Dear Parent/Carer,

We have had a fantastic week recognising the talents, efforts and achievements of our pupils across the Academy.

Rewards Assemblies & FFET Awards

All year groups held their Rewards Assemblies on Tuesday, with 271 Awards presented to those pupils who consistently uphold our values and who have contributed so positively to our community through academic excellence or improved performance.

In addition to this, we also recognised those pupils who have successfully demonstrated the hard work and perseverance in achieving the LORIC criteria in our FFET Awards. Across the three stages, Foundation, Intermediate and Master, we awarded 743 Bronze Awards, 275 Silver Awards and 34 Gold Awards. Pupils have been proudly wearing their FFET Awards badges on their blazers and I have enjoyed speaking with pupils about their success.

Awards Evening

Pupils, parents and staff at BHA came together to celebrate the success of many of our pupils during the academy’s annual awards evening on Thursday. The sparkling event recognised the hard work and dedication of some 90 students, with prizes being awarded for academic excellence, sporting prowess, creative talent and personal achievement.

Awarding the prizes was Reverend Geoff Eze, who is a well-loved local personality and presents a regular show on BBC Radio Stoke. Geoff’s Jamaican and Nigerian heritage, and work with local people, gives him unique insight into the needs of diverse communities in the city. During the event, Reverend Geoff delivered an inspirational speech on his journey and the incredible opportunities he has experienced along the way. The event was my first Awards Evening since joining the academy and I was extremely proud to see pupils and their families embracing the opportunity to celebrate and reflect on an extraordinary year. Congratulations to all pupils who received awards on the night!

Keeping Children Safe – Snapchat and understanding ‘For My Eyes Only’

For My Eyes Only (FMEO) serves as a secure vault within Snapchat designated for saving messages and pictures privately. This feature protects the content, ensuring only those with the passcode can view it. Users need to set up the vault initially to allow content to be saved into FMEO; this means any content found there is intentionally added. This creates a risk to children as setting up FMEO indicates that users have content they prefer to keep hidden. This implies that any inappropriate messages or pictures could be stored there. It also means that, as a parent, you won’t be able to monitor what your children are sending or receiving, or who they are communicating with.

Experience Week

As we approach the last week of term, staff and pupils are looking forward to taking part in a fantastic range of activities during our Experience Week. A great deal of planning and hard work has been put into the delivery and structure of the week to ensure our pupils understand that learning can be fun and is a route to enhanced opportunities. I am looking forward to seeing our pupils in action and we will update our Social Media accounts with photographs throughout the week. Please do check your child’s Year group specific letter for further information about the activities across the week.

Parent Forum

It was my pleasure to meet with members of the Parents Forum last Thursday and we had the opportunity to discuss a number of areas including: Consistency Across The Academy (CATA), Behaviour, Rewards and communication.

We discussed positively how the Parent Forum will be structured from September and this will allow those parents / carers who wish to become more actively involved in Academy life at BHA the opportunity to do so in a structured format, discussing key areas of our School Improvement journey
and reviewing policies and systems which are in place to support your child. We will be sharing further details linked to the above in a separate communication piece, alongside a short Parent / Carer Feedback Form, which I would appreciate you all completing, so I can gain a wider understanding of your experiences in preparation for the new academic year.

Preparation for September 2024

You will receive a separate letter / information pack which will highlight some key areas to ensure we start the new academic year positively. Our goal is to drive all of our energies into providing the best school experience for your child and by being clear on our expectations from the offset and in
advance will mean that no energies are wasted on trivial areas. I am looking forward to September and working positively with our parents / carers and, as I’ve stated previously, if you have a positive experience please share it loud and proud as good news travels fast. If you have a concern or are unhappy with an element of our work, please contact us directly so we can discuss this with you and find a suitable outcome.

Dates to remember

Monday 15th July: Experience Week begins
Friday 19th July: Pupils finish at 12.10pm for Summer Holidays
Tuesday 20th & Wednesday 21st August: Summer School
Thursday 22nd August: Yr 11 Results Day
Tuesday 27th & Wednesday 28th August: Summer School

Please contact us if you need this information in any other language or format if you have any questions. You can contact the office by email on info@bircheshead.org.uk.

Yours sincerely,
Mr P Masher
Principal