26. 02. 2023
Dear Parent,
Thank you for all your support with a very positive return from half-term.
On Thursday we had a film crew in school for the day to capture material to support training new teachers – feedback from the crew was “it was inspiring to see the impact of high expectations and excellent teaching on your pupils”, there is consistent joy in lessons, the quality of students’ spoken responses is exceptional and that pupils are genuinely excited by Shakespeare. I was incredibly proud to see our students, and our teachers, demonstrate the impact of our high expectations.
What a pleasure to see some of the work being produced:
School Closure:
Due to industrial action called by the National Education Union the school will be closed to most students on Thursday 1st March.
A small number of vulnerable and key-worker students have been invited to attend our community classroom. If you expected, but have not received, an invitation then please contact the school urgently.
All students should be able to use their chromebook to access remote work through the period of industrial action. To support this we are running a laptop clinic at the end of the school day on Monday 27th and Tuesday 28th February. If [student name] has any issues with their chromebook then please ask {him/her] to bring it to school for assistance.
Homework will be set as normal for all students this week and students should complete this on Thursday.
In preparation for the Easter Assessments we have also set additional revision work for Thursday in English, maths and science. Please see links to the content below. Students should watch the videos, pause to attempt the questions and self-mark their work in green pen.
After School Clubs:
After-school clubs continue at Soane this half term. Please check with your child the clubs they have signed up to, these can also be seen on the My Child At School app.
Exploration Day:
Our next Exploration Day will be taking place on Thursday 23rd March. Students will be spending the day exploring a ‘Big Question’ at a cultural venue in central London. Classes will be going to the venues below:
Y Augustus, 7 Cicero – British Museum
7 Cleopatra, 7 Ramses – Museum of London, Docklands
7 Alexander, 7 Pericles – Science Museum
8 Augustus, 8 Cicero – Natural History Museum
8 Cleopatra, 8 Ramses – Tate Modern
8 Alexander, 8 Pericles – Tower of London
Please note that the Tower of London trip is a paid trip. The cost will be £4.10 and will be free for those in receipt of free school meals. The form groups going on the Tower of London trip will be 8 Alexander and 8 Pericles. A charge will appear on your iPayImpact account for this trip on Monday 27th February, please can this be made no later than Mon 13th March.
We are once again on the look out for parent volunteers to support us in the successful running of these trips. We would require you from 9:00AM-3:00PM on the day. If you are free and able to help, please complete the Microsoft Form below:
15.02.2023
Dear Parent,
I hope you are enjoying the glorious spring weather and a great half-term week. We’re very much looking forward to seeing all the students return on Monday 20th February by 8:05.
Please see attached a letter that has been re-circulated by the Metropolitan Police regarding crime in Ealing. Please do read this with [student name] to help [him/her] to stay safe when travelling to and from school.
Please also see attached our term dates for next year. These will appear shortly on the school website. Please ensure that any travel bookings are made during school holidays only to avoid [student name] missing essential lessons.
Jack Petchey Awards: It was a great privilege to celebrate the achievement of so many of our students on Thursday 9th February at Greenford Town Hall led by the Mayor of Ealing. Year 8s (Julia, Thelma, Digby, Arwa, Shahad and Retadj) and Y7s (Ahmed and Abdullahi) had all been nominated by their peers for demonstrating our values of hard work, kindness and aspiration. Well done to Julia K for her impressive spoken word performance of “the Nine Woes of Khalil Gibran” and to Mr Morgan and Ms Sharma for their well-deserved recognition and Leaders’ Awards. We look forward to our next round of Jack Petchey Award winners.
Parent survey: If you have not already done so then please take a moment to complete our annual survey at edurio.com/poll/FNRS8n. Most parents have already responded so please take 2-3 minutes to provide us with some feedback on what we are doing well and what we can do to improve. The deadline has been extended to the end of half-term.
Industrial Action: As you may be aware the National Education Union (NEU) has voted in favour of industrial action by their members. Action will take place in London on 2nd, 15th and 16th March.
The school will be closed to students unless they have been assigned a priority place. If it is essential that we prioritise a place for [student name] either due to their needs or due to your critical worker status then please inform us through this form by 22nd February (if you haven’t already done so) https://forms.office.com/e/aed8ZVmLuB
Students will be set additional remote work to do on these days and should ensure that they can access their work through their school chromebook or another device.
Where students are eligible for free school meals we will provide vouchers for you to use.
Exploration Day: Due to industrial action our next Exploration Day has been moved from Thursday 2nd March and will now be taking place on Thursday 23rd March. Students will be spending the day exploring a ‘Big Question’ at a cultural venue in central London.
We are once again on the look out for parent volunteers to support us in the successful running of these trips. We would require you from 9:00AM-3:00PM on the day. If you are free and able to help, please complete the Microsoft Form below:
https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=dBTLADSljUaCn2NuzjLCTKv1J4FELylNoJAK88o9xMBUQTRGOEtZTVgzQUtHNVdTSDFJQzZYUlZaRS4u
RSE: Next half term, Year 8 students will study the first sex education unit within PSHE. This unit aims to help students understand the characteristics of positive relationships, and how to manage risks and stay safe. For example, students will learn how to avoid peer pressure and the UK law on consent. Students will also learn about contraception, and the potential impact of sex and relationships on physical, emotional, mental and sexual health. Significant care is taken to ensure all content is age appropriate with thanks to parents who have contributed through our consultations. There is a legal right to withdraw your child from sex education. Please contact the school if you would like to discuss this.
PE rotations: Students will be changing their PE rotations after half-term. Please ensure that your child is at Gunnersbury by 8:05 in their PE kit:
|
Groups |
Sport |
|
Egyptian Males |
Gymnastics |
|
Egyptian Females |
Basketball |
|
Greek Males |
Tag Rugby |
|
Greek Females |
Football |
|
Roman Males |
Football |
|
Roman Females |
Tag Rugby |
Tracksuit: Navy top and navy jersey bottoms or navy tracksuit bottoms
Polo shirt: Ark Soane branded
Fleece: Navy fleece
Shorts: PE shorts
Navy football socks: Knee length
Trainers: Must be appropriate for sports. No converse trainers
Parents’ Association: Soane Parents’ Association has now been established and committee roles have been elected.
Chairs: Hodan Haili & Georgina Thompson
Treasurers: Josie Gayton & Peter Minah
Secretaries: Farah Alfarhan and Evlampia Chelmi
Communications lead: Mojca Sanjenbam
Congratulations to them all. All parents and carers are automatically members of SPA and you are welcome to be as involved as you wish.
We are all looking forward to introducing you to SPA at the next Exhibition Evening. In the meantime, if you need to get in touch with committee, you can do that via soanepta@gmail.com
Contact us:
If you need face-to-face assistance from school staff then please come to the Soane Office between 3 and 5pm Monday-Thursday or between 2 and 4pm on Friday. 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
I hope you enjoy the remainder of the half-term,
Mr Neuberger
05.02.2023
Dear Parent,
The final week of the half-term marks the mid-point of our 2022 cohort’s first year of secondary school and the middle of our 2021 cohort’s key stage 3 education. It has been a pleasure to see just how much our students have developed in such a short space of time and to hear from them the extent to which they recognise how they’ve grown in confidence, organisation, independence, responsibility, politeness and maturity – as well as making exceptional academic progress. Thank you for your support with this.
Building update: Unfortunately we have now been advised that the Soane building will not be ready for us to move into over half-term. Although most of the building work is complete, the communal areas are not yet fully decorated and fire and intruder safety systems have not yet been fully tested meaning that the developers are unable to hand over to us as planned. We are hopeful that we will have access to the new buildings shortly after half-term and expect to relocate the school back into the Soane building during the Easter Holidays. I know that this will be as disappointing to you and [student name] as it is to me and my staff but we are incredibly lucky to have such a strong ethos and community that is thriving despite the adversity of our accommodation. I will provide further details in the coming weeks – including of whether further INSET days need to be scheduled to accommodate the move.
Parent survey: If you have not already done so then please take a moment to complete our annual survey at edurio.com/poll/FNRS8n. Over half of parents have already responded so please take 2-3 minutes to provide us with some feedback on what we are doing well and what we can do to improve.
PSHE consultation: A reminder that we will be hosting an online meeting to consult with parents and carers on the development of our PSHE curriculum from 16.30 - 17.00 on Wednesday 8th February. If you would be interested in attending this meeting, please email S.ki@arksoane.org.
Ealing Speech and Language Therapy Workshops: Ealing Speech and Language Therapy are running a variety of online workshops to support parents/carers of young people with communication, independence and managing emotions. Please see the attachment for sign-up details.
Nasal flu vaccines: Please ensure that you have either logged or withheld your consent for Wednesday’s nasal flu vaccines https://app.schoolscreener.com/Portal/#/CNWLLon/imms/cnwl12/147863. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact Ms Nelder (s.nelder@arksoane.org).
Dates for your diaries:
Half-term week is 13th-17th February.
Lost property:
Please ensure that all items of clothing and equipment are labelled.
Contact us:
If you need face-to-face assistance from school staff then please come to the Soane Office between 3 and 5pm Monday-Thursday or between 2 and 4pm on Friday. 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
I hope you enjoy the remainder of the weekend and I wish you a restful half-term break.
Kind regards,
Matt
22.01.2023
Dear Parent,
Thank you for your continued support through this half-term. The students continue to be a real credit to us and are working hard in lessons and participating in lots of additional activities despite the trials of operating out of temporary accommodation. I hope to be able to share an update with you on the building shortly.
Please see notices below:
Industrial Action: As you may be aware the National Education Union (NEU) has voted in favour of industrial action by their members. Action will take place in London on 1st February and on 2nd, 15th and 16th March.
Ark Soane Academy will be closed to all students as scheduled on Wednesday 1st March as this is a planned staff training day. We are currently working hard to ensure that we can offer some in-person provision on the remaining days for at least some of our students. Where we are unable to safely open to all students we will provide work for students to complete at home.
If it is essential that we prioritise a place for [student name] either due to their needs or due to your critical worker status then please inform us through this form by the end of the week. https://forms.office.com/e/aed8ZVmLuB
We will be in touch shortly with more information on our plans.
Parents’ Association: SPA (Soane Parents Association) will have its first meeting tomorrow (Monday 23 January) at 6pm in the school hall.
We will use this meeting to elect the association roles (Chair, Treasurer, Secretary) and to set plans for fundraising events.
Everyone is welcome to attend, all parents and carers are automatically members of the association, however if you are interested into any of the main roles, please express your interest by emailing soanepta@gmail.com
We hope to see as many of you there as possible.
PE: PE will continue to be at Gunnersbury Park on Wednesdays (Y7) and Thursdays (Y8) for the remainder of the year. Please see the current sport allocations below. Please note that the forecast is cold for the week ahead!
Please ensure that [student name] arrives at Gunnersbury by 8:05 on their PE day equipped with a Soane PE kit including a Soane polo shirt and plain navy shorts/tracksuit trousers. For outdoor sports please ensure that [student name] wears appropriate cold-weather gear including hat, gloves and navy tracksuit top. Students should wear appropriate non-marking trainers for indoor sports (gymnastics and basketball) and may wear astroturf football shoes (no studs) for football and rugby. Students should ensure that their full school uniform is brought with them to Gunnersbury so that they can change for lessons after PE.
|
Groups |
Sport |
|
Egyptian Males |
Rugby |
|
Egyptian Females |
Rugby |
|
Greek Males |
Football |
|
Greek Females |
Gymnastics |
|
Roman Males |
Basketball |
|
Roman Females |
Football |
Timings for the term: Students should be on-site by 8:05 each morning and will be dismissed at 3.25 from Monday to Thursday and 2.25 on Friday. All students will be dismissed from AA6 unless they are attending an after-school club at Soane. Y7 students will start at Gunnersbury on Wednesdays and Y8 students will start at Gunnersbury on Thursdays.
Dates for your diaries:
Wednesday 1st February in an INSET day and school will be closed to students.
Half-term week is 13th-17th February.
Lost property:
Please ensure that all items of clothing and equipment are labelled.
Contact us:
If you need face-to-face assistance from school staff then please come to the Soane Office between 3 and 5pm Monday-Thursday or between 2 and 4pm on Friday. 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
I hope you enjoy the remainder of the weekend.
Kind regards,
Matt
15.01.2023
Dear Parent,
We were delighted to meet with almost all families during Friday’s Academic Review Day. Thank you for taking the time to discuss your child’s progress with their tutor. If your meeting did not go ahead as planned then one of the team will contact you for a discussion in the next few days.
Please see notices below:
Social Media and mobile phones: We aim to ensure that Ark Soane is the safest possible environment for all of our students and that, where bullying does occur, it is always taken seriously and investigated thoroughly. We are seeing an increasing trend of poor behaviour on social media outside of school having repercussions in school and we rely on parents’ help to ensure that children stay safe online and don’t post unkind or bullying comments on social media. We strongly recommend against students having a smartphone as many apps do place students’ wellbeing at risk and can make them a target for theft when travelling to and from school. Please note that the minimum legal age to have a Snapchat or Tik Tok account is 13 years old. If your child does have a smartphone then please ensure that you discuss its use together, ensure your child is only part of messaging groups with people that they personally know and whose names they recognise and please raise any concerns about worrying online behaviour with the school. Please encourage your child to use their school-issued chromebook for access to the internet as this provides effective site-blocking and monitoring of content. For further advice please see https://www.internetmatters.org/advice/11-13/.
Film Party Fundraiser: We have had overwhelming interest in our student-led film nights to support Shelter (the homelessness charity).
Doors will open at 3:45 for a 4pm start on Wednesday 18th for Year 7 (Home Alone 2, 2hrs) and Thursday 19th for Year 8 (Black Panther, 2hr 15mins).
Tickets are available on iPayimpact for £2.50 – all proceeds will be donated on Shelter.
Clubs on Wednesday and Thursday: Due to film night some of our after-school clubs will not run this week:
On Weds 18th Jan – Art, Netball, Chess, and STEM will not run. D&D will run as normal.
On Thur 19th Jan – Kung Fu, Architecture, Arabic, and Oliver! Jr rehearsals will not run.
Clubs will run as usual on Mon, Tue, and Fri.
PE: PE will continue to be at Gunnersbury Park on Wednesdays (Y7) and Thursdays (Y8) for the remainder of the year. Please see the current sport allocations below. Please note that the forecast is cold for the week ahead!
Please ensure that [student name] arrives at Gunnersbury by 8:05 on their PE day equipped with a Soane PE kit including a Soane polo shirt and plain navy shorts/tracksuit trousers. For outdoor sports please ensure that [student name] wears appropriate cold-weather gear including hat, gloves and navy tracksuit top. Students should wear appropriate non-marking trainers for indoor sports (gymnastics and basketball) and may wear astroturf football shoes (no studs) for football and rugby. Students should ensure that their full school uniform is brought with them to Gunnersbury so that they can change for lessons after PE.
|
Groups |
Sport |
|
Egyptian Males |
Rugby |
|
Egyptian Females |
Rugby |
|
Greek Males |
Football |
|
Greek Females |
Gymnastics |
|
Roman Males |
Basketball |
|
Roman Females |
Football |
Timings for the term: Students should be on-site by 8:05 each morning and will be dismissed at 3.25 from Monday to Thursday and 2.25 on Friday. All students will be dismissed from AA6 unless they are attending an after-school club at Soane. Y7 students will start at Gunnersbury on Wednesdays and Y8 students will start at Gunnersbury on Thursdays.
Dates for your diaries:
Wednesday 1st February in an INSET day and school will be closed to students.
Half-term week is 13th-17th February.
Lost property:
Please ensure that all items of clothing and equipment are labelled.
Contact us:
If you need face-to-face assistance from school staff then please come to the Soane Office between 3 and 5pm Monday-Thursday or between 2 and 4pm on Friday. 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
I hope you enjoy the remainder of the weekend.
Kind regards,
Matt
08.01.2023
Dear Parent,
We were delighted to welcome all the students back to school on Wednesday for an exceptionally positive start to 2023.
Please see notices below:
Academic Review Day: School will be closed to students this Friday (13th January) for Academic Review Day. Meetings will take place virtually on School Cloud (which can be accessed from a computer or a mobile phone). You should have now received your login details from School Cloud. Please book an appointment to meet with [student name]’s tutor and ensure that the device that you will be using has a functioning camera and microphone. If you have any difficulty setting up your appointment then please contact the office at info@arksoane.org. Please ensure that [student name] is also present at the appointment.
Travelling to and from school: Nothing is more important to us than keeping Soane students safe – both in school and in the local community. We have done a lot of work with the students this week explaining our expectations of them – especially when leaving school at the end of the day – to ensure that they don’t congregate in the local area. This is especially important given that there are three secondary schools in close proximity dismissing students at the same time. At the end of the school day students should make their way directly home to change out of their school uniform and should only be in local shops/restaurants once they have changed out of school uniform or if they are accompanied by a parent/carer. If students need to leave school later than dismissal time they should remain in school rather than in the local area. We are very grateful for your support with this as it ensures the safety of all our community.
After school clubs: Due to some changes to our clubs offer, you will have received emails with the clubs that students have been allocated to this term. Please check that your child knows which clubs they have signed up to on what days, and that they attend regularly. Regular attendance at clubs is vital to continue improving their skills in opportunities outside of the classroom.
Clubs run on Mon-Thur at Soane between 15:40-16:30
Kung Fu runs on a Thursday between 15:40-16:40
Football at Gunnersbury Park runs on a Friday between 14:25-16:10. Students will be escorted to Gunnersbury Park by Soane staff and must make their way home from there following the session.
Students attending Dance, Netball, Kung Fu, and Football must bring their PE kits to change into.
If you do not consent to your child attending a club they have been assigned to, please email info@arksoane.org so we can offer their place to another student.
Maths Circles: The Maths department are excited to announce we will be running MESME Maths Circles for the first time this term. These are small group after-school maths clubs, with the opportunity to work on challenging, thought-provoking problems to further their mathematical curiosity and ability. We will be running a taster session on Weds 11th Jan – all students are welcome to attend this first session. As part of the session, we will be asking students to complete a mini assessment to check their suitability for the project. We currently only have space for 6 students per year group and will be inviting specific students to attend after the taster. If you would like to read more about MESME Maths Circles, please read the link below: https://mesme.org/maths-circles/for-parents/
Fundraising: We were delighted to be able to take a van load of essentials to the Ealing Foodbank to support those in need in the local community:
To continue our fundraising efforts to support Shelter (the homelessness charity) our Student Leaders have organised a film party for students to attend. Light snacks and drinks will be made available.
Y7: Home Alone 2 18th 4:20 – 6:25
Y8: Black Panther 19th 4:20 - 6-45
Doors open 4:00pm at Ark Soane.
Tickets are available for purchase on ParentPay for £2.50 – all proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to Shelter.
PE: PE will continue to be at Gunnersbury Park on Wednesdays (Y7) and Thursdays (Y8) for the remainder of the year. Please see the current sport allocations below.
Please ensure that [student name] arrives at Gunnersbury by 8:05 on their PE day equipped with a Soane PE kit including a Soane polo shirt and plain navy shorts/tracksuit trousers. For outdoor sports please ensure that [student name] wears appropriate cold-weather gear including hat, gloves and navy tracksuit top. Students should wear appropriate non-marking trainers for indoor sports (gymnastics and basketball) and may wear astroturf football shoes (no studs) for football and rugby. Students should ensure that their full school uniform is brought with them to Gunnersbury so that they can change for lessons after PE.
|
Groups |
Sport |
|
Egyptian Males |
Rugby |
|
Egyptian Females |
Rugby |
|
Greek Males |
Football |
|
Greek Females |
Gymnastics |
|
Roman Males |
Basketball |
|
Roman Females |
Football |
Timings for the term: Students should be on-site by 8:05 each morning and will be dismissed at 3.25 from Monday to Thursday and 2.25 on Friday. All students will be dismissed from AA6 unless they are attending an after-school club at Soane. Y7 students will start at Gunnersbury on Wednesdays (from 11th January) and Y8 students will start at Gunnersbury on Thursdays (from 5th January).
Dates for your diaries:
Wednesday 1st February in an INSET day and school will be closed to students.
Half-term week is 13th-17th February.
Lost property:
Please ensure that all items of clothing and equipment are labelled before students return on Wednesday.
Contact us:
If you need face-to-face assistance from school staff then please come to the Soane Office between 3 and 5pm Monday-Thursday or between 2 and 4pm on Friday. 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
I wish you a successful start to 2023.
Kind regards,
Matt
