SLT Update
Last week started with an exciting lunchtime on Monday. The hall was packed with students ready to see their teachers face their fears in the 'I'm a teacher get me out of here' house competition. What is so lovely about this particular competition is the students seeing a different side to their teachers and support staff as well as facing some personal fears themselves. We were very lucky to have 3 animal friends join us this year again, thanks to a lovely parent and her amazing job! The students and staff alike had a unique opportunity to hold and see up close a tortoise, lizard and skunk... CRA is an amazing place to learn and grow!
Hope you all have a lovely weekend.
Miss King, Head of School
CRA Governors
I was extremely fortunate to be asked to accompany our chair of governors, Clare Greenhalgh to the House of Lords on the 3rd of December. Claire had been nominated for governor of the year in the National School awards. The national schools awards brings together over 250 education pioneers to recognise, celebrate and reward senior leaders, schools and multi Academy trusts for their dedication and hard work over the year.
Clare was nominated for the fantastic work she carries out in many of the DRET schools but primarily for her work in Charles Read Academy, Ingoldsby Academy and Lodge Park Academy.
She works tirelessly to support students of all backgrounds and abilities. She has played a vital role in the smooth running of a number of DRET academies, has built strong relationships with the senior leadership teams where she supports and challenges to ensure that students and staff have positive outcomes. The award that Clare was nominated for celebrates her as she has performed above and beyond providing exceptional advice, leadership and guidance in the running of schools.
We are thrilled to announce that Clare won and was crowned governor of the year at the national schools awards. Congratulations Clare we are so grateful for all you do - you are gold dust.
CRA Character
This week students had their first Character Day of the year, with Year 7-8 having a Stay Safe day, with Year 9-11 having a Careers and Aspiration Day. It was especially rewarding to invite back some CRA alumni who shared their experiences of life after CRA and studying Level 3 qualifications with our current Year 11 students.
Mr Aram
Director of Character
Why We Do What We Do
Every year at Christmas we run a house christmas party. This is a celebration of the end of the calendar year and to bring some christmas cheer to CRA. On that day we all enjoy a christmas lunch and some students and staff choose to wear christmas jumpers and others participate in the sponsored santa run. Great fun is had by all and we encourage a strong sense of belonging of each house and CRA community. A strong sense of belonging helps to encourage positive mental health.
Times Tables
At the end of all lessons students stand behind their chairs in silence to prepare for themselves for the next lesson. From September, on a weekly rota, Years 7 and 8 will be reciting their timetables to help embed them in their long term memory.
Week beginning - 9 December 2024 - Times table is 7
Accelerated Reading
Week beginning - 9 December 2024 - Period 4
Attendance......
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As many of you will be aware from publicity in the press, and letters we have sent out previously, the government have significantly toughened the law in relation to school attendance and have now published revised guidance which has become mandatory from September 2024.
From September 2024, schools have to consider a penalty notice if a pupil misses 10 sessions of unauthorised absence in a rolling period of 10 school weeks. Half of a day (am or pm) is considered as a ‘session’. The threshold of 10 sessions can be met with any combination of unauthorised absence, for example, eight sessions of unauthorised holidays in term time and two sessions for other unauthorised reasons would trigger a penalty notice.
The ten school week period may span different terms or school years, for example: 2 sessions of unauthorised absence in the summer term and a further 8 in the autumn term.
National Framework for Attendance Penalty Notices (fines)
The new penalty notice regulations are:
- Each parent will be issued a separate penalty notice, for each child who is absent. For example, 2 parents and 3 children, each parent will receive 3 penalty notices for £160 each, with a family total of £960 in fines.
- The fine amount will be £160 per parent, per child paid within 28 days, reduced to £80 per parent, per child if paid within 21 days.
- The first penalty notice will be considered your first offence.
- The next time an offence occurs, within 3 years of the date the first penalty notice is issued, the fine amount will be £160 per parent, per child paid within 28 days, with no reduction.
- The third time an offence occurs this will be presented to Magistrate’s court for prosecution.
Where a child is absent, and it is believed they are absent without valid reason, we will carry out a home visit and see the child on or before the third school day of absence. If the absence meets the thresholds explained above, you will be issued fixed penalty notices as detailed above.
Please review any holiday plans you have for term time this year to ensure you are not issued with a penalty fine or prosecuted in the Magistrates’ court.
The above rules also apply to punctuality as registers must close at the end of our tutor period. Arriving to school after this time will result in an unauthorised absence. To enable our morning registration (AM) to begin promptly, we require all students to be on site for 8.40 a.m. This is the time your child must be in school, ready to be marked into registers (punctuality due to late buses will be coded accordingly). Therefore, we ask that you ensure your child arrives at 8.40 a.m. and they are with their tutor by 8.50 a.m. at the latest.
Your child must register with their tutor and attend P1 to ensure their ‘present’ marks are captured within the AM registration period. Your child must attend afternoon registration and P5 to ensure their ‘present’ marks are captured within the PM registration period. Even if your child is on site they will not be registered unless they are in their tutor room and classrooms and an unauthorised mark will be given. Ten unauthorised sessions in a ten school week period will result in a fixed penalty notice.
Pupils who attend school regularly will achieve higher grades than those pupils who don’t. In the summer of 2024 pupils at Charles Read Academy who had above 90% attendance achieved a grade and a half higher than those who are below this.
If you require any support or advice, please get in touch via email us on enquiries@charlesreadacademy.co.uk
If your child is absent from school, please ensure you contact school daily either by email/MCAS or by telephoning the attendance line 01476 550333 ext 502. It is vital we are notified everyday of any absence for safeguarding reasons, unless previously authorised. A reason for illness will always be requested, this is to observe attendance patterns and outbreaks of illness amongst students.
Please do not hesitate to contact myself kcoleman@charlesreadacademy.co.uk on 01476 550333 ext 515 or tsandison@charlesreadacademy.co.uk ext 502 to discuss ways to support your child's attendance.
CRA - Lets work together to make every day count!
Leave of absence request
A Principal can only authorise a leave of absence in exceptional circumstances. We will take into account the Government guidance when considering what the exceptional circumstances are- all applications are considered on a case-by-case basis. You may be able to take your child out of school in exceptional circumstances, providing an application is made in advance by the parent/carer, this request complies with Government guidance and the leave is deemed to be ‘exceptional’ by the Principal.
If you take a leave of absence without our permission or if your child fails to return by the agreed date if permission was granted, then this will be recorded as an unauthorised absence and noted in your child’s record. You might also be issued with a fixed penalty notice for this absence. If your child has not returned within 10 days of the expected date of return then, after consultation with the Local Authority, we may take your child off our school roll.
As examples, the following reasons are not considered to be exceptional circumstances:
- availability of cheap holidays
- periods overlapping with beginning or end of term
- visits to family
- renewing passports
Requests for leave of absence will only be considered if made in writing. Please ensure you use the leave of absence request form to do this.
To request a leave of absence, please use this form.
Mrs Coleman - Attendance Manager
House News.
Santa Fun run Wednesday morning. Participants will complete a 20 minute walk or run of the infamous Santa run course at CRA. Thank you to all who have fundraised and supported our students to participate in the event.
House Christmas Party will follow Santa Run with key stage 4 party taking place during period 4. key stage 3 students and staff will then have their party during CRA Reads and period 5. At the party, students will indulge in a sit down Christmas lunch and participate in a variety of Christmas themed games.
Students are encouraged to wear Christmas Jumpers on the day with house points awarded to the top 3 best jumpers. Please note that Christmas Jumpers should be worn in addition to the full school uniform, over the top of white shirts and school tie.
In addition to the activities above, every tutor group has also received their miniature Christmas trees to decorate and bring down to the party for the chance of being awarded house points.
I’m a Teacher Get Me Out of Here
It was an extremely exciting week at CRA last week as staff and students took part in the eagerly anticipated I’m a Teacher Get Me Out of Here. Staff and students faced a series of bush tucker style challenges head on in return for house points. Participants had to display all of the CRA Values to overcome the eating and drinking trials before some having to face their fears through the animal encounters challenge.
House teams went head to head in the ‘CRA A Jungle Diner’ involving a four course menu of snails, meal worms and crickets followed by a ‘sneeze’ burger and desert of trifle. Similar to last year students had the opportunity to encounter live animals thanks to ‘Animals Uk’ who led the handling experiences of Jasmine the Skunk, Scott the Skink (Australian Lizard) and Hooligan the tortoise. House points were awarded to staff and students who successfully overcame the challenge to hold the animals.
House points were accumulated across all the events by simply completing trials or coming first in the head to head races. Following all of the trials it was Terra who accumulated a total of 125 house points to finish in 1st place. Caeli (75 points) and Aqua (50 points) finished in second and third place respectively.
A huge well done to everyone who took part. More photos of the event will be available through the house social media platforms soon…
House Dodgeball
Students across years 7 to 11 have gone head to head in house dodgeball this week. The year 7, 10 and 11 round of matches have already taken place with the remaining year 8 and year 9 matches taking place at the end of the week. So far both Caeli (year 11) and Terra (Year 7 and 10) have picked up victories. Full results to follow.
House Sudoku
This terms ‘subject’ house competition takes place today as the Maths department host Sudoku. Every student in the academy will have the opportunity to attempt this years Sudoku quiz during the final 10 minutes of their maths lesson. House points will be awarded the fastest (fully completed and correct) entry per class which will be added together across all maths lessons throughout today. Results will be revealed next week.
Thank you to Mr Branch-Evans and the Maths department for hosting the competition.
The Sporting Post.
PE kit reminder - 2024/2025
The standard PE kit is as follows:
- CRA House PE top (compulsory)
- CRA PE shorts or skorts (compulsory)
- CRA PE Hoodie (compulsory)
- Black socks. These can be purchased from any provider.
- PE track pants / leggings / skins - optional - must be plain navy or black. These can be worn under the CRA PE top, shorts or skorts. These items should have no logos/writing/labels. These can be purchased from any provider.
Sports trainers- These can be purchased from any provider. No fashion trainers.
Girls will take part in hockey and boys will take part in rugby during PE lessons. Gumshields and shinpads are recommended for their safety.
Shinpads will also be needed for girls' and boys' football.
Moulded football boots are also recommended as students can wear these on the 3G artificial surface and grass field.
Please can all students be collected from the BACK of the school when being picked up from after school clubs and fixtures.
Term Dates
Please see the latest term dates for 2024-25
A list of diary events can also be found on the CRA Website by clicking here
Credits:
Created with images by ink drop - "Well done note with blurred bokeh lights in the background" • Tjeerd - "Party Background with lights, confetti, balloons and serpentine" • Naypong Studio - "Sports Equipment on white background" • tatomm - "close up of calendar on the yellow table background, planning for business meeting or travel planning concept"