Newsletter - June 2018

Walton Hall Academy Stafford Road, Eccleshall, ST21 6JR Email: office@waltonhall.staffs.sch.uk

Website: www.waltonhall.set-mat.co.uk Telephone: 01785 850420

Walton Hall Academy @WaltonHallAcad

Dates for your diary!

2018

4th July

Churnet Valley Railway Trip — CR Class

KS4 Cricket Tournament—Newcastle

5th July

Whole school transition day

6th July

New parent’s coffee morning

7th July

Summer Fayre

9th July

RDA Funday—CR Class

11th July

Parent’s Evening

13th July

10:00am—KS3 Graduation

1:30pm—KS4 Graduation

16th July

1:30pm—Sports Afternoon—BBQ

Lunch

17th July

Blists Hill Trip—CR Class

19th July

10:00am—Leaver’s Assembly

20th July

Leaver’s Prom

20th July

School finishes for Summer

6th September

First day of school

Academy Update: Amanda Cameron (Principal)

Dear Parents and Carers,

Another very exciting month at Walton Hall – lots of exams, work experience, outdoor education opportunities, the first Shaw Education Trust student conference, summer performances and some amazing news from the ICT Challenge. Year 9 have been to the Calvert Trust in the Lake District, Mrs Dalziel’s class are off to the Eden project in Cornwall and work has continued with the restora-tion of the school farm.

We were all incredibly proud of the summer performances involving many students from across the school. Thank you to all staff and parents who supported this event but especially to Mrs Walker and Mrs Dalziel for their work on the 2 productions – Melody and Mugsy Balone – They were fabu-lous!

We continue to be extremely busy as we move into July with our Grand Summer Fayre on the 7th July and various leavers events – see the calendar of dates. Due to the world cup – we have changed the timings for the Summer Fayre to 11am until 1pm. We hope we will see as many of you as possible and obviously we will be very grateful to receive dona-tions for the stalls to make this a bumper event. Our SET student conference took place on Thursday 28th June – this was an opportunity for students from all of our academies to meet, explore student voice and share activities such as bush craft, farm and quad bike riding. Student voice is a very important aspect of the work guiding the Shaw Education Trust and all students made a wonderful contribution to the day.

In terms of staffing, we were absolutely delighted to interview and appoint Mrs Julie Wood to the post of Vice Principal. Julie has undertaken this role in an acting capacity for some time now and has done an outstanding job. We have also appointed 3 middle management posts as follows – Teaching and Learning – Laura Paget, Pastoral and Transition- Dawn Wall, Additional Needs Cur-riculum – Cath Robinson. These posts will allow the academy to move forward strategically devel-oping leadership and outstanding provision. From September we will also be joined by Kathryn Wilson, a specialist teacher for students with additional and complex needs. We have also appointed a bank of casual TAs to ensure we have continuity when we need cover, this team includes Jack Chase who has supported students as a TA but also worked alongside our site staff. Jack has experi-ence of working with young people at Go Ape on Cannock Chase so will help to develop our out-door – forest school learning. Interviews for remaining staff posts will be carried out before the end of the term. This includes the Assistant Principal and a class teacher for post 16.

Students will be spending the day with their new staff team on Thursday 5th July as we have a whole school transition. This is an opportunity to ask any questions about their new class before the term begins in September.

We are very excited about the future of Walton Hall as we continue to develop our resources and learning opportunities. We are planning our new sensory immersion teaching resource which will bring the curriculum to life using the latest technology. Our new website is about to be launched and on Monday 25th June a new parent voice group met to discuss their views about the school vi-sion and give feedback on our progress so far.

It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to some of our staff will who will be leaving at the end of this term. Tina Stanlake has been at Walton Hall for many years. Originally she commenced as teaching assistant and then returned to us as a qualified teacher. Tina has taught in all areas of the school and has always been a truly outstanding practitioner. We wish her all the very best in her retirement and know she has some very exciting plans for this new phase in her life. We also say goodbye to Annette Axon who is also retiring to “live the good life” after years of dedicated service to our students and many hours of voluntary work on the school farm. Annette has been such a caring teaching assistant, often working with our least able students and ensuring they achieve their potential. We shall certainly miss her. Allyn Evans who has worked for us on supply for some time now. Allyn is a very talented sports coach and he will be using these talents in his new role as a sports tutor at a local academy.

Thank you to everyone for your continuing support throughout the year. I hope to meet many of you with family and friends at our Summer Fayre and events in the coming last few weeks.

I wish you all the best for a wonderful summer break. Amanda Cameron

Attendance

Highest attendees this month are…

LP’s Class with 96%

Overall school attendance is 91%

Target for all students is 96%

Housepoints

The winners for the year will

be announced at the final

assembly on Friday 20th July

Pupil of the month!

Noah — KW’s Class

For his outstanding improve-ment in behaviour and a�tude.

Well done Noah!

Prior Warning

School lunches will be increasing to £2.30 per

meal (£11.50 per week) from September 2018

Residence

This month the Tuesday girl group were treated to a health and beauty evening, where they participated in a yoga class, had their hair and nails done and made

their own natural bath fizzes and face masks. The group learnt that it is important to take time out for relaxation and taking care of themselves to promote positive

mental health.

Jodie and Phoebe

making bath fizzes

Jess’ Nails Olivia before/ after

hair straightening

Personal Progress Horticultural Qualification

KS4/5 Additional Need students have been

relentlessly working towards their Personal

Progress Horticulture qualification. Part of their

accreditation was to sow seeds to

produce flowering plants. The plants were

potted in to a planter which is outside the school

reception door. Please take a look as you come

in to school. Well done Nic Besters class!!

Tom’s Kitchen

As part of his residen�al experience Tom is trying new healthy recipes that he can

make. Here is his favourite recipe from this month.

Frozen Pineapple lollies

Ingredients

Pineapple rings

Fat free coconut yoghurt (or your own choice)

Skewers

Method

1. Put 1 pineapple ring onto 1 skewer. Repeat to however many

lollies you are making.

2. Cover a baking tray with baking parchment and put the pineapple skewers

evenly onto the tray. Place in the freezer for approximately 1 hour or un�l frozen.

3. Put the Fat free frozen yoghurt onto a plate. Dip one side of the pineapple

skewers into the yoghurt and return (yoghurt facing up) to the baking sheet. Re-

turn to the freezer for 1 hour. Put the le. over yoghurt into the fridge.

4. Remove the pineapple skewers from the freezer and dip the remaining side into

the yoghurt un�l evenly coated. Return to the baking sheet and freeze for a fur-

ther hour.

5. Remove from the freezer when completely frozen and enjoy as a healthy sum-

mer treat.

If you wanted to add an addi�onal treat to the recipe a.er pu�ng on

the yoghurt each side, sprinkle some grated chocolate or chocolate

sauce.

Tom’s reac�on- “These were amazing, I loved them. They were

healthy and it felt like a real treat. Next �me we could try different

fruits. ”

Friends of Walton Hall

Summer

Fayre

Saturday 7th July 2018

11am—1pm

If you would like to run a stall or

be part of our fundraising

committee, Friends of Walton Hall,

please contact

Fiona Brackley on

fbrackley@waltonhall.shaw-education.org.uk

Whathavewebeendoing?

Josh from KS4/5 Additional

Needs Class has been working

hard completing his supported work experience placement at

Walton Hall Academy. He has

supported the office staff by

delivering letters, he has

worked on the farm complet-

ing a range of activities; clean-ing water bottles and sweeping

up and also, did some

horticulture around the

grounds. Josh really enjoyed

his work experience placement especially delivering the let-

ters! Well done Josh

Year 9 had an amazing time on their residential at the Calvert Trust!

Joyce Dunn’s class had a wonderful time on the Beatrice

Narrow Boat, cruising along the Caldon Canal this month.

The students have also been cycling at Westport Lake on Friday mornings, everyone

has lots of fun!

Drayton Manor Theme Park Trip Na�onal Rotary KidsOut Day

On Wednesday 13th June 2018 Walton Hall Academy were lucky enough to

be given 62 places for the Na�onal Rotary KidsOut trip to Drayton Manor

Theme Park.

We selected students based on their behaviour over the year (Reward Trip),

all of the students who a?ended had an amazing day.

We would like the thank the Rotary Club volunteers for giving them such

special memories.

All Post 16 students experienced the real world of work during our Work

Experience fortnight at the beginning of June.

Students in Post 16 all completed a whole week’s work in a range of different

environments. Placements were carefully matched to the students’ inter-

ests and needs and feedback from employers was fantastic.

Some our students had made such a good impression that

they have been invited back for summer holiday jobs or have

been offered further weekly work experience placements

for next year. Well done to Zakk , Megan and to Charlotte

who were all invited to go back.

On another positive note, students who often find school and interacting

with others a challenge have been reported to have excelled at Ayudante.

Well done to Will Tasker for overcoming anxieties to have an excellent

week.

Parent Voice

Our first informal parent voice mee�ng was held on Monday 25th June at 2.15pm.

Issues/Comments

1. Vary �mes of subsequent mee�ngs so parents with other commitments can a?end.

2. Emails con�nue to be a good method for parental/school communica�on.

3. The school website will provide a link to parents re school and wider resources.

4. Reducing the speed limit outside of the school, premises.

5. Post 16 transport arrangements.

6. Issues around data protec�on and GDPR can be accessed through school and SET websites.

7. Speakers and sessions suggested so far (TBA):

∗ SALT/Physio

∗ Issues around puberty eg communica�ng inappropriate behaviour

∗ IEP/EHCP

We are planning to adapt the KS3 mee�ng room to a parent resource room so any leaflets or informa�on etc are greatly

received. Par�cular interest shown for social groups eg youth clubs for children/young adults with special needs.

Date and �me of next mee�ng to be arranged. In mean�me please feel free to contact Amanda Cameron or Carol Frampton

via the school office or by email. cframpton@waltonhall.shaw-educa�on.org.uk

Many thanks for everyone’s input for this first mee�ng.