Weekly Update - 18/06/2021

It has been another fantastic week in the academy.  This week Ms. Williams, the new Principal, has been in the academy and has participated in a number of learning walks. It has been great that she has been on site a few times now and is getting to know the staff and students ready for September.  Enrichment has returned within the academy and it has been lovely to hear from the students what activities they have been taking part in from “Speak Out” challenges, to cooking and this week for the first time our PE students went to Brentwood for a cricket match (Year 9 and Year 7). Despite the restrictions it has been great to start approving trips (year group bubbles only) for our students as that is a big part of school life and it has been very sad with this element missing. I also would like to take this opportunity to thank Miss Goodfellow who has taken our National Theatre Connections students to the Queen’s Theatre and wish the Year 13’s good luck for tonight as they are performing “Like there’s no tomorrow” – pictures below from their performance in school on Tuesday evening. 

Another key enrichment activity our students are involved in are clubs with a focus on equality and diversity, an important topic we promote throughout our curriculum and non-curricular delivery.  These clubs meet on a regular basis and aim to provide our students with an important forum to allow students to express themselves and lead on important topics to them.  Our Year 9 Pride club debate issues surrounding LGBTQ+ and aim to support the education of the school community on LGBTQ+ history and awareness. Our Year 7 Equality Today club are leading on projects to raise awareness of LGBTQ+, and gender pronouns and their use. They have arranged whole school assemblies, delivered speeches on gender identities and non-verbal autism, designed gender pronoun badges and promotion campaigns. As part of their work the students would like to support Pride Month by holding a Support for Pride day on 25th June.  On this day students are encouraged to wear a rainbow or brightly couloured accessory with their normal school uniform to show their support. As a school we look forward to being able to open up these clubs to further year groups as Covid restrictions are lifted. 

As you are aware this academic year we have had to adapt our ways of working and introduced a virtual platform for Parents Evening. I would like to gather your views on whether you would like to continue with virtual meetings or resume face to face meetings for the next academic year. I have ensured that, for next year, we will have different evenings rather than it always being on a Thursday for example. Please complete the survey below by Thursday 24th June. I will share the results with you on Friday 25th.

https://forms.gle/6dDPGg9YqYLpC86E8

Final plea, please remember that your child needs a water bottle with them in the academy, we cannot continue to give them out and it is your responsibility and your child’s to ensure they have this with them each day. We have around 30 students each day asking for cups, so please work with us and ensure your child has one. Calls will be made to repeat offenders as we cannot continue to supply water bottles when we have already provided one free of charge.  However, we will be offering them to purchase from this week via Parents Pay. 

With Boris Johnson making the announcement on Monday evening regarding ‘Freedom Day’ being delayed this sadly means that students will remain in ‘bubbles’ through to the end of term. Honours assemblies will also be virtual this term and a letter has been shared with the Year 11’s and Year 13’s regarding the Prom and Sixth Form Summer Ball. When students return in September we will arrange for the current Year 7 to join a day earlier (2nd September)  with the new Year 7 cohort, so they have time to transition around the building. It has been difficult for all year groups, but I know that the current Year 7 haven’t been able to see the whole school, so I hope this change helps the transition and anxiety they may have. All term dates for the new academic year are on our website.  https://ormistonriversacademy.co.uk/key-info/term-dates

Finally a letter has gone out to Year 11,12 and 13 regarding exam results collection, so please ensure that they complete the survey as below. Exam results dates are as follows:

• A Level: Tuesday 10th August

• GCSE: Thursday 12th August

Subject to changes in Covid-19 restrictions, we have decided to offer students two options:

receive their exam results statement via school email account on the morning of results day, or collect  the paper results statement face to face from the academy from 9.00am to 11.00am.  As such, we would like you to complete our short google form, so that we can plan appropriately.

https://forms.gle/eo95FHxmaCyUQyEBA

Many thanks, and kind regards.