Sent to parents and carers on 9/05/2025
Weekly Bulletin for Friday 9/05/2025
This week we have celebrated Victory in Europe Day, with a two-minute silence to commemorate the sacrifices made by our grandparents’ and great-grandparents’ generation in defeating Nazism in 1945. Mr Day has led a week of House assemblies explaining the significance of VE Day 80 in world history, the importance of commemorating this achievement, and of remembering those who sacrificed their lives to achieve peace in Europe in 1945. Students have been shown images of the local area in 1945 and heard about what Westbourne was like during WW2. Winston Churchill said at the time: ‘We may allow ourselves a brief period of rejoicing; but let us not forget for a moment the toil and efforts that lie ahead.’ We even enjoyed a VE Day themed menu in the food hall at lunch time.
Continuing the theme of British Values at Westbourne, it was a pleasure to meet with Patrick Spencer MP today along with some of our prefects. Patrick met with the students in the library and answered questions on such diverse topics as the work of an MP, how to improve the quality of life in Ipswich and even his favourite football team.
Year 11 are in the thick of their GCSE exams now, with business, enterprise and marketing, health and social care, sport and drama written exams this week as well as speaking exams in some of our Home Language subjects – Polish, Urdu, Russian and Portuguese. Please encourage your children in Year 11 to keep going with their revision, it will pay off in the summer when they receive their results!
St Elizabeth Hospice: Hop to It!
The school raised a total of £1161.45 for the hospice hare as a result of a fundraising race-night evening for staff and an Easter Egg raffle. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this amazing total. Please go and look at the hare when it goes on display in the town in June.
Help Your Child Beat Exam Stress
The NHS have some helpful tips for parents and carers to support their children during what can be a challenging time, covering areas such as establishing healthy routines, recognising signs of stress, and creating a supportive home environment. Follow the link below which will take you to the NHS website where you can find the article in full:
NHS Article – Beat Exam Stress
Reminder: Parent & Carer Feedback Form
As mentioned last week, we are developing plans to move from the current house system to a new year-group based system. If you would like to offer your thoughts on the plans, including identifying strengths of the current system you would like to see kept, and areas for development you would like us to consider, there is a short online feedback form here. It should take you no longer than five minutes to complete:
https://forms.office.com/e/M5XDSxR6Wa
Student Absence
Please ensure if your child is absent from the academy, that you have notified the attendance office at the earliest opportunity on each day they are not going to be in school, in order to prevent the automated text messages being sent or absence calls being made to parents/carers – these commence from 8.35am each day.
The ways in which you can contact the academy to inform us of student absence can be found on our website here.
Attendance Matters – “Attend today, achieve tomorrow”
“Education is your passport to the future, and good attendance is the stamp that gets you there.”
Attendance Focus for w/c 28/04/2025
- academy attendance across years 7-11 for the year to date is 87.6%
- academy attendance across years 7-11 last week was 87.9%
- 721 students across the academy had 100% attendance to school last week
- the best House attendance was Nightingale with 89.8%
- the best year group attendance was Year 7 with 88.8%
- the best tutor groups for attendance were N7 and R4 with 97%
- 413 students did not receive a single late mark last week and had both 100% attendance and punctuality to lessons
- the best House for punctuality to school and lessons was Ramsey House
- the best year group for punctuality to school and lessons was Year 11
- the best Houses for 100% attendance and 100% punctuality last week were Ennis & Nightingale, with 103 students achieving this impressive feat in each house.
- 97 students currently have 100% attendance to school this academic year
Praise & Reward Update
- 841 students received positive points during last week in their lessons for exemplary behaviour or attendance
- 12, 620 positive points were awarded to students during last week
Soccer Schools at May Half Term
Ipswich Town Foundation are hosting soccer schools over May half term at various venues. They are at Westbourne Academy on Tue 27 May from 10:00-15:00 for 6-12 year olds. To book, follow this link to their website: https://buff.ly/qKRWwvD
Ipswich Fit: May Half Term
Ipswich Fit have an exciting program of activities to share with families including Dance Fit, Frisbee Golf, roller-skating and more! The best way to access their holiday activity programme is with their Young Person iCard for £20 a month. Bookings for half term open from 20 May. See poster below for details or visit
https://www.ipswichfit.co.uk/myipswichfit/
Reminder: Year 11 Leavers Hoodies
Parents, carers and Year 11 students are reminded to place their order for a leavers hoodie by the cut off date of 3 June 2025. Hoodies will be delivered to school and given out during the Year 11 leavers assembly on 18 June at 11:45-13:00. The cost is £25 and sample hoodies are available to try on in Mrs Fulcher’s office at break, lunch or after school. You can find a copy of the flyer here on our website:
Useful Links – Westbourne Academy
Food Hall Menus
The menus on offer for the next three weeks in our Food Hall next week can be found here: Catering & Food Hall – Westbourne Academy:
- 12 May – menu 1
- 19 May – menu 2
- 2 June – menu 3
Appling for Free School Meals
You can apply for free school meals online direct with Suffolk County Council. You will get an immediate response and confirmation email after you have completed your application. You will not be able to apply over the phone because you need to provide an email address, password and sign the declaration stating that you have parental responsibility. Follow the link below which will take you to the SCC website:
MyChildAtSchool (MCAS)
If you have not yet registered, please do so at your earliest convenience to ensure you have access to all the academy’s communications and services. We recommend that parents and carers use the website version of MCAS rather than the app as the website offers greater functionality that the app.
A copy of the email and instructions sent to parents and carers can be found here on our website latest news page:
Cashless System – Westbourne Academy
Key Dates 2025
Monday 2 June – Students return for 2nd half of summer term
Tuesday 17 June ` – Y10 Geography field trip
Wednesday 18 June – Y11 Leavers Assembly 11:45 -13:00 in main hall
Wednesday 18 June – Y10 Food & Farming visit to Hollow Trees Farm
Thursday 19 June – Y8 In-Person Parent/Carer Evening 16:00-19:00
Friday 20 June – Staff PD Day (school closed)
Monday 23 June – Y10 Geography field trip
Tuesday 24 June – Y10 post-16 taster day at Northgate 6th Form
Wednesday 25 June – Y10 post-16 taster day at SNC
Wed 25 & Thu 26 June – Year 6 Transition Days for pupils offered a school place for Sep 2025
Friday 27 June – Y11 Prom at All Manor of Events Henley
Monday 7 – Friday 11 July – CCF Central Camp (Cumbria)
Thursday 3 July – Y7 In-Person Parent/Carer Evening 16:00-19:00
Tuesday 8 July – Y10 post-16 taster day at Suffolk One
Thu 17 – Sat 19 July – Y10 History trip to Battlefields
Tuesday 22 July – Last day of term
You can view our academy events calendar together with term dates and PD days on our website here: Academy Calendar and Term Dates – Westbourne Academy
Kind 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
Lettings queries to wes-lettings@attrust.org.uk
Safeguarding queries to wes-safe@attrust.org.uk
SEND queries to: opal.degville@attrust.org.uk