Newsletter - Spring

The Active Learning Trust Newsletter

www.activelearningtrust.org

Spring Term 2024

Welcome to the Spring Term issue of our newsletter for all parents and carers across The Active Learning Trust.

This term has truly flown by in what feels like three very short months. However, as always, I am hugely impressed by the wide range of activities and the progress our schools have packed into this time. A flavour of this is captured in the following pages and I hope you enjoy reading about our children and young people’s experiences as much as I have.

One of my many personal highlights this term was being honoured to spend two wonderful days with around 200 of our Year 11 pupils and staff from Chantry Academy, Cromwell Community College and Neale-Wade Academy as part of our Year 11 project. The project aims to significantly raise English and Maths GCSE results across the Trust, within the project’s first year. To meet so many of the pupils whose lives we hope to transform with the help of this project was a wonderful experience and really embodied the ethos of the work we all do every day here at The Active Learning Trust.

A very happy Easter to you and your families, and thank you for your ongoing support this term.

Lynsey Holzer Chief Executive Officer

Join our team in 2024!

You can view all the current job vacancies across The Active Learning Trust in one place.

So if you would like to join one of our friendly and supportive teams based at a school near you, click here to search today!

Update: The Active Learning Trust’s Year 11 Project

Our Year 11 Project aims to increase GCSE success at the three secondary schools across our Trust. We are passionate about this leading to increased opportunities and greater life chances for our young people. Therefore, we are committed to doing everything we can to ensure that as many of our students as possible perform well in their GCSEs to enable them to progress to those next important steps.

As part of this exciting project, we shared two inspiring days at Thetford Forest with students and staff from Chantry Academy, Cromwell Community College and Neale-Wade Academy.

We enjoyed the challenge of tackling the high ropes course as well as coming together to complete team building activities in beautiful surroundings. The students also joined a motivation session with Jim Roberson, a former NFL player, with many years experience as a teacher, trainer, coach and parent.

Next stop... GCSE success!

Update: Solar panels

As part of our commitment to using alternative energy sources we are delighted to have now completed solar panel installations at the following schools:

Cromwell Community College

Isle of Ely Primary School

Pakefield Primary School

Grove Primary School

Westwood Primary School

Red Oak Primary School

Albert Pye Primary School

Chesterton Primary School

Chantry Academy (being completed over the Easter break)

All those installed are up and running and generating lots of green energy for our schools!

Earith Primary School, Earith

Hillside Primary School, Ipswich

This term our school ethos of “We are kind, safe and brave” has been represented in a wide range of activities and visits from members of our community. These include meeting our Community PCs, PC Sam and PC Louise (pictured) and the organisers of Beat the Street, a free initiative to get us out and about walking, cycling and scooting around Ipswich.

We have also seen lots of sporting achievements, including our dodgeball team and our Year 3 girls football team. Well done everyone!

We were delighted to celebrate the grand opening of our new library recently, just in time for World Book Day! The library was officially opened by ALT’s CEO Lynsey Holzer along with our amazing Year 5 and 6 librarians. We also enjoyed a brilliant Mad Hatter’s Tea Party at the end of the week and we continue our strong focus on reading with lots of regular activities including our very popular book club. Our children and staff enjoyed getting involved in our DT day where we made jewellery influenced by historical periods. We also had a fantastic Science Day with the theme of “Time”.

Kingsfield Primary School, Chatteris

Pakefield Primary School, Lowestoft

We are really enjoying being involved in the Extra Time project with Suffolk Art Link and our wider local community. This term, the project has included a visit to Suffolk Archives in Lowestoft where we discovered original press cuttings, maps, photographs and microfiche, which really intrigued everyone. Our year 5 pupils also regularly meet up with residents at Hildesley Court care home to share our Extra Time projects and learn more about their lives.

Here at Kingsfield we have celebrated learning in a variety of exciting ways this term with all our staff and children joining in together, from dressing up for World Book Day and sharing our favourite stories across the school to becoming super scientists during British Science Week. Our exciting scientific investigations have included apples, mould and water clocks! During this week we also talked about Ada Lovelace and her contribution to the scientific world of computer programming, linking this to the value of aspiration and what it means to be resilient.

Highfield Littleport Academy, Littleport

One of our highlights this term was receiving very generous support from the 1st Littleport Croft Beavers group. The group has provided three impressive sensory panels incorporating various textures and sounds, taking into account the needs of the pupils here at Highfield Littleport. We aim to work collaboratively with the community and this lovely gesture exemplifies that spirit. Everyone is delighted with the panels and they have really enhanced our play area.

Cromwell Community College, Chatteris

It has been an exciting term across all 3 phases here at Cromwell. For our primary children, a visit from author Vicki Clarke really inspired us all with many pupils wanting to become authors and illustrators themselves after meeting Vicki.

Our Year 11s enjoyed an amazing adventure in Iceland, including visiting an ice cave, discovering an ice tunnel created by the lava flow and hiking on a glacier.

Year 12 and 13 A-Level Geography students from both Cromwell and Neale-Wade headed off on their residential trip to the Peak District. This trip formed part of the coursework element for their A-Level, with students looking at the impact of tourism in the area.

Red Oak Primary School, Lowestoft

We were delighted to receive a letter from the Minister for Schools, MP Damian Hinds, congratulating our school on pupil progress. The letter recognised the “standard of achievement demonstrated in reading, writing and mathematics Key Stage 2 assessments last year.” Our results published in December showed that 90% of pupils had reached or exceeded the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of Key Stage 2, putting us in the top 2% of primary schools in the country.

We were also congratulated on the progress scores in reading, writing and mathematics. These results showed that the progress made by pupils between Key Stage 1 and the end of Key Stage 2 puts us in the top 5 percent of primary schools in the country. A huge achievement for everyone here at Red Oak, well done!

Isle of Ely Primary School, Ely

Highfield Ely Academy, Ely

We are very proud to have recently been awarded the Arts Mark Gold Award. In our feedback, we were praised for continuing to value the arts as an integral part of our curriculum and recognising their contribution to children’s engagement, enjoyment and creative skills, as well as to our school core values.

A big thank you to Miss Lewis and Mrs Branson for leading the arts subject and to the whole school for embracing our commitment to the Arts. We look forward to continuing our Arts journey.

We’ve been excited to begin rolling out some of the 20 communication devices that the amazing Highfield Friends and Parents Association raised money for. Parents and carers have been in to school for training with our communication specialist and staff training is planned for straight after the Easter break. These devices will move with the young person between home and school and will give some of our learners a voice they previously couldn’t have had – they are literally life-changing.

Ravensmere Infant School, Beccles

We would like to thank all our colleagues at The Albert Pye and Ravensmere Federation and wider Trust for supporting and contributing to our current consultation which is considering the proposal to relocate Ravensmere Infant School to the Albert Pye site. Further details on the outcome of the consultation will be shared soon.

It has been a busy term at Ravensmere with lots of learning in school and out and about in our community, including a brilliant visit to Beccles Fire Station where we got to sit in the fire engine and even use the fire hoses!

Red Oak Primary School, Lowestoft: Albert Pye Community Primary School, Beccles

As mentioned above, a big thank you to everyone at Albert Pye who has contributed to our current consultation.

We had a great time celebrating and fundraising for Red Nose Day recently. We designed red noses and took part in our very own danceathon! Our other recent activities include taking part in an online BSL lesson as part of British Sign Language Week and making Krishna crowns in RE.

Neale-Wade Academy, March

Chesterton Primary School, Cambridge

During this term, the children at Chesterton have been on lots of visits out and about in the local community. Our Year 4 class enjoyed taking the local bus to the Museum of Anthropology and Year 6 loved their residential trip to Hilltop. We have also enjoyed celebrating Maths and English by dressing up for Number Day and World Book Day!

We were delighted to host an event attended by 150 delegates to celebrate International Women’s Day. Our students enjoyed talks from a wide range of inspirational women from the local community and engaged in lots of activities where we discussed our future dreams and aspirations.

Sidegate Primary School, Ipswich

The cast of Twelfth Night had an excellent time performing at Seckford Theatre as part of Woodbridge School’s Primary Enrichment Programme. The pupils exhibited all they had learnt through music, movement and acting. We would like to thank all the staff at Woodbridge School for coordinating this event - the children thoroughly enjoyed their arts experience.

8 children from year 6 took part in a swimming competition at Crown Pools on Friday afternoon. The children represented the school brilliantly, and managed to finish 2nd out of 7 schools. A fantastic achievement by the team who had a great time!

Grove Primary School, Lowestoft

We celebrated Science Week in spectacular fashion by having parent shares across the whole week. We held events for Nursery through to Year 6. The children and parents got stuck in with the activities and may have enjoyed it even more than the children! To finish our celebration of Science we have Silly Science workshops scheduled for the end of term.

As an Arts Mark school we have continued our endeavour to provide musical opportunities for our children. Our Rock Choir joined forces with Westwood's to take part in the annual Snape Maltings Celebration festival.

They really rocked and sang Zombie, High Hopes and Fight Song. The children were congratulated by other singers and musicians as they left the stage. It was wonderful to see them shine! We are now embarking on a project with Norfolk and Norwich Festival where we have been working with our artist in residence Johann Don Daniel (pictured) to create some musical pieces based on our local area. We can't wait to see the final outcome!

Reydon Primary School, Southwold

We have loved welcoming so many families to our parent share sessions this term. Our visitors have all got really involved with a wide range of topics and subjects including World Book Day, Science Week, times tables and testing our senses! Meanwhile, the children in our Passport to the World Club have explored Turkey and Japan this term learning all about these amazing countries and sampling their traditional foods, including sushi which we loved!

Westwood Primary School, Lowestoft

Gusford Primary School, Ipswich

This term the activities at Gusford have included an exciting “Stargazing Sleepover” for 40 Year 5 children. We identified planets, stars, constellations and the space station! Thank you to all the staff and helpers who supported this event.

Our choir enjoyed a fantastic opportunity to perform at Snape Maltings recently, well done to all of you for your hard work rehearsing and for your brilliant performance!

We recently hosted an exciting open morning dedicated to the Essential Letters and Sounds (ELS) phonics and spelling scheme. This event welcomed teachers from neighbouring schools to see the positive impact of the ELS approach has had on the children here at Westwood. Our successful implementation of the ELS scheme has made us a trailblazer in the region and Beth Jones, our Assistant Headteacher, has attained the prestigious status of being the only qualified ELS Exemplar Trainer in East Anglia.

Chantry Academy, Ipswich

We celebrated National Careers Week with lots of activities to inspire our students and we were delighted to invite Business Leaders to Chantry for our annual business breakfast. Students got to meet leaders from different sectors, hear their incredible journeys and learn more about the world of work. Other events included our interactive careers fair. This was an opportunity for students to explore various industries, network with professionals and experience tasters in future careers. We had over 25 stands for students to "have a go" at throughout the day.

Albert Pye Primary School - Chantry Academy - Chesterton Primary School - Cromwell Community College - Earith Primary School - Grove Primary School - Gusford Primary School - Highfield Ely Academy - Highfield Littleport Academy - Hillside Primary School - Isle of Ely Primary School - Kingsfield Primary School - Neale-Wade AcademyPakefield Primary School - Ravensmere Infant School - Red Oak Primary School - Reydon Primary School - Sidegate Primary School - Westwood Primary School