Academy News Stories

News Posts

Message From the Principal 08.12.23

Dear Parent / Carer

The antepenultimate week of school was thankfully a lot milder in terms of the weather but was equally a wet one in terms of the amount of rain we had. However, this did little to dampen the spirits as we enter the festive season.

Mr Bocking led a fascinating assembly which reviewed many significant events that occurred over the course of the year. To name just some of the events, Mr Bocking encouraged students to reflect on the catastrophic earthquakes which struck Turkey and Syria; Finland officially joining NATO; SpaceX’s starship explosion; the tragic events surrounding the implosion of Ocean Gate’s Titan submersible; the war between Israel and Hamas; and Storm Ciarán. He finished the assembly with the ‘Pale Blue Dot’ which comes off the back of Nasa’s Voyager spacecraft leaving our solar system and taking a final picture of earth which appeared as a pale blue dot; truly mind-blowing.

Some of you would have attended our Year 13 parents’ evening on Thursday to get an update on how your son or daughter is progressing in their studies as we enter the final stages of their Key Stage 5 education. Meanwhile, our Year 12 students visited Nottingham Trent University for a taster day which gave them a good insight into what university life is like.

As Christmas approaches, our entire Social Action Squad assembled in the hall on Wednesday period 4 where they made Christmas hampers to take to the care home and day centre. In addition to the hampers, they commenced work on a community mural for a local church and still found time to write Christmas cards to members of staff sharing festive sentiments. The hampers were delivered by members of the squad during period 5 spreading some yuletide joy to our community.

It was Christmas jumper day on Thursday and it was great to see staff and students alike embracing the opportunity to wear their festive knitwear! Next week, students can look forward to our Christmas cracker event which takes place from 3:15pm - 6:00pm on Thursday and is hosted by the library. Parents and carers can look forward to our movie night which is being hosted by the Ethos Team in our lecture theatre on Tuesday evening.

As we reach the end of the term we appreciate that everyone is tired and to recognise students who have 100% attendance in the final few weeks we will be entering their names into a raffle to win prizes in the final rewards assembly a week on Wednesday. Thank you for your continued support with ensuring that your children’s absence level remains as low as possible.

Finally, on Tuesday the 19th it is our Jack and the Beanstalk pantomime and tickets are selling fast; it would be great to see as many of you there as possible supporting our extremely talented students.

Have a long and restful weekend,

Yours sincerely,

Mr B Baines

Principal

Parent Letter 12.09.2023 - Site access

Dear Parent/Carer,

In order to maintain the safety and security of all students, we have reviewed the morning and afternoon access to the school site. As a result of this review, the following will come into effect from Monday 18th September:

Access to the Breakfast club, 8am - 8:10am, is through the main reception entrance. Once students are on-site they must move directly to the canteen;

Spencer Park and Hayway student gates will open at 8:10am for students to access the school site, these gates will close at 8:25am. Students arriving late must enter through the main reception;

Spencer Park and Hayway student gates will reopen at 3pm and lock at 3:25pm. Students leaving the school site after this point will be escorted via reception or the Hayway student gate.

These changes form an essential part of our continued efforts to ensure all students are safe at all times, we thank you for your cooperation.

Mrs Ogilvie

Assistant Principal

Safeguarding

Strike action - Parent letter - 5th & 7th July 2023

26th June 2023

Dear Parent/Carer,

I am writing to you in relation to the proposed industrial action scheduled to take place on Wednesday 5th and Friday 7th July.

All decisions are made with the ultimate aim of opening the school to as many students as possible whilst ensuring the safety of both the students and staff. As with the previous days of industrial action, staff are not required to inform me whether they are intending to take strike action or not. This means that the actual number of staff who will be in school will remain unconfirmed until the day itself. However, taking account of the staffing level on the previous strike days, my intention is to open the school to the following Year Groups:

Year 7:

School will be open for all Year 7 lessons on both Wednesday 5th of July and Friday 7th July. Where teachers are not in school, lessons will be collapsed with alternative lessons and activities taking place. All Year 7s will need to ensure that they bring their PE kit to school on the day as some of the alternative activities may require them to get changed.

Year 8:

School will be open for all Year 8 lessons on Wednesday 5th of July but will be closed for all Year 8 students on Friday 7th July. Where teachers are not in school, lessons will be collapsed with alternative lessons and activities taking place.

Year 9:

School will be closed for all Year 9 students on Wednesday 5th July but will be open for all Year 9 lessons on Friday 7th July. Where teachers are not in school, lessons will be collapsed with alternative lessons and activities taking place.

Year 10:

School will be closed for all Year 10 students as they will be undertaking work experience this week. Where students are undertaking an arranged work experience placement within the Academy, they should attend as normal.

Year 12:

The Sixth Form area will be open and supervised for those wishing to come in. If they are scheduled to have a lesson at Rushden Academy and their teacher is in, then they should attend their lesson as normal. Students also have the option to complete independent work at home.

Vulnerable Students:

A separate email will be sent out inviting identified vulnerable students from year groups to attend and be supervised at school. They will be supervised to undertake online work in an IT room.

Free School Meals:

For students entitled to a free school meal would you please email by Tuesday 4th July at 3:00pm to inform us whether you will be collecting a cold lunch, from Rushden Academy, on Wednesday 5th or Friday 7th July. A pre-ordered lunch will be available for collection between 12:00pm and 12:30pm on each day. Lunch will be provided for all students in school as normal.

The rationale for selecting these Year Groups is as follows:

Year 7 – These are the most vulnerable in terms of being the youngest.

Years 8 and 9 - These students will have one day each in school to minimise the impact to their education.

Year 10 - will be undertaking work experience this week.

Year 12 - These students are in their A level examination years and it is important that they can still come into school to study.

Whilst I recognise that this will cause disruption around your childcare arrangements, I have made these decisions based on ensuring the safety of our students. This reflects the known availability of staff and the potential disruption that may be caused by staff with their own childcare issues.

Yours sincerely

Mr B Baines

Principal