Thank you for your support last week in relation to the adverse weather. It looks like a wet week this week. To close early on Thursday and then revert to the remote provision last Friday was sensible, considering the weather on Friday morning and how that would have affected staff and student safety when travelling. It was brilliant to see our high quality, well-established remote learning provision in action.
We do have another disrupted week this week with TWO days of national strike action by members of the National Education Union on Wednesday and Thursday.
Wednesday 15th March:
• Year 10 and Year 11 students should attend as normal, arriving by 8.30 for free breakfast. Year 10 students will be having an assembly with senior leaders and then working on options subjects and Maths ahead of their mock exams in May. Year 11 students will be sitting English Literature and Chemistry mock exams. Non-attendance will be classed as unauthorised absence.
• Students in Years 7-9 should remain at home and will receive remote learning through our wellestablished remote education provision, following their Remote Learning Timetables.
Thursday 16th March:
• Year 11 students should attend as normal, arriving by 8.30 for free breakfast and making sure they have adapted travel arrangements in place if affected by the bus strike. Year 11 students will be sitting Humanities, French and Physics mock exams. Non-attendance will be classed as unauthorised absence.
• Students in Years 7-10 should remain at home and will receive remote learning through our wellestablished remote education provision, following their Remote Learning Timetables.
Full details and timetables are confirmed here in an important letter.
There is a re-arranged mock exam for Year 11 timetable now online after exams were moved due to the school closure on Friday last week. Year 11 attendance throughout the mock exam period has been excellent. There are still students arriving late though and the exams do not wait and will not wait in the Summer. There is a bus strike on Thursday and it is important that Year 11 students attending site to do their exams make arrangements to get here for 8.35. Year 11 will not have CORE Extra, giving them more time to revise the content and knowledge required to succeed in the English Literature mock exam on Wednesday morning.
I’d like to thank parents who contributed their opinion on how we can continue to improve Parents’ Evenings at the Academy. This Tuesday, we welcome families of students in Year 6 who have been successful in securing a place for their child to start in September 2023 in our first ‘Welcome Evening’. This also includes many siblings of students already at the Academy – a sign of confidence from parents of current students at JQA.
Our termly Student Survey is open now on the Piota app and students are invited to complete it: one lucky respondent will be given the chance to select a prize from the Rewards Shop. Please encourage your child to complete it before Monday.
Last week saw our second Opportunity Day of the year, giving students the chance to develop character, explore careers, enhance their cultural capital – it was a brilliant day with so many things happening at the Academy and you find pictures online via our socials.
Next week on Tuesday is our termly virtual Parent Symposium. A link to join this is here and I look forward to seeing parents online for the termly update and next steps in developing the Academy for our children.
I had a lovely visit on Monday from ex-student, Nathan, who now studies at King Edwards Aston. Nathan has applied to study Maths at Cambridge University in September and has been offered a conditional place. He said: “You can apply to up to 5 universities and I was feeling brave. Oxford and Cambridge are world-famous universities and I wasn’t expecting to be successful. I had the opportunity to try and the process was stressful and challenging but it was cool to talk to people who care about your subject as much as you do. I wrote a personal statement which centred on a Maths book I read and they asked me why I want to study at Cambridge. They sent me an email and I found out I had been successfully offered a conditional place and I’ll know in August for sure whether I’ve been successful.” We wish Nathan every success with his exams to secure his place at Cambridge University.
With the Easter holidays coming shortly, we have an opportunity for students to join the club at Fearless with a free lunch each day of the club too. If you are interested in your child joining this club, email [email protected] for an application form. If you would like to book for Domin8 in Handsworth, you can do this directly at: https://5upcic.coordinate.cloud/project/41394 whilst other Holiday Clubs can be found and booked here: https://bringitonbrum.coordinate.cloud/
Our Coffee Mornings resume on Wednesday and any parent is welcome to drop in to discuss any issues they are facing. Mr Francis hosts the morning from 9-11am.
As always, you can call the Academy on 0121 729 7220, leaving a message if the line is busy and we will get back to you. Our line is very busy in the daytime so I encourage parents to use the voicemail facility by pressing option 2. If you would like urgent support, you can always reach Mr Bibb (our Designated Safeguarding Lead) on option 4.
You can always contact me directly at: [email protected]