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
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
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
Closure from 23rd March 2020
In line with government direction, we intend for our school to be open from Monday to:
- children of key workers (defined broadly but e.g. health workers, the police service and fire service, those who are involved in food supply and other basic services – please talk to us if you are not sure; we are expecting the government to give greater clarification on this later today), if parents/carers wish the child to attend school
- vulnerable children (defined broadly but e.g. pupils who have an education, health and care plan or who have an allocated social worker – please talk to us if you are not sure), if parents/carers wish the child to attend school
So that we can plan, I would be very grateful if you would let us know by 3pm TODAY if you believe your child/ren may be eligible to attend and you wish your child/ren to do so. We will also be making phone calls and talking to parents/carers – so apologies in advance if you get asked the same question more than once.
Once we have a sense of the number of pupils who will be attending on Monday and beyond, we will share more information on arrangements.
If children show symptoms of coronavirus (a new, continuous cough or a temperature of 37.8 degrees or higher, they will not be able to attend school and must stay at home for 14 days.
We have made preparations to ensure that learning can go on in the coming weeks – physical and digital materials will be shared with pupils in the coming days and arrangements will be made for materials to be collected/distributed to pupils who are already absent.
Thank you for your support in these challenging circumstances.
Important information on closure
Following the government’s announcement this evening that all English schools are to close from Friday 20th March onwards, Ipswich Academy will be closed to students from Monday 23rd March onwards.
Arrangements are being made to provide free school meals to those students who are eligible, and to open for students who are vulnerable and students of key workers, as defined by government. We will communicate these arrangements as soon as we can.
I will provide you with further information as soon as I can.
Due to staff absences, I am sorry to inform you that from tomorrow, 19th March, the school will be closed to some pupils.
Pupils in years 7 and 11 must attend school as normal, unless they are unwell or self-isolating, in line with government guidance. Normal lunch arrangements will apply.
Pupils in years 8, 9 and 10 should not attend school. If your child is entitled to a free school meal, please contact reception or email info@ipswichacademy.org.uk to let us know whether you wish to collect a packed lunch. We will confirm arrangements for this with you.
If, however, you have a child in years 8 to 10, you need to go to work and you have no alternative, suitable childcare, please do send your child into school, as normal unless they are showing symptoms or are self-isolating. For those children, we will provide childcare – we will keep them safe and entertained and will provide as many learning opportunities as possible. Normal lunch arrangements will apply for those children. If you know you will be sending your child in because you have no alternative, suitable childcare and need to go to work, we would really appreciate it if you would please contact reception or email us to let us know in advance – so that we can make plans.
For children in years 8 to 10 who are not in school, their absence will be ‘authorised’ by the school – we will not take any enforcement action (i.e. fines or court proceedings) in relation to the days when the school is closed to those pupils.
We will be releasing some online work in the next couple of days for students so that they can work from home. In the meantime, they should work on their knowledge organisers. We have hard copies of knowledge organisers which students can pick up from school or they can be accessed from the school website.
We are in the process of confirming arrangements to provide support to families whose children are eligible for free school meals, in the event of a prolonged closure – we will confirm these plans as soon as possible.
Thank you for your support in these challenging times.
Yours faithfully,
Helen Winn
Principal
Year 11 consultation evening
Appointments are available for you to meet with yoru child’s teachers on Thursday 12th March, 4:30 to 7:30pm. On arrival, you will be given your child’s Spring mock results. A timetable for half term intervention, which we would encourage students to attend in preparation for their summer examinations, is attached here.
You are able to book five minute appointment slots for each subject teacher using our electronic booking system. This is accessed from here:
https://parents-booking.co.uk/ipswichacademy
Appointments with each teacher will last for five minutes. In order to login to the system, you will need the following information relating to your child , as held in our database:
- First name
- Surname
- Date of birth
- Register class
You will also need to enter the details we have on record for you. If you have recently changed your title or surname, for example, and not informed us, we will be expecting you to login with the details we have on record. The email address you enter is only used to receive a confirmation of your appointment. If the system gives you an error when you login, it will not be the email address that is the problem.
If you do not have access to the Internet, or experience any problems with using the system, please contact the school and ask to speak with Linda Winstone.
Subject teachers will meet with you and your child on an individual basis to provide clear feedback on your child’s learning. You will also have an opportunity to review your child’s exercise books. As appointments are limited, if you are unable to see all of your child’s teachers then please contact the school via our email address to book a separate appointment at another time.
Your child is required to attend, with yourselves.
Many thanks for your ongoing support.
Year 9 Consultation Evening
Appointments are available for you to meet with your child’s teachers on Thursday 13th February, 4:30 to 7:30pm.
You are able to book five minute appointment slots for each subject teacher using our electronic booking system. This is accessed here:
https://parents-booking.co.uk/ipswichacademy
Appointments with each teacher will last for five minutes. In order to login to the system, you will need the following information relating to your child as held in our database:
- First name
- Surname
- Date of birth
- Register class
You will also need to enter the details we have on record for you. If you have recently changed your title or surname, for example, and not informed us, we will be expecting you to login with the details we have on record. The email address you enter is only used to receive a confirmation of your appointment. If the system gives you an error when you login, it will not be the email address that is the problem.
If you do not have access to the Internet, or experience any problems with using the system, please contact the school and ask to speak with Linda Winstone.
Some subjects may not be available or may be fully booked on the evening, if you would like to discuss your child’s progress in subjects not available please contact the school and we will arrange for the member of staff to call you.
We would like to invite you on the evening to fill out an Ofsted Parent View questionnaire to give your views on the school, this will be available on the night in the Senior Year Study Zone and should take no more than 5 minutes to complete.
Subject teachers will meet with you and your child on an individual basis to provide clear feedback on your child’s learning. You will also have an opportunity to review your child’s exercise books. As appointments are limited, if you are unable to see all of your child’s teachers then please contact the school via our email address to book a separate appointment at another time.
Following on from the consultation evening, on Thursday 30th April you will be invited to ‘Options Evening’. During the evening you will be able to visit each subject area to help your child decide which subjects they wish to take forward to GCSE.
Your child is required to attend, with yourselves.
Many thanks for your ongoing support.
BBC Radio Suffolk interviews our new Principal
BBC Radio Suffolk had the opportunity to speak to our new Principal yesterday. Follow the link below and skip to 01:21:00 to hear the full piece. (Please note you may need to create a BBC account to access the media).
Best ever GCSE results at Ipswich Academy
Results for students achieving between a grade 9 and 4 in English and Maths is 56%, up 12% on 2018. 19 students achieved the top grade 9 across a host of subjects including English, maths, languages, art and science.
Helen Winn, Principal at Ipswich Academy says:
“Ipswich Academy is incredibly proud of its year 11 students today. We have never had better results in the history of the school and it rounds off what has been an absolutely brilliant year for Ipswich Academy. All our staff work exceptionally hard to narrow the gap for disadvantaged children and these results are evidence that it’s paying off.”
Ipswich Academy achieved an Ofsted Good rating this year with Outstanding for leadership and management for the first time, making it one of the best in town.
The Ofsted report recognised that Helen and the other leaders in the school had ‘transformed the culture of the school’ and were ‘building strong and effective partnerships with the community’ ensuring pupils and their families have the best possible experience at Ipswich Academy, an achievement that has led to the school being oversubscribed for places in September 2019.