Arriving in Stoke from Romania in 2020, Maria spoke little English but today has celebrated a fantastic set of results. With seven equivalent grades 5 and above,  including an 8 and 9 in English Language and Literature. 

Maria moved to the UK with her parents and siblings in 2020,and joined Co-op Academy Stoke-on-Trent  in the midst of the first lockdown, a challenging time for students across the UK. 

“It was a bit difficult at first. I didn’t know English very well, or any of the teachers or students. In Romania, we didn’t really work with Google Meet and Google Classroom, so it was new, everything was very new. I only really knew English from watching films and TV. It is a second language for me.”

When the academy opened up to students after months of online learning, Maria met her peers and teachers for the first time. She even chose her GCSE subjects over the phone from home. 

With no previous academic records, and understanding her challenges with the English language, Co-op Academy Stoke-on-Trent supported her by placing her in lower ability classes to begin with, giving her the best chance of accessing the curriculum. But within two weeks her performance in class placed her amongst the most gifted students in the academy. 

“I was in the 5th set for Maths. And in my second week I had an assessment. That was on Friday. By Monday I was in the top set. I guess my Maths skills from Romania helped. After mocks in Science and English, I moved to the top sets for those too.”

With the help of a student buddy, friends, and the staff at Co-op Academy Stoke-on-Trent, Maria soon became known for her unbelievable work ethic and determination as well as being voted as ‘The Most Amusing’ by her peers in Year 11. 

“When you move to a brand new country, brand new school, brand new home, and you don’t know anyone…at first you do try. But then you can kind of think, is it worth it? I think that’s how I felt at one point, being in third set for English, low set in Science, low set in Maths. That I might not try. But then I thought no, this is my future. And I just really wanted to achieve the best that I could.” 

Mr Ahmed, Head of Year 11 at Co-op Academy Stoke-on-Trent said of her progress “Maria has shown true grit and determination to achieve outstanding grades in her GCSEs, this will open a lot of doors for her as she continues her studies in college next year, and I’m sure her strength of character will take her far in life.”

Maria became a popular member of the academy community and is quick to praise the staff (especially her Head of Year Mr. Ahmed) and peers for helping her to settle. She described the atmosphere at the academy as warm, sociable and happy. Maria’s goal is to study Psychology at University.

Below you will find lots of activities you can take part in this Summer as well as a list of venues that will be offering free food or meals for very low prices.

Dear Parents/Carers,

I have really enjoyed meeting your children over the past few weeks whilst visiting primary schools. I will visit as many schools as possible before the intake days. Mr. Ahmed who is the Head of Year 7 from September will also be visiting primary schools to meet the Year 6 children. Rest assured, I have good relationships with many schools and I have already organised to meet with your child’s Year 6 teacher and to visit your child in their primary school before the end of this term
A reminder – Intake days At Co- op Academy Stoke-on-Trent are: 

• Wednesday 6th July 9.00am -3.00pm 
• Thursday 7th July 9.00am -3.00pm  
• Students must bring a bag, pen, pencils and stationery equipment on both days.

All pupils are to wear their Primary School uniform. 

Pupils meet at the front of the academy and will be escorted to the Sports Hall for their welcome assembly.

Pupils will need to bring £2.50 for a lunch meal deal or bring a packed lunch. (Polite reminder we are a nut free academy )  If your child receives free school meals they will do so on these days too.

Please click the button below for more transition information and can I remind all parents/carer you must complete all 4 google forms that have been sent out via emails to ensure that you receive free school uniform in July 

PRIMARY INTAKE EVENING WEDNESDAY  6TH JULY 

3.45pm – 4.15pm & 4.30pm – 5.00pm 

Parents/Carers of Year 6 children who will be attending Co-op Academy Stoke-on-Trent in September are invited to attend the Intake evening; you will have the opportunity to meet your son/daughter’s form tutors and learn more about provisions for September 2022.

Please note due to large numbers of parents expected at the event you must only attend at the specified times. We have split the evening via Primary Schools. Times are below.

Dear Parents and Carers,

 

As we approach half-term I want to wish all of our families a peaceful and restful break.  However, before we arrive at the break there are a couple of very important updates for me to share.

Face Masks

The vast majority of students have returned looking smart and ready to learn.  I would just remind everyone about two specific parts of our uniform policy.  Firstly, acrylic or ‘false’ nails of any kind are not permitted.  Ultimately, this is for health and safety reasons: e

We have removed the requirement for students to wear face masks in either communal spaces or classrooms.  Therefore, from Monday 28th February it is no longer an expectation that students attend with a face mask and they are not expected to wear one.

We do reserve the right to reintroduce face masks as a precaution under the instruction of the local Public Health team.  I’d like to take this opportunity to once again thank everyone for supporting us by sending students with a face mask throughout the pandemic.

Uniform

From Monday 28th February students will no longer be permitted to attend the academy in their PE kits.  All students must return in full uniform every day and then get changed into their PE kit at the start of timetabled lessons.  We will be undertaking our usual uniform inspections as part of the meet and greet programme each morning.  We expect all students to return in the correct uniform every day after the half-term break.

Furthermore, I would repeat again, for the avoidance of doubt, that false nails of any kind are not permitted at the academy.  Equally, students are not allowed to wear piercings of any form at the academy.  Please can I ask parents not to take children for piercings prior to returning to the academy.  It only serves to cause discord and acrimony when we insist such piercings are removed which inevitably we will in order to uphold the uniform policy approved by the Governing Body.

The uniform list is available on our website.

#Proud Event & Manners Award

We have had two wonderful celebrations this week to recognise our students.  Firstly, on Thursday and Friday we held our inaugural #Proud Event which you may have seen on our social media page.  At the time of writing over 250 students have brought work to share that makes them proud.  This has been a wonderful opportunity for me to speak and celebrate students’ hard work and sense of achievement.  Yesterday, we gave out our Manners Award for this term.  We have been having an initiative on manners throughout the last half-term to really drive home the importance of this really vital attribute.  Yesterday we awarded those students, selected by the academy staff, who have been the best examples of great manners this half term.  Well done to everyone who has received an award.

I wish you, and your family, a wonderful break.

Yours faithfully,

Mr S Richardson
Headteacher

Dear Parents and Carers,

Thank you

We have come to the end of the first ‘staggered’ week of term and we’re back into the business of learning.  Thank you to all parents and carers who gave consent to their children doing lateral flow tests on their return.  This is a really important way that we can all do something to keep one another safe and I just want to express my thanks for your support.  Equally, thank you to everyone who has ensured that their child has returned to the Academy with a mask to wear.  Again, it’s a simple act that demonstrates that we’re doing everything we can to try and keep each other safe.

Uniform

The vast majority of students have returned looking smart and ready to learn.  I would just remind everyone about two specific parts of our uniform policy.  Firstly, acrylic or ‘false’ nails of any kind are not permitted.  Ultimately, this is for health and safety reasons: excessively long nails can be a risk to both the student wearing them and others.  Please can I ask that parents do not take students to have their nails done in this way during the term.  It only creates discord when we insist that they are removed.  Equally, can I remind parents that we do not permit the wearing of earrings.  These are long-standing elements of our uniform policy but I wanted to reiterate that as we begin the New Year.

Parking

I have been contacted by a local business – Glass Installations – who operate on Tunstall Trade Park.  They are concerned that parents may be waiting in their car park at the end of the day and putting themselves and children at risk.  The company is currently trying to address an issue it is having with HGV drivers using the car park as a turning circle.  There have been a couple of occasions where there have been ‘near-misses’ between cars, people and HGVs.  I wanted to alert parents to the risk.  I recognise parking can be challenging, but safety has to be a paramount consideration.  Can I also restate the message I sent at the end of last term about the road markings outside of the Academy and the need for parents to give appropriate consideration to local residents when collecting students at the end of the day.

Year 11

Year 11 has just 80 school days remaining from the beginning of next week; that equates to around 40 lessons in maths and English, for example.  This is a really important time for students as they prepare for their GCSEs.  It’s also a really exciting time as we build momentum towards those final exams in the summer.  As we know, and as I said in my letter earlier this week: exams are going ahead this year for the first time since 2019.  

We’re continuing to put lots of support in for our Year 11s: P6 every day to increase learning time; specialised tutoring for groups of students; and a whole range of revision materials.  By working together we can help our students to maximise their potential.  

Key things parents can be doing to help are:

• Make sure that their attendance at the Academy is excellent;
• talk to your child about their subjects;
• check that they have a revision timetable and somewhere to revise at home;
• get involved: test them on their knowledge and help them to revise;
• ensure your child has applied to college: this gives them a sense of direction.
• get in touch with us if you have any questions about how you can help.

COVID Testing

Can I again restate that it is really important for students to take two lateral flow tests each week.  This, along with mask wearing, is the best way to keep our academy open, children learning, and reduce the risk of COVID transmission.  If you don’t have sufficient tests at home for your child to test, they can obtain some from the academy.

I wish you and your family a restful weekend.

Yours faithfully,

Mr S Richardson
Headteacher

Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope you had a restful and peaceful break.  I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you and your family a happy and healthy new year.  There has been some updated guidance in relation to COVID-19 that I need to share with you.

Attendance

Attendance at the academy continues to be mandatory.  All students are expected to attend each day unless unwell or for another exceptional reason.  

Exams

Year 11 GCSE exams will go ahead this summer.  The Government is determined that the exams will take place and that students will have the opportunity to demonstrate what they know.  Our P6 programme students will continue and all students in Year 11 will remain on site until 4pm.    

Face Masks

All school age children from Year 7 to Year 11 are now required – unless medically exempt – to wear a face mask in corridors and classrooms.  Please send your child with a mask each day.  The reality is that this is the best way to minimise the transmission of COVID-19 and it is something we can all do to protect each other and our wider community.  Please make sure masks are washed regularly.

Testing

We are carrying out testing this week for returning students.  This is a really effective way to help us stop the spread of COVID-19 in the academy and the wider community.  Parents of students in Years 8-10 can still give consent for their child to have a test by completing this form.  Again, this is something we can all do to keep one another safe.  

The link to the schedule for this week’s testing is at the end of this letter.

Please can I strongly emphasise how important it is that students continue to test twice a week at home.

Isolation 

If a student tests positive for COVID following a PCR test they must:

• isolate for 7 days;
• return to the Academy on day 7 but only if they have had a negative lateral flow test on day 6 and day 7;
• continue to isolate for the full ten days if they do not have negative lateral flow tests on days 6 and 7.

If a student is a contact with a positive case, they do not need to isolate, but they must take lateral flow tests for the next 7 days to check that they have not contracted the virus.

Staffing Shortages

You will have heard lots of news stories about projected staff shortages in academies as a result of isolating teachers and support staff.  At present this is not the case here at the academy.  However, I want to let you know that, in the event that we do start to experience increased cases of the COVID-19, our number one priority will be to keep the academy open so students can continue with face-to-face learning.  It may be that students are taught by a cover teacher or their classes are combined.  It is only as a very last resort that we would move back to home learning.  We will do everything in our power to keep the academy open for learning.

What can we do together to keep students learning?

You can help us  by ensuring that your child brings a mask each day and keeps testing twice a week at home.  In the academy we will do a number of things to stop the spread of COVID like not holding whole year-group assemblies for the time being.  Together, we can successfully ensure that all of the young people can continue to learn in the academy.  We all know that this is the best place for young people: both from an academic perspective but also in terms of their general wellbeing.  

Report Positive Cases

It will help us to monitor the situation if you can continue to report confirmed cases of COVID to us using this email:  covidreporting@coopstoke.co.uk .

Thank you

I know that we are entering the third year of the pandemic now.  Inevitably, we will be reaching a point of fatigue with still more new and changing guidance.  However, I want to thank you for doing everything possible, and working with us, to ensure that we limit the spread of the virus and can keep our students learning.