Dear Parents/Carers,
I hope that you have had a restful half term break and that you and your child(ren) are looking forward to returning to the academy. We are very excited about welcoming all of our students back to school as we continue working together to ‘Achieve Beyond Expectations’.
As is our normal practice, on our first day back we will go through a series of presentations and activities to help students to settle back into academy life. These presentations are designed to make our expectations very clear so that our school rules are applied fairly and consistently. It is our expectation that all our students arrive back highly motivated, enthused, and ready to learn and excel.
To ensure that the return to school runs as smoothly as possible, and that our energies are concentrated on providing the best education possible for your child(ren), we would like to draw your attention to the specific points in the table below.
Attendance and Punctuality
Attendance is compulsory. Please contact your child’s college if they are going to be absent for any reason. Good school attendance gives your child enormous benefits and advantages: they can develop close friendships, make excellent progress in their learning, and not miss out on any educational or social experiences. It develops good habits for life, and shows you respect and value their education.
Please allow plenty of time to ensure your child arrives on time for school.
As an academy, we have set ourselves a target of 95+% attendance in line with DfE expectations. Our Attendance Officers and pastoral teams will therefore be contacting families where student attendance falls close to or below 95% to support and also to challenge absences.
I would encourage all parents and carers to work with us to improve attendance so that our students are not disadvantaged and are making the right levels of progress.
Disruption-free Learning
The academy does not tolerate any disruption to learning. Students must remember that the academy has very high standards for teaching and learning and that it will not accept any disruption to learning in classrooms and teaching areas.
Disruptive and defiant behaviour is a barrier to learning and the expectation is for all of our Longfield Academy students to be Respectful, Caring and Apirational in their approach to learning. We recognise and reward students who can demonstrate and promote our academy values.. Our classroom code at Longfield Academy is STAR.
Students at Longfield Academy are expected to fully engage in their learning in all subject areas. The classroom expectation for all students in all lessons is that they are attentive, focused and that they apply maximum effort to all tasks. Students must arrive on time, be wearing full and correct uniforms. We have 5 minutes transition time in between lessons at Longfield Academy and it is essential that all students are punctual for lessons. Students must not call out in lessons and should raise their hand if they want to speak or ask a question. Students must not get out of their seat without permission, and should aim to work with pride and to the best of their ability. The Longfield Academy STAR acronym is displayed in all classrooms and teaching areas around the academy and students at Longfield Academy are expected to demonstrate the following in all lessons:
The Longfield Academy STAR classroom expectations
- Sit up straight – students are required to demonstrate positive body language, sit up in their seats and fully engage in their learning.
- Track the speaker – students need to focus and concentrate in lessons. Keeping their ‘eyes on the teacher’ will help them to do this.
- Ask questions – students should be willing to ask and to answer questions throughout the lesson and be prepared to make valuable contributions to the lesson.
- Respect others – students at Longfield Academy must be respectful to staff and to other students. Disruptive behaviour will not be tolerated and students must not be disrespectful to others.
Our teaching staff are obliged to apply the Longfield Academy Classroom Behaviour Management System in lessons. We have a tiered approach to classroom behaviour management where subject teachers provide students with the opportunity to self-correct any low level disruptive or defiant behaviour. If any student does behave inappropriately in a lesson they are given a verbal warning by their teacher and the expectation is for the student to get back on task and re-engage with their learning. If there is no improvement in the student’s behaviour they may be removed from the lesson and this results in an after-school detention. Appropriate classroom management ensures that the majority of well-behaved students continue to be taught effectively.
Uniform
Students must come to school in full school uniform (this link takes you to our website and our uniform page).
Our school uniform identifies us as a community of learners. Therefore, we expect all students to wear the school uniform with the pride it deserves. Uniform infringements will be challenged and non-compliance will be sanctioned as per our behaviour policy.
Please note that students returning to school with false eye lashes and nail varnish/false nails will be asked to remove them. Parents/carers of students who refuse to comply will be asked to come and collect such students.
Students coming to school in trainers (without a medical note) will be isolated and parents/carers may be asked to collect them.
All students are expected to wear the correct academy PE kit for their PE lessons. It is unacceptable for students to wear other items of clothing for PE. Please would parents/carers remind their sons/daughters to bring in their PE kit on the days that they have PE lessons. Students are not allowed to wear their school shoes in PE lessons, please ensure that your son/daughter brings appropriate footwear for their PE Lessons.
PE Kits
All students are expected to wear the correct academy PE kit for their PE lessons. It is unacceptable for students to wear other items of clothing for PE. Please would parents/carers remind their sons/daughters to bring in their PE kit on the days that they have PE lessons. Students are not allowed to wear their school shoes in PE lessons, please ensure that your son/daughter brings appropriate footwear for their PE Lessons.
Resources
Please ensure that your child arrives on their first day equipped for learning with their bag, pencil case, reading book and their chromebook.
As a technologically intelligent school, we expect chromebooks to be used in all lessons to support revision, research, note taking, as well as encourage independence and resilience. We therefore expect all our students to come to school each day with their chromebook fully charged. Students will not be allowed to borrow chromebooks from the college offices. Parents and carers of students who do not have chromebooks should contact the main office so that we can arrange for the student to be loaned one.
Students will be issued exercise books and will need to bring these into school for the lessons they have on a particular day. We encourage students to take their books home where necessary so that they can showcase their excellent work to parents/carers whilst also helping them to revise. Students may be able to leave their books in school at their teachers’ discretion.
Homework
At Longfield Academy, we passionately believe that homework plays an important role in helping our students to make outstanding progress and is a core element for our students to ‘achieve beyond expectations’.
All homework is set as an ‘Assignment’ on Google Classroom, under the relevant subject’s ‘Homework Tab’ by 3.15pm on every Monday.
As part of our commitment to ensuring progress through homework, all work is logged as either ‘complete’ or ‘incomplete’ by class teachers and can be tracked on your child’s MCAS profile. Excellent homework is rewarded with positive points and contact homework. Three pieces of incomplete homework in the same week will result in an after school detention being scheduled.
For more information and support with the management and completion of homework, please see the ‘Homework’ tab on our website.
Helix
Students will be able to purchase food from the Helix or Snack Shack during break and lunch. Students will be able to use the fingerprint sensors as we operate a cashless system.
Unless in poor weather, students will only be allowed to sit and eat in the Helix or outside during break and lunch. We have erected a canopy outside and also have benches and the amphitheatre area for students to sit and enjoy their food.
Pips
We have pips to signal the end/start of lessons. Students have five minutes between the end and start of lessons, and therefore should be able to use the toilet facilities then or during break/lunch.
Apart from students who have medical conditions, to whom we would issue passes, no other students would be allowed to leave lessons in order to use the toilets. This is for safeguarding reasons and also to remove disruption to lessons.
Given the five minutes travel time incorporated between lessons, there is no excuse for students to arrive to lessons late (except for medical reasons). Therefore students arriving late to lessons may be put in exit rooms or our Internal Exclusion Room for the entire duration of the lesson they are late to in order to avoid disrupting lessons. They will also be issued an after school detention for lateness. Please refer to our Attendance and Punctuality Policy for further details.
Coats
Students are not permitted to wear their coats inside the academy building.
Parking Onsite
Parents/carers can drop off their children on the site up until 8.15am each morning. Only parents/carers with suitable permits will be allowed to drop off/park on site after this time. This is to ensure that we are able to facilitate the safe entry and exit of coaches.
At the end of the school day, parents/carers should avoid picking up students from the premises before 3.20pm.
Year 11 and 13 PPEs
Students in Year 11 and 13 will be sitting their second round of Pre-Public Examinations (PPEs) from next Wednesday for the next two to three weeks. These examinations, traditionally referred to as mocks, are crucial in helping to prepare students for their summer GCSEs and A Levels. I would like to wish these students well and hope that we can count on the support of all students, staff and families in ensuring that revision for these examinations are maximised. Our breakfast clubs, after school interventions and Saturday school sessions will continue as normal to ensure that students have all the support they need.
As we look forward to an excellent and fulfilling module, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support.
Yours faithfully,
Dr F. Donkor
Principal
