End of term update - 20/12/2024

Dear Parents, Carers and Students

Firstly, I must of course wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year. 

With the Autumn term now over it is a good time to reflect on the many successes at Sewell Park Academy this term. 

This year our students have accumulated 220,720 stars; 14,882 brain stars; and 29,442 habit stars, demonstrating the positive behaviours that we see from them on a daily basis!

Also some of our Seneca Learning Statistics: 745 active students, with 574 students with a connected parent accessing our online Seneca learning platform. There has been 2585 hours and 48 minutes of study time to date! If you are not yet connected with your young person’s learning, look out for the Seneca invite in the new year!

Our Year 11 students made a truly fantastic effort in their first set of Pre-Public Examinations (what we called ‘mock exams’ in my day) as their focus slowly ramps towards a summer of GCSEs and then taking their next steps away from Sewell Park to impressive destinations. 

Our school is now full in all year groups, and again we are well oversubscribed for our new September intake.  This term we have held successful open evenings and external trips.  Part of my job involves finding time in the day to walk around in a wide range of lessons, and I am always proud to find calm, effortful and  academic groups of interested young people being guided on mental journeys by superbly able teachers. We are rightly proud to have become one of the leading schools in the area.

Given my pride in the work we do at SPA,  the importance of our students missing as little school as possible needs emphasizing. Attendance at school has a significant impact on the outcomes our young people achieve, particularly when it is over 95 %. Exceeding this threshold remains a key area of focus for us as we know the students who attend get excellent teaching when they are here. Our analysis has shown us that our two week October half term break had a positive impact on overall pupil attendance in this long term, and is a model we will be looking to repeat next academic year. We will share with you the full details of next year's term dates shortly after the Christmas break when we have finalised them.

We would also like to mention that this term has seen our first cohort of students trialling some ADHD coaching at school. Working with ADHD Norfolk we have been focused on how our year 11 students can prepare for their exams when also coping with ADHD. The feedback from students and Ryan, the ADHD coach, has been great and we will be looking at how we can roll this out to other youngsters with ADHD. Ryan will also be joining the staff on our January CPD day to help keep us updated with best practice in our classrooms. 

Some other updates and importance reminders:  

St Clements Hill parking & students leaving site

The increase in student numbers at the school has led to  an increase in traffic on the St Clements Hill side of the school- including on one occasion quite a spirited impasse when two cars could not agree which should let the other pass. Not a model of adult communication for our children to learn from. 

To help matters, may I ask that whenever possible, parents and carers park a short distance from the gates, or on other side roads to alleviate some of the congestion. We are also asking students to move on from the school as soon as they exit through the external gates. If they wish to wait for friends, they must do this from inside the school grounds where their presence does not pose a hazard.

School Governance Team

We have a strong and active governance team who work together with us on the development of the school. This is led by Sam Webber, a former student of the school, as the chair. However, we do have a vacancy for a parent governor, so if you are interested, please contact us through office@sewellpark.org. 

Your view and perspective is invaluable in helping us improve Sewell Park, and you do not need any particular experience or skills- just a keenness to understand what happens in the school and guide its development.

Uniform & Hair styles

SPA students look exceptionally smart and their uniform is a key part of our high standards. The wearing of them helps them prepare for a professional future and the world of work. 

The school’s uniform requirements and the rules we maintain around clothing and appearance can be found here. 

Each year, certain ‘fashions’ arise, and this year I need to remind students that cutting tramlines into hair, and ‘eyebrow cuttings’ are not permitted. If any students have these, or extreme non-natural colourings, they will need to grow out over the Christmas break prior to their return.

With temperatures no doubt being a few degrees colder in January, I also remind students that Hoodies are not allowed at SPA. Nor is the wearing of ‘under-trousers’ beneath their school trousers (this includes shorts and tracksuit bottoms). When students wear such garments, we request that they be removed and left for safe-keeping with a member of pastoral staff until the end of the school day.

Punctuality & Attendance

I mentioned earlier the direct link between good attendance and good exam results.  Students who attend school regularly have a far higher chance of achieving their potential.  It is great that as a school we have improved our attendance so far again this year, and we need this trajectory to continue. Here is our “Attendance Matters” update from the Attendance team.

We also recognise that punctuality is an essential life skill that underpins success in school and in the wider-world. From January there will be some changes to how we challenge poor punctuality:  

1. Students must still arrive at school by 08:30 to avoid sanctions. 

2. Our St Clements Hill gate (via the Nursery) will stay open until 08:45 and any student arriving after 08:30 will receive a "late to school before 08:50".  Three of these in a seven day period will result in a lunchtime ‘learning catch-up’ detention.  No students (without prior arrangement) will be allowed in school through reception before 08:45.

3. Any student arriving after 08:45 will need to enter school via reception.  If this is before 08:50 they will receive a "late to school before 08:50" and three of these in a seven day period will result in a ‘lunchtime learning catch-up’ detention. 

4. Any student arriving after 0850 will receive an automatic lunchtime detention.

5. Repeated poor punctuality will result in a parental meeting being required to explore the reasons for poor punctuality, with further sanctions being considered.

Do not hesitate to contact the attendance or pastoral team if there are any issues relating to punctuality or attendance.

Please have a well deserved break and Christmas celebration together and we look forward to welcoming back our students on Tuesday 7th January.

Best wishes

David Day

Headteacher