Dear Parents/Carers,

This week we welcomed children and their families to visit Rushden Academy to see what we have to offer our community. The event was very well attended with well over two hundred and fifty families visiting Rushden Academy to see the amazing work that we are doing.

We had a significant number of student helpers, meeting and greeting families, talking passionately about the subjects they were supporting, and also supporting me with the formal introductions to Rushden Academy as part of the Principal’s welcome presentation. I am grateful to all of the students who supported the evening and I would like to thank Saanvi, Harold, Dike and Roxana for their superb presentations to our visitors. We had so many families who commented on how amazing our students are, how helpful they are, and how their child really enjoyed the evening. We also had a number of children who asked if they could start now!

On Tuesday this week we had our annual school photos day. This year we made the change to have photos taken across all year groups. Your child should have taken an A5 card home which includes all the necessary information on how to order your copies of their photo if you wish to purchase these. 

Yesterday we celebrated World Mental Health Day where students were allowed to accessorise their uniform with something yellow to show their support. They were also able to have one of their Rushden STARR criteria for their bronze award signed off. It is great to see so many students engaging with our Rushden STARR initiative, helping to develop our students’ outstanding character. 

Mrs Ogilvie delivered the assembly to students this week on the theme of World Mental Health Awareness Day. Mrs Ogilvie talked to students about how to recognise burnout, and how to avoid this happening. We often see a number of students suffering from burnout as they are not aware of the impact of things such as poor sleep hygiene. Students were introduced to a number of strategies, such as having opportunities to unwind, that will support them. Should they ever feel that they are starting to suffer from burnout, students can talk to their form tutor, director of keystage, or pastoral support assistant for further support and guidance.

We hope that you all have a lovely weekend, and with only nine more days of school before we break up - school is closed to all pupils on Friday 25th October due to a whole school training day - I am sure many of you will be thinking about how to enjoy your time over the half term break.

Your sincerely,

Jonathan Firth

Principal