Dear Parent/Carer,
As a school, we have always valued the importance of being part of our community and at times like this it is more significant than ever. The fundraising we achieve as staff and students is something we are particularly proud of. The last few weeks have been very busy with lots of money raised for good causes. On Friday 13th November, we had a non-uniform day to raise money for Children in Need and managed to raise a fantastic £376.55. Many donations have also been made to the Poppy Appeal. Staff have also been extremely generous in their donations of food and advent calendars to support families in our local area. These have all been distributed by the Early Help team. Students are also bringing in donations which are being collected in Tutor groups to be donated on the 8th December.
North Gosforth hits the headlines!
The story of Reece Slater's incredible philanthropy has not gone unnoticed and his story hit The Chronicle last week. At the moment we all need some good news and this is a huge credit both to Reece but also to our amazing school community for all the money that has been raised here. The total is now about £1,500 and counting. It's amazing to think that his fundraising target was only 50 pounds!
https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/gosforth-schoolboy-fund-foodbank-coronavirus-19288518
Y7 Tutor Evening
We would like to thank the year 7 parents for their response to our remote Tutor Evening which took place on Thursday 26th November. As a school, we know that working collaboratively with parents is the best way to ensure our young people succeed.
Parents received a progress sheet in advance of the meeting to facilitate sharp and focussed discussions. Conversations also centred around well-being and mental health to ensure we maintain a constant focus on these throughout this year in particular.
Staff conducting the appointments all commented on how much they enjoyed the individual telephone conversations and how much they appreciated the overwhelmingly positive feedback received from our year 7 parents. It has given the staff a real boost.
The Year 7 students have made an incredible start to their secondary education. Their attendance is way above the national average, their homework statistics are strong and their attitude to learning, in general, is excellent. To demonstrate this, we have also compiled a gallery of some fantastic examples of Year 7 work that we invite you to view on our website by clicking here
Mental Health Survey
North Gosforth Academy are taking part in a project that will help support the mental health of our school. We want to know how you feel about what is already here to help you and your family. Before we start our work, we want to make sure that we are planning to implement appropriate changes to support the school community. To help us get that right we want your views.
The results of the survey will be anonymous and will be used to help us plan our next steps. Students will also be asked to complete a survey during one of their Computing lessons.
The parent/carer survey can be found here and will remain open for responses until 4th December 2020.
Covid
We continue to be fortunate in comparison to many other secondary schools that COVID has not affected the school too much. To date we have had 9 positive student cases. I will continue to send letters out when these occur as it is important to be transparent during these times. Letters are sent via email and those parents without an email address are sent hard copies. If you are not receiving these emails, then please can you contact the school office to update your current email address?
I would like to continue to ask parents to keep their children at home if they have developed symptoms. As you are all aware by now, the most common symptoms of COVID-19 are a recent onset of a new continuous cough and/or a high temperature and/or a loss of, or change in, normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia). If your child, or anyone in your household, develops these symptoms, your whole household must remain at home and not go to work, school or public areas. You should arrange testing for the person who has developed symptoms. When the result is known further advice will be available. Please note that Public Health England advice is that only people showing symptoms should be tested and that a negative test result will not reduce the period of self-isolation.
Finally, please keep safe and well and try to enjoy the weekend as best you can.
Warm regards,
Steve Campbell
Principal