Dear Parent/Carer,

We’ve had a great half term so far with students firing on all cylinders, both inside and outside of the classroom. In the classroom, students are continuing to work hard and are showing a real commitment to their studies. Year 11 students are now attending ‘Period 7’ in order to prepare themselves for their important mock exams in January. Year 9 have been brilliant in their attitude to their mock exams that they have just completed.

You can find details of all assessment weeks, parents’ evenings and other information evenings for all year groups on our website, in the ‘Key Information and Updates’ section, and then by clicking on the ‘Key Dates and Contacts’ link.

JPA Years 7 - 11 Student Leaders

In order to further promote and develop leadership skills and qualities amongst all of our students we have recently recruited 63 JPA Student Leaders across years 7 - 11. Following launch assemblies before half term, students in years 7 - 11 were encouraged to nominate themselves and submit a personal statement detailing why they would make a good JPA Student Leader. We already have an established Sixth Form Council and the JPA Student Leaders in main school will be linked to the Sixth Form Council.

The personal statements were then promoted through Tutor time, Citizenship and Personal Development and we had a 'polling day' on Friday 15th November, which caused a very similar and brilliant buzz around school just like the Youth Parliament elections did last academic year. Students in each year group could vote for who they wanted to become JPA Student Leaders for their year group. Across the 5 years groups we had a total of 3,308 votes which we were absolutely delighted with. All of the students who nominated themselves have become JPA Student Leaders and the highest polling students in each year group form the JPA Student Leader Leadership Team. For Year Group specific tasks these students will lead the student leaders for their year group. The students in Year 11 with the highest votes are the Head JPA Student Leaders.

It is envisaged that our JPA Student Leaders will be a group of students in each year group representing JPA in and out of school, meeting visitors, taking part in a range of activities such as parents' evenings, open evenings, assemblies and to be used as a representative of the student body in Years 7 – 11. They will also form a representative of our student body to discuss Year Group and Whole School specific topics and provide student input when planning Year Group and Whole School events.

Safeguarding

Our core priority is the safety and welfare of our students. Creating a happy, safe and secure learning environment is a key part in ensuring that all of our students have a school setting where they can reach their potential and enjoy their learning.

There are numerous policies in place to safeguard our students and these are available on the school website or at the schools’ reception.

All members of staff have a responsibly to safeguard the students at school. Year teams work with students to support them with pastoral or academic issues and our Wellbeing department supports students with any worries that they may have, as well as giving advice on how to stay healthy. However, in some instances staff and parents may need advice from one of the schools designated safeguarding leads. They are:

Mr Aitken, Mr Merrifield and Mr Costello, who are Deputy Principals. Mrs Dowling and Mr Mason, who are Directors of Key Stages. Mrs Routledge, who is Senior Sixth Form tutor and Mrs Munro our SENDCo.

If you have any safeguarding concerns, please contact one of the seven safeguarding leads directly.

Help Advice Reporting Page

Reporting issues is a very effective way to enable us to be able to deal with risks before they escalate into harm. We already have ways in which you can report issues to school that go a long way in helping us create the safe and reliable environment for your child that you expect our school to be.

We understand too that sometimes, coming into school to tell us about these issues cannot always be an easy thing to do. Time? Arranging an appointment? Speaking with staff? Sometimes it can be a subject that you need to bring to our attention without wanting to identify yourself, but that you feel we need to know, particularly if it involves a student’s well-being.

That’s why last week we launched the HARP on our school VLE (Help Advice Reporting Page), a reporting service for students and families that allows you to send a message to a confidential school email account where staff experienced in responding to issues will receive it.

We know that all children thrive better and are able to reach their full potential when school and families work closely together. If you have any queries regarding online safety or any other safeguarding concerns then please contact one of our safeguarding leads.

I have talked previously about how important mental health and wellbeing are and we have put huge resource into the school in terms of supporting children who are struggling with their mental health. We are committed to maintaining this resource, even though schools are struggling with reduced budgets. If you remember, we opened the Streetwise Hub in March 2022 at the Academy, in order to meet this additional need. Streetwise have worked with over 500 of our students in the last year, helping in a wide range of areas, with 71 students receiving specialised 1-2-1 work. We are delighted to announce that the funding has been found to allow this project to continue into the foreseeable future. If you require further 

support with regards to Mental Health and Wellbeing, then please contact the relevant year team.

Remembrance Sunday

I know that this was a couple of weeks ago but I wanted to take time to mention this. The whole of Jesmond Park Academy marked Armistice Day with a two-minute silence at 11.00 am. This was carried out impeccably by the students as was their attention to the assemblies that were delivered. Each year, JPA delivers a themed assembly, looking at Remembrance from perspectives of different groups of people who have been involved in conflicts over time. As a history teacher, it made me proud how seriously the students conducted themselves.

End of Term events

There are a number of shows and performances in the run up to the end of term and students have been rehearsing hard to make sure they will be of our usual high standard. The month begins with our annual Christmas Concert on Monday 2nd December at 5.30pm in the Main Hall. Tickets are available from Mrs Rule in the Performing Arts Faculty.

Then on Tuesday 17th December and Wednesday 18th December at 5.30pm we are excited to promote that our annual school production his year is, ‘School of Rock. The number of students involved is so high that we have decided it is only fair to put it on over 2 nights. Tickets are available from Miss Fraser in the Performing Arts Faculty. We hope to see you there!

Yours sincerely,

STEVE CAMPBELL

PRINCIPAL