Old School Building St Matthias Park St Phillip’s Bristol, BS2 0BA Tel / Fax: 0117 9291661 www.andalusiaacademy.org

Date: 8 September 2016

Update letter number 1 Dear parent / guardian Assalamu Alaikum

Welcome to another school year. In this letter you will find information about a number of changes that we put in place in order to improve the school in a number of areas. The letter will also share the excellent news of our GCSE and SATs results.

Whole School

Behaviour and Pastoral Care Andalusia Academy is dedicated to setting and attaining the highest possible standards in every respect,

Our programme of education and tarbiyyah (Education & Upbringing), aims to produce well- educated pupils who possess the knowledge and skills to succeed in their lives, and who make positive contributions to society in general. Our aims are guided by the peaceful teachings of Islam.

We give particular attention to:

 promoting high academic achievement.  promoting individual, intellectual and personal growth of each pupil which prepares them for the next stages of their lives so that they can make most of the opportunities offered to them  encouraging high expectations and aspirations  making positive contribution to society To continue to achieve and improve on the above, we have revised our behavior policy, and restructured our staffing to create a new Assistant head teacher position, with the responsibility for overseeing the management of student behaviour and pastoral care. The new behavior policy and zero tolerance approach will be shared with both students and parents at the start of the new school year.

GCSE and SATs Successes in 2016

Andalusia Academy students, staff and families are delighted by this year's GCSE examination results. The grades are the reward for a great deal of hard work from pupils and staff. Alhamdulillah, our results were 80% A*-C in all subjects, and 70% A*-C (including English and Maths), an increase from last year. Further to this good news, we also doubled the number of A* compared to last year. Our early Arabic GCSE entrants performed extremely well, with 100% A*-A. We are also extremely proud of our primary students for their excellent SATs performance. Year 2 and Year 6 took their SATS for the first time under the new curriculum. Head of Secondary: Mr Taha Hassan Acting Head of Primary: Ms Rashida Hartley Chair of BIST: Dr Ghassan Nounu Email [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

DfE No 801/6130. Project of Bristol Islamic Schools Trust (Charity Number 1070273) Old School Building St Matthias Park St Phillip’s Bristol, BS2 0BA Tel / Fax: 0117 9291661 www.andalusiaacademy.org Alhamdulillah, by the grace of Allah, we exceeded the national average; by 15% in Key Stage 2, outstanding results in key Stage 1 and 73% of pupils achieving a Good Level of Development in Reception which is up 29% from the last academic year.

Primary Specific Update

Assessing Without Levels Parents were informed last year that schools in the UK would no longer be using National Curriculum levels to assess pupils. The format used at Andalusia Academy during 2015-2016 was to take the end of year expectations for each year group and to split this into 3 categories as follows:

 Emerging— Yet to be secure in the end of year expectations.

 Expected—Secure in the majority of the end of year expectations.

 Exceeding—Secure in almost all or all the end of year expectations and is able to use and apply their knowledge and skills confidently. This format is similar to the system used in Reception (Early Years and Foundation Stage). Under the old levels system children who were exceeding might have moved into the next level. The DfE now want children who are in the exceeding bracket to add more depth and breadth to their knowledge, and to have more opportunities to develop their using and applying skills. This phase of learning is called Mastery and Depth. Children who are unlikely to be emerging at the end of the year may work towards the expectations from the year below.

Target Setting At the start of each year group, every child will be in the emerging category as they are being judged against the End of Year statements. By October/November the teachers will have had an opportunity to assess how the children are working. By using their professional knowledge and judgement as well as assessment data teachers will know what the children can already do and what they think the children can achieve. Targets will be set for children in the core subjects (Reading, Writing and Math). Parents are encouraged to review their children targets and work with their child to achieve their individual targets. Student books will be placed outside the classroom for 15 minutes each Friday morning for parents to look through and track how their child is working against their targets. Please remember these are not times for you to conference with the teacher. If you are concerned about your child’s targets you will be provided with post-it notes to write your concerns and the teacher will agree a time that’s convenient to both of you.

Integrated Thematic Curriculum This year the Primary students will start the integrated thematic curriculum. A better understanding of the curriculum can be attained by exploring the curriculum map sent home with your child or having a look at the one posted outside each classroom. CORE SUBJECTS THE ARTS HUMANITIES Maths Art and Design History English Music Geography Science Drama Islamic Studies Quran

Update letter 1: September 2016 Page 2 of 5 Old School Building St Matthias Park St Phillip’s Bristol, BS2 0BA Tel / Fax: 0117 9291661 www.andalusiaacademy.org Computing Physical Education Design & SOCIAL, MORAL, SPIRITUAL & Technology CULTURAL Sport Design and PSHE - Anti-bullying; Equality and Technology Diversity; Citizenship.

Creative curriculum (Music, Drama, Art) Music maintains the status of a statutory subject and is an entitlement for all pupils up to the age of 14 in schools that must follow the National Curriculum. The effective teaching of art, music, drama and other creative subjects is important in ensuring students experience a rich and balanced curriculum. At AAB primary students will follow the creative curriculum mainly through Art, Drama and the Nasheed Choir. A vocal manager from Bristol Plays Music has been retained to coach the choir on Friday during enrichment. The Nasheed choir will be voice only and will involve no musical instruments.

Enrichment/PSHE Curriculum (Friday Afternoon) We will be suspending our usual timetable during three Friday in each month at pm after Jumuah to engage in extra-curricular activities.

British Values The DfE have recently reinforced the need ‘to create and enforce a clear and rigorous expectation on all schools to promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs’. At Andalusia Academy we value and celebrate the diverse heritage of everybody. Alongside this, we value and celebrate being part of Britain. AAB actively promote British Values through assemblies, class circle times, PSHE, and RE. If you are curious or concern about anything your child is learning, PLEASE get in touch with the class teacher or Ms. Hartley.

PTFA (Parent Teachers and Friends Association) The PTFA is a new charitable group of committed parents and teachers dedicated to enriching the school experience of the children. Being part of the PTA is a rewarding and fun way to contribute to, and be involved in, the School community. It gives you the opportunity to meet parents, to work as a team and to have the satisfaction of a child’s smile at the completion of successful events. The PTA has two main goals: 1. To foster, build and support a community across the parents and teachers at the School

2. To enrich the education of the children at Andalusia Academy The main focus of the PTFA is to organise fund-raising events, plan school improvement activities, coordinate school volunteers to name a few. We also welcome parents who may be able to help by helping us three Friday each month with one of the enrichment activities (after school clubs). InshaAllah the PTFA will meet once per month. FAAB will continue to be the fundraising arm of the PTFA. If you are interested in being part of the PTFA please email [email protected] or leave your name with someone in the office.

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Secondary Specific Update

Alhamdulillah, we made several changes last year to ensure that Andalusia Academy begins on its journey to become an outstanding Islamic and academic institution. With this in mind, I will review and summarise our new vision.

Curriculum and Assessment Our Assistant Head Teacher in charge of curriculum, data and assessment oversees key areas in our educational provision. This standardises our curricular processes to develop robustness and rigour in our curriculum delivery. We offer several subjects in key stages 3 and 4 (Bold subjects are examinable as GCSE). Key Stage 3 Key Stage 4 English English Language Maths English Literature Science Maths Design Technology Statistics (only Year 11) Information Communication Technology French (only Year 11) Art Biology Geography Chemistry History Physics Arabic History RE (Islamic Studies) Arabic PE RE (Islamic Studies) PSHE PE Tarbiyyah PSHE Quran Tarbiyyah Quran Citizenship (current Year 10)

We have removed French from the curriculum to make time for a separate PSHE, citizenship and tarbiyyah lessons, as well as for staff training. Students in Years 7-10 will finish school at 2.10pm on Friday and Year 11 will finish at the normal time of 3.40pm. Our PE lessons are now in sport centres. Students will be transported by coaches. This will ensure that their physical development is promoted to their fullest potential. Our assessment system will shift from levels and letter grading to number grading (from 1-9). This will mean that we have a common language to discuss progress and attainment of pupils with parents through a unified approach across both stages of secondary life. This will ensure consistency and progression of learners.

CPD (Continuing Professional Development) programme In this academic year, secondary staff will receive 100 minutes of professional development every Friday afternoon. This will include faculty and tutor meetings, and a personalised professional training regime. This will focus on improving teaching and learning through training, and subsequently tracking the impact of one’s own CPD over a period of time. This will be evidenced and monitored in lessons. I believe that this is the best form of professional development that any school can offer and will be linked to performance management.

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PSHE Our personal, social and health education has been developed into 6 themes across the year. Term Theme 1 RESPECT 2 TOLERANCE 3 ASPIRATION 4 TRUTHFULNESS 5 REFLECTION 6 CREATIVITY & JOY

These will be delivered weekly, through PSHE lessons, Jumuah sermons, tarbiyyah lessons, registration, assemblies, student council and individual subjects. This will train our students in becoming better Muslims and future citizens.

Faculty Structure Our subjects are taught in 3 separate faculties: Languages and Sports, STEM and Humanities. Our staff work in 3 small teams to bring about more consistent assessment and teaching practices through increased collaboration. This also empowers teachers to take ownership of their subjects and ensure that all their students make progress. To close the gap between boys and girls, each year will have the same teacher (except for Quran and PE). This will reduce the deficit caused by in school variation, as students will now have the same teacher responsible for each subject across that particular year.

Tarbiyyah With the introduction of tarbiyyah lessons, we will mould our students to understand and discuss their faith in a way which will develop their Islamic personality and make them model Islam in their attitude and behaviour. These lessons will integrate learning in other subjects, notably RE and PSHE, and help students to apply Islamic knowledge in their life in school and outside.

Pastoral Care Our new school day ensures that each student has access to their tutor twice a day, through registration sessions. This encourages the students to raise any concerns they have, as they are in contact with their tutor in the morning and afternoon. The student planner is a tool which we would like parents to continue to use to communicate with the tutors to make students share their learning experiences with their parents. Our Assistant Head Teacher in charge of Behaviour and Pastoral will oversee pastoral care. We will have Learning Review Days throughout the year to bring parents, students, teachers and tutors together to share conversations about pupil learning.

Safety and Safeguarding Our new safeguarding team consist of 3 members of staff. The overhaul of the previous system guarantees a significant focus on student welfare and excellent staff training to keep the academy updated on the latest government policies and best practice on keeping children safe in education. Please do not hesitate to contact us for more information.

Designated safeguarding Lead (DSL) - T. Hassan (Head of Secondary) [[email protected]] Deputy DSL - R. Hartley (Acting Head of Primary) [[email protected]] Deputy DSL - R. Chowdhury (Assistant Head) [[email protected]]

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