Principal Letter to Parents

Dear Parents and Carers,

I would like to thank you for your support since we returned to the academy in January. Students returned to us refreshed and raring to go; it is wonderful to be in lessons and see students engaged in their learning and development.

Year 11 have started on their mock exam journey with their MFL mock speaking exams taking place in January and all other mock assessments due to start when we return.

We held our Year 9 Pathways Evening, in early January; we hosted this event to direct and support students and families in choosing KS4 options and we are now underway planning our new KS4 timetable for September.

We had a successful visit to Paris earlier this month, you may have seen some photos on our social media, where students visited culturally important sites and managed to squeeze in a day at Disney Paris theme park.

Today we waved bon voyage to students and staff on our annual half term ski trip. I am hugely grateful to colleagues who give up their family time to enable opportunities like this and our Paris trip to go ahead.

Praising Stars reports have been released this week and we enjoyed celebrating student success. 

Students have engaged really well with our attendance ‘Battle of the Bands’ and are proudly wearing their bronze, silver or gold attendance badges.

We shared a communication with you last year around national changes to penalty notices for attendance that came into effect country-wide in August 2024 (you can find that communication here). Please do not book holidays during term time as this will be counted as an unauthorised holiday..   If you know that your child is going to be absent, please telephone the Academy where possible before 8:30am or email attendance@shafton.outwood.com 

Our students must arrive between 8:10 and 8:20 every morning.  Anyone arriving after 8:25 will enter through our late door and gain a 30 minute detention.  This is because all curriculum time is essential.

INSET Dates (students will not be in the Academy on these days):

You can access term dates and closures on our website; additionally, you can access our key dates information using this link.

Education Welfare and attendance support

We wanted to give you advance notice that, from September 2025, the non-box pleat skirt will no longer be included in our uniform bundle. Moving forward, all skirts worn as part of the uniform must meet the following requirements:

• A minimum 2.5-inch box pleat

• A minimum length of 18 inches 

To support families and ensure students are able to comply with this change by September 2025, we will be issuing regular reminders about this policy in our communications. This will provide ample time to prepare for the transition and ensure that students have the correct uniform from September 2025. 

This change has been made to ensure a consistent and cost-effective approach to uniform while maintaining high standards. We believe that this adjustment will provide clarity and simplicity when selecting uniform items and will help reinforce a sense of pride and unity within our school.

As many of our staff are student facing throughout the day with the majority of our teachers in front of a class for 22 periods a week, the most convenient way to communicate is via email. If you know the name of the staff member you are trying to contact you can email them directly by using their first initial and surname in the following email format a.teacher@shafton.outwood.com. 

 

Alternatively, you can email enquiries@shafton.outwood.com and mark it for the attention of the relevant staff member. We aim to respond to all communication received in this format within 48 hours, but please bear in mind that this may vary if a staff member is absent for any reason. The enquiries email account is manned from 08:00 – 3:30, Monday - Friday during term time. 

 

Our advice for improving this flow of communication is as follows:

 

In addition, each year group has a Learning Manager, these are key colleagues who can be contacted should you require further information. Learning Manager email addresses can be found on the homepage of our website and are pinned to the top of our Twitter and Facebook pages.

A reminder that you can catch up on all things Shafton via our Bluesky @outwoodshafton.bsky.social  We will be leaving X (Twitter) in the coming weeks.

We use texts as a quick way to share information with you. This can be reminders about key events happening in school, attendance matters and links to letters. Please note that all texts will go to first named contacts on our system. Copies of key letters can also be found on the website at the bottom of the home page and is titled ‘Updates from the Academy’.

Many thanks for your continued support, wishing you and your family a restful half term break.

Yours faithfully, 

File

Letter to Parents_ February half term.pdf 615 KB