RWH/Summer Letter/21.05.16

21st May 2016

Dear Parents/Carers,

MAY HALF-TERM NEWSLETTER – DA-VINCI HOUSE

END OF TERM ARRANGEMENTS

Parents and Carers should note that the last day of this term is Friday 27th May 2016. Students will be dismissed from Kirk Balk at the usual time of 2:55pm on this day.

The Academy re-opens to students at 8:00am on Monday 6thJune 2016 and all students must be onsite by 8:40am at the latest. Any student arriving after 8:40am will be marked late and given a break-time detention.

Please ensure your child is aware that Period 1 on Monday 6thJune will be spent in tutor groups. Normal timetables will resume from Period 2.

HOUSE UPDATES FROM THIS TERM

When I wrote to you prior to the Easter break I shared our houses priorities for the Summer term. One key agenda for Da Vinci was to raise the attendance of students in our house. I’m pleased to report that this focus has had a real impact on overall attendance in Da Vinci house.

Since the Autumn Term Da Vinci attendance has improved from 94.4% in October to 95.2% at the time of writing this letter. I’d like to give particular congratulations to the year 10 students in Da Vinci House whose attendance combined is a stunning 96.6%. I also want to give recognition to the 26 students who have achieved 100% attendance throughout this academic year so far.

We will continue to drive attendance in the final part of this academic year. There is a multitude of research to support the link between excellent attendance and high quality results in schools, I’m sure as we aim for attendance to be a minimum of 96% the outcomes for your child will also improve.

As we approach the end of this academic year I would like to thank our house captains, Katie, Lucas, Amelia and Charlotte, for their hard work and dedication this year. They have set a high standard to follow for future house captains and I know the entire house will join me in wishing them the very best as they now begin their final GCSE exams.

ESSENTIAL EQUIPMENT

A reminder to all students and parents that the half term holiday is a good time to replenish pencil cases and to ensure that all Kirk Balk students have the necessary equipment to enable them to achieve their best. In addition, it is an expectation that students have a school bag.

We still have 7 weeks of learning time left until the end of this academic year and it is essential that all students return equipped with the ‘tools of the trade’ and ready to learn in every lesson.

ACADEMY UNIFORM AND NEW PE KIT

As a reminder, parents and carers wishing to purchase new uniform for their child should do so directly from our uniform provider Vortex at Unit 2, Grange Lane Industrial Estate, S71 5AS.

In addition, we are also launching our new PE kit, which again, can be purchased from our supplier. The PE kit is compulsory for all students from September 2016.

We appreciate that some parents and carers may like the opportunity to purchase these items directly from the Academy and to that end a series of evening sales, hosted here at Kirk Balk Academy, will be on offer at the times listed below.

Parents/ carers of students in all year groups are welcome to visit the academy to purchaseuniform on these dates.

  • Tuesday 5th July:3.30 pm – 5.30 pm
  • Wednesday 6th July:3.30 pm – 5.30 pm
  • Thursday 7th July:3.30 pm – 7.00 pm

It should be noted that these days coincide with our Year 6 ‘Transition Week’ and as such we are expecting to be extremely busy on these evenings. For further information and for full guidance on our uniform and new PE kit please visit our Academy website (

NEW GRADING SYSTEM FOR GCSE’s AND ‘LIFE AFTER LEVELS’

At the end of the last academic year I wrote to all parents and carers explaining some changes to the way in which examination boards will award ‘grades’ in all subjects.

In line with a whole series of other reforms in education you should note that the traditional A*-G grading system for GCSE’s will change to a new nine-to-one numerical system. You may have read about this in the media recently.

This change has already been implemented in English and Mathematics, and students in our current Year 10 will receive a numerical grade for their their actual results in August 2017. From 2018 all subjects will be graded on this new, numerical scale.

In order to help the transition, we will be moving to a system whereby we report your child’s current attainment grade for all subjects using the new nine-to-one scale, in all year groups. This is because in addition to the changes to GCSEs stated above, the government have also abolished the use of the national curriculum levels that we have traditionally used here in Years 7, 8 and 9.

I realise that this may seem somewhat confusing! Further details regarding all of these changes are available from the academy should parents wish to have them. In addition, we intend to hold information evenings to explain the changes in greater detail in the near future.

In the meantime, the following points below should be used as a guide:

  • GCSE qualifications are changing in all subjects and they will now be graded on a nine-to-one scale, replacing the A*-to-G grades. Students in Year 10 are already being graded using this new scale in English and Maths.
  • On the new, numerical scale ‘Grade 9’ will be highest.
  • ‘Grade 5’ will be considered a ‘good pass’ (currently set as a grade C in ‘old terms’)
  • ‘Grade 1’ will be lowest.
  • This change affects all schools and academies nationally, not just us at Kirk Balk Academy.

From next year all students in the academy will be graded on the new nine-to-one numerical scale in all subjects and in all year groups. We will continue to issue guidance to parents and carers to help explain the new systems.

SOCIAL NETWORKING

The use of social network sites continues to expand rapidly. Whilst there are undoubtedly great potential benefits to such forms of communication, when used irresponsibly or maliciously, the consequences can be extremely harmful.

We continue to stress to parents that the Academy cannot be held directly responsible for the consequences of actions taken by young people in their use of cyberspace when ‘under the supervision’ of their parents. Parents of all students should be aware that age restrictions do apply for many of these sites and that many of our students should not have access to them.

FINALLY…

I would like to wish you all a very relaxing half term and thank you for your continued support during this academic year.

Yours sincerely.

Mr R. WhitfieldMrs R. Hague

Vice PrincipalHead of Da-Vinci House