We are thrilled to welcome you to the fourth edition of our monthly newsletter which showcases our students, staff and wider community.
Principal's Welcome
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Happy new year! Welcome to the first edition of our school newsletter for 2025.
We are excited to share with you some important updates, upcoming events, and student praise achievements to look forward to. Our newsletter provides a window into community life at Outwood Academy Shafton and our commitment to the personal development of each and every person in our academy family.
As we embark on this new year, I would like to express my gratitude to parents and carers for your support, ensuring that we all work effectively together to support our young people.
Our young people have shared their views and they have spoken about how settled the school feels, how much they are enjoying their learning and how they feel safe and happy. This is wonderful to hear and is a result of all our commitments working together,
As an academy we can see that our students’ outcomes are following a positive trajectory, improving year on year. We are also bucking the national trend for attendance. Working hard together, we continue to improve our young peoples’ attendance to school and reduce persistent absence. This will improve life chances and opportunities.
Thank you for your continued support.
Sincerely,
Alison McQueen
Celebration Edition!
CAREERS FAIR
Student Voice Conference
Mission Maths
Maths celebration with Year 11 students saw a brilliant start to the morning. The Mission Maths team were celebrating with students and having those learning conversations about next steps in Maths.
Author Visit!
Wrapped in Reading
STUDENT VOICE
Senior citizens christmas luncheon
Once again we opened our doors to our community for our annual senior citizens Christmas event! What a fabulously supportive community, a real privilege for us to host this event every year. Thank you to everyone for coming & thank you to our staff and students for their hard work. Special thankyou to Reece and Bekka (Y11) who have helped at their last event before their Y11 exams!
TEaching and Learning
AGE UK COMMUNITY HAMPERS
A VERY FESTIVE END TO TERM!
PRAISING STARS CELEBRATIONS!
Above and Beyond
If you would like to upload your child's proud moments and achievements please use the following link: https://forms.gle/pFiCHWguAQ3YFRjs9
Attendance Matters
This month we launched the ‘Battle of the Bands’. This is all about improving attendance together. There is a clear link between good attendance and good progress. The more lessons a student misses the harder it is to make progress and reach their potential.
Every student is allocated a band according to their current attendance. Our bandings are based on increments of 5%, beginning with Platinum for 100% attendance and Gold for 95-99.9% attendance. By improving their attendance students can rise through the bands and seeing progress is clear to all. Every student is aware of the band they belong to and what this means to them. Students can then aim to at least stay in the band or more likely improve to the next band. In addition, every band has a band leader who will encourage them. The bandings are sent to tutors every Monday. Students are then given a coloured sticker for their planners, which lets them know what their band is and how many days of consecutive attendance it will take to rise to the next band. Every week we celebrate students who have moved up in bands. This is inclusive and looks to recognise the progress of all students
Personal Development
The most important and guiding factor when devising our PD curriculum is to ensure that our students are given all the skills, knowledge and experience they need to effectively prepare them for their future in an ever-changing world. Our intent is to equip our students as global citizens and support them in becoming an efficient and contributing member of society who is able to stay safe and care for those around them. Our main aims are:
1)Being safe, respectful, responsible and extraordinary citizens
2)Preparing students for their future lives
3) Meeting the needs of the local community
We are delighted to share with you our assembly and Personal Development form programme focus this term which also includes literacy, attendance and Votes for Schools discussion and topical debate.
Assemblies
06.01.25 Assembly: Welcome Back! New Beginnings!
13.01.25 Assembly: Honours (Y7-9) Careers (Y10-11)
20.01.25 Assembly: Holocaust Memorial Day
27.01.25 Assembly: Being Resilient!
03.02.25 Assembly: Children's Mental Health Week
10.02.25 Assembly: Praising Stars Celebration Assemblies
Form Time Focus: BE EXTRAORDINARY SAFE AND RESPONSIBLE (Y7-10)
Where will languages take me? Online safety
Be a Responsible Learner - PS Reflection
Form Time Focus: GAME PLAN AND Y11 SPECTRUM
PE at OAS
Enrichment
Any student who does not have a personalised barcode sticker please can they ask their form tutor for this or speak with Mr Holmes.
Careers
If any students or parents have any questions regarding careers, please email e.littlewood@shafton.outwood.com
Upcoming Events….
W.b. 20th January- MFL Y11 Mock Speaking Exams
27th January- Holocaust Memorial Day
3rd February-INSET Day
W.b. 3rd February NSPCC Number Day and Children’s Mental Health Week
11th February Safer Internet Day
14th February PS Release Day!
And Finally...
We wanted to take this opportunity to thank the students and their families for attending our guided pathways evening. It was a fabulous event supported by so many parent/ carers and we are excited for Y9 to choose their guided pathway subjects in order to prepare for their future lives .