15/12/22: End of Term Update
Dear Parent/Carer,
End of Term Letter
Please be advised that our last day of this term is Friday 16th December. For the last day students are expected to wear full school uniform. Lessons will be as normal for the first three periods of the day, including breaktime and students will be dismissed from school by 12.40pm.
Firstly, I would like to thank you for your support this term. We have had such a fantastic term of events, trips, extra-curricular and community events that we have been overwhelmed with such a positive response from the community – so I thank you for supporting us in this.
It's been an exciting term for the teachers at Grace Academy. We’ve been working on developing many areas of our practice, including: effective support for individuals in the classroom, effective marking and feedback and questioning that engages all students, in order to allow for misconceptions to be spotted and addressed. Our Early Careers and Trainee teachers in particular have made amazing progress in these areas and we are so impressed to see the fantastic teachers they are becoming.
Over the last term we have offered a number of extra-curricular events and we are so pleased to be able to offer students a wide range of activities they can get involved in - please encourage your child to sign up for as many of these as possible to allow them to truly widen their whole school experience.
The students have been exceptional this term with assessments and mocks and we are really proud of their commitment to our core values of Amazing Grace, Intentional Excellence, Mutual Respect, Genuine Integrity and Limitless Potential.
Attendance
Once again, we have celebrated maximum attendance this term and despite all the winter illnesses going around it has been so good to see our students continuing to engage with their education. So many of our students have demonstrated Intentional Excellence and have shown that success does not happen by accident but instead through hard work, engagement and determination. Well done to all of those students who received these awards!
Uniform
A reminder to parents that when students return in January they will need to have natural hair colour and braids. Jewellery is limited to one stud in each ear and a mechanical watch. Students should have natural nails, no false eyelashes and only natural make-up. The first day back we will also be ensuring that any missing flashes are sewn onto blazers so we can identify year groups easily.
Christmas rewards
We have celebrated our fabulous Key Stage 3 students this half term with some Christmas rewards, either in the form of a trip to the pantomime, sporting events or a cinema event. The Year 7 students really enjoyed their trip to the pantomime and we were so proud to see our students demonstrating our Grace Values beyond the school community.
This week, all students will be rewarded for their efforts across the term in our rewards assembly. The following certificates and awards will be issued: Tutor, Head of Year, Assistant Principal, Principal, subject and maximum attendance. We will also issue more student leadership ties to those students consistently showing "The Grace Way".
Transition
We have loved how well our Year 7 students have settled into life at Grace. They are already demonstrating “The Grace Way” and can now find their way around the school site with ease. This term we hosted a fantastic open evening to welcome current Year 6 students from neighbouring schools in the hope they will join us at Grace Academy in September. Our students once again did us proud and were praised by our prospective parents for being so welcoming, accommodating and for speaking so highly of our fabulous school and all we do here!
Academic Reports
Reports for this term are being sent out for all year groups. Year 11 and Year 13 are full reports, and all other years are interim reports. Full reports will be sent out for Years 7 and 9 at the end of the Spring term and for Years 8, 10 and 12 at the end of the Summer term.
These reports indicate your child’s most recent performance in the first Assessment Point (“AP”) of this academic year and how that translates to a “working at” grade. This grade will then be updated after the next AP series, and then again at the end of the academic year. For students in Years 7, 8 and 9 you will also see your child’s current reading age, which is measured using Accelerated Reader and is assessed again later in the year.
Please use the information in these reports to support your child. Please do not hesitate to contact the Academy if you have any questions.
Year 11 Update
This was a particularly busy term for our Year 11 students which culminated in their Mock Examinations which took place between Monday 21st November and Thursday 1st December. The Year 11’s worked incredibly hard for these Mocks, with attendance at our ‘Period 6’ after-school interventions the highest it has ever been.
All of their hard work has built up to their ‘Mock Results Day’ which will be on Wednesday 14th December during Period 5 in the Lecture Theatre. From experience, we know there will be jubilation, disappointment, satisfaction and a plethora of other emotions too! However, it is important to remember that these results were just Mock results and students can still make significant strides to improve these grades in the next term.
Furthermore, by now your child should have been assigned a specific mentor to support them this year, if your child does not know who their mentor is they should speak to their Head of Year, Mrs Bradshaw, to clarify.
Finally, we also had our local Police Cadets leader visit the Academy and speak with students who may be interested in a career with the Police. If this is something your child would have been interested in, they can still speak to Miss Leach who can sign them up as part of the programme.
Sixth Form Update
Our Sixth Form students have shown a truly positive attitude towards their studies over this past half term, working extremely hard on revising for their recently completed AP1 assessments and also in preparation for their external exams in January, for those students that have them.
The Year 12 students have been busy searching for, and beginning to complete, their work experience and voluntary work as part of their bronze award of the Character Culture Award Scheme.
The Year 13 students are working hard on completing their UCAS applications in preparation for their future studies and life after Sixth Form.
Our careers provision has seen our Post-16 students studying Law and Health and Social Care visit Warwickshire Justice Centre to meet with the Judge, sit and observe the court proceedings of the day from the public gallery. This proved to be a fantastic opportunity for the students, enabling them to see their subject theory brought to life in real practice. In addition to this, our students that are interested in pursuing a career within the nursing sector visited the University of Lincoln to complete a hands-on workshop in the skills lab, learn about degree courses available, speak with current students and learn some valuable interview techniques and personal statement tips. All of the students that attended these trips were a credit to themselves and our Sixth Form, conducting themselves in a manner showcasing their Limitless Potential and ‘The Grace Way’.
Support Dog
As you may already be aware, at the end of October, a year after joining Grace Academy, Winston had to take early retirement. Whilst dogs can greatly improve the mental wellbeing of students, it can equally cause unnecessary stress for the dog and Winston was unable to manage the hustle and bustle of busy school life.
Since returning home, Winston has returned to his bubbly self and is enjoying peaceful early retirement from his role at Grace.
Bonnie, who is a golden Labrador, has come out of retirement to join us as our new school support dog. Bonnie was a school support dog previously and loves the hustle and bustle of school life. She will be joining us three days a week and is very excited to meet everyone.
Safeguarding and Family Support
As a school, the safety and wellbeing of our pupils and members of the school community is most important to us.
As we break for the Christmas holiday, if you have any immediate concerns for the safety or welfare of a child please contact MASH (Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub) on 024 7678 8555.
If you need support for yourself over the holiday period, please contact your local family hub: The Moat Family Hub at https://www.coventry.gov.uk/themoatfamilyhub. Family Hub aim to reach children, young people and families when the need first emerges; and to help and support when we can have the greatest impact.
- Early Help: telephone 0800 8870545 or email earlyhelp@coventry.gov.uk
- Emergency Duty Team: telephone 024 7683 2222 between 5pm–8.30am and during weekends
- Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH): telephone 024 7678 8555
Finally, Coventry Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme are running a range of activities over the holidays. If you would like to find out more about free school holiday clubs, experiences and food this Christmas school holidays for children eligible for free school meals, please take a look at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTnBnA5XMwU . Different activities are taking place across Coventry throughout the school Christmas holidays.
Have you heard about the Too Good To Go app? https://toogoodtogo.co.uk/en-gb/consumer This is a partnership between local food venues and the charity to stop unsold food being wasted. Each day you are able to search for unsold food in your local area which you can then collect at a massive discount.
Arrangements for January
We will be open to students again from Tuesday 3rd January 2023. Please note the Academy office will be closing during the Christmas break.
We hope you enjoy the festive season and look forward to seeing you in the New Year.
Yours sincerely,
Mrs N Whiles
Principal