LAR Virtual Newsletter

Academy Updates 

Year 10 Expectations Evening

We have added into our calendar an information evening for all year 10 parents on Monday 14th October. A letter with all the information regarding this event will be sent to parents but please ensure you have saved this date to attend. It will be an important evening outlining what you need to know about your child's courses, coursework and exams and how to support them through KS4. With approximately 60-70% of each KS4 course being completed in year 10, and the remaining in year 11, year 10 is a crucial year for students and we want to ensure we are working in partnership with you all to help them to be as successful as possible. 

Year 7 Periods Assembly and Puberty Lessons - Monday Period 5

On Monday period 5 year 7 girls will spend an hour in the main hall with Miss Millward and Mrs Plant for our annual 'Periods assembly'. As part of this talk we will speak openly and honestly with girls about the changes they will experience as they transition into puberty, providing practical support and guidance for them, dispelling myths and answering any questions that they might have. A key part of this session with our young ladies is to normalise periods and take away any fears they may have about experiencing them in the academy. 

While the girls are accessing this talk, all boys will be in their normal lessons receiving a similar session about the changes they will face as adolescents and how they might manage these. They will also be spoken to about girls' periods to normalise these for them and ensure they have mature and compassionate attitude towards these as they grow up. We will share the resources with students on the Year 7 Google Classroom so that if you wish to discuss these further with your child or answer any questions they may come home with, you will feel hopefully feel equipped to do so. 

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.

Homework Club

Please note that Homework Club is for students who require help with their homework. This means that our expectation is that students will arrive with homework to complete. We expect those who do attend to remain in the club until it officially ends at 4pm. Students will not be allowed to leave before this time as there is no-one to see them off site. Equally, students who have sat a 30 minute detention are not allowed to attend homework club after their detention; therefore, students should not be arriving after a cut-off time of 15:20.

Student Ties - ParentPay Purchases

We have had an increasing number of students who are coming to school with no tie or broken / marked ties. While we endeavour to lend every student a tie we have limited stock of these. We would like to remind parents you can purchase ties on ParentPay which saves you the postage costs and means your child instantly collect your new tie from the office, as opposed to waiting weeks to arrive from Brigade. If you need to purchase an additional tie for your child to replace lost / damaged or 'stripey' ones then please do so on ParentPay and direct your child to the main office who will be able to provide them with a new one. 

Hello Yellow - Mental Health 10/10/24

Every year, thousands of schools, companies and communities come together to make World Mental Health Day that little bit brighter by wearing something yellow and donating to YoungMinds. We want young people to know that they don’t have to go through any mental health challenges alone. This World Mental Health Day, we invite our children to wear yellow with thousands of others across the UK and raise money to show young people that they’re not alone with their mental health. If your child would like to wear something yellow please make a donation to YoungMinds via ParentPay.

PE Fixtures - Contacting Parents

Sometimes there are unavoidable delays when returning from fixtures as we experienced this week. Where students had their non-smart phone school phones they were able to contact their parents about this so we do encourage families to get these where possible. To support all families however we will now provide parents with the school mobile phone number when we share information regarding fixtures so that the PE team can be contacted if there are any delays as well as trying to post this on social media for you. We hope this will help support parents and carers with the pick up of children who volunteer their time to represent their school. 

Parental Workshops (T&L) - 6pm

We will be running the first set of our parent workshops on Thursday 10th October 2024 at 6pm. This will include: 

• Workshop 1 - A parents guide to all things digital at Leigh Academy Rainham: This workshop will explore features of Google Classroom, Google Calendar, Sparx, online homework and online safety. We aim to provide parents with some basic skills to support their child with the organisation and management of their Chromebook devices at home. This is intended for parents and carers of children in Year 7.

• Workshop 2 - A parents guide to revision and retrieval practice at Leigh Academy Rainham: This workshop will explore a number of key strategies to support parents with effective revision and help their children to remember and recall information more efficiently in preparation for assessments in Module 2.This is intended for parents and carers of children in Year 9.

Information and further details about these workshops, including how to sign up will be sent to parents next week.  Other workshops will be planned throughout the academic year and details will be posted in the newsletter.

Last year we won the "Young Eco Creators Best Picture" and "Young Eco Creators of the year" awards at this years' Rainham Community Awards. This was in response to a competition last year on Planet vs Plastic. We are so proud of everyone one of you. Well done.

All classes have now been set up on Sparx Maths so all mathematics homework will now be set using this platform. There will be a Parent Guide sent home very soon, explaining in detail how Sparx is beneficial to pupil progress. Please ensure your child speaks to their maths teacher if they have any problems.

Congratulations to all the Year 10's, it's a real achievement that we still have such reading engagement levels. Well done Year 10!