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Newsletter 6 September 2024

Dear Parent/ Carer

It has been great to welcome students back to the academy this week, and seeing the school come back to life after the summer holidays. Giving year 7 two days to settle into the school, without a lot of the older students around, has really helped their transition. We also tried something new this year, inviting students who were new to the school in September from other years in on the second year 7 day so that they have chance to settle in as well before the full return. 

It has also been great to see our year 11 students return to our sixth form, and welcome back the year 13s. You will probably have seen some of our amazing year 11 and 13 GCSE and A-Level results in the paper/ online. We were proud to inspire our current students with these achievements in the assemblies this week. This could be them in the future! 

The final two days of this week has allowed us to iron out any niggles with uniform and other matters before the first full week next week. You will have hopefully seen the updated draft behaviour policy over the summer holidays. I am in the process of responding to everyone who sent in individual emails, I’ve gone through the form submissions, and I will go through the amendments to the policy as a result of your feedback in next week’s newsletter. 

A couple of the points that will not be changing in the draft, which I have talked to students about in the assemblies, relate to the jewellery and uniform. In case your child has not let you know, and you haven’t had chance to see the policy, these are the changes from Monday (we’ve been reiterating these over the last two days): 

  • Students may only wear three studs in their ears/ nose in total. All other jewellery such as necklaces, rings and bracelets are not allowed and will be confiscated on sight. 
  • Students will no longer be given two corrections for uniform infringements before a detention is issued. Students deliberately wearing their uniform incorrectly eg skirts rolled or folded and shirts completely out when transitioning between lessons, will be given a detention straight away. 

Another change to the start of this year has been our canteen provision. The company that has taken this over, and our previous staff who have joined them, have worked tirelessly to further develop our catering offer. New ovens have been installed, decor has improved, and the menu has been reviewed. My staff, and the students I have talked to, have been very complimentary about the improvements they have made. I hope your child, if they have been in, have said the same to you. Footfall, possibly due to curiosity, has increased as well – the tills crashed on Thursday, but we were able to give year 11 a slightly extended lunch so that they could have enough time to eat. 

In other news, Mr Daly will be supporting the senior leadership team at the Ernulf Academy the autumn term and will not in school full time until January 2025. During this period, uniform queries should be directed to Mrs Robertson (assistant principal) and behaviour and sanctions queries should be directed to Mr Varey (assistant principal). 

Yours faithfully

Tony Meneaugh

Principal

Sutton Hoo Trip

The History Department have organised a Year 7 trip to Sutton Hoo. This will be taking place across 14, 16, 18, 21 and 23 October, organised by teaching group. Our goal is that all year 7 students come on the trip, as they will have just finished learning about Sutton Hoo. Please keep your eyes peeled on your inbox for a letter next week which will have all the information for booking and paying.

Uniform and PE Kit

It is great to see so many students wearing our new PE kit.  So many of the students wearing the new PE kit have said how much smarter it is and how much they prefer it to the previous styles.

As a reminder of what students in year 8 – 11 can wear for PE lessons:

  • Previous style polo t-shirt
  • Previous style hoodie
  • Previous style socks
  • Previous style rugby shirt
  • Previous style skort
  • Previous style shorts

Should your child wish to wear longer legged bottoms they must be the school leggings or the school track pants. Unfortunately, students are not allowed to wear their own branded or unbranded leggings or tracksuit/ jogging bottoms. ChromaSports have said today that they have ample supply of the leggings and track pants, so ordering should be straight forward.  The link for the page to order the leggings or track pants is below.

Schoolwear & School Uniforms in Cambridgeshire & Lincolnshire | Workwear & Teamwear also Provided (chromasport.co.uk)

For those parents/ carers in receipt of Working Tax Credit or Income Support, further financial assistance is available. To obtain this support, please email uniform@stivoschool.org with the email subject “Uniform Financial Assistance”.

Should students arrive in the incorrect bottoms we will loan them some of the new leggings or track pants where possible, where it isn’t possible we will provide old style shorts, skorts, or the new style shorts.

With regards school shoes, all students should now be in formal polishable footwear.  Where families haven’t been able to source a new pair of school shoes prior to the start of term we have provided shoes for students to change into and will continue to do this daily until students have the appropriate footwear.

We appreciate that over the course of the next week students may experience blisters, we ask that you support your child with plasters for these and ensure they continue to wear their school shoes and not trainers.  This will also help the shoes get broken in.

Safer Schools Officer

We are fortunate to have a Safer Schools Officer (SSO) allocated one day a week to our school. Hannah Watkins has been with us for one year now and visits our school every Thursday. Hannah is a Police Officer, but operates within our school as a member of staff. Hannah’s experience within the Police enables her to have a great overview of all issues faced by young people today. Hannah supports the school by helping to us to check in and investigate difficult situations that have occurred in and out of school. Hannah works positively to ensure we do not criminalise young people and therefore does not operate in school to enforce or prosecute. Hannah is a supportive member of our community with many resources to educate our students.

At times, Hannah works with students individually when young people require guidance, support or when students are asked to support the school by providing information for school investigations.

Hannah supports all students who, either inside or outside of school, have become involved with Police. Therefore, Hannah assists with any live ongoing Police investigations and will always try to resolve these without criminalising young people.

Hannah contributes to the safe environment in school and is an active member of our school community. Hannah moves around our school site, especially at social times, to be integrated and approachable by all students and staff.

We hope you agree with us that this is an incredibly positive working relationship with Cambridgeshire Police.

Diary Dates

These are key evening dates for families to plan. Other dates, including assessments, trip and other events, will be communicated separately.

  • Thursday 19 September: Year 7 parents/carers and tutors meetings
  • Thursday 26 September: Year 11 information evening
  • Thursday 3 October: Year 6 into 7 open evening
  • Thursday 10 October: Sixth Form open evening
  • Thursday 24 October: Year 12 parents/carers and tutors meetings
  • Thursday 21 November: Year 13 parents’/carers’ evening
  • Tuesday 3 and Wednesday 4 December: Ivolution dance show
  • Thursday 12 December: Year 11 parents’/carers’ evening
  • Thursday 23 January: Year 10 parents’/carers’ evening
  • Thursday 13 February: Year 9 parents’/carers’ evening
  • Thursday 13 March: Year 9 curriculum evening
  • Thursday 3 April: Year 8 parents’/carers’ evening
  • Thursday 1 May: Year 7 parents’/carers’ evening
  • Thursday 15 May: Year 12 parents’/carers’ evening

Peripatetic Music Lessons

At St Ivo Academy we offer a wide range of 1:1 instrumental lesson, run by a team of peripatetic music teachers who each come in for one day a week and use our practice rooms in the music department to teach individuals on a range of instruments. Currently the instruments taught include piano, singing, drum kit, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, violin, cello, flute, saxophone, and clarinet. We have had brass (trumpet, trombone, ukulele) until last year, and are very willing to source teachers on these and other instruments not currently offered if there is interest from a student.

The team of teachers we work with to deliver these lessons are all experienced and qualified, with lots of expertise, and all have gone through the academy’s usual rigorous checks and safeguarding training.

Lessons are offered on a 20- or 30-minute basis, weekly, for 11 weeks per term. Pair or group lessons might be possible by arrangement with the individual teacher. All communication about lessons and financial arrangements are between the parent and the teacher individually, but we in the music department at school try to help students by showing them where the rooms are, where the lesson timetables are displayed, and if we are able, go and collect students if they are in school but missing an instrument lesson (of course this is not always possible).

On the next page is a list of the different teachers we currently use, their instruments, and a short biography. If you would be interested in your son/daughter taking up lessons on an instrument, please do email the relevant teacher directly and he/she will give you more detailed information on how to proceed. You will see that there are two piano teachers named: this is because we have so many piano students each year, we need two teachers to make up the time! Please do feel free to contact whichever teacher you think looks appropriate.

If you are interested in your son/daughter having instrumental lessons on an instrument not currently offered, please contact me directly and I will investigate finding a teacher!

A key piece of information is that students who qualify for Pupil Premium funding (including those in receipt of free school meals) are entitled to help in funding the cost of instrumental lessons at St. Ivo. If this is the case for your son/daughter, please contact both the instrumental teacher and me (by copying me in) and I can help with applications for funding through the school.

My email address for any queries is deborah.miller@astreastivo.org

Deborah Miller, Teacher of Music

Dan Andrews – Guitar  dansband@hotmail.co.uk

Dan has a B.A. (Hons) in Contemporary Popular Music on guitar and has been teaching the instrument at St Ivo for 9 years. He is happy to teach Electric and Acoustic Guitar to grade 8.

Jessica Blade – flute, clarinet, saxophone, piano  jemusictuition@gmail.com

Jessica Blade B.A. (Hons) was brought up in St Ives and attended St Ivo herself. She has been teaching in Cambridgeshire for over twenty years and is passionate about teaching in her local area. She regularly attends and plays in the concerts put on by St Ivo, supporting students and colleagues.  Jess has been teaching at St Ivo Academy for 19 years and teaches in many of the local primary schools, ensuring continuity for students.  Jess’s specialist instrument is the flute, and she also teaches clarinet, saxophone, and bassoon to grade 6 level. Jess also teaches piano up to grade 3 level. Jess supports student participation in ensembles and enables instrumental playing as a skill aspect for the Duke of Edinburgh Award. Jess adopts an individual-focused teaching approach, first and foremost wanting the students to enjoy their lessons and the music they play and is happy to take students through exams or just help them play for fun.

Juliet Brien – Violin and Viola  juliet.brien@gmail.com

Juliet Brien GMusRNCM(Hons) has over 30 years’ teaching experience at all levels, from beginners to diploma students, and of all ages from reception children to adults. She also has over 30 years’ professional playing experience, including being a full-time member of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Juliet has taught at St. Ivo since 2004 and teaches in a number of local primary and secondary schools. Juliet teaches both violin and viola, entering students for examinations with both ABRSM and Trinity College London, although, of course, exams are optional; many students enjoy making progress on their instrument without taking exams. Juliet is a member of the Incorporated Society of Musicians and the European String Teachers’ Association.

Claire Everett – Piano  claireeverett100@gmail.com

Claire has played piano for over 40 years and has been teaching piano for over 10 years, both privately and in a number of local primary and secondary schools. Claire’s aim is to help students at all levels to develop a love of music, together with practical playing skills, music reading and theory. Claire teaches across a variety of styles (classical, contemporary, pop, jazz, and blues), and her approach is to tailor the learning process to each student, whether they want to play purely for pleasure or enjoy the challenge of taking an exam. She has taken students through ABRSM, Trinity, Trinity Rock and Pop, and RSL exams with 100% pass rate, and has also enjoyed working with older students at GCSE on their practical performances and composition.

Karen England – Voice  karenengland100@gmail.com

Karen’s BA in Music and English (University of Leeds) was followed by a Post Graduate Vocal Diploma from the Guildhall school of Music and Drama, then a career including work at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, BBC Proms under Sir Simon Rattle, and with Sony Records with classical crossover group The OperaBabes. She has been working worldwide as an operatic soloist for over 25 years and has extensive experience of all aspects of performing both in opera, on the concert stage and in the recording industry. Karen is now particularly passionate about working in schools and with school choirs, developing good singing technique and performance skills and with teenagers to boost confidence and mental wellbeing. She is happy teaching a wide cross section of genres from classical, pop, folk, rock, and music theatre working for fun, or towards exams, shows and open mic sessions, choir performances and theatre.

Alex Dixon – Drum kit  alexanderfkdixon@gmail.com

Alex Dixon studied at St Ivo himself and took his GCSE music qualifications with the school. He has since taken his drum playing from strength to strength and is now offering lessons back at St Ivo. Alex also works with other local schools teaching drumming, and as part of the ‘Rock Steady’ instrumental scheme. Alex has now been drumming for 15 years and teaches beginners up to Grade 8 (Trinity Board).