Dear Parent/Carer
We are writing to you to give you the latest news regarding developments since the information
meetings we held for parents and carers a few weeks ago.
Firstly, we would like to thank those parents and carers who were able to attend the meetings. It
was important to us to be open and honest about the issues that we are facing in school, as well
as deliver the important message that an extensive plan of action was already in place and is
having an impact in the classroom and across school. It was fantastic to get such strong support
from the vast majority of those who attended. We also held a meeting for parents and carers of
those students who are joining us in September.
Since those meetings, we have been delighted that the number of students due to join us in
September’s Year 7 has actually increased. We now have 202 students joining us, which will
make the new Year 7 the largest intake in the last 6 years. This is great news for the Academy.
The Academy Directors have recently submitted the School’s Statement of Action to Ofsted. This
contains the Academy’s Ofsted Action Plan. The plan is available for all parents and carers to
read on the school website in the Ofsted section. We are confident that it is a strong and robust
plan that will add to the improvements that Ofsted commented on in their report. Part of the plan
has been the establishment of an Executive Monitoring Board. The purpose of this EMB is to
monitor, evaluate and challenge the school against the improvements and actions in the Ofsted
Action Plan. It met for the first time on Tuesday 30 June with a focus on Mathematics and Pupil
Premium. It will meet each fortnight and will be chaired by one of our Co-opted Governors, Juliet
Brown, who is also a Headteacher of a Primary School in Huyton.
It was made clear in the information meetings that the Academy had no choice but to join a Multi
Academy Trust (MAT). This is the case for any Convertor Academy, such as Halewood, that is
placed into a category by Ofsted and is Government policy. We recognise the requirement for
significant additional capacity to be brought to the school and that the resources for this are
currently held by teaching schools and other academies. The Principal and Governors had
discussions with several MATs and last week two were invited to an extraordinary Governors
meeting. Both Trusts gave a presentation to Governors and responded to several questions on
many different aspects of their vision for Halewood Academy. Governors took a vote and decided
to look to join the Innovation Enterprise Academy Trust. This trust consists of 3 schools at present
- they are Wade Deacon High School (Widnes), Widnes Academy (Primary) and Hillside High
School (Sefton). We see this is an excellent opportunity to work with outstanding practitioners to
ensure that we make rapid improvements in standards across school. Wade Deacon is an
Outstanding school with Teaching School status and will be able to provide excellent training to
staff here. A process of due diligence will be carried out over the coming weeks to enable the
Directors of the IEA Trust to make a final decision about Halewood Academy joining. We will keep
you informed of any developments.
In my last letter we mentioned the creation of a Parent’s Forum to give parents more of a voice in
the future development of the school. We would like to invite you to the first meeting of this forum
on Monday 13 July at 6pm. The meeting will be lead by Mr Evans and Assistant Principal, Mr Day.
If you would like to attend the meeting please telephone or email school so we can organise a
suitable room and refreshments.
We will write to you again before the end of term with further news. In our next letter we will give
you details of our new Behaviour policy. The policy is available to view on the school website, but
we want to bring to your attention the requirement from September for ALL students to bring a
waterproof bag to school – a bag large enough to fit in a PE kit and exercise books so students
can bring their books to and from home. This is to be seen as part of school uniform.
Yours sincerely
Mr John Cooper
Chair of Governors
Mr Gary Evans
Principal
Miss Lisa Corrigan
Vice Principal