Parent Update 7th January
Happy New Year
Learning Cycle 2 Week 5
Welcome back to a new term and a very Happy New Year to everyone. I hope that you have all had some quality time with your children - we will enjoy having them back with us for Term 3. Great news received over the Xmas break was that we are up 17% on first choice applications to Worle for the September 2019 entry – we will be full with around 300 new Year 7s joining us – thank you for the great support.
A lot went on last term – it was incredibly busy with charity work, concerts and the build up to Christmas – which now just seems like a distant memory! A couple of pictures below capture the end of Term 2. First up, we have Liam Graham in his Christmas jumper celebrating with Mr. Griffin (Vice-Principal). Liam is the first WCSA student to reach 1000 positives! This is simply brilliant and we were delighted to congratulate him at the end of term.
Next up is our Head Boy – Toby Lythgoe. Toby is wearing his Christmas hat to keep warm – having just shaved off his locks for charity. For those of you who know Toby, you will be aware what a fine head of hair he had; parting with this to raise money for our WCSA charity – Weston Hospicecare – was a generous and noble act. Well done Toby – I look forward to hearing how much money you raised. As a note, we will be encouraging as many staff as possible to enter The Mendip Chllenge in the summer to raise funds for Weston Hospicecare. Please do look at entering yourself – a really worthy cause. All academies across our Trust will be encouraging staff to enter to do our bit for the charity appeal 2018-2019.
Looking forward to 2019, I am sure that you have all made (and possibly already, like me, broken…) resolutions. This is the time of year when we are reminding students about our basic expectations: Ready to Learn – fully equipped with pencil case and homework folders. Full uniform with shirts tucked in and blazers. Please do send children to us in a school coat in this colder weather – a hoodie is not a substitute for a warm coat and neither is it part of our dress code. Trainers are not allowed and we have stocked up on shoes over the holiday so will be lending uniform to those falling short. Everyone is now fully aware of our uniform code.
I will continue to enjoy working with the parent body over the coming months. I did a parent voice survey back in December – this was really helpful to get information from you the parents about what you want more of (and less of) here at WCSA. We will continue to run these, so please do get in touch if you would like to join in with the next Parent Forum. In particular, we will continue to look at homework. With a knowledge-based curriculum, it is essential that we provide opportunities for students to consolidate their learning at home.
Finally, you will note that we are going “live” with Class Charts. We sent parents the log in details for the app in the Christmas mail shot. Please do take the time to download the app and track your child’s progress on an hourly basis! Basically, as soon as a teacher / staff member gives a reward point, your phone will buzz, notifying you of your child’s achievement. Of course, the opposite is also true. You will be quickly aware of any negative logs received by your child. We know this will further help home-school communication. No doubt there will be some teething troubles but, as always, just email me direcly to assist.
Thank you again for your great support.
Jacqui Scott
Principal WCSA
Dates looking ahead to 2019:
25th Jan Ski Trip (until 1st Feb)
5th Feb Battle of the Bands
13th Feb Young Shakespeare Company production (Year 10)
14th Feb Year 8 Parents’ Eve
14th Feb Meeting of the Parents’ Forum
2nd March Year 11 visit to the Shakespeare Globe Theatre (Romeo & Juliet)
13/14th March Maths Challenge
14th March Upper School Celebration
25th March Science Fair (week)
4th April Year 7 Parents’ Evening