Parent Newsletter 08/11/2024

Associate Principal's Message

Dear families,

It has been a delight to welcome scholars back to school for the second half of the Autumn term. Resilience and perseverance are the order of day this half term, and these qualities have been in abundance already this week.

This has certainly been the case with our Year 11s, who have started their mock exam series brightly, demonstrating excellent focus in their pre-exam briefings, positive conduct whilst sitting papers and a diligent attitude in continuing to attend Session 0 and Session 6 to support their preparation. Many have truly ‘stepped up’ for this window of mocks; we are looking forward to seeing these scholars build on their efforts through our ‘November to Remember’ campaign – more about this to come through this and the rest of this month.

Finally, I wanted to mention that we’ve had a number of scholars across all year groups looking to book time with Miss Mills, our Careers Lead, to discuss potential academic and career opportunities; having such drive and aspiration even in Year 7 is wonderful to witness.

Have a great weekend, and I look forward to another fantastic week ahead.

Kind regards

Mr Arezoo
Associate Principal

Key Dates

Tuesday 5th November –Friday 29th November – Year 11 Mock exams
Wednesday 20th November – Year 10 Subject Review Evening
Wednesday 20th November – We Care into Future trip (Y9 Careers)
Tuesday 3rd December – England Lionesses Trip (KS3)
Thursday 5th December – Go Higher Trip (Y8,9,10 Careers trip)
Friday 6th December – INSET Day
Friday 13th December – Flu vaccinations (All year groups)
Monday 16th December – Y11 Mock Results Day
Wednesday 18th December – Year 11 Subject Review Evening
Monday 23rd December – Friday 3rd January – Christmas break
Monday 6th January – INSET Day
Wednesday 29th January – Year 7 Subject Review Evening
Monday 17th February – Friday 21st February – Half term
Wednesday 5th March – Year 9 Subject Review Evening
Friday 21st March – INSET Day
Wednesday 26th March – Year 9 Options Event
Monday 7th April – Friday 18th April – Easter break
Monday 21st April – Easter Monday Bank Holiday (school closed)
Monday 5th May – May Day Bank Holiday (school closed)
Wednesday 21st May – Year 8 Subject Review Evening
Monday 25th May – Friday 30th May – Half term
Monday 23rd June – INSET Day
Wednesday 16th July and Thursday 17th July – Year 6 Transition
Friday 18th July – Last day of school
Monday 21st July – INSET Day
Tuesday 22nd July – INSET Day

Dearne Dates for your Diary

Please click here for up to date Dearne Dates for Your Diary

Community Events

Homework Schedule

Please see the homework schedule for all scholars:

KS3 Homework (Year 7, 8 and 9)
Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Sparx Science	Self-Quizzing	Sparx Maths	Self-Quizzing	Sparx Reader


KS4 Homework (Year 10 and 11)
Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Sparx Maths	English	Science	Option A	Knowledge Quizzes
Sparx Maths	English	Science	Option C	Option B

Please click here to access the Astrea Academy Dearne Homework Policy.

Safeguarding

Contextual safeguarding online seminar for parents

Time: 4.30pm to 5.30pm

Venue: Microsoft Teams

Description:

This seminar is open to parents or carers living in Barnsley only.

Contextual Safeguarding is an approach to understanding, and responding to, young people’s experiences of significant harm beyond their families. It recognises that the different relationships that young people form in their neighbourhoods, schools and online can make them vulnerable. Parents and carers have little influence over these contexts, and young people’s experiences outside of the family home can affect parent-child relationships.

By the end of the seminar participants will have:

An understanding of what we mean by ‘contextual safeguarding’
Discussed how children and young people can be significantly harmed outside the family home
Increased confidence to identify children and young people who present as potentially being vulnerable through the company they keep or the areas they frequent.
An awareness of the role of the council in adopting and promoting a Contextual Safeguarding approach to keep young people safe in Barnsley.

A link will be sent to you nearer the time so you can access the seminar via Microsoft Teams.

If you would like any more information about this seminar please email parentsupport@barnsley.gov.uk.

How to book: Book your place for the contextual safeguarding online seminar for parents on Eventbrite.

Term Dates

Term dates for the 2024/2025 academic year can be found below.

We do have spare paper copies in the academy reception if you would like to collect one.

Vaccinations

The school nursing team will be in school on the dates below for vaccinations:

13th December – Flu vaccinations (Year 7 to 11)

29th January – HPV (Year 8)

22nd and 23rd April – DTP/MenACWY (Year 9 only)

10th July – Catch up session for all year groups

MCAS

All payments for school are now made via the MyChildAtSchool App. You can top up lunch accounts using the dinner icon within the App. You will then be given the option to ‘add dinner money’.

Menus

Our catering menus have been updated for the Autumn term. Please see the link here for the new menu.

Nut Free School

Please note that our school is a nut free zone. We have scholars and members of staff in school who have serious nut allergies. Please do not send scholars into school with any products which may contain nuts.

Absence Reminder

What should I do if my child is absent from school?

Students are legally required to attend school every day and should only be absent in real emergencies. If your child is not in school, they must have a justified reason.

If your child is absent from school, please contact school before 8.30am and leave a message clearly stating the reason for the absence.

Telephone our dedicated absence lines 01709 892211 (Option 2)

Send a message via the ‘My Child At School’ app

Year 7 Mrs Parkin – Clare.Parkin@astreadearne.org
Year 8 Mr Crew – Gary.Crew@astreadearne.org
Year 9 Mrs Wheatcroft – jocelyn.wheatcroft@astreadearne.org/Mrs Laycock – Lindsey.laycock@astreadearne.org
Year 10 Mrs Mason – Julie.Mason@astreadearne.org
Year 11 Mrs Dickinson – Keeley.Dickinson@astreadearne.org

Vacancies

We currently have vacancies to join our team at Astrea Academy Dearne. Please see below for a link to the My New Term recruitment site. Please contact school if you would like any further information.

Astrea Academy Dearne – MyNewTerm

Communications

You can contact us by calling reception on 01709 892211 or emailing info@astreadearne.org

We use the My Child At School (MCAS) to communicate with our parents and carers. MCAS is the online platform that allows us to share information live with you. It enables families to view live data including a student’s timetable, list of teachers, number of rewards and behaviour points and so on. If you have not yet registered for MCAS and would like some support to do so please contact school reception or you can follow this guide MCAS and Communication – Dearne Academy (astreadearne.org