The Academy Voice SEP T

Transcription

1 The Academy Voice SEP T I N T H I S I S S U E Welcome Back Welcome Back from The Principal September Value of the month Apology and massive thank you Accelerated Reader Attendance House System Epraise Wizard Stories Sports News Anti Bullying October Value of the month Diary dates Whatever happened to the summer holidays? I hope everyone had a well-earned and restful break. We are back and have hit the ground running by implementing a powerful new system for improving reading ability throughout the SPA. As well as being one of life s richest pleasures, reading holds the golden keys to unlock the greatest possibilities for children through education. The lower their ability, the more opportunities are denied. Assessing reading has always been a tricky business, riddled with problems and inaccuracies. This is no longer true. We have acquired a computer based assessment system that first and foremost motivates children to read at and above their existing level, but it feeds us forensically accurate data about their true ability. The programme, called Accelerated Reader tests them with fun quizzes that adapt in difficulty as they progress. Once their level has been accurately diagnosed, it then introduced them to literally thousands of books from which they can choose that will entertain them, and push them on in their reading abilities. They are quizzed on each book they complete, and the programme monitors their progress. We can see at any moment how they are doing and adjust their learning accordingly in all subjects. To get the best out of this new system, your child needs you to help them. Please support their reading by asking them about the books they are reading, hearing them read to you and taking an interest. The Accelerated Reader System allows you to access their progress online. We will send you the URL and log in details within the next few weeks. We are also holding a parent session to inform you about it in October and we urge you to attend. Accelerated Reader is absolutely pivotal in our ongoing quest to raise standards without increasing stress and pressure on children. Please make sure you are an active part of it. Mrs McCamley Principal September: Co-operation Cooperation is helping one another Cooperation is working together with patience Cooperation is collective effort to reach a goal

2 An Apology and a Massive Thank You All through last year, a fantastically enthusiastic group of Year 8s, led by Jack Garfoot, took on the role of planning and running our tuck shop. The Enterprise Team undertook market research, planned and managed budgets, purchased stock and ran a stall on each playground twice a week. They worked well as a team and showed huge commitment throughout the year. The group was so successful in their money management that the profits from the tuck shops funded the Academy Awards night almost in its entirety. I would like to say a thank you and well done to all members of the team and apologise that I missed you out when I was offering my thanks at the awards night. Leaving you out of my speech was certainly not intentional. Your efforts over the year were inspirational and I hope you see these skills as a career option for the years to come. Mr Carter Introducing Accelerated Reader Tuesday, 18 th October at 6.30pm Your child(ren) will probably have made you aware of our Accelerated Reader system which we have recently introduced at the Academy. To introduce Accelerated Reader to you in more detail, I would like to invite you to a special presentation on Tuesday, 18 th October at 6.30pm in the School Hall. (Please note that this is for parents/carers only and unfortunately there isn t space to accommodate any children). From the Accelerated Reader website: At its heart, Accelerated Reader is simple. A student reads a book, takes an online quiz, and gets immediate feedback. Students respond to regular feedback and are motivated to make progress with their reading skills. At the Academy, we have already found that many pupils are far more motivated to read than they previously were because of the quizzes and recognition of number of words read etc. Pupils have all sat an initial online STAR test which indicated the appropriate level of books for each child (this is given as a range ie ). Most books in our Fiction library and many in our non-fiction library are labelled with their AR level. It is also possible to check a book s AR level by using arbookfind.co.uk if your child chooses to read a book from home. Pupils are encouraged to read at home for a minimum of 20 minutes each day and our afternoon registration time has been extended to allow for 30 minutes reading in school. Pupils are also able to change their books or take quizzes during this time. I look forward to seeing you on 18 th October. Mrs K.McCamley Principal

3 Attendance Welcome back! It is well documented that a child s school attendance has a significant impact on their overall achievement and gives them the best chance of reaching their full potential. At Sandye Place Academy we expect all of our students to aspire to 100% attendance and appreciate the full support of parents and carers in encouraging this. We are however realistic within our aspirations and appreciate that children can become unwell and so our attendance target for each student at the academy is 97% or above over each academic year. You can track your child s attendance and punctuality on epraise. We will aim to communicate with you as soon as possible if your son/daughters attendance becomes a concern. We do this to give you as much notice as possible in order for the situation to improve. Please remember that we are on your side! We are not trying to be difficult and we are not fining you for your money (the money is paid to Central Bedfordshire Council). We are trying to teach your children life skills that will support them in the work place. It is the Academy s decision whether an absence or late mark is authorised or not and we may ask you to provide medical evidence. Below are just a few examples of reasons we received last Academic year that were unauthorised by the Academy; We are going on holiday during term time for an educational trip. My child is tired because we went to a concert last night. It is my child s birthday. We had to go to the shops to get some new shoes. Fixed Penalty Notices There has been a great amount of media attention regarding Fixed Penalty Notices to parents that go on holiday during term time or have a number of unauthorised absences. Sandye Place Academy would like to make it clear to all parents that Central Bedfordshire are continuing to process the fixed penalty notices and therefore please do not take holidays during term time. Thank you for your ongoing support and co-operation. Mrs Weldon

4 House System We are currently using Epraise as our online school rewards system, which is designed to motivate students. It works in a similar way to traditional school reward systems, except that the points are claimed and awarded online. This year we have made modifications to our House System to really help motivate pupils to achieve and try their best. In particular reading, behaviour, attendance and progress are key areas for pupils to focus on as part of the system. Within the Academy each pupil is assigned a House team and colour which is driven by a Head of House (Senior member of staff). Challenge (Miss Perry) Discovery (Mr Sale) Endeavour (Mrs Weldon) Pursuit (Mr James) Venture (Miss Riberaud) Pupils remain in the same team throughout years 5-8, to provide consistency and security, essential for all students; all enquiries or exchanges of information are channelled through Mr James (Vice Principal). The role of the Heads of House is to ensure the following: To ensure your reaching you full potential in every aspect of school life. To identify barriers to your learning. To track individual progress in Maths and English (certain groups). To give advice and support and act as a mentor. To monitor House data through the Epraise System. To celebrate successes but to also identify areas for improvement. To communicate with parents/guardians. To orchestrate the new House captains and the House itself. Throughout the academic year we will be celebrating the leaders and overall winners for key areas including Behaviour, Epraise Points, Enrichment Points, Progress in our Accelerated Reader Programme and will be recognising those pupils making significant contributions towards their Houses.

5 epraise for Parents By now, many of you will be familiar with epraise, the reward system we use for pupils to collect and spend praise points. For those of you who are not, you will find a brief introduction through our website at: We have also launched epraise for parents/carers to be able to view your child s praise points, attendance, homework and other notes from teachers. You will have your own login which also allows you access to view your child(ren) s demerits (behaviour incidents). Please follow the steps below to get access to your child s epraise activity: 1. Go to 2. Choose school: Sandye Place Academy. 3. Select Parents tab. 4. Enter your address. This should be the address that you registered with the Academy. 5. Leave the Password field blank. 6. Click on Login/Register. You should receive an from epraise requiring you to verify the link and set up your account. If you haven t received an , please check your junk folder or filter settings. If you still haven t received it, then please contact the Academy at parents@spacademy.org.uk and we will follow it up with epraise for you. Once you have set up your account, you can login to view your child s epraise activity. Please note, that for parents who share an address, only one of you will be given access. Does the Academy have your address? If you get a message not recognised", it means that the Academy does not hold that address on our system. Therefore, you need to provide this address.

6 Wizard Stories On 27 th September the company Wizard Stories came in, to create stories with our Year 6 students. Using the ideas of the students, music and a lot creativity, they weaved together stories based mostly on the grounds of the Academy. Unfortunately, Mrs McCamley became the villain in many stories or at least a suspect, much to the delight of the captivated students. The stories were engaging, funny and gave the students a chance to enjoy the process of weaving together a story, without having to concentrate on writing at the same time. Humour was also a large part of the stories, as teachers and pupils were put into awkward positions for the amusement of all. Mrs McCamley walked into one session to find out that she had cancelled all lessons apart from Maths and Science as well as cancelling break and lunch time. Furthermore, the students were only allowed to have a fun activity once they had cleaned the school with their tongues! Nevertheless, teachers and students thoroughly enjoyed the story telling session and the Year 6 students are now adapting the stories into a written format. With so much inspiration, the stories promise to be worth reading.

7 Sports News On Tuesday 27th September 2016 the Year 7 and Year 8 girls had their first netball matches. They travelled to Biggleswade Academy where both teams played with enthusiasm. Lots of end-to-end action finished with the year 8 girls winning by an impressive 11 7, whilst the Year 7 girls drew 5 5. Well done girls! On Wednesday 28th September 2016 the Year 6 girls travelled to a tournament held at Edward Peake. They played against Burgoyne and two teams from Edward Peake. In their first match they drew 1 1 against Burgoyne. Their second match they won 2 0 against Edward Peake 2. Their final match they won 3 0 against Edward Peake 1. Emily Beith scored three times and Amelia Barry twice. Sandye Place Academy came away overall winners well done!

8 Reporting Bullying At Sandye Place Academy we strive to ensure that pupils feel safe. We have a reporting system set up enabling pupils to report bullying via their epraise account. This means they can now log acts of bullying at any time, in a private environment and this can even be done from home. Any incident logged will be sent directly to the bullying coordinator, who will inform your child s Head of Year and they will look into this and follow it up. This does not mean that we will not speak to children face to face. Pupils can still report an incident to any member of staff or attend the bullying drop in with Mr Campbell. The aim of using epraise to report an act of bullying is to help students to speak with the knowledge that this method of reporting is completely confidential. Anti-Bullying Drop in for Parents Every Wednesday pm NOT SURE HOW TO HELP YOUR CHILD DEAL WITH A BULLYING ISSUE? The session is an opportunity for you to come in to the Academy without an appointment to discuss anything related to bullying with the antibullying team, in an informal setting. We aim to build on the work we do with our students by helping parents support their child in dealing with bullying. Other appointments are available on request.

9 October: Responsibility Responsibility is being fair Responsibility is doing my share of the work Responsibility is taking care of myself and others Diary Dates 2016/ th Oct Accelerated Reader Evening 6.30pm 21st Oct Last day of half term 31st Oct Pupils return to school 1st Nov Pastoral Parents Evening 3rd Nov Pastoral Parents Evening 16th Dec Last Day of Term 4th Jan Pupils return to school