Astrea St Ivo
Astrea St Ivo
Dear Parent/ Carer
Another week, another fabulous charity event. This week’s “Wear it Pink” Day on Thursday was organised by the sixth form to support awareness of breast cancer. As always, our amazing sixth form students went above and beyond to raise money and awareness for this very important event. Thank you to all the students and staff who got involved and contributed to the day.
Just a reminder that next Friday 25 October 2024 is a staff training day, so the school will be closed to all students.
CromaSport meeting
We met with ChromaSport this week to review the rolling out of the new uniform this academic year, to build on the many strengths that both sides had experienced, identify opportunities for further improvement and to discuss concerns that some parents/ carers have raised.
ChromaSport are committed to addressing any possible manufacturing issues that having arisen, acknowledging that they distribute thousands of garments to many school and occasionally flaws may get through. Obviously, where there is a manufacturing issue, items will be replaced without question.
As a school, we have also reflected on when different items of the PE are used and the sort of activities we do to better support prolonged use of the PE kit. For example, whilst students may wear the tracksuit bottoms during the day, they are being asked to ensure they have their shorts with them for rugby so that the tracksuit bottoms do not get damaged with the rough-and-tumble of the sport. Also, dance will no longer include slides within the curriculum, as the wooden floors can impact on any material.
ChromaSport are also looking to provide further opportunities for young people to try on sample items during the summer term ready for a September start. We are also continuing our arrangement to act as an intermediary where parents and carers cannot access their physical store easily.
Fluency and quizzing update
At St Ivo Academy, students are required to gain key knowledge in all their subjects. Embedding this knowledge into their long-term memory will equip them not only to understand each subject in more depth, but also set the foundations for future study. At St Ivo Academy we understand that learning knowledge takes time. Regular, low-stakes quizzing is one of the strategies we use to support students’ acquisition and retention of core knowledge.
Research tells us that students develop fluency and confidence in their learning through engaging in regular, repeated practice. Practice testing (or retrieval practice) means that students are required to retrieve the information that was studied/learnt from their long-term memory. This active recall/retrieval of information ensures that they remember this information better and for longer.
New: tutor time quizzes
After half term, one tutor session per week will be dedicated to a low-stakes knowledge recall quiz. The quiz will encompass a range of different subject areas each week. The questions have been created by expert teachers to allow core knowledge to be practiced, developed, and checked. Students will write their answers on mini white boards and teachers will provide immediate feedback on answers. Everybody can then reflect on their success and plan next steps. Tutors will monitor students’ progress and there will be regular opportunities to praise students who are making progress, or regularly achieving high scores on the quiz.
The quiz questions are all based on core knowledge which can be found in Knowledge Organisers. Knowledge Organisers are available for all subjects and year groups, and bring together the essential knowledge a subject will cover in a term. This is the need-to-know information, the information every student must be able to recall quickly.
Yours faithfully
Tony Meneaugh
Principal
Flu vaccinations
Please see below information about catch up clinics that Vaccination UK is holding across Cambridge and Peterborough in October half term. If your child missed their flu vaccination in school for any reason, please follow the link below to book your child into a specific clinic and specific time. All clinics run from 10am – 2pm.
Appointments must be booked in advance using this link: Vaccination UK East Anglia Immunisation (schoolvaccination.uk)
29 October – Cambridge – Trumpington Pavilion, Paget Road, Trumpington CB2 9JF
30 October – Huntingdon – The Coneygear Centre, Buttsgrove Way, Huntingdon PE29 1PE
31 October – Peterborough – Gladstone Community Centre, 896 Bourges Boulevard, Peterborough PE1 2AN
1 November – Wisbech- Oasis Centre, St Michael’s Avenue, Wisbech PE13 3NR
Hello Yellow
We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who supported Hello Yellow supporting YoungMinds, on World Mental Health Day on 11 October 2024. All the money has been counted and we are very proud and grateful to announce we have raised a grand total of £435! Thank you to everyone making this day so memorable and successful.
Holiday Voucher Scheme
Please see the links below for details from the local authority:
Curiously Divergent Workshop on Employment Skills Toolkit
This workshop will be delivered by Curiously Divergent who are committed to building a world where neurodiversity is celebrated and leveraged as a strength. We offer a comprehensive range of services designed to support individuals, communities, and organisations in unlocking their full potential.
Who this session is geared for: Young people and their parent carers
When: 28 October 13:00-14:00
The workshop will cover:
- Skills linked to Jobs
- What is Access to Work and why you need to know about this?
- What is a Reasonable Adjustment and why this is important to know
- Develop your own tool kit
By the end of the workshop, you will leave the session understanding how you can advocate for yourself to get accommodations you need at work, understand how the government Access to Work Grant could be used to support you and feel empowered by knowing your legal rights within the workplace.
To register please contact Martine, Preparing for Adulthood Lead: Martine.simpson-thomas@cambridgeshire.gov.uk
If young people will be attending, please may they attend with parents/ carers, with cameras off.
‘Getting Ready for Change’ – NHS Questionnaire for Year 7 Families
The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Healthy Child Programme has asked us to send all Year 7 families details of their ‘Getting Ready for Change’ questionnaire. This is an NHS run, anonymous questionnaire which aims to gather important information as to the health of our young people transitioning from primary to secondary education this academic year. If you have a child in Year 7, please see a separate letter we have sent you for further details and the link to the questionnaire.