Samuel Ryder Academy
Issue: 21 Date: 3 Mar 2017

Dear Parents and Carers

It was lovely to see so many parents and pupils at the respective Year 8 and Year 9 Options Evenings within the last week or so.  These are always exciting events as pupils start the process of personalising their curriculum for the following year under the guidance of parents and staff.  There was a real sense of excitement and anticipation in the air as pupils and parents tried to order their thoughts and make some difficult decisions.  During the evening, a number of parents expressed their thanks to me for the evening, which have been passed on to the staff concerned.

Unfortunately, I am still receiving complaints from our neighbours about a small number of parents parking inconsiderately.  Please respect our neighbours’ rights to access their property and do not park across their driveways.  Can I also remind you that Parkway Court is for residents only and should not be used as a drop-off or pick-up point?

Last week Mrs Davies was successful in being appointed the permanent Headteacher at Harpenden Academy.  Obviously, their gain is our loss but we wish Mrs Davies all the best and of course, you may still see her around as Harpenden Academy is part of our Trust.

Finally, you should have received a letter about the changes that are taking place with regard to electronic communication between school and home.  More details about the SIMS Parent App replacing the Learning Gateway will be coming out soon but you are already able to download the Samuel Ryder App on either Apple or Android.  We will be increasing functionality and the information available on the App over the next few weeks so if you have not done so already please download it and let us know if there is any feedback.

As always, if you have any comments or suggestions I would be pleased to hear from you, please contact me at head@samuelryderacademy.co.uk.

Mr Gauthier

Headteacher

 

Primary Phase News

World Book Day

Thank you to everybody for making our World Book Day celebrations so enjoyable.

Across the whole of the Primary Phase, the children had prepared superb dramatic readings.  It was lovely to hear the class representatives reading so confidently and expressively in assembly.

Many children took part in the very successful ‘Big Book Swap’.  This gave them a fantastic opportunity to find a new and exciting book to read.

Finally, it was great to see so many different book characters arrive today.  There had obviously been a lot of thought and effort given to the costumes.   All classes had lots of fun sharing their favourite book characters.

 

Who's been sitting in my chair?  The three bears 

What do you call a group of Where's Wally's? 

We're seeing double!  Matching Horrid Henry's

 

Pancake Day fun for Reception

Our Reception classes celebrated Shrove Tuesday this week, making – and tasting – some delicious pancakes that were egg free, gluten free and milk free.  They also had a chance to practise their pancake flipping skills – and experts they proved to be!  No Pancake Day would be complete without a pancake race and the children had lots of fun seeing who could run fastest with a frying pan, sometimes losing a pancake along the way!

 

 

 

Drop-in to see Mr Gunning

Mr Gunning was pleased to welcome a number of parents from across the school to discuss questions/concerns that they may have.

Any questions/concerns raised that may be useful for all parents to know about will be published in our weekly newsletter with parental consent.

 

This week’s questions/concerns:

Question/Concern: My child seems to feel pressured to work hard and can become stressed about it.  Is the school doing anything to reduce the level of stress that the children may be feeling?

Response: Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 have recently begun to introduce mindfulness activities into our daily routines. Mrs Cole, our PSHE and Wellbeing leader, will be conducting our primary staff meeting next Tuesday focusing particularly on reducing stress and encouraging children to take the time in each day to focus on just one thing.

Our Year 4 children, who have already started these mindfulness sessions, are really enjoying the time so far and appear to be more focused in the afternoon following their daily mindfulness activity.

 

Question/Concern: I am worried that pressures of the curriculum mean that the children no longer have time to enjoy school because they are having to work so hard.

Response: The National Curriculum is incredibly full and the children are expected to have an enormous amount of knowledge and skills in order to show that they are achieving the expectations laid out by the government.  We try to ensure wide and varied access to all of the different areas of the curriculum while putting as little pressure on the children as possible.  Often, teachers use games and mini competitions to encourage the children to try their best and work quickly.  The children are usually highly responsive to these strategies which allow us to achieve the best progress for each individual child.

 

Question/Concern: I am concerned that I am missing some key information and dates even though I am reading the year group newsletter; is information communicated elsewhere?

Response: Yes.  We communicate with parents via the whole school newsletter, which can be subscribed to, via our website or the Samuel Ryder app.  In addition, if you are ever unsure about the information in our year group newsletters, please ask your child’s class teacher to clarify when you see them at the beginning and end of the school day.

 

Question/Concern: My child is in Reception and we are often encouraged to add photographs of and comments about our children to Tapestry; is this compulsory?

Response: Tapestry is a fantastic resource for collecting many different types of information that show how your child has progressed throughout their first year at school.  It is not compulsory for parents to add comments and photographs to Tapestry but, at the end of the year, when all of the information is collated, it is great to see all of the wonderful things that the children have done both inside and outside school collected in one place.

 

If you would like to talk to Mr Gunning about anything at all that concerns your child’s education or well-being then simply drop-in to main reception on Thursday morning, between 9 and 10am, no appointment needed.

As a drop-in session that operates on a first come, first served basis, parents may need to wait for a short while before they can be seen.  Please be patient and understanding towards other parents who may also be waiting. If, for any reason, Mr Gunning is unable to see you during this time, you will be able to book an appointment to talk to someone as soon as possible through our reception staff.

 

Parent/Teacher Consultation Evening

Parent/teacher consultation evenings are on Tuesday 14th and Thursday 16th March. Teachers will be available from 3.45pm until 6.45pm on both days.

Teachers have been allocating appointments all week.  If you are yet to make an appointment, then please do so next week. 

In addition to teachers being available for consultation, Mrs Shirazi, our Assistant Headteacher responsible for inclusion and special educational needs, will be present between 4pm and 5pm on both days should you wish to discuss the support that your child is receiving.  If you would like to book an appointment to see Mrs Shirazi, please visit the main school reception to sign up. 

 

Attendance

As parents/carers, it is your responsibility to ensure that your child arrives at school ready to learn every day. Doing this gives your child the best possible chance to develop socially, emotionally and academically. It also gives your child’s class the best chance of winning the prestigious attendance trophy.

The figures below are for last week.

Weekly attendance winner

Primary attendance (target 97%)

Warwick Class 100%

97.55

 

Stars of the Week

 

Grace Fowler - Purple Class - for working really hard with her maths, especially reading numbers to 100 and understanding addition.

Maya Willis - Orange Class - for her fantastic use of time connectives when writing her own predicted ending to the story Amazing Grace.

Derin Akintoye  - Yellow Class - for his excellent use of conjunctions in his work when describing ice cream.

Theo Stacey - Green Class - for excelling in all areas this week. Theo showed great expression in our dance lessons as he interpreted the music with great enthusiasm.  

Well done to all our stars!

 

Birthdays

Birthdays of children from Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 will now be celebrated in the Key Stage 1 assembly held every Wednesday.  This week, we celebrated the birthday of:

 

 

 

Artwork of the Week

Our Artwork of the Week this week is some amazing Year 3 large scale mixed media leaf paintings.

 

Craft club cancelled on 16th March

An advance warning that there will be no craft club on Thursday 16th March due to parents’ evening.

 

Football and Rugby Clubs

Mr Barlow’s morning football and tag rugby clubs will now be outside for the remainder of the term, weather permitting.

If it is pouring with rain or frozen, then indoor space will be used.  If parents are unsure as to what footwear their child should use then bring both boots and trainers.

As the club will predominately be outside, we recommend pupils dress appropriately as the weather at this time can still be cold.

 

Easter 2017 Holiday Activities

Vista St Albans Plus Schools’ Partnership is offering a number of activities for children over the Easter holiday period.  All booking forms and payments must be received by Friday 31st March.  Further details are available on the attached flyer.  

 

Primary Diary Dates

Spring Term 2017

 

Thursday 9th March

Parent drop-in session with Mr Gunning

Friday 10th March

Inclusion Parents’ Coffee Morning (Dyslexia, Dyspraxia and Dyscalculia)

Sunday 12th March

PTA Photography Day

Tuesday 14th March

Primary Parents’ Evening

Thursday 16th March

Primary Parents’ Evening

Thursday 16th March

Parent drop-in session with Mr Gunning

Saturday 18th March

PTA Quiz Evening

Monday 20th March

Year 2 Roald Dahl Museum Trip

Thursday 23rd March

Fellowship Afloat Parent Information Meeting (Year 3)

Thursday 23rd March

Parent drop-in session with Mr Gunning

Friday 24th March

PTA Mother’s Day sale

Monday 27th March

SAPSMA Primary Choir Performance

Tuesday 28th March

Year 1 Mountfitchet Castle Trip

Thursday 30th March

Parent drop-in session with Mr Gunning

Friday 31st March

Wear a hat day in aid of Brain Tumour Research

Thursday 6th April

Parent drop-in session with Mr Gunning

Thursday 6th April

PTA Primary Easter egg tombola

Friday 7th April

Spring term ends – 12.15pm

Summer Term 2017

 

Monday 24th April

Summer term starts

 

Secondary Phase News

Careers event attracts Sixth Formers from across St Albans

Samuel Ryder Academy was proud to host a St Albans schools consortium careers event on Friday 24th February, attended by more than 80 Sixth Form students from schools across the district, including Loreto College, Marlborough Science Academy, Townsend School and Robert Barclay Academy in addition to our own Year 12s.

Run in conjunction with social enterprise, Pathway CTM, whose aim is to improve the employability, career prospects and lives of school leavers, the careers event included a series of workshops given by ambassadors from a number of prestigious employers such as Accenture, BDO, EY, Grant Thornton, IBM and BT.  The ambassadors – HR managers and apprentices or university placement students – were able to offer attendees an invaluable insight into the world of work from the perspective of both employer and school leaver.  Each workshop focused on developing specific employability skills, from creating good first impressions, to CV writing, developing strengths and networking.  A networking session at the end of the event provided an ideal chance for the students to discuss apprentice opportunities within the various business sectors.  This will be followed up with an additional networking session later in the year.

Students from all the schools involved agreed that the day was both informative and aspirational, helping them to feel better prepared as they consider their options post ‘A’ levels.  Chris McNamara, Head of Pathway CTM, commented, “The day was extremely productive, with the students engaging well in the activities and linking with organisations to take part in insight days in the summer.”  Pathway CTM’s Megan Hughes added that student feedback had been ‘very impressive’.

 

 

Wordsworth dance their socks off for charity

Wordsworth House proved their fundraising skills are ‘en pointe’ by donning their dancing shoes for a charity dance-a-thon in aid of nominated charity the OLLIE Foundation.  Led by Wordsworth’s Courtney Allen from Year 12, 43 students gathered in the school hall to dance their socks off non-stop for two hours.  Demonstrating some great moves – including lots of whips, nae naes and dabs – the students raised over £500 for the charity, which funds suicide intervention skills training for adults working with young people.

 

 

Que tienen en commun?

This week, our Year 9 Spanish students were asked the question “What do these foods have in common?” The answer was that they were going to be tasting these Spanish / Mexican items and justifying their opinions in Spanish. Well done to those that were very adventurous and tried everything. Thank you also to Radia and Beth for helping to prepare the guacamole and tomato salsa. It was a very enjoyable experience for all.

Miss Billyack

Teacher of MFL

 

Barcelona trip – Parent Information Evening

A reminder that a parent information evening for the forthcoming Barcelona trip will take place on Wednesday 8th March at 5.30pm in the school hall.  Please note that you MUST bring your child’s passport and EHIC with you on that evening.  

 

Sports

Netball

The week kicked off to a flying start for our Year 8 netball team on Monday, with a pleasing victory over Nicholas Breakspear in the Year 9 league.  Unfortunately, the next day the girls faced their first defeat of the season against St Albans High School for Girls.  Team member Maddie Barker provided the following match report:

On Tuesday 28th February, we had a netball match against St Albans High School for Girls.  It was an unlucky defeat but our first loss of the season.  The score was 34-15.  We are very excited for the tournament, with our matching hoodies, and are going to be ready for a rematch.  The girls played very well and a big well done to Grace Harkness for getting player of the match.

Well done to all our Year 8 players for their continued hard work - please attend practice on Monday lunchtimes if you wish to play in the tournament on Thursday 16th March.

 

Basketball

Congratulations to Grace Harkness from Year 8 who has been selected for the U13 county basketball team – well done Grace!

 

Forthcoming Fixtures

Date

Fixture

Venue

Monday 6th March

Year 7 Netball v Townsend

Home

Thursday 9th March

Year 10 Netball Tournament

SAHS

Monday 13th March

Year 7 Netball Tournament

Sir John Lawes

Thursday 16th March

Year 8 Netball Tournament

Roundwood Park

Saturday 25th March

Years 7-9 Rugby v Kings Langley School

Home / Away

Monday 29th March

Year 7 Netball v Beaumont (two teams)

Home

 

Secondary Diary Dates

 

Spring Term 2017

 

Monday 6th March

Sixth Form Harry Potter Studios trip

Wednesday 8th March

Sixth Form English Literature Lecture trip to Bloomsbury Baptist Church, London

Friday 10th March

Inclusion Parents' Coffee Morning (Dyslexia, Dyspraxia and Dyscalculia)

Friday 10th March

Year 10 Geography Urban Study

Sunday 12th March

PTA Photography Day

Wednesday 15th March

Sixth Form English Literature Lecture trip to Bloomsbury Baptist Church, London

Wednesday 15th March

Year 12 – Deloitte Mentoring

Thursday 16th March

Year 7, 8 and 9 Science Trip to Big Bang

Friday 17th March

Year 10 Geography Field Trip to London Docklands

Saturday 18th March

PTA Quiz Night

Tuesday 21st March

Year 10 Parents’ Evening

Thursday 23rd March

Year 12 SJL Careers Day

Friday 24th March

PTA Mother’s Day Sale

Saturday 25th – Tuesday 28th March

Barcelona Trip

Tuesday 28th March

Psychology Trip to Emmanuel Centre

Friday 31st March

Wear a hat day in aid of Brain Tumour Research

Friday 7th April

Spring Term Ends for all Students 12.30pm

Summer Term 2017

 

Monday 24th April

Summer Term Starts for all Students

 

General News

Exam Invigilators

Samuel Ryder Academy is looking to appoint additional members to its team of committed, friendly exam invigilators.  The main examination series runs through May and June, with other exams and assessments held periodically throughout the year.  You must be punctual, have a flexible attitude to work, be able to demonstrate an attention to detail and possess good communication skills.  Full training will be provided.

 

If you are interested in joining the team, please either download an application form from the Samuel Ryder Academy website or contact Sharon Spittal  HR Admin at s.spittal@samuelryderacademy.co.uk or 01727 859382.

 

Closing date for applications Midday 13th March 2017 with interviews likely to take place the week commencing 20th March 2017.

 

Inclusion Parents’ Coffee Morning 

Please note that our next inclusion parents’ coffee morning takes place next Friday, 10th March, from 9.30am in the Learning Zone.  The focus of the morning will be on Dyslexia, Dyspraxia and Dyscalculia – all parents/carers are welcome to attend.  For further information, please contact our Assistant Head of Inclusion, Mr Battersbee by email at A.Battersbee@SamuelRyderAcademy.co.uk.

 

Keystone Workshops – Understanding Eating Disorders in Children and Teens

Keystone Workshops is running a talk for parents of children aged eight and above interested in increasing their awareness of eating disorders.  The talk will be led by Dr Dasha Nicholls, consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist and joint head of the Feeding and Eating Disorders Service (FEDS) at Great Ormond Street Hospital and honorary senior lecturer at the Institute of Child Health.  It takes place on Tuesday 25th April 2017, 7.30-9pm at St Albans High School for Girls, priced £18 per person.  For further information and to book a space, please click here.

 

PTA News

 

We are very lucky to have been able to set up a photography day again this year.  For just £10, families can book a time slot for a photoshoot.  The PTA will receive all of this booking fee as well as 10 per cent of any sales of photographs purchased.  We only have a few slots left for this brilliant event so please come into reception and book your slot so as not to miss out!

Parents’ Quiz Night – Saturday 18th March 7.30pm

Our fabulous annual quiz night is fast approaching; we hope that lots of you will be able to come along and challenge the governors who are looking to retain their winners’ title!  Please drop your forms and money into reception before 10th March to guarantee your place.

Mother’s Day Event – 24th March 2017

We are reinstating this lovely event for both phases of the academy this year.  Plants will be available to buy for £2, wrapped and ready to give as lovely gifts on Mother’s Day.  This will happen during the school day for Primary children and will be available after school in the hall for Secondary students.  If you are available to help out on the day please sign up via PTA social.  If you are not yet signed up to PTA Social, please use this link to do so!

https://app.ptasocial.com/register/SamuelRyderAcad-al15

 

Other Upcoming Events!

Easter Egg Tombola - Thursday 6th April 2017 3.20pm onwards

Primary Family Camp Out - Saturday 8th July 2017

Summer Fair - Saturday 6th May 2017

Aladdin at the Alban Arena - Wednesday 13th December 2017 5pm

 

Have a great weekend!

The PTA