Dear Parents/ Carers,
I hope this shorter than usual update finds you and your families well. Another bumper week of successes with over 140 Golden Tickets awarded and a total of 2912 positive rewards, nearly six times the amount of negative logs. Well done to all of those who continue to achieve so highly. Our culture has developed wonderfully over the past few years and we are grateful for all of the support parents and carers provide us away from the academy gates, supporting our expectations with an unwavering and unapologetic belief that everyone can succeed, every one. We do have a reputation for being a ‘strict’ academy with high expectations and excellent behaviour, we far prefer the phrase ‘consistent’, but evidence clearly indicates that we also regularly celebrate and promote positivity and success within our community. Our combination of rewards and high standards creates a calm classroom environment frequently commented on by all who visit. Where students are engaged and keen to do well. Our view is simple, what better environment is there for those who are anxious or those who may struggle than a calm classroom, well equipped students with clearly established routines and a teacher whose expert explanations, modelling and questioning can challenge and support all students. It is our first line of support, it is exactly where and why our students are thriving.
Waitrose, Give a Little Love campaign
As part of the Give a Little Love campaign, Waitrose Paddock Wood have kindly donated £1000 to Mascalls Academy to support health and wellbeing. Some of our students collected the donation last week and were exceptionally grateful with lots of ideas of how they would like it to be spent.
Give a Little Love exists due to the generous donations from our community and aims to help local families and good causes. We are incredibly grateful to our community for their support and generosity. The money will go towards further enhancing our mental health and wellbeing provision in addition to the expansion of our counselling, referral and support services through our newly commissioned Place2be service. We are currently in the process of recruiting with Place2be to establish full time counselling provision on site, improved online support and faster referral times to support our students. This significant investment defines clearly our intent to prioritise mental health alongside academic excellence ensuring our students have the best possible care to achieve their undoubted potential.
Mascalls Jubilee celebrations
On Wednesday 25th May, our entire school community will take part in an afternoon of celebration for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. Students have already been participating in advisory sessions and lessons using the jubilee as a central theme, and all of this will reach its conclusion next week when students will enjoy an afternoon away from their normal lessons, instead taking part in some very special jubilee activities! To ensure that students are able to participate fully, we would ask that all students (except Y11) attend school in PE kit for the full day on Wednesday 25th May. School will finish at 2pm as normal.
Queen’s canopy
As part of the nationwide Platinum Jubilee celebrations, people have been invited to plant a tree. The Queen’s Green Canopy Project is encouraging the planting in order to create a sustainable legacy in honour of The Queen’s leadership of the Nation, which will benefit future generations. Mascalls are proud to be taking part, and we will be planting a tree this week as part of the project. We must send special thanks to Brookside Garden Centre in East Peckham who kindly donated the tree to the school.
Consultation on the length of the academy day from 2022-23
Again, many thanks go to those parents/carers for their feedback and suggestions, I have read every single one so far. The response has been overwhelmingly positive with some fantastic recommendations and questions. The consultation closes this evening at 5pm after which our leadership- team will review and decide on the best way forward to meet the demands of the Government’s Education White Paper.
Changes to time timings of the academy day 2022-23 – a consultation (parents/carers)
Finally, my thanks go to our wonderful community. Not just the parents and carers, but the local business and other community members who have generously donated to the academy. As Mascalls’ reputation continues to grow beyond the academy gates we become more and more excited by the opportunities presented by working with local businesses and other partners. Our positive reputation can only benefit your son/daughter. We are very proud of it and we are very proud of those who have helped create it. Thank you.
Yours sincerely
Mr W Monk
Principal
