Weekly Update - 25th March 2022

The penultimate week of the Spring term has been a busy one as always in the academy.

We began the week with a further visit from John Sullivan, our external Teaching & Learning consultant, who continues to work with staff to develop their practice to ensure that we are delivering the best possible teaching for our students.  We also enjoyed a visit from our OAT Lead Practitioner for Modern Foreign Languages on Wednesday.

Year 11 students sat their English Language PPE Exam on Monday, and have also been completing their French Speaking PPE’s throughout the week.  There have been more real exams taking place this week, Food practical for Year 11 students and the LiBF exam for Year 13 students.  We wish them all the very best of luck.

On Wednesday, Year 10 students took part in the second round of the Jack Petchey “Speak Out” workshops, giving them the opportunity to develop their oracy and debating skills and to express their opinions on a wide variety of topics.  We are looking forward to the final round, after which selected students will progress to the next stage of the competition.

Year 11 students participated in mock interviews on Thursday and Friday this week as part of our careers programme, giving them the opportunity to practice and develop key interview skills and receive valuable feedback.  I would like to thank the many external volunteers from the local community who gave up their time to make this possible.

On Thursday evening, we were treated to a dramatic performance of “Variations” by Katie Hims as part of The National Theatre Connections project.  This involved students from a range of year groups who worked together to create a truly impressive finished piece.  Their effort, commitment and talent was clear for all to see, and was thoroughly enjoyed by all those that attended.  They will now go on to perform at The Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch, on 6^th April, and I hope that many of you will be able to attend to support our students and enjoy a great show.

We are looking forward to more events and activities in our last week of term, which I will update you about next week.  I would like to remind you of the weekly parent surgeries which take place every Tuesday from 3.30 – 4.30 pm, on a first-come, first-served basis.  Please feel free to drop in.

I wish you all an enjoyable and relaxing weekend.