Principal's Update

100% Attendance - the key to success

The last week of term has been a busy time for us all at Leeds City Academy. As ever, I am delighted at the progress we’re making as a whole school community. Visitors to the Academy constantly acknowledge how smart and conscientious our students are, which is a credit to our school and community as a whole.

This term we have been demonstrating resilience in attendance, a key element of achievement at Leeds City Academy. Every day, every lesson, counts towards success in exams. We provide every opportunity for our students to succeed, but in order to do that we must strive to arrive in school on time with a positive attitude whilst ready to learn. As a reward for outstanding attendance, we’ve enjoyed our first round of Attendance Breakfasts; providing a hot meal for those leading in outstanding punctuality at school. Well done all who were privileged to join the breakfast club this week; I hope to see even more winners in the canteen next term!

As part of my Academy Improvement Plan, I am delighted to announce that I have appointed three new Year Managers who will be joining our team of dedicated pastoral staff, due to join us next term. Year Managers play a crucial role in our school community, ensuring that each and every student has the support they need to succeed in their learning. Their arrival will be of great benefit to us at the Academy and I look forward to introducing our new Year Managers in a future update.

In addition, we have also recruited a new Student Receptionist. Student Council were very excited with this new appointment, who was very engaged with our students' needs and promises to be yet another excellent member of our support staff team.

This week we have welcomed several visiting practitioners and speakers into the Academy. Our very popular Mosaic Mentors arrived at the school for the third session of workshops, which they have been conducting with Year 9. Mosaic’s Secondary School Mentoring Programme provides a package of opportunities to raise aspirations and close the gap between students’ personal goals and practical attainment. As part of the programme, prominent Law firm DLA Piper presented a fascinating scenario which encouraged our students to demonstrate their survival skills, promoting independent thought as well as collaborative work processes. Thank you to DLA Piper for their time and I look forward to seeing further developments next term.

Also this week we've welcomed Andy Craven-Griffiths back to Leeds City Academy as part of The White Rose Academies Trust's Poetry Slam competition. Students have thoroughly enjoyed working with Andy over the years and we look forward to seeing how our talented writers and performers fare in the finals.

Assemblies this week saw several Coaching Awards being given to students displaying outstanding attitudes in school and beyond. The first place award is a £10 shopping voucher, with three runner-up Queue Buster prizes. The Queue Buster allows students to pre-order their food in the canteen – a unique privilege and a just reward for outstanding citizenship.

Finally, I cannot reiterate enough how important attendance is regarding every child’s success. As the February weather hits us hard with ice and the potential of snow, I expect to see each and every one of our students making their way to school in good time, in appropriate winter clothing. Should we ever need to close in the event of extreme weather, I will confirm this through texts home and messages on our school website and Twitter/Facebook channels. In the meantime, always assume that our school is open, our classrooms are warm and we're ready to learn.

I wish you all a restful half term and look forward to making even more progress on our return, embracing another Step Up Day and accelerating towards GCSE examinations.

Best wishes,

Jackie Rose
Principal

Photos: Outstanding attendance is rewarded in our popular Attendance Breakfast Club.