Principal's Update

Each term we have a ‘Reading Week’. This is not similar to the reading week that used to happen at universities where students would stop lectures for a week and they would be required to read a number of books or articles, but a week where we encourage students to read aloud.

Usually staff will read instructions, the class novel or an article aloud to the students however, we know that it is important that our students can read aloud themselves and display CRA confidence.

We started the week off with an inspirational piece being read out by a number of different staff in assembly, which talks about making dreams a reality through hard work, self-discipline and tenacity. This article served many purposes, primarily to launch the reading week but also to remind students about how their future is in their hands. Our mantra of ‘Choice not chance’ comes to mind and the piece was a timely reminder for year 11 about the importance of the revision programme they should be operating and how hard work now will make their targets and personal goals a reality.

Year 11 parents: We are running a number of intervention sessions to support year 11 students to realise their potential but do get in touch if there is something else you feel that would help them.

I hope you have a good weekend,

Mrs Jones - Principal

Parking Consideration

We have had a report from a parent about poor parking and congestion outside the rear entrance to the academy at the end of the school day.

Not only is it dangerous, but can impact on school buses and taxis being able to exit the car park.

We appreciate there isnt a great deal of room on the site for parking, but would ask everyone to be sensible.

Please can we ask you to be respectful and ensure that you are parked neatly on the curb to ensure that you do not cause any further congestion and disruption to traffic or cause a danger to others.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Home Lateral Flow Testing

Vaccinations

Please click the link below to review the latest information we have received from the NHS regarding student vaccinations.

Routine weekly testing

When you complete lateral flow tests at home on a Sunday and Wednesday evening, please report the results via these links to both the NHS and also CRA.

If you require further kits, students can collect these from reception.

Did you know that parents and support bubbles of school children, as well as anyone who has to leave home to go to work, can now get rapid Covid-19 tests twice a week. Order yours now here.

Further guidance from the Government and Department of Education in respect of home testing can be found below:

A copy of the risk assessment and privacy policy relating to Lateral Flow Testing can be found on the CRA website.

Mr Linforth - Academy Operations Manager

Art Department Update

Y10 Homework; Metamorphoses in Nature completed by 24th Jan - WAGOLL attached with annotation and shading/tone bars as well as 3 week drawings & Japanese style nature study.

Attached WAGOLL of double page spread quality and quantity I expect for Monday 24th Jan. done in support of your own project development.

Mr Parker - Teacher of Art

Homework

Please find the instructional video below which demonstrates how to complete the Prep Homework and the expected standards in order to support your child at home.

Please click to review the Homework Policy as a reminder of the responsibilities from all parties.

Frequency of homework

Yr7-10 students should hand in their first Prep homework on Tuesday 11th January during Roll Call. Yr11 students are now revising for their Touchstone assessments and their first prep homework is expected on Monday 17th January during Roll Call.

The online homework table will be is now available and can be found below.

Responding to some feedback from parents/carers and students we will also be issuing all students with a printed version of the homework table alongside their packs.

Thank you for your continued support with the homework policy.

Mrs Cooper - Whole School Teaching & Learning Lead

CRA Values

In whole school assembly this week, we focused on our reading aloud week at the academy linked to aspiration. All week in lessons students will be given the opportunity to read aloud texts relevant to their lesson topics. During whole school assembly, staff read aloud to our student body a text linking aspiration to good mental health. The text is below for you to read.

Dreams and Aspirations: Why having a goal can be good for your mental health - By Olly Halton

Before I went to University, all I knew is that I wanted to be a writer.

Ever since I was a small child, I would write endless stories about aliens, vampires, zombies and werewolves until I could no longer take it and my overactive imagination said to me: “Hey, instead of being the weird kid that always seems ‘away with the fairies,’ why don’t you actually see if you’re any good at this gig?”

So I started thinking bigger, taking on longer short stories and even attempting near-enough thirty novel ideas. I passed a notebook of short stories to my year eight English teacher and later used creative writing as my skill for Duke of Edinburgh bronze award. Or, at least, I would have if I hadn’t bailed on account of being quite possibly the worst sportsman in existence.

But the art of creative writing, now that was an element far harder to shake. So I pursued it a year ahead of my peers at A-Level and as I sit here writing this, have just completed a three-year degree course in the subject at Winchester University.

The exciting opportunities before me await – chances of journalism and authorship. I’ve written tons of articles for a Uni-based magazine and one of my teachers recently recommended a short story of mine for publication in the magazine Shoreline of Infinity, saying he had never seen anything quite like it. Sure, I won’t be performing any life-saving surgery anytime soon (if I made it to a Doctorate level that is), but my dream does stand me a chance of a name in the history books and quite frankly, that’s good enough for me.

The truth is, why not. If you can dream a dream, then you can make that your reality. Once upon a time, we had a dream of touching the clouds so the Wright brothers made the airplane and we had a dream of long-range communication so Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. Alas, yes, writing Sci-Fi and fantasy novels for children is hardly of the same labour to be considered among these greats.

But the most famous female author in existence was told by her family to think realistically about getting a real job and would only return to writing as an escape from a dire poverty situation where she could barely afford to feed her daughter. Said woman is now the richest author alive and was once falsely reported to be the first billionaire from book-writing: J.K. Rowling.

Going for your dream also benefits your mental health. It makes you feel like you’ve crossed that hurdle that has always alluded you and if you achieve it, you have a reason to have a little party. So why not take the jump, dive in and test the waters. The worst that you can get is a ‘no’, in which case feel free to ignore that ‘no’ and try again. The dreams of our sleep are meant to stay as dreams, but your goals are perfectly attainable.

The last 18 months has been difficult for us all and sometimes it can feel like getting through each day is a struggle let alone thinking about the future, however as Olly has shown in his piece, it’s good to have goals and aspirations. They can help to ground us and help us out of a hole by having a focus. Sometimes this involves being vulnerable and taking a leap of faith, but if you don’t try, you will never know.

Parent Governor Vacancies

Charles Read Academy are now looking for two parent governors.

The role of parent governor is an important one. School governors play an important role in supporting the school. They can influence the strategic vision and direction and hold the senior leadership team to account.

Why become a school governor?

Benefits include:

• Developing your professional skills and experience such as strategic planning, and team working, both of which are valued by employers and can assist your own career development
• Building relationships and networks in your locality
• Supporting children and young people in your community.

There is one meeting every half term. The meetings usually last approximately an hour and a half and can be accessed via Teams if coming into school is too difficult due to transport or child care issues.

We would love to hear from you if you are interested in this role by completing your declaration of interest in the Governor election procedure below:

Attendance

This week we have been celebrating some excellent attendance within our tutor groups. 100% attendance from tutor groups has been achieved 10 times this week. Terra have topped the attendance percentage overall with a fantastic 96.6%, well done Terra and year 11 have topped the year groups with a super 94.5% attendance overall.

Please see the link below for up to date NHS guidance for COVID related illness and subsequent isolation procedures.

It has just been announced on the news that the self-isolation period for people with Covid has been reduced to a minimum of 5 full days from Monday.

This means that a negative LFT test would now be required on day 5 and day 6, with a return to school on day 6 instead of days 6 and 7.

Please do not hesitate to contact me on 01476 550333 ext 502 or kcoleman@charlesreadacademy.co.uk to discuss ways to support your child's attendance.

CRA - Lets work together to make every day count!

Mrs Coleman - Attendance Manager

Table Talk

With our continued focus for all year groups on aspiration, we wanted to ask you to discuss as a family over the dinner table this week why aspiration is linked to achievement and why having high expectations and aspirations in life is a positive thing to do.

Perhaps ask your child what their aspirations are for their future. Are they aiming high? What does aiming high look like? How will they achieve their goals?

Year 11 Focus

Knowing how to revise is critical to ensuring academic success, equally as important is knowing what does not support effective revision. Over the next two weeks I would like to highlight 4 revision myths so that you can help support your children with revision.

When learning, students often choose learning strategies that require less effort. The path of least resistance leads to the conflation of them doing "what they like" as opposed to "what’s best for them". Doing what you prefer, as opposed to what is best for you, usually results in ineffective and inefficient learning. Furthermore, these strategies can actually have a negative effect on their well-being too.

Let’s take a look at four things that students like doing that aren’t actually good for them, and what they could be doing instead...

1. RE-READING

Re-reading is the act of simply reading over your notes as a revision technique. This is a well-liked technique, with researchers reporting that 84% of students have admitted to using re-reading as a revision strategy, and 55% of students stating it was their favourite strategy to use.

However, research has suggested that re-reading is not the most effective learning or revision strategy. In one study, students were given a text and asked to study it. They then either took a free recall test or simply re-read the text. When tested 5 minutes, 2 days and 1 week after studying, students who took the free recall tests recalled more information than those who just re-read the passage. Interestingly, even though students who self-tested performed better, students who re-read the passage reported feeling more confident.

This research shows that re-reading is not great at helping students retain information in the long term, and self-testing may improve long-term information retention.

2. BLOCKING REVISION

Blocking involves studying one topic entirely before moving on to the next. One way that students sometimes block their revision is when they cram all of their studying the night before a test. Research suggests that students who do this perform between 10% and 30% worse than students who space out their revision.

Research suggests that blocking is not a very effective way to revise. Over 8 weeks, one study looked at the effect of blocking versus interleaving, a learning technique where study topics are mixed rather than studied one by one.

Students were asked to complete a homework task three times per week. Each homework task contained problem solving tasks that were either interleaved (where each task had a mix of topics) or blocked (where each task covered a singular topic).

They were then given two surprise tests where they had to solve new and more challenging problems, similar to those in the homework tasks. Results showed that students who did interleaved homework remembered more information and produced correct solutions more often than students who did the blocked homework.

Similarly to the research on the effectiveness of re-reading, students believed that they had performed worse on the tests when they had completed the interleaved homework, rating it as more difficult. So in essence, they don’t like doing the interleaving, and yet it clearly helped them learn more.

Next week I will share with you two more revision myths and things to avoid when considering how best to revise.

Mr Lovatt - Assistant Principal

Teen Support

Please see the attached link for MindEd. This is a free learning resource about the mental health of children, young people and older adults.

The Sporting Post

Our club timetable has changed. On Monday and Tuesday our students will be taking part in rugby, hockey and dance. On Wednesday and Thursday we have made some changes to the sports clubs we are offering.

On Wednesdays it is table tennis and rowing club. On Thursday it is football and netball. If students attend afterschool football or netball it will increase their chances of being selected to attend the DRET Winter Cup. If they wish to stay on a Wednesday or Thursday students must report to the PE department at 3.15pm and get changed into their kit. They must then be collected by parents/carers at 4.15pm.

Students also have the opportunity to take part in sport at lunchtimes.

Mr Addlesee - Sports Enrichment Officer

Dates for your diary

Please click on the parent calendar to see the full list of upcoming events and activities at CRA