Pix Brook A cademy News

The year is flying by! At PBA I can already see that this year is going to be no different f rom the previous in that we are once again managing a signif icant gro wth in pupils and staff During the last few months we have successfully recruited new staff to extend our upper school pro vision. As a school that was always designed to be a secondar y school, albeit with an extension to include year 5 and 6 we have been for tunate to be able to plan for the key stage four curriculum we want to deliver. Consequently, we have recruited teachers to lead Drama, Music, ICT, in addition to teachers o f Maths, English, Science, DT, Humanities, MFL and additional primar y teachers for our gro wing primar y phase It is exciting to see this gro wth and see our plans for the curriculum begin to consolidate Next year will be equally exciting as we look to appoint specialist teachers o f the broader curriculum such as Media, Business studies, Dance and a range o f o ther areas that will be somewhat determined by pupil demand. As par t o f our continued gro wth we are looking to increase our local go verning board. If this is something you are interested in please do contact the school on Pixbrook@bestacademies.org.uk. Previous experience is no t required.

While this long - term work continues we are also determined to develop our pupil experience. Over the last few weeks we have had immersion days in maths, science and histor y and an R AF STEM day. Young voices have per formed at the 02 and we have launched our PGL trip for this year and the ski trip for next year

Beyond these events lessons continue to be delivered in a consistent and thoughtful way Our model o f collegiate planning means that all pupils, regardless o f their teacher is pro vided with a consistent diet o f lesson experiences that is no t dependent on the person delivering the lesson We are no t constrained by school histor y or resources and instead can work with colleagues excited by the prospect o f developing their subject area to enthuse our pupils to achieve School is abou t extending and impro ving life chances and by having a large body o f staff who have joined the school to take advantage o f the oppor tunity to make a difference we are in an excellent place to do just that As always, we look to the next half term with optimism, there is much to look for ward to and much more to be done, bu t this is always the case in schools!

It is always a pleasure when we have visitors to the school who comment on our fantastic students and the welcoming staff So far, this term has been no exception Our Year 11s welcomed an external speaker who gave a presentation on revisions skills, exam preparation and exam techniques, and referred to them as ‘some o f the best students he had seen on his travels across the countr y ’ These types o f comments make us ver y proud

We continue with our staff development sessions to suppor t the School Development Plan and impro ve the ou tcomes for our students. Miss Phillips, SENDCO, led a session to develop staff kno wledge on individual students as par t o f our commitment to kno wing our children. Senior Leaders have also had presentations on specif ic year groups with a par ticular focus on Year 11 as they get closer to their main examinations. The commitment f rom the students is equally impressive, attendance is exceptional and we kno w their rewards will be even higher. Working together really makes a difference.

Some o f our Year 8 and 9 students were taken to Stevenage Magistrates Cour t, in preparation for their Mock Trial Competition in March They were able to watch a few cases, learn more abou t the legal process and the people involved Thank you to Ms Denton for organising such an excellent trip

Our Year 9s have been experiencing the GCSE options by having taster lessons in all subjects across the school comprising some new ones including Media, Childcare, Pho tography, Business Studies and BTEC Spor t Our Year 9 parents/carers will be invited to an Options Evening after half term to f ind ou t more abou t their GCSE journey

Our Juniors are o ff to Duxford Air Museum, National Space Centre and Harr y Po tter, and Secondar y have trips to