Principal's Update

It has been another progressive and vibrant week at Leeds City Academy. We have invited inspirational speakers to work with our students, conducted studies to improve community life and also welcomed the Department for Education as we proceed on our journey to be an outstanding school.

On Tuesday, we were visited by Mr Mike Ion of the Department for Education. Mr Ion met with members of the Executive Leadership Group and our wider staff to discuss various aspects of the Academy’s progress and development. The process was very positive and supportive, with Mr Ion praising our calm, warm atmosphere and stable leadership which offers great capacity for continuous improvement. He also provided reassurance in our plans as well as some very helpful guidance around future developments. Mr Ion also stated that he had thoroughly enjoyed his visit and felt he had made ‘friends for life’ after meeting year 10 and 11 students. He noted the pride students displayed in their academy and that they were respectful and loyal to one another. I am very proud that our ethos of Aspire Together – Achieve Together really does flow through everything we do as a school community and I look forward to welcoming Mr Ion and the Department for Education back to the Academy to access our progress.

Earlier last week we were also visited by Mr Parmar, who is a Leeds City Academy alumnus and IBM Distinguished Engineer. In 2016 he was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to innovation and business. During his assembly and workshop, Mr Parmar spoke to students about the role of IT and super computers, inspiring students with endless options for career pathways in Science, Engineering, Technology and Maths. Mr Parmar will be returning to present our Award for Outstanding Work in Business & Technology on Presentation Evening.

In other news, I would like to thank Ms Foy and PC Berrell for the crucial work they undertook this week with Student Council. Students deployed a speed camera sign to monitor traffic on Woodhouse Street, a busy route situated before the entrance of the school and a neighbouring nursery. This is a very busy road to navigate, shrouded by overhanging trees and poor street lighting. Although the speed limit is 30mph and the road provides two zebra crossings, there have been incidents and injuries to pedestrians in the past year. Our students captured vehicles travelling in excess of 44mph during the study. When we presented the findings to Hilary Benn MP, he shared our concern and is now taking up the case with Leeds City Council to ensure that our students, staff and wider local community can traverse these areas safely in future.

Finally, we asked our students what they thought had changed at Leeds City Academy this year. Their answers were honest and inspirational. The full video is available to watch online here. I urge you to take a listen to this short feature as it provides an insight into how our young people feel about our school community today.

I wish you all a very pleasant weekend.

Yours Faithfully,

Jackie Rose
Principal