Firstly, thank you for all your support throughout 2021. It certainly feels like we have come a long way since the spring lockdown and your children have continued to show great resilience to take all the changes in their stride, whilst producing outstanding work and engaging in their learning. Our staff have been fantastic in the work they have done, and continue to do, to make sure that our students are fully supported, and we do our best to make sure we minimise any adverse effects from lockdowns and other restrictions.
In 2021 we welcomed two new schools into the Trust in Wallbrook and Lightwoods Primary Academies. We hope the staff, pupils and families have settled in and started to see the effects of positive changes we are making at both schools.
In 2022 we plan to have two further schools come on board. Health Futures UTC, a secondary school in West Bromwich specialising in healthcare education, is due to become Shireland Biomedical UTC and welcome its first cohort of Year 7s in September 2022. In the same month we also hope to open the doors of Wednesfield Technology Primary to our very first Reception pupils. All in all, we have another a very exciting year ahead, and that is without mentioning everything that is happening in our schools already, which I hope you get a feel for from this newsletter.
I wish you all a happy Christmas and I hope that you get to spend some quality time with your families. Please take time to relax and recharge after a hectic 12 months and hopefully 2022 will be more normal but just as productive.
Sir Mark Grundy, CEO
This year the Trust Central Team have been busy working on a number of projects to benefit staff and students across all of our schools. They promote and encourage collaboration and sharing of best practice for the benefit of all.
Projects include:
- Developing Early Years provision through embedding of the E3L primary curriculum and shared planning and staff training sessions.
- Introducing a support structure for our Special Educational Needs Coordinators and putting in place a clear strategy for how schools support their SEND students and families.
- Creating a shared strategy across all of our Trust schools that outlines how we identify the needs of our most vulnerable families and meet their needs.
- Furthering our Professional Development offer for teaching and non-teaching staff across Trust schools as well as introducing new HR and recruitment systems.
Enrichment update
It has been another busy term for the Enrichment Team with a whole range of inspiring activities taking place at our schools.
Year 2 and Year 9 have been creating colourful posters based on their curriculum themes for our eduu.school competitions. We will be announcing the winners before the end of term. Keep an eye out for more exciting eduu.school competitions coming up next term, this time for Year 5 and Year 7!
We have supported lots of different enrichment activities at schools this term including Debate Club, Sports4Kids, Karate and music sessions.
Alongside this, we have organised a number of different workshops at our schools:
- Resilience workshops at Tameside Primary Academy.
- Playleaders and Youth Social Action at Lightwoods Primary Academy.
- After-school club at Holyhead Primary Academy.
- Buddy Club at West Bromwich Collegiate Academy.
- Army sessions at Shireland Collegiate Academy.
We have lots more coming up next term including Eco Group at Thorns Collegiate Academy.
As part of the school's focus on developing the whole child, they run several in-school initiatives to develop leadership, teamwork and other soft skills.
One of the most recently launched is Holyhead Buddies, who are on a mission to be your friend!
If children need a buddy they can look for the yellow caps around the school and on the playground and know that child is happy to talk and be their friend.
Year 5 have been exploring different art forms and looking at the works of some famous artists such as Banksy and Antoni Gaudi as part of this term's Excite, Explore, Excel themes.
They created our own graffiti ‘tag’ and debated whether graffiti is really art or vandalism!
The children also had a fantastic walking tour of Digbeth, taking in some stunning artistic surroundings.
Shireland Technology Primary's very first Pupil Forum was elected this term, with representatives from each Key Stage One and Two class gathering to share the ideas of their classmates.
The first Pupil Forum meeting was held in October and the forum have decided to focus on improving the eco-friendliness of the school and deciding how to raise money for their chosen charities this academic year.
The ideas of the representatives and their classmates will become part of the school plans to be more environmentally friendly and provide fundraising activities for some fantastic charities this year.
West Bromwich East MP Nicola Richards came to visit Tameside to look around the school, which has seen an investment in buildings and facilities over the last year, including smart boards and LED lighting as well as a fresh coat of paint and new carpets.
Some of the pupils got to meet the MP and even featured in an article in the Express and Star.
Wallbrook pupils are looking forward to developing a Pupil Leadership team to allow them to share their views in how they improve their school.
This will provide opportunities to support charities, arrange visits and activities, gain pupil views and represent their class/year group throughout the school year.
Over the last few months two members of the Academy's top debating team have been progressing through the rounds of the Expo Factor - a nationwide search to find the top young speakers to represent the UK in Dubai next year.
Rushma and Abdullahi, Y11, took on the roles of Prime Minister and Chancellor to promote the changes they would implement if they were handed the reigns of the UK for the day. Their impassioned speeches about promoting greater racial equality and supporting the housing crisis wowed the judges in every round. In their final pitch they were interviewed by a judging panel from across the globe - and were crowned the top two in England!
As a result, and COVID permitting, Rushma and Abdullahi will form part of a select contingent of young minds representing the UK when our nation takes over at the Dubai Expo in February 2022 - that's right...they are off to Dubai!
We are immensely proud of these two students and their fantastic achievements. Both have shown that if you seize the opportunities available and remain committed, passionate, and industrious then there is every chance of success.
Year 11 students have been working with conceptual artist Sophie Huckfield on a project for Wolverhampton Art Gallery to be included in the British Art Show 9.
They have been looking at storytelling with the theme ‘Many Hands Make Light Work’. With a focus on communities coming together, we have been collecting food for local food banks.
Students have also filmed scenes for a short film, which is to be played at the BAS9 show in February 2022 in Wolverhampton.
Three students from the school performed in the curtain raiser at the Birmingham Hippodrome for the amazing Message in a Bottle show by Zoo Nation.
An amazing experience for the students involved!
Theatre School students also visited the Hippodrome to see Hairspray; this was part enrichment and part research for the drama and musical pieces they will be performing later this year.
It also helped to deliver some important messages about equal opportunities and integration and provided a great link to Black History Month
The children have been very interested in animals this term, so the staff have been bringing in their pet dogs for the children to meet and take for a walk, which the children have been very excited by. One of our parents also bought in their pet tortoise and the children were fascinated by him.
Also, Kam will be returning from maternity leave after the Christmas break.
COMING UP...
- Do you know a budding doctor, dentist, physiotherapist or midwife who is looking for place in Year 7 next year? Shireland Biomedical University Technical College (currently Health Futures UTC) joins the Trust in early 2022 and applications are open for Year 7 to start September 2022. Applications made to the UTC do not affect any application already made through the local authority.
We are progressing through the steps required to open Wednesfield Technology Primary. This will be our second technology primary, following on from Shireland Technology Primary.
Credits:
Created with an image by stux - "autumn leaves border"