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

Dear Parent / Carer 

Another week has passed and it's another week to remind me just what a privilege it is to lead a school full of such incredible children.  

Our Head students, James, Jay, Cody and Joanna, led assemblies for all year groups in which they shared both heartbreaking stories and incredible experiences from their recent trip to India. They shared photos of incredible places that they were lucky enough to visit alongside pictures of some of the poorer areas that they visited alongside Salt of The Earth charity workers. They showed pictures of the well that they raised money for and saw it installed with TENC engraved on the plaque; the well will bring clean drinking water to many families in desperate need of it. The photos and stories were eye-opening for all students to see the levels of poverty and squalor that many children are living in. The trip, which has altruism at its heart, will hopefully run again next year to allow current Year 12s to undertake the fantastic experience. 

Year 11 students are back to normal lessons following their mock examinations. As they enter the final run up to their GCSE examinations, it is so important that they are listening to all feedback from teachers and prioritising revision around the topics and skills which need the most work. All teachers should be going through exam papers and providing specific feedback to students so that they know precisely where and why they lost marks in order to close gaps ahead of the final examinations. I visit lots of Year 11 lessons to ensure that students are fully applying themselves and a particular highlight this week was looking at some of the incredible work in photography and art. Lots of students opted for a space theme from the options provided by the exam board and the preparatory work for their final examinations is looking stunning!  

The Social Action Squad returned to Denfield Primary School to continue their work in listening to and helping the primary school students with their reading. Again, the feedback from the primary school teachers was so positive regarding how our students conducted themselves and was another demonstration of just how great the students of Rushden Academy are.

Next week is an important week for Year 9 students as next Thursday is their options’ evening where I will be sharing information about what subjects students can choose and how to complete the online form. Parents and carers will also have the opportunity to meet with the various subject teachers to discuss the different option subjects to help your son or daughter with their decisions. The evening commences at 5pm but there will be two different presentations and you will receive correspondence informing you which presentation you need to attend.  

As mentioned last week, we are focusing on specific aspects of uniform each week in order to maintain our high standards and ensure that our students look as smart as possible. This week we focused on leggings so if your child has received detentions for this, please can you follow this up with them and ensure that they have appropriate school trousers going forward. Next week we will be focusing on students having their shirts tucked in as a significant number of students seem to be flouting this part of the uniform policy which needs addressing. Thank you in advance for your support with this.

Have a pleasant weekend,

Yours sincerely,

Mr B Baines

Principal