Dear Parents/Carers
It has been absolutely fantastic to welcome the students back to the Academy over the past few days. They have been full of the joys of updating us and each other on what they got up to during their summer holidays and their aspirations for the year ahead.
It has also been excellent to see so many of our Year 11 students successfully transition into the Sixth form and begin their new courses with a real enthusiasm and focus.
As with any new academic year there are some changes to systems and structures that have been communicated to students this week and we will be able to talk families through those changes during the curriculum information evenings that begin next week. These evenings represent an opportunity for families to find out the specific information about what the year contains and also how we support the students here at Leigh Academy Mascalls.
One of the main changes to students is around rewards and sanctions. Last year was a record-breaking year for achievement with over 330,000 achievement points distributed with some students gaining over 700 achievement points. We saw excellent attendance at reward trips to Thorpe Park, Babylon in Camden Town and Charlton Athletic throughout the year and we are keen to recognise the students even more this year. To support this students have been introduced to a new conduct card that is used during lesson transition focusing around things like uniform, punctuality and organisation.
The conduct card has been received by all of the students and they will be rewarded every Friday by their advisor if no signatures have been recorded. This will add a healthy element of competition between the three colleges and remind the students of the importance of standards. There are also very clear sanctions if the number of signatures grows or if the card is lost or the student cannot present it to the staff once requested. We will always be understanding of genuine cases of lost cards but it is important that the students learn to take responsibility for the card and get to lessons promptly and with the right attitude on such a large site.
In addition to these changes there is now a more centralised, college-based approach to behaviour in the classroom. The majority of the 330,000 achievement points last year were distributed in the classroom and this will continue. The students are always encouraged to aim to meet our three whole Academy ethos straplines of Academic Excellence, Character and Culture which are closely aligned to our MYP learner attributes. These are displayed in every classroom
For pupils who move through the warning stages in the classroom then once a student has reached an R3 they will be removed and escorted to a non-teaching space for the rest of the lesson.
Students will then be issued with a lunch time detention the following day. It is important that the students attend this detention to talk through the reason for the removal with their college pastoral staff and to avoid an escalation to an afterschool detention if they don’t attend.
Finally, you will also have read in the Principals update in July that we were making a small change to our expectations around the uniform policy and socks in particular. There developed a fairly significant level of variation in the style and length of socks last academic year with some students choosing to wear socks at knee height or above. For this academic year students are allowed to wear socks that are ankle or lower shin height in grey, black, white or navy. Please see below for the wording and by plain it means unbranded therefore keeping the cost to families low.
Boys
- Plain black, white, grey or navy socks (ankle high or lower shin)
Girls
- Plain black, white, grey or navy tights or socks (ankle high or lower shin)
- This can also be read on the Academy uniform page on the website with a direct link to that page here https://mascallsacademy.org.uk/academy-life/uniform/
At the beginning of any Academic year there are sometimes changes to systems and structures and I’d like to finally advertise the curriculum information evenings that begin next week as follows. These represent an opportunity to absorb new information so that you are enabled to support our brilliant young people through the year ahead.
Wednesday 10th September: Yr 7 Information Evening – 4:00-5:00pm
Wednesday 10th September: Yr 8 Information Evening – 5:00-6:00pm
Thursday 11th September: Yr 9 Information Evening – 4.30-5.30pm
Thursday 11th September: Yr 10 Information Evening – 5.30-6.30pm
Tuesday 16th September: Yr11 Information Evening – 5.30-6.30pm
Wednesday 17th September: Yr12/13 Information Evening – 5.30-6.30pm
We look forward to welcoming you to these evenings whereby you will also be able to learn about key staff for each year group, information about the curriculum and how students are assessed at Leigh Academy Mascalls.
Best wishes,
Steven Reader | Deputy Principal
