Sent to parents and carers on 20/06/25
Weekly Bulletin for Thursday 19 June 2025
It has been another busy week at Westbourne. On Wednesday, we held our Year 11 leavers assembly and formally said goodbye to the Class of 2025 now that they have finished their exams. The atmosphere was very positive and we hope students enjoyed themselves, especially the ‘then and now’ photo montage put together by Mr Burrows. We look forward to seeing Year 11 again at their prom on 27 June and when they come to collect their exam results on 21 August.
On Tuesday, we saw half of our Year 10 geographers depart for a fieldwork trip to the Olympic Park in Stratford, London. On Wednesday, we saw another Year 10 trip, this time to Hollowtrees Farm to study the links between farms and our food supply.
On Thursday evening, we welcomed Year 8 parents and carers to the academy for the Year 8 parent and carer evening, which included a talk from me and members of the senior leadership team about improvements we are making to the academy.
During the hot weather can I please ask you to ensure your children are coming to school with a refillable water bottle. We have several water fountains where these can be refilled before school, at break and lunchtime. Some students arrive with no water bottle and then have to wait until break or lunch to buy a drink.
Drama Auditions
We are excited to begin preparations for the next whole school musical, to be performed in 2026. If you think that your child would be interested in attending, please could you let them know that I will be holding pre-auditions at lunchtime on Tuesday next week.
Please see further information below, and thank you for your continued support of The Arts at Westbourne.
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. Good attendance is the stamp that gets you there.”
Attendance Focus for last week w/c: 9/06/025
- academy attendance across years 7-10 for the year to date is 87.8%
- academy attendance across years 7-10 last week was 87.4%
- Year 7 – 87.9% / Year 8 – 85.0% / Year 9 – 90.3% / Year 10 – 86.2% attendance to school last week
- 553 students across the academy had 100% attendance to school last week
- Year 7 – 139 students / Year 8 – 133 students / Year 9 – 146 students / Year 10 – 135 students had 100% attendance to school last week
- the best year group attendance was Year 9 with 90.3%
- the best tutor groups for attendance last week were Year 7 – 7W – 94% / Year 8 – 80 – 90.4% / Year 9 – 9B – 95.4% / Year 10 – 10R – 94.5%
- 472 students did not receive a single late mark last week
- 285 students did not receive a single late mark to lessons or tutor time and had 100% attendance last week
- Year 7 – 7TE & 7W / Year 8 – 8 O / Year 9 – 9R / 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 year group for 100% attendance and 100% punctuality to school last week was Year 10
- 58 students currently have 100% attendance to school this academic year – this is an excellent achievement
Praise & Reward Update
- 736 students received positive points during last week in their lessons for exemplary behaviour or attendance
- 13, 525 positive points were awarded to students during last week
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:
- 23 June – menu 1
- 30 June – menu 2
- 7 July – menu 3
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
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:
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
Ipswich Fit Holiday iCard
Please find attached details of the Summer Holiday iCard that is on offer for 2025 within Ipswich Borough Council. The website will be live week commencing 16th June which will have the Camp programme available to view followed by the Centres programmes later this month. They have a fantastic programme this year with over 300 activities and lots of new activities added that will all encourage movement and activity in our young population
Summer Holiday ICards With Ipswich Fit
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
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
Thursday 21 August – Y11 exam results collection (10:00-12:00)
Monday 1 September – Staff PD Day (closed to students)
Tuesday 2 September – Staff PD Day (closed to students)
Wednesday 3 September – 1st day of autumn term for all students
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