Letter to Parents and Carers: End of Spring term
Fri 04 Apr 2025
Dear Parents and Carers,
Firstly, I wanted to thank you for your patience and understanding for the past few days in relation to our emergency partial closures.
Secondly, as we break for Easter, I wanted to let you know that we have had a wonderful Spring term with students.
We have had many visitors to the academy this term and we have received some lovely feedback about students which I wanted to share with you:
- “I wanted to take a moment to share how impressed I was by the politeness and good manners demonstrated by all the learners I interacted with today.”
- “I have really enjoyed my time in your school and the groups I have worked with, they have been a pleasure. It was great to see so many familiar faces from past and present, who access our wider community programmes.”
- “I would just like to say how amazing the Year 9 boys were who I took to Derby University yesterday. They were a credit to the school. Their enthusiasm and participation were outstanding.”
We are always immensely proud of students and when we receive feedback like this, it reinforces what we already know, that your children are fantastic.
We have had a packed Spring term and we have hosted a Year 11 Revision Festival, the Ogden Trust Science Fair, Parents Evening, two visits overseas for students and Y11 assessments!
Y11 students will start their GCSE MFL Speaking Exams when we return with the exam season in full swing from 6 May 2025.
The summer term is always a busy one for the academy, we welcome Y6 students for their transition in July, open the doors to our Y9 families to see students graduate and of course, we say goodbye to Y11 as we celebrate their time with us after the exams finish.
Overall our students' attendance to school has really improved and we thank you for your support with this. We have been proud of the resilience our young people have demonstrated. Students have engaged brilliantly with our attendance drive, Battle of the Bands. I would like to thank you for your support ensuring that appointments for students are out of school hours and if, unavoidably, an appointment is in school hours, that you send your child to school and return them after the appointment. This means their attendance won’t be impacted and minimises their lost learning time.
A reminder that we return to the academy on Tuesday 22 April, you can access all of our term dates and closures here.
It is essential that students have their own bag and basic equipment for lessons (pen, pencil, ruler and pencil case). A highlighter, whiteboard pen and rubber would also aid students learning but we don’t categorise this as basic equipment.
From September 2025, the non-box pleat skirt will no longer be included in our uniform bundle. All non Outwood skirts worn as part of the uniform must meet the following requirements:
- A minimum 2.5-inch box pleat
-
All skirts worn must sit on or just above the knee - the rolling of waistbands is not permitted
To support families and ensure students are able to comply with this change by September 2025, we have already issued some 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.
You will have seen on our social media channels that we have left X (Twitter). You can still find us on Facebook and you can now find us on Bluesky at https://bsky.app/profile/outwoodshafton.bsky.social
We look forward to welcoming students back on Tuesday 22 April; many thanks for your continued support.
Yours faithfully,
Alison McQueen