Principal's Welcome

Dear Parents and Carers,

It is with delight that we share with you our Summer 2025 Sir Geoffrey Leigh Academy Newsletter. You will see a jam packed edition showing a range of wonderful experiences that our young people have been able to be a part of once again.

Over the last few months students in every year group have shown real passion for learning, as they have worked hard in their end of year assessments as well as public examinations for Year 11 and 13 students. In July, we received our IB diploma results for year 13 and we are extremely proud of their outcomes, which as an average points score exceed the IB global average and place us first among Leigh Academies Trust secondary academies! We look forward to the final results days for Year 13 on Thursday 14th August and GCSE results days for Year 11 on Thursday 21st August and will share overview details with you on our return after the summer break.

We have held a successful Enrichment week at the end of this term, with visits to Greenwich for Year 7, and a tour of historic London for history students in Year 9, and a tour of Charlton for our Year 9 Geographers. Year 8 students have thoroughly enjoyed designing, building and programming robots, learning Mandarin and Arabic, watching a Macbeth performance as well as hearing from Refocus charity, supporting young people to make the right choices. There has also been a focus on safety in the community; through the summer break and in the future with safety assemblies as well as online safety workshops. Students have fed back that they have really enjoyed this week and benefited from the opportunity to learn outside the classroom

Our students have shown themselves to be open minded, resilient inquirers as they have participated fully in all the activities and events.

Over the summer break, we start the next phase or our site development, with a new classroom being created on ground floor Shakespeare College, we are also refurbing all the first floor student toilets. This is part of our 3 year plan to maximise the space and facilities available in the existing building. We also continue with the designs and planning for the new Post 16 building , which we hope will begin the construction phase within the next academic year.

Within this newsletter you will also be able to read updates from every subject area, information on the many Sports Days that have taken place as well as the another successful cohort of Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Year 9 students, and our first cohort of Silver award students. . This opportunity will be offered to all Year 9s so do look out for this information in the Autumn.

I am proud of each and every one of our students and am extremely privileged to lead this community. I wish you and your families a lovely, restful summer holiday and we look forward to welcoming out students back for the new academic year 2025-2026.

Dear Parents and Carers,

As I reflect on a successful year at Sir Geoffrey Leigh Academy, I feel proud and privileged to be Deputy Principal of our academy. We have embraced our transition from The Leigh Academy to our new name, Sir Geoffrey Leigh Academy, marking our position as the flagship secondary school within The Leigh Academies Trust - a symbol of excellence and ambition.

It has been uplifting to note the resilience, responsibility and respect shown by our students across all areas of academy life. These core values continue to shape a culture of ambition, inclusion and success. I make no apology for our non-negotiables: Students are expected to be on time, every time, and to be actively engaged in digital lessons with disruption-free learning. Students with excellent punctuality and attendance, who work hard with their expert teachers will open their minds to success.

Inclusion remains at the heart of our academy. It is delivered through a broad and balanced curriculum, meaningful community assemblies, engaging tutor time sessions, and tailored SEND support for those who need it most. We have continued to celebrate cultural diversity, most recently with our Unity group sensitively promoting Pride during a powerful and positive campaign. Moreover, our recent Enrichment Week activities have seen an entitlement for all and are fully inclusive in their opportunity and content delivery.

A particular highlight of mine has been the achievements of our students and coaches in the world of sport. We have enjoyed a celebration of sporting excellence, culminating in our inspiring Sports Awards Evening, where students were presented with medals for their successes. We were honoured to welcome a local Dartford boy, now Charlton FC first team player Daniel Kanu as our guest speaker. His powerful message – to “work hard to be better each day, but also to reflect upon each day” – resonated deeply with students and staff alike, as his point about reflection is strongly aligned to the International baccalaureate’s Learner Profile attributes.

I am now looking forward to receiving the final set of Post-16 examination results to add to the excellent outcomes gained in the International Baccalaureate's Higher Level exams. We also anticipate the GCSE public examination results, where we expect to celebrate further success at Sir Geoffrey Leigh Academy ahead of next academic year.

I wish you all an enjoyable summer and look forward to working in partnership with you during next academic year.