Parent Update - Term 4 (Principal's Update)

As usual, we have been very diligent here at WCSA. The GCSEs are fast approaching and our super Year 11s are working extremely hard; they know that Grade 4s in the “Basics” (English and maths) open so many doors in life. A couple of weeks ago, we had some of our ex-Year 11 students come into assembly to talk about life after school. Pictured below is Josh Clay – you may remember that Josh was our Head Boy (2017/8). Josh talked to students about his apprenticeship and how glad he is that he doesn’t need to resit maths or English. He was telling me that when he sees his peers having this added pressure, it makes him think about how much help there is in school and how important it is to make the most of this. Josh – I completely agree with you! Our plea to all Year 11s is to really focus over the next 8 weeks on your “Basics” – we firmly believe that all students can achieve at the very least a G4 in both English and maths. Many are working at higher levels of course – clearly, we aim high at the new WCSA.

It is not only our students who work hard. Behind the scenes there is a lot that goes on to make the school a better place for everyone. For a number of months now, our new toilet block – Water Worle has been under construction. We were proud to open these facilities for students at the start of Term 4. In many schools, toilets are simply not fit for purpose. As academy and as a Trust, we are committed to improving our facilities. Indeed, I worked for many years at Priory where ‘Splash World’ has been in place since 2010. To do this, we bid to the government for grants which can only be spent on building work. Next up, we would like to secure funding to improve our sports facilities – new flooring and upgrade. We will keep you posted. In fact, we will know about all our Trust grants in the next two weeks. As a group of 5 academies we have £2.5million of bids lodged with the DfE – at WCSA it is for roofs and the new sports revamp. Many of you will know that TPLT said these were priorities only 18 months ago and we are delighted that very quickly site improvements are visible for everyone to see and benefit from – the totals at WCSA are £87,366 for sports and £969,055 for new roofing. We await news.

Last week saw us celebrate “Pi Day”. Aptly denoted by 3.14 (14 March) we saw our annual recital of Pi to over 400 digits by Tom Garlick (pictured below). This is no mean feat and I have watched Tom in action myself. All of the excitement was captured on film (see below). Many thanks to Miss Symes who organised this day. As Tom leaves us in the summer, we really do need some budding Pi recitalists to keep the tradition going.

Now, if you follow me on Twitter, you will see that I see a set of students weekly – Students of the Week. We celebrate with a hot chocolate and biscuits. During this time, students tell me about why they have been recommended by their Head of Year. They also tell me about their future hopes and ambitions. Many have their sights set on university. In recent weeks, I have met a number of students who are keen to run catering businesses. All our students are unique and individual and I love hearing from as many of them as I can.  Pictured below are our Year 10 “Enterprise Women”. They have been part of this group since Year 8. Mrs. Cuthbertson (Careers led at WCSA) organises regular events to give these girls opportunities to see what the World of Work is like.

Thank you for your continued great support

Jacqui Scott

Principal