End of term and provisional plans for next academic year (Y7-9)

Dear students, parents and carers

Following on from my letter on 9 July and the whole school assembly today, I would like to detail the latest information before we break up for summer. 

We are proceeding with our plan and will open on Thursday 3 September, as previously announced. We are still awaiting confirmation from our Directors as to whether our local plans have been approved. We have proposed in line with Government guidance recommendations for a staggered start and finish time for the day. This would mean year 10 and 11 students start at 08.45 and finish at 15.00. Year 7, 8 and 9 students start at 09.00 and finish at 15.15. Once these have been passed I will communicate with you via text message and the documents  will be posted on our website. In late August I will be hosting a virtual assembly to go through the plans in detail prior to students returning in September. 

All year groups will be able to continue to access the work set on Google classrooms, each department has also set summer tasks which I would encourage students to complete. 

I am excited to announce that we will be launching a student ‘House System’ in September. All staff and students will be assigned to one of three houses, devised from our Trust’s values. The House System will celebrate student success in all aspects of school life; as well as promoting opportunities for leadership, competition between houses and community involvement. I look forward to sharing this further in September. 

Due to the changes that we are proposing to the set up of the school in line with Government guidance,  students may not have the same base group tutor as they had last year. We will try to avoid changes where possible, however there will be some. I will be able to share base group tutors from September during a virtual assembly that I will deliver prior to students returning. Lockers will also be out of use for the start of term whilst we redistribute them to the areas of the school that students will be in. If students have any belongings they wish to collect from their lockers prior to September, please contact the school via telephone or email to arrange a visit. We will be continuing with cashless catering from September, if you need any support setting up a sQuidpay account, please contact the school reception.

The last three months have  been unprecedented times for us all, the team at Ipswich Academy are very much looking forward to working with you all next year.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.  We will always get back to you.

Thank you, as always, for your support.

Yours faithfully

Abbie Thorrington
Principal