Spring 2025 Parent/Carer Update
One of our key priorities this year is to strengthen our partnership with you. We believe that working together will enable us to achieve the best outcomes for your children. This update outlines some of our current focus areas and how you can support them, along with our plans to improve our communication with you.
Focus areas:
1. Expanding our Post-16 offer
Our vision is that all students in Years 7 to 11 should aspire to one day join our Sixth Form, now rebranded as GB6th. We’d like it to be the destination of choice for everyone, and so we are making it more inclusive, with reviewed entry criteria and an expanded curriculum offer including vocational pathways alongside A-Level opportunities. We have been impressed by the number of applications so far, but please remember that the deadline for application is 31st January 2025, so if your child hasn’t yet applied they can do so here.
If you have a child in Year 11 who has applied for Sixth Form – we would encourage you to keep an eye out for communication of offers that will be sent out in the next few weeks, then the hard work really starts to ensure they get the grades to meet the conditional offer.
2. Refurbishing student toilets
We have applied for and secured significant funding to improve toilets at the Academy, because we know our students deserve better facilities. We are pleased to share an example of the plans, and our intention is to undertake the building works later this academic year.
- The proposed design will include blocks with floor-to-ceiling cubicle doors, giving students total safety and privacy. This will mean we can remove doors into the main area of the toilets and replace these with a roller door, allowing for more effective supervision of the spaces.
- In our commitment to making the Academy safer we will have CCTV installed that will cover the lobby areas near the handwashing stations only, as a deterrent to unsafe and antisocial behaviour, and a means for us to identify students if damage or bullying occurs. CCTV will not cover any areas where there is an expectation of privacy.
We value your feedback on this proposal. Please share your thoughts here.
3. Reviewing our Business Dress
We are considering updates to our Business Dress policy to make it more affordable and suitable for the modern day. We are in the process of consulting with our stakeholders and students about possible changes. Your input is valuable in this process – please share your views here. There will also be opportunities to look at the samples of the clothing before any changes are made.
4. Improving communication
We have listened to feedback that communication with the Academy can be difficult at times, and we know there have been instances where parents and carers have not received timely responses. To improve, we are introducing two initiatives:
- A helpdesk system: from now on, rather than emailing our enquiries address or individual staff, please email our helpdesk here. This will generate a ticket in our new system and ensure that your concern is directed to the right staff member. If you call and your query cannot be immediately resolved by our Student Services team, they will create a ticket for you. We’ll be able to see all tickets centrally and ensure that queries and concerns are resolved quickly, typically within 3 working days.
- Senior Leadership Team meetings: starting next week, our Senior Leadership Team will offer 15-minute face-to-face appointments every week, bookable here. While availability may be limited, especially at first, we hope that these meetings are an additional opportunity to provide us with general feedback or escalate any concerns.
- We also would like to take the opportunity to remind parents/carers that all staff and students have the right to feel safe, so we urge all parents/carers to remember this during face-to-face interactions and during phone calls in to and from the Academy.
We are confident these changes will enhance communication and ensure your questions are addressed promptly and effectively.
We are excited about the year ahead and are committed to making Q3 Academy Great Barr the best environment for your children to learn and thrive. Your feedback and support are invaluable as we continue to grow and improve. Thank you for your partnership.
Mr C Bury
Headteacher