Dear Parents and Carers, 

Another excellent week at Strood Academy. This week we have much to celebrate, with an increase of pupils attending Year 11 and Year 13 interventions to enrichment clubs going from strength to strength. Our pupils continue to apply themselves in an excellent manner. 

This week I have had the opportunity to visit another Trust secondary school. Whilst it's always very beneficial to visit another school and learn from their best practice, it enables you to reflect upon what a special place we have at Strood Academy. The pupils, the staff and our community, we are extremely fortunate to share this environment with all. 

Whilst visiting lessons earlier this week, I was delighted to see pupils working especially hard, the work ethic, presentation and continued efforts of our pupils is quite incredible. We also thank our staff for providing excellent lessons daily. But beyond the academics and accomplishments, what truly shone this week were our pupils' continued positive attitude to academy life. We continue to support each other, and enjoy moments to celebrate each other's successes and have filled our classrooms and corridors with positivity and a genuine sense of community.

We look forward to welcoming Year 10 parents for parents evening on Thursday 1st February. We have already had an excellent response rate from parents and look forward to seeing you all next week.

A reminder to parents of the importance of attendance, we recognise the month of January is especially challenging for all, but attendance at school is essential for academic success. We are continuing to see a great increase in attendance this academic year with pupils benefitting academically and socially by attending school each day. Please ensure your child is on the academy site by 8:30am at the very latest. 

Have a restful week and we look forward to welcoming pupils back to school on Monday morning at 8:30am.

Regards

Jon Richardson

Principal

STRUCTURE OF THE DAY 

ATTENDANCE

Since coming back after the Christmas holidays, we have come together as a community to reflect on all we have achieved so far. This includes:

• Introducing and embedding routines for students such as morning line ups, the assembly protocol and focusing on transitions around the academy building; encouraging students are moving between lessons with pace and purpose and ensuring all students feel safe when moving around the academy

• Focusing on combating 'Culture Killers' such as poor uniform standards, litter around the academy, use of foul and inappropriate language and body language within lessons; ensuring all students are presenting as focused and ready to learn

• Implementing a standardised homework policy across the academy, where students are aware of the expectations around homework as well as the importance of this 

• Promoting students' extra curricular interests and hobbies through a range of lunchtime and after school clubs and activities

• Improving relations with parents, carers and the local community through information shared social media platforms and in Weekly Parent Bulletins

• Further improving communication with parents and carers through events such as face-to-face Parents Evenings, Year 7 Meet the Form Tutor, Parent Voice Forums and Parental Drop-Ins as well as tools such as 'Request Call Back' button and college-specific email addresses

We are immensely proud of the progress we have made so far, and while acknowledging that we are still at the very beginning of our Vision 2028 journey, we are looking forward to the successes we will continue to achieve along the way.