21/10/22: End of Term Letter

Dear Parent/Carer,

We have enjoyed a great start to this academic year and I would like to thank you for your support this term.

You may be aware that schools’ results are shared in national performance tables every year, and recently the tables were updated to include the Year 11 results from Summer 2022. We are immensely proud to share our progress score of +0.23, which is a genuine “best ever” score for this school. This was achieved through the perseverance and dedication of our fantastic students and staff, supported admirably by yourselves as parents and carers. This is even more impressive when we consider the period of lockdown(s) for our students and their subsequent readjustment to returning to school at such a key point in their lives. When you speak to students, parents and other stakeholders it is clear that the quality of education delivered at Grace Academy gets better and better and these results confirm this.

We have the same standard and expectation for all year groups, and we take this opportunity to remind you that our school website contains information around the curriculum for each subject and year group, what is being studied, why, and how you can support your child in learning more and remembering more. The Assessment Point 1 assessment window for all year groups is after halfterm and dates are on the “Exams” section of the website. We will not be sending out individual or group reminders of dates or revision topics, as this information is provided on the website. Please support your child in preparing to the best of their ability, and in approaching these assessments with a positive attitude and “growth mindset”.

On Thursday 29th September, we welcomed over 200 prospective Year 7 students and their parents/carers to our Year 6 Open Evening. Over 100 of our students volunteered to be Student Ambassadors for the evening and were a credit to the school in how they demonstrated the Grace Way. Following refreshments and a welcome talk from our Year 13 Head Students, Year 8 student leaders and Mrs Whiles, our visitors enjoyed a guided tour from our Student Ambassadors and were able to take part in a range of activities led by Grace Academy students and staff: from cooking to science experiments, French and Spanish food tasting to trampolining. The feedback from our visitors was really positive and we look forward to welcoming them into our school community next year.

Key Stage 3

This half term all parents of students in Years 8-13 should have received a telephone call from their child's form tutor. Your child’s form tutor will be the first point of contact for any questions or concerns you have during their time with us at Grace. Positive parent and teacher communication is imperative to us as we know that our students will benefit, both pastorally and academically if we all work and communicate together. If you have not yet received a call please contact main reception and ensure we have up to date contact details.

Our Year 7 parents were invited to our "Meet the Tutor" event. It was fantastic to see so many parents and students so we could share all that our Year 7 students have achieved so far this half term. It has been lovely to see how well the students have settled into Grace Academy and how they are already demonstrating "The Grace Way" on a daily basis. It also provided our Year 7 parents with an opportunity to ask any questions and to learn more about our school. We believe this communication is imperative for a successful transition into secondary school for parents, teachers and students. We look forward to running more events for other year groups throughout the year and demonstrating the great things we are achieving here at Grace Academy.

Key Stage 4

This term saw our first ‘Year 11 Launch’ with several interventions on offer to our Year 11 students. The launch began with our ‘Coursework Catch-Up’ sessions which started on Monday 3rd October and finished on Thursday 20th October. These were for students who were identified as needing to catch up with their coursework and was given after school hours with their teachers to close the gap. The attendance at these sessions was fantastic and has left the students who attended in a much better position moving forward. In addition to this, we have started the process of assigning mentors to all Year 11 students to offer a further level of support.

We also invited Elevate Education back to run their highly successful study skills lessons which are always met with positive feedback from our students. Their ‘memory mnemonics’ strategies help to equip students with the best ways to memorise information. Elevate will return after Christmas for their second session.

When we return, the next stage of the launch package will see the start of ‘Period 6’ revision sessions which begin on Monday 31st October – the first session being with the English department. In addition to this, students will also start to have exam specific sessions to help with the final preparations for their Mock Examinations – these sessions are called ‘Big Lectures’.

Sixth Form

We have enjoyed welcoming our Year 12 cohort into the Sixth Form and they have settled in extremely well during their first half term. Our Year 13 students have come back this academic year with a truly positive attitude towards their final year of studies and are working hard on preparing for their UCAS applications, which we will be supporting them with over the upcoming months.

A number of our Sixth Form students proudly represented us at our Library Launch event, demonstrating ‘the Grace Way’ in assisting with the event and looking after our guests including representatives from Fiera Real Estate and Meggitt Plc. We also hosted our Sixth Form Open Evening and were delighted with the turnout of our current Year 11 students who have started to think about their future pathways. We look forward to many of them joining us to continue their studies next year.

Ethos Events

We have held a variety of activities and events this term in which the students have thoroughly engaged and enjoyed, including:

• Inspirational talks from Elevate for our Year 11 students
• Anti-bullying ambassador training with The Diana Award
• Cinema afternoon for our Year 6 families
• Trips, including a Geography field trip, Sports fixtures and Coventry Action Week
• Macmillan coffee morning
• The launch of music tuition
• Parent coffee mornings
• Black History Month workshops
• Mental Health Workshops
• County Lines Workshops
• Year 7 Careers workshop
• Launch of Year 9 Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award
• Launch of Student Leadership team
• Rewards Assemblies
• Collection of food bank items for our Harvest donation

We are looking forward to our Year 7 Values Day in November. This will be an off timetable day where sessions are led by external guests. Students will be learning about our Grace values and how these can be used in everyday life.

We would also like to take this opportunity to invite you to our Christmas Fayre on the 9th December, 5-7pm. More details will follow but please save the date in your diaries!

Please note that the Academy office will be closed during the half term break.

We look forward to welcoming our students back to the Academy on Monday 31st October.

Yours sincerely,

Mrs N Whiles
Principal