This week’s newsletter covers a welcome back, new website, our Sixth Form grand opening, fire and critical incident practice and expectations.
Welcome back
Our new school year began with Year 7 students enjoying two dedicated induction days, helping them settle into their new routines and surroundings. On Wednesday, we were delighted to welcome new starters across Years 8–11, before the whole school community came together on Thursday.
It has also been fantastic to see so many of our Year 11 students choosing to continue their journey with us in the Sixth Form, 71 and counting, with more still joining! If you are reconsidering long bus journeys to other institutions, it’s not too late to get in touch. We’d be more than happy to have a conversation about the opportunities available here.
New website design
We have a new website that has been designed with accessibility, usability and a cleaner modern finish in mind.
Within the website we have moved items around, so it might take time to find what you need but in turn it is better formatted to be easier for you. For example, all the information as a parent and carer can now be found in Parent and carer hub – where you can find information regarding, uniform, equipment, term dates, school timings, food menus, transport and attendance.
We have launched our community news, which can be found under the news tab. This is for all things community – events and news. You can submit your articles/ events with information and photos to community@astreastivo.org. This email can also be used for parents and carers to email us regarding all the wonderful achievements that our young people are doing outside of school so we can champion this in school.
In addition, we have changed the name of newsletters to weekly news, which can also be found under news. Please note: all newsletters from 2023-2025 summer term are now in News Archive.
We will also have press releases where you can find all the articles that are sent to press or stories that require their own news article.
If you are struggling to find something that was on the old website and can no longer find it – please contact lauren.tomlinson@astreastivo.org who can direct you to the right place.
Please note: we are aware of phone compatibility issues where some pages and text might seem out of line. We ask for your patience while our developers and marketing team work together to fix these issues.
Sixth Form Grand opening
I was pleased to welcome so many people from the school, Trust central team, LGC, PAC and especially the local community come along to celebrate our “Grand Reopening” of our refurbished sixth form centre on Thursday. This is a huge investment in the futures of our young people in St Ives, and demonstrates everyone’s commitment to the St Ivo Academy Sixth Form being the preferred post-16 destination for our community.
We welcomed back some of our year 13 students for the evening to experience the transformation before they go to uni. We are proud to know that 60 out of 70 students took up their first choice University placement. See the map below showing where our students are going across the country.
A special mention to Kiera, who recreated her A-Level art work in three times the size. “Fernando the Frog” is now proudly positioned in the sixth form common room. We wish Kiera good luck at the University of Bath where she will be studying Art.
Other Trust investment around the site
We have made some changes to the site to benefit our students over the summer. Alongside fresh coats of paint, we now have new vinyl flooring on the stairs in Main Block, four new shelter covers in the craft playground, and a canopy for the canteen queue – perfect for both rainy and sunny days!
We have also updated our computer rooms with new equipment ready for the new term.
We will continue to update you on other school developments as we embark on a multi-year refurbishment of the site – if you would like to support us in fundraising for certain areas please get in touch.
Year 11 Notices
Well done to year 11 on a wonderful, positive start to the academic year. We will be holding a Year 11 Information Evening on Thursday 11 September 5.30-6.30pm in the school hall. We will hear from English, Maths and Science leads as well as pastoral and leadership teams about how students can best prepare for the year ahead. Both parents and students are invited to join us from 5.15 for a 5.30 start.
Equipment
Well done to everyone who returned in September fully equipped and ready to go. For those students missing a few things, here’s a reminder of what students are expected to bring with them every day:
- 30cm ruler
- Black pens (x2)
- Rubber
- Green pen
- Pencil
- Scientific calculator
- Protractor
- Highlighter
- Glue stick
- Large transparent 30cm pencil case*
- Knowledge organiser folder*
- A4 Equipment ziplock bag*
- Translucent reading ruler*
- Mini whiteboard*
- Whiteboard pen/ pencil*
The school provided students with items highlighted with an asterisk last academic year, or the start of this academic year for those who hadn’t previously been provided with them.
We are aware of an issue with MCAS reporting “no stock” for the mini whiteboards and the reading rulers and have corrected this. Alternatively, parents and carers can purchase these from online retailers searching for “mini whiteboards” and “dyslexic ruler overlays” respectively.
Student Bromcom Portal – How to
If you are struggling to access the student portal – please follow the instructions below.
- Get the Bromcom Student Portal App on your device.
- Make sure you have Outlook, with your school email, installed on your device.
- Download the Bromcom Student App.
- Select the ‘Magic Link’ option to login and complete the information requested.
- The school ID is 12567.
- A link will be sent to your school email. Open this on the same device as the app is installed.
- This should log you in to the app. If you get stuck in a loop go into the app and swipe back to the
- first screen, it should then log you in automatically
Fire drill and critical incident (lockdown) practice
Next week there will be a fire drill on Monday and critical incident (lockdown) practice on Tuesday at the end of lunchtime. All students will be shown the correct procedure in their tutorial time to make them aware of the difference, what to listen out for, and what to do when they hear the alarm.
Please the definition of each type of practice.
Fire/smoke: ‘GET OUT’ evacuation. Leave buildings.
Critical incident: ‘GET IN’ lockdown: there is a serious immediate danger to us in school eg intruder (uninvited person) or weapon on site; risk of harm.
‘Soft invacuation’: (indoors all/part of the day). This will be messaged by SLT if needed eg in response to an emailed ongoing threat sent to local schools.
National Emergency Alerts Test – Sunday 7 September 2025 at 3pm
We want to make you aware that the UK Government will be conducting a national test of the Emergency Alerts system on Sunday 7 September 2025 at 3pm.
This test will send a loud siren like sound and vibration to most mobile phones and tablets, even if they are on silent. The alert will last for approximately 10 seconds and will include a message confirming that no action is required.
Why is this happening?
The Emergency Alerts system is designed to warn people about life threatening emergencies such as severe weather or public safety incidents. This test ensures the system is working effectively.
No action is required during the test.