Our most recent school newsletter is below. Previous letters are available to read by downloading them at the bottom of the page:
20th December 2024
Dear Parents and Carers
Have a Peaceful Christmas Holiday. Thank you for all of your support over what has been a very successful term for us all at Rockwood Academy.
Here are just a few highlights from this term:
- The Winter Showcase just yesterday involved a range of pupils performing for a merry audience of parents and staff. Well done to all that took part!
- A Languages Trip last week to a London theatre was an example of the enrichment outside of the classroom that we offer.
- The Combined Cadet Force has continued to engage our pupils with a series of events, including last weekend at Altcar Training Camp in Liverpool.
- A number of pupils have taken part in auditions and rehearsals for Echo Eternal Events that are upcoming.
- A group of our pupils took part in a Christmas Gospel event at Birmingham Town Hall last week along with other CORE Education Trust schools and pupils.
- Over 60 Year 7 and 8 pupils have taken part in “Bikeability”, learning to ride their bicycles safely around the roads in the local community.
- This week all Year 7 students took part in an exciting Flamenco workshop where they were immersed in the Spanish culture and enhanced their language learning experience!
- We also held a Calligraphy Workshop for Year 7, which was an opportunity to celebrate the Arabic World Day which is 18th December every year.
Parent Meeting regarding recent “Explosives Threats”
On Tuesday 17th December I held a meeting that was attended by a number of parents and the local community police. The aim of this meeting was to provide information and reassurance following the recent “hoax” threat phone calls that the school has received that, as you know, has led to 2 site evacuations in the last month.
At the meeting we covered:
- More information on the nature of the threats received and the rationale from myself for the decisions that I took. In my talk, I outlined a point made recently in a previous letter: we will only evacuate the school in the same manner if specifically instructed to by the police. We must do all we can to preserve the education of our pupils whilst managing the risk that such phone calls create.
- A talk from the local police on the processes that they go through and actions taken recently.
- A presentation from Mr Cooke (Deputy Headteacher) on the range of strategies that we employ to keep all children safe. This includes the introduction of the Inclusion Base, a new hub set up by our newly appointed Head of Inclusion, Mrs Lawrence, that is designed to remove the barriers to success in school, be they related to behaviour, attendance, mental health or welfare issues.
- Parents also had the opportunity to ask questions and this provided some further important discussion.
If any parents/carers were unable to attend and wish to communicate with me directly, please do email me on [email protected]
I would like to take the opportunity to reiterate my main point to parents at this meeting: we go to great lengths to keep your children safe at Rockwood. The actions we have taken recently underline this point.
Important Notice on our Medical Policy
As part of our commitment to safeguarding the health and well-being of all students at Rockwood Academy, we want to remind you about our school’s medication policy and provide some important guidance. The policy complies with the UK Department for Education guidelines on managing medicines in schools.
All medication must be handed to the school reception and will only be administered with written parental consent. Students are not permitted to carry medication with them during the school day unless specifically authorised (e.g., inhalers for asthma, EpiPens for allergies). Parents or carers must complete a Medication Administration Form, available from the school reception before any medication can be given at school.
All medication must be in its original packaging, with clearly visible pharmacy label that includes:
o The child’s full name
o Prescribed dosage
o Expiry date
o Instructions for use
Parents must ensure that all mediation provided is in-date and replaced as needed.
All medications must be collected at the end of the academic year in July.
Have a good break.
Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a restful and peaceful holiday. We will see you all again in 2025!
Thank you for your continued support.
Yours sincerely
Mr R Reeve
Headteacher
29th November 2024
Dear Parents and Carers
Safeguarding is our First Priority.
You will have been concerned this week that we evacuated the school site on Wednesday 27th November for approximately one hour. This was due to one of these unfortunately semi-frequent “bomb-hoax” calls that schools get. The entire school pupils and staff walked to the local Ward End Park where the school had already designated a stretch of land for pupils to line up in for just this eventuality. This planning took place last summer
and underlines our commitment to safeguarding.
With this in mind, I thought it would be useful to take this opportunity to point out to all parents and carers exactly what the school does to keep young people safe. This list is not exhaustive but is extensive:
- CPOMs: school staff use this software to electronically log any child protection concerns around a young
person and analyse patterns on a regular basis. - Whisper: All students have access to an anonymous reporting tool, with the phone number being in students’
planners. - We offer an extensive Personal Development curriculum for all students to teach them how to recognise and
report anything unsafe, as well as how to keep themselves safe in the community. - Our pastoral team provides one-to-one support for all students, with regular check-ins by trained,
experienced Designated Safeguarding Leads. - Clear, well-communicated and safe routines in our school to support students in learning to self-regulate and
be safe in and around the school site. - Our staff receive regular safeguarding training, which develops their knowledge and understanding of local
and national issues, which enables them to further support your child in the best possible way. - Our DSL team work alongside professionals within Birmingham Children’s Trust and the Early Help Locality
Team to ensure that students requiring additional support with safeguarding concerns receive it in a timely
fashion. - We are developing a new Inclusion Hub called the BASE which provides mental health and wellbeing support
for students across all year groups, such as paying for services such as Malachi Family Mentoring, Burn and
Kick, as well as working closely with Compass who provide another layer of mental health provision.
I hope you have found this information useful. If you wish to give any feedback, do email me on [email protected]
Thank you for your continued support.
Yours sincerely
Mr R Reeve
Headteacher
15th November 2024
Dear Parents and Carers
A few key notices from Rockwood:
Attendance and Lateness to School
As you are aware, attending school each day and on time is vital to the progress of all young people.
Please can I ask you to ensure that your child is on time at school, which is by 8.30am for an 8.35am start. It is unacceptable for a young person to arrive late or even slightly late. Vital learning takes place in form time at 8.35am, including an important reading lesson during the week.
Please do look at your child’s Planner, where they are tracking their own attendance each week.
Lockdown Drill – Pupil Safety is our priority
We conducted our Lockdown drill at the end of last half-term which was an important practice in case we ever need to initiate an actual Lockdown. All pupils took part and handled it well. When the alarm sounded, they and their staff ensured rooms were locked and they remained out of site. We always end a Lockdown drill with a fire alarm to count heads and ensure all are safe. Again, this was observed impeccably.
Learning Journeys
For each subject or course that our pupils take, they are given a Learning Journey that is placed at the front of their exercise book. This shows the “road map” over 5 years of the topics that they will learn over the course of their time in the school and therefore how their current topic fits in the “bigger picture”. Last week, Miss Creedon led assemblies with all year groups on the theme of “Knowledge is Power”, where she highlighted for them how important it is to learn key knowledge and fill gaps where learning has been missed.
Please do look at your child’s books and discuss with them their current topics and their overall Learning Journeys.
Thank you for your continued support.
Yours sincerely
Mr R Reeve
Headteacher