Dear Families

As we reach the end of a very busy first term, we wish to share some of the highlights with you all!

As you will already be aware, we have finally had the recognition needed by Ofsted and we are no longer in ‘Special Measures’. This is a relief for all of our staff and students and we all remain united in our mission to continue to improve our academy. Extracts from the report:

‘The quality of education has improved’

‘Relationships between pupils and teachers are respectful’

‘Pupils’ attendance has improved’

‘Pupils say that things are better and they like the school’

‘Pupils feel safe and are safe’

‘Provision for pupils’ personal development is a clear strength of the school’

Having received ‘Good’ for students’ personal development, we know that we have a robust offer here at SUA. What we must now do is tackle the behaviour of students to be consistently good. The ‘Requires Improvement’ judgement for behaviour was disappointing as the vast majority of students were incredibly well behaved and respectful during the inspection; indeed they are every day! One of our key areas to address is that our outcomes continue to improve and students must be even more driven and focused to want to make this happen. The ban of mobile phones is critical to us delivering on this next stage of our improvements. We collectively want to thank you for your support as we roll out this new rule with immediate effect from 6th January. .

Here’s to a peaceful break, we hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Best wishes

Mrs Hillier and Team SUA

SUA6 Senior Citizens’ Christmas Lunch

On Wednesday 11th December we welcomed over 50 senior citizens from the local community to the academy for a Christmas meal organised by our sixth form students. Our students organised the whole event, from decorations and food through to entertainment and a raffle. It was a great success and it was brilliant to see the smiles on faces of all those that attended. It was another moment that made us really proud of the work our sixth formers do to support the local community.

Mr S Williams, Director of Inclusion

Have you got the correct uniform?

Children in Need 2019—15th November

We recently held our annual Children in Need fundraising activities in the academy. Unlike previous years we decided not to have the day as a non-uniform event due to the previously mentioned fundraising for MIND. Despite this, through the fantastic efforts of students across the academy, we raised £518. There were a wide range of fundraising activities at lunchtime on the day with a stall from every form group. Our sixth form students also organised and hosted an SUA teachers ‘bushtucker trial’ which saw over 200 students pay 50p to come and watch. Once again, we were proud to see the efforts that went into making the day a success.

Mr S Williams, Director of Inclusion

Takeover Day 2019 - 22nd November

Over 60 students took on the role of a member of staff for the day, completing a range of tasks from

leadership strategy meetings through to catering and site. We were delighted to once again offer our

students this opportunity to experience the world of work and a professional working environment; the

children had a brilliant time. Those who formed the senior leadership team for the day have written the Team SUA blog

which can be found on the website and the article below.

Mr R Barnett-Richards, Assistant Principal

On Friday 22nd November SUA was taken over by the students! In order for this to happen a week beforehand the students who wanted to participate had to write out and hand in their applications for their chosen members of staff.

Out of the 100 students that were planning to participate, 58 were lucky enough to do so. 9 of them were as members of the Senior Leadership Team (SLT).

To begin with, they had to arrive at SUA at 8am (if they were SLT) and attend a meeting, discussing roles and the overall plan for the day. Then other members of staff had to arrive at 8.20am for briefing, or normal time.

During briefing, the teachers’ “mini-me” had to announce their notices to all of the other staff. Then, the SLT returned to the conference room to proceed with their Strategic Planning meeting.

Throughout the day, they attended a series of meetings and even took part in lessons. They conducted themselves professionally as they dropped-in to other lessons and gave feedback on teaching and learning during those lessons.

Other students took over roles such as mentors, seeing what they do during everyday academy life.

Overall, Student Takeover Day was very successful, and the students that took part were very thankful for this opportunity to see what life is like from a teachers’ perspective.

Callum Brown said “My experience in the catering office was good because I got to help out in the food van and made the custard. It was really fun”.

SLT, Student Takeover

Year 7 Birmingham Repertory Project Year 7 - Mr C Shepherd

Year 7 have had an excellent start to their time here at SUA. As a group, we visited Whitemoor Lakes, Lichfield for a total of 3 days. The students had the opportunity to develop their team work and grow stronger as a cohort. There were some real character building activities and lots of fun and laughter was had by all!

Through our continued Walsall FC partnership, the students of Year 7 have had the opportunity to learn about careers, become journalists (whilst interviewing the players in a mock style interview), learn about self-esteem and resilience as well as looking at literacy and numeracy skills through journalism reports and creating games. For the mock-interview of the players, students were tasked with writing a newspaper report. The report will be judged by the coaches from Walsall FC and the winning report will be printed in the match-day programme. What a fantastic opportunity for our Year 7 students!

Over the past few months all Year 7 students have been taking part in a very exciting set of workshops led by professional director Beth Kapila from the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. Since September, students have had the opportunity to work with Beth for 1 hour a week to devise their own adaptations of the play Peter Pan.

On Wednesday 8th January 2020 all Year 7 students will be going to the REP and will be performing their own creations on stage. They will have the opportunity to experiment with lighting and sound through a technical rehearsal before performing to a small audience of school children who also take part within the festival. After they have performed, as a treat, they will then get to enjoy the REP’s production of Peter Pan. We are extremely proud of the work the Year 7 students have put into this project and we are looking forward to seeing all their hard work performed on the professional stage.

Mrs A Jukes, Head of Creative

We have continued our drive to support the mental health of our students and staff in recent weeks. Further to the assemblies delivered to all year groups on where support can be found, we were delighted to invest in mental health first aid training for 16 members of staff on Friday 29th November. This full day of training gave staff the knowledge to spot a range of mental health issues and support individuals who may be suffering from them. Further to this, we also have three members of staff who are in training to become school counsellors. Once qualified, these staff will be on hand to offer specialist support to those students who require it. Finally, we have commissioned YESS (youth emotional support service) to attend the academy one day a week. Through this service, the therapist will meet with a range of students to support them with their emotional well-being.

Mr S Williams, Director of Inclusion

National Mental Health Day

Year 8 - Mr R Porter

The Year 8 anti-bullying tree has been completed and is ready to be viewed along the science corridor. Students in Year 8 have been busy during tutor time populating their 'advice leaves'.

Each form in Year 8 have their own individual colour advice leaves. The best ten leaves from each form have been chosen to represent their forms on the anti-bullying tree.

Lots of different advice has been offered, ranging from personal experience and advice on what can stop bullying. Students have also sign posted some important websites and contact numbers of

organisations which can help them if anyone ever had any issues.

'"We were set the task by Mr Porter to create our own anti-bullying tree and set this up in the corridor by our form rooms. We really enjoyed completing the advice leaves for the anti-bullying tree. Luckily bullying isn't an issue here at SUA, however, it is always good to inform people of what to do if they ever did have a problem. We would hate to think that someone was suffering in silence and they didn't know what to do, or who to speak to for help. The tree allows people to gain over 40 pieces of advice about what a student can do if they are experiencing any unkind words or actions from others. We are really proud of our tree".

Fin Donohoe and Jass Bayliss, Year 8 form reps

STEM club has been going well over the past few weeks. We have made catapults, slime and have also extracted DNA from kiwi fruit. Students have been really engaged and have enjoyed working on and developing their science skills whilst having fun. STEM club is open to Years 7 to 9 and runs on Tuesdays 3-4pm in SC2. Come along and have a look, join in and have some fun. Mrs J Wells and Mrs H Morrey, Teachers of Science

STEM Club

Well done to the winners of last half-term’s reading challenges

Year 7

1st Ellie Moss

2nd Harry Caton

3rd Petreise Liburd

Year 8

1st Jake Fisher

2nd Abigail Chesson

3rd Logan Wood

Year 9

1st Ellie Barratt

2nd Bailey Paterson

3rd Ruby Radford

Each student won a £10 Amazon voucher and the top winners were lucky enough to enjoy a special lunch with Mr Newton our KS3 coordinator and Mrs Borland, Director of English. Well done everyone!

Maybe you could be a winner next time?!

Mr L Newton, English KS3 coordinator

Reading Challenge Reward

Christmas Showcase

Over the past few months, students and staff have been working hard preparing for the Christmas Showcase. The evening was an opportunity to

enjoy students’ work from art and design technology, which was on display in the canteen. We hoped you enjoyed this as much as the live performances of music, drama and dance.

Mrs A Jukes, Head of Creative

SUA Authors’ Rapid Rise to Success

In what is fast becoming the most amazing annual tradition for SUA, ten of our Year 9 students (listed below), between 2nd and 6th December, planned, wrote and delivered an entire novel for publication. As part of the English department’s aspirational partnership work with Higher Horizons and White Water Writers, students worked with the fantastic Richard Seymour (creative writing lecturer and project facilitator) to independently create their first literary masterpiece.

Richard had the following lovely words to say about both the students, and his time at the academy:

"I have been incredibly impressed by the attitude of the writers. They took ownership immediately and worked very well as a group. A project such as this one requires a good deal of resilience and they certainly showed that. As young people, also, they have been impeccably behaved, charming and funny! They're a credit to the academy and above all, themselves.’’

A huge thank you must go to Ms Johnson and the IT team for really helping support the success of the project, ensuring that all space and resources required was provided. However, as stated above, it is our excellent SUA students that have really delivered this week, and they deserve a huge congratulations. Their book will be available for general sale shortly (more information will follow) and we look forward to helping propel it as far up the best sellers list as possible.

Students: Katie Dunne, Katie Hayward, Ben Tranter, Callum Parkins, Cian

Richards, Will Dawes, Demi-Leigh Evans, Megan Owen, Gypsy-Mae Morning and

Liam Bagnall

Mr L Newton, English KS3 coordinator

Year 9 Miss Randle

Year 9s have had a number of real successes to celebrate during the autumn term. Ella Davis and Jared Ball were successful in being elected to the Academy Council where they have the pleasure of representing their peers on important academy matters. They have been instrumental in raising many issues and offering lots of solutions too. They subsequently chair the Year 9 Council along with our form representatives Liam Terry, Lizzie Price, Ben Tranter, Ben O'Reilly, Lexi Kneller, Gypsy-Mae Morning, Jai Wood and Caitlin Naylor. We really value the students taking an active role in the academy. So far Year 9 students have been involved in supporting a number of charities. A bake off competition was held between Year 9 forms. The cakes were then sold at breaktime raising £48.80 for MIND, the mental health charity. Our next event was Children in Need. Students set up stalls including 'pie in the face' and a karaoke competition. Students ran the stalls independently to raise as much money as possible. Year 9 also ran a ‘design a t-shirt’ competition. The winning entry was designed by Demilea Belcher in 9 Blue and will be made into a t-shirt that can be worn to promote anti-bullying across the academy. We currently have a number of ongoing extracurricular programmes that Year 9 are actively supporting. The VIY (Volunteer it Yourself) scheme has continued to run. This project helps young people with building and trade skills. The scheme allows students to get a taster of working life outside of the academy. Demi-Leigh Evans and Cian Richards have been cast in leading roles for the upcoming academy show; Guys and Dolls. We are really looking forward to seeing the production when it hits the stage. A number of Year 9s have taken part in the White Water Writing camp and have written their first novel called 'Live and Let Die' which will be published over the coming months. The Year 9 football team goes from strength to strength. The team practise every Wednesday. The Year 9 football team took part in the Cheslyn Hay Tournament and won the first match for SUA this year. George Carnell is also playing for the Year 10 football team and has scored a number of vital goals. Well done guys!!

SUA6 Open Evening

On 20th November we held our SUA6 Open Evening, opening it for the first time to Year 10 students too. The evening was a great success and included a talk on student finance from Staffordshire University. Students were given the opportunity to discuss possible Post-16 options with subject staff and also gained an insight into the additional programmes we run in sixth form such as our Leadership programme. We would like to thank all the families who attended and we look forward to welcoming you to future sixth form events.

Mr S Williams, Director of Inclusion

Food Bank Appeal

The catering team have been busy planning and putting finishing touches to the Christmas menu for our students and advertising it around the academy.

The team have also been busy supporting sixth formers plan and deliver their senior citizens’ Christmas event. Another great achievement from them all, well done!

The catering trailer is becoming very popular with hot chocolate and slush on sale again, along with our sandwich and wrap selection. We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year and look forward to seeing you all again in 2020. Thank you for your continuous support.

Mr B Watt, Catering Manager

Students have been collecting food and making hampers for the local food bank this year in order to support those most in need at an important time of the year. Here are just some of the hampers that were taken to families in need this week. Well done Team SUA and thank you to all those that have donated.

Miss L Fletcher, Behaviour Support Officer

Year 10 Mr Tatton

It has been a really fast paced start to this academic year, with some real successes to celebrate from our Year 10 students. A start to the academic year that was really exciting personally, moving from a school where I’ve taught at for 8 years to begin a fresh challenge at Staffordshire University Academy. It’s been a real pleasure to get to know the students across the academy.

Across our year group we have students who have put themselves forward to represent their forms as form representatives. Kiera Thomas and Oliver Metcalfe were successful in achieving Academy Council positions where they have the pleasure of representing their peers on important academy matters. They are serving their year group well so far, raising many issues and offering lots of solutions too. It’s fantastic to see them step up and take on these leadership roles within the academy. Without students like these it is impossible to continue to develop our academy, we really value the students taking an active role.

As a year group we have some really high achieving and hardworking students. Kaya-Jane Woodcock, Sophie Gillis and Jade Burgess have shown a consistent level of focus with their studies, achieving the most positive behaviour points. Well done.

During this first term our students were involved in raising money for Children in Need. Students ran stalls independently and worked tirelessly throughout the day to raise as much money as possible. There was a real buzz across the academy. I even had several cream pies make their way to my face. We have also ran whole academy anti- bullying and mental health awareness campaigns, which have had a positive impact on our students.

The Year 10 football team goes from strength to strength. Performances and results have steadily improved, mainly down to playing as a team and being well organised. It’s been great for me personally to set up the football team this year and even more rewarding to see the boys take so much from their experiences. Their attitudes and work ethic in games has been first class, they are an absolute credit to the academy.

I’m looking forward to working with the students for the rest of this year and into Year 11. There are some real challenges to come as we approach the start of our exam season this summer. The foundations laid in Year 10 will certainly give our students the best chance of success in Year 11. I’m confident this year group will absolutely smash it. Have a great Christmas!

The Catering Team

Extra-curricular trips in English Year 11 Mr Kirk

Year 11 students have been showing their support for anti-bullying week by taking part in Odd Socks Day.

The initiative is part of a national campaign which promotes a celebration of diversity and the fact that everybody is an individual in their own right.

The idea of the odd socks is to provide an opportunity to encourage people to express themselves and celebrate their individuality and what makes us all unique.

Well done to everybody in Year 11 who supported this worthwhile cause!

Students in Years 10 and 11 have recently taken part in the first of two workshops designed to help them with their GCSE studies.

All students in both Year groups were visited on 15th November by Elevate Education, a renowned company with a proven track record of improving GCSE results. The students attended a seminar called “Study Sensei” which taught them how to organise their revision and their time in the lead up to exams.

In January, Elevate Education will be returning to deliver a “Time Management” session with Year 10 and an “Ace Your Exams” workshop with Year 11.

Students will also gain access to the Elevate Education learning platform so they can continue to build up their study and revision skills.

We have a cross-curricular trip to London for Years 7, 8 and 9 planned for March 2020. This will involve exploring our beautiful capital city and visiting the West End. Please contact Mr Shepherd for more details.

The English department are offering students in both Years 8 and 10 the opportunity to join them in a pilgrimage to the home of theatre; Shakespeare's Globe in London. Year 8 students will have the opportunity to tour the theatre and experience what life was like in the Jacobean era. They will also take part in a Macbeth workshop to enhance their understanding of the writer, the time period, the language and the play itself. Year 10 students have the chance to complete a GCSE study day at the theatre. The students in attendance will complete two separate workshops tailored to their upcoming GCSE exam on Romeo and Juliet, whilst also reaping the benefits of tackling the language barriers and contextualising the play.

And let's not forget that we are preparing for the trip of a lifetime to New York in February 2021! If you've paid your deposit for this- congratulations! You won't regret it!

Watch this space for more exciting opportunities brought to you by the English department.

Mrs A Borland, Director of English

On Wednesday 27th November 2019 we were delighted to invite Professor Carl Chinn back to the academy for a talk on his re-cent book, Peaky Blinders – The Real Story. 95 members of the community came to listen to Carl who linked the popular BBC series to the ‘real’ Peaky Blinders gang in Birmingham. Carl brought copies of his new book and stayed behind to sign and speak to the audience about all things local history. The talk is part of our wider work with Professor Chinn, who has recently worked with our Year 7 and Year 8

students on The Great War and the Hednesford project.

Mr M Allsopp, Vice Principal

An Evening with Carl Chinn

Teaching and Learning Round up in English

Year 7 students have been exploring sci-fi and fantasy texts, the perfect follow-on from their recent study of 'Frankenstein'. They have been learning about the genre's conventions and

protagonists. Why not read and/or watch some sci-fi over the holidays?

Years 8 and 9 have been working on their rhetorical writing. This involved the study of challenging non-fiction texts dealing with the 'big issues' in our world today. We have been looking at important topics like feminism and social equality. Try looking in the newspapers for similar texts over the Christmas period.

Year 10 students have been working on A Christmas Carol, Romeo and Juliet and poetry- a very busy term! They will also sit PPEs in early February so will need to be revising their texts continuously in preparation. Try to recall key quotations and re-read the texts as much as you can!

Year 11 students have been preparing for their PPEs in English by reading a range of challenging fiction and non-fiction text during lesson time. They have also been practising their writing skills by creating their own speeches, letters, articles and stories. Good luck Year 11! Why not have a go at a mock paper over the holidays to keep your recent learning fresh in your mind?!

Year 12 and 13 have been working hard on their poetry and non-fiction studies. They have been reading the poetry of Carol Ann Duffy and exploring her complex imagery. They have also been reading an eclectic range of non-fiction texts centring around the topic of Paris and how language is used to represent its culture.

Try to re-read the texts regularly over the holidays.

Mrs A Borland, Director of English

PE extra-curricular

We have had a busy term in PE celebrating the effort and commitment of our students and providing them with opportunities to represent our academy at fixtures and tournaments. Aa a department we have seen the positive impact extra-curricular has had on students’ mindset and conduct around the academy.

Football

Year 7, 8, 9 and 10 have taken part in the Football School District league, where they have played local schools. We have had over 60 students committing to taking part in football which has been a massive increase from numbers this time last year.

Year 8 boys and girls have represented SUA at a 6-a-side football tournament at Cheslyn Hay. Our Year 8 captains Bradley Whitford and Charley-May Keyte, have demonstrated great leadership in captaining the teams who were unbeaten in 5 of their 8 games.

Netball

Year 7 and 8 have represented our academy in a netball league. We have had a total of 25 students attend a netball extra-curricular club on Tuesdays.

Basketball

Over 30 students have taken part in extra-curricular basketball.

Year 7 have represented our academy at a basketball tournament, competing against four other schools at Erasmus Darwin Academy.

Our Year 8 students made us all very proud winning their first basketball game 6-0 against Chase Grammar School on 3rd December. Year 9 and 10 fixtures, as part of the district basketball League, are coming up before and after Christmas and we are sure the students will do their best.

Mr J Smith, Teacher of PE

Key Dates

20th Dec 2019 Academy closes 12pm for

students

6th January 2020 T&L morning, students arrive at

11am

14th January 2020 Year 11 Parents’ Evening 4-

6.30pm

20th January 2020 INSET -academy closed to

students

21st January 2020 Year 11 SUA6 taster day

28th January 2020 Year 10 Parents’ Evening 4-

6.30pm

29th January 2020 Year 8 The Globe Theatre visit

6th February 2020 Careers Fair

17th-21st February 2020

Half term holiday

25th February 2020 Year 10 The Globe Theatre visit

2nd-9th March 2020 Year 11 & 13 PP Exams

5th March 2020 World Book Day

16th March 2020 Year 9 & 10 Inspector Calls

24th March 2020 Year 8 Parents’ Evening 4-6.30pm

25th March 2020 T&L morning, students arrive at

11am

31st March—2nd April 2020

Academy Production – Guys and Dolls

1st-2nd April 2020 Year 13 Art exam

3rd April 2020 Academy closes 12pm for

students

6th-7th April 2020 Year 11 Art & DT booster days

6th-17th April 2020 Easter holiday

20th April 2020 Summer term begins

22nd April 2020 Year 13 DT exam

24th April 2020 Year 13 Art exam

27th - 28th April 2020 Year 11 (group 1) Art and DT

exam

29th - 30th April 2020 Year 11 (group 2) DT exam

7th May 2020 Local elections

8th May 2020 Bank holiday

11th May 2020 GCSE and A Level exams begin

19th May 2020 Year 9 Parents’ Evening

(pathways) 4-7pm

25th-29th May 2020 Half term

Schoolgateway App

Staffordshire University Academy uses School Gateway, which is a free app that is specifically designed to connect the academy and you as parents. School Gateway is the central hub of information for our parents – so to stay up to date with what is going on at the academy make sure you download the app for free.

There are a number of platforms from which the app is available to download including Google Play store and the Apple App store. It is our intention that the app will eventually reduce paper communications.

To install the app on your mobile device please follow the steps below:

Search for “School Gateway” in the Apple App Store/Google Play, or go to www.schoolgateway.com/apple (Apple) or www.schoolgateway.com/android (Android)

Install the app and if you are asked then say yes to “Allow Push Notifications”

When you launch School Gateway for the first time, please select “New User” and enter the email address and mobile telephone number you have registered with the school.

The system will send a PIN code to your phone; please enter this PIN code and the app will be activated for you

Once installed you will begin to receive communication from the academy and be able to directly contact the academy.

If you are having any difficulties please feel free to contact the academy: info@suacademy.co.uk Mrs J Bird, Admin Assistant and First Aider

We are pleased to announce that the academy show for 2020 is ‘Guys and Dolls’. ‘Guys and Dolls’ is considered by many to be the perfect musical comedy and we are extremely excited to be presenting our version of the Broadway classic.

Rehearsals are on Friday afterschool in the main hall from 2.55pm – 4.30pm and these will resume on 10th January. This particular production has a large cast which features a variety of ensemble and main cast roles, but also provides an opportunity for students to be involved within back stage roles if they wish. If any students who would like to be involved within the academy production and have not already done so, please make sure you attend rehearsals on 10th January 2020.

Performances will be on Tuesday 31st March, Wednesday 1st April and Thursday 2nd April 2020. Many thanks for your continued support, we look forward to seeing you at the show.

Mrs A Jukes, Head of Creative

Academy Production - Guys and Dolls