The Marches Academy Trust | Summer Newsletter 2021

TRUST NEWSLETTER Issue 17

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A MESSAGE FROM THE CEO Let your light shine...

‘Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a basket. Instead, they set it on a stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine’ Mathew 5:15 -16 As we approach the end of the summer term it is time to celebrate with you all, the wonderful family of schools we have in the Trust. We are thankful to have supportive parents and communities that have helped children, young people, and our staff to find the resilience to carry on working to ensure every child and young person in our Trust gets the best possible education and experiences we can provide under the current restrictions.

The Marches Academy Trust family of schools is like one big orchestra, lots of people with different instruments making their unique contributions to make beautiful music. Our conductors, the Headteachers, guide and direct which enables the flow of the music to be in harmony. They stand back when the applause comes to ensure the staff and your children and young people get the well-deserved accolades from our community. Like all orchestras we need to practice, refine, and sometimes alter what we are doing so that the music captures our audience and encourages them to participate, sing and dance in their own unique way. When we are enthralled and mesmerised by an orchestral performance, we are not listening to one instrument, one musician or just the conductor but the power of the whole orchestra working together to create magic.

Our schools have all shone during this academic year; some of my fondest moments have been when the children across the Trust have been able to meet either face to face or virtually for competitions such as the girls' Varsity Football Competition held at The Grange Primary School.

The Trust’s MMATovision singing competition saw us uncover hidden talents across all schools.

Take a look at the winning entries here. Headteachers across the Trust are already planning future events that will bring our children together to share experiences.

One of these will be Expert Ed, which has been pioneered by Oakmeadow CE Primary School utilising our partnership with Shrewsbury School. This project will enable children across the Trust to get access to a variety of experts from universities and business to enrich their curriculum experiences. The Marches School are planning a robotics competition and there are more events in the pipeline with Sir John Talbot's School looking to develop an event that brings all schools together to share their performances.

One of our wonderful initiatives that has been shared across the Trust has been the development of social farms. This began at Longlands Primary School and now is being developed at The Grange Primary School and Woodlands School. We are lucky to have George Hounsell working for the Trust as he manages to access funds to finance projects such as these. At Sir John Talbot's School the community hockey club is teaming up with Oswestry Hockey Club to begin our very own Talent Academy for hockey; this will be a resource that will benefit children and young people across the Trust.

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It is important that as parents you also understand what we have also been doing for our staff during these times. The Marches Academy Trust values reading and ensuring that all of staff take time for themselves to read as we perceive this can support wellbeing. During lockdown, we began a Trust Book Club supplying our staff with books from the TV programme ‘Between the Covers’. This was well received, and we are building on this by choosing our next books for the book club from staff suggestions. We are ensuring that once read, our books will go into school libraries or be donated to local libraries or community centres so that we pass on the books to the rest of our communities. As an aside, we used a local independent bookshop to supply the books.

As a family of schools, I hope that over the next year we will continue to share Trust experiences together. We are immensely grateful to our children, young people, staff, parents and our community partners; we are stronger by working together.

I wish everyone in our family of schools a very restful summer. I hope you get time as a family to share many moments that make you smile, laugh out loud and simply be together enjoying some sunshine.

Sarah Finch CEO, The Marches Academy Trust

* LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT * Helen Apperley, Sir John Talbot's School The term 'legend' has become overused in modern vocabulary but when it comes to Helen Apperley it really is the only word that encapsulates her energy, passion, and legacy.

Helen started at Sir John Talbot’s in September 1995; in that time nearly 3000 children have passed through our school and I am in no doubt that every one of them will remember Mrs Apperley. Helen is married to Richard, a farmer, and is mother to Harriet and Lizzie. Harriet is a nurse, Lizzie a doctor and both recently got married on the Apperley land. Her family are incredibly proud of her commitment to the school but are looking forward to spending a little more time with her when she retires at the end of this academic year.

Helen was an advocate of assertive discipline well before Lee Canter was introduced to the school; she likens her behaviour management techniques to that of herding cattle – “show them who is in charge and be consistent”. Helen's impact on students is undeniable and obvious, yet her influence on staff is perhaps even more powerful. Her belief that anything is possible is inspirational and something that those of us still at Sir John Talbot's School need to hold on to. Helen's commitment to getting our students engaged in their community, combined with her drive to engage students through local links is something we should all endeavour to continue.

Helen squeezes every minute out of every day and can achieve more in a school day than the very best of us can in a week. Helen Apperley is Sir John Talbot's; and whilst she will be so dearly missed, her legacy will remain long after she leaves.

MARCHES ACADEMY TRUST VISION & VALUES

We believe: Successful creative lifelong learners participate in a journey of self discovery.

They know how to learn, acquire skills and feel safe to take risks with confidence and courage.

AN ACHIEVEMENT THROUGH CARING UPDATE It is incredibly important to me that we live by our vision and values. For me ‘Achievement through caring’ is a deep-rooted driver to every action and decision I make. Over the last 12 months I have witnessed, as you will have, the resolve of the people around us and the support networks that have strengthened to help us through personal loss, domestic challenges of balancing home and work and the determination to keep the learning experience rich and relevant.

We are an inclusive Trust in which everyone should have equal access to a curriculum that enables everyone to achieve their personal goals. Our Headteachers and Executive Team have revisited what we mean by ‘Achievement through caring’ and believe that it is through caring for our communities, children and staff that we will create the right climate for everyone to achieve.

I will share a couple of examples of actions I believe illustrate my point. When the decision at government level was made to move into lockdown for the third time in January, schools were given the instruction at very short notice. Following the announcement all our Headteachers across the Trust worked over Christmas break planning for various possibilities and joined together on New Years’ Eve to agree a way forward. The meeting was called at short notice, and all dropped whatever they were doing to work collaboratively to plan and support each other. This then led to local meetings and staff teams working together on solutions to ensure children continued to have a learning experience in and out of school. The result was a smooth, safe transition into remote and local learning at the start of term.

In another example, when the instruction to move to centre assessed grades was given, our school teams came together to share ideas and information that each had gathered to enable everyone to have a fair and clear plan of how to approach the generation of the school grades. In these meetings it was clear that the systems that were set up would protect the fairness to the child, the integrity of the data and the risks to staff that might be linked to possible appeals. Staff across the Trust worked with integrity and empathy in generating systems that would be robust in the face of challenge and that would ultimately provide grades that the children deserved.

Both these examples for me demonstrated how together we are so much stronger; we are more robust in our responses to situations, and we are creating a supportive culture in which everyone can achieve. Our values are so much more than just five words, they are the threads that make us what we are and that remind us daily that everyone matters, and we all want the very best for everyone in our care.

David O'Toole Deputy CEO, The Marches Academy Trust

#togetherwegrow

TRUST MEMBERS & TRUSTEES The Marches Academy Trust is governed by the Board of Trustees.

Trustees are appointed by the members.

Members

Anna Burgess

Claire Shaw

Robert Forrester

David Griffiths

Arthur Walpole

Trustees

Alex Fry Chair

Catherine Bennett Vice Chair

Sarah Finch CEO

Pam Edwards

Mark Liquorish

Arthur Walpole

Stuart Cowper

A MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR OF TRUSTEES As we approach the end of the most challenging of school years, it's more important than ever to celebrate the achievements, commitment and support shown by students, staff and parents across all our school communities. While the last year has been characterised by restrictions and disruptions, it has also been a time of adaptation and growth, with new foundations being laid for the future.

For all those children and young people who are leaving school, having completed their education with us or making the transition from primary to secondary, we wish you the very best in the next stage of your journey. For those who will be with us again next year, we look forward to the hope of moving on from the present, using everything we have learned as a springboard for future progress and achievement.

The Trust has grown too, welcoming Woodlands School to our learning community, and we are excited about the role it will play in enhancing our ability to meet special educational needs across all our schools. We are also looking forward to the next phase in the development of Shrewsbury Academy, having secured the government funding required to support the school's expansion and deliver improved facilities for our students there.

Thank you everyone for your consistent support and encouragement of the Trust in delivering our vision of 'Achievement through caring'. I sincerely hope that this summer provides an opportunity for us all to rest and refresh ourselves, so that we can continue to grow together over the years to come.

Alex Fry Member and Chair of the Board of Trustees, The Marches Academy Trust

Student Sp otl ig ht

Year 8 student Callum Breeze from The Marches School, was recently announced as the winner of the school's Student Planner Cover Competition! A big congratulations to Callum for producing such a fantastic design encompassing the Trust values of equality and creativity!

ALLIANCE OF LEADING LEARNING Hugh Jackson | Deputy Headteacher: English Curriculum Development across the Trust

Architects of Change Trust Conference 'As an architect, you design for the present, with an awareness of the past for a future which is essentially unknown' Norman Foster The Marches Academy Trust’s vision for a community of schools that uphold the values of excellence, integrity, empathy, creativity and equality are at the heart of all that we do. A significant amount of work has happened over the past couple of years to start shaping the future of education and taking ownership of the skills, knowledge and behaviours that prepare our students for lifelong learning. Following the growth of our Trust to 10 schools and as we all begin to embrace the opportunities that a post-pandemic world provides, this year’s Trust professional learning conference was about reclaiming our future and becoming architects of our own destinies. The day was broken into three key sections: revisiting our aspirations for our schools of the future, taking an inspirational moment to reflect upon the change process with leading educationalist Richard Gerver, and then embracing the opportunity to build a better future within our workshops that were facilitated by a plethora of our talented staff within our own schools.

School of the Future The conference opened with our CEO, Sarah Finch, re-lighting the fires and imagination about the potential that our Trust has in shaping the educational landscape of the future. In her impassioned speech, she reminded us of the important role that education has in making a difference and being more than just a collection of grades. Underpinned by our ethos of ‘Achievement through caring’, she emboldened staff in the need to be brave and consider the role of our schools as a village on top of a mountain as we make and develop a curriculum that values the whole and variety of students within our care. The focus of the day was made clear: “to prepare the foundations that will allow every learner in our Trust to have every opportunity to be creative, to be curious, to problem solve, to have the confidence to voice their opinions, to have the confidence to contribute to their communities and therefore building a very strong village that raises every child to fulfil whatever hopes and ambitions that they will have for their own future.”

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Keynote: ‘Phases of Change’ – Richard Gerver Building upon Sarah Finch’s remarks about our Trust schools reaching beyond the classroom and preparing our community for the demands of the future, the keynote speech by Richard Gerver focused upon ‘Phases of Change’. Through his session, our staff had the opportunity to reflect and consider how education has changed and how it will continue to change in the future. His session specifically focused upon how we experience and manage change, how we create our new 'tomorrow', and reflect upon what has happened in the pandemic, in order to embrace an exciting new future. Richard’s experiences as Headmaster of the failing Grange Primary School, which he famously transformed into one of the most acclaimed learning environments in the world, has helped to make him a global authority and advocate for the transformation of education. His books all explore the themes of human potential, leadership and success, more recently exploring the world beyond school through the eyes of an educator. His fourth book, 'Education: A Manifesto for Change', specifically explores how our school system can be made fit for purpose in our turbulent 21st-century world. As the Trust’s schools prepare to be architects of change for the future, his thoughts were motivational and authentic, providing a clear foundation for the workshops that followed.

Workshops Following the keynote address, our Architects then led several workshops in their school-based teams that explored a range of topics that had emerged from the School of the Future sessions held in October. The sessions focused on the areas of ‘Future Women Leaders’, ‘Imagineers’, ‘Reflective Learners’, ‘Creating Effective Communicators in our Communities’, ‘Developing Sports Values’ and ‘Behavioural and Emotional Regulation’. Each session was supported by an expert in their field and included leading education behaviour expert Jason Bangbala, leading scientist and co-founder of the ‘STEM-ettes’ Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon who is passionate about developing leadership opportunities for women, our very own CEO Sarah Finch who has been at the forefront of educational development and was Headteacher of the first Academy in Shropshire and the passionate and experienced Shrewsbury Town in the Community’s CEO Jamie Edwards as he explored the importance of sports values and skills for our students in a session that also featured a surprise appearance from rugby icon Jonny Wilkinson, who was instrumental in England’s winning of the 2003 World Cup. Once our staff had immersed themselves within their linked expert’s knowledge, they were then guided by our talented Architects in considering how these principles could be applied within our schools, developing plans and actions to help build our schools of the future and becoming a key part in building the next stage of our Trust’s future.

The amazing experiences that our staff had throughout the conference would not have been possible if it had not been for the enthusiasm, dedication and passion that has been demonstrated since the initial planning for the conference in November. We would like to thank all of the site staff, the leadership groups and Teaching and Learning leads throughout the Trust that have supported with the logistics and in navigating all of the different changes that have happened since the initial planning of the conference through to the main event. A special mention is also needed for Helen Lloyd at the Alliance of Leading Learning who has consistently been both the link and support to all of the Architects, Experts and people involved within the making of the day. Finally, the day would not have been a success if it had not been for the amazing team of Architects throughout our schools. It has been a pleasure working with you all over the past months and to be reminded of the wealth of talent, creativity and humanity that we are all privileged to work with every day. You have all embodied the principles of #togetherwegrow and we look forward to supporting you all further as your projects develop over the coming years.

SPOTLIGHT ON LEARNING Focus | A Year in my Life As Georgia Leese walked to Sir John Talbot's School on her first day at secondary school in September 2020, she was feeling nervous but excited. Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse as she and her friend were stung by a wasp! They arrived at school distressed and unsettled but were quickly ushered to Pastoral Support for assistance. Here they received a warm welcome and a reassuring ‘reset’ to their day. As they left Pastoral and made their way onto the yard to meet their peers, Georgia was approached by a BBC film crew who interviewed her about her first day at secondary school. Georgia was articulate, cheerful and chatty and endeared herself to everyone around her. As a year has passed we decided to get back in touch with Georgia to find out how her year has gone. Here’s what she had to say...

Georgia Leese, Year 7 student at Sir John Talbot's School On the first day of the year I remember being really nervous but very excited. I had got my uniform and all my equipment and I felt organised and ready. I was worried about the big changes that were ahead. I couldn’t believe it when the BBC were on the playground and they wanted to ask me some questions. I had just been stung on my way to school and then, next minute the BBC were interviewing me!

Afterwards I went to my tutor group. Normally I struggle to make friends easily, so I was worried about this. I stuck with the friends I had made at primary school at first. Mrs Couturier is my tutor. When I met her on my first day I noticed straight away how happy she was. She is always happy! I loved my first day. I did get lost. I got lost a lot at first. I also lost my equipment.

I used to leave it in classrooms. It took me a while to get organised and get the hang of everything. I’m still not that good at it to be honest. After a while I made friends with other children in my tutor group and got to know everyone. After a few weeks we all just clicked.

In terms of my lessons I realised how different the lessons are at secondary school. I get a lot more time on subjects other than Maths and English and I like that. My favourite subject is Spanish because I love that it is all new to me. I really enjoy Spanish. Miss Turrado is my teacher. She is really nice and she makes learning fun. We play language games and compete against each other.

My mum and dad are both keyworkers. In lockdown my mum worked night shifts as a carer and my dad worked at Belton Farm. I have a younger brother and sister too, so I know this was a struggle for them. Mum and Dad have been brilliant at looking after us all.

Online lessons were not the same. I wanted to see people face to face and I missed this. I was in Keyworker School in Year 6 and Year 7. I found Teams really helpful because the calendar means you always knew where you were supposed to be and that helps with my organisation. Keyworker School was good because I got to mix with people and didn’t spend too much time on my own. I also met even more people in my year group and made new friends.

Covid has changed education a lot. We use a one-way system to get around school so it can take a long time to get from one lesson to another. It is good that we all go one way. I hated using hand sanitiser so often at first because I got a rash on my hands, but I think I have just got used to it all now. I have really enjoyed just being with Year 7 at break time and lunchtimes this year and not mixing with all of the older students.

We are a really big year group but because we have been together so often, I feel like I know everyone in my year now. The seating areas are great because I can sit and chat to my friends at break times but there is also space to run around. The only thing that I have been disappointed about this year is that we haven’t been able to go away on the residential trips. I was looking forward to them so much but I understand why we can’t go.

My favourite thing about secondary school is the way we all come together as a community. I like the assemblies. We have only had one that was face to face but the online ones are great. The Teams meeting assemblies still make me feel like we are together. Mrs Lewis and Mrs Elms do great assemblies. This has showed us that Covid can’t stop us being together. This has made things feel more normal.

If I was going to give any advice to a Year 6 pupil about coming up to secondary school I would say don’t be scared because secondary school is just wonderful. It might look big and you might get lost but it is not that big once you get used to it. The subjects are brilliant and the lessons are brilliant.

I am really looking forward to Year 8 and not having so many covid restrictions. There will be lots of advantages, for instance, I am hoping to be in mixed groups and looking forward to working with different groups of students and making more friends. I really like my tutor group but we have been together in our bubble all year and we are looking forward to mixing a bit more in future. This year has been a great year!

PRIMARY & SECONDARY TRUST SPORT UPDATE George Hounsell | Trust Primary PE Lead Continuing to grow our Primary PE Team: Over the past year, Carla Whelan, Executive Director of Primary Education along with myself (George Hounsell, Trust Primary PE Lead) have been working together to create our Primary Physical Education Team to ensure PESSPA (Physical Education, School Sport and Physical Activity) is at the heart of our primary schools.

Since September 2021, The Marches Academy Trust has seen the primary physical education family introduce:

Trust Panathlon Competition

Jack Leask, PE Apprentice

6 Primary PESSPA Apprentices 1 Girls in Sport Coordinator 3 Primary PE SLE’s (Specialist Leader of Education) 1 Primary PE Advisor The Primary PE Team regularly meet to support each other and the children across all of our primary schools within the Trust, all with the same aim, to give our pupils as many sporting opportunities as possible.

Secondaries continuing to develop facilities and provision for students: Emma Holding, Girls in Sport Coordinator

Emily Morris, PE Apprentice

The secondary schools within The Marches Academy Trust have been working together, alongside local active partnership Engerize STW and the Department for Education, to help improve the sporting provision for their students. The Grove School, The Marches School, Sir John Talbot’s School and Shrewsbury Academy have all been funded £6,000, with some of the schools introducing new fitness equipment and with others introducing sporting specialists within their schools. These new initiatives will continue to develop in the upcoming academic year.

SOCIAL FARM PROJECT UPDATE George Hounsell | Trust Primary PE Lead Over the past academic year, we have welcomed over 30 animals into our ever-growing family within The Marches Academy Trust. Longlands Primary School, Woodlands School, The Grange Primary School, Tilstock CE Primary School and Lower Heath CE Primary School have all introduced animals to their schools. These include rabbits, snakes, guinea pigs, chickens, turtles and fish.

Our schools have been working together and with their communities to increase the provision of outdoor learning across the Trust. The farming team at Longlands Primary School have been supporting The Grange Primary School who recently opened their Social Farm. Over the summer, local company Aico Ltd will be working with Longlands Primary School and Woodlands School to help continue to develop their outdoor learning areas.

Plans have already started happening for schools across the Trust to support each other by helping them increase their outdoor learning programmes.

These include orchards, community allotments and social farms.

SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS AND DISABILITIES UPDATE Amy Chevin-Dooley | Deputy Headteacher for Safeguarding, LAC & SEND Lead As we move along the Government’s road map toward a greater easing of the COVID lockdown in England, while simultaneously celebrating England’s progress in the men’s Euro 2020 football campaign, and the increased chances of sunny days together in the sun, the importance of connection is more prominent than ever. Connectedness – togetherness – relationships: the currency of happiness and systemic change (Bruce D. Perry, M.D., Ph.D.) must now feature centrally in any plans to improve the education and opportunities for our learners, particularly those with additional needs.

As a Trust, we work tirelessly to develop the connectedness of our support teams; every half term, our safeguarding and learning support (SEND) teams come together in networks to support one another, sharing best practice, developing ideas, and implementing change. At a time when services are stretched within the local authority, and nationally, the Trust are working together to improve the support services available to our learners.

In Spring 2021, the SENDCOs from all primary settings worked alongside Deborah Sadler, Headteacher of Lower Heath CE Primary School, to develop processes and opportunities across the Trust SEND teams. Also, at Oakmeadow CE Primary School, following a recent verification visit involving discussions with children, parents, governors and staff, together with a review of a comprehensive range of evidence highlighting aspects of SEND Management and Leadership, the school have been awarded with the SEND and Inclusion Award. The award is a true reflection of the continual ongoing commitment by the school community towards the SEND provision at Oakmeadow. Amongst many other aspects, the strong vision of inclusion being at the centre of Oakmeadow’s ethos was highlighted as all stakeholders involved stated how they value the school’s inclusive ethos and the relationships built between home and school.

In the new academic year, we aim to extend the relationships fostered between the Trust schools to the communities that surround them. Working with PACC (Parent and Carer Council) Shropshire, we will be inviting parents and carers from across Shropshire to contribute to the development of inclusive provisions in our settings. Also, we will be extending the invitation to extended families, our neighbours, local businesses, professionals and volunteers; in a society that has learned the real value of community through the pandemic, we hope to invite local expertise to support some of our learners in a mentoring capacity. This is an exciting opportunity for all involved and I look forward to sharing the plans with you early in the academic year 2021-22.

MMATOVISION TRUST EUROVISION A couple of months ago all schools across the The Marches Academy Trust were invited to take part in a fun competition, the Trust’s version of Eurovision – MMATovision! Budding musicians and song writers were challenged to send in their performances based on a set of criteria. We received some wonderful entries and are pleased to share the following results: Best Original Song and Overall Winner – Jacob Savill from The Grove School Jacob really put his talents on display, composing, writing the lyrics and then singing his song himself. Clearly a lot of time and effort had been put into his entry and it really paid off in a quality performance.

Best Primary and Overall 2nd Place – Longlands Primary School Longlands Primary School received a special commendation for their sea shanty inspired entry.

Both pupils and staff at the school really did enter into the spirit of our inaugural MMATovision competition with a lot of enthusiasm that would even have melted the hearts of the Europeans.

Best Secondary and Overall 3rd Place – Connie Holmes from The Marches School Connie filmed a very professional looking video, where she performed her original song all about lockdown. The lyrics were very cleverly put together and she sung beautifully with a lot of emotion.

Best Teacher and Overall 4th Place – Rob Collier from The Marches School Mr Collier who is a Science Teacher at The Marches School, known for his singing exploits created a song entitled 'The pH Scale' to a well known tune. Mr Collier has his own YouTube channel called ‘Singing For Science’ where he regularly posts fun recap Science videos to assist with his students recall.

The Executive Board who judged the entries would like to issue a big well done and thank you to all staff and students who took part in this fun competition, the judges really enjoyed watching the clips and seeing such a display of creativity.

The lucky placed winners received the following vouchers: 1st and 2nd each won £100 with 3rd and 4th each winning £25. Congratulations!

Visit The Marches Academy Trust YouTube channel to watch the placed performances - here.

TILSTOCK CE PRIMARY SCHOOL Rowena Kaminski | Head of School Reading has been a vital part of our curriculum development here at Tilstock CE Primary School. Our journey with reading began with the implementation of a high-quality systematic phonics scheme. All staff received training and follow the Read Write Inc programme across the school. Two years on, there is no doubt about the positive impact that can be seen and heard across the school. Our older readers use the Accelerated Reader programme, which assesses children’s comprehension through online book quizzes. They thoroughly enjoy selecting their own books and taking part in online book reviews.

This term we have done away with paper reading journals and have embraced technology with the new ‘GoRead’ online reading app. As a result, parents can easily update their child’s reading records via a smartphone and teachers are able to efficiently keep track of their pupils reading progress. This, you might say, was getting to grips with the nuts and bolts of reading – the knowledge of letters and sounds that would enable our children to develop the necessary skills in comprehension, speaking and listening.

We have had great impact from the Poetry by Heart event. This is an example of how reading has developed our children’s ability to speak with expression and confidence. To understand the beauty and power of words – the distillation of language. We now have a superb selection of poetry books in our main corridor, where children and staff can dip into a range of traditional and modern verse. Children are now reading more poetry than ever and know how to ‘perform’ in front of an audience.

We are now looking at how reading can enhance learning across the curriculum. The age-old art of storytelling, from cave-dwellers using pigment to paint stories on walls with their hands to the ancient Greeks who carved language into walls to tell us how history had moved forward. The evolution of storytelling reflects how people learn and communicate. Many fairy tales were stories that were passed down from generations before, and simply needed to be put to paper. The tales were created to teach children basic life lessons in storytelling form.

In our curriculum, each subject is full of stories! History is made up of the most wonderful stories of past lives, Geography is the story of people and places, Science is the story of the what and the how, and of magnificent inventors, and RE is the story of beliefs and culture with perhaps the greatest story ever told…

At Tilstock we want to use reading to promote language and literacy development across all subjects within our curriculum. But we also want to use it to deepen understanding of subject specific terminology and key concepts. We hope that through stories, we can encourage our children to explain their thinking, debate their ideas and read and write at a level which will help them to develop all their skills, values, and attitudes. We want them to develop a true love of reading. We are now loading up our classrooms with diverse and informative texts. We have provided booklists on the curriculum page of our website, with a range of different writing styles and opinions, such as Women in history and Black history to allow our children to not only read and comprehend information, but also to form opinions and questions about what they read.

In 2018, Ofsted described reading as the gateway to almost every other subject and to children discovering their own unique interests and talents. That is the power of reading, and we are very excited about how this fundamental skill can change our children’s experience of learning.

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LOWER HEATH CE PRIMARY SCHOOL Deborah Sadler | Headteacher As some restrictions have started to be relaxed, the pupils and staff at Lower Heath CE Primary School have started to enjoy working with organisations out in the community again, in order to enrich the curriculum and help children to grow and flourish. We now value more than ever the contribution that visits, workshops and experiences have in bringing children’s learning to life.

We were very excited to welcome Teach Rex into the school this term! Teach Rex deliver workshops in schools which aim to develop creative writing, ICT skills, PSHE, Drama and Science.

This was an amazing cross-curricular experience for all children across the school, which was also great fun and really captured the children’s imaginations! Children were hooked into the event when, one morning, they found dinosaur eggs in each of the classroom! As the week progressed, the eggs hatched, and on ‘Teach Rex Day’ two huge dinosaurs came to spend the day with us; they even brought some baby dinosaurs along for our younger children to meet! The children were inspired to complete some superb pieces of writing, supported by their Drama and vocabulary work, as well as some stunning artwork.

Children in Lower Key Stage 2 went on our school’s first trip since lockdown, to the Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre. To support their Geography learning, children spent the day investigating river features and the speed of currents at different parts of the river. They were thrilled to be out and about again, and the visit gave them not only a physical experience to help their understanding of rivers, but also a chance to explore the geography of their local area.

Finally, we have been so lucky to be able to return to some of our cross-Trust events, and the primary sports events have been the highlight of the term for many of our children. In particular, our girls’ football team had a fantastic time at the varsity event; they showed great determination and attitude, and the icing on the cake was winning the tournament! We are so proud of the team, and indeed of all of the children who have participated so enthusiastically in cross-Trust events.

We finish the school year feeling incredibly grateful for our connections with our school community and other Trust schools, and the benefits that these connections bring to us all.

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LONGLANDS PRIMARY SCHOOL Zillah Cope | Headteacher We have learned so many valuable lessons from the past 18 months. This summer term we have taken time to notice, to observe and most importantly to listen to our pupils and community to ensure our provision is right for all our children, that talents are still nurtured and very importantly, to ensure that our pupils do not miss out on the things that make their experiences unique here at Longlands Primary School.

The children busily rehearsed in preparation for the L Factor, where they still managed to get the chance to perform on the stage at Festival Drayton in front of the judges this July.

The Year 2 and Year 3 class, and staff, had their school sleepover on Friday 25th June. It was worth it just to witness their excitement and sticky faces after eating s'mores around the forest fire and when tucking into their fish and chip supper and ice creams.

The children had great fun working with a poet on Zoom. Each child produced a bee poem to mark the launch of our new bee logo and mascot.

Each of our classes worked with two artists (for a limited time of 15 minutes) and were truly inspired to create some wonderful artwork around the month of October, which is the month we have been given in order to produce artwork for the Market Drayton calendar competition.

We received great feedback from the artist; 'We have worked with seven schools this summer and the pupils at Longlands Primary School are some of the most talented we have seen!’

We have held steadfast to the end this summer, and not cancelled our Year 6 end of year residential to ensure that our pupils still get the chance to experience Arthog in order that they can make important memories that will last for years to come.

I’ve just read the email regarding L Factor and just wanted to say thank you. Thank you for listening, thank you for doing all that you can for our children and thank you for doing something for us parents as well.

I am glad the girls get to experience Longlands in the way that I remember it from my school days and I know they’ll have the fond memories of their Headteacher and Teachers that I still carry now.

Longlands Parent ~ Sammi Nimmo

LONGLANDSPRIMARYSCHOOL.CO.UK |

@LONGLANDSCOMMUNITYPRIMARYSCHOOL

It has certainly been a busy term at The Grange Primary School!

It has been a pleasure to have the Rising Stars Boxing Company working with us this term. We have also continued to get active with our sponsored Pro-Strike event – in which we raised £1000 for new PE equipment. We have also hosted a girls' football tournament and had Read the Game enjoyed by children in Years 3 and 4.

There has been lots of creativity going on this term with the whole school constructing pop up cards for Father’s Day. Lower Key Stage 2 also held an exhibition to showcase their sea creature sculptures to the rest of the school.

Lots of events have been held across the school to launch year group topics such as Pirate Day in the Early Years, Seaside Day in Key Stage 1, Blue Abyss Day in Lower Key Stage 2 and Evacuee Day in Upper Key Stage 2.

THE GRANGE PRIMARY SCHOOL Charlotte Summers | Headteacher

A wonderful new library has been assembled in Key Stage 1. It has been lovely seeing all the children visit and borrow books to take home.

One of the most exciting developments this term has been the opening of The Grange Farm! We have welcomed two rabbits and six chickens to our school family. The children are doing a great job of looking after them. We held a special opening ceremony attended by CEO of The Marches Academy Trust, Ms Finch and members of the local community.

As the school year draws to a close, we would like to wish everyone a happy and safe summer. We would especially like to wish our Year 6 leavers lots of luck for secondary school. Please can we also thank our school community, including children, parents, staff and volunteers for their unwavering positivity and support in what has been a time of uncertainty and change.

GRANGEPRIMARYSHREWSBURY.CO.UK |

@GRANGEPRIMARYSCHOOLSHREWSBURY

OAKMEADOW CE PRIMARY SCHOOL Samantha Hill | Head of School Teamwork is one of our values at Oakmeadow CE Primary School and we have been focussing on the skills it takes to work together successfully this term. Our assemblies and work in class have given the children time to reflect on all the opportunities we have to work as a team and to support with this we have considered how we can help them develop their skills through providing group activities.

Children have been involved in a range of team sporting events such as our Year 6 girls taking part in the Wildcats Festival. Sports days were underway, where the children took part in a range of activities such as javelin, long jump, archery and sprints, working together to earn points for their ‘Houses’.

Enrichment activities in place for the children this term have brought some real excitement and have offered opportunities for us to work together with external providers. Year 3 started their half term with a Stone Age workshop within school, Year 4 have had a Drama workshop company visit to immerse them in the Maya ancient civilisation as part of their topic and a Roman solider has visited Year 4! Through our alliance with Telford Arts College, body percussion music workshops have taken place and children from all year groups really enjoyed this experience. It has been lovely to see visitors in school once more to enhance the already exciting learning happening!

Our Prefects have been working together to help the school update its Safer Schools accreditation through conducting pupil surveys and helping the younger children understand all the ways we keep safe at Oakmeadow through presentations.

This summer we have invested in a range of pastoral books for our school libraries and classrooms based around emotions, wellbeing, equality, diversity and relationships to support our children being able to understand and reflect on how our feelings and beliefs can impact on our relationships with others.

We are very grateful for all our families for their continued support and understanding they have shown all year and moving forward, we hope that COVID restrictions allow us to come together further and extend upon the range of exciting activities in place for the children. There were lots of enjoyable opportunities for the children to embrace the last few weeks in their current classes and for Year 6 to experience the send off they deserve!

OAKMEADOWPRIMARY.CO.UK |

@OAKMEADOWCESCHOOL

WOODLANDS SCHOOL Julia Taylor | Headteacher Welcome to the first contribution from Woodlands School to The Marches Trust newsletter.

Things have been busy since we joined the Trust at the beginning of April and there is lots of preparation for all of our three sites joining to become one big site in September, when all our students from Year 5 to Year 11 will be together at Wem. Our summer timetable has given students the opportunities to try out different courses that they may opt to take in September. Lots of different, new and exciting, things have been on offer from motor vehicle studies, construction, outdoor education, Duke of Edinburgh and photography.

Students have all decided on three vocational options to study at Key Stage 4 and we are very excited to be able to offer some of these for the first time.

On Thursdays we all take part in whole school sport and this has been a very unique approach to sport and has included bubble football (the most fun you can have being wrapped in plastic and shunted across a football pitch by Year 9's!), trampolining at Airea 51, ten pin bowling (staff versus students), archery; and our very own sports day of welly wanging, egg and spoon and three-legged races!

We have opened our own social farm and have lots of new animals in school: Barry the bearded dragon, Willow the snake, Raphael the tortoise, and our lovely lady rescue hens have joined Riker, the therapy dog in the Woodlands Menagerie. We also have Bodie, a ten week old Labrador pup joining the therapy team!

September will be an exciting time, with lots of positive change and we are looking forward to our journey as part of The Marches Academy Trust.

WOODLANDS.SCHOOL |

@WOODLANDSSHROPSHIRE

THE MARCHES SCHOOL Alison Pearson | Headteacher The summer term took its time to warm up weather wise, but in school we hit the ground running making up for lost time to be together and grow.

Staff have needed to work hard to plan and deliver assessments for exam students – a programme we have called a 'Time to Shine'. We have been so impressed with how both Year 11 and 13 rose to the challenge set and with how they then moved to bridging school with a range of work experience, careers-based support and bridging lessons for students moving though to Sixth Form.

As one year group move on, another takes their place – our new student leaders have been appointed, now with three Head Students in charge planning for the impact they want to make, with mental health big on their agenda.

To replace the lack of sporting competition possible this year, the PE Department ran an inter year mixed football tournament, raising over £120 in entry fees for our local charity, Ethos. The mood over each evening for the week was positive and joyful to watch.

We ran another SALAD Day this term with speaking and listening all day. Students worked together informally debating some challenging topics and got competitive in a spelling bee.

We pulled together with an outdoor tug of war House event – always an annual favourite that we had to miss last year. The sun shone and we made some noise first thing in the morning.

The school celebrated Sports Day with a showcase of sporting talent from all but our Year 8’s and we look forward to seeing some exciting changes to our buildings as we grow our facilities with a new reception, Sixth Form spaces and a state-of-the-art fitness suite and dance studio.

We cannot wait to start a new year all over again!

Thank you for the fantastic support my child has had from her teachers at school over the past year - we can see how hard everyone has worked, and continues to work.

Marches Parent/Carer

MARCHESSCHOOL.CO.UK |

@MARCHESSCHOOL

This academic year has been a year unlike any other and has been my first full year as Head of School at Sir John Talbot’s School. What has pleased me greatly over the last few months is how staff have risen to all the challenges that the COVID pandemic has presented us with. The sense of unity and team spirit throughout this gives me great hope for the future and the new school year starting in September. Our students have been hard working and industrious throughout these times and it has been very enjoyable this term to see examples of the work they have produced.

Following their ‘Time to Shine’ the Year 11 Enrichment Programme took place. The Enrichment Programme is our offer of support towards next steps in life and a chance to catch up on some of the experience that lockdown has impacted. Phase 1 took place in school and phase 2 included online activities on the theme of community environment and diversity.

SIR JOHN TALBOT'S SCHOOL Tim Stonall | Head of School

In addition to providing enrichment opportunities to develop skills, initiatives were created to provide opportunities to link with the local community. The programme included ‘preparing for the road’ and visiting businesses to the school included, local Ford Dealer Blackhurst Garages and Malcolm Farrar of Shropshire Council Road Safety. Barlows UK attended to give talks on apprenticeships and Yvonne Sheridan a former student from Wockhardt Pharmaceuticals spoke about vaccine production in Wrexham. Mock interviews were kindly carried out by Community Governors, Nicci Vasey and Gareth Von Dinther. Governors were also invited to a three-course lunch prepared by Lee Sirett, Jack Lee, David Davies and Sophie Shingler. It looked wonderful on the table and tasted just as good too. Their hard work and endeavour really paid off.

Continuing the creative theme, Miss Lloyd, Art, ran an illustration workshop for More Able Pupils (MAP) where a local Shropshire artist was invited into the school to show children how to paint a mural on the windows of our Social Dining Area.

We are really looking forward to next academic year; as the COVID restrictions lift, we are determined to further enhance our curriculum by providing our students with creative opportunities that link with our community.

SIRJOHNTALBOTS.CO.UK |

@SIRJOHNTALBOTSSCHOOL

THE GROVE SCHOOL Sonia Taylor | Headteacher The Grove School would like to send a sincere thank you to all the parents and carers of our children who have contacted us with messages of support, offers of help and signs of appreciation. Being a genuine part of the Market Drayton community means a huge amount to us and so, following the recent national #ThankYouDay, we thank you for supporting us through the last year.

I wonder if you agree with us: the end of the academic year is always a mixed time when we simultaneously look both backward and forward. What are our thoughts when we do this?

Looking back, you will be well aware of the challenges presented by the year, but we are very proud of how the school and our students all adapted to an entirely new format of education throughout lockdown. Students have thrown themselves into the opportunities of being back in school, from singing lessons to writing competitions, gardening clubs to exploration with satellites. We furthered our programme of strong, high-profile speakers by welcoming Vicky Brackett, Chief Commercial Officer at Irwin Mitchell (one of England’s leading law firms) who gave invaluable advice to our Year 10 and Sixth Form students. The vast majority of our DofE participants have been fully involved in their weekly activities and are well on their way to successful completion of Bronze and Silver awards, with the DofE expedition back in action this term after a successful Silver assessment expedition for seven of our Year 11 students in May. Year 11 students returned for a transition programme of introductory sessions to the Sixth Form this half term. As well as completing full days of lessons with their new subject teachers, they have also had the opportunity to experience the wider enrichment programme, including society sessions (debate and sport) as well as the wider qualifications offered: DofE Gold Award and the Young Enterprise Programme. In the words of one Year 11 student, “It’s been really useful and good to get in and know what to expect in September.”

Year 13 STEMlab members have been working on an antenna system to receive live data from passing weather satellites. From initially starting with a few pieces of wood and some garden wire, they have developed a kit antenna that can be easily assembled and connected to a laptop.

The finished antenna receives fantastic images from the American NOAA 15, 18 & 19 satellites, as well as the Russian Meteor-M2.

Most importantly of all though, we have had happy children. They have learnt, explored, grown and laughed together; it has been wonderful to see.

Looking forward, we think about a year of promise. Expeditions are planned for fifty Year 9 and Year 10 DofE Bronze and Silver students, trips to the theatre are being set out, several students have applied for Imperial College’s STEM Potential Programme, school performances are planned, public speaking competitions will all be upon us in no time and The Grove Sixth Form has grown significantly. Students will also have a wide range of new clubs to become part of. We have the chance to make a difference to the world around us and we are genuinely looking forward to a year of children rediscovering each other, themselves and what the world can offer them. We wish you all a happy summer holiday.

GROVESCHOOLMARKETDRAYTON.CO.UK |

@GROVESCHOOLSHROPSHIRE

SHREWSBURY ACADEMY Julie Johnson | Head of School We have had many moments over the last academic year where we have been #proudtobeSA. I want to continue to evolve our school with our students' voice at the heart of our continuing developments.

It is with great pleasure that I inform you that Shrewsbury Academy have secured our Safer Schools accreditation this year. Students, the community and staff have contributed towards this achievement and we continue to ensure that safety at school is a priority, supported by Mr Ian Bartlett, Crime Prevention Officer for the Local Authority.

I am delighted to also announce that we were nominated for the Pearson National Teaching Award. This accolade was for our dedication to staff and students and our continuous commitment to online learning during the COVID pandemic.

Throughout this term as a school community, we have further strengthened our relationships with local organisations. We have welcomed the team from Shrewsbury Youth for Christ into school, who have provided additional pastoral support to students via workshops. This assistance comes in many varied forms, more recently, the team have been working with students at Shrewsbury Academy through an outdoor campfire cooking project. This six-week course was designed to teach young people about cooking and nutrition, with an emphasis on practical skills and eating together. Through the project the students have been provided with the opportunity to grow in self-confidence and practice teamwork in a very hands-on way. So far students have learned how to make a fire, cooked popcorn over an open fire, made their own burgers and lots of other interesting recipes.

Shrewsbury Town in the Community have been continuing to support a variety of students across the school on a weekly basis. Prior to Year 11 leaving school, the cohort were given their very own bespoke National Citizen Service programme. This involved axe throwing, archery, team building and life skills workshops. Year 7 students were also treated to a day out to the Montgomery Waters Meadow Stadium where they played an inter-school tournament on the pitch. Finally, the newly formed girls' football club at school were invited to take part in the opening day celebrations for the new state of the art 3G AstroTurf pitch - where the Shrewsbury Town Football Club women's team play. There were many special guests at this event ranging from exprofessionals to sponsorship partners who had the chance to watch the girls play football.

Our Summer School at Shrewsbury Academy will run from Monday 16th to Friday 20th August and is sure to be, a not to be missed experience for our new Year 7 students. Our week will follow a Harry Potter theme and will incorporate a balance of academic opportunities and enrichment activities. It will be a fantastic chance to become familiar with the school surroundings, get to know a number of key staff members, make new friends and more importantly have fun. Our schedule will include potions, herbology, scavenger hunts, animal experiences, D&T and food practicals, quidditch and much more! Students will be building teamwork skills through ‘it's a knockout’ and bringing it all together with a performance, hopefully in front of parents and carers.

We cannot wait to welcome our new Year 7 students.

SHREWSBURYACADEMY.CO.UK |

@SHREWSBURYACADEMY

01691 664400 |

TRUSTADMIN@MMAT.ORG.UK

MARCHESACADEMYTRUST.CO.UK |

@MARCHESACADEMYTRUST