Newsletter – 20/12/2024

What a fantastic end to the term here at Beckfoot Oakbank, as always, there has been lots to share and celebrate.

Our assemblies over the past couple of weeks have focussed on keeping safe inside and outside of school which students have fully engaged with. Students have been able to demonstrate their takeaways from the assemblies in follow up sessions with their tutors.

As we are at the end of term, we have been able to recognise and celebrate the many students who have achieved so much across this half term and beyond. Rewards assemblies and our red-carpet event (Cafe Oakbank) were well received, and it was great to see students being recognised for their attendance and achievement. We try so hard to ‘catch students getting it right’ and praise and recognise them for doing the right thing because it is the right thing to do. We are continuously striving to craft a culture where all our students can enjoy belonging, be ready and here to learn and be determined to succeed.

Last week we held an ‘in the community event’ at the Sue Belcher centre; an opportunity where families could drop in and speak with some of our SLT. It was great to speak to all those who attended and we are looking forward to more events of this
nature in the new year.

Our performing arts showcase this week was a superb, ‘Christmassy’ way to end the term. Many friends and family came to see our students perform and it was a pleasure to see the students entertain the audience with a range of fantastic festive acts. Their confidence and enjoyment in performing was heart-warming to see.

We have lots to look forward to in the new year, for example in our first week back we have the BBC Bitesize Careers roadshow where the BBC team will be running careers workshops for students from across the different year groups. Of course, we will keep you posted and updated on how this and other events are received.

It remains for me to thank you for all your support this term and to wish you all a happy and peaceful holiday. It is quite simply a privilege to serve our community and work with our vibrant and talented students every day. We look forward to working with you in 2025 and welcoming the students back on Tuesday January 7th.

Mr Ray
Acting Head of School

As we reach the end of term, we want to congratulate all our Year 7 students for their hard work and dedication. You’ve shown incredible growth, adapting to the challenges of secondary school and embracing new opportunities. Whether it’s through class activities or personal achievements, each of you has made an impact. As we break for the holidays, take time to relax, recharge, and reflect on your accomplishments. It was great to celebrate this week our students with high attendance and excellent behaviour in our Oakbank café. Last week we recognised the work of two students winning the Geography Antarctica Flag competition, with the winning entries being sent to Antarctica! We look forward to seeing you return in the new year, ready for more opportunities to enjoy, learn and succeed at Beckfoot Oakbank. Have a wonderful break, Year 7. Merry Christmas!

It has been a brilliant end to the term. Students have made some fantastic Christmas windows including a King Kong sized monkey in a Santa hat. We also celebrated Christmas by giving every Year 8 a book as a present. It was lovely to see some of the excitement when these were handed out. We have also celebrated the end of term with an extremely well attended Red Carpet Event where the students were given a ‘cafe experience.’ We’re looking forward to the new year where year 8 will be learning about Shakespeare’s The Tempest in English; diversity in science and the Industrial Revolution in history. We hope you all enjoy a well-deserved break. Merry Christmas.

We have been working hard as a year group to develop positive routines and build upon the work done in year 7 and Year 9 are developing into a well-mannered and mature year group following many of our learning habits with vigour. This week we had our options assembly and students have been given a chance to choose their subjects for GCSE next year. The booklet has been sent home and the options for is expected back in the new year. If further support and guidance is needed, please see Mr Gill, Mr Clegg-Murtog or Mr Phillips and we will be happy to give advice. This is an important choice and needs to be made thinking about what the future holds. Thank you for all your heard work this term Year 9 and enjoy the Christmas Break.

As we approach the end of the first term this year it is with great pleasure we share some of the activities our students have experienced over the last few weeks:

Firstly, over 60 students were invited to an all-day interactive art workshop on the 12th of December held in the main hall here at Beckfoot Oakbank. The response to the session was amazing with students producing work they were proud of and eager to share with others, their enthusiasm for the day was wonderful and a real pleasure to witness. We aim to offer a number of experiences for the year group across different subjects in the new year and are delighted to inform you that the next opportunity for your children will be a careers workshop run by the BBC early in the new year.

Secondly, we are eager to regularly reward our students in small but meaningful ways to acknowledge and motivate those who are getting it right every day. This week we have hosted a red carpet event for more than 90 Year 10 students with a pop-up café over lunch on the 17th December. Offering a sweet treat, in the form of a Krispy Kreme donut, for those learners who had excellent attendance, no lates and no behaviour points over the last 2 weeks. Your child will have the opportunity to focus on achieving another red carpet reward in the new year and we would ask you to encourage them to do so when the time arrives.

Finally, our end of term celebration assembly on the 18th December was once again eagerly anticipated by the learners and the surprise angelic guest and elf helpers had them laughing and cheering as they and their peers were acknowledged for all the wonderful achievements they have made this first term, including over 30 students receiving their Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Awards which they worked towards last year, if you child took part in this scheme but has not yet received their certificate and badge please encourage them to submit their evidence to the on-line portal as soon as possible.

This time of year can be so hectic for everyone, the Year 10 team would just like to wish you all a wonderful and relaxing festive season.

Year 11 have had a fantastic first term and I have been so impressed with their work ethic, drive, and determination to succeed this year. Students completed their first set of mock exams and should have a clear idea of how they are progressing. Looking ahead the second set of mock exams begins on the 20th of January and students, parents and carers should have received an individual timetable this week. This is the last chance year 11 have to practice under exam conditions before the real exams in the summer and it is vital that they are studying independently and striving to get their best possible result. This week students with excellent attendance, punctuality, and behaviour received donuts in a fantastic rewards event and we will continue to catch students getting it right and make sure their hard work and achievements are celebrated and recognised. Thank you so much for all your support this term and I hope you have a restful holiday.

This week over 500 students were successful in being part of our third red carpet event this year which was the ‘Oakbank café’. To be eligible for the event the students needed to have above 97% attendance and no behaviour incidents for the past two weeks. We are hugely proud of our students for achieving such an award and look forward to increasing this number next term. The next red-carpet event will be even better.

Our remarkable leaders in year 10 delivered over 150 Christmas decorations to our local community this week. The students handmade 150 Christmas snowflakes and then delivered these through the post-boxes of our local community. One of our neighbours even gave a full box of 18 homemade jams for us to donate to the salvation army food bank.

We have had a huge amount of food donated by families to support the Salvation army food bank. Thank you to everyone who has supported this charity initiative. The food collected will be delivered to the salvation army ready to support families in the local area.

We have raised over 200 pounds towards Save The Children this Friday by asking students to donate 50p if they wanted to wear a Christmas jumper. This is the first of many charity events planned in 2025 which will show how positive and giving our students are.

We had a Christmas window competition which was judged by Mr Ray this week and the winning windows are below. We had some very creative designs using a lot of skill and ingenuity. The windows were judged on originality, Christmas spirit and artistic flair. Well, done and thank you for taking part! We had a second competition with the staff for the best Christmas doors and the winners were Year 10, Year 8 and the Science technicians.

Our Parent Forum grew last year and we hope that this will continue this year. Members of the parent forum have supported school events such as Open Evening, Meet the Tutor, Transition and Prize giving evenings. It was great to see some new faces at the first meeting of the year.

This is an informal meeting where parents can discuss a range of topics linked to school improvement – our discussions last year covered attendance, our reading strategy, prize giving evening, the antibullying and behaviour protocols, personal development and trips and visits. All parents are welcome to attend any of the evenings. We benefit greatly from your feedback.

Please find below the dates for this year and outline agenda items.