Academy Newsletter Edition 13, October 2011
Welcome from the Academy Principal, Mr R Gilbert I would like to welcome you to the first newsletter of 2011/2012, with a particularly warm welcome to new readers, of our students in Year 7. This is also the first newsletter for the secondary phase of the new All Through Academy, much of which you will have read and heard about locally and in the press, with Yate International Academy now being the first 4-19 All Through Academy in South Gloucestershire. We are very proud to incorporate the Woodlands Primary Phase into the Academy and look forward to working with them in the years ahead, for the benefit of educational provision in our community. There is a well known saying “If you stand still, you will fall backwards” and we have made it a clear priority for the Academy that we will not stand still in providing the best we can, in terms of young people in this area. That is why the new All Through Academy is so important to us and I very much look forward to sharing the successes of all pupils and students, in the full age range, with you in the months and years ahead. The GCSE and A Level results in 2011 were once again very good indeed. The students, who completed their A Level studies with us, were all able to move on to the universities of their choice and I am sure that those who have embarked upon that particular pathway are enjoying the student life that opportunities in higher education bring. Our Year 11 GCSE results were once again a record year and showed an improving set of results, for the fourth year in succession. This particular group of students worked extremely hard in their time in the Academy and their collective and individual results were testament to the dedication, commitment and hard work that they displayed over the five years. It goes without saying that these results would not have been as good as they were without the support of the parents/carers of these students. However, I would also like to use this opportunity to publically thank all of the staff at Yate International Academy who contributed to their successes - this includes all staff, not only the teaching staff, but also the support staff, who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure that everything that needed to be done to support these students in the right way, was completed. I look forward to meeting students and parents/carers of last year‟s Year 11 at the Federation Presentation Evening, in the Wills Memorial Building of the University in Bristol, on Thursday 24th November 2011. Like last year, I am sure this will be an event worthy of celebrating the successes of this particular Year Group. On 22nd September 2011, we had a very successful Open Evening for prospective parents/carers of students joining the Academy secondary phase in September 2012. There was lots of positive feedback from this evening, especially for all of the students in the Academy, who gave up their evening to become Guides, showing prospective parents/carers around. Again I would like to pay tribute to them and, as I have always said in the past, our students are our best ambassadors. This was followed up by two successful Open Mornings the following week. During that same week, Thursday 29th September, we had the first Open Day/Evening Event for the Woodlands Primary Phase. A great deal of interest was shown by prospective parents/carers, of new Reception pupils starting in September 2012, and it was a great pleasure to be present, both during the day and particularly in the evening, discussing not only the primary provision, but the concept of the All Through Academy with the parents/carers of 3 and 4 year olds.