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Dear families,
This has been a very busy module for our students and staff. It has been sad to say goodbye to our Year 11s who are all moving on to college, apprenticeships or staying with us for Pathfinder College 6th form. We are really proud of their achievements and how much progress they have made since they joined.
Our Pathfinder College open event was very special with attendance from families, students, professionals and the local community. Sports Days and Awards Events have been other highlights and a time to celebrate our wonderful students’ achievements with families and friends.
We say goodbye to Miss Tomlinson and Mr Kelly and wish them luck in their new positions, and we look forward to welcoming some new leaders, teachers and TAs in September.
It seems hard to believe this time a year ago we were just celebrating our Ofsted achievements, the year has flown by with much to enjoy and celebrate. I thank you all, on behalf of my senior team and staff, for your support and positive working relationships, and wish you all a restful and hopefully sunshine filled summer.
Best wishes,
Mrs Pickerill
SNOWFIELDS AWARD CEREMONIES - BEARSTED & CRANBROOK
A huge congratulations to all the pupils who were recently celebrated at the Snowfields Awards! This year's ceremony recognised students who embodied the school's core values: be happy, work hard, stay safe, communicate and be kind. The events were a joyous occasion, with parents and carers joining us in person, while live streams ensured everyone could share in the celebration. Even Otis, Cranbrook’s paw-some wellbeing dog, donned a suit for the awards, posing proudly for photos with nominees and winners. What a fantastic way to end the year and acknowledge the amazing achievements of our students.
SPORTS DAYS
A Triumphant Sports Day Under Sunny Skies
A Triumphant Sports Day Under Sunny Skies
A Day of Fun, Competition, and Community Spirit
Our annual Sports Days took place last Thursday and Friday, and they were nothing short of a resounding success! The weather couldn't have been more perfect, with clear(ish) skies and warm sunshine setting the ideal backdrop for a day filled with athleticism, camaraderie, and community spirit.
Mass Participation and Parental Support
From the first whistle to the final cheer, the enthusiasm was palpable. Students from all year groups eagerly participated in a wide variety of events, including rounders, dodgeball,high jump, long jump, javelin and shot putt showcasing their skills and sportsmanship. The turnout was tremendous, with nearly every student taking part in more than one event. Adding to the vibrant atmosphere, a significant number of parents attended, lining the school field to cheer on their children and support our young athletes.
Tug of War: Staff Versus Parents
One of the most anticipated events was the tug of war between staff and parents. Both teams exhibited immense strength and determination, with parents ultimately emerging victorious in a closely contested match. The roar of the crowd and the smiles on everyone's faces perfectly encapsulated the spirit of the day.
Competitive Races and Closing Cheers
The competitive races were a major highlight, featuring sprints, relays, and fun events. The dedication and effort displayed by the students were truly inspiring. As the day drew to a close, the final races were run with the same enthusiasm that marked the entire event, and the cheers from the crowd were a fitting end to an unforgettable day.
Highlights of the Day
The day featured a range of events, from highly competitive races to more light-hearted activities. Among the highlights were the thrilling staff versus students dodgeball and rounders matches. The students demonstrated remarkable agility and strategy, giving the staff teams a run for their money. The friendly rivalry added an extra layer of excitement, with spectators on the edge of their seats throughout.
Refreshing Treats & Community Enjoyment
To keep everyone cool and refreshed, ice poles were handed out, providing a delightful treat under the hot sun. The school field was abuzz with laughter, cheers, and the sound of feet pounding the track. The fun was infectious, and it was clear that everyone—from the youngest students to the most senior staff members—was thoroughly enjoying themselves.
A Thank You to All
A massive thank you goes out to all the students, staff, and parents, who made Sports Day such a memorable occasion. Your participation, support, and enthusiasm were the driving forces behind its success. We look forward to even more fun and competition next year!
Until then, let's carry forward the spirit of Sports Day into our everyday activities, continuing to support and encourage one another both on and off the field.
DESIGN DAYS
We recently hosted 2 exciting Design Days at both of our colleges for Years 7-9, dedicated to exploring the MYP Design Cycle through a series of innovative and engaging activities.
Each 2 hour challenge allowed students to dive deep into the design process, encouraging creativity, problem-solving, and teamwork. One of the standout challenges was designing a container to protect an egg from a rooftop drop, where students demonstrated impressive ingenuity and engineering skills, as well as a flair for creativity in the names for their eggs (Egg Sheeran was a particular favourite!) Additionally, the marble run activity had students carefully plan and build structures to achieve a precise time goal.
Other highlights included constructing bridges from spaghetti and marshmallows, showcasing the students' understanding of architectural principles and physics. In Food tech, students embraced the mystery ingredient challenge, creating unique and delicious recipes while learning the importance of adaptability. Lastly, the T-shirt design and printing session allowed students to express their artistic talents and learn about the printing process.
Students also designed and built their own musical instruments using recycled materials
Overall, Design Day was a tremendous success, providing students with hands-on experiences that brought the MYP Design Cycle to life and fostering a vibrant atmosphere of innovation and collaboration. An enormous well done to them and all of the efforts of the staff to make it happen.
Cranbrook Y10's Chatham Dockyard / Bedgebury
For the whole school design days year 10s were off site taking part in a full range of activities. At Cranbrook we took our students out to Chatham Historic Dockyard where they immersed themselves in the history of the dockyard, making rope, touring the sites where many of their favourite movies have been filmed and having a guided tour of The Ocelot - a decommissioned submarine. They finished their tour with a STEM workshop building rockets. They produced some great rockets, we definitely have some future engineers in our mist.
They also went on an adventure to Bedgebury Pinetum. Here some students took part in a nature walk and learnt about different types of trees and explored the vast natural surroundings - even if it was a little wet… We also took to the mountain bikes and completed the 6km trail twice! The students showed such resilience and hard work completing the trail.
SCHOOL REWARD TRIPS
Year 7
Bearsted - Fenn Bell Conservation Project Trip
Farah class had a great day exploring the Fenn Bell Conservation Project in Hoo.
Students loved looking at some of the animals in residence at the zoo, including arctic and red foxes, a family of lemurs, wild cats, and a range of exotic birds.
The day was a great opportunity for students in the class to play and socialise as well, enjoying making use of some of the play apparatus at the centre, before chowing down on a nice bowl of chips to compliment their packed lunches!
The weather was lovely, and with plenty of places to take cover under shade, even the hottest parts of the day still allowed opportunities to watch the animals in their habitats.
Year 7 Tamworth Tutor Trip
Tamworth class had lots of fun at Gravity, Maidstone for working hard this year, where they participated in arcade fun, trampolining and a treat at McDonald’s.
The students displayed exceptional teamwork skills, helping and supporting each other during various activities. One particular highlight was when the students interacted with Year 11 students from another school while trampolining. It was delightful to see our students getting along well with older students and engaging in friendly competition.
Additionally, the students showed great enthusiasm, singing in the minibus on their return to school. Their energy and positivity added to the overall enjoyment of the trip. It was a pleasure to take them out for the day.
Y7 Dorset Tutor Trip
The students in Dorset class were rewarded for their amazing progress this year with a fun bowling trip. For some, it was their first time bowling, but you’d never guess it from their enthusiasm and skill. They had so much fun, supporting and cheering each other on.
After a fun-filled bowling session, the class enjoyed lunch together. It was a great day out, and we were thrilled to spend time with Miss. Boyes, who is on maternity leave.
We are incredibly proud of Dorset class and all they have achieved over the past year!
Year 8
Year 8 Suffolk Tutor Trip
Suffolk voted on a day at the coast as their reward trip and what a fantastic time we had. The sun was shining and although it was seriously windy, it did not spoil the fun. We played crazy golf and there were some incredible scores - a few ‘holes in one’ and one student even managed to win a free game by beating the ‘insulting tree.’ We then headed to the park where some had a McDonalds for lunch, while others opted for a more traditional fish and chips - the students took shelter from the flock of seagulls who had decided they fancied chips too. With full bellies, we headed to the seafront where we were able to paddle in the water and run away from the waves. The class were an absolute joy to spend a day out with and should be incredibly proud of their achievements this year - I know we are!
Year 9
Year 9 Dickens Bowling Trip
Year 9 Dickens Bowling Trip
Dickens really enjoyed their long awaited form day out at Hollywood Bowling in Maidstone, followed by a McDonalds lunch and a cinema afternoon with lots of treats. Everyone had lots of fun trying to get a strike or two!
Year 9 Austen Bluewater Trip
Year 9 Austen Bluewater Trip
Austen class had a brilliant day at Bluewater Shopping Centre.
They started with a visit to the LEGO shop, where everyone got to make their own LEGO minifigure as a souvenir. They had done some preparation for the trip by looking at maps of Bluewater in small groups and planned which shops they would like to visit, and were able to move around the shopping centre in those groups and use their money-handling and Maths skills to budget how much they could spend.
Everyone joined in with an hour’s trampolining session at Gravity, before having lunch in the Winter Garden, where students could choose their own lunch and buy it themselves before doing a bit more shopping.
Yr9 Hereford Tutor trip
This module Hereford went on an awesome ten pin bowling trip! Everyone had fun and there were even a few strikes from some of the pupils, showing off their skills. After all the bowling action, we tucked into some delicious burgers and chips! It was great to see everyone enjoying themselves and getting along so well outside of the classroom. The day out was a massive success and it was great to have such a fun time with this fantastic tutor groups.
FARM UPDATE
Farm Round Up 2024
I have always enjoyed following the seasons, although this year, they all seemed to merge into each other making the year just fly by.
So much has happened on and around the farm. Calves, lambs and piglets have all been born, ducklings have been hatched and even this week, our sows will again farrow.
The students have been involved with the daily care of our stock and undertaken many tasks including log splitting with an axe, lawn mowing using a rotavator, seeding lawns and of course, cleaning out tonnes of manure by hand!
Many enjoyed being out of the classroom and being practical and working really hard. We would like them to have learned the value of being prepared. They have seen this in action, for example, having the farrowing pens ready for the sows or making sure the lambing shed is clean and set up for lambing well before time. We have also had some real fun, one student said that she likes coming to school on a Monday as she has farm lessons first thing!
For me, the summer means shearing, weaning and cleaning out ready for next term which will come quick enough. I will also take some time for myself and my family. I hope you all enjoy a healthy, happy summer break.
Mr C
SNOWFIELDS ACADEMY - ELECTIONS
This last term has seen Pathfinder students running a mock election across both colleges. Students supported five students from years 7-10 to run as candidates. They provided voting forms and set up mock polling stations.
We had a great turn out with approx. 60% of our communities voting.
Well done to The Green Party who were first past the post!
PATHFINDER UPDATE
Our Pathfinder suite is now complete and we were pleased to welcome many of you to our Open Day. Our students will now move over to the Cranbrook campus from September 2024 and we look forward to building upon our community over there.
Reflecting back over the year, Pathfinder students have experienced many opportunities to learn outside of the classroom from spending time in our local community and our trip to see Wicked in London to our partnership with the Anne Frank Trust and our Pop Up Cafes. We will be continuing this style of learning as we grow over the next few years; giving students the chance to experience the world around them and live well with their Autism.
Our students have completed work experience placements over the past year that have supported their understanding of careers and communication in the workplace. We are pleased with how well our students have completed their placements this year and are looking forward to supporting them in next year’s placements. It is really important that we support our students to work, building on their skills and knowledge in order to live happy and healthy future lives.
Next year, our facilities will help us to build on employability skills as we open our Shop/Business room, Hospitality suite and Salon.
SEPTEMBER 24 - PLANS AND STAFFING
In September Miss Bradbrook becomes Deputy Principal with a new role over both Bearsted and Cranbrook College. Mrs Kaur becomes Vice Principal and Head of College at Cranbrook and has already joined us for some transition days. We welcome the following teachers who are all joining us:
Cranbrook College
Mr Reid - Maths teacher
Mr Case - English teacher
Ms Fisk - Vocational teacher
Mrs Parker-Brejza- Romney class teacher (Year7)
We also have a range of new Teaching Assistants joining throughout this period too.
Bearsted College
Mrs Collins - Science
Mrs Titmus - Class Teacher
Mrs Boer - Maths
We also have a range of new Teaching Assistants joining throughout this period too.
NOTICE BOARD
EVENTS
Module 1 starts on Monday 2nd September for all students.
Snowfields 2024/25 term dates are available to view on our website:
WHATS ON IN THE SUMMER HOLIDAYS
COFFEE MORNING
Coffee Mornings - Bearsted and Cranbrook
This term we welcomed families at both colleges to meet up for a coffee and attend a workshop led by Mid Kent Mind. The team shared some information and tips around mental health and supporting parent/carer mental health as well as the young people in our Snowfields families. A key concept that was discussed was the wheel of well-being and how having a variety of ideas to regulate mental health is crucial over the Summer holidays.
PASS (Pupils Attitudes to School and Self)
This year we introduced PASS (Pupils Attitudes to School and Self) surveys at Snowfields Academy to allow us to understand more about our young people’s mindset towards school, and whether they are confident, ready and motivated to learn. The results of the surveys help us to identify barriers to learning in order to ensure student wellbeing and positive outcomes.
Students in Years 7-10 undertook the surveys this year and their responses allowed us to learn more about their feelings at a whole school, class and individual level, across 9 specified factors. Comparing our data to statistics gathered by the National Autistic Society’s Education Report (2023), Snowfields students reported having positive attitudes to their teachers, with data 24% higher than the national figure. Additionally, Snowfields students have positive feelings about school, with positive responses 47% higher than the national average for young people with ASD.
Individual data has been explored as part of our Individual Pupil Need meetings and appropriate interventions have been identified and put in place to support those whose scores fall below those outlined above.
These surveys will be rolled out across all students during the next academic year to ensure we understand our students as they grow and develop during their time with us at Snowfields.
SNOWFIELDS ACADEMY UPDATES
My Child At School (MCAS)
My Child At School (MCAS)
MCAS has proved to be a great help to parents as it allows them to see their child's timetable, attendance, positive behaviour points and school reports to name but a few.
Parents no longer need a link from the school - you can sign up yourself just as long as you use the email address we hold on our system for you.
If you need any support with self-sign up, then please feel free to contact the School Office who will assist you with this.
School Contact Details
Messages from the School will show as 12072@bromcomcloud.com. This is a no reply email address.
Please do not message Teachers directly, if you wish to contact the school you can do so in the following ways:
Call the school office on 01622 250 050
Contact the school using MCAS ✉️ this message is sent directly to info@snowfieldsacademy.org.uk
For Attendance Only - you can send a text message to 07860 054 492. This is a SMS service only it will not accept voice messages.
Confidential emails for Mrs Pickerill can be emailed to principal@snowfieldsacademy.org.uk
ACADEMY GUIDELINES
Uniform Expectations
BRIGADE - Summer ordering deadline August 2nd!
At Snowfields Academy, like most schools we have expectations of our pupils’ uniform. As we shared in our transition booklet, Snowfields pupils are expected to wear a white shirt, black blazer, black shoes and black trousers or skirt. Some boys also wear a Snowfields tie. Trainers which are not black, or have distinct coloured branding, do not meet our uniform expectations.
Students may also prefer cotton Snowfields T-shirts, polo shirts or shorts which are also acceptable. To order directly from our uniform supplier, Brigade, Click this link.
Where necessary, we can make reasonable adjustments for individual pupils. This does however need to be agreed with either the senior leadership team or your college behaviour lead.
If you feel that your child cannot meet our uniform expectations and will require reasonable adjustments, please contact your college Student Services Manager.
Behaviour as a Curriculum
Our Behaviour as a curriculum sessions are part of our Wellbeing time, and are planned to support students with their behaviours to teach them appropriate strategies to manage the most frequent negative behaviours we see.
During this module, students have continued to expand their knowledge of the Zones of regulation.
They have been able to identify what the zones may look like for them personally and their triggers for certain zones.
Students are currently exploring a variety of activities and the impact they have on their regulation, including alerting, organising and calming strategies.
Postcards
There has been a real drive for positive reinforcement at Snowfields this academic year. In addition to our Celebration Assemblies, Shout Out Boards and Reward Stamps, our pupils are recognised by staff with a postcard home for displaying Snowfields’ core values. It has been wonderful to see the pupils stretch themselves above and beyond, to earn a postcard!
Mental Health Updates
Advertising mental health agencies
Kooth- is a website that students can access to type to a counsellor. Students just need to sign up. Kooth are hosting free webinars on the topic of “Parenting pressures during the summer holiday and how we can help” - Please see the booking form to reserve your space. Kooth have also shared a range of Activity sheets which are available for free from their website.
To access Mental Health support for yourself, we encourage parents and carers to contact ‘Release the Pressure’ on 0800 107 0160 or text ‘Shout’ to 85258. This service runs 24/7.
If you require support for your family, we suggest contacting Early Help on 03000 411 111 or 03000 419 191 (after 5pm).
Schools Team Officers and Safeguarding
Student Service Managers
Each college has a team of Student Service Managers (SSMs). At Bearsted the team includes Abby Savage, Laura Burton and Natalie Giles. At Cranbrook the team is made up of Sandra Davies and Jessica Clark. Many families will be familiar with these members of staff as they regularly make contact with home about student needs, concerns and support. All of our SSMs are Safeguarding trained and work with teachers and the school leadership to support students and families. You can contact the SSMs at your child’s college on the following email addresses:
Bearsted:
ssm_bearsted@snowfieldsacademy.org.uk
Cranbrook:
ssm_cranbrook@snowfieldsacademy.org.uk
Safeguarding Team
The Safeguarding team at Snowfields meet regularly to discuss ways in which we can support our students and families. The team has grown and the school website reflects the current staff members who are involved.
Safeguarding Links
Snowfields Policy - It’s important that all Snowfields students understand Safeguarding and the school policy is available in easy to read language: Child Friendly Safeguarding Policy.
Helpful links - websites that we recommend include:
Student Friendly Safeguarding Policy
Community Links
The Official Snowfields Academy Facebook
Please like the page and see what the students do day to day at Snowfields.
Your support will be much appreciated
Infinity Cafe
Infinity Cafe is open for bookings 9.30-2.30 Monday to Friday Term Times only
Call 01622 250050 or email info@infinitycafe.org.uk or pop in for a take-away if you are passing. Your custom will give our students excellent opportunities to develop transferable skills for employment.
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