Dear Parent / Carer 

We welcomed lots of external visitors into school this week to enrich our curriculum with exciting opportunities and experiences for all students.  

Assemblies were also bespoke to different year groups with representatives from the South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership (SEMLEP) delivering assemblies on careers and apprenticeship opportunities in our locality whilst Year 9’s assembly was an introduction to their “Prison? Me? No Way!” experience.  

Year 11 have spent the week completing their remaining mock examinations with the significant majority of students making full use of the opportunity to test where their strengths and weaknesses are for all subjects. With the examinations concluding on Friday, teachers will be going through papers with students in the next couple of weeks and we will be updating the progress league table as soon as possible; it would be great to see even more students moving into the green zone!

The Social Actions Squad returned to Denfield Primary school with Ms Raven and Rosie. They spent the time listening to younger students read to them and the praise from Denfield staff with regards to how well our students were instructing the younger students was overwhelmingly positive. The work of the Social Action Squad in our local community is hugely important to me as it shows members of our community just how amazing students from Rushden Academy are.

As mentioned, Year 9 were off timetable all day on Wednesday for the “Prison? Me? No way!” experience. This programme has been running for a number of years thanks to funding from the Rotary Club and always offers a gritty and harrowing experience for students as they get to hear exactly what prison is like from people who have experienced it first hand. Students listened to tales of regret and how better choices could have made a significant difference to lives. A big thank you to Mrs Brainwood and all the Rotarians who attended on Wednesday to facilitate this fantastic day for our students.

On Thursday, we welcomed the band LZ7 into school as part of their Illuminate tour. This was coordinated by our Ethos Leader, Mr Noblett and was an incredible and truly enlightening experience for our students. The band shared some powerful Christian messages as well as anecdotes where students have been given genuine hope in very challenging circumstances. The lead singer stressed that the two most important days of anyone’s lives are the day they are born and the day that they realise why; and that everyone on Earth has a purpose. The messages were powerful and hugely emotive for many of our students who all enjoyed dancing along to the musical performances.

Finally, in order to maintain high standards of uniform, Mr Firth is leading a weekly focus on a particular aspect of uniform which started with blazers this week. The significant majority of students wear their blazers at all times and where this hasn’t been the case this has been addressed swiftly. Next week the focus will be on leggings so please support us by ensuring that your child is coming to school wearing the correct uniform.

Have a pleasant and restful weekend,

Yours sincerely,

Mr B Baines

Principal