Letter to Parents – KS5 Parents’ Consultation Evening
I would like to invite parents and carers of students in Year 12 to a Parents’ Consultation Evening on Thursday 17th October 2019 between 4pm and 7pm with your child’s Personal Tutor.
Food Prices at Q3 Academy Great Barr
Please see the attached price guides from our catering supplier, Sodexo. These prices are effective from Monday 2nd September 2019.
End of Year Letter
As we draw the academic year to an end I want to first thank, on behalf of staff and governors, all students, parents and carers for their hard-work and support. Similarly, we wish those staff that are leaving our best wishes and we thank them for their work at Q3 Academy Great Barr.
Transition Week 2019
I am pleased to be able to provide you with final details of our Transition Week, running between Monday 22nd and Friday 26th July 2019. This year, the week will focus on supporting students as they move into their next Academic year, for example as Year 10 become Year 11 or Year 8 become Year 9.
Food Bank Competition
Last term, Q3 Academy Great Barr collected one tonne of items for Great Barr Food Bank. So much so that it has lasted the food bank up until now – an incredible achievement! However, during the Summer months, the Food Bank receives far fewer donations and the local community and we would like to help change that. We have decided to run a competition for students. All you have to do is bring in as many food items as possible which will then be donated to Great Barr Food Bank at the end of the term.The competition runs from 8am Monday 8th July to 3pm Thursday 25th July 2019. The Learning Family that brings in the most items, will be invited to the Grace Payne Inspiration Centre to help load the mini bus and receive a rewards buffet.There will also be Q-Points up for grabs!
Progress Review Day
I would like to invite parents and carers of students in Years 7, 8, 9, 10, and 12 to a Parents’ Consultation Day on Wednesday 24th July 2019 with your child’s current Personal Tutor. Your child is only required to attend the Academy for the appointment time on this day. We expect these meetings to be attended by a parent or carer, so that the progress outlined is supported by both the Academy and home.
Improvements to Tutor Groups
Following a review of our pastoral system we are re-organising registration and tutor groups to provide more focussed care. We are moving from our current mixed age ‘vertical’ tutor groups back to a more traditional Year based tutor group system. This will probably be the same type of registration system you experienced at school and is consistent with the system used by our other two academies, Q3 Academy Langley and Q3 Academy Tipton. We really do feel that having your child registered in a tutor group with students of the same year group has clear advantages over the previous mixed age registration.
Update on our revised approach to behaviour management
We continue to be really impressed by the improvements in students’ behaviour. Now nearly all students are routinely on time to lessons, fully equipped, and ready to learn. Learning Consultants have also been delighted to find students more engaged in class, and have given out close to 1500 Praise Postcards in two weeks. About half of our students have had no reparations at all, and the majority of others have only had one or two – which is fantastic given that they’ve been getting used to our increased consistency around expectations.
Parent and Carer Letter – Equipment 5+2
We have been really proud to see students rising to our expectations of Ready, Respectful, and Responsible conduct. Well over half of our students have been immaculately behaved and not received a single reparation, and staff have already written almost 300 Praise Postcards to recognise outstanding work and effort that’s happening all over the Academy (these will shortly be printed and given out to students).
Letter to Parents – May Bank Holiday 2020
Please be aware the early May bank holiday in 2020 will move from Monday 4th May to Friday 8th May to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day.