Sent to parents and carers on 13/06/25
Weekly Bulletin for Friday 13 June 2025
Thank you for your support with the new behaviour strategies we have implemented. In particular, it has been very helpful where you have supported us in insisting that your children attend after school detentions which help us to ensure students are accountable for their behaviour, helping them to develop the ability to make better choices through an understanding of consequences.
We have recently been reviewing lost learning time for students within the academy. Our first step was to review the learning time lost for students following C3 removal lessons. We have reduced this significantly by ensuring students only attend the shadow/removal rooms for that one period, and are expected to complete work from the class that they have been removed from in the time.
Our next focus is related to learning time lost by students who are late to lessons, as well as the disruption this causes for students who are on time and already engaged in learning. The current system sees students who are more than fifteen minutes late being placed in a shadow room for the rest of the lesson. Unfortunately, some students are therefore taking far too long to get to their lessons and are missing the start, when key information about the lesson is introduced, adjustments to the seating plan are explained, and a do now retrieval activity is carried out. Some students are therefore losing up to six hours of learning a week when the late minutes are combined. On Monday 16 June, we will inform students that if they are late without a good reason for more than 5 minutes after the start of the lesson, they will receive a 45 minute detention after school. This process will then start from Tuesday 17 June. The impact will be a more prompt and effective start to each lesson for the whole class.
Congratulations to this week’s hot chocolate winners:
- Y7 – Gabriel C for his hard work and humility, he inspires other students with his intellect through perseverance
- Y8 – Nichola B for being a fantastic student and helping Mr Agate with assembly
- Y9 – Austin B for helping with a new student
- Y10 – Charlie C for being consistently polite and helpful
Hop to it! Suffolk 2025
On Wednesday, the students who were involved in decorating the Westbourne Hop to it! hare were invited to hand over the sum of £1161.15 to representatives from St Elizabeth Hospice, one of whom arrived as a 7ft tall woolly sheep! The Westbourne hare is called Everything Everywhere All at Once and it will be situated within WD Coe’s store on Norwich Road.
The art trail will once again be hosted in Ipswich as well as, for the first time, in neighboroughing satellite locations including Woodbridge, Felixstowe, Beccles and Lowestoft. Through hosting Hop to it! Suffolk 2025, the hospice aims to give local communities a bright, vibrant and family friendly event to look forward to and enjoy.
Information: Hop to it! Suffolk 2025
The hospice confirmed that the total sum raised by the school since 1996 now stands at £3469.23.
Co-Curricular Clubs & Activities
You can find a copy of the Summer Term clubs and activities on offer to our students at lunchtime and after school here:
WA Co Curricular Timetable Summer 2025
New Pastoral Team Structure (Summer Term 2)
Contact details for the new Heads of Year and Assistant Heads of Year can be found here:
Head of Year 7 Mr T Perry tom.perry@attrust.org.uk
Assistant HoY7 Mr Z Elseidy zachery.elseidy@attrust.org.uk
Head of Year 8 Mr M Agate matthew.agate@attrust.org.uk
Assistant HoY8 Miss S McKnight-Shaw shaffron.mcknight-s@attrust.org.uk
Head of Year 9 Mr A Durrant aaron.durrant@attrust.org.uk
Assistant HoY9 Miss K Thomas-Astley kyia.thomas-astley@attrust.org.uk
Head of Year 10 Mr D Payne danny.payne@attrust.org.uk
Assistant HoY10 Mr K Carr (Wed/Thu/Fri) karl.carr@attrust.org.uk
The Head of Year for the new Year 7 students who are starting in September will be Miss C Farr.
Summer Fayre
After the success of the last year’s Christmas fayre, we are pleased to announce that we are holding a Summer Fayre on Saturday 5 July 2025 between 11:00 – 15:00. There will be lots of stalls, tombolas – including the return of our popular ‘Sweet Tooth Tombola’- a raffle, hot food and ice-cream.
We will also be hosting a football match on our 3G pitch. Entrance to the fayre will be through our staff carpark, which will be signposted on the day. Entry fee: Adults £1 & Children 50p
Enquiries to charlene.alcock@attrust.org.uk
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:
- 16 June – menu 3
- 23 June – menu 1
- 30 June – menu 2
Our new Catering Manager, Mr Salha, has introduced Sub Club on Tuesday and Thursday lunchtimes when students can choose their bread type and a range of fillings:
School Holiday Activities
Please open the PDF document below to find out about The Holiday Activity and Food Programme run by The Suffolk HAF Team. Activities on offer include sports, dance, cooking, arts and crafts and more.
This is a programme funded by the Department for Education to provide free access to activities for children aged 5 to 16 years who are eligible for Free School Meals over the spring, summer and winter holidays. Please contact HAFenquiries@suffolk.gov.uk for more details.
Suffolk HAF Activities Letter Summer 2025
SENDIASS Sessions for Parents and Carers
Booking is open for a session for parents/carers, hosted by SENDIASS, exploring how construction intervention can help children/young people to develop social understanding. The session is delivered by specialist teachers from Suffolk’s Communication and Interaction Service which is one of the Specialist Education Services.
How construction intervention can support social communication
1 July 2025 (10:30am – 11:30am)
Helpline: 01473 265210
Email: enquiries@suffolksendiass.co.uk
Text: ADVICE4ME to 87007
Suffolk SENDIASS website
FolkEast Festival
Suffolk County Music Service are excited to announce that they will once again be at the FolkEast Festival which this year, will be held at Sotterley Estate, Beccles from 15 – 17 August 2025.
They have created for a free Folksong resource pack, ahead of some singing workshops they are running at the festival. The pack contains four folksongs, three of which have Suffolk connections, all supported by historical background, teaching notes, sheet music/chords and further activities to do with each song.
Suffolk families and the wider school community, can find the pack on their website:
https://suffolkcountymusicservice.co.uk/take-part/folkeast-2025/.
For families planning to come to FolkEast, for either one day or the whole Festival, Suffolk County Music Service is also offering the chance for children to paint a violin, then take it to play as part of the vocal workshops later. The violin will then be theirs to love and play as their gift to supporting music making at home and in school.
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 last week w/c: 2/6/25
- academy attendance across years 7-11 for the year to date is 87.5%
- academy attendance across years 7-11 last week was 86.4%
- Year 7 – 86.3% / Year 8 – 85.2% / Year 9 – 87.0% / Year 10 – 86.2% attendance to school last week
- 515 students across the academy had 100% attendance to school last week
- Year 7 – 131 students / Year 8 – 123 students / Year 9 – 126 students / Year 10 – 135 students had 100% attendance to school last week
- the best year group attendance was Year 9 with 87.0%
- the best tutor groups for attendance last week were Year 7 – 70 – 89% / Year 8 – 80 – 94% / Year 9 – 9B – 94% / Year 10 – 10R – 93%
- 504 students did not receive a single late mark last week
- Year 7 – 7T / Year 8 – 8W / Year 9 – 9T / Year 10 – 10N were the tutor groups in each year with the best punctuality last week
- the best year group overall for punctuality to school and lessons was Year 10
- the best yea group for 100% attendance and100% punctuality to school last week was Year 9
- 60 students currently have 100% attendance to school this academic year – this is an excellent achievement
Praise & Reward Update
- 733 students received positive points during last week in their lessons for exemplary behaviour or attendance
- 14, 300 positive points were awarded to students during last week
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
Free School Meals – New guidance June 2025
The Department for Education (DfE) has updated the Free School Meals (FSM) guidance to confirm that all households in receipt of Universal Credit will be entitled to receive FSM from the start of the 2026/2027 school year. They have also extended transitional protections until the end of the 2025/2026 school year.
View full details
Contact: freeschoolmeals@suffolk.gov.uk
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:
Key Dates 2025
Tuesday 17 June ` – Y10 Geography field trip (10B & 10D)
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 (10A & 10C)
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