Weekly Bulletin
Be Inquisitive - Be Resilient - Be Respectful - Be Kind
Module 5: Week 1 - 20th April 2023
Principal's Message
What a fantastic first week back! This week I've had the opportunity to visit a number of lessons, the engagement and thirst for learning has been excellent. A real joy to see.
This week we have also welcomed many new members of staff to the Academy, our pupils have been very kind in helping them settle in.
I'm very pleased that we have had the opportunity to plan our priorities for first two modules and ensure we are looking ahead for this journey together, whilst ensuring our Year 11 and Y13 pupils are fully prepared for the examination season which is commencing.
We wish all of our pupils a restful weekend and look forward to seeing you all on Monday morning.
Mr J Richardson
Principal
Mr Jon Richardson - Principal
Strood Academy - Key Priorities
The academy have set the following key priorities for module 5 and 6. This is to allow a clear strategic planning and implementation on improvement throughout the academy. These key priorities will be used to measure the progress within the academy and allow all stakeholders to be aware of what is happening within the academy.
The key priorities are as follows;
To provide stability to all stakeholders during a transition in leadership
To enable Year 11 pupils and Year 13 students to achieve excellent examination results
For all stakeholders to be involved in creating a new 5 year vision for Strood Academy
Improve culture for learning throughout the Academy
To provide our pupils transitioning between key stages the support and experiences to succeed
To relaunch our College systems providing pupils pastoral care through revised structures
This week in my college
This week the students have returned to the academy after a well deserved break. All students have had the opportunity to meet Mr Richardson and new members of the leadership team through structured assemblies.
Year 11 and 13 have continued to receive additional intervention after school, providing them the key opportunities to thrive and be successful within their studies.
Hercules
POINTS
790
Trafalgar
POINTS
377
Victory
POINTS
879
Key dates
Thursday 27th April (17:00-18:00) - Meet the SLT
Thursday 4th May - Year 10 parent's evening
Week beginning 15th May 2023 - Year 12 work experience
Week beginning 22nd May 2023 - Year 10 work experiance
Technology in school
All mobile phones and headphones must not been seen in school, these must remain out of sight and switched off. This decision was taken for a number of well-considered and well-researched reasons:
To improve our children’s health and wellbeing from the impact of social media
To protect them from the negative impact of cyber-bullying whilst they are in school
To protect our school community from phone cameras being used within the school environment
To improve educational standards by removing the constant distractions that mobile phones pose
To ensure that students are not distracted from key examinations that shape their future
We at the academy appreciate that communication with your child is important and therefore please be assured if you need to contact them urgently you can do so via the school main reception on 01634 717121 and the message will be passed through the pastoral team to your child.
Below are the key processes that have been shared with all pupils about the expectation and the consequences in relation to the use of technology in school.
Phones/Headphones MUST NOT be seen in school.
If Phones/Headphones are seen in school, they will be confiscated.
30 minute same day detention for mobile Phones/Headphones.
Collection of Phones/Headphones from reception (once 30 minute detention has been completed)
Phones/Headphones must not be used in the classroom.
If Headphones are being used, we will confiscate Headphones and the mobile phone that they are connected to.
Any student that refuses to hand over their Phones/Headphones will be placed in the behaviour for learning room and parents will be invited in to collect phones.
Phones/Headphones must be switched off and in bags or lockers.
SKi Trip 2023
13 pupils took to the slopes in Italy, Aprica over easter holidays. Throughout the week they showed great resilience and determination.
As the week progressed students developed skills that allowed them to climb higher up the mountain to tackle faster and more challenging ski runs. In addition to the skiing they were able to experience a Italian pizza nights, bowling and a rewards evening.
All pupils were a credit to the themselves and the academy.
Easter Intervention
2 weeks
12 subjects
46 sessions
177 hours of additional learning time
As the exam season closely approaches and the hard work and dedication of our students is tested in a range of areas, the staff have gone above and beyond to offer fantastic opportunities to students from key stage 4 & 5.
We want to take a moment to express our gratitude for all the hard work of our staff during the Easter holidays. The commitment to our students is truly
appreciated and does not go unnoticed.
The students have also shown great dedication to their academic studies and as they enter the final 2 modules, we hope that all their hard work is rewarded
Meet The SLT Event
We understand that parental involvement and support is crucial to the success of our school community, and we value your partnership in ensuring the best possible learning experience for your child.
To facilitate this partnership, we would like to invite you to a Meet the SLT event on Thursday 27th April at 17:00. During the event, you will have the opportunity to meet us, as well as hear about our plans for the school year and our goals for the future.
We will also be available to answer any questions you may have regarding our roles and responsibilities, and to discuss any concerns or feedback you would like to share with us.
We believe that open communication and collaboration between the school and parents is essential to our students' success, and we look forward to meeting with you and working together to make this a great academic year for our students.
To allow us to best prepare for this evening, please sign up by clicking below and completing a short registration form
New SRP Provision
We are very pleased to inform you that building work on our new Specialist Resource Provision (SRP) is now underway. The Strood Academy SRP is for secondary students with a primary SEN designation of Autism (ASD), with associated learning difficulties. The provision will offer an adapted curriculum and environment for up to 25 pupils to ensure they achieve their full potential.
All students at the provision will have an Education and Health Care Plan and development of this provision is in conjunction with Medway Council as part of its Strategy for children with SEN and Disabilities (SEND).
As part of the Trust’s and Strood Academy’s fully inclusive ethos, we believe that the SRP will be of great value to all students in the school and we are excited at seeing the start of this new addition. By including children with ASD, other students will learn to appreciate the needs of others in a tolerant and caring community. Additional funding will be provided to enable us to ensure that students receive this additional support, which will also bring additional specialist teachers into the academy to support students within the SRP but also the wider student population.
With support, our students will be expected to be aim for eventual complete integration into the mainstream secondary school. The general expectation is that the level of integration will increase over the course of Key Stage 3 and into Key Stage 4 with a view to achieving independence at the end of statutory education. Our staff will deliver quality first teaching, monitored by middle and senior leaders as part of the regular review and observation cycle.
Academically, KS3 pupils will be taught core subjects and personal development in very small teaching groups by our specialist staff. When students integrate into the mainstream, students are banded and streamed according to ability and will have the added support of teaching assistants where necessary. At the end of KS3, our students will have access to a full range of option choices for KS4 courses alongside their mainstream peers. We will also deliver a range of activities designed to enhance our students social, emotional and independent living skills, similar to what our mainstream students receive.
Our SRP will be run by an experienced team who are specialists in the SEN need type of the SRP. The team will support students both in the SRP base and also when the students are working in mainstream.
Our new SRP will have specialised classrooms, therapy spaces and a life skills room, along with a dedicated area for students where they can receive specialist teaching for some subjects, and receive SEN interventions (small group teaching). Some children may also receive speech and language therapy or occupational therapy individually or small group interventions. We will keep you informed of the SRP's progress and development.
