It is a pleasure to write to you at such an exciting time in the school year. The GCSE examinations have concluded and we have said farewell to our Year 11’s in style with our Leaver’s Assembly, an event truly unique to Erdington Academy. This month we also welcomed the Year 6 students who will join us in September with Induction Day. We also had our celebration evening a chance for effort and excellence to be rewarded; this is always a special evening.
This has been a challenging year for all and am pleased with the progress and changes we have made throughout the year to meet these emerging challenges. As you are aware Mr Pawar joined us at Easter and Mrs Cross has started in July. These are both Vice Principals, Mr Pawar with a focus on learning behaviours and Mrs Cross with a focus on the quality of teaching. We have also strengthened our pastoral team ready for September to ensure students are Ready, Respectful, Safe.
Summer development work:
In my ongoing plan to improve the facilities at the Academy, over the summer a significant development programme will be happening. This will involve relocating reception and the administration areas, relocating the Library to the centre of the academy, where it will be easier to access for students on break and lunch, creating two new drama rooms, along with refitting Science labs and ICT suites. The Medical and Pastoral spaces are also being moved and improved.
Year 11 Results day:
The work that is happening over the summer holiday will have an impact on Year 11 students returning to collect results. Due to site access and safety, results will distributed from the sports hall and access to the site will be by the back gate only from 9.30 am until 11.00am.
Notable successes over the year:
Some of the notable successes from this year have been:
Through the challenges of the year through partnership with families, we ensure students understand the importance of good attendance. Our attendance continues to be one of the strongest in the city and amongst the best in the country.
Through our work with the City Mayor, in October we became the first national pilot school of the Home Office “Step Together” initiative. Through the year this has involved youth worker chaperones being in the community before and after school ensuing students feel safe. Through positive community feedback we are planning for this partnership to continue next year.
Through the fantastic work of our careers team and whole staff approach to embedding careers and employability into all that we do; the academy successfully achieved Careers gold award in November.
The Erasmus careers project trip to Turkey gave some of our students an opportunity to work with students from 6 other European countries gaining a good understanding into international workforce and employment. Along a similar theme we have also had the opportunity to be involved with a translation company called Word360, they are currently developing a toolkit for refugees to support transition into UK schools. Our students had the opportunity to share their insight and experiences to support the development of the package and really valued the opportunity to share and be involved. When speaking to students who participated they wanted to thank me for valuing their opinion and feeling that they had contributed to something worthwhile.
The year has ended with two recent notable successes at the end of June.
Mr Brotherton was awarded the Dellaglio Rugby Works PE teacher of the year. This was due to his continued dedication to ensuring students have an exposure to Rugby, a sport that many of them have not until now experienced, but many go on to continue to participate in, long after the sessions or their time at Erdington have ended.
We also had two teams in the finals of the Amey Girls into Engineering Challenge, building on the knowledge and understanding from their KS3 Design Technology experiences, one of the teams went on to win, beating the school that had won the challenge for the past 2 years.
Safeguarding over the summer:
The summer break is a time for students and families to spend quality time together and recharge ready for the new term. Sometimes children and families might experience difficulties during the break. Below are some agencies that can offer support over the holiday period.
To help families with financial hardship
To support children experiencing anxiety and mental health concerns
Support for parents to help children create a self-care plan for their emotional wellbeing
Access to adult mental health services
Erdington Food Banks
I would like to thank you for your ongoing support as we are always striving to raise standards together so that all students have the learning experiences at Erdington Academy that they deserve. In preparation for September can I remind you of the following expectations:
Academy Uniform Expectations:
Thank you to all the parents and carers for ensuring we got off to a smart start for this academic year. The uniform standards really do reflect the academy’s ambition and standards. We are proud of our academy uniform and expect students to represent our high standards at all times both to and from the academy. A full list of uniform expectations is on the academy website; however, I have summarised some key points below:
Black blazer- with the Erdington academy pocket badge
Ties – Each student should have a school tie with their house colours on. There are two different ties. One for Key Stage 3 (Year 7 & 8) and one for KS4 (Years 9, 10 & 11.)
School Bag – Must be able to carry an A4 work book and made of a robust or weather resistant fabric. Pouches are not permitted in school.
Foot wear- black shoes. Shoes should be of polishable material; should have black laces only. Girls could have low heels. Training shoes, boots, canvas shoes, Nike Air force & Max, Vans, Converse or other similar labelled footwear are not allowed.
PE Kit- Erdington Academy branded PE top and black shorts are required for all PE lessons. Further details are available on the academy website.
A uniform isolation room is operated for any students who do not meet the academy standards. Please contact your child’s Head of House if you have any questions.
Equipment
To ensure pupils are ready to learn every day, they should have the following equipment every day:
- Ethos Card
- Blue/black pen
- Green pen
- Ruler
- Scientific calculator
- Pencil
- ERIC book (KS3 ONLY)
Punctuality
We do expect students to be punctual to school, as we prepare them for the world of work. Any student who arrives late to the academy will sit a 20 minute correction detention at the end of the day.
Drinks to School:
As we want to encourage healthy lifestyles, no isotonic or fizzy drinks can be brought into the academy; this includes Red Bull and Lucozade. Students can bring in a bottle of water if they wish, they can purchase water and juice on the premises and there are water fountains available. All drinks containers should be a reusable sports/ flask type bottle. Single use plastics and inappropriate drinks will be removed from students.
I look forward to meeting many of you at some of the events we have planned next year and will write to you again in September with the dates and details of these.
A reminder that the Academy will close for students from Thursday 21st July 2022 and reopen on Wednesday 7th September 2022. Can I remind you that as communicated on 27th June, to meet the new DfE expectations the times of the school day have changed, Gates open at 8:30 with students on site for 8:40am, the academy day will finish at 3:10pm.
I hope you have an enjoyable and restful summer break.
Yours sincerely
Mr S Mallett
Principal
