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Dear Parents and Carers,
As we are now into February, we can hopefully look forward to longer lighter days, a little more sunshine, and the promise of spring just around the corner!
I'm delighted to share some fantastic news regarding our students' achievements. We've awarded a record-breaking 37,230 MYP reward points so far this year! This is a tremendous testament to the hard work and dedication our students are demonstrating both inside and outside of the classroom. We have awarded 1034 Golden tickets and 38 excellence awards to our Year 11 students. So many wonderful achievements across the board!
We are also very grateful for your support as parents and carers in the continued excellent attendance that we have had so far this academic year with the national average at 91.1% and ours sitting at 93.1%. Something to really celebrate as we know and see the clear correlation between attendance and students achievements, but also their social development throughout their time at school.
The independent learning our students have been undertaking has been particularly impressive this module, far surpassing anything we've seen at Mascalls Academy in recent years. Teachers are already witnessing the positive impact of this effort, with students producing extended pieces of writing in lessons that demonstrate greater depth and understanding. Our Spanish and French teachers have specifically noted the improved writing abilities of our current Year 7 and 8 students, which is a wonderful outcome. Thank you for all your support in facilitating the time and space for our young people to develop these crucial independent learning skills. This will undoubtedly serve them well in future assessments and, ultimately, in their career choices.
A quick update regarding student access to toilets during the school day. We aim to teach students about appropriate times to access the facilities, with breaks scheduled throughout the day and the opportunity for swift visits between lessons. For safeguarding reasons, students are not permitted to leave the classroom during lesson time without permission. This allows us to maintain awareness of student locations throughout the school day. If a student indicates a need to leave the classroom, it is at the teacher's professional discretion to judge the legitimacy of the request, ensuring it is an isolated instance rather than a recurring pattern.
For students with medical conditions requiring more frequent access, medical evidence will be required to support an application for a toilet pass. This ensures that passes are issued only to those with genuine need and helps to minimise disruption to learning time.
To ensure easy access during non-lesson times, the toilet blocks in Riley, C block, the English block, the canteen, and upstairs in A block are all open before school, during breaks, and at lunchtime. The changing room toilets are also available during PE and Dance lessons. During lessons, all student toilets in the English block are open for emergency use and for those students holding a valid toilet pass.
Thank you to Miss Fowler (SENCO) and Miss Warley (Deputy Senco) who held another parents coffee morning this week, if you were unable to attend please see the link here to access the slides.
This week we have welcomed Molson Coors into the academy to speak to 42 students about a career on Brand marketing, thank you to Mr Harper and Miss Honey for organising and facilitating the talk. On Monday, Miss Entacott delivered a really insightful assembly on the power of LinkedIn and how starting to build an online CV is likely to be a continually valuable tool for the workplace and to access opportunities. I spoke about how it can support us making professional contacts and we are going to be building a Mascalls Alumni LinkedIn which I am sure many of our parents will sign up as former students themselves. This will enable us to invite former students in to the academy in to speak of their professional experiences and help our students see what wonderful opportunities are out in the big wide world for former Mascalls students!
Thank you for your continued partnership, and we wish all of our students a wonderful half term break.
Yours sincerely,
Mrs Brooks
Year 11 trip to the Tower of London
Year 11 trip to the Tower of London
On Wednesday 12th February, Year 11 GCSE History students embarked on a trip to the Tower of London. After a somewhat gruelling journey into the city battling the traffic, we finally caught sight of the Tower and made our way in. Greeting Mascalls students at the gate was Poppy the raven, a very bold bird, who gave one over-friendly student a little nip!
The day itself was spread into two sections: one involved a free exploration of the Tower and its grounds, including the famous Norman White Tower, the Crown Jewels, and the execution site of Tower Green. Throughout, students faced a variety of challenges, like trying to spot the animals that made up the medieval menagerie (including a polar bear!), finding Henry VIII’s suit of armour (which drew a lot of attention for its unusual anatomical emphasis), and even talking to the Yeomen Warders (Beefeaters). This was a brilliant opportunity to take in a much wider perspective on the past than the GCSE course would ordinarily allow, and gave students the chance to explore the idea that this site has performed many functions as a fortress, palace, and prison. More than that, it has also been used as an astronomical observatory, royal mint, and base for the creation of ordnance survey maps!
However the true focus of the visit was in relation to students’ studies of Elizabethan England, and it was with the expert guidance of instructor Toby that we explored the connections between this historic site and the last Tudor monarch. Elizabeth I was actually kept in the tower for a time thanks to her suspicious half sister Queen Mary, and it was fascinating to read conflicting accounts of her entrance through Traitor’s Gate (though this never happened, and even the name of the gate is a deformation of its original name, 'Traders’ Gate'). Toby spent a lot of time dismantling Elizabeth’s reputation and encouraging students to separate the Tudor propaganda from reality. It was noticeable that, during Elizabeth’s reign, the number of prisoners in the Tower increased after key moments of crisis: her excommunication from the Church (1570), the increase in Catholic plots to assassinate her (1580s) and the Essex rebellion of 1601. This last uprising, a failed attempt to seize power by Elizabeth’s former favourite, Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, was particularly chilling: students stood at the site where Essex was decapitated for treason, gaining the unpleasant honour of being the last person to be beheaded within the Tower grounds. Toby finished by telling us a story about prisoners in the Salt Tower, which contains the graffiti of numerous Catholic prisoners. Students traced their fingers over the 500-year-old inscriptions, and learned the story of the Jesuit priest John Gerard and his incredible escape from the Tower: a true jailbreak tale involving torture, invisible ink, and rope! Right to the end, Toby convinced students to consider the idea that, powerful though she might have seemed, Elizabeth I struggled to control her kingdom and even the Tower, a timeless symbol of royal strength, couldn’t contain her enemies.
After soaking in so much history, it was natural for a bit of indulgence in the gift shop, and students emerged quite merrily with helmets, teddy bears, chocolate, and other treats. With one last goodbye to Poppy the raven, we were back aboard the coach and off home. Many thanks to Miss Dunne, Mrs Saxby, and Mrs Clays, without whom this trip could not have been run, and an even bigger thanks to the students, whose behaviour and approach to the day were superb. Their gratitude was appreciated, and we hope that this experience has inspired them as they enter the final months of study before their exams.
Dr Pollack, Head of History
23/24 Silver DofE Success!
Last week we were thrilled to celebrate the achievements of our recent Silver Duke of Edinburgh's Award recipients! These dedicated students successfully completed their award, passed their assessments, and attended the awards evening with their parents to celebrate their huge success.
Their hard work and commitment to personal development, physical fitness, volunteering, and skill acquisition is truly inspiring. We're incredibly proud of each and every one of them!
We hope to see as many students as possible continue their journey with the Duke of Edinburgh programme and progress onto the Gold award, whether that be at Mascalls Sixth Form or with an external provider. Hopefully we'll see you all at the Palace in 2026/27.
New Bronze and Silver DofE Cohorts
Last week I met with each and every student taking part in both Bronze and Silver awards this year, and together with Katrina from DofE, set them all up on to the eDofE system. From here, students will be able to upload evidence from their activities using the eDofE app and in the next few weeks you will all receive a letter through the post, containing your DofE card allowing you up to 15% off in selected outdoor retailers.
The students showed a fantastic attitude when we met and seem exited for getting started! From now then, activities can start, evidence can be uploaded and support sessions will run every Friday lunchtime in A7. We do have some upcoming events coming up which I will advertise out to students, volunteering services will be needed for the upcoming Paddock Wood Half Marathon and a Soup Lunch at St Andrews. Details to follow. Information for this year's DofE award can be found on the Mascalls website and if you need any support my contact details are there as well.
Mr Collis - DofE lead
Mascalls Academy's evening in League 1
On Tuesday 28th January 2025 44 Mascalls Academy students had the opportunity to watch a League 1 football fixture between Charlton Athletic and Bristol Rovers. 210 students were eligible to have access to the trip as they appeared in the top percentage of each year group for conduct during Module 2. Of those students 44 were then lucky enough to secure tickets and enjoy a brilliant evening under the floodlights.
The students were treated to a luxury coach, entry to the game and as ever the opportunity to buy food and merchandise which is always an important part of any school visit. Equipped with scarves, programmes and a few Charlton rubber ducks the students found their way to the front row seats. The game ended in a two nil victory for the home team and the students all commented on how much they enjoyed the experience. Many of the home supporters were also interested to find out which school they ended and we were so proud of their outstanding behaviour.
Our thanks to Mr Toall, Mr Kidney, Mr Courtney and Mr Reader for organising and running the visit. We look forward to arranging similar trips in the future!
Dates for the diary:
Dates for the diary:
Monday 24th February - Students return on a Week 1 timetable
Tuesday 4th March - Rising Stars Concert 6-8pm
Wednesday 5th March - World Book Day
Thursday 13th March - Year 7 Parents' Evening 4-7pm
Thursday 27th March - Page Turners Book Awards @ Weald of Kent
Thursday 3rd April - Year 13 Parents' Evening 4-7pm
Friday 4th April - Last Day of Term
Tuesday 22nd April - Students return on a Week 1 Timetable
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