The City Times Spring 2 2020

The City Academy, Hackney

TheCityTimes

Spring 1 February 2020

Proposal to join the City of London Academies Trust Join us for a drop in consultation to find out more about this exciting opportunity Wednesday 11 March As you will be aware The City Academy, Hackney (TCAH) is jointly sponsored by the City of London Corporation and KPMG. You may also know that the City of London sponsors a number of other schools through the City of London Academies Trust (CoLAT) including schools in Hackney and Islington.

Although the City Academy, Hackney, is a ‘stand-alone’ school, it has strong links also with CoLAT. For example the CEO of CoLAT is Mark Emmerson, who was our first Principal. We believe that CoLAT is a well-organised and forward-thinking educational body, with good schools under its umbrella, and innovative ideas about how to help schools flourish. For some time therefore, we have been considering whether we could strengthen the school, and take advantage of the resources of CoLAT, by formally becoming a full member of the Trust. It is likely that schools working in partnership with each other find mutual benefit.

Having explored all the advantages and disadvantages through a rigorous independent assessment process, the co-sponsors and the governing body have decided that there are clear educational, financial and organisational benefits of TCAH being a full member of the Trust and therefore have taken the decision to start the process of us joining CoLAT. As the City of London Corporation is already a joint

sponsor of TCAH and as CoLAT was established along the same educational principles as our academy, there will be no immediate difference to the running of the school as a result of this merger. KPMG has committed to continuing the level of support it has provided when the academy becomes part of CoLAT for the foreseeable future. There are a number of stages, including consultation, that are required before the governing body can make a final assessment and the school can legally operate as a CoLAT school.

It is very important to us that we use your views to help shape the next steps for the academy. This will help in our continued drive to provide excellent education, a great workplace and to continue the support we offer to our wider community. We hope that as many of you as possible can join us for a drop in consultation session with Principal Mark Malcolm and CEO of CoLAT Mark Emmerson on the 11th March. The drop in will run from 5.30 p.m. to 6.30 p.m.

There will also be an online consultation for those that cannot make the 11th March and there is a selection of frequently asked questions in the Parental Correspondence section of our website.

We feel that this is a really exciting opportunity for the academy as we look forward to the next ten years of our development.

TCAH orchestra members performing with students from other CoLAT schools at the City of London Concert in January

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Available every half term at www.thecityacademy.org

Celebrating Effort Everyday the students here at the academy put in so much effort, we wanted to show you what that looks like

Students from Y9, 10 & 11 take part in the UK Maths Trust Challenge.

Students earning tokens for good deeds in house week.

Beautiful visual research work by a Y10 art student.

A reward trip to see Wicked, for students who have work particularly hard in drama.

Students who have worked really hard in Spanish to raise their grades.

Sixth form religious studies students discussing the sanctity of life.

Top Merit Winners Congratulations to all of our top merit winners from the past few weeks. Students receive merits every day and rewards each term for outstanding behaviour, attainment, effort and positive contribution to the academy.

Farrell Governor 335 points Y9

Jack Morray 292 points Y9

Kayla Mulcare-Gerald 274 points Y7

Jahari Semper-Knight 249 points Y9

Visit to The Ben Kinsella Trust We hear from the mentoring group about their visit to this anti-knife crime charity On the 3rd of February, we were taken on trip to the Ben Kinsella Trust workshop to discuss the dangers and the impacts of knife crime. The first thing we done was a digital questionnaire where we were asked questions about our personal experience related to knife crime. E.g “Have you ever thought about carrying a knife?” or “Does the area you live in have a lot of gang violence going on?” etc. We then watched a 20 minute movie that portrayed the lifestyle of a young boy growing up with his friends who were bad influences. It made me realise how if you do not choose the correct friends then you will be influenced to make the wrong decisions.

Eventually, we was introduced to the story of Ben Kinsella and they explained to the students the cause of his death which lead to the laws of knife crime changing after the incident occurred. Lastly we visited a rough idea of a prison cell where there was a man. He then discussed the seriousness of joint enterprise. Furthermore, he explained his personal story about him going to jail because of joint enterprise. This made a massive impact on me as it made me actually think about how serious it is going to jail or getting dragged into the wrong crowd. At the end we finished it off with a quick questionnaire and a little brief talk about how we felt about what we learnt during the workshop.

Overall I personally think the workshop has helped me a lot as it inspired me to stay out of trouble and to persuade people to make the right choices. I highly recommend this workshop and I’ll give it a good 9/10.

Thanks to Mr Ladega for arranging this trip and Mr Homer for taking us, I also recommend for there to be more trips like these.

Thank you.

Sixth Form News On Monday 4 February we warmly welcomed back one of our former students, Innaha Ahmed who graduated in 2016.

Since then she has been a KPMG apprentice learning valuable skills on the job. She came in for National Apprenticeship Week and spoke to sixth form about her decision to become an apprentice rather than do a degree. It was great to hear what a positive experience she has found it and useful for our current students thinking about their options. There are a lot of big decisions to be made by sixth form students at this time of year and it’s important to us that they hear about all the different kinds of opportunities out there for them.

Ben Kinsella’s parents. Ben was murdered in 2008.

Sporting Highlights • We will once again be fundraising for Sports Relief in March. Students will take part in a 1km or 2km cross country run in PE lessons 9th - 13th March. They have one month to fundraise and are aiming to beat last year’s grand total of £2,134!

• The Year 8 & Y9 Girls Basketball team dedicate their most recent win to Kobe Bryant.

The Importance of Attendance Every school day counts There is a strong link between school attendance and achieving good results. Excellent attendance at school is vital to help students get the best possible start in life. Those who frequently miss school often fall behind.

We expect a minimum of 97% attendance rate from all our students which equates to 184 of the 190 school days.

In the rare cases where a student’s attendance falls below 90% they are missing 19 full days of school, equivalent to 114 lessons. This will have a significant impact on their opportunities for learning and lead to them falling into the persistent absence category, which could lead to court action and a fine.

If your child is off ill please call the absence line on 0208 525 5440 (selecting absent option) and leave a clear message stating your child’s full name. You must call in for each day of absence.

Any queries regarding attendance, please contact Mr Myron Tandoh (Education Welfare Officer). % Attendance

Number of Days

Number of lessons missed

What happens at school

100% attendance

190

0 lessons missed

Regular rewards for 100% attendance

97% attendance

184 (6 days missed)

36 lessons missed

Students will be given work to catch up on when they are back in school

93% attendance 177 (13 days missed)

Letter sent home, student attendance closely monitored for three weeks. If 78 lessons missed there is no improvement a meeting with parents may be arranged.

90% attendance 161 (19 days missed)

114 lessons missed Any further absence must be authorised by a GP or medical professional.

• • Persistent Absence • •

Attendance Referral made to the Education Welfare Officer at The City Academy Penalty notice warning for persistent non-attendance Fixed Penalty Notice of £120 for persistent non-attendance Court action taken against the parent / carer for persistent non attendance

Dates to Remember Mon 24 Feb - Y7 & Y10 parent day Tue 25 Feb - First day back at school. All students on site for 8.40 a.m. No additional studies.

Wed 26 Feb - No additional studies.

Tue 25 - Fri 28 Feb - Y8, Y9 & 6th form consultation week.

Wed 4 Mar - No additional studies.

Fri 6 Mar - Parent & Staff Association (PSA) uniform shop, 4 5.30 p.m.

Stop Press Exam Season A reminder that GCSEs are fast approaching, in fact some students have already sat exams with BTEC business studies, GCSE drama performance and GCSE Food Technology practical already completed. Over 100 students will be working hard in the ‘Achieve More’ classes over half term. We expect all Y11, Y12 & Y13 students will make time for revision.

Wed 11 Mar - 6th form parent surgery, 8.45 - 9.45 a.m.

Wed 11 Mar - Drop in Parent Consultation: CoLAT Proposal, 5.30 - 6.30 p.m.

Food Technology GCSE Exam work

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