Dear Families,
This week we said an emotional goodbye to our Year 11 students, who have now completed all of their final Level 2 examinations and qualifications. We have been extremely proud of the way all students have conducted themselves over the past few weeks, and throughout their time with us at Rushden Academy.
We know that whatever they choose to do next, they will be hugely successful, and we wish them all the very best! Those students who are continuing their studies with us in the HARA Sixth Form will soon have their induction week, and we look forward to welcoming them back to school very soon.
As we finish the Year 11 exams, we have immediately turned our attention to our Year 10 students to give them an experience of what the real exams will be like. This is important for a number of different reasons. Firstly, it gives students an opportunity to familiarise themselves with the government expectations that all schools must adhere to. It also allows us the opportunity to formally assess any access arrangements that may be required for the final examinations, providing us with the necessary evidence and time to submit these. Finally - and we hope this is never the case - it provides us with a backup set of data that the school could use in the event of any exam cancellations, similar to what we experienced several years ago. We are extremely proud of the way the Year 10s have approached these mock exams, conducting themselves impeccably and working hard to ensure they get the best outcomes.
Sports Day
We are looking forward to Sports Day next Friday. All the necessary details will be shared with students next week prior to the event, but I wanted to remind parents that students will need to wear sun cream, which will need to be reapplied during the day. Students are also encouraged to wear a hat and must bring a bottle of water, which they will be able to refill throughout the day. We will also have sheltered areas available for students to take cover if they need to. We had a number of students get bad sunburn last year, and we want to work together to ensure everyone stays protected in the warm weather next week.
Eco and Sustainability Presentations
Two governors and I were privileged to attend presentations from our Eco and Sustainability teams detailing the work they have been doing and the proposals they have developed to make the school greener. We saw presentations ranging from technical changes to central heating systems using smart thermostats, to small but positive changes like switching to a default search engine provider that uses renewable energy to power its servers. I look forward to meeting with the team again soon to discuss how we can allocate funding to their projects to improve the school further. We would also like to thank Mrs Wiles for her hard work leading this initiative with the students and staff.
Community Support
I shared last week how proud I am of the school community for their amazing fundraising efforts, and I wanted to share another brilliant example of this. The NN10 Community Voices group, led by our music teacher Mrs Squires, held a concert last weekend and raised a total of £1,250 for the Kettering Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Thank you so much to everyone who supported this event!
B Block Update
It has been a long time since I was able to share any key information about B Block and our temporary accommodation plans, but we are finally in a position to share what the ‘temporary village’ will look like in September. We will soon be installing temporary classrooms, IT rooms, changing rooms, and toilets onto the land next to our reception building. This will not impact access to the field, and sports lessons will continue as normal. We are aiming to start work as soon as possible so we can have everything installed and ready for the new term. The picture below shows the layout of the classroom on the field area:
We are now finalising the logistics of setting up these spaces, along with all of the safeguarding planning (fences, access, etc.) to ensure we have a smooth and secure start to the next academic year.
As the work begins and progresses, I will share video updates so students and families can see the changes happening in real time. Before school resumes, I will provide a more comprehensive overview of the school site and the adjustments we have made.
We greatly appreciate your support during this period of transition, and I would like to thank our Business Manager, Mrs Barratt, and our Site Manager, Mr Ward, for their relentless hard work on this huge project.
We hope you all have a lovely weekend, enjoy the sunshine, and we look forward to seeing all students on Monday for line-up at 8:25am.
Yours sincerely,
Mr. J. Firth
Principal
