Dear parents/carers
The Leigh Academy ensures the behaviour, attitudes and safety of our students is a top priority. Our academy ethos is ‘opening minds to success’ which is underpinned by the academy’s three R’s (Respect, Responsibility and Resilience), and the importance of doing the right thing and making sensible choices.
Attendance and Punctuality
The college teams continue to work with parents/carers to oversee the attendance and punctuality of students. ALL students are required to arrive at the academy before 8:20am ready for line-ups. If a student arrives after the start of the academy day (8:30am), they will receive an S1 – 15-minute detention that day. If there is a genuine reason for lateness then we ask parents to contact college staff as soon as possible, at the start of the day, to make us aware.
Anti-Bullying Commitment
There is no place for bullying at The Leigh Academy and we take all incidents extremely seriously. The Leigh Academy anti-bullying policy has been designed to encourage all students to be kind and supportive within its multicultural, diverse and inclusive environment. Students have had assemblies and tutor time activities regarding our commitment to stopping bullying and unkind behaviour, and students can send concerns and reports directly to our new dedicated anti-bullying email address. All concerns will then be picked up directly by our college pastoral teams.
The League of Excellence 2022/23
‘The Leigh Academy League of Excellence’ has now been relaunched, with students having the opportunity to be awarded for their positive behaviour. Students are continuously awarded points for achieving an R1 (10 points), R2 (20 points, R3 (30 points), R4 (40 points) or an R5 (50 points). However, points are deducted if a student is given one of the five consequences for negative behaviour S1 (-10), S2 (-20), S3 (-30), S4 (-40) or an S5 (-50), or if they receive a late mark it is -5 points each time. Please do ask your son or daughter their current score and position within their year group and college tutor group. At the end of each module, students’ scores are calculated, and a college league table is created and displayed. Prizes will be awarded, including certificates, sweets, badges and Amazon vouchers, and names are put on display on The League of Excellence boards in the academy restaurant area.
Detentions
When a student misbehaves and fails to meet academy behaviour expectations, they do require a consequence for their actions. A student can be set a 15-minute detention to be attended on the same day if a student is involved in ‘low level disruption’ (S1) leading to them receiving a detention from their class teacher. If a student is ‘on-called’ for ‘persistently disrupting the learning of students’ then they are removed from that lesson, taken to a withdrawal space, and a detention is issued to take place the following school day (S2). For any more serious incidents, an hour detention is issued (S3) to take place the following school day. Students are made aware of these detentions at the time, by their teachers, or college leadership teams. Students who escalate detentions on the same day will be expected to complete this concurrently. Please remember that all rewards and sanctions, as well as timetables, attendance and letters, can all be viewed via the My Child At School app.
Uniform Expectations
The Leigh Academy uniform (Y7 – 11) is designed to ensure all students are able to wear smart attire for a number of reasons. Students ‘wear their uniform with pride’ (Ofsted report 2017). I would like to ask please, that parents/carers ensure students follow the uniform expectations. All students throughout the winter period are expected to wear appropriate school shoes, a compulsory blazer and a navy blue or black coat. All items of the academy uniform must be worn on a daily basis, but if there are any reasons why these cannot be purchased, please contact the SSM for your year group, and we will do all we can to help.
Behaviour in the Local Community
The Leigh Academy works with local businesses, home owners and community groups to ensure the conduct of our students is of the highest standard. We want to ensure the reputation of our students when travelling to and from school, on public transport, walking through local neighbourhoods and being in view of members of the public, in academy uniform, demonstrates the respect and responsibility that is regularly discussed and instilled in the students. A reminder that students should not be gathering in large groups in local parks and using inappropriate language. Students should respect local members of the community, property, and put litter in bins.
Finally, The Leigh Academy is very proud of its students and their behaviour. We strive to be recognised in the community, with students who are proud of their academy and how they behave both in and outside of the academy. If you have any concerns about the conduct or wellbeing of our students please do contact either Mark Shepherd or Matt Piggott, who have the responsibility for behaviour.
Yours sincerely,
Mark Shepherd
Head of Shakespeare College
