Pastoral support is at the heart of everything we do at Watling Academy. It is all about getting to know and understand the needs of every student – no student at Watling is anonymous! Support for students will be provided by Form Tutors, our Special Educational Needs and Disabilities team, Heads and Assistant Heads of Year, Teaching Assistants, Inclusion Assistants and Pastoral Mentors, as well of course, by all teaching staff. Some students may also receive support form professionals from outside the Academy community and we facilitate this support as far as possible.
Students gain house points for completing work to a high standard or by going ‘above and beyond’ in displaying Watling Academy core values of Respect, Responsibility and Kindness. House points can also be won through participating and succeeding in house challenges and competitions.
All students and members of staff are allocated to one of our five houses –
- Laine (Dame Cleo Laine – co-founder of the Stables Music Venue)
- Leyh (Liz Leyh – sculptured the iconic Milton Keynes concrete cows)
- Marshall (Jim Marshall – pioneer of guitar amplification and founder of Marshall Amplification)
- Rutherford (Greg Rutherford – Olympic, World, European and Commonwealth Long Jump Champion)
- Turing (Alan Turing – Major contributions to Mathematics, including breaking the Enigma code)
As you may have realised our Houses are named after those who have excelled in their chosen field, whilst having a close relationship to Milton Keynes. It is also worth noting that all the Houses were named by Watling Academy students who entered our House naming competition.
Your son or daughter will be issued with a planner that they will carry in their blazer pocket at all times. This will ensure that vital messages between home and school are communicated and you will also e able to clearly monitor progress with homework tasks against the deadlines determined by our homework timetable.
There has been a lot of recent research about banning mobile phones in school and the research seems to suggest that it has a positive impact of students’ attainment. We aim to take the pressure off students at social times, allowing them to talk to and socialise with their peers, giving them a well-earned break from screen time. It is important that you are aware that students will be required to either not bring phones to school or have them switched off and in their bag for the duration of the school day. If phones are switched on or seen during the school day then they will be confiscated. We appreciate and understand it is reassuring that children have a means of communication, particularly if they travel to school independently and we want to make sure you can contact your child if needs be. We will deliver any relevant messages to your child during the school day or vice versa, we will contact you if there is an urgent need.
