Year 7 Meet the Tutor Coffee Evening – Wednesday 13 October (5:00pm – 6:00pm)

Dear Parents/Carers,

Welcome to the new academic school year. The Wilmington Academy Year 7 Leadership Team have been incredibly proud of how the Year 7’s have settled into the school community. Whilst this term has presented your child with many new challenges, the students have started this year with great enthusiasm and a desire for learning. What has impressed us the most is their positive attitude towards starting a new school, their working ethics and showing true resilience. 

At Wilmington Academy we recognise that close partnership with parents and carers can promote positive outcomes for our pupils. With this in mind, we would like to invite you to our Meet the Tutor Coffee Evening on Wednesday 13 October from 5:00pm – 6:00pm. This will be an informal event to provide a valuable opportunity to meet your child’s tutor and to discuss how your child is settling in. 

If you would like to attend the Coffee Evening please could you complete the Google Form below by Friday 8 October, 4:00pm. Please note that this event is not just for parents/carers only, students are also welcome to attend.  School uniform is not required.

https://forms.gle/ULxXZsxLy263AJtH6

If you have any questions regarding the event, please do not hesitate to contact Ms Quan carmen.quan@wilmingtonacademy.org.uk

Key information regarding the new academic year

The remainder of this letter will provide you with as much information as possible in regards to the new academic year. Should you have any questions or concerns about your child, please could you contact the Year 7 Leadership Team. 

Ms C Quan (carmen.quan@wilmingtonacademy.org.uk) – Assistant Principal (Minerva College)

Ms S Hawley (sarah.hawley@wilmingtonacademy.org.uk) – Assistant Principal (Apollo College)

Mr L Barker (lee.barker@wilmingtonacademy.org.uk) – Assistant Principal (Jupiter College)

If you have any SEND queries, please can you contact Ms S Loveridge (sharron.loveridge@wilmingtonacademy.org.uk). 

International Baccalaureate (IB) Middle Years Programme (MYP)

At Wilmington Academy, we currently offer the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme in Key Stage 3 (Years 7-9). The programme is designed to teach students to become independent, critical, and reflective learners, who can discover the links between the different subjects and the real world. This module, the students have been learning about the MYP Programme, IB Learner Profile and Approaches to Learning Skills. Further information on the MYP Programme can be found on the following link. 

https://wilmingtonacademy.org.uk/curriculum-and-assessment/

Academic school reports will be sent home during Modules 3 and 6 via My Child at School (MCAS). 

My Child at School (MCAS)

My Child at School is an online portal service that allows parents and carers to review key information about their child’s education. This will include their child’s timetable, attendance, positive and negative points, progress and announcements. All parents/carers will have received a username, invitation code and the school ID from their child’s College Admin Team. If you have not yet received the login details, please could you contact the College Admin Teams.

Minerva College minerva-admin@wilmingtonacademy.org.uk

Apollo College apollo-admin@wilmingtonacademy.org.uk

Jupiter College jupiter-admin@wilmingtonacademy.org.uk 

Google Classroom

As part of Wilmington Academy’s Blended Learning Strategy, we are currently a Google Education School. Google Classroom is an online tool which enables teachers to work collaboratively with students serving as a hub for student work and classroom resources. The platform allows teachers to set homework, provide feedback to students, share resources such as websites, documents, instructional videos and notes and support students to see what class work they have missed if they are absent. Students may also use this platform to contact their class teachers. All students have been given their login details, username and passwords by their IT teachers. They have also been invited to join their 

specific Google Classrooms by their individual subject teachers. It is essential that all students accept the invitations for all their subjects. Teachers will be using this platform to set homework on a regular basis. Further details on how to access Google Classroom can be found on the following link. 

https://sites.google.com/wilmingtonacademy.org.uk/wadistancelearning/home

If your child has not yet received their login details, please could you contact the Year 7 Leadership Team.

Ms C Quan (carmen.quan@wilmingtonacademy.org.uk) – Assistant Principal (Minerva College)

Ms S Hawley (sarah.hawley@wilmingtonacademy.org.uk) – Assistant Principal (Apollo College)

Mr L Barker (lee.barker@wilmingtonacademy.org.uk) – Assistant Principal (Jupiter College)

Chromebooks

All parents should have now collected the brand new Year 7 Chromebooks from the school reception. If you have not been able to attend to collect the device then please contact Mrs L Hearn,  lindsey.hearn@wilmingtonacademy.org.uk to arrange a convenient time. We look forward to the opportunities that this will provide our Year 7 students over the coming years.

MyON Digital Platform

The myON online reading tool is part of Wilmington Academy’s digital strategy allowing access to a ‘24/7 student-centred personalised literacy platform which will match students with the right book at the right reading level based on their interests’. This will enable our students to access a digital library of 7000 books and age-appropriate news articles all year round. The platform will also allow staff to remotely set reading and writing projects to develop your child’s learning. MyON also offers an exciting homework feature as well. All Year 7 students have had their accounts set up so they can login into myON with their present Accelerated Reader username and passwords. If you have any questions regarding myON or your child has any problems logging into their account, please contact Mrs A Govender or Mr T Chapman.

Mrs A Govender (aneela.govender@wilmingtonacademy.org.uk) – Literacy Lead

Mr T Chapman(toby.chapman@wilmingtonacademy.org,uk) – Librarian

We would like to thank you in advance for your support with this initiative and hope that we can continue to develop in your child a love for reading and books. 

Attendance

At Wilmington Academy we strive for every student to have attendance above 95%. If attendance drops below this level, it will have a detrimental effect on your child’s education. Please can we take this opportunity to stress the importance of good attendance and to remind parents that medical and dental appointments should be made outside of school hours where possible. 

Uniform

Uniform standards are high at Wilmington Academy. We understand and fully appreciate that there have been distribution issues with Brigade Clothing. However, we would expect all students to arrive in full school uniform at the start of Module 2. 

Mobile Phones

Following recommendations from the Secretary of State for Education mobile phones are not permitted on site. If mobile phones are seen or heard they will be confiscated and handed to the main reception where a parent/carer will need to collect it at the end of the school day. The student will be issued a 60 minute CUC detention and receive a log on Bromcom. This also applies to earphones, airpods and smart watches. If students are found to be carrying their mobile phone, earphones, air pods or smart watches in their blazer they will be confiscated and need to be collected by a parent/carer.

Finally, we hope to meet you at the Meet the Tutor Coffee Evening. Should you have any questions or queries, please do not hesitate to contact the Year 7 Leadership Team.

Thank you in advance for your support, we look forward to working with you this year and we wish you and your child a very happy and successful year at Wilmington Academy.

Yours faithfully,