Springfield Road, Kearsley, Bolton BL4 8HY

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Tel 01204 332555 Fax 01204 332561

January 2018

Dear Parent/Carer,

Many thanks for your continued support of the academy. This week has been a very busy but productive week. Year 11 students have been taking their STEPs assessment in English and Maths,the conduct of the students and their work ethic has been brilliant with over 90% of the year group staying for the after school support/revision lessons. Infact,the vast majority of our students have settled in well after the holidays and have responded fantastically to improving standards on uniform and equipment and behaviour in lessons – you may have seen some of our Praise Postcards coming home to you in the post to tell you how well your child is doing in their academic studies!If not keep an eye out as these are now a weekly feature of the Academy.

We know that consistency is critical in our mission toachieve the very best outcomes for all of our students. Having clear expectations consistently applied means all discussions can focus on learning and not on other issues, such as jewellery and make up, that are simply distractions to our core purpose.

As you are already aware as part of our constant focus on raising standards and improving outcomes we are working extremely hard to improve studentsattendance and in particular punctuality.Being late to lessons disrupts the learning of all the other students in the class.

From Monday, 22nd January 2018 to allow students to become familiar with the new late detention protocols students that are late will have a late detention on the day at breaktimeand for any student who misses their detention, or is persistently late an after school detention will be scheduled for week commencing 29th January 2018.

From Monday 29th January 2018, late detentions which will be held in G20 at breaktime for any student who has been late, this late detention will take place the same day as the student is late.For any student who is persistently late i.e. more than twice in one weekor for any student who fails to attend the breaktime detention the detention will be increased to 30 minutes and will take place after school. If a detention is missed a parental meeting will be called for the following day at 8am and the full 30 minute detention reset for that afternoon. Adetention takes priority over any other activity within school and the Academy will consider it an extension to the school day and compulsory to attend. If a student has a medical appointment, parents should call main reception to leave a message so that the detentioncan be reset for the following day.

For detentions issued after school a standard text will be sent to the main contact number on the Academy’ssystem to notify you of this detention. Please can you ensure that we have an upto date number on our system. If you have recently changed your number can you please contact the Academy to let us your new details. This is very important not just for notifying parents of detentions but also to ensure should there be an emergency that we can contact you without undue delay.

We sincerely hope that we don’t have to issue any after school detentions as we want all of our students in everyday on time learning in lessons. Your active support in ensuring your child/children get to school on time is very much appreciated.

Should you any queries or simply wish to discuss your child’s attendance and/or punctuality, please do not hesitate tocontact Mrs Karen Jackson, Attendance Officer on:01204 332555or myself on the above number.

It isalso our expectation that students have a school bag which contains their student planner, a pencil case containing a pen, pencil and ruler and reading book by Monday 29th January 2018 at the latest. Students will read for the first 5 minutes of each lesson to ensure a calm and purposeful start to each lesson and to help support an develop their reading skills and literacy. We have explained this to all the students in a series of assemblies this week but it would assist us if you could support your child by helping them source a suitable reading book. For any student who is unable to provide their own books one will be lent so they are not unfairly penalised or disadvantaged.

Over the next two terms we will be looking to introduce a range of new activities for the students through an enrichment programme including a student voice initiative.

Finally, the Senior Leadership team at Kearsley Academy wish to offer as much support and communication as possible with our parents and members of our community, and so we will be offering a drop in session on Thursday 25th January between 4:00pm and 5:30pm. If you would like to come down to the Academy and speak with us on any matters, the Principal and the Senior Team will be available and no appointment is necessary.

FinaFF I would like to thank you all for working in partnership with us and look forward to continuing our work together.

Yours sincerely,

Mr R SinghMrs K McKee

Acting Vice PrincipalActing Principal