Sent to parents and carers on 25/04/2025
Strategic Improvements at Westbourne Academy
As we begin my third term as principal at Westbourne, a key area of focus is supporting our Year 11s as they approach the start of their GCSE exams. I was very proud of the students who came in to make the most of the revision sessions on offer in the academy over the Easter holiday, as well as those who attend Period 6 sessions after school, and those who work hard during Morning Meetings. I know the majority of our Year 11 students are making the most of the support on offer to them at Westbourne, and as a result they will go on to unlock a wide range of opportunities for study and employment in Years 12, 13 and beyond.
Furthermore, as I reflect on the progress we have made as an academy since I joined in September, there are several areas where we need to see further improvements. This term, I will be working with my senior leadership team and colleagues from Academy Transformation Trust to make changes in these areas that will lead to a better experience of Westbourne for our staff and students. I have outlined our plans below:
[1] Pastoral Support
Our pastoral team works very hard every day to support the young people in their Houses, but often this is made more challenging by the structure of the academy being in Houses. Student issues often appear in year group clusters at break and lunch times or outside of school which then spills over into school time, and in specific classes where the learning climate is not where we would like it to be.
With the current House system, it is more difficult for a Head of House or Pastoral Lead to support individual subject teachers, subject leaders or duty staff with these issues as they often involve students in one year group but from multiple houses. This can lead to delays in resolving issues and this is certainly an area where staff, students and parents/carers would like to see improvements.
Therefore, over the next half term we are looking at moving the school’s pastoral support structure from a House based system to a Year based system. The precise details of how we will do this will be worked out over this half term. This will mean an increase in capacity as we move to five Heads of Year and five Assistant Heads of Year instead of the current four Heads of House and four Pastoral Leads.
If you would like to offer your feedback on areas of strength of the current House system that you would like to see retained, and areas of the current House system you would like to see improved, all parents/carers will be emailed a link to an online feedback form next week. Please look out for this separate communication.
[2] Behaviour Support
We are currently seeing some students receiving multiple C3s (being removed from a lesson) across the week and this is resulting in a significant amount of time being spent in our seclusion room. This can result in students missing significant gaps in learning and knowledge. I understand that some parents/carers of these students as well as the students themselves are frustrated with this situation.
Mr Trott is therefore going to be working alongside our staff this half term to consider how we can adjust our C3 and seclusion systems to lead to fewer students needing to be removed from lessons and being placed in seclusion.
The focus of the behaviour system needs to be to support young people in improving their behaviour so that they do not need to be removed from a lesson in the first place. As this system evolves, it is vital that parents and carers work with us to reinforce the importance of behaving well and connecting with our STAR values in lessons and around the academy with our young people.
I would like to thank you in advance for this support. It is vital to the young people in our care, allowing them to make the most of their time at Westbourne. We will of course update you when the changes to the reward/behaviour system are confirmed.
Regards
Mr M Higgon
Principal
Academy vision: Westbourne is an inclusive academy. We support all students, regardless of starting point, to achieve their potential and develop the skills necessary for employment and life.
Academy values: Be Safe, Be Thoughtful, Be Accountable and Be Respectful.
General queries to: wes-office@attrust.org.uk or 01473 742315
Attendance or Absence queries to: wes-attendance@attrust.org.uk
Exam queries to: anna.fulcher@attrust.org.uk
MCAS, online payments and data information queries to: wes-data@attrust.org.uk
SEND queries to: opal.degville@attrust.org.uk
Lettings queries to wes-lettings@attrust.org.uk
Safeguarding queries to wes-safe@attrust.org.uk