Parent Bulletin 14th July

End of year trips

Our end of year trips are this Fri 19th July and Mon 22nd July. Students will be attending the following venues:

Group	Tutor Groups	Friday 19th July	Monday 22nd July
7A	Augustus, Alexander, Cleopatra	Go Ape (Alexandra Palace)	London City Tour
7B	Cicero, Pericles, Ramesses	London City Tour	Go Ape (Battersea)
8A	Augustus, Cicero, Ramesses	Camber Sands	River Walk
8B	Alexander, Cleopatra, Pericles	River Walk	Camber Sands
9A	Augustus, Cicero, Ramesses	Camber Sands	Thorpe Lakes
9B	Alexander, Cleopatra, Pericles	Thorpe Lakes	Camber Sands

On Friday, timings of the day will be as follows:

• The gate will open to students in Year 9 and in 8 Augustus, 8 Cicero, and 8 Ramesses at 7:40. Line-up is at 7:55. If your child is late, they risk not being able to join their trip.
• The gate will open to students in Year 7 and in 8 Alexander, 8 Cleopatra, and 8 Pericles at 8:40. Line-up is at 8:55. If your child is late, they risk not being able to join their trip.

All students should arrive in their Soane PE kit for all trips except Thorpe Lakes; a separate kit list has been emailed for this trip.

• Phones will be handed in as normal. These will be confiscated if found on the day and not returned for 7 days – a parent/guardian will need to collect from the school office during the summer holidays if this occurs.
• Please ensure your child has a filled water bottle, suncream, a sun hat, and their pencil case on the day in their Soane bag.
• Students attending Camber Sands should bring a small towel to sit on and sliders should they wish to change into these. We will not be swimming on this trip, so swimming wear should not be brought.
• Packed lunches, including snacks, will be provided – additional food should not be brought on these days

The estimated return times for Friday’s trips are below. There may be delays on return journeys – the office will be in touch if this is the case.

Go Ape (Ally Pally)	16:55
London City Tour	14:40
River Walk	14:40
Camber Sands	17:10
Thorpe Lakes	16:40

As trips are closely followed by Sports Day on Tue 23rd Jul, for hygiene reasons please ensure your child’s PE kit is washed between trips.

If your child is not taking part in the trips, they are expected to attend school as normal. Arrangements onsite will be made for these students.

To ensure all are well rested and ready to go, on Thur 18th Jul (the day before trips) school will finish at 2PM. We hope your child is excited for what will be a wonderful way to bring the year to a close.  Please ensure that, if you are going abroad this summer, you do not book travel during term time.

 

End of Year Attendance 

As we approach the end of the school year, we would like to remind you of the importance of your child's consistent attendance. Every day at school is a valuable opportunity for learning and growth. Please note that absences can disrupt your child's education and will result in your child falling behind. Unauthorised absences may also lead to fines being imposed. We understand unforeseen circumstances may arise, and we ask that you communicate with us promptly in such events. Your cooperation is crucial in ensuring your child's success.

 

Safeguarding

The local shops and businesses in Ealing Broadway have reported some Anti-Social Behaviour and shoplifting taking place recently. With the school holidays approaching the Metropolitan Police will be increasing patrols in the area and will be enforcing the Public Spaces protection order as mentioned on this letter.

 

Clubs this week

The last day of after-school clubs will be Weds 17th Jul. The timetable & sign-ups for clubs for next academic year will be released upon return in September.

 

Soane Parents' Association (SPA)
SPA is in need of more people to run activities and take up committee positions - please get in touch if you could see yourself as a Co-Chair, Co-treasurer or Co-Secretary of the Association.

Music Lessons
We are delighted so many of our students have taken up the opportunity to learn a musical instrument this academic year. Many pupils have worked hard, improved hugely and should be very proud of their achievement.

We are now looking at timetabling for the autumn term. If your child does not wish to continue to have instrumental lessons you must email the music department at info@arksoane.org by Monday 15 July. If we have not heard from you we will continue to timetable lessons and there will be a charge for the autumn term.

If you would like your child to move from group lessons to one-to-one lesson or to change instruments please email with details. Any pupils who would like to start musical instrument lessons next academic year should speak with their music teacher.

 

Local Film Project
The Acton Gardens Community Project are writing to ask if your child would like to participate in a local film project over the summer. Please fill in this survey if you are interested.

Ark Soane's Approach to Phones
We are increasingly aware that some of our pupils have smart phones with no parental controls installed. Please ensure that you do have controls in place to keep your child safe. Learn about setting phone controls, understanding popular apps and terminology, and our comprehensive support for digital well-being. Ark Soane's Approach to Phones Newsletter

Device monitoring
All Soane students are provided with a laptop upon entry to the school. This is to facilitate students completing their school work, and ensure that all students are able to access any online programmes or websites that we use for homework. There are protections on these devices to keep students safe: inappropriate content is blocked and devices are monitored for safeguarding concerns which are reported to the school.

Please be aware that not all non-educational content can be blocked on these devices (for example YouTube is accessible) and parents/carers should still monitor usage. Just because they are on their school laptop does not mean that they must be doing productive schoolwork! If you have concerns that sites are accessible which should be blocked then please flag this up to info@arksoane.org so that we can address with our providers.

English language sessions for parents and carers
Our last English language session for this academic year has now passed.
We have thoroughly enjoyed connecting with our students' parents and carers and expanding the Soane community. This year we've enjoyed fiction extracts such as Harry Potter, discussed current news items such as the rise of AI and explored new cultures, food and traditions - with a cup of tea and biscuit in hand. We would love to continue these sessions next year and will send updates on this in due course.

Ealing Mental Health Workshops

The Ealing Mental Health Support Team are offering workshops for Parents/Carers over the Summer term of school:

31st July: Supporting Friendships in children – aimed at parents/carers of primary-aged children to provide information to help you support your young person with building and managing friendships, including supporting with social anxiety.

You can book these by scanning the QR code or visiting the following website.

After signing up, you will be emailed a Microsoft Teams link and receive an email reminder on the morning of the workshop. Any queries relating to the courses should be directed to the following email address: Ealing.mhst@nhs.net

Attendance
As you may be aware from the news, attendance at school is the predominant focus of all professionals. We know that for your child(ren) to have the education and character to go on to live happy, fulfilled lives as the drivers of their own destinies they MUST be in school. It is widely evidenced that students who frequently miss days at school significantly underperform and achieve lower grades than those pupils who attend every day.

Additionally, a change in guidance from the government means that any students that are late to school after the registers have closed will impact their attendance percentage. This could be coded as unauthorised and could result in local authority action.

Please see reminders of actions you can take to support your child(ren)’s attendance and progress at school, we really appreciate your support and are dedicated in working together to achieve the best outcomes for your child(ren):

• Support with an evening/morning routine to ensure they are prepared and organised for school the next day – this is a message we narrate in school.
• If your child needs/has a medical appointment please try and arrange these outside of school hours (we appreciate this is challenging). If you are not able to do this, please inform school in advance of the appointment and provide evidence (appointment cards/letters/emails).
• If you are not sure whether your child is well enough to attend school, send them in anyway as they often perk up on arrival. We will contact you if they are too ill to continue.
• If your child is ill, please telephone the school before 8.25am each day of your child’s absence.
• Have a backup plan for if your child misses transport, call on a family member, neighbour or friend.
• If you and your child are experiencing difficulties with school attendance then talk to us as a first step so we can help!

If you have any questions or concerns please email info@arksoane.org

Unifrog
All pupils have access to the Unifrog platform to support in researching future careers and recording their growing aspirations. We encourage you to explore the website together with your child to research careers and future study options of interest to them.

Careers speakers
We are always on the lookout for volunteers to give inspirational careers talks to our pupils. If you or someone you know would be interested in speaking to our pupils, please complete this form.

PE Bags
A reminder that pupils should bring their PE kit to school in a navy Ark Soane branded PE bag. They are available from our uniform supplier here.

Lost property
The lost property box in the reception area of the school is full of unclaimed items. Please ask your child to go to reception to check the box if necessary, and you are also welcome to pop into reception to check it yourself if you would like. Please may we also remind you to label your child's school uniform and belongings with their name.

Chewing gum
Please note that chewing gum is prohibited at Soane. Please reiterate this with your child as possession of chewing gum will result in behaviour sanctions.

Safeguarding
We have been advised by the local police force to remind you about the process of reporting incidents to the police in the event of a crime.

Please can we request that if your child is the victim of a crime that a report is made to police at the earliest opportunity. Recently we have been made aware of a number of incidents by the school. It is essential that the school are made aware of an incident as it may have an impact on their ability to safeguard your child but if you delay reporting an incident to police it can have an impact on the investigation and lead to valuable evidence being lost.

You can report an incident to police in a number of ways:

• If it’s an emergency and the crime is still taking place, call 999 and ask for the police.
• If it’s not an emergency, do not call 999. This doesn’t mean the crime is not important to us it just helps the police to make the best use of their resources. In this instance please contact 101 or please report the incident online on the following link Report a crime | Metropolitan Police
• You can go to your local police station in Acton or Hayes to report the crime there.
• If you have information regarding a crime and don’t want to talk in person to the police you can contact Crimestoppers online or call

If you have information regarding a crime and don’t want to talk in person to the police you can contact Crimestoppers online or call 0800 555 111. You will remain 100% anonymous. Always.

If you would like any further information then please do not hesitate to get in touch with your local Safer Schools Team who would be happy to help.

Accessing support in school

At Ark Soane there are lots of ways to access support in school – speaking to form tutors, class teacher or a member of the safeguarding team.

Pupils can also use SHARPs, an online form that is found on the school website that is sends a message to the safeguarding team – you can use this at home. It is only monitored in term time. This is an avenue for students to raise concerns or ask for support, if as parents you have concerns you should continue to contact the office or email infor@arksoane.org

Other places to get support are; Mind, The MIX, Childline, NSPCC, Circle Café and Kooth

 

Soane PTA
If you would like to get involved then please email soanepta@gmail.com.

 

Contact us
If you need face-to-face assistance then the school office is open during term-time from 8am-4pm. So that we can deal with email enquiries promptly please see the school email addresses below:

• General Enquiries – info@arksoane.org
• Attendance - absence@arksoane.org
• Free School Meals - fsm@arksoane.org

Thank you for your ongoing support.
Kind regards,
Matt
Matt Neuberger | Principal | Ark Soane Academy