As part of the Academy’s reading for fluency programme, all students in Years 7, 8 & 9 are currently reading ‘Fight Back’ by A.M. Dassu. A special video, created by the author for the Academy, will be shown to all students next week. The 60 students who have most engaged with the book will also be invited to virtual workshops with the author on Wednesday 14th December, where they’ll have the opportunity to hear about the inspiration behind the book and to ask their own questions. We are really looking forward to virtually meeting A.M. Dassu and learning about her writing and the plans for her next book.

Thank you to Stoke Reads and Kreative Foundations, who led a creative writing workshop with a group of Year 7 & 8 students from the Academy on Monday 21st November. With a range of tools and activities, the students developed their writing skills; learned that no idea is to odd to be useful and realised that sometimes the ideas we want to throw into the bin can lead to the most interesting stories! 

The Academy students will use their new skills to develop a creative writing competition for Year 5 and 6 children from across the city. Alongside developing a theme and designing all of the promotional materials, the group will deliver workshops to support the younger children with their ideas and with practical writing tips. They are really looking forward to the next stage of development in December – and to announcing the competition in January.

Year 7 have been putting their scientific skills to great use, completing a practical experiment investigating bacterial growth on an agar plate. With very obvious real world applications, the students focused on how the spread of pathogens are spread, and specifically how bacteria can be prevented by looking at the effect of sanitiser.

Mrs Woodward, our Head of Science, promotes experiments and practical lessons wherever possible across the curriculum, saying: “Practicals help students to develop important skills, understand the process of scientific investigation and enable students to learn scientific knowledge and how science works in the real world.”

“Practicals help students to develop important skills, understand the process of scientific investigation and enable students to learn scientific knowledge and how science works in the real world.”

Mrs Woodward, Head of Science Faculty

 

Learn more about our Science curriculum below:

Learn more about science at Co-op Academy Stoke-on-Trent

Our academy community came together on Friday 11th November, Armistice Day, to commemorate the anniversary of the end of the First World War and remember the sacrifices made in war.

Throughout the week, students had been reflecting on the contributions made to the war effort from soldiers and civilians across what was then the British Empire. Mrs Hodgkins, our Head of History, described both their immense role in the First World War but also the injustice of the 116,000 mostly African and Middle Eastern casualties from World War One “were not commemorated by name or possibly not commemorated at all” after they died fighting for the British Empire.

When you go home, tell them of us and say,

For your tomorrow, we gave our today.

The Kohima Epitaph

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.

Members of our student council and Co-op Young Leaders programmes used their free time to sell poppies on behalf of the Royal British Legion, with hundreds of pounds being raised.

On Armistice Day, we came together for a short service before marking the national silence. The academy was represented at the Burslem War Memorial by Mrs Tatton, who laid a wreath on behalf of everyone in our community.

Our creative Year 8s have wowed industry professionals during a national competition day focusing on design and sustainability.

BIMA Digital Day is a nationwide competition which challenges 11-16 year olds to put the creative thinking to the test. This year’s challenge was in association with Primark, with the clothing retailer’s stores being the focus of the day. Working in groups, our students were asked to design anything which would meet this challenging brief:

How can digital play a part in improving these experiences, tools, and services to educate customers on sustainability, and make fashion kinder to our planet for you, and for future generations?

Throughout the day we were supported by professionals from This is Milk, a consultancy, training and technology business based in Glasgow. The team gave suggestions and posed critical design questions as our students worked in groups to design their ideas and prepare a pitch to explain their world-changing plans. The day culminated in a nail-biting wait to hear which group was the school winner, with their work going on to the national finals. Morgane and Jamie, representing This is Milk, had a challenging decision to make, with our students’ creativity leading to proposals which they said surpassed the thinking of some people currently working in the industry.

Dear Parents and Carers,

Early Finish Thursday 29th September

A reminder that the Academy will close at 2:20 on Thursday 29th September.  This is to enable staff to prepare for our Open Evening for prospective Year 7 parents.  If you have any concerns over childcare up to 3:20, please contact us here at the academy.

Assemblies – Social Media

This week I have led assemblies with all students raising awareness about misogynistic views that are being perpetuated online.  Specifically, I drew attention to Andrew Tate who was recently banned from all social media platforms because of his hateful and misogynistic views.  Most alarmingly, as I pointed out to our students, he has 4.3 million followers and has recorded over 11 billion hits across a range of social media platforms.  

During our assemblies, I spoke to students about the Equalities Act 2010 and made clear that they have rights, enshrined in law, to protect them against intimidation, harassment and victimisation.  As an academy, we are clear that everyone is equal and we respect one another at all times.  I emphasised to students the importance of reporting instances of discriminatory language.

I would also remind parents to continue to be vigilant about what young people are doing online.  As I stated in my letter last week, young people do not have an inalienable right to be on social media; that decision is up to parents.  However, it is important to recognise the importance of staying safe online and I would ask parents to play a part in checking what young people are doing on their digital devices to ensure that they are safe.  As I outlined in my letter last week, we operate a complex and sophisticated monitoring and filtering system in the academy and track what students are engaging with online.  I can be clear that we know there are people with huge social media followings who are promoting ideas and beliefs that are entirely incompatible with life in a 21st Century democracy.  It is our role as educators to work alongside parents to ensure our young people can identify discriminatory views and to help them see why they are harmful.  

If you become concerned about your child’s activity online, please do not hesitate to contact us for further support.  

Holidays During Term Time

The Government is quite clear that young people are not permitted to take holidays during term time.  Every day missed from school is five lessons of lost learning.  This will have an impact on students’ learning.  Any child who misses 19 school days in one year is what the government calls a ‘persistent absentee’.  Clearly, a term time holiday can quite easily lead to a student meeting that threshold.  As a general rule – unless the circumstances are exceptional – the academy will not authorise term time holidays.  

If you believe that the circumstances are exceptional, you should complete a holiday form and return it to the academy.  You must clearly state why the circumstances are exceptional.  The ultimate decision as to whether or not the reasons meet this test rests with the academy.  

We have seen an increase in the number of requests over the last year.  This is leading to a rise in unauthorised absences.  While we understand that holidays are cheaper in term time, we are emerging from the most disrupted period in education during peacetime.  Young people need to catch up and attend school regularly.

Year 11 P6s

Our P6 programme is now underway.  This is a vital part of our Year 11 strategy to support our students to prepare for their exams.  Year 11 students are a matter of two weeks away from their first set of mock exams.  This is an incredibly important time for them.  I would ask that all parents are having conversations with their child about how they are revising for the upcoming exams.  These exams are the first milestone in an incredibly important period for Year 11 and we need to see what they know and can do in exam conditions.

My best wishes to you and your family for a peaceful weekend.

Yours faithfully

Mr S. Richardson

Headteacher