Sent to parents and carers on 27/06/25
Weekly Bulletin for Friday 27 June 2025
It was wonderful to welcome Year 6 pupils to Westbourne on Wednesday and Thursday this week, and to see their parents and carers at our meet the tutor evening. Students sampled a range of lessons across the two days, aimed at helping them get a sense of what life in high school will be like. It was clear they were experiencing a mixture of excitement and anxiety about the move to high school at the start of the two days but, in our assembly, at the end of Thursday they had clearly very much enjoyed themselves. We are very much looking forward to seeing them in September when they join us as our new Year 7.
Year 10 have been busy visiting colleges and sixth form providers this week, with over 90 students visiting Suffolk New College on Wednesday with Mr Payne. I was delighted to hear how well the students had done in their taster sessions and to speak to them afterwards regarding their aspirations for the courses on offer and their future career plans.
From September, as part of our move to year groups we will be changing the colour tie students wear to align with their year group rather than their House, as was previously the case. From September therefore, students will be asked to wear the following colour ties:
Current Y6, next year’s Y7 – Blue (Head of Year Miss Farr)
Current Y7, next year’s Y8 – Yellow (Head of Year Mr Perry)
Current Y8, next year’s Y9 – Green (Head of Year Mr Agate)
Current Y9, next year’s Y10 – Purple (Head of Year Mr Durrant)
Current Y10, next year’s Y11 – Red (Head of Year Mr Payne)
Families who find themselves in financial hardship and are struggling to cover the costs of uniform should contact Mrs Clarke at the school in the first instance to discuss the support available.
Hot Chocolate Winners
- Y7 / Daniel N – for consistently ‘getting it right’ and embodying the ATT mission statement by being curious and always wanting to learn
- Y9 / Chloe C – for being a brilliant helper during assemblies
- Y10 / Peter S – for doing exactly the right thing every day and setting a good example as a Westbourne student
- Y10 / Alicia I – for overcoming difficulties and showing resilience
Parent/Carer Everning for Year 7
Parents and carers of Year 7 students have been sent a separate email communication this week about how to book appointments online to meet with their child’s teachers on Thursday 3 July between 16:00-19:00.
Mr Higgon will be giving a short talk in the food hall, next to the main hall, at 15:40, 16:30 and again at 17:30. You can find a copy of the email sent out on our website news page here:
https://www.westbourne.attrust.org.uk/year-7-parent-carer-evening-information/
Arrangements for the Last Day of Term
We will be communicating separately to parents and carers about the arrangements for the last day of term on Tuesday 22 July. As usual, students will be dismissed at the earlier time of 13:20 and for the academy to close at 13:30. Students who are eligible for Free School Meals will need to buy this at morning break as there is no lunchtime service.
Peer Mentoring Programme
We are delighted to be launching a Peer Mentoring Program and we are inviting our Year 10 students to apply to become mentors to young students in Key Stage 3.
This initiative is designed to develop leadership, empathy, and communication skills in our mentors while offering valuable support and guidance to their younger peers.
The program pairs trained Year 10 mentors with Key Stage 3 students to provide friendship, encouragement, and informal guidance. Mentors will meet regularly with their mentees in structured, supervised sessions during the school week.
Mentors will be carefully selected through an application and interview process. Selected students will receive training and ongoing support. We are looking for students who are reliable, approachable and keen to make a difference.
If your child is in Year 10, we strongly encourage you to discuss this opportunity with them and support them in applying if they are interested. It’s a fantastic chance to grow personally and support others. Below is a copy of the communication sent by Mrs Clarke to Year 10 students:
Y10 Peer Mentoring Letter C Clarke
SCC Household Support Fund
Suffolk County Council (SCC) is pleased to confirm that the Government announced a further extension to the Household Support Fund from April 2025 to March 2026. Whilst there has been a £1.2 million reduction in the funding allocation to SCC from the Government, SCC can confirm that it is committed to extending the support provided to low-income families in receipt of Free School Meals (FSM) and therefore will be providing vouchers for the upcoming summer holidays 2025.
SCC want to ensure that families are aware that there may be further reductions in Government funding in the future. This could impact SCC’s ability to provide discretionary vouchers after March 2026.
The grant will be issued as a £90 supermarket voucher for each eligible child from their provider, Pluxee. It is designed to help families with their essential living costs during the holiday.
The grant is provided from the Household Support funding the council has received from the government. SCC’s Free School Meals (FSM) team will continue to issue the vouchers to eligible families on behalf of schools.
SCC are aiming to have all vouchers delivered to parents/carers by email by Thursday 17 July 2025 in plenty of time before the start of summer holiday period. Therefore, if any family has not received it by this date, they should please contact: freeschoolmeals@suffolk.gov.uk.
SCC Letter To Families HSF Vouchers Summer 2025
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: 16/6/25
- academy attendance across Years 7-10 for the year to date is 87.8%
- academy attendance across Years 7-10 last week was 85.8%
- Year 7 – 85.9% / Year 8 – 83.9% / Year 9 – 86.7% / Year 10 – 86.8% attendance to school last week
- 561 students across the academy had 100% attendance to school last week
- Year 7 – 141 students / Year 8 – 131 students / Year 9 – 143 students / Year 10 – 146 students had 100% attendance to school last week
- the best year group attendance was Year 10 with 86.8%
- the best tutor groups for attendance last week were Year 7 – 7W – 93.5% / Year 8 – 80 – 94.2% / Year 9 – 9T – 93.0% / Year 10 – 10R – 93.8%
- 585 students did not receive a single late mark last week
- 339 students did not receive a single late mark to lessons or tutor time andhad 100% attendance last week
- Year 7 – 7 O / Year 8 – 8T / 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 year group for 100% attendance and100% punctuality to school last week was Year 9
- 54 students currently have 100% attendance to school this academic year – this is an excellent achievement
SCC Healthy Living Service
Suffolk County Council’s Healthy Living team are a community service offering support children and young people overcome the barriers to achieve a healthy weight. Below is a copy of their poster which explains to contact them:
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:
- 30 June – menu 2
- 7 July – menu 3
- 14 July – menu 1
Our 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.
Suffolk Community Libraries
Suffolk Community Libraries is the new name for the county’s library service which has recently transferred back to Suffolk County Council. They have asked schools to spread the word about their fantastic Reading Quest summer literacy campaign.
Holiday Activity and Food Programme Summer Delivery coming soon
Holiday Activity and Food (HAF) programme is going live for the Summer Holidays on 30 June 2025. All activities will be live for booking from this date. HAF provides activities for families who are eligible for means tested Free School Meals and families can book via their booking system Eequ – all sessions include a healthy meal.
They have some provision for children who are SEND or require support but are not eligible for Free School Meals (FSM) (with a referral form). Please contact them if you would like to know more details.
Contact: HAFenquiries@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:
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
Summer Holiday iCards with Ipswich Fit
Westbourne Community Hub
Open to all! Our next Westbourne Community Hub event takes place on Monday 30 June 2025 between 15:15 – 16:00. Entry is through the main entrance doors to Reception.
Bags of non-perishable food items and feminine hygiene products are available in exchange for a £3 donation (exact change please).
This will be the last Community Hub before the end of term. New dates will be announced for 2025-2026 in September.
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
Thursday 3 July – Y7 In-Person Parent/Carer Evening 16:00-19:00
Monday 7 – Friday 11 July – CCF Central Camp (Cumbria)
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