Key staff 2014-2015

Executive DirectorMr Andrew Day

Principal Director SecondaryMr Peter Blackburn

Deputy Principal Inclusion Mrs Helen FreemanExt. 330

(MrAndy Fyfecovering maternity)

Director of 14-19Mr Ben LineExt. 371

Head of Year 7Mrs Amanda YoungExt. 329

Head of Year 8& Pastoral ManagerMrs Helen ArmstrongExt. 312

Head of Year 9 Ms Gillian IrvineExt. 365

Head of Year 10Miss Joanne RobsonExt. 331

Head of Year 11 Miss Dianne Graham Ext. 322

Key Stage AdminMiss Lisa FogertyExt. 332

Admissions RegistrarMs Michelle BrewisExt. 324

Equipment

Students should have a bag for their work, a pen, pencil, ruler,rubber, PE equipment and a clear water bottle. A planner is provided by the Academy when students arrive in September. Students can use praise points to get stationary throughout the year. We also sell some at no profit on entrance and at praise shop on a dinnertime.

The planner is very important as it is used for:

  • Students to record homework
  • Provide communication between teachers and parents/carers
  • Recording health issues experienced either at home or in school
  • Used to pass a message on from pastoral staff to teaching staff
  • Recording specific events that are happening in the Academy
  • Tracking and monitoring attendance and target setting
  • Recording reading
  • Review progress
  • Tracking praise

Planners are checked every week by Form Tutors to ensure they are being used properly. Students must have their planners with them at all times, otherwise sanctions may be applied. Planners should be placed on the desks during lessons. If a student loses his/her planner they will have to buy a new one at a cost of £1.50 or 50 reward points.

Lockers

Every student has access to a locker. The Academy has combination padlocks which the students can loan for a £5.00 deposit. Students will receive a refund for the padlock when it is returned. This may be at the end of their time at the Academy or when they feel they no longer need to use it. Please note that students cannot bring their own padlocks into the Academy.

Praise

Staff can nominatestudents who have worked well in lessons for ‘Student of the Week’ and ultimately ‘Student of the Year’. Staff can also give out praise points to students which they can accumulate and exchange at the Rewards Shop for various stationery and sport items.

Detentions

The Academywill contact parents/carers if an after school detention is issued. Our behaviour and discipline policy complies with point 26 of the Department for Education advice for schools:-

‘parental consent is not a requirement for any Academy to keep a child in detention’

It is the responsibility of the parent/carer to put provisions in place for collecting a student after a detention.

If you have any concerns about the detention, please contact your child’s Head of Year or the teacher who gave the detention.

Linking into the new behaviour policy, we have made changes to how we organise detentions. We think the detention will have more of an impact if carried out on the day of the incident. In order to do this all reasonable attempts to contact parent/carers will be made using telephone calls and texts home in order to speed up the process. It is theresponsibility of all parent/carers to make sure all contact numbers are current.

Late detentions will be issued to students who arrive late any time in a week without a reasonable explanation. These detentions will take place on Fridays.

It is the responsibility of the parent/carer to put provision in place for transporting/collecting/paying for public transportto get their child home after a detention.

Attendance

Your child’s attendance at school is vital to his/her success. It is your legal duty to ensure that your child/children attend school. Our new strategy sets out clearly our expectations of parents/carers and the consequences for those who do not meet the requirements, including referral to the education welfare service at Northumberland County Council. This may result in the issue of fines, prosecution or both.

Your child’s target for attendance is 97% which means having no more than 5 days off during the school year. If your child is going to be late or absent from the Academy, please make sure you contact Mrs Jenny Russell, Attendance Officer, on 816111 Ext. 354.

Attendance Strategy Summary
96.1% - 100% / Rewards and recognition within the Campus
  • Stickers
  • Selected for trips
  • Celebration assemblies

89.1% - 96% / Support from specialist NCEA staff to improve attendance
  • Home visits
  • Regular phone calls
  • Meetings and attendance panels in school

89% or below / External referral to Education Welfare Service
  • Warning notices
  • Fines
  • Prosecution

A detailed copy of this strategy is available on our website.

Medical/dental appointments should not be made in school time.

Jewellery

Students are only allowed to wear one pair of stud earrings in ear lobes. No other jewellery is allowed apart from a watch. Students wearing other jewellery will be asked to remove them for collection at the end of the school day. This includes ear expanders, spiked earrings, dangling earrings, nose studs or rings, lip studs or rings, eyebrow studs or rings, bracelets, necklaces and rings. These can pose a health and safety risk.If there are repeat offences then the jewellerywill be confiscated and parent/carer will need to come in and collect the item(s). Staff and tutors will check students at the beginning of the school day.

Makeup

It is Academy policy that students are not allowed to wear any make-up. If students come into the Academy wearing make-up, they will be asked to remove it with wet wipes and/or sensitive eye make-up remover, provided by the Academy. This includesfoundation, eye shadow, mascara, eye liner, lip gloss or lipstick, rouge/blusher and eyelash extensions or false eyelashes.

Repeat offenders will have letters sent home and possibly further sanctions put in place. We shall also check the bags of repeat offenders and take any make-up brought into the Academy away from them to be collected by a parent or carer.

Mobile Phones

Mobile phones are not permitted for students on any campus. If a member of staff sees or hears amobile phonestudents will be asked to put it away. If they do this again then it can be confiscated or if it becomes a persistent problem for an individual they will have the phone confiscated. Phones will be kept at the reception deskand parent/carers will be asked to come into school and collect them.

Repeat offendersfor Jewellery/make-up and mobiles will have letters sent home and possibly further sanctions put in place.

Water

The Academy provides students with access to water fountains. They are only expected to fill water bottles brought in from home during break times. Bottles should be clear in appearance.

Hair

Extreme hair styles are not permitted in school. This includes designs shaved into heads or partially shaved heads.Outrageous colours such as bright pink, green, blue, red, dipped ends or under colours will not be accepted. Only natural colours will be permitted.

Students who come into the Academy with such hair colours will be asked to dye their hair back to an appropriate colour. Students who donot conform to the policy will have to complete work in isolation until the colour is changed. Sanctions will be put into place and parent/carers contacted for those students who come into the Academy with partially shaved heads.

Toilets

Toilets are placed around the Academy. It is expected thatstudents will make use of these during break and dinner times only and not during lessons. If students are out of lessons just after break or lunchtime they will be asked to go back to lessons without using the toilet. All ground floor female toilets have sanitation bins.

Medicines

The Academy has a strict policy regarding medicines:

  • No medicine is allowed in the Academy unless an appropriate agreement to administer medicine form has been completed and approved by the Executive Director/Principal Director. Forms are available from Miss Fogerty, Admin office.
  • All medicines are kept in a safe in the Admin Office/HOY office. We only accept medicine in its original container with the pharmacy sticker attached, showing student’s name, dosage etc.
  • If your child is on long term medication, please ensure he/she collects the appropriate agreement to administer medicine form on his/her first day in the Academy. We are happy to keep spare inhalers in the office for your child, although, an agreement form will still need to be completed.
  • Students who keep medicine in the Academy need to bring a drink with them to take their medicine.
  • Any student found in possession of medication on them will have it taken off them. This is for the safety of all our students.

Holidays

Students should not be taken out of the Academy for holidays during term time, it has a detrimental effect on their education, severely disrupting their progress and impacting on their attainment levels. This not only affects the student who is absent, but impacts on the rest of the class as the staff have to provide extra support to bridge the knowledge gap.Leave of absence will only be granted in exceptional circumstances. A letter should be written to request the holiday and passed onto the Head of Year.

Homework

Information on homework can also be found in the front of the student planner. Homework is a part of Academy life and we expect students to complete their homework and hand it in on time. Departments will set their own sanctions for students who do not complete homework, such as after school detentions. These will be supported by the pastoral team.

During the last academic year we introduced a virtual learning environment called ‘I Am Learning’. Please look at information below on how students can access work at different levels and for different subjects.

I AM LEARNING – Homework and Revision

Log on to the NCEA Home Page using your username and password. (Username is the one you use to log on to a school computer)

If there is any homework outstanding this will be shown with blue squares on the calendar.

  • If there is no outstanding work you can access revision work.
  • Click the computer screen to pick some work.
  • Pick the topic you want then pick an exercise
  • Pick your game and answer the questions

Cashless Catering

Our canteen is a cash free zone. There are cash points throughout the Academy wherestudents use them to credit money on to their account. These machinesdo not give change so if a note is given all of it must be placed onto the students account.

This year the catering service has been reviewed and for the first time since opening the Academy has regretfully had to increase the price for school meals by 10p from September 2014. Lunchwill now cost £2.30 for a main meal and dessert or a main meal and a drink. Students are also able to buy drinks and snacks at break time. For this, extra credit will be required.

For students who are entitled to free school meals, £2.30 per day will automatically be credited to their account. They can add extra credit to this to use at break time for snacks and drinks if they wish by bringing in money and using the revaluation stations.

Students can check any machine to see how much money they have left on their account during morning, beak and dinner times. It is their responsibility to make sure they have enough credit to pay for their meals. Students cannot get change back so if they are given a £10 note then they will need to place it all onto the system.

It is important that students do not go into debt as if they have no money they will not be able to purchase any food. If a student forgets to bring money in for their dinner or does not have enough credit, every effort will be made to contact the parent/carer to ask for money to be brought in.

NCEA PE Kit and Participation Policy

Bringing PE kit to PE lessons is a non-negotiable expectation of the Academy. If a student has a medical reason for missing the lesson backed up by a parental note or telephone call they do not need to take part in physical activity. However, they are still expected to change into the required kit so they can fulfil roles such as umpire/coach/timekeeper etc.

If a student has a medical condition that prevents them from taking part, they should have a note from home that is passed onto a pastoral member of staff. This will be confirmed then alternative arrangements will be made.

The following steps are in place for students who fail to bring kit to PE lessons:

1)First time is considered a mistake, verbal reprimand. Students are required to borrow kit from the PE Department.

2)Second time students are issued with a break time detention, or lunchtime depending. They are required to borrow kit from the PE Department.

3)Third time students are issued with an after school detention. Parents are contacted. They are required to borrow kit from the PE Department.

4)If all of the above have no effect, names are passed to the pastoral team. Parents are contacted

If a student refuses to borrow kit then they will need to make up the lesson time missed.

Times of the Academic Day

The first bell sounds at 8.40 am

Registration / 8:45 – 8:55
Period 1 / 8:55 – 9:55
Period 2 / 9:55 – 10:55
Break / 10:55 – 11:15
Period 3 / 11:15 – 12:15
Period 4 / 12:15 – 13:15
Lunch / 13:15 – 14:00
Period 5 / 14:00 – 15:00
Tutor Time / 15:00 – 15:20

Buses

Students who arrive at the Academy on the Lynemouth or Newbiggin buses are expected to come straight into the Academy once they leave the bus and not to go off site.

If you think your child may be entitled to free bus travel, have your child pick up the Application for Free Travel form from the Admin office.

The Academyoffers discounted Arriva bus passes for students in year 7 and 8 travelling from Newbiggin by the Sea. The cost per student would be £40.00 for 4 weeks however the Academy will contribute half therefore reducing the cost to the student to £20.00.The tickets are valid on any travel within the Ashington ticket zone 7 days a week therefore benefiting the student both in and out of school. If you are interested in applying for a pass pleasecontact the admin office for further information.

Drop off by car

Cars can come up to drop off students outside of reception area in drop off zone until 8.30am in the morning and then after 3.40pm in the afternoon. It is important that there is no drop off at other times as we have mini buses taxis and coaches. A pass can be arranged if your child has a major issue that means they need to be dropped off at reception.

Policies

Academy polices can be viewed on our web page: under the Information tab.

Uniform

If students are not wearing appropriate uniform they will be asked to wear uniform provided by the Academy. If students do not comply with the uniform policy, they will complete work in isolation.

If you have any concerns about buying the wrong types of clothing/footwear please contact your appropriate Head of Year as we do not want parent/carers to spend money on something that is not appropriate to wear.

If clip on ties are destroyed then the student will be asked to buy a new one. If top buttons are removed then students will be asked to sew a new one on. If this does not happen then a needle and thread is provided for them to sew a button on during a break, dinner or an after school slot.

Uniform orders and additional forms can be picked up from Miss Fogerty, Admin Office. The Academy accepts payment in cash or cheques, made payable to NCEA, with a cheque guarantee card.

On Thursdays students who are part of the CCF (combined cadet force) wear their cadet uniform.

Girls
Years 7 and 8
Black V-neck jumper with Academy logo
Academy Years 7 and 8 tie
White shirt Black smart trousers/skirt. Not denim.
Skirts must be no higher than two inches from the student’s knee.
Black or flesh coloured tights.
Black, grey or white socks.
Black leather/leather looking shoes (no trainers, plimsolls or boots. Whole shoe should be black including soles.
No note will be accepted apart from a medical note from a doctor. If students are not wearing then correct footwear then they will be asked to wear a pair from school.
PE Kit
Academy or plain black tracksuit bottoms, leggings or shorts
White shirt with Academy logo. Option to wear matching tracksuit top, plain black/dark grey sports jumper or hoodie.
Bobble for hair.
Trainers of any colour to be warn in PE only.
Years 9 to 11
Same as Years 7 & 8 apart from new Key stage tie and blazer. / Boys
Years 7 and 8
Black V-neck jumper with Academy logo
Academy Years 7 and 8 tie
White shirt Black smart trousers not denim.
Black, grey or white socks.
Black leather or leather looking shoes (no trainers, plimsolls boots)Whole shoe should be black including soles.
No note will be accepted apart from a medical note from a doctor. If students are not wearing then correct footwear then they will be asked to wear a pair from school.
PE Kit
Academy or plain black tracksuit bottoms/shorts
White shirt with Academy logo
Option to wear matching tracksuit top
Plain black/dark grey sports jumper or hoodie.
Trainers of any colour to be warn in PE only.
Years 9 to 11
Same as Years 7 and 8 apart from new Key stage tie and blazer.
If students are not wearing appropriate uniform they will be asked to wear uniform provided by the school or home will be contacted to bring in the correct uniform. If students do not comply with the uniform policy they will complete work in isolation including dinner and break. A parental meeting may also be set up. If you are unsure about any item of uniform you are buying please contact your child’s HOY to confirm what is acceptable.

Shoes