Dear GA Families

Welcome to the third Newsletter of the year celebrating all we achieved last term. Last term we saw the Ski trip go out which was a huge success and enjoyed by all. We have already put plans in place for the next one to ensure more students have the opportunity to experience the slopes. Oliver the Musical happened which was the best show we have had to date. Gloucester Academy has such a talented set of students that created a show which was absolutely exceptional. Thank you to those of you who sent in letters to the cast and crew to say they had a wonderful time. Our Year 11’s greatly appreciated having the opportunity to take part and many of them have secured places to continue studying theatre once they leave us. I am so proud of all involved and look forward to yet another performance next year. If you are interested in helping out at all with the next show, please let us know.

Our trips and rewards are coming up soon so please encourage your child to pick up points on their RFL card. We have set up a text to go out on a Friday to congratulate all students for the points they have achieved, this is part of the initiative to increase the amount of positive feedback we send home. Hopefully you will also receive some postcards as we begin to roll these out too.

This week we will be receiving our allocation of Year 7 students for September, if you know anyone who has been allocated Gloucester Academy, please encourage them to book a tour or open morning to find out more about our outstanding school.

Meanwhile, this term we have:

Ski Trip

We were delighted to provide our Year 8 to Year 10 students the opportunity to go to Italy to learn to Ski! The students had a fantastic week of ski lessons, sightseeing across the Italian Alps and of course, lots of yummy food, and even completed a Black Run!

Year 11 Post-16 Assemblies

We have continued to support our Year 11 students by hosting weekly visitors to assemblies including Denmark Road, Chosen Hill and Bridge Training - to help each and every student understand what the right path up the mountain for them might be.

KS1 and KS2 SEND Panthalon

Once again, we have been selected to host several events at GA for our local primaries including a fantastic sports Panthalon for local SEND children.

School Beat - Police Sessions

School Beat are a branch of the local police force, specialising in school outreach and we were delighted to welcome them back to meet our fantastic students and lead sessions on a range of topics based on the needs of the local area and of course, bridge the gap between police and children.

MFL Aspiration Visit

Our fantastic MFL team had the opportunity to take several Year 9 language enthusiasts to the Cotswold School to spend the day with A-Level students and work in collaboration with GCHQ to learn possible next steps with languages.

Certificates Evening

We absolutely loved welcoming back our GA alumni from the Class of 2024 for our Certificates Evening, to learn about the amazing pathways that our students have taken since leaving GA and of course, to celebrate their GCSE results once again!

Severn Trent - The Science of Sewers

The Severn Trent team were welcomed back again to give an informative session to our Year 7 students on the Science of Sewers, exploring roles

NHS Assemblies

This Unit we welcomed back the NHS ‘We Want You’ Team for a variety of assemblies, PSHE sessions and small group sessions to explore the varied roles in the NHS - clinical and non-clinical.

The Brilliant Club Graduation

Our Brilliant Club superstars absolutely excelled in these final assignments leading to a record number of 1st Class grades awarded as well as 2.1s. This led to the students involved having their very own graduation at Wadham College, Oxford University - a true way to celebrate their successes!

A Christmas Carol for KS4

The fantastic English team at GA sought to bring their compulsory texts alive by hosting a performance of a Christmas Carol in school with a touring theatre company. It was fantastic to see our KS4 students comparing their conceptions of the characters and the company's portrayal!

Oliver!

One of our highlights this unit has to be of course the fantastic Oliver! Production, which ran for three sold out nights! We were blown away by the volume of support from our local community and GA families, and the incredible performance by the students and staff alike!

Limited Edition Project

Our Limited Edition Project is up and running once again - this time with a new partner, Hetty's Brownies! Our select team of Year 9 students will be working with a team of business professionals from the Gloucestershire Gateway trust to have the very tasty job of coming up with a new brownie flavour - ready to be sold in May! We cannot wait for the taste tests!

Primary Gymnastics Festival

We were delighted again to host a local primary school gymnastics competition - which saw fierce competition from local schools across the county, as well as leadership opportunities for our amazing Year 9 and Year 10 volunteers who supported the event and represented Gloucester Academy with pride.

GROWs for KS3

The GROWs team have been back at Gloucester Academy, meeting our Year 7 and Year 8 students for a range of careers based sessions from ‘Exploring your Future’ to ‘Design your own Society’ with the hope to inspire our students about future pathways they can take!

 

KS3 Maths Challenge

Our fantastic KS3 Maths experts were enrolled in a Greenshaw Maths Challenge, where they fought off fierce competition from 15 other schools across the country in a series of maths based challenges. We are so proud of their resilience and achievements!

 

Year 11 Drama Visit to Cardiff

Our Year 11 Drama GCSE students were whisked away to Cardiff for the afternoon for their compulsory theatre visit where they had the opportunity to watch the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe!

 

Working with families

There are many more areas we are working on and as a school this New year we are prioritising working with families.  We will be creating many opportunities for you to be part of the school so it truly becomes a school for the community.  We will be sharing more information over the year to access support in the community as well as hosting many events that everyone is welcome to.  We are looking to hire a primary liaison officer to support students and families with the transition from primary to secondary. Exciting times ahead.

 

Would you like to be a school Governor?

A letter will be coming your way to see if you  would like to become a part of our newly formed Governing body  - please get in touch if you have any questions regarding the role.

And now from our students

Year 7

I met with Harley, Shaneil, Renaeyah, Lyra, Irtaj and Felix they explained to me that they liked:

• The school and the lessons they get to do
• The teachers, they always care and make sure you achieve the very best
• The fact that we all talk about the mountain and we all climb together

They would like to suggest the following:

• We have had a few to many lessons where teachers have been absent
• More clubs available
• More places to play football

From their comments and suggestions, I have:

• They are right, we went through a period where we had a lot of illness in the school, hopefully we have seen the back of that and we have three new staff joining in April.
• We have made sure there are a lot more clubs available
• We are still waiting for the planning permission to be granted on the playground - we are hitting a lot of snags but are working through them. The playground should be ready for September and there will be more places to play. In the summer students will be able to play on the field.

Year 8

I met with Charlotte, Ruby, Clarke, Ashton, Georgie, Jaiden and Viswanth they explained to me that they liked:

• The attendance swap shop with a great choice
• Good selection of food choices
• Staff are really helpful
• The morning bagel shed means I can always have breakfast

They would like to suggest the following:

• The lunch queues at once side of the canteen are busy and people push in
• Some people make up their signatures on their positive RFL card
• Some people cheat on their quiz in the morning

From their comments and suggestions, I have:

• We have sorted out the lunch queue by the library and have someone on duty all the time who is excellent and ensure it is fair and everyone gets served
• We are sharing feedback about the RFL cards and have told tutors not to accept certain signatures. We will share this in assembly too
• We have made sure that the quiz is much fairer and will be interested to hear further feedback

Year 9

I met with Kloe-Joy, Shakira, Alma, Darisha, Tanzi-Mae, Melanie and Kristian they explained to me that they liked:

• Enrichment is really good now as we can choose what we want to do
• The quizzes in the morning are better than the previous homework 
• The school is very diverse
• Teachers help outside of lessons when you are stuck
• The Turn and Talk has helped me build confidence in lessons

They would like to suggest the following:

• There are more choices for the length of skirt
• More choices at GCSE as we have lots of interests
• Staff and students spend more time learning about each other's cultures

From their comments and suggestions, I have: 

• Spoken to the uniform supplier about what choice there is for the skirt. They have assured me there are different lengths but we can investigate further
• We have put a survey out explaining some different GCSEs we could offer and Year 9 are voting for ones they may enjoy to help us increase the choice
• This is an excellent point and I look forward to working more on this with staff and students as it is incredibly important

Year 10

I met with Daina, Selina, Nadia and Sidratul they explained to me that they liked:

• The way they are supported in geography as they are sent lessons and have access to a teacher all of the time.
• The Dinner queues have been sorted and there is no more pushing in
• Enrichment instead of double PE as we can work on our GCSEs
• Really appreciate the non contact rule and the rules in general

 They would like to suggest the following:

• Stop getting equipment out in the morning on line up, we are freezing
• More support on what to say to KS3 tutors when the leadership visit them in the morning
• We would like more support available for all subjects now we are in Year 10

From their comments and suggestions, I have: 

• Spoken to the Heads of Key stage and students are no longer required to do this
• I will talk to Mr Hoyle the Head of leadership teams to get some support with this
• We will be providing all students with course readers which outline what is expected in each module and where to get help.

Year 11

I met with Logan, Assiyah, Imogen, Owen and Tilly   they explained to me that they liked:

• Mountain leaders are really useful and take some of the stress away
• Geography has some amazing revision resources. Can we have more of these?
• We are really supported every step of the way
• Flying starts in the morning are really helpful

They would like to suggest the following:

• Can we get more small prizes rather than one big one to encourage us all to collect points
• Can we stop getting our equipment out in the morning at line up as it is cold and not needed
• Can we help out with the Year 10s and their house mottos

From their comments and suggestions, I have: 

• This has been noted and passed onto Mr Davies who says yes
• We have stopped getting equipment out on your request
• What a great idea - I cannot wait to hear them

I hope you enjoyed finding out all about our third term at Gloucester Academy, I have certainly enjoyed reflecting on our achievements.  If you have any feedback about what you would like to read in this newsletter, please send it to Mrs Gasher cgasher@gloucesteracadmy.co.uk

Important links

Reporting Safeguarding Concerns

The Safeguarding Team can be contacted via the main school switchboard or via gasafeguarding@gloucesteracademy.co.uk

During the summer holidays, it is still possible to contact the school regarding safeguarding issues.  Please use the Safeguarding team email - gasafeguarding@gloucesteracademy.co.uk   It may not be possible to respond immediately but we will contact you within 3 working days.

If you have immediate concerns regarding the welfare of a child, please contact Gloucestershire's Children’s Social Care on 01452 426565 or outside of office hours on 01452 614194 (Emergency Duty Team)

Support for Children’s mental health over the summer holidays

Please see below some useful resources to support you and your child.

If you or your child is at immediate risk of harm, please call 999 and ask for an ambulance

Click here for important information about Gloucestershire’s Children & Young People's Services (CYPS)

On Your Mind Glos - A place for Children and Young People to turn to when they need help and support with their mental health but aren’t sure how to access support via a Mental Health Support Finder.  On your mind also has some self help guides and resources designed for both young people and their families to provide general support and advice about self-care.

YMM Chat (07480635723) - Mental health professionals who are available to chat via text message Monday - Friday between 9am until 4:30pm (except bank holidays) - please note this is not a crisis service

TIC+ Chat - Mental health professionals who are available to chat via the live messaging service or via phone (03003038080) Sunday - Thursday between 5pm until 8:30pm - please note this is not a crisis service

Happy Maps - A one-stop hub of information on young people’s mental health for parents, young people and professionals - click here

Anna Freud - Wellbeing resources for young people and their families - click here

We encourage everyone to come and visit the Academy.  Remember ‘Every day is an open day’ at Gloucester Academy, please visit our website and book a ‘school in action tour’.  Come and see one of the most improved schools in the country, we will take great pride in showing you around.

 

Mrs P Lewis

Headteacher