Unity Stars nursery set to open in June
The newly-appointed nursery manager of a brand new childcare facility in Haverhill has spoken of her excitement about the new role.
Unity Stars will open in June and will be headed by Karen Thompson, who has 17 years experience in early years provision.
While the building is on the grounds of Coupals Primary Academy, the nursery will be open to all families from Haverhill and surrounding areas.
Karen said: “We want to build something the whole town can be proud of.
“I have always been hugely passionate about childcare and the opportunity to make a difference to the lives of young children.
“I am excited about the challenge of starting a nursery from scratch and offering the best possible childcare.
“Haverhill remains a growing town and I think more childcare provision is great news for the whole community.”
Karen was formerly manager of Linton Granta Preschool, which achieved an ‘Outstanding’ Ofsted grade and deputy manager of Castle Fields Preschool in Haverhill.
Having lived in the town for more than 20 years, Karen has also been a parent governor, a Haverhill Show committee member and a volunteer for Reach.
The nursery will be run by Unity Education, an arm of Unity Schools Partnership.
Unity Stars will offer provision for children aged 0-3 years, between 7.30am to 6pm, 51 weeks of the year.
Anyone who would like to know more about childcare places or working at Unity Stars should email info@unitystars.org.uk.
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Work starts on new Sybil Andrews Academy SEND unit
School sixth forms join forces to provide enhanced student experience
Trust gets parent and staff approval for autumn half term break
School staff take part in half marathon to support literacy drive
Second consultation launched to decide on Autumn half term break
Construction has officially begun at Sybil Andrews Academy in Bury St Edmunds to create a new SEND unit for 18 pupils.
Representatives from the school, Suffolk County Council, Unity Schools Partnership, Concertus and Barnes Construction gathered on-site to celebrate the start of work of ‘The Abbey’ – which is part of the county council’s £55million investment into creating more than 1,000 new SEND placements across the county.
Andrew Reid, Cabinet Member for Education and SEND at Suffolk County Council, said: “It is always an exciting milestone for any school when the first spade goes into the ground. This unit will make a significant difference to SEND families in the community and will be a great asset to the school. We set out in 2019 to provide more than a thousand new specialist placements for SEND pupils across the county, with around 741 new places already created and another 84 to be ready by September. This investment of £55million continues to make a real difference to people’s lives.”
Joe Pointon, head of school at Sybil Andrews Academy, added: “We are delighted that building work has started on The Abbey, which is a cognition and learning Unit for pupils in Key Stages 3 and 4. The plans show that the unit will have bright and airy classrooms, an outdoor learning area and break-out spaces. Once it is completed, the unit will provide a broad curriculum which will prepare the pupils for life beyond school. We can’t wait to see the new building develop over the next few months and we look forward to welcoming our first pupils in September.”
The final phase of Sybil Andrews Academy was completed back in Summer 2020 and now the original design and property consultants and main contractor who delivered these works four years ago, have returned to create a new single-storey SEND unit.
New grass and asphalt areas will be created with external canopies, helping to elevate the learning environment for the children by encouraging outdoor learning. The unit location allows for new vehicular and pedestrian access to be created. Although separate access to the dedicated and discrete learning area will be provided, careful consideration went into the location of the unit to enable students to be included in mainstream school life when needed.
Steven Ryles, Associate for Concertus, said: “We are passionate about supporting Suffolk County Council in creating calming and inspiring environments to allow pupils to develop independence and self-confidence. A highly valued relationship has been created between the project team and the school over the past nine years so we are confident that the needs of the children will be met with the creation of the new unit. We are thrilled that the project has hit this fantastic milestone”.
Damien Kerry, Associate Divisional Director at Barnes Construction, said: “We are delighted to be back at Sybil Andrews Academy helping Suffolk County Council and Concertus to release this exciting new SEND facility.”
Latest News
Unity Stars nursery set to open in June
School sixth forms join forces to provide enhanced student experience
Trust gets parent and staff approval for autumn half term break
School staff take part in half marathon to support literacy drive
Second consultation launched to decide on Autumn half term break
An ambitious commitment to sixth form education will see four schools join forces and provide free iPads to all post-16 students.
Under the ‘Unity Sixth’ umbrella, sixth form students at St Edward’s Academy in Romford, Thomas Gainsborough School in Great Cornard, Haverhill Community Sixth Form and Felixstowe School will benefit from a shared curriculum including presentation and lectures given by renowned speakers from business, politics and the arts.
The post-16 arm of Unity Schools Partnership will also offer all sixth form students and teachers an iPad from September 2024, for use at both school and home.
Stephen Astley, executive director of education at Unity, said: “We are hugely excited to launch Unity Sixth and its supra curriculum from September 2024.
“By the quartet of sixth forms joining forces, we believe we can offer an enhanced and enriched experience for our students as well as the very best of shared resources, teaching skills and assessment models to drive outcomes.”
The Children’s Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Sousa, has enthusiastically committed to help launch these lectures.
Reaction to the partnership…
Jodie Hassan, headteacher at St Edward’s Academy, said, “We are incredibly proud to be launching this world class provision for our sixth form students.
“The use of iPads throughout the taught, extra and supra curriculum will ensure our students are upskilled to be future ready.
“The supra curriculum offer will ensure our young people have access to speakers and resources comparable to any of the top schools in the country.
“We are extremely grateful to be part of Unity Schools Partnership as our membership has enabled us to access this outstanding provision.”
Helen Yapp, headteacher at Thomas Gainsborough School, said, “As a growing and successful Sixth Form, we are eager to ensure that all our students receive every advantage and support we can give them to enable them to achieve their potential. I am proud that our Trust is committed to the use of technology to enhance and deepen the knowledge and the experience of our students and staff.”
Emma Wilson-Downes, Headteacher at Felixstowe School, said, “This will give our sixth forms the opportunity to take the very best from each setting and really capitalise on this for the benefit of us all as a family of sixth forms.
As Unity Sixth, we know we are stronger together and this is an exciting phase in the development of this provision for our post-16 students.
“By providing iPads to students both at school and at home, Unity Sixth is ensuring that learning continues beyond the classroom, fostering independent and flexible learning environments.
“With access to cutting-edge technology and a collaborative network, students will be well-prepared to excel academically and embrace the opportunities that lie ahead.
“Alongside the supra curricular offer, which will allow students to network and link with those outside our town and the wider world, this will encourage them to explore new avenues of knowledge and personal growth and inspire them to influence others as they take that step into adult life.”
Andy Hunter, headteacher at Samuel Ward Academy, said: “We have had a record number of applications to the sixth form this year and we are still interviewing prospective students this week.
“We have never had so much interest from students at other schools and we are delighted that they will be benefitting from a shared curriculum and resources as part of Unity Sixth.”
Vanessa Whitcombe, headteacher at Castle Manor Academy, said: “This is an exciting development for Haverhill Community Sixth Form and our students.
“The opportunities to learn better by learning together are enormous and we are very excited about the future for our students.”
Unity Schools Partnership can today announce that it will be extending the Autumn half term break to a fortnight – across all of its member schools.
Following a trial last year, the trust carried out a second round of consultation in January and found that the majority of staff and parents were in favour of the two-week half term which this year will run from Monday 28th October to Friday 8th November.
Tim Coulson, chief executive of Unity Schools Partnership, said: “We would like to thank every person who took part in the two consultations and have given us their feedback and comments since we trialled the initial two-week half term in October.
“While a majority of staff and parents were in favour of the two-week half term, we acknowledge and take seriously all those comments from individuals not in favour of the proposal.
“Although there are various views, the two most significant are the cost of childcare and how learning time is made up.
“We plan again to organise additional childcare during the second week of this half-term break and individual school headteachers will explain how the learning time will be effectively addressed.”
The second round of consultation, which was launched last month, saw the trust receive 2,929 responses from parents with 58% in favour of a two-week break and 42% against the proposal.
In addition, 1,079 responses were received from staff with 89% in favour of the two-week break.
One of the main reasons behind trialling the extended October half term was to try and reduce staff and student absence during a time in the school year when figures are quite high.
The review of the trial two-week half term found that, between the half-term break and Christmas:
- Pupil absence due to illness was less in every trust school in 2023 than in 2022, and overall reduced by 25%
- Staff absence reduced by 50%.
Plans to offer more holiday activities during the two-week break in Bury St Edmunds, Newmarket, Sudbury and Haverhill are being finalised with the potential for this to be extended into other towns covered by the trust.
In March last year, the two-week Autumn half term break was originally proposed to combat high absence and also recruitment challenges for both teaching and classroom support staff.
Mr Coulson added: “As with every trust and school across the country, staff recruitment and retention is a challenge.
“We are constantly looking at ways to address this issue and highlight why a career in education remains as important and valued as ever.”
Please click here to view the responses from parents and staff, school-by-school
Latest News
Unity Stars nursery set to open in June
Work starts on new Sybil Andrews Academy SEND unit
School sixth forms join forces to provide enhanced student experience
School staff take part in half marathon to support literacy drive
Second consultation launched to decide on Autumn half term break
Staff at a Norfolk school are putting their best feet forward to help raise money for new class libraries.
The Robert Kett Primary School in Wymondham is entering a team in next month’s Marriott’s Way Trail half marathon to further enhance literacy opportunities for their pupils.
For many of the dozen staff preparing to take part, it will be their first experience of running at distance.
But deputy headteacher Janine Salter, who has led the fundraising effort alongside Lianne Rees, phase leader for Year 3 and 4, said the thought of raising thousands of pounds for their school will spur them on.
She explained: “We have always wanted a library at Robert Kett, but due to the relocation of classes across the school, we have been considering alternative spaces filled with amazing books.
“We thought individual class libraries was the next best thing and so we have started raising money for those additional rich texts that will enhance our reading experience even more.
“While most of us are not experienced runners, we have all started training hard – which included Christmas Day runs and a group festive jog over the holidays.
“We are looking forward to the event and we would like to thank everyone who has supported us, and donated money to the cause, so far.”
The team, self-titled ‘I’d Rather Be Reading’, is a mix of staff members from across the school who will be running or walking the distance on Sunday 11th February.
To sponsor the team, please visit their Just Giving page – https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/robertkettprimary-school.
Latest News
Unity Stars nursery set to open in June
Work starts on new Sybil Andrews Academy SEND unit
School sixth forms join forces to provide enhanced student experience
Trust gets parent and staff approval for autumn half term break
Second consultation launched to decide on Autumn half term break
Unity Schools Partnership has today launched a second round of consultation asking all staff and parents for their comments on an extended Autumn half term break.
Last year, schools throughout the Trust trialled a two-week half term in October after an overall majority of respondents from the first consultation agreed with the proposal.
A second consultation process has now begun with staff and parents across every school encouraged to take part and let the Trust know what they thought about the fortnight half term.
The consultation will run for four weeks with the comments used to decide whether the two-week half term in October will become a permanent fixture in the school calendar.
Tim Coulson, chief executive of Unity Schools Partnership, said: “Firstly, we would like to thank every person who took part in the first consultation and have given us their feedback and comments since we trialled the initial two-week half term in October.
“As promised, we are now launching a second consultation to gauge people’s thoughts and opinions.
“We would encourage every staff member and parents across all our schools to take part to give us the best overall picture before a final decision is made.”
In March last year, the two-week Autumn half term break was originally proposed to combat two issues affecting the education sector:
- High absence rates of staff and pupils during the Autumn Term.
- Recruitment challenges for both teaching and classroom support staff. Currently, recruitment is difficult across all sectors, particularly the public sector. We are looking to both retain our current, excellent staff and recruit the very best staff when our vacancies arise.
Each school considered ways they could adjust the timetable over the rest of the year to ensure that no learning time was lost for pupils and decided on plans that best suited their school.
This week, each school within the Trust is writing to their staff and parents to promote the consultation period and to ask them to share their views via a school-specific online survey.
A decision is expected to be made on Friday 16th February.
Latest News
Unity Stars nursery set to open in June
Work starts on new Sybil Andrews Academy SEND unit
School sixth forms join forces to provide enhanced student experience
Trust gets parent and staff approval for autumn half term break
School staff take part in half marathon to support literacy drive
Kind-hearted members of our school community have showcased their festive spirit by donating goods for Christmas hampers to support local families.
Following on from the success of the ‘Happy Top Up Sheds’, Unity Schools Partnership has launched a school-wide appeal asking for donations for the Secret Santa hampers in the run-up to the Christmas holidays.
The hampers will then be delivered to families who have been nominated by local schools.
Lucie Calow, Director of SEND at Unity who has headed the project, said she has been delighted with the response so far.
She explained: “We wanted to do something that not only showed our schools’ festive spirit, but also their community spirit.
“We know families across the country are tackling the cost of living crisis.
“It is still not too late to hand in donations for our Christmas hampers. We ask anyone who has tinned goods, toiletries and even Christmas crackers to give them to their local Unity school before Friday 13th December.”
The Happy Top Up Sheds were launched in schools this year, offering families different forms of support including financial as well as donations of uniform and shopping items.
Lucie said: “We are hugely grateful to have been supported by a number of organisations including the Suffolk Community Foundation, Lady Fatemah Trust and the Port Community Fund in Felixstowe. As a trust, we have raised £18,000 from central funds to support school initiatives across our 32 schools.
“This money is used to support the top up sheds and offer local families vouchers at the discretion of their headteacher. We have also signposted to other partners where help needed was more substantial and long-lasting.”
Alongside the Christmas hampers project, our schools have also been encouraging any unwanted toys to be donated to local charity shops.
Vanessa Whitcombe, headteacher at Castle Manor Academy in Haverhill, said: “Across schools in Haverhill we work closely with Reach and Matilda Rose to support their community campaigns and our families receive excellent support from these organisations. It is really lovely to be able to also produce hampers and offer them to families to bring some extra support at Christmas.”
If anyone would like to donate items for the Christmas hampers or toys for their local charity shop, they can deliver them to their local Unity school by Wednesday 13th December.
Latest News
Unity Stars nursery set to open in June
Work starts on new Sybil Andrews Academy SEND unit
School sixth forms join forces to provide enhanced student experience
Trust gets parent and staff approval for autumn half term break
School staff take part in half marathon to support literacy drive
A clear vision and broad curriculum has helped a Suffolk secondary school achieve a ‘Good’ Ofsted rating.
Sybil Andrews Academy in Bury St Edmunds has been praised for making considerable improvements as well as acknowledging “the actions it needs to take to become even better.”
The Ofsted inspection comes four years after the education watchdog rated the school as ‘Requires Improvement’.
In a statement, executive headteacher Kevin Blakey and head of school Joe Pointon said: “As a school, we are delighted with the outcome of the inspection where the overall effectiveness of Sybil Andrews was seen to be Good.
“In all four areas, the school was judged to be Good. But in particular, I am delighted that the quality of education was deemed to be good.
“The report states that ‘the school has improved significantly since the last inspection’. Our aim is to continue that trajectory as we move forward over the coming months and years.”
Following last month’s inspection, the report praised the school for its work in and out of the classroom.
Inspectors said: “Pupils enjoy studying a broad curriculum. They know it prepares them well for future study, training or work. Pupils learn well in carefully planned lessons taught by knowledgeable teachers. Pupils achieve well in a wide range of subjects.
“Pupils’ behaviour has improved. They respect staff and each other. Pupils know what is expected of them and follow clear routines.
“The school has a comprehensive programme to support pupils’ personal development. They learn about topics such as looking after their mental health, managing anxiety, positive relationships and keeping safe online.”
In addition, the report said leaders from both the school and Unity Schools Partnership, of which Sybil Andrews is a member, had a clear vision for ensuring that the school continues to improve.
The report added: “Pupils have opportunities to broaden their horizons to give them a better chance in life.
“Pupils are encouraged to take part in clubs and activities in school, such as the gardening and sustainability club, sports clubs and chess.
“The school helps pupils develop their own character and be well informed about issues that will affect their lives.
“There are opportunities for pupils to take on leadership responsibilities, such as becoming a ‘Careers Ambassador’ and pupils receive guidance about their future careers in every year group.”
Latest News
Unity Stars nursery set to open in June
Work starts on new Sybil Andrews Academy SEND unit
School sixth forms join forces to provide enhanced student experience
Trust gets parent and staff approval for autumn half term break
School staff take part in half marathon to support literacy drive
Around 400 local students have showcased their “astounding” literacy knowledge at a Book Mastermind.
Organised by Unity Schools Partnership, secondary schools from across the Trust joined together to take part in the competition.
Perry Lunn, from Thomas Gainsborough School, was crowned overall winner after dropping just two points out of 30 across two rounds of questions on The Hunger Games and general knowledge.
Perry took part in the grand final alongside 11 other students from TGS, County High School, Breckland School and Newmarket Academy.
He narrowly beat second place, Rosa Williams from County High, and fellow TGS student, Emily Head, who took third.
Organiser Mandy Harvey said: “The level of book knowledge was astounding. Huge congratulations to everyone who took part.”
Unity Schools Partnership Secondary Lead for English and Reading, Ben Godsal, who awarded the trophy to the winner, added: “I was blown away by the ability of these brilliant young people to answer questions under pressure.
“What a fantastic advert these students are. I am already looking forward to next year’s competition.”
Latest News
Unity Stars nursery set to open in June
Work starts on new Sybil Andrews Academy SEND unit
School sixth forms join forces to provide enhanced student experience
Trust gets parent and staff approval for autumn half term break
School staff take part in half marathon to support literacy drive
A Felixstowe primary school is celebrating after three key areas of their education was labelled as ‘Outstanding’ in an Ofsted report.
Personal development, early years provision and leadership and management at Langer Primary Academy all achieved the top grade following the inspection.
The school, in Langer Road, also received high praise for the quality of education and behaviour and attitudes and received an overall ‘Good’ grading – two years after it was deemed ‘Inadequate’ by the watchdog.
Toni Kittle, headteacher at the school, said the “significant and sustained” improvements were the result of a huge team effort.
She explained: “We are very proud of the report and the fact academic outcomes at Langer have continued to rise and are now comfortably above the national picture in many areas.
“Every child at our school is included, supported and encouraged to do their very best. Our team work tirelessly and have a belief in what is possible for every child.
“I feel privileged to work within such a supportive community – including staff, parents, volunteers, governors and Unity Schools Partnership.
“I am delighted that our parents and their children can feel proud about attending Langer Primary Academy.”
An ambitious curriculum, matched by the high priority given to reading, were complemented following the two-day inspection at the end of September.
“Pupils are proud of their school, and they achieve well,” the report said. “They know that adults want the very best for them, and they feel safe knowing there is always someone keeping an eye out for them.
“Help is at hand whenever they need it, whether with their learning or in the playground. Care and kindness shine through.”
Early years provision at Langer came in for particular praise with inspectors noting: “The youngest children in the early years receive a high-quality education. They are well supported and guided in their first year in school.
“Children quickly learn to respect their classroom, playground and one another. Their time in the early years helps them to lay down firm foundations on which to build as they move through the school.”
Inspectors also highlighted how pupils celebrated diversity, which increased their understanding of both their community and the world around them, and that they benefited from “high-quality opportunities” to broaden their experiences.
They concluded: “The school provides effective support for teachers and keeps a close eye on their workload. Staff are united in their approach to provide the best education they can for pupils.”
Click here to view the Langer Primary Academy Ofsted report.