NewsletterAutumn 1 Newsletter

A flying start

Our new year 7s have made an amazing start to life in secondary school. We know how tough the transition from Primary to Secondary can sometimes be for both children and parents, but they have made a flying start!

Meet your child's tutor evening

We have ‘Meet your tutor evening’ coming up on the 7th November where you can meet the tutor of your child. These will be short meetings in which you can get a quick overview to how your child has started secondary school and ask any questions you have, but if you require more information please get in touch, check our website or see the letter sent. There will be a full parents evening later in the year.

Year 7 football

The boys Year 7 Football team took on Friesland School on the 12th October. They unfortunately fell short and lost 4-3 but performed brilliantly and were a credit to the academy!

Girl's football

Libby Bayliss and Freya Lodge will be representing the academy in the girls U14 Football team on Thursday 19th October away at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School. Wish them luck!

Miss Kingham - Head of Year 7 

Year 8 Intent:  Ready, Respectful, Safe

Firstly, I would like to introduce myself to you as your child/ren’s new Head of Year. This is my 9th year at Kirk Hallam Community Academy and throughout this time I have worked in a variety of pastoral roles. It has been fantastic getting to know Year 8 students and yourselves. I have had the pleasure of speaking with a number of our Year 8 families, and I look forward to working closely with you all over the coming years. We also welcome, to the existing team of tutors, Miss Crouch and Ms Reinten.

My priorities for Year 8 students this year are summed up in three words; ready, respectful and safe. Tutors and I have had a keen focus on students taking greater responsibility and this has begun with ensuring that each morning they are ready to learn; having the correct equipment, knowing their timetable and wearing the correct uniform. I know that tutors have been in touch with individual families regarding these matters; your support is appreciated.  Year 8 Assemblies have been focused on respectful behaviour and what this looks like in practice - you will see images from the latest Year 8 assembly where students were asked to consider the impact of their words and use of language.

The Year 8 Personal Development curriculum is exploring how children can be kept safe through the lens of internet safety and we have held an extraordinary assembly, led by our local PCSOs, on the subject of county lines.

In addition to their timetabled lessons there have been a number of events in which Year 8 students have taken part:

Earlier in the term we hosted a Storyteller Workshop to work with a group of Year 8s encouraging them with their expertise in imaginative and creative writing as well as building upon their oracy skills.

The European Day of Languages, organised by Mr Atkins, was well supported by Year 8 students who were asked to bake a European themed cake for a sale with all proceeds going to the charity Ben’s Den. There were some imaginative cakes (including a Leaning Tower of Pisa cake!) and many enjoyed eating the produce.

As we approach the end of Term 1 I am reflecting on what has been a very positive Autumn Term for Year 8 students. It is now imperative that we build on this superb start by ensuring students attend school every day being fully equipped with a pen, pencil, ruler, green pen, planner and vocabulary book and that the excellent levels of punctuality to school and lessons, displayed by nearly every student, is maintained. As the students develop into young adults we look for them to remain focused on the character traits they are developing with regards to being polite, friendly and helpful members of our community. I thank you for your support in these matters and I look forward to updating you at the end of Term 2 with more highlights and successes from the year group.

 

Miss Briggs , Head of Year 8

Year 9 Intent: Kind, Confident, Aspirational

It has now been 10 months since I was given the privileged role as the Head of Year for Year 8. In that time, we have seen the progression into Year 9. This progression into Year 9 has given everyone a fresh start as we all make the journey towards the end of Key Stage 3 and the beginning of Key Stage 4.

This new start in Year 9 has been fuelled by the introduction of our year group intent. Our intent has been designed to give each student a guide as they work through each school day. Our intent guides each student to be Kind, Confident and Aspirational. So far over the course of the year we have highlighted these key areas in form time with our tutor boards, our year group board in the dome and our assemblies. 

As we have progressed through half term one, we have had several key assemblies firstly led by Mr Turner as he greeted students back to school and outlined the expectations for the year ahead. Secondly, we had delivery of a key assembly from the police around the topic of county lines with aim of raising awareness around the dangers of drugs.

The personal development programme for this half term has seen Year 9 learn more about the theme of relationships so far looking at different types of relationships and growing their knowledge around consent.

The return of school from the summer break has seen the return of sports with lots of chances for Year 9s to get involved with sport in school with the chance to then represent school. I am looking forward to seeing how well we can perform this year in sport as a year group, building on the amazing sports day we had at the end of summer term. 

As we turn our attention to the end of the first half term my aim is that we continue to build on the strong start we have made and take this in half term two using our intent to guide us to be kind, confident and aspirational.

All have a safe and enjoyable half term break before we start the countdown to Christmas!

 

Mr Wildey- Head of Year 9

This half term Year 10 have been busy starting their GCSE courses. I have been very impressed with the focus and effort that students are putting into their new courses. The new ClassCharts system reports that the behaviour and attitude of students in Year 10 lessons is overwhelmingly positive and their teachers have been especially impressed with the maturity they have displayed in their lessons. Please encourage your children to develop regular habits in completing homework and reviewing their learning – this will support them with assessments throughout the year. There will also be a mock exam in the summer to prepare for the demands of year 11.

The Year 10 Personal Development curriculum is exploring how children can be kept safe while online, with a focus on online grooming and personal safety. In week 5 we had a visit from our local PCSOs, who delivered an assembly to Year 10 about the dangers of involvement with illegal drugs and county lines. In assemblies, our focus has been on the transition from Key Stage 3 to Key Stage 4 and the extra responsibilities that brings. I have been asking the year group to consider the importance of attendance and participation in lessons and the importance of not wasting time!

On 17th October, Year 10 participated in an Army Skills Event. Students learned about the pathways into an army career. Through a range of both practical and confidence building activities, students gained insight into Army teamwork, resilience, coordination, and problem solving. This was followed by an informative Army careers presentation, in which the students were able to ask questions about different Army jobs and life in the Army.  Both the Army Elite Skills staff and KH teachers were very complimentary about how the Year 10s engaged in the activities and worked respectfully together.

In the summer term, Year 10 will participate in work experience. This annual opportunity allows students to begin thinking about possible future careers and planning their next steps. Mrs Cartwright, the school careers advisor will start to work closely with students to support them in choosing their work placements. Although work experience week is not until July 2024, there is a lot of competition for places, so we encourage students to make early decisions. There will be a range of assemblies and information starting in the autumn term to support in these decisions.

Finally, please continue to support the school in ensuring that students are equipped and dressed for school. A bag should be brought each day with their own stationery – a minimum of a pen, pencil, ruler and rubber.  Some options subjects may also require specialist equipment. As we approach the colder weather, please ensure they have a coat – hoodies are not allowed as part of school uniform and students will be asked to remove them.

I am so proud of the excellent, mature start that the year group have made, and as we approach the end of the first half term, I really look forward to supporting them through the coming year.

Mrs Thornhill

Head of Year 10

"Students in year 11 will strive to be the best versions of themselves in relation to their academic achievement, character and future ambitions.

 Our Year 11's are ambassadors for the rest of our school community and will take on this responsibility with kindness and maturity.”

Students in Year 11 have made a very positive and productive start to this academic year. With students having just completed their first set of mock examinations, I have been encouraged by the positive work ethic shown by our students during tutor time, in lessons, and during after-school booster sessions.

The achievement points, alongside newly tightened behaviour systems show an 82% ratio of positives to negatives achieved by students. As students and parents know, Year 11 can be such a difficult year. With the constant pressure of exams, coursework and study sessions, I would like to remind pupils that they will be rewarded for their hard work and dedication towards life in school and future rewards will be shared with students in the near future.

As a year group, we started the year with strong attendance of well over 90% but have seen this figure start to drop over recent weeks. We have stressed to our students the importance of attendance and how this directly relates to achievement within school, so it is important that our Year 11 students show resilience throughout the winter months and ensure that they are in school as much as possible. Punctuality is highly regarded in any workplace and at Kirk Hallam Community Academy we try to embed this message into the pupils throughout school so that they are best prepared for life after school. New late to school and late to lessons sanctions have helped to massively improve punctuality in Year 11 as we look to ensure that students make the most of every single lesson. Many pupils will require references for colleges, sixth-form, apprenticeships and workplaces in the not-too-distant future and punctuality and attendance will be something that will feature highly within these statements.

Students are now well aware of the expectations regarding uniform and the vast majority of students are getting this spot-on day-in-day-out during morning tutor checks, but I must reiterate that students are not allowed to wear jewellery, with the exception of one stud earring in each ear.

Like I say, it has been strong start to the year for Year 11 with highlights including the Geography trip to the Peak District, students performing and helping out at Year 6 Open Evening and many students dedicating their time after school to attend booster sessions for many subjects. I am already excited to see what this year group can achieve this year. Keep up the good work and stay committed towards your end of year targets and goals.

 

Mr Turner- Head of Year 11

It has been wonderful to see the return of our Year 13 students and our new Year 12 students start with us. In particular, it has been a pleasure to welcome our new Year 12s joining us from other local schools as well as those who have chosen to stay with us following Year 11.

All our students have made a great start to the year, and it has been good to see our Year 13 students step up to the extra pressure that come with being in that year. Year 12 and Year 13 students have been studying in recent weeks for their end of half term assessments and I am looking forward to seeing the results of these. As well as our formal mock exams our teachers use regular formative assessment in lessons, and summative assessment at the end of each half term to guide and strengthen their teaching to ensure that we are offering the best possible education to our students.

Attendance

As I have communicated before the attendance of students is the strongest predictor of academic success – you must be in to win it, so to speak. In the Sixth Form we have an attendance target of 97% and I have recently sent out reward vouchers (a free hot drink from our new café; more on that later) to over half of our students who have exceeded this.

Please support our students to strive for the highest levels of attendance.

Sixth Form Café

We have invested heavily in our Sixth Form facilities this year, opening a new common room and café space. The café accepts contactless payments only and is staffed for drinks and food between 08:15 and 14:00 every day. Our students have loved having this facility as the social hub of the Lakeside building and there are always people in here working with a coffee, catching up with friends, students chatting to teachers etc – it is lovely to see.

Post 18 Next Steps

This half term is always a busy one. Year 13 students are finalising their personal statements and completing UCAS applications, if they didn’t already submit for the early deadline that is. The main UCAS deadline for 2024 entry year is 6pm on the 31st of January 2024. Within the Sixth Form we operate an internal deadline of 16th December to enable the in depth checking of final applications by the Sixth Form team. Please encourage students to speak to their learning mentors or Dr Bennison for any guidance they may need.

In Year 12 we have already begun consideration of student’s next steps by launching Unifrog with all students and beginning to look at the possible post 18 pathways. Students need to start thinking now about their plans; this also often gives them a focus which helps with their studies.

Sixth Form Teambuilding Day

In the Sixth Form we have vertical Mentor Groups (Mixed Year 12 and 13) as this fosters collaboration between the years. For these to work effectively though we need to start building the relationships between Year 12 and Year 13 students early on; because of this we hold ac Team Building day in the first week of Term. Wise Up Team Building came and delivered the Hub Challenge to all our students for a day with a focus on building resilience and developing good practices for teamwork. Our students were fantastic on this day, especially given the heat and fun was had by all.

Parents’ Events

During the first few weeks of term we held successful events for parents of Year 12 and Year 13 students. We will be doing more of these throughout the year as we strive to strengthen the partnership between parents and students. A strong partnership can really help our students to achieve so I am intending on communicating with parents more this year (this is one vehicle for that) so please keep an eye out for letters from myself and also follow the Sixth Form on X (formerly Twitter) @KHCA6thForm.

Sixth Form Open Evening

On Monday the 2nd of October we opened our doors to prospective students and parents for the annual Sixth Form Open Evening. It was great to see the Lakeside Hall full of people coming to see the great facilities we have on offer. Our current students were fantastic ambassadors for us and I am thankful that so many of them wanted to promote the Sixth Form.

Sixth Form Theatre Studies Trip

On the 21st of September Mrs Lloyd-Jones, Lead Teacher of Drama, took our Sixth Form Theatre studies students to see Metamorphosis by the excellent physical theatre company Frantic Assembly at The Curve in Leicester.

Year 13 Geography Fieldwork

Mr Cassidy and Mr Still took our Year 13 geographers to Burbage to complete some of their Geography fieldwork

Student Union “Anything but a bag” Fundraising Event

We are incredibly proud of the active role our Student’s Union, led by SU President Erica Beharall, has in the life of the Sixth Form. This year they organised an “Anything but a bag” day to raise funds for the SU. There were some incredibly inventive items used to carry their equipment for the day, including a tool box, a push chair and an air fryer amongst others.

The SU are also organising a Halloween event for the last day of this half term. I’ll share details of this in the next newsletter.

University of Nottingham Visit for Year 13

We were lucky to welcome Ben from the University of Nottingham on the 16th of October to talk to our Year 13 students about choosing the right university course and then going on to apply to competitive universities. This was an excellent session, full of top tips to help our student’s university applications stand out. We are lucky to have the University of Nottingham nearby and we have close links with them; they will be in more throughout the year running student friendly sessions and a parent session on Student Finance in April.

 

Dr Bennison - Head of 6th form 

School Calendar

Did you know you can view upcoming events, special assemblies, parents evenings and trips on our website?

Calendar | Kirk Hallam Community Academy (kirkhallamacademy.co.uk)

You can also export the calendar onto your device (for apps that support iCal) 

 

We invite students to share Christmas lunch with friends on Wednesday 6th December 2023, served in Aspen’s canteen.

Students will be seated and served at their tables, restaurant style, by a team of Christmas elves including teachers and support staff.

Pre-book your child’s Christmas lunch on ParentPay before Friday 1st December - CLICK HERE

(If your child is eligible for Pupil Premium and therefore in receipt of Free School Meals you should still check-out on ParentPay as this will give us an idea of how many meals to prepare)

Students not participating in Christmas lunch will be able to pick up cold deli food where an alternative space will be provided in school, but only students eating a hot seated Christmas dinner will be served in the canteen on this occasion.

We look forward to celebrating Christmas together.