Gladstone Primary Academy launches
Page 4 Page bilingual clubs
Finance team share their new
Page 7 Page ways of working
Queen Katharine Academy Nursery
Page 8 Page feature
Unity of Purpose: Trust | Diversity | Excellence | Transformation Winter Edition 1 Julie Taylor and Dr Barnes’ Welcome
Welcome to the Winter edition of the Thomas its inspection and Gladstone Primary Academy Deacon Education Trust (TDET) newsletter, where Preschool is doing well with pupils settling into we share information about the Trust and the their new routines. You can find out more about achievements of those who are part of it. the Queen Katharine Academy Nursery on page This newsletter also provides a great place to 8 and hear from Laura Wales, Assistant Head learn more about our vision and values, the of Early Years Foundation Stage at Gladstone people and support networks we provide and Primary Academy on page 10. the benefits we offer you as members of staff in our schools. As well as our academies, we have seen some great individual successes. Georgia Hughes, As we look back on what has been a fantastic a former Thomas Deacon Academy pupil, Autumn term, we must congratulate our graduated with a First-Class Honours Politics and academies on their summer results! Queen Sociology degree from Cambridge University. Katharine Academy celebrated another year This is a fantastic achievement that we can use of improving GCSE results with a significant to inspire our pupils. increase in its Progress 8 figure and Thomas Deacon Academy celebrated its best-ever set We hope you enjoy reading more about the of GCSE results. Both academies also achieved successes of the Autumn term and getting to strong A-Level results. Thank you to our brilliant know more about our people. We look forward staff, dedicated pupils and our wonderful to the Spring term and cannot wait to see what community for making this possible. exciting opportunities and developments take place in our fantastic TDET community. Last term, we also saw two of our schools receive their Ofsted inspections, becoming the first of our academies to be reviewed under the new framework. Thomas Deacon Academy has once again received Good in all areas, with the inspector commenting that ‘staff look after pupils well and provide impressive opportunities for personal development’. Gladstone Primary Academy also received a positive report, achieving Good in four of the five areas, with an overall rating of Requires Improvement. This is a huge improvement from their inspection in 2016 and a credit to all at the academy. These results show Julie Taylor (Chief Executive of TDET) that TDET schools are continuing to develop and and Dr Barnes (Chair of the TDET Board) provide high-quality education for our pupils.
Our Early Years provisions are also going from strength to strength. The Queen Katharine Academy Nursery recently received praise from
2 About Thomas Deacon Education Trust
The Thomas Deacon Education Trust (TDET) is a All members of our Trust – our schools, multi-academy Trust that unites and empowers members of staff, pupils and communities - like-minded schools to achieve the very best for are united in purpose through a common set their pupils and communities. of values and expectations:
We are unashamedly proud of our links to the city Trust of Peterborough and its surrounding areas. – We are honest and supportive We share the city’s ambitious vision for growth and believe that our schools and the education Diversity of young people need to be at the heart of – We embrace individual differences these plans.
As a Trust, we work across all key phases of Excellence education to provide every child in our community – We want the very best and never with the best life chances and high aspirations. give up on doing what is right
Our academies work closely together, taking Transformation part in real and meaningful collaborations – We work together to make between teachers, pupils and local business a positive impact leaders. We value our local communities and actively encourage our schools and staff to share best practice to benefit all children within each local area.
Through experience, we know that there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach to education. Our schools are individual members of the Trust community and are connected by a common set of values but are free to innovate and adapt to the needs of its pupils and the local community. We firmly believe that the Trust as a whole is more than the sum of its parts. Therefore, all of our schools are equally valued and contribute to the development and direction of the Trust as we grow together.
The Trust currently includes:
Gladstone Primary Academy
We also have two nurseries; one at Gladstone Primary Academy and one at Queen Katharine Academy. 3 Stories from across the Trust
Former pupil success We are thrilled to announce that former Thomas Deacon Academy student, Georgia Hughes, has graduated with a First-Class Honours Politics and Sociology degree from Emmanuel College at Cambridge University.
Richard Barnes, our Chairman of the Board, helped to prepare Georgia for her initial interview when she applied to the university and we have continued to keep in touch with Georgia over the years.
Georgia has returned to the academy several times to support and present at important events, including our TDET Education Conference last year in partnership with the Fabian Society. Georgia’s story is an inspiration, not only to our pupils but to us all and shows just what we can do to help our young people reach their potential.
Gladstone Primary Academy launches bilingual clubs Last term, we launched our first ever bilingual club at Gladstone Primary Academy. The aim was to support our bilingual pupils with both their English and home-language skills which are often lost when they move to the UK. We also wanted to create an opportunity to connect and build relations with their families.
Thanks to the Peterborough City Council Community Fund, we have opened a series of clubs that run four days a week for an hour after school. The clubs are held at the academy where they utilise a library corner, a large open space and classrooms.
Currently, there is a Slovak and Czech group, and a Romanian group, with plans to set up Urdu and Lithuanian groups in the coming months. Each group has a leader who is fluent in English as well as either Slovak, Czech or Romanian. They deliver a range of activities based on storytelling to help the pupils develop their language skills, and every Thursday parents are invited to attend and join in.
It is great to see the pupils progressing with their language skills and we look forward to seeing the long-term outcomes over the next few years. We also hope that, through interactions with their parents, the academy will gain a wider understanding of the individual communities and cultures which, in turn, will help us to tailor our pupil support.
4 Silver celebrations at Thomas Deacon Academy Juniors and Upwood Primary Academy Staff at Thomas Deacon Academy Juniors and Upwood Primary Academy are celebrating after both achieving the British Dyslexia Association Silver Literacy Leap Dyslexia Award last term. The award provides a framework, informed by the SEND Code of Practice, to help schools support pupils with learning disabilities such as dyslexia.
All teachers and teaching assistants took part in intensive training sessions to help them to identify and screen children at risk of having a learning disability. They learned how to put appropriate interventions and lesson adaptations in place, alongside an ‘Assess, Plan, Do and Review’ process tailored to the individual’s needs.
As part of the award, Thomas Deacon Academy Juniors held a No Pens Day where pupils did not write in lessons. This raised awareness and encouraged pupils to learn in a more creative way. Staff also held a parent’s evening to educate them on the signs to look out for and provide advice on how best to support their child and other pupils.
Upwood Primary Academy also held a No Pens Day, as well as a Construction Day where pupils had to design and make different models, and a Cooking Day where they had to follow picture recipes.
We are very pleased to see the confidence of the teachers at both schools increasing and the progress of the pupils improving. Throughout the next academic year, Emma Gowers, who is leading on the work at the junior school, will be working with SEND Coordinators across the Trust, to share best practice.
Our Combined Cadet Force show their respects Our Combined Cadet Force (CCF) across our academies has continued to grow and develop and last term, they formed a key part of our Remembrance Day services across the Trust.
Cadets at Queen Katharine Academy led the service, laying a wreath to honour the fallen and holding the national flag. At Thomas Deacon Academy, the cadets led the parade alongside Lieutenant Colonel Chris Thompson, and played the last post. They were also honoured to be part of the Cathedral Remembrance Service. Pupils at our primary academies also paid their respects with a two-minute silence and created poppies to decorate their local communities.
We are immensely proud of the respect each of our cadets had and the way in which they held themselves. They are a true credit to the Trust, and it is great to see them developing as young and responsible adults.
Coming up over the next term, many of our cadets, from within our Army and RAF forces, will attend a variety of training camps and weekend expeditions. This will range from first aid courses to drill competitions and flight training. We hope to follow on the success of winning Best CCF of Central Camp 2019 last year. In 2020, we are also looking forward to introducing a Mini Cadet Force at Upwood Primary Academy!
5 Our People
Tom Wright – What does your role entail on a daily basis? Iqra Academy Teacher “We now have five more Syrian refugee pupils who I am helping to support. For lessons where their English isn’t developed enough, they study with me and I am able to give them that extra time to work
on their vocabulary and writing techniques. I also sit
in on some of their lessons to help them take notes
and structure answers.”
Can you tell us about your career history and What is the most challenging part of your role? how you got into teaching? “Keeping their morale and motivation up is so “When I finished university, I decided to do a CELTA important. The pupils can find it difficult when their certificate (Certificate in Teaching English to knowledge and understanding is good, but they Speakers of Other Languages) in Cambridge. This don’t yet have the skills to translate that onto paper. meant I could teach English to people around the It can be very frustrating for them, especially when world and it was a great way for me to travel. Once I they compare themselves to their peers. I work passed the course, I taught English in Saudi Arabia hard to keep them motivated and continue to build for a year and then in Malta for four months before on their language skills, so they are prepared and returning to the UK. ready for their GCSEs.”
I then began working at Iqra Academy to support What is your favourite part of the role? their two Syrian refugee pupils. Both children had “It is very rewarding to see my pupils’ English arrived in the UK not speaking a word of English, improve. It is incredible that they arrive at the so I worked with them to help them learn English, academy only speaking a couple of words of using my Arabic knowledge from my visits to see English and then progress so quickly. Sometimes family in Palestine.” I begin to translate a sentence for them, and they stop me because they already understand what it Can you tell us a little more about your work says, or when I ask about their weekend and they with the refugee pupils? give me a full description of what they got up to. It “I worked closely with them in the first few months is one of the best parts of my job!” and found innovative ways to help them learn. We set up a role model scheme so they could Do you have any hobbies? make friends at lunch and break, as well as pick “I love to run and am part of the Peterborough up the language from their peers. We also played Athletics group.” games such as ‘Articulate’ to help expand their descriptive vocabulary. It is very rewarding to see Once they had a basic grasp of English, we started my pupils’ English improve. It is to introduce them into mainstream lessons, and I incredible that they arrive at the supported them through this process. Both pupils academy only speaking a couple of can now speak fluent English and are studying for words of English and then their GCSEs.” progress so quickly.
6 Finance Team Update
There have been lots of exciting initiatives taking We are now focusing on supporting Thomas place in our Finance team over the last term Deacon Academy with their transition to a including introducing new financial reporting, cashless system. This started with one year group centralising the Finance team and supporting in September 2019 and will scale up to all years our schools to become cashless. throughout the academic year.
A move to centralisation Exciting budgeting One of the biggest changes is the package ahead move to centralisation. We now have As the Trust continues to grow, we six staff based at our Head Office who manage are reviewing our systems to ensure we are using the invoices, pay runs and supplier queries for the the best and most appropriate packages to set Trust, as well as producing monthly management our budgets. From 2020, we plan to use a new accounts information for all our schools. In bespoke budgeting package offered by a leading addition, we have six staff based at our schools software provider that will allow us to move away who provide support for student queries, manage from spreadsheet-based budgeting. This should staff budget queries, account for cash and ensure enable us to be more transparent in monitoring the smooth running of our school shops. This has the academy budgets. meant the team can focus on specific areas and resolve problems and questions in real-time. The The Academic year team all work closely together to share ideas and in figures best practice.
New reporting process Trust income budget Trust pay We have been working towards an 2019/20: budget 2019/20: Integrated Curriculum Financial Planning reporting model. This way of reporting £30.0m £23.8m lets us look at the cost of running an individual lesson and is helping to inform our Principals about how to offer the best and broadest possible % of income budget Total Trust employees allocated to pay: (Aug 19): curriculum within the academy’s budget. We rolled this out to all academies in the Autumn term. 79.2% 718
Cashless academies A couple of our primary academies Number of supplier invoices Uptake of Parent Pay at processed per year: our largest school (TDA): have recently made the transition to becoming cashless, with parents paying for their 15,500 61% child’s food, clubs and trips electronically. This has made it safer for pupils as they aren’t carrying cash, easier for parents to transfer money in Trust net assets 2018/19: real-time and track what their child is spending and is simpler for staff to account for the income. £35.6m
7 Queen Katharine Academy Nursery
The Academy Nursery has been open since September 2007 and offers childcare and education for children aged from birth to 4 years and 11 months. One of the unique aspects of the nursery is that it offers term-time contracts which is ideal for parents working in education. The nursery also serves the local community.
It has gone from strength to strength, growing from 20 to 53 places and five to 16 members of staff. The nursery recently had its annual inspection by Peterborough City Council and received positive feedback from the inspector, who commented that staff are well engaged and know the children well.
Working together
The nursery works closely with Queen Katharine Academy and has supported many pupils studying Child Development and Health & Social Care through work experience at the nursery. There is currently a group of English A-Level pupils who visit the nursery to observe children’s communication as part of their studies.
The nursery also makes the most of the wider learning environment at the academy, including the sports hall, library and dance studio. The Food and Technology department supports the nursery children with baking.
Outdoor learning initiative Homegrown
The nursery children have daily access to ‘The Meadow’, Over the years, the nursery has employed many a strip of land at the back of the site, which the Academy pupils. Both Holly Smith and Tina Page children use to exercise and explore nature. This year, started their Early Years careers as pupils at Queen the nursery is developing outdoor learning by having a Katharine Academy, gaining their level three Early Years wooden ‘log cabin’ constructed, where the children can qualifications, and then began full-time employment at continue their nature-led learning. The nursery is also the nursery. Holly and Tina have both recently completed planning to work with the child development staff and their foundation degrees in Early Years and were both pupils at Queen Katharine Academy to further enhance successful in securing Room Leader posts. This Autumn, the outdoor learning by creating a ‘Forest Schools’ Tina and Holly have now enrolled with a university and approach. Watch this space… have started their Early Years degrees.
Employing staff from the academy ensures they are part of the local community, can learn with us from the beginning of their career and know the provision inside out.
8 Our People
Alison Di Meglio What is your favourite part of the job? – Queen Katharine “I can honestly say that I really love my job and Academy the nursery is a truly great place to work. We have Early Years Manager created an Early Years culture centred around the children and it is heart-warming when you see them happily playing and learning. One of the most rewarding parts of my job is working with our fantastic team of staff. We are Can you tell us a little bit about your all like-minded and want to do what is best for career history? the children and their families. There is a very “Whilst at school I always wanted to become a supportive and positive atmosphere.” teacher, but I didn’t believe I was academic enough. Since leaving school, I have worked in various What is a challenge of the role? industries, including being an accounts clerk at “One of the great things about my role is the variety Thomas Cook, hotel receptionist and a short-lived but with that comes managing a range of tasks career in the army. It was whilst I was expecting my including finance, HR and the staff-pupil ratio. first child, that I trained to become an Early But thankfully I have great support!” Years Practitioner. What is it like to work as part of the Trust? After I finished my training, I worked at the local “Being part of TDET gives me so much support. children’s centre for eight years before moving to Lynn Mayes, Principal at Queen Katharine work at Queen Katharine Academy Nursery in Academy and my line manager, is always there 2007 and gaining my Level 5 qualification in Early when I need advice. HR and finance support Years Management.” from the central team is also invaluable and What does your role entail? not something we would have as a single standalone setting.” “My tasks are varied but overall my role is to oversee the smooth running of the nursery. What is your vision for the nursery in the My deputy manager and I spend time supporting next year? the nursery staff and ensuring they have the “We have achieved our original goal and expanded necessary resources to deliver the curriculum. in size and capacity. We now want to work I also work closely with our parents as I think these towards achieving an outstanding judgement with relationships are key to a successful partnership. Ofsted. I believe our staff are more than capable At times, I am lucky enough to have the opportunity so that’s our aim moving forward.” to support the children in their rooms, this is one of the ‘perks’ of managing an Early Years setting.” Fun fact:
Alison enjoys being creative in
her spare time, making her own clothes as well as vintage lampshades.
9 Our People
Laura Wales – I still get the chance to lead whole-class teaching Gladstone Primary sessions which is fantastic as I love being in the Academy classroom. The children are essentially at the heart Early Years Foundation of everything we do and having the opportunity to Stage Lead work closely with them still is a real pleasure.” What is the most exciting thing about your job?
“Having the opportunity to lead and develop the pre-school has definitely been the most exciting Can you tell us about your career history? project and a real highlight in my career. My focus now is to ensure the effective teaching of our pupils “I have spent 15 years in education. I started at and to support them to develop the skills they need Werrington Primary School working as a teacher to be ready for the next phase of their education.” and I now work at Gladstone Primary Academy as Assistant Head of Early Years Foundation Stage What are the benefits of being a part of TDET? (EYFS). During this time, I have led training for newly “The Trust is very effective at empowering qualified teachers and the EAL Academy. I am also leaders. I feel very supported, valued and on the Advisory Board for the Children’s Centres confident in the work that I do. We are currently in Peterborough.” building a support network in the Trust, allowing Why did you want to become an EYFS teacher? teachers and leaders to work with peers at other schools. It will be great to share best practice in “I have always had a passion for and been EYFS to continue to build my knowledge and interested in early education. I wanted to be able to help others.” contribute and shape this essential stage in a child’s development. It can have such an impact on a child’s Do you have any interesting hobbies? life, and it is so important to get it right.” “I have a lovely family with a handsome husband Can you explain what your role entails? and two great children. I am a keen dancer and have trained in Ballroom, Rock ‘n’ Roll and Latin. “A key part of my role is supporting with in-house I also hold salsa classes and ran a Strictly Come development training for our staff. This includes Dancing event for charity.” offering continued professional development opportunities and mentoring staff. This can be anything from observing their lessons and providing advice to supporting them with their strategic planning. My role also allows me to work on projects such as The Trust is very effective at Early Words Together which supports parents and empowering leaders. I feel very children to learn English together where English is supported, valued and confident in the their second language. This has been successful in work that I do. improving outcomes for children and helped us to develop strong links with our families.
10 Trust Sports Update
Welbourne shoots… and scores Last term, we held our annual TDET Football Tournament with Gladstone Primary Academy, Thomas Deacon Academy Juniors and Welbourne Primary Academy taking part in the competition.
There was a Year 3 and 4 team and a Year 5 and 6 team from each school. Congratulations to Welbourne Primary Academy who won both competitions!
It was a fantastic afternoon and we would like to say a big well done to all the pupils who took part. They demonstrated great sportsmanship, worked well in their teams and were respectful to one another.
Hockey champions at Thomas Queen Katharine Academy’s Deacon Academy sporting successes It was great to see a large number of pupils In football, our Year 7 team achieved victory in attending clubs and representing the academy in their first match against The Peterborough School, a variety of sporting fixtures last term. winning 4-0! Meanwhile, our Year 11 team had a good term with some great goals scored by pupils The girls’ hockey team shone with several victories including Mamado Diange. against local teams. Some notable performances include the Year 7 A team coming joint first at the We also took part in lots of basketball matches. Peterborough Schools Tournament and the B team Our Year 7 team enjoyed playing in a four-way coming fourth overall. The Year 9 Hockey team basketball tournament at Ken Stimpson and also travelled to Kimbolton where they won by an our Under 14’s team also played against Ken impressive 3 goals to nil. Stimpson with some great sportsmanship and technique on show.
11 School Updates
Warboys Primary Academy Last term, we had an exciting visit from Mike Mullen, a six-time BMX Halfpipe Champion and former Master World Champion. Mike ran a BMX masterclass, performing stunts for our pupils, one of which included some of our brave teachers. All the pupils were wowed by the fantastic stunts and had a wonderful afternoon.
From visitors to visits, four of our pupils and our Headteacher took our Harvest collection to the Ramsey Food Bank. Thanks to our community, we had a huge collection of over 120kg of dry food, tinned goods and long-life food. Our pupils were interested to see where their donations went, and we have now signed up to become a referring service for the Warboys community.
Our Foundation classes have also had a great first term. They settled in and enjoyed all the opportunities on offer to them. They developed friendships and started learning about themselves and the world around them. Our pupils’ favourite thing to do so far has been caring for their class guinea pigs, Watson and Holmes.
Welbourne Primary Academy The Posh’s mascot, Peter Burrow, was a regular visitor to the academy last term. He visited as part of the 2019-2020 Schools Initiative and helped deliver an assembly which featured a short DVD and lots of ‘flossing’ which the pupils enjoyed. Following the visit, every pupil received a free ticket to a fixture at the Weston Homes Stadium, allowing a parent or guardian to watch free of charge too. Peter Burrow’s second visit included a meet at a football competition, where our academy won both the Year 3 and 4 competition and the Year 5 and 6 competition.
Our pupils also took part in lots of other exciting trips. Our Year 5 and 6 pupils had a great time at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford. They looked at different types of aircraft, saw many different tanks and even got to walk through a Concorde. The children really enjoyed the hands- on experience. Meanwhile, our Year 1 and 2 pupils had a wonderful time at Ferry Meadows, learning how to measure the different types of weather and taking part in a scavenger hunt.
Peterborough Yamaha Studio delivered a special guitar roadshow to our Key Stage 2 pupils. They enjoyed learning about guitars and having a go at making their own music. Peterborough Yamaha Studio then kindly offered them all a free guitar lesson based at the studio.
12 Thomas Deacon Academy We were delighted to receive another ‘Good’ Ofsted rating with ‘Good’ in all areas last October. We were thrilled that the comments from the inspectors reflected everyone’s hard work. They said that our pupils’ work is of good and improving quality and that staff look after pupils well and provide impressive opportunities for personal development. Thank you to all our staff and colleagues from the Trust for making this result possible!
A group of our Year 9 pupils had the chance to work as crew on board a 72ft Challenger Yacht last term. They sailed around the south of England where they were tested on numerous occasions by the skipper. Our pupils all received a Level 1 RSA award at the end of the challenge and demonstrated great tenacity and teamwork.
From the south of England to France - our Year 11 History pupils visited the Somme Battlefields and Commonwealth Memorial Sites. Throughout the trip, they visited memorial sites, laid wreaths and heard real-life accounts from some of the soldiers who took part in the war. They also stopped at places including Newfoundland Memorial Park and Sunken Road on the way. They had an insightful and sobering experience and it has given them a new perspective on their studies.
Our Year 11 and 13 Performing Art pupils had an inspiring experience last term, attending a masterclass run by former pupil, Glenn Adamson. During his own time at the academy, Glenn discovered his love for being on stage and was able to share his inspirational journey with our pupils. Glenn has performed in a variety of stage shows, including the hit London musical, American Idiot. It demonstrated to our pupils on the same journey as Glenn, that hard work and determination can lead to great success.
Thomas Deacon Academy Juniors
We had an Autumn term filled with lots of exciting sports activities. Our Key Stage 2 pupils spent a morning with GB athlete Samuel Khagoli, which was supported by Inspired Through Sport. Our pupils took part in a long-jump masterclass and learned about the physical skills required to be successful in athletics. They also had an assembly run by Samuel where they learnt about the emotional qualities that underpin the training and physical precision in sports.
Peterborough Referees Association ran a Football Festival for many pupils across the Trust. Our pupils took part in the festival and they were lucky enough to have some of their matches refereed by current Premier League Referee, Peter Bankes. The teams were mixed up and the focus of the afternoon was on respect, teamwork and sportsmanship. Our pupils thoroughly enjoyed the activity and had a fantastic time over at Gladstone Primary Academy!
13 Iqra Academy At Iqra Academy, we had some great pupil successes last term. Five of our pupils received awards at Lords Cricket Ground in London, after completing the Young Leaders in Cricket programme. This award allowed our pupils to acquire new techniques and helped them develop their sport leadership skills. We were also proud of our pupil Humayra Abbas who was one of three pupils to receive a national award from the English Cricket Board for her voluntary work. We remain unbeaten for the last three years in cricket - a fantastic achievement that is well deserved!
London was a hotspot for us last term as our Year 9 pupils enjoyed a trip to the capital in Autumn where they attended the ‘Keeping Young Muslims Safe Online’ conference. During the event, they were taught about the risks of social media, the importance of e-safety and good online practice. The session allowed for our pupils to explore digital citizenship and reporting abuse online. The event was held by Facebook and Faith Associates and our Year 9s found it very informative and loved their visit to the capital.
Upwood Primary Academy The Autumn term was very busy for all our pupils. Year 4 focused on the Harvest and seasonal produce where they learnt about budgeting and buying local food, before creating some delicious fruit kebabs. Meanwhile, our Foundation class explored the changing season by hunting for various leaf colours, finding mushrooms growing and identifying lots of new wildlife. Towards the end of the term, all our pupils came together to celebrate Christmas and some of our pupils created brilliant and thoughtful Christmas cards for patients at Hinchingbrooke Hospital.
Our academy also had a visit from M&M Productions who performed Jack and the Beanstalk. This was thanks to our fantastic PTA who raised an amazing £799 to pay for the show. The production company transformed our school hall into a magical theatre and our pupils thoroughly enjoyed the show!
We also marked Anti-Bullying Week with many other schools in the Trust by wearing odd socks to promote everyone’s uniqueness. Some of our pupils created colourful posters to ‘stamp on bullying’. This was a really positive response from our pupils to help tackle bullying.
14 Queen Katharine Academy
Last term, we welcomed our Spanish and German Erasmus+ partners to complete the next phase of the Local Heroes project. All pupils worked together to produce a multilingual museum exhibition on some of Peterborough’s local heroes including Warwick Davis, Edith Cavell, John Clare, Petr Torak and Katharine of Aragon. Our pupils are now looking forward to the next part of the project where they will visit our partners in Spain.
Our Year 11 Spanish pupils had the opportunity to explore the University of Cambridge and learn about their faculty of Modern and Ancient Languages. Our pupils enjoyed a taste of learning a different language with a short session in either Russian, Italian or Portuguese. Student Ambassadors from the faculty explained what life is like for Language pupils at Cambridge, and the amazing experiences they had on their year abroad.
Beyond the curriculum, our Anti-Bullying Ambassadors did lots of great work. They led a great campaign for Anti-Bullying Week to raise awareness across the academy and promote our RESPECT values. It included a poster competition and a positive quote photobooth. A group of post-16 pupils also completed training to become peer mentors and now meet with their young mentees weekly to discuss study and life skills and set targets for the future.
Gladstone Primary Gladstone Primary Academy Academy
We are delighted that Ofsted rated us as ‘Good’ in four out of five areas in our latest inspection. This is a significant improvement on our last inspection and we now have an overall rating of ‘Requires Improvement’. The inspectors praised the academy as welcoming and inclusive and commented that pupils are polite and want to learn. Thank you to all our staff and the team at the Trust for continuing to support us on our journey of improvement.
Following on from this success, we held an exciting Enrichment Week at the academy where our pupils got the chance to take part in a range of activities. These included taking a Bikeability course, visiting the cinema and learning about ocean pollution. It was great to see our pupils so happy and engaged in their wider learning.
We were very excited to have a brand-new library installed at the academy in November. The library has been kindly donated to us by United Way, which is supported by Dolly Parton.
In other news, our Football Academy pupils competed in the TDET Football competition. They played against teams from Welbourne Primary Academy, The Beeches Primary School and Thomas Deacon Academy Juniors. All our pupils played with pride and resilience in the tough weather conditions. They were fantastic representatives of the school and the Year 3 and 4s finished in 3rd place and Year 5 and 6s finished in 4th place. Overall it was a great afternoon for our football academy!
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