28.03.25
Good afternoon,
As we reach the end of the Spring Term, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the achievements and highlights of the past few months and to look ahead to the exciting opportunities the summer term will bring.
It has been an incredibly busy and productive term. From inspiring classroom lessons to extracurricular activities, our students have been engaging with learning in such a positive way. Some of the key moments I’d like to share include:
- Fantastic Academic Progress: We’ve seen students making excellent progress across all year groups, and I’m particularly proud of our Year 11 students who have worked tirelessly in preparation for their upcoming exams.
- Extracurricular Success: Our school sports teams have had a brilliant season, and I would like to extend my congratulations to all the students who participated.
- Enrichment Opportunities: Our commitment to broadening our students’ horizons continues, with many students taking part in various trips and workshops this term, from the higher education progression partnership careers event with our Y7 students to the Y11 Geography students attending their urban landscape visits to Sheffield.
As we break for the Easter holidays, I encourage students to take some time to rest, recharge, and spend time with family and friends. We’ll be back in school on Monday 14th April ready for a busy summer term ahead.
Information for parents of all years
Update to our Rewards Strategy: Celebrating Success
As part of our ongoing mission of school improvement, we have recently introduced a number of new strands to our Rewards Strategy in school which provide staff with more ways to provide positive feedback to students, and parents/carers, around the success and achievement that takes place in school every single day.
Praise stamps in planners
This method of positive feedback remains an integral part of our Rewards Strategy as it is an immediate acknowledgement that celebrates student success as they achieve in the classroom. Each stamp equates to 1 achievement point. Stamps are collated and reported to form tutors once a week in PDT.
Commendations
This is a new method of formal praise that will be given by staff for more significant achievements in the classroom. Commendations are centred around the 5 ATL characteristics that we guide our students to achieve in school. An example could be a student who is given a commendation for Resilience as they initially find a task particularly challenging but then responds positively to feedback from their teacher and subsequently completes the task successfully. Commendations are logged electronically on Arbor by staff and equate to 5 achievement points each time.
ATL Postcards
Another new method of formal praise, awarded for excellence in our ATL characteristics of Respect, Resilience, Resourcefulness, Being Ready to Learn and Reflective. These could be awarded to a student who produces an exceptional piece of extended writing in a lesson, or a student who demonstrates a consistently strong attitude at the start of every lesson over a topic.
Weekly Celebration Email to Parents/Carers
Starting next term, parents/carers will receive a weekly email every Friday afternoon providing an overview of all the successes their child has had in school this previous week. The email will describe a summary of how many achievement points the student has received and also provide an overview of the Commendations and/or ATL postcards they have been awarded. Further details can then be found about these rewards on the parental Arbor App.
End of Year Rewards Trips
Parents/carers will soon receive a separate letter about the new Rewards Trips that are being made available to all students on either Monday 14 or Tuesday 15 of July. We passionately believe all students should have access to these trips and want all students to attend. Priority trip allocations will be given to those students with excellent records in the key metrics of attendance, punctuality, achievement and conduct around school. All staff in school are looking forward to this exciting day for the whole Westfield School community.
If you have any questions or feedback about any of the new additions to our Rewards Strategy described above, please contact Mark Clayton.
Student Equipment Required for Lessons
We want to ensure that students are ready to learn in their lessons. Having the right equipment is key to this. It is important that students have their own set of equipment.
Every student is expected to have:
- Student planner
- Pencil case.
- Three black pens.
- One purple pen.
- Pencil.
- Rubber.
- Ruler.
- Sharpener
- Highlighter pen.
- Whiteboard pen.
- Scientific Calculator (can be purchased through school).
Good news stories
Y7 Higher Education Progression Partnership
Our Year 7 students attended a Higher Education Progression Partnership (HEPP) workshop on Tuesday this week. The workshop provided students with the information they need to make informed decisions about their future choices. Students looked at how to prioritise tasks, set goals and develop their time management skills. Feedback from the day was very positive.
Y9 & Y10 Girls Netball Team
On Wednesday, the Y10 and Y9 girls played a friendly netball match against Birley Academy. It was goal for goal until the final minutes when Birley took the lead, resulting in a 9-8 loss. It was a fantastic game to umpire.
A massive thank you to all our netball players this season. We will back in September.
Y9 Football Team
The Y9 Football team played their final game of the 24/25 academic year and beat a very strong Meadowhead team 3-1. This has seen the team progress into the Premiership next academic year and is a great achievement for the team. They have shown true team spirit and will now play against the best in the city next year. Mr Francis would like to personally thank each individual student who has played for the team this year. You have all been fantastic, have developed into well-mannered young people and have shown the desire to strive for the best within a sporting setting. Well done!
Contemporary Dance Workshop
Our Y10 BTEC dance students took part in an exciting contemporary dance workshop with the Northern School of Contemporary Dance Centre of Advanced Training (CAT) scheme this week! The workshop was led by a professional dance artist and our students experienced contemporary dance technique, creative work and learnt about how they could pursue a career in dance.
NSCD is the leading dance conservatoire in the north, and auditions yearly for talented young dancers aged 12 – 16 to join their prevocational training programme in Leeds as well as providing weekly dance sessions. You can find out more here: https://www.nscd.ac.uk/takepart/cat/
TAG Rugby Festival
Last Friday, 18 of our Sports Leaders hosted the annual TAG rugby festival at Westfield School. Nine teams from four of our Family of Schools attended, and each team was taught the basic rules of TAG rugby before the tournament began. For the first time ever, there was a draw in the final match, which resulted in us reviewing the league tables to count how many tries were scored and conceded. As a result, both Halfway Juniors and Mosborough Primary were declared winners of the event. Our Sports Leaders were fantastic and were very attentive to those who needed extra support.
Points Network Games
On Tuesday this week, 19 of our Sports Leaders attended the Points Network Games at the EIS. The Leaders manned stations where students were encouraged to score as many points as possible in the allocated time. Over 650 primary students attended the day and our Leaders showed tremendous encouragement, positivity and work ethic to ensure the festival ran smoothly. The Leaders were selected to showcase their abilities and to gain experience at a citywide event to enable them to develop in confidence, attitude, and drive to be the best person they can be in helping others.
Dates for your diary
14th April – Return to school
15th & 16th April – KS4 theatre trip to see An Inspector Calls
17th April – Year 9 DTP vaccinations
Reminder of our contact emails
safeguarding@westfield.chroustrust.org
attendance@westfield.chorustrust.org
enquiries@westfield.chorustrust.org
As always, thank you for your ongoing support.
Mrs G A Jones
