Dear Parent/Carer
It is hard to believe that we are at the end of yet another academic year. It has been a busy year and we have much to celebrate.
Our first ever sixth form leaders have just finished their examinations and final pieces of coursework.
They have added a huge amount to the atmosphere in the Academy and we wish them well in their future careers. The A level and Btec results will be available on Thursday 13 th August 2015 at 10 am in the
Heartspace.
Year 11 were dressed to impress for their Prom at Canterbury Cricket ground. It was a well-earned celebration of all the hard work they have put in over their five years at Spires Academy. Everyone had a good time and danced the night away. The GCSE results will be available on Thursday 20 th August 2015 at 10am in the Heartspace.
Spires Academy student’s stunned spectators at two sold out shows as they treated their audience to ‘A night at t he Musicals’. Talented actors, singers, dancers and musicians collaborated on scenes and big numbers from Cabaret, Annie, Cats, Les Miserables, Blood Brothers, The Lion King and Grease to name but a few.
This summer’s show followed a successful staging of ‘Scrooge’ at Christmas setting a trend of regular showcases of the Academy’s wealth of talented performers including the Spires Academy Dance
Showcase at the Marlowe Theatre on 15 th and 16 th July. Our annual Dance Showcase gives the opportunity for our students to experience what it feels like to perform at a top theatre. As always our thanks goes to Michael Head and sponsor and the management and staff at the Marlowe. Both nights were sold out and amazing to watch, it was an honour for Spires Academy to share the stage with such talent from across Kent.
It has been another successful year for our Sports teams. Every team has improved over the season and we have some excellent sporting talent emerging. This year we also launched our gifted sporting academies. The have been very successful. Kurt Bryant has been picked to receive professional Golf coaching from Kent and recently came 3 rd in the Medway Open tournament. The Golf Academy have challenged the Trustee’s to a round at our home course Boughton at the end of term.
The Equestrian Academy has gone from strength to strength and will compete against Kent College and
Christchurch University College in the autumn. They held their first jumping competition last week and demonstrated their skills to an audience of friends and families.
In Gymnastics we just missed reaching the national finals. We will however be hosting a national gymnastics event at Spires Academy in late November and hope to be represented.
Our partnership with Simon Langton Girls’ Grammar School continues to provide opportunities for both sets of students and staff. We have continued to focus on developing academic excellence which has included debating and Mathematics masterclasses. The Canterbury Teaching Alliance is a growing network of SLGGS, Spires and a number of primary schools and has resulted in a range of interesting events including teacher support networks and primary students experiencing the facilities at Spires
Academy.
Yet again we have benefitted from hosting a number of overseas visitors. This has included Taiwan,
Japan and Norway.
The plans are well underway for next year. The new term starts on Thursday 3 rd September at 8.45am
for all students in Years 7 to 13.
In food technology we will be changing how we organise students cooking. Instead of asking students to bring ingredients in when they cook we will instead ask every Yr 7 and 8 student to pay £7 three times a year, in September, January and April. This will cover the cost of the ingredients. On cooking days

students will be asked to bring a plastic container so that they can take a sample of their cooking home.
We hope that this will make it easier for parents and carers and enable us to develop the dishes we are preparing.
We appreciate that having to change our iPad scheme has been disappointing to some parents. I’m sure everyone will understand that with increasing pressures on school budgets it just wasn’t possible for us to continue. We know the scheme managed by Stone is the best around and enables you to own the iPad outright at the end of the 3 years. As an Academy we are committed to using the iPad as an educational tool and no student will be disadvantaged in lessons as we have ensured we have class sets available for any teacher who requires students to have their iPad during a lesson. If you wish to discuss any aspect of the iPad scheme including concerns around affordability then please contact Kelly Dale on k.dale@spiresacademy.com
From July we have moved to a new cashless payment provider and every parent should now have received their login information. There will be a slight increase in the cost of school meals from
September, we have however managed to keep this very competitive and it is cheaper than many of our local neighboring schools. The cost will be £2.30.
Uniform
May I remind everyone of the uniform expectations as these will be strictly adhered to from next
September as always we look towards our parents/carers for support in this area.

School blazer with logo

A white collared shirt with a top button that can be done up for the whole day. (Polo shirts will not be allowed in September as they are only permitted in the summer term).

A house tie, correctly worn displaying the spires star logo. (The tie should not have any threads pulled or runs and will need replacing if this is the case)

Black trousers, these can be tailored for girls but absolutely no leggings, jeggings or jeans.
(Please be aware that not all trousers in the school section of popular supermarkets are acceptable as they often include leggings or jeggings in their range).

Black skirt that is made of standard material and is a reasonable length.

Black shoes with no logos.

Black socks must be worn with trousers.

Plain black tights may be worn with a skirt. (But no leggings under the skirt please).

There is an optional black v neck jumper or a cardigan but it must have the Spires logo on it.

No other jumpers, sweatshirts or cardigans are permissible.

All students should have a plain outer coat (not a fleece, sweatshirt or hoodie)

Any make-up worn must be discrete

Facial piercings are strictly prohibited e.g. nose studs, eye brow bars or rings as are visible tattoos

Extreme hairstyles (cut and/or colour) are also inappropriate
We would like to standardise the trousers that girls can wear and are working alongside Herne bay High and Whitstable Community College to ensure we provide clear guidance in this area.
From September 2015, the only girls trousers that should be worn are either the two different styles of standard school trousers (available from Rogers' Menswear in Herne Bay , approximately £12). Or, with effect from September 2015, there will also be an approved list of black trousers which will be available from other outlets that girls are welcome to wear, please see below: http://www.marksandspencer.com/slim-fit-girls-zip-pocket-trousers-with-stormwear-
/p/p22228307?colour=Black
• Style No. T76/3708 approximately £12 - £14 http://www.marksandspencer.com/plus-fit-girls-crease-resistant-zip-pocket-trousers-with-stormwear-
/p/p22309675?colour=Black

• Style No. T76/1273P approximately £12 - £14 http://direct.asda.com/george/school/trousers-shorts/girls-school-basic-trousersblack/G004257860,default,pd.html
• Style No. 319/3181/1925/200/1048 approximately £5 - £6
Where a student breaches the Academy uniform policy, this will be seen as defiance of the Academy rules and the student will be subject to school sanctions. These sanctions may include exclusion or isolation depending on the circumstances even if the student does not otherwise display poor behaviour.
Attendance
I would also like to take the opportunity to highlight attendance as a critical factor in success.

Regular attendance at school is vital to help students achieve and get the best possible start in life

Children who are frequently miss school often fall behind

There is a strong link between good school attendance and achieving good results. Only 12% of students with below 80% school attendance achieve five or more GCSEs at grades A*-C including
English and mathematics, compared to 68% of students with attendance greater than 95%

Good attendance at school also sows potential employers that as young person is reliable
Days off school add up to lost learning
190 school days in each year
100%
10 days absence
180
School days in each year
GOOD
95%
Best chance of success
19 days absence
171
School days in each year
29 days absence
161
School days in each year
90% 85%
WORRYING
Less chance of success – makes it harder to make progress
38 days absence
152
School days in each year
47 days absence
143
School days in each year
75% 80%
SERIOUS CONCERN
Seriously impacts on learning and success
I would like to take the opportunity to thank you for your continued support throughout the year. It has been a year of growth for Spires Academy we have a quality of staff that are now fully established and able to move the Academy forward realising the potential in every young person we work with. It was satisfying that we are now being recognised by external organisations like ‘schoolsguide’ as up and coming and a school they would recommend to parents above other local schools.
The end of Term is Friday 24 th July 2015 , we will finish as normal at 2pm on that day.
In September we will reissue our Parent Handbook which can be found on the website and has key dates, contact details and other important information.
We wish everyone a safe, happy and warm summer holiday.