Dear all,
With remaining COVID restrictions in England being phased out during this term, it finally feels like we are back to normal across our schools.
As you read through the following pages you will see just some of the great work that is going on across our Trust, both in schools and in our Central Team. From cross-Trust project groups and after-school clubs joining forces, to fantastic opportunities with external organisations like the Birmingham Hippodrome; there are excellent examples of all three of our Trust values – innovate, inspire and collaborate - at work.
We also continue to grow as a Trust. Last week we welcomed our newest secondary school, Shireland Biomedical UTC. Based in West Bromwich with a focus on health sciences, the school will welcome its first Year 7 cohort in September. In addition, you will be hearing a lot more in the coming months about the exciting new Shireland CBSO Academy that is due to open in September 2023 in collaboration with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
Please enjoy a restful and enjoyable Easter break and we look forward to welcoming you back for another term of outstanding teaching and learning.
Sir Mark Grundy, CEO
- As a Trust we have signed up for The National School Breakfast Programme. This is funded by the Department for Education and run by Family Action to support schools in England to provide children with a healthy breakfast at the start of the school day. More details will be provided by your school.
- Year 7 pilot of askOLA, an out-of-hours support service for students. 353 students have accessed the system so far and feedback has been incredibly positive.
- We have progressed with the new build for First Steps Nursery - due to complete in September 2022.
- We are improved support for vulnerable families through targeted action planning and cross-Trust working groups.
Enrichment update
It has been another busy term for the Enrichment Team with a whole range of inspiring activities taking place at our schools.
Passport to Success Charity Ambassadors from Holyhead and Wallbrook Primary Academies had an amazing experience visiting the Ronald McDonald House in Birmingham. Pupils will be organising their own fundraising event to support the charity.
Resilience workshops at Thorns Collegiate Academy and Shireland Collegiate Academy were well received by students at both schools, who learnt about its importance in everyday life.
Half term activities at Holyhead and Tameside Primary Academies saw pupils taking part in arts and crafts, drama, sports and even laser tag!
Coming up next term:
- Summer Virtual Quiz
- Resilience session at Holyhead Primary Academy
- Workshops for parents at Shireland Technology Primary and Tameside Primary Academy
- Half term activities
- Police workshops at Thorns Collegiate Academy
School spaces available
- First Steps Nursery: two spaces for babies and six spaces for two-year-olds.
- Tinywoods Preschool: Availability for three-year-olds.
- Holyhead Primary Academy: Spaces in Year 3 for September 2022.
- Shireland Biomedical UTC: Spaces in Year 7 for September 2022.
Staff vacancies
Governor vacancies
Do you know anyone who would be interested in becoming a Standards and Performance Committee Governor? We have vacancies at the following schools:
- Shireland Technology Primary
- Tameside Primary Academy
- Holyhead Primary Academy
- Lightwoods Primary Academy
- Wallbrook Primary Academy
If you know anyone who would be interested, please ask them to email Emma Billingham - ebillingham@shirelandcat.net
We are delighted to report that Ofsted has judged Holyhead Primary Academy in Wednesbury to be a ‘Good’ school, with pupils’ Personal Development highlighted as ‘Outstanding’, following its first Ofsted Inspection as an academy on Wednesday 12 and Thursday 13 January 2022.
The judgement recognises the hard work put in by the whole school community to turn the school around since our previous inspection in 2016, when it was given the lowest Ofsted rating of ‘Inadequate’.
The report comments that “pupils are very happy to come to Holyhead Primary Academy. It is a thriving and inclusive community where everyone is important… Pupils are proud of their school and the variety of opportunities to be active in their school and the local community.”
Congratulations to everyone!
Lightwoods pupils have been busy enacting British Values this term, and have elected their newest school councillors. The team have created a video to introduce themselves to the school.
The new councillors began their role straight away, with a discussion about school rules. They have been reviewing how we make contributions to our school life, ensuring it is safe, happy and we can learn.
We couldn’t be prouder of our actors, singers and dancers in Year 3 who shared their mini performances of the Disney classic Beauty and the Beast at the Birmingham Hippodrome this term.
The performance was part of a Hippodrome Education Network (HEN) event made up of 200 pupils from across the area.
The creative and performing arts are core to pupils’ life experiences and help to develop pupils' confidence, curiosity and cultural capital.
“I was really impressed with the children and their performance. It was lovely to see young kids really engaged, and the effort they put into singing and remembering their choreographed moments." - HEN Staff
A number of Key Stage 2 children have taken part in some very important training through the Diana Award on how to be an Anti-Bullying Ambassador for the school. The children had a whole afternoon of training and will be developing and leading Anti-Bullying campaigns across the school over the next year.
This is a very exciting and important charity for the school to work with. Well done to all those who took part!
Pupils at Wallbrook took part in a Precious Lives workshop recently to understand the risks of carrying or using knives and how to stay safe.
The Precious Lives project sees a team of trainers, who have real life experience of knife crime either as a victim, offender or professional, speak to young people in order to help them understand the consequences of carrying or using a knife. The trainers share their experiences and pass on the lessons they’ve learnt to the class. The sessions are designed to be hard hitting and impactful with an emphasis placed on connecting with the young people and delivering a message.
Following their fantastic win in the Debate Mate contest, Year 11 students Rushma and Abdullahi from Shireland Collegiate Academy flew out to Dubai back in February to represent the UK at the Dubai Expo.
They were part of 8-10 students travelling with a UK Trade and Investment delegation.
Abdullahi also had the honour of taking part in a smaller form of the the Commonwealth Games’ Queens Baton Relay while in Dubai. The baton moved between pavilions at Expo 2020 to represent Commonwealth countries.
The pair's adventure also appeared on the BBC news website and in the Express and Star!
As part of their latest Focus Day, Year 10 GCSE PE students visited Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club to experience a practical session in the Foundation Dome facility at Aldersley Stadium, before heading to the Molineux Stadium.
Students then completed a team building workshop focused on self esteem and later were given a tour, including visiting the Wolves Museum.
The visit concluded a talk and Q&A session with Head of Academy Sports Science, Dave Morrison. This experience will support students in their studies as they begin to focus on fitness testing and their Personal Exercise Programmes.
WBCA Young Engineers Society have been making steady progress on their hovercraft build throughout this term.
Students have shown great commitment and professionalism throughout the build. Team work has also been evident as they collaborated with the school Maths Club to work out the surface area required for various elements.
The fan housing drum is now complete and work has started on the rudder and vent holes. After discovering another omission on their engineering drawing, they also had to design and fabricate another frame for support. Amazing collaborate effort! Well done to all.
On 1 April 2022 we welcomed the latest school to join our Trust - Shireland Biomedical University Technical College.
The secondary school was the first University Technical College (UTC) in the UK with healthcare and health sciences as its specialism, offering learning and career opportunities like no other. Based in West Bromwich with state-of-the-art facilities, they prepare students for health-related careers in the public, private and voluntary sectors, from doctors and dentists to midwifes and paramedics. The school will welcome its first Year 7 cohort in September 2022.
We would like to welcome the staff, students and families of Shireland Biomedical UTC to the Trust.
This term's focus has been spring. The children have been planting, looking at life cycles, making playdough chicks, talking about Easter eggs, and decorating their own. They have taken part in Easter egg hunts in the garden and made chocolate cornflake cakes.
The nursery also hosted a lovely Mother’s Day tea party. Parents really enjoyed themselves and the food was great.
The children have enjoyed new activities from the 'Build me a home' theme.
The children showed great pride in showing their peers photographs of their own home and discussed similarities and differences between them.
They also began to look at animal homes, which led to an interest in family pets. Lots of parents sent in photos of the children with some of their family's pets and this sparked wonderful conversations among the group as they happily spoke of the pets they have and how they look after them.
Credits:
Created with images by kareni - "tulips flowers garden" • Tierney - "Speech bubble text message theme with hard shadow on a blue background"