and local families by taking two bulge year groups. This will be initially limited to year 7 at lunchtimes when on split lunch with year 8 to continue to ensure they have a space dedicated to them until they have settled and feel comfortable navigating their way with the older year groups. We will keep families updated with the opening of our new outside dining space on social media.

I would like to thank families with their patience regarding some of the chromebook connectivity and password issues we have had that have been beyond the control of the academy and Trust IT teams in the last week. We, as always, are continuing to swiftly resolve these and will keep students informed of any updates. Overall, our new year 7 students are engaging incredibly well with their new devices and we look forward to seeing them reap the rewards of having these as an additional learning tool as they progress through their education with us. Thank you again to all our year 7 parents who attended our Chromebook Launch Event last week, it was pleasing to see so many families engage with this.

Mrs Millward

Principal

College Attendance

Angelou - 96.8%

Kingsley - 96.2%

Turing - 94.3%

College Reward Points

(year to date)

Angelou - 3184

Kingsley - 2944

Turing - 3730

Performing Arts

We had over 70 children audition for 'A Night At The Arts' and we are blown away by the amount of talent and effort from the students.

We can't wait for everyone to participate in the performance and for the show to commence!

Academy Updates

School Police Officer

This week we were visited by PC Holly Tout, our Schools Police Officer, who will be joining the Academy lunchtime every Wednesday to talk to students and be a friendly face from the force for our children. Year 7 will have an assembly with her on Friday , 20th September so she can properly introduce herself to them, answer questions they might have and remove any anxiety individual students might have about seeing a police officer on site.

Leigh Academy Rainham Open Evening: Wednesday 25th September 2024

Last week, you would have received a letter through MCAS as well as a social media post regarding the promotion of our open evening on September 25th. We would like to have as many student ambassadors as possible to showcase to the local community how polite, respectful and engaging our students are. Please see the letter that was sent last week here.

If you would like your child to represent our academy as an ambassador please complete the google form here. The deadline for this is Friday 20th September 2024.

Any questions please direct your queries to Mr Smith.

Parking

May we politely remind you that the disabled parking bays directly in front of reception are only to be used by the parents of students with disabilities. We have a number of students who rely on wheelchairs and walking frames and sadly, they are having to cross the car park as these spaces are being used by parents of able-bodied children. We thank you for your consideration in this matter.

Sporting Fixtures

Year 7 Football!

Year 7 football is up and running with a 3-3 friendly draw against Gads Hill School. We look forward to many more fixtures this module and are proud of our new year 7s showing much confidence in representing the academy!

Well done!

Proud Friday

SEN

Office Updates

Reporting an absence

If your child has an appointment or is off school due to being unwell please email the absence line direct attendance@leighacademyrainham.org.uk

Messages home

Please note that we are unable to make calls home at the end of the day.

Password issues

We are aware some students are having difficulty logging on to their chromebooks due to password issues. Normally we can resolve this swiftly, however, there is a central IT issue which means we cannot fix this locally. Please be assured we are working with the Trust IT teams to resolve this matter as soon as possible and children have been informed they will not be issued any sanctions for incomplete homework while this issue is ongoing.

MCAS update

We have received a My Child at School sharing they are aware that the MCAS App, through which we normally send all our communications, is not providing push notifications to users when the school posts announcements on the platform. This is a national issue that they are working to resolve. In the meantime, we will continue to use MCAS for all communication, but we encourage parents to open and check the App daily.

Detentions

We would just like to remind parents that as per the updated behaviour policy, detentions do take place on Wednesdays to avoid students developing a backlog.

Contacting the Academy

We kindly request that when contacting the academy by phone that you select the correct College office to speak to for your child, to ensure your query is dealt with as quickly as possible.

Kind Regards,

Leigh Academy Rainham

Co-Curricular Clubs

Please click here to view all the clubs that we are offering during lunch times and afterschool.

Upcoming Events

School Photos

Tuesday 24th September

LAT Open Evening

Wednesday 25th September 4.30-8pm

Year 9 Netball

Thursday 26th September

Year 10 Netball