Academy News Stories

News Posts

: 09 May 2023

Encompass Donation

Dear Rushden Academy,

I am writing to thank you all at Rushden Academy for the recent donation to Encompass of a selection of white goods and cookers.

As a charity, we work across North Northamptonshire although primarily in Rushden and help those facing poverty, homelessness and addiction.

We support individuals to overcome the immediate challenges of homelessness, addiction, food poverty and isolation; then we empower them to make positive life choices that lead to improved health, housing, employment and active participation in the local community.

We do this through the delivery of several homeless accommodation provisions; an outreach service; three foodbanks; a residential rehab project and dry houses. We are also imminently opening a day centre which will run courses, social groups and facilitate the delivery of other services in order to address challenges faced by clients.

The donation that you have provided, namely 9 cookers; 2 fridges; 1 washing machine; 1 tumble dryer; 3 microwaves and 1 hob, will be a huge help to those facing disadvantage in the local area.

The goods will be used to help equip peoples homes when they move into new accommodation. A lot of our clients live with us temporarily to prevent them rough sleeping, and then we help move them on successfully by addressing barriers to maintaining accommodation. We also rehouse gentlemen who have been through our rehab and equipping their new accommodation for them and their families really helps set them up to succeed.

Thank you again and I look forward to working in partnership with Rushden Academy in the future.

With very best wishes

Jo Burns

CEO

: 30 January 2023

Strike Action Parent Letter

27^th January 2023

Dear Parents and Carers

I wanted to provide an update on the proposed strike action, the first day of which is scheduled to take place on Wednesday 1st of February.

I have spent the last few days carrying out a thorough risk assessment which has been challenging given that we won’t know exactly how many teachers will be off until the day itself; they are not required to inform their employer if they intend to strike. With this in mind, I have made the decision to open the school only to specific year groups as this is the only way to ensure that the school can open and operate safely with regards to supervision and adequate ratios of staff to students. The details for the specific year groups are as follows:

Year 12 and 13:

The Sixth Form area will be open and supervised as a warm space for those wishing to come in. For year 13, if they are scheduled to have a lesson at Rushden Academy and their teacher is in, then the lesson will take place as normal. Year 12 and 13 students also have the option to complete independent work at home.

Year 11:

School will be open for all Year 11 lessons. Where teachers are not in school students will be supervised and other examination preparation activities will be put in place by Senior Leaders. The exams scheduled for Year 11 students will be going ahead as normal and will not be impacted by the strike action.

Year 7:

School will be open for all Year 7 lessons. Where teachers are not in school, lessons will be collapsed with alternative lessons and activities taking place. All Year 7s will need to ensure that they bring their PE kit to school on the day as some of the alternative activities may require them to get changed.

Years 8, 9 and 10:

The school will be closed to Years 8, 9 and 10 with no live lessons taking place. Cover work will not be set for teachers who are striking but there will be work available on the google classrooms which they can access and complete on the day.

Vulnerable Students:

A separate email will be sent out inviting identified vulnerable students from year groups 8, 9 and 10 to attend and be supervised at school. They will be supervised to undertake online work in an IT room.

Free School Meals:

For students entitled to free school meals, further correspondence will follow in relation to how you can collect food on the day.

Whilst I recognise that this will cause disruption around your childcare arrangements, I have made these decisions based on ensuring the safety of our students. This reflects the known availability of staff and the potential disruption that may be caused by staff with their own childcare issues. Please be reassured that we will review these arrangements and communicate with you any changes to our plan before the next proposed strike day on March 1^st.

If any plans change, I will communicate further next week, and again when we are able to review our capacity to open for March 1st.

Yours sincerely

Mr Ben Baines

Principal