AllAll Saints Advocate Advocate Vol 6 No 2 December 2014 ALL Finally, please enjoy the Christmas break and enjoy From the Principal the company of your sons and daughters (!) – we have asked them to use their time profitably by Dear Parents/Carers making you lots of hot drinks. It has been a great term since Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a September and the school is really Happy New Year. settled and calm. As in previous terms, our new students (Year 7 Tom Waterworth and, for the last time, Year 9) bring a Principal different dimension to our Academy and are a great credit to us. Both groups are also quite lively! I have been delighted at the way these, our new students, and our new staff have settled in and we still continue to receive positive comments about the warm welcome and the calm atmosphere when visitors enter the building. There has been a strong Governor/Sponsor presence in the Academy this term and Sponsors have been impressed with the purposeful atmosphere and the improvement in our students’ attitude to learning. They advise that our students are happy and that they are proud of their new environment. Students continue to advise us of the improvement in the quality of teaching. As the end of term approaches, we give our best thanks to colleagues who are leaving – Stephanie Reed leaves us to take up post at Hawthorn Park Primary School. Good luck to you Stephanie – you have had a great seven years with us and you’ve done really well. We look forward to hearing of your future successes. We also say goodbye to Marcos Rodrigues who has worked on a temporary basis in MFL. Thanks very much and good luck in your next post. www.allsaintsacademydunstable.org From the Principal Continued I need to advise you of a temporary change to the Leadership Team responsibilities: Louise Lissaman Acting Vice Principal Teaching & Learning / Student Progress Helen Anton Assistant Vice Principal Timetable Construction / Curriculum Planning Paula Burgess Assistant Vice Principal Finance / HR / Operations Fr Alasdair Coles Assistant Vice Principal Christian ethos Julie Baldwin Acting AVP Sixth Form and Performance Appraisal Gill Fullman Acting AVP Teachers’ Standards / Professional Development / Initial Teacher Training Paul Cummins Acting AVP Data / Reports / RAISEonline Jo Carey Acting AVP Interventions Promoting Safe Travel To and From the Academy and Parking on Houghton Road Once again may I take the opportunity to remind Parents/Carers that we take student safety seriously and want to encourage all our students to travel to and from school safely. As you know, we have colleagues on the main gates at the start and end of the school day, and the gates are closed at these times so our students do not have to battle with road traffic entering/leaving the site. This arrangement is working well and we are pleased with parents’ support for this. You will have noticed that for the last few weeks we have closed the main gates for the whole school day to further improve safety on site. Please note that in readiness for the new term in January the main gates and pedestrian gates will be automated and visitors to the Academy, whether in a car or on foot, will be able to request access to the site via an intercom system. Finally, may I remind Parents/Carers to park sensibly on Houghton Road, well away from the zig-zag lines and giving consideration to local residents. Parent View I am very keen that you, as Parents/Carers, have the opportunity to take part in a confidential survey about All Saints Academy. The survey is run by OfSTED and Parents/Carers can register their views once every year. It would be very useful if you could visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk to register and then to complete the questionnaire, which should not take you very much time at all. Once on the website you will be asked to register and log in. In order to do so you will need a valid email address. The page will ask you to ‘register now’, and will ask you to provide your email address and then to confirm it. It will then ask you if you are a parent or carer, how many schools your children attend and then to register. The results will help us improve the service we offer to you, our Parents/Carers, and to your children. If you require any assistance with this, please do not hesitate to contact the Academy. Tom Waterworth Principal www.allsaintsacademydunstable.org 2 UNIFORM & BEHAVIOUR Uniform Please take advantage over the Christmas holidays to ensure that your child’s uniform is correct. Specifically, girls’ skirts must be of the correct style and length (just above the knee) and bear the Academy logo. Three styles are available to purchase at Best Look in Dunstable (our sole uniform supplier). It is important to note that skin tight stretchy skirts and mini skirts are not permitted. Any students wearing the wrong uniform will be dealt with according to the Uniform and/or Behaviour Management Policy (available on the website). In addition, outdoor clothing must not be worn inside the building; this includes hats, scarves and gloves. Behaviour We re-launch the Climate for Learning to all staff and students in January with the introduction of a new electronic Behaviour Log. This log will allow colleagues to record any behaviour incidents and keep a log of how behaviours have been managed, including tracking detentions and other sanctions issued. REMINDER: The Academy is allowed to issue 20 minute detentions after school without having to notify parents in advance. If your child fails to respond to the initial steps in the Climate for Learning (a quiet word, a verbal request, moved in the classroom) then a 20 minute detention is the next step in the procedure. Thanks for your support on both these issues. FUNDRAISING INSIDE THIS ISSUE We are pleased to announce that we raised £640 From the Principal continued Page 2 for Children in Need this year with a non-uniform Uniform & Behaviour Page 3 day for students and staff. Fundraising Page 3 We have planned a further non-uniform day on Sixth Form Theatre Visit Page 4 the last day of term to raise funds for Keech School Games Partnership Page 5 Hospice in Luton and monies will go towards UK Maths Challenge Page 6 providing Christmas parties and presents for Wizard of Oz Page 7 children and their families, as well as volunteers. We hope you will all agree that this is a very Paris Visit Pages 8 & 9 worthwhile cause. County Dodgeball Final Page 10 Raising Achievement in Year 11 Pages 10 & 11 Welcome to New Staff Page 12 Student Journalist Page 12 Office Information Page 13 Remembrance Sunday & Armistice Page 14 Free School Meals & Pupil Premium Page 15 Vivo Miles Page 16 Attendance Page 17 Information Pages Page 18 Diary Dates Page 19 3 www.allsaintsacademydunstable.org SIXTH FORM THEATRE VISIT TO SEE ‘WOYZECK’ Sixth Form Drama and Theatre Studies students had the opportunity to see Georg Buchner’s masterpiece ‘Woyzeck’ at the Redbridge Drama Centre in London. The students must study the script and focus on an analysis of a live performance as part of the final exam in the A2 course. This brand new adaptation told us the desperate story of a lowly soldier plagued by visions of the apocalypse and plunged into homicidal lunacy by the world around him. We were encouraged to question why he behaved in the way he did. This presentation fused gothic storytelling, puppetry, song, live music and a spine chilling sound track, taking us, the audience into a world that was disturbingly atmospheric, heartbreakingly poignant, darkly comic and delightfully interactive. “As well as helping us to prepare for our final sit-down exam, the play has inspired us as a group to consider this style of performance for our own devised piece in January 2015! This is the first time we had experienced a ‘promenade’ style of theatre and it was very thought provoking!” Laura Harris. “’Woyzeck’ is an unusual play, particularly in its themes and presentation in a ‘promenade’ style, but it was extremely interesting and I felt like it has given me much to think about” Lucas Robinson. “It was the most intriguing and real piece of theatre I have ever seen” Jordan Barnes. Julie Baldwin Acting Assistant Vice Principal and Achievement Leader for Sixth Form www.allsaintsacademydunstable.org 4 SCHOOL GAMES PARTNERSHIP Once again the School Games Partnership for Dunstable and Houghton Regis has had an excellent start to the year. We have had many competitions already with great support from Sports Leaders from All Saints Academy, Houghton Regis Academy, Streetfield Middle School and Cedars Upper School. I am very excited to announce that we now have a new group of Sports Leaders here at All Saints who will be working alongside our existing Leaders. Once again they will have plenty of opportunity throughout the year to attend School Games festivals and extra-curricular activities to develop the skills needed to be a good leader. They are very lucky to have such positive and encouraging role models from our Year 11 and Sixth Form leaders. Two of our Sixth Form leaders, Aeilish Wynne and Ellie Bastian, are now completing their Level 3 Higher Certificate in Sports Leadership; this is due to the number of previous Sports Leader events they have attended and the effort they have put into both Academy sport and community clubs. We wish them all the best in completing the course.