“Attending Blackley’s nursery really helped my child settle into reception as she was already used to the routines and staff and had made lots of friends. The facilities are great, particularly the outdoor areas. My child is really happy at the academy and has made brilliant progress.”
I feel very proud and honoured to be the headteacher of E-ACT Blackley Academy.
E-ACT are a forward-thinking Multi-Academy Trust and they share an aspirational vision for all their academies. We align our school values with the shared values of E-ACT, which are Think Big, Do the Right Thing and Show Team Spirit.
We believe that our role is to equip children with the life skills that they will need to be successful, both now and in the future. Our aim is that all children will leave the academy at 11 with a wealth of skills and experience acquired whilst having a lifelong love for learning.
Our academy is a caring community that values personal, social, moral and emotional development as well as academic and creative achievement. We believe that children deserve the highest standard of education and we work hard to deliver such standards every day in a safe and secure environment. Keeping our children safe is at the heart of everything we do and we take all aspects of safeguarding extremely seriously.
We welcome anyone to come and see our academy and meet our dedicated team.
James Hughes Headteacher
Working collaboratively with pupils, parents and staff, our mission is to allow all children to reach their full potential.
At the heart of E-ACT Blackley Academy lay our core values, which we believe will aid in boosting the aspirations and achievements of our young people and provide a strong and positive education for all of our pupils. It’s important to us that our pupils: • Respect each other • Listen to each other • Do their best • Keep each other safe
Our academies span the length and breadth of the country, but we all follow the same set of underlying principles. Our hopes and aspirations for every one of our pupils is the same. By encouraging them to think big and believe that anything is possible, by showing them the importance of team spirit and by teaching them to carefully think through their decisions to do the right thing, we know that every one of our pupils can realise their full potential with us.
“The outdoor area is a great space for children to play and do physical activities.”
NURSERY PARENT
Starting nursery gives your child the very best possible start to their education. Our open-plan unit is teacher led, supported by teaching assistants who are qualified to level 3. The nursery is carefully laid out to give the children access to the resources they need to play, linking both their own learning needs and interests.
Our nursery is a 60-place, full-time, purpose built open-plan unit and provides funded nursery places for children aged 3+.
Nursery has numerous benefits for you and your child. It makes the transition to primary school a lot smoother as they will get used to the environment, develops early reading skills through phonics and storytelling and introduces early connections with the curriculum.
The nursery is carefully laid out to allow the children to access the resources they need to play which links both their own learning needs and interests with current nursery themes. We endeavour to make learning active, hands on and memorable by offering a play-based curriculum with access to a wide-range of activities and experiences alongside more focused group time sessions, such as Maths and Phonics. Our indoor and outdoor settings are specially designed and the children have access to them both throughout the school day. Teachers plan lessons with the children’s interests in mind and the children learn through play with focused maths and writing lessons. Reading is at the heart of our curriculum and opportunities to develop reading skills are offered throughout the EYFS environment.
All 3-4 year olds in England can get free childcare. Depending on your eligibility, you can get either 15 or 30 hours free childcare. Depending on our availability, children can either attend a morning or afternoon session (15 hours) or a full school day (30 hours). Please discuss this with us.
We encourage all children who attend nursery all day to receive a delicious and nutritional school meal, freshly prepared onsite by our catering team. We are dedicated to working with children and parents to ensure any dietary requirements are catered for and provide a varied menu for children to enjoy. Pupils may also bring a packed lunch.
We know what a big step it is for your child to start at nursery, but also for you! Our amazing nursery team will update you on how your child’s day has gone and we hold regular parent’s evenings to update you on your child’s progress.
Any children in our nursery with additional needs will be included, valued and supported. They will have access alongside their peers, to the facilities and activities in order to promote their welfare and development.
Our nursery has three intakes across the year; September, January and April. Children can start the term after they turn 3 years old and can stay until they start reception. Please contact us to discuss availability and the appropriate start time for your child.
We would be happy to welcome you to visit our nursery and meet our team. Application forms can be picked up and submitted via the school office.
Reception is the first year of primary school and the final year of EYFS before children start Key Stage 1. It’s compulsory in England for children to attend. Our reception class is purposely designed to enhance the development and learning of our pupils. It is laid out with educational play areas, key learning spaces and an open floor space for whole classroom interactions.
At E-ACT Blackley Academy, we value playing and learning both inside and outside of the classroom and we take full advantage of our outdoor environment. As an extension to the classroom, we have a specially-built outdoor area called The Quad, which allows us to use outdoor space for learning and activities with our reception pupils. We believe that learning goes beyond the classroom and we take full advantage of our outdoor environment.
In reception, our teachers have a statutory duty to carefully facilitate the fundamental skills and attitudes required to help children become lifelong learners, focusing on what children need to learn and how they learn it. By the end of their reception year, children should be able to achieve an expected level within several different areas, including;
• Communication and language
• Physical development
• Personal, social and emotional development
• Literacy
• Maths
• Understanding the world
• Expressive art and design
All children are different and learn at their own pace but all children’s needs are carefully provided for.
We have 1 intake per year for reception in September. Applications are submitted through Manchester City Council between Autumn and January each year. To find out more information about the application process and when you are eligible to apply, please visit the Manchester.gov.uk website. We welcome families to come and look round the academy at any time. Please contact us to arrange.
Starting school can be an exciting but daunting time for both pupils and parents. During the settling in period, we will work closely with you and your child to build trusting and empathic relationships and ensure the start to primary school life is a happy and exciting time.
All of our staff are passionate about engaging with our parents and carers. It is one of the vital ingredients needed to ensure we deliver the best possible education and experience for our pupils. We have a number of communication platforms to make it easier to keep-up-to-date with information you need to know.
Any children in our reception with additional needs will be included, valued and supported. They will have access alongside their peers, to the facilities and activities in order to promote their welfare and development.
We believe that children benefit from feeling a sense of belonging and we
believe that wearing the academy’s distinctive uniform helps with this and helps develop a feeling of pride in our fantastic academy community. Pupils at E-ACT Blackley Academy helped to design the academy uniform, which is compulsory for all pupils, including those in nursery.
The uniform consists of:
• Academy colour v neck sweater or cardigan
• White polo shirt
• Black trousers/skirt/pinafore (no other colour is acceptable)
• Black tights/dark socks (no other colour tights are acceptable)
• Plain black shoes (No other colour is acceptable and trainers WILL NOT be acceptable)
• No tie is required
• PE KIT: black jogging bottoms, leggings or shorts along with a white t-shirt and trainers. (No football shirts).
All uniforms can be purchased from Ziggys.
School trousers and blouses can be purchased at a cheaper rate from local supermarkets.
We also offer lightly worn uniform at an extremely discounted rate directly from school.
All of our meals are freshly prepared onsite by Aspens. We ensure all of our meals are nutritional and tasty for our children to enjoy. School meals are easy to book through ParentPay and special dietary requirements can be catered for. See if you’re eligible for free school meals via https://www.gov.uk/applyfree-school-meals/manchester
blackleyacademy.e-act.org.uk
At E-ACT Blackley we offer a “knowledgerich” curriculum which maintains high expectations for all learners and deliberately and explicitly builds knowledge and vocabulary. Knowledge and vocabulary are the nourishment on which learning behaviours depend.
Each school subject area carefully considers the substantive, disciplinary and procedural knowledge required to grow excellent learners. Our curriculum has been organised in a way which enables pupils to build depth of knowledge and understanding whilst developing schema and patterns of repeated behaviour. We set tasks which allow them to explore and express developing ideas and thoughts through their play, exploration and work.
We truly believe the key to your child’s success is working closely with you. You will have regular updates through daily contact at drop offs, messages, open afternoons each term and our new posts on the website. One of the most important elements parents/carers can help with is reading at home. We encourage parents to read with their child every night to help with progression in other subjects.
Our pupils get to enjoy a range of exciting extra-curricular activities during lunch time and after school that have been specifically chosen to cater for all of our
pupils different needs and interests. They will develop children’s higher-level thinking skills by connecting classroom learning to the real world.
A few examples of the activities and clubs we offer include; Yoga & Gymnastics, Rugby, Dance, Multisports, Football, Homework clubs, Maths, English interventions, Choir club, Chess, Technology engineering and Science club
We believe for your child to become a happy, kind individual, they not only need a good education but also support with their mental health. We have staff that are mental health first aiders who have been trained by Mental Health First Aid England to spot the early signs of symptoms of mental health issues.
As well as our dynamic approach to pastoral care within school, we work hard to provide support and opportunities for our families beyond the school gates through our Community Hub. The Blackley Community Hub is a place where any member of the community can gain advice and support around a wide range of topics. We are proud to be working with a number of organisations and agencies to deliver much needed support that research has shown us hasn’t been accessible to the Blackley community. We aim to facilitate the provision of services that our community needs from organisations who want to reach them.
“The nursery staff are a friendly and professional team who retain great communication with parents. There is a lot of effective learning in a very calm and organised environment.”NURSERY PARENT
