Week 06
Week 6
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As we came to school this morning with the first frost of the year, our opportunity calendar has been heating up at Watling Academy!
Year 10 have had a particularly busy week, with an Art Trip and a Navy Careers Event. The Year 10 Art students went to the Tate Modern in London, giving them the chance to explore a wide range of modern and contemporary art, helping to enrich their understanding and inspire their own creative work. The students thoroughly enjoyed themselves and represented the school with great enthusiasm and maturity throughout the visit. It was an invaluable learning experience, and we look forward to seeing how it will influence their future projects.
A Navy Careers Event was held on Tuesday and Wednesday and Year 10 students had a chance to participate in various activities focusing on teamwork, STEM and employability skills. This was a fantastic opportunity to broaden their knowledge and experience something slightly different from the norm. Please read our news story to find out more: Year 10 Royal Navy Careers Event
On Thursday, our Year 11 Health and Social Care students took a trip to the Care Show at the Birmingham NEC. The Care Show is the UK’s leading social care event bringing together organisations focussed on improving the quality of care in the UK. Our students were able to meet with exhibitors, explore innovations changing the landscape of the care sector and talk to future potential employers.
We held our Year 9 Learning Pathways Evening last night with over 500 attendees. These evenings are extremely important, providing parents/carers with information on what curriculum is being covered throughout the academic year ahead and a reminder of how we can all work together to support our students. Content from these evenings is uploaded to our website after the event should you have been unable to attend in person.
We want to thank everyone who participated in last week’s Friends of Watling Academy Doughnut sale. The sale raised over £500 which was a fantastic achievement and we look forward to another tasty event at some point in the future.
This week, I would like to ask for your support to ensure that all students meet our basic expectations regarding uniform and punctuality. Firstly, I would like to acknowledge the students who are on time to school, lessons and are wearing their uniform correctly, and with pride. Unfortunately, staff are having to have many repeated conversations with students regarding uniform. I must ask for your support to ensure that students are leaving home dressed correctly and appropriately for school. As a reminder, leggings are not part of our school uniform. I have also been made aware that some skirts have been permanently altered to make them shorter and some students are wearing skirts that do not fit around the waist so that they are shorter on the leg. Skirts should sit no more than approximately 3 inches above the knee and we will continue to challenge where this is not the case. By maintaining our uniform standards, we are maintaining our school community and reinforcing that our basic expectations must be respected and valued by all.
Similarly, many students are still arriving late to school in the morning and some are not maintaining good punctuality during the day. Students should be on site by at least 8:35am, ready for Tutorial at 8:40am. As the school has grown, we are aware that traffic in the local area has increased. Please take account for additional traffic during the winter months and plan journeys accordingly. To support families who have to travel further to school, I would remind students to walk or cycle to school if they are able to do so. As road users, please do remember that we sit within a growing and active local community. We have received occasional complaints regarding individuals parking in bus lanes and blocking driveways. Whilst we appreciate that these may well be isolated events, our community have been negatively impacted at these times and it is crucial for the Watling Academy community to be a supportive and positive partner to the wider Whitehouse community. To this effect, can I please remind parents and carers that we all have a responsibility to our school and the local community to be respectful in our actions.
Finally, as a part of our continued improvement of our communications channels, we wanted to gather your views. This is your opportunity to tell us what you want to hear from us in terms of school wide communications, so please do take the time to complete this before the survey closes next Friday (18th October): Communication Survey
As always, we know that the families of our students are our greatest asset and I would like to thank you for your continued support of the school, but also for individuals within our community.
I wish you all a happy and restful weekend.
Mrs H Fry
What’s happening next week?
Key events happening next week include:
- Wednesday 16th & Thursday 17th October: Year 9 Silverstone Museum Trip / Enrichment Day
- Thursday 17th October: Year 7 Harry Potter Book Night
- Thursday 17th October: Year 8 Learning Pathways Evening
- Sports fixtures
- Monday 14th October: U15 Girls County Cup Football vs Shenley Brook End
- Tuesday 15th October: Year 11 Basketball vs Hazeley
- Wednesday 16th October: Year 7 & 8 Boys Football vs Hazeley
- Thursday 17th October: Year 8 & 10/11 Girls Football vs Lord Grey
- Thursday 17th October: Year 10 Boys County Cup Football vs Shenley Brook End
Updated dates for the diary…
We’d love to hear your thoughts on the bulletin. Have you enjoyed reading this? Is there anything else you’d like to see included in future? Should you have any questions, comments or feedback, please do not hesitate to email: media@watling.academy
Events taking place in our community
