Wigston Academy and Wigston College
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Wigston Academy and Wigston College Issue 4 - May 2021 Welcome... Welcome to this the latest edion of our bullen. As always, the summer term is always an extremely busy one with so much going on. This year however, more than ever, teachers and students, especially those in Year 11 and Year 13, are having to deal with the further pressures and demands of the Centre Assessed Grade system. We connue to work to the latest guidance and respond to the expectaons of exam boards and the Department of Educaon. Please remind your child if they are in those exam year groups to connue to keep on working and ask if they need any help or support. We are expecng increased numbers again this year and therefore our inducon plans are well underway for those coming into Year 7 and those joining in Year 12. We are hoping that we will be able to have face‐to‐face sessions so that our new students can come and meet us and look around our fantasc campus. We connue to extend the extra‐curricular acvies and support and intervenon sessions following our risk assessment and it has been wonderful to see students beginning to be able to take part in clubs and acvies outside of the main curriculum. We have seen a significant reducon in posive cases of Covid‐19, reflecng the local landscape. The weekly tesng has supported us all in ensuring that educaon at our school connues as normally as it possibly can, as we see a gradual and careful liing of restricons. You will find further informaon about the wearing of face coverings inside this bullen. As always, please be reassured that we connue to follow the guidance and advice given by the authories. Finally, can I thank you as parents and your children for your connued support and commitment to your schools. During this challenging me I connue to be proud of the manner in which our students and staff have responded. Their humour, flexibility and resilience is heart‐warming. Mr Mike Wilson Headteacher Wigston Academy, Wigston College OPTIONS—YEAR 9 Over the past six weeks, Year 9 students have been spending a lot of me thinking about the courses they are going to study in Year 10 and Year 11. The process has included four days of virtual taster lessons which were very well aended and received by our students. This was followed by a fortnight of one‐to‐one meengs with senior staff alongside careers guidance for groups of students. It is really pleasing to see many more of our students applying for the EBacc route than in previous years, as they have realised that this is the best route for them given their aspiraons and their potenal to go on to university and other higher level pathways. For more informaon on the EBacc route visit the government's website using hps://www.gov.uk/government/publicaons/english‐baccalaureate‐ebacc/english‐ baccalaureate‐ebacc PARENTS’ EVENINGS Thank you all for your paence and understanding with parents’ evenings. They may not have looked the same as last year, but it was really good to be able to talk to you about the progress of our students. In fact, most of the feedback about the new parents’ evening system was very posive with many of you thinking it was actually an improvement on the way things were! It is certainly worth considering how we might best use this new system in future. YEAR 11 On the whole, we are impressed with the way Year 11 have coped with the rapidly changing and somemes unpredictable requirements during the Covid Pandemic. The vast majority of students have a posive atude to their learning and assessments. We would like to reiterate that any of the evidence that teachers ask Year 11 to produce will only be based on content that they have covered. We know some students are a lile assessment weary, however they do need to sck at it and connue to provide the evidence asked for by their teachers over the next few weeks. Well done to students involved in Sixth Form and FE college interviews over the last few weeks, the feedback has been really posive. As the school year begins to come to a close, the Year 11 team are busy planning a Covid safe celebratory event to mark Year 11 students me at the Academy, there will be more details to follow in the not too distant future. The leavers hoodies have been ordered and should be with us in the next two weeks. Finally, we'd like to congratulate Oliver Berry who has secured an apprenceship with Coventry City. YEAR 10 Year 10 have seled really well back into school aer the Easter break. The focus is now on PPE’s which will start on Monday 24thMay 2021. It is me to start revising but not panic! Timetables are now online for students to access – make sure that these checked so that students know which exam they are doing on each day. The start me each morning will be 8.45am, which means a prompt arrival to school, we would suggest 8:30am. Don't forget that during the exams week the Pastoral Team will be on hand, as always, to provide any support students may need. Also, as a reminder students should only come to school in PE kit on the days they have PE, anyone who arrives in the wrong uniform will be required to go home and change. I connue to be really proud of the year group and the progress that they make in school on a daily basis. I wish all students the best of luck with their PPE exams. Mrs Moss—Head of Year 10 CAREERS Year 11 On Wednesday 24th March Year 11 students undertook a virtual mock interview with a local employer. This was arranged with the support of LEBC (Leicestershire Educaon Business Company). Student gained a 15 minute virtual one‐to‐one interview and gained feedback to take away and work on. Student feedback said how valuable it was in supporng them with college, apprenceship and employment interviews. Year 9 The week commencing Monday 19th April, all Year 9 students were visited by an external careers advisor who give informaon, advice and guidance to them about careers choices and their GCSE opons. Student feedback states they felt more secure with choosing subjects for possible career opons aer GCSE’s. If you would like any more informaon about careers please email Miss Davies – Assistant Headteacher and Head of CEIAG [email protected] or the Trust Careers Advisor Miss Marn [email protected] YEAR 9 Year 9 have done really well this term and have approached GCSEs opons with great maturity and enthusiasm. The students have also met with Tom Ashton, the CEO of LEBC (Leicestershire Educaon Business Company) and the feedback we received from the sessions were very posive. Tom felt that the students showed great levels of engagement and interest. We hope the students found the sessions just as posive and gained lots of useful informaon. If any students would like any further guidance with regards to careers, please contact the Trust’s Careers Advisor Caroline Marn via email ‐ [email protected] Whilst the metables are currently being put together in readiness for next year, our focus shis back to the Passports for Success, encouraging students to achieve Bronze, Silver and Gold before the Summer holidays. We understand at Wigston Academy that academic achievement isn't enough to equip you for success in life and that success in the classroom, wider school life and personal life are equally important, therefore these passports give our students the encouragement to achieve rewards through our 5 values of success: Respect, Ambion, Resilience, Engagement and Responsibility. These cerficates will also be a great addion to add to the achievement file that the students can then take on to college interviews, etc. The Student Council will be very busy over the next few weeks ensuring Year 9 students have a voice regarding the transion into Year 10. Therefore, I would like to end with a personal message from your representaves: Hello, from your Student Council reps! We would just like to remind our fellow Year 9 students that any stress or anxiety you have about moving into Year 10 is normal but please talk to us, your tutors or Year Heads. We would like to answer a few queries below‐ Timetable‐ The opons will start at the beginning of Year 10 and will make up your metable along with the core subjects. Uniform changes; the only change is the school e. Further informaon to follow. So you can have an input in the transion into Year 10, please talk to us about any ideas or suggesons and we will raise them at out next Student Council meeng. Mrs Chapman—Head of Year 9 YEAR 8 To encourage reading in Year 8 we have our own lile library. I received many wrien applicaons from students who were interested in becoming a Library Monitor; they have now been taking it in turns to run the library every morning during tutor me. The students have great ideas and between us we have created a reward system which is now up and running; every student who borrows a book, reads it and returns it to the library goes into a raffle. Students who also complete a book review will get an extra raffle cket and an A3 for Achievement. The raffle will be drawn at the end of this half term.