Dear Parent / Carer 

I am writing to you at the end of another busy term where so much great work has taken place in and around the academy.  

As usual, the assemblies in the final week have been rewards assemblies and it has been great to see so many students getting recognition for their efforts both in lessons and for extra-curricular efforts. I took great pride in signing a huge pile of Accelerated Reader certificates; to see so many students reaching the 1 million, 2 million and 3 million word mark for the academic year is fantastic. Our highest achiever, so far this year, is Emily in Year 7 who has read a staggering 6 million words! There was also a live attendance draw with over 500 students in the running for one of exciting prizes up for grabs.

The Social Action Squad were working on improving the school environment by planting a range of fruit trees in the grounds as well as a large number of trees at the end of the field to create a new wildlife patch. I am so proud of the work these students are undertaking and look forward to seeing what else they can achieve in the new term.

The highlight of the week for me though was the Key Stage 3 performance of High School Musical. The extremely talented cast performed the musical on both Tuesday and Wednesday night with Wednesday night being a complete sell out. Seeing the energy and passion that all the cast put into the performance was genuinely heart-warming. A huge thank you to the performing arts teams and all the students that worked so hard to pull the musical together.

Two key dates for the new term are Thursday 18th April which is Year 12 progress evening and is taking place at Huxlow Academy, and Year 8 parents' evening which is on Thursday 25th April.

Whatever you have planned for the Easter holidays, I hope you have a restful break and I look forward to seeing all of our wonderful students return for the summer term; hopefully it will bring some better weather!

Yours sincerely,

Mr B Baines

Principal

Dear Parent / Carer 

The penultimate week of term has been full of roller coaster competitions; options decisions for Year 9s; a careers fair, and the arrival of the Team Rushden chickens!

Mr Noblett, our Ethos Leader, delivered assemblies to all students on the Grace Foundation’s Easter theme of unshakable hope. He shared a video of students from schools across the trust talking about their faith and how it gives them hope. Mr Noblett talked about how faith forms the foundations of many people’s lives and encouraged students that don’t follow a particular faith to consider what it is in their lives which gives them hope. Students also reflected on their Easter traditions and what they do with their families during the approaching holiday period.  

Students in Key Stage 3 completed their roller coasters which they have thoroughly enjoyed building as part of their science STEM lesson project. The coasters were built entirely from paper and the aim was to see who could create the longest journey using a finite amount of resources. The roller coasters were judged by Miss Trowbridge and the winners were announced in assembly with some teams achieving roller coaster rides in excess of 6 seconds which doesn’t sound a lot but is a remarkable achievement with the resources provided - well done to all involved and a special well done to the winning teams!

It was an important week for Year 9s who have started to think about their GCSE options which they will commence next academic year. We welcomed many of you into school on Thursday evening to talk about how the options process works and to give you an opportunity to speak to teachers about all the different courses. Hopefully this has helped you to support your children in choosing the right options for them but if you need any further support, please do not hesitate to contact us. The deadline for returning the options forms either on paper or online is Tuesday 16th April.

On Thursday, all students were given the opportunity to attend our annual careers fair. We were joined by many local businesses, further education providers and organisations which offer a wide range of apprenticeships. It was great to see how well the students engaged with these visitors and hopefully it helped many of them reflect on their future aspirations by offering an insight into the avenues available to them.

Miss Trowbridge also secured a selection of eggs which arrived in an incubator this week and have been on a live camera feed so that all students have been able to see the chicks hatch. The final chicks emerged from their shells yesterday for all students to see and have now all been creatively named by students. All students will get to see the chicks more closely in one of their science lessons next.

Finally, the number of students missing days of school has been higher than the national average which means that a lot of learning time has been lost. At this point of the year, an attendance of 90% means that 100s of hours of lessons have been missed which would be a significant challenge for any student to catch up on. With this in mind, please do all that you can to ensure that your child does not miss any school. If they are off ill for a day please do all that you can to stop one day becoming two days as every day missed is another 5 hours of learning that your child will need to catch up on. Thank you in advance for your support with this.

Have a restful weekend,

Yours sincerely,

Mr B Baines

Principal