News | 16th June 2020

Ipswich Star feature on secondary schools reopening

The Ipswich Star has written a feature on the secondary schools in Ipswich that are reopening.

The social distancing measures that have been put in place is largely thanks to the hard work and dedication of all our staff here at Ipswich Academy and other schools in the area.

Read more about this here.

Uncategorised | 10th June 2020

Year 10 reopening

Wednesday 10th June

Dear parents/carers,

Following confirmation from the government that schools are to reopen in a safe way for students in year 10, we would like to share with you the details around the arrangements we have put in place in order to reopen which have been approved by the Paradigm Trust Board (please click here for detailed arrangements).  

In line with government guidance, there will only be 25% of year 10 students in school at any one time.  This means that year 10 students will be invited into school for 1 day per week (Monday to Thursday).  Students who wish to attend school for an additional day (Friday) to work independently with some teacher support, will be invited to do so through a simple booking system. There will be limited spaces on Fridays as we will only be permitted to accommodate 25% of year 10 students at a time.

Early this month we contacted all families with students in year 10 to find out if parents/carers would be comfortable for their child to return to school.  As was discussed, we are happy to welcome students back to school but are aware that some parents/carers will not want their child to return at this moment in time.  There is no pressure for your child to return. 

We have booked a place for all year 10 students, regardless of whether you have said that you would like your child to return or not.  This is so that students can come back to school when parents/carers are comfortable for their child to do so.  By the end of this week, we will inform you of the class (pod) that your child has been allocated to and which day of the week that they will be in school.

The school day will be as follows:

Period 10900 – 1020
Break1020 – 1030
Period 21030 – 1150
Break1150 – 1200
Period 31200 – 1320
Lunch1320 – 1400
Period 41400 – 1520

It is really important that students socially distance on their way to and from school so that we work together to keep down the risk of infection.  In line with the most recent government announcement, when walking to school, students should not be in groups of more than six and should keep 2m apart from each other at all times.  

We have organised the building, inside and out, to ensure that social distancing is possible at all times.  

Students will be placed within a ‘pod’ for all of their lessons consisting of no more than 12 students. Four different teachers will teach each pod per day; we are trying to keep this consistent week on week. During breaktime, students will be allocated an area outside which is marked out for social distancing. At lunchtime, students will be allocated a seat in a specific canteen area where they will eat their lunch, whether hot lunch or packed lunch. Each canteen area will then be dismissed outside.  We will be running a cashless system to pay for school meals – please click here for instructions to set this up.

Each pod has been allocated a classroom.  Some furniture has been removed from these rooms to allow for desks to be separated. We encourage students to bring their own equipment, however each student will be issued with their own pencil case and resources if required. Sharing equipment amongst students will not be permitted. Classrooms, and the rest of the school, will be cleaned routinely throughout the day.

We are only allowing one visitor into reception at any one time, if there is someone already in reception please wait outside until they leave. If at all possible, please do not come into school.  If you need to speak to a member of staff either phone or email; we must limit the number of people on site at all times, therefore face to face meetings will not happen unless we deem them urgent.  

Everyone who enters the school will need to wash/sanitise their hands and repeat throughout the day; sanitiser stations have been placed at entry points to the building.  Within the school building we have implemented a one-way system.  To help the students to move around the school, 2m markings have been taped out in corridors with arrows indicating which direction they are to walk.  Toilets will be monitored to ensure that social distancing can take place and they do not become too crowded.

We are confident that all students will follow the new rules which have been put in place to keep everyone safe.  Our behaviour system has been adapted to reflect the changes within school.  We will go through the new procedures (click here to view) with students so that everyone is clear about our expectations.

We will be following the normal curriculum as far as possible, with the distance learning on Google Classroom mirroring the lessons delivered in school where appropriate; distance learning will continue for those students who are not returning although we ask that work is completed online.  If families are struggling with devices to access Google Classroom please contact the school.  

We are aware that these are very challenging times and therefore we are doing everything we can to ensure that your child’s return to school, whenever that may be, is safe and your child is supported.   We will speak to all of the students on their first day back to explain the changes and to help them to transition back into school.  As we move forward it may become necessary to make some changes to what we are doing and how we are doing them.  We ask that you are patient and work with us, as you always do, if we do make any changes.

On Thursday 11th June at 4:30pm we will host a short online presentation when we will outline in more detail how the school day will work. Joining details will be emailed to all year 10 students or students can click here.

Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to thank you for all of your support throughout these last few weeks.  We look forward to welcoming back year 10 next week.

Yours faithfully,

Helen Winn                   Abbie Thorrington
Principal                         Principal from 22nd June 2020

Announcements | 14th May 2020

Leavers’ Hoodies 2020

Following on from Mrs Winn’s assembly on Monday 11 May, I am writing to let you know that you can now purchase a hoodie for the 2020 leavers using our online ordering system.  The design of the hoodie was chosen by members of the year 11 prom committee and there is a large variety of colours for students to choose from – please see the order form.  On the front of the hoodie will be the embroidered school logo and on the back, all the students’ names within the “20”. Individual names can be added on the reverse also but it can only be the forename or surname – no nicknames.  

The cost of the hoodie is £20 plus an extra £4 if the individual name is required.  Please complete the online order form stating the required colour and size and whether or not the name is required on the reverse.  To access the online order form you will need to follow this link; https://tinyurl.com/IAHoodies2020. Details of how to pay for the hoodie are on the form. The completed form and payment must be submitted to the school by Friday 29 May so that we can have the hoodies ready before the end of the summer term.  Orders placed after this date will not be honoured.

If you have any queries, please contact the school via telephone or email and ask for Linda Winstone in the first instance.

Yours faithfully,

Mal Akhlak
Head of Progress

Announcements | 7th May 2020

Year 9 Options 2020

The options website is now live.

The link is available here.

Uncategorised | 4th May 2020

Free Schools Application Form

Please click here to download the Free School Meals application form

Announcements | 20th April 2020

Letters to students

Please find attached letters to stduents from Helen Winn, please click on the year to see the letters:

Year 7 and 8

Year 9

Year 10

Year 11

Announcements, News | 20th April 2020

Parent Director role

Please click here for more details.

Announcements | 3rd April 2020

GCSE update

Dear year 11,

I promised you that I would let you know as soon as the Government announced how you would be awarded your GCSE grades this year.   Today Ofqual, which is the government office that regulates examinations, made the announcement that you have been waiting for.

Rather than put the message in my own words, I think that it is best for you to read this letter that Sally Collier, the Chief Regulator at Ofqual, has written to all students who are taking GCSE examinations this year.  Please read it carefully.

I know that some of you will find this news disappointing but under the circumstances I think that it is the fairest way to assess your performance.  You have worked so hard and as I’ve said to you many times before, you are brilliant students and your hard work will be recognised. Some of you will want to continue studying, so to support you with that, we have made sure that there is plenty of work in Google Classroom for you.

Just so you know, your teachers are missing you and want the very best for you.

I will be in touch if there is anything else that you need to know.  In the meantime, take care.

Yours faithfully,

H Winn

Helen Winn
Principal

Announcements | 20th March 2020

Letter to years 7 to 10 students

Dear students,

We are in a situation at the moment which is very strange for all of us.  I certainly haven’t experienced anything like this in my lifetime and you haven’t either.  I want to make sure that you are not worried about your learning and that you have something to do whilst you are not at school.

We have plans in place to make sure that you have work to complete for the coming weeks.  Every week we will post work to Google Classroom for English, mathematics and other subjects.  Google Classroom can be accessed from any device but if you don’t have anything that you can access your work on, we might be able to help you so please get in touch.  This work can also be collected from school in hard copy. We will keep you informed of any changes to this arrangement as time goes on. You might need to refer to your knowledge organisers to complete your work. 

We have posted  work to Google Classroom which you can do on your own.  You might find some pieces of work quite difficult but please don’t worry, just complete the work to the best of your ability.  Please make sure that you keep your work safe so that you can bring it into school when we start back again. Your teachers will ask you about your work on your return so that they can fill in any gaps that you might have.  They will be working hard behind the scenes planning work for you.

We have created help sheets so that you know how to access your work which can be found here for your own device, or here for a school device.  If you have problems with your passwords or accessing your work, you can contact us by email info@ipswichacademy.org.uk.  We will try our best to sort out any problems so please bear with us until we get things right for you.

I would recommend that you make yourselves a timetable of work for each day so that you have something of a routine.  Please also make sure that you do other activities like reading and exercise if you are able to and remember to help your parents and carers around the home.

Thank you for being such brilliant students. 

Yours faithfully,

H Winn

Helen Winn
Principal

Announcements | 20th March 2020

Important letter to year 11 students

Dear year 11 student,

You have been absolutely fantastic over the past few days (and over the last 5 years of course).  I cannot imagine how difficult it must have been to hear the news that your examinations have been cancelled after years of hard work and commitment.  I want you to know though, that your dedication to your studies has not been a waste of time. At the point of writing, we still do not know exactly how your work will be assessed but the Secretary of State for Education, Gavin Williamson, did say that you will get the grades that you need.  

Aside from your examination results, you will draw on the knowledge and skills that you have gained during your time at school throughout the rest of your lives.  I firmly believe that no knowledge is wasted knowledge. You will use the things that you have learnt at times when you least expect it. Most importantly, you have grown up to be caring, responsible and resilient young adults.  You are an absolute pleasure to be around which the staff comment on frequently.

As soon as we know more about what is happening, we will let you know straight away and we will support you moving forward.  I know that you are disappointed that your prom might not go ahead as planned but we will try our very best to sort something out for you when things start to settle down. 

You should be so proud of yourselves.  Thank you for being such brilliant students.

Yours faithfully,

H Winn

Helen Winn
Principal

Last updated March 20, 2020