Friday 17th May 2024
Dear Parents and Carers,
The previous two weeks have been exceptional at Northampton Academy. Lots of fantastic work has been completed in and out of the classroom. This is shown every Friday on our Proud Table. Please do encourage your child to come along to the proud table. If they show eight pieces of work, they will go into the draw to win an iPad.
Exams have begun for Year 11 and Year 13, and they have all made a wonderful start. The exam period is several weeks long, so please encourage them to keep up this positive momentum until the end. We are very proud of all of them.
Attendance
As previously mentioned, this half-term, we internally reset all the students’ attendance figures to 100% on the day they returned to us after the Easter break (Tuesday, 26th April). This allowed all the students to have a 'fresh start' and see how close to 100% attendance they could still be at the end of the half-term (Friday, 24th May).
We provided an opportunity for tutors to reflect on this every Monday and show the students who had completed a full week in school the previous week. Those who had were entered into a weekly prize draw for a voucher (one winner per year group) and it was announced live to the school in an assembly. It was a pleasure to then go and visit the students in their form class and personally hand the prize over.
We are going to repeat this process again when the students return from the final half-term break of the year and challenge the students to take pride in coming to school and appreciating the link between progress and attendance. We will also be communicating with families during the final half term about their child's attendance more regularly to support them in achieving excellent attendance and ensure absolute clarity with regard to time in school.
Principal Award nomination
Each week, teachers nominate one exceptional student who embodies our school's core values. Each Friday, we celebrate our six deserving winners but also every nominated child will receive a certificate on Monday morning with the reason why the teacher was proud of them last week. Please join us in celebrating your child's achievement if they come home with a certificate. Your support means everything as we recognize and encourage the outstanding efforts of our students.
Equipment check
We want to ensure that every student is equipped for success here at our school, which is why we have equipment checks twice a term in tutor time. Please remind your child to bring the following essentials daily: a pencil case stocked with two blue or black pens, a pencil, a sharpener, an eraser, a ruler, a scientific calculator, and their reading book for DEAR time. Our library is open before school, after school, during break times, and at lunchtime, offering ample opportunities for students to explore and engage with a huge range of books.
‘Spotlight' applications are now live for Year 7 students!
The link to apply is here: https://forms.office.com/e/T7A72VJKMF
This brand-new program, launching in September, is designed for students who have a passion for any aspect of Music, Drama, or Dance. All Spotlight Academy students will work towards an Arts Award qualification during their journey through school, one at each Key Stage. This qualification will aid them in developing their knowledge and understanding of their chosen art form and build essential skills for future success, including UCAS points!
As a member of Spotlight, students will receive further opportunities through an extended day with extra-curricular opportunities, which will also include exciting projects with the Royal Shakespeare Company and its representatives.
All Spotlight Performing Arts students will be expected to participate in extra-curricular classes after school until 4.30 pm at least three times a week.
Parking on the Wellingborough Road
Please be advised that members of the public who require access to the full width of the path outside of school are struggling to use it because cars are pulling onto it to the left of the traffic lights.
There are double yellow lines on the road at this point, please can we support our whole community by politely asking that you do not pick up and drop off here.
Year 11
Wow, Year 11 are taking these exams by storm. Well done to every single one of the Year 11s showing determination and resilience during the exam season.
Please keep working with them at home. They have all the tools they need to succeed. While revision is very important, so are their habits, such as eating and sleeping well.
Year 10
End of Year Assessments start on 3rd June. This will be a 2-week timetable, and students have received their outline timetable this week.
Students have been provided with a support and guidance booklet for all subjects in Term 4; this is on the website and Satchel:One for reference, and they have received a ‘how to revise’ assembly to help them prepare.
These assessments will take place in the classroom, and students should come prepared for these during their normal subject lessons.
Sixth Form -
Wellbeing
As part of a stress relief and wellbeing initiative, volunteers from the Guide Dog Association visited Sixth Form students at Northampton Academy. The visit provided an opportunity for the students to meet up to eight guide dogs, who were either in training, working, or retired. The students were also accompanied by some study support students, including Jacob, who was thrilled to meet 'Pudding', a guide dog that he sponsors!
Mrs Tustin-Reeves expressed her gratitude and said:
"We were very grateful to the Guide Dog Association's volunteers for taking the time to come in and spend time with our students. We are committed to promoting our students' well-being, and pet therapy is a well-known stress reliever."
Student Leadership
The process for appointing our new student leadership team has completed. This team will be following on from the hard work led by James and Phillipa, our head boy and girl, in representing and leading initiatives across the school. Our new school leadership team are ready to get started and consists of head people, deputy head people, diversity lead, inclusion lead, social and charities lead, wellbeing lead, environment lead, wider participation officer, SLT coordinator, and academic coordinators.
UCAS
Year 12 have now completed their first draft of their personal statements. Their next deadline is the 5th June. There is also a trip to the UCAS conference on June 24th, where students can speak to a range of universities and apprenticeship providers.
Year 13 Exams
Exams have now officially started for Year 13 and a reminder that top tips sessions will be offered for most of their exams. Silent study will also be used for those who have an exam in the morning of the afternoon on that day. Year 13 also have intervention during May Half-Term for most of their subjects.
Careers
Year 8 are currently undergoing their careers character lessons. They had a fantastic online talk from the University of Northampton recently; driving the aspirations of our young people from such a young age was great to see. They have also recently looked at the future job market and the impact of AI on the labour market - very topical in the current climate.
This is a reminder for Year 11s that they should all have applied for a post-16 destination and preferably a backup choice for September. If in doubt, always apply for more than one course, as there is a high chance most courses will be at capacity by September. Support is always available in the Careers office at any time of day.
We will be relaunching our Year 12 Breakfast with a Professional series next half-term, with some extremely knowledgeable industry experts lined up, so watch this space.
Finally, we finish with some labour market information with a focus on salaries in Northamptonshire.
Please click the link for more information North Northamptonshire Salary | Wages and hours worked (varbes.com)
I hope you all have a lovely half-term. We look forward to welcoming all the students back on Monday, June 3rd.
Kind regards,
Owen Jones
Principal