CARE values series, week 4 of 4
This week's Student Broadcast: Excellence
This week's value is Excellence: doing the simple things well, every time, until it becomes a habit. Monday's broadcast to every form group is here in full.
428 students with 100% attendance, and this week's £20 winner
Congratulations to Casey Haine in Year 10 RBR, this week's winner of the £20 attendance draw. Casey has been in school for every session this term, and so have 427 other students: 428 in total, more than half the academy, three weeks in.
By year group that is 91 students in Year 7, 82 in Year 8, 85 in Year 9, 94 in Year 10 and 76 in Year 11. Every one of them is in the draw every week, and every one has a Resilience Token from their form tutor for each full week in school.
If your child is one of the 428, please tell them we noticed. If they are not yet, it is never too late to start a run: every student whose attendance is 100% this week, or has improved on last week, goes into Friday's draw.
Hard hats on: our students visit Sizewell B
A group of our Year 11 students spent a day at Sizewell B on Tuesday, the nuclear power station on the Suffolk coast that supplies electricity to around two and a half million homes. Hi-vis jackets, hard hats, gloves and glasses on, they went behind the scenes of one of the most tightly run workplaces in the country and met some of the engineers, apprentices and scientists who keep it running.
The point of the day was not just to look at a power station. It was to see what a career in engineering, science or construction looks like up close, and to hear from people who started out in schools like ours. With Sizewell C now being built next door, and thousands of jobs and apprenticeships coming to this stretch of coast over the next decade, that is a conversation worth having early. Several students came back asking about apprenticeship routes, which is exactly the result we wanted.
Our students were a credit to the academy: curious, polite and asking the sort of questions that made the hosts smile. A huge thank you to Mrs Green, who created the opportunity and organised the day, and to the team at Sizewell B for looking after us so well.
Cadets: Cliff Park students join the East Norfolk CCF
Some of our students have a second uniform. On Wednesday evenings they parade with the East Norfolk Sixth Form College Combined Cadet Force, which welcomes recruits from Cliff Park and other partner schools alongside its own students, and this week the contingent was back in full swing for the new term.
The Army Section has cybersecurity, air rifle marksmanship and drill on its rotation this half term. The Royal Navy Section is working on drill, teamwork and preparations for Trafalgar Day, and the whole contingent has started practising marching to the beat of a drum ahead of Remembrance in November. Our students, some in their first weeks, were out on the parade square learning to march in step and stand at ease, and the photos show how quickly it comes.
Dr Simon Fox, Deputy Principal at East Norfolk, put it well this week: enrichment should not be a tick-box exercise, it should be chosen to enrich a young person's life now and in the future. Cadets does exactly that. It builds confidence, discipline and friendships, it counts for something on a college or job application, and it is a lot of fun.
Interested? The CCF takes new recruits at the start of each term. Ask your child's form tutor or Head of Year and we will put you in touch with the contingent.
Your views really do matter
Annual Parent and Carer Survey
This is the first survey to go to every parent and carer across Ormiston Academies Trust, and we would like as many Cliff Park families as possible to take part.
It takes about ten minutes on a phone or tablet. Scan the QR code or tap the button below.
What happens to your answers. The results go to trustees, trust leaders and our own leadership team, and shape what we work on next, at Cliff Park and across the trust. We will share what you told us, and what we are doing about it, in a later edition of Cliff Park Connect.
Or scan the QR code with your phone camera
New windows: a warmer, brighter academy
If you have driven past recently you will have seen the scaffolding along the main block. We are replacing the windows across the academy, and the difference inside is already noticeable where the new glazing is in: classrooms that hold their heat, less noise from outside and a lot more natural light.
The work is being done in phases so that teaching carries on as normal, and the contractors are working around the school day wherever they can. We will let you know if any phase affects drop-off, pick-up or a particular entrance.
It is a big investment in the building, and it sits alongside the work students and staff do every day to keep the academy a place we are proud of. The short film below, shot from above this week, shows how far the work has come.
Watch: from the air
The new windows, from above
A drone's-eye view of the work in progress: the scaffolding along the main block, the new glazing going in, and the site compound below. Silent, so it is fine to watch anywhere.
Year 6 families: you are invited
Year 6 Open Evening
Come and see Cliff Park for yourself: tour the academy with our students, meet the teachers, try out lessons in every subject and hear from the Principal about what makes us different. No need to book, just turn up.
If you know a family with a child in Year 6, please pass this on.
Visit www.cliffparkoa.co.uk
New: book your place now
Open Week: tours of the academy
Open Evening shows you Cliff Park at its most polished. Open Week shows you an ordinary Tuesday. Every morning from Monday 5th to Friday 9th October we are running a short tour from 9.15am to 9.45am: a walk through our classrooms while lessons are happening, a chance to see the academy in action and to ask questions.
Places are limited to 20 people each day, so please book. You will get an email confirming your place.
Open to prospective families and to current parents and carers who would like a look inside.
Takes one minute. 20 places a day. Confirmation by email.
Every day counts: this week's figures
Our whole-school target is 92%. For your own child, the aim is 95% or better. These are the figures for the year so far, up to Tuesday 22nd September. Wednesday's Cliff Park Attendance has the full picture, including the Friday effect and a four-step Thursday night plan.
The whole school so far this year
Down 0.4% on last week. Last Friday was 90.2%, more than a point below the term so far. That 3.7% not authorised is about 29 students a day with no reason given, and it is the part we can change together fastest. Not going to be in? Ring 01493 661504, option 1, before 8.30am.
Bars start at 80% so the differences are easier to see. A quick rule: every 1% below 100 is about two days off across the year. Year 7 are the biggest movers this week, up from 91.5% to 92.2% and over target, which for families new to us is exactly what last week was about. Three of our five year groups are now over the line. Year 9 and Year 11 are both around 89.5%, about five days a year short of 92%. Every day in school this week moves that number.
Watch: under a minute
65 empty chairs, the short version
What 91.4% attendance really looks like: 65 empty chairs on an ordinary day, and the 29 we can fill together. Works with the sound off.
Can you help? Second-hand uniform wanted
If your child has grown out of a blazer, jumper, trousers, skirt, shirts or PE kit, we would gladly take them. Clean items in good condition go straight to Cliff Park families who need them, at no cost and in confidence.
Blazers are the most useful item of all. Thank you.
Worth checking
Free school meals: more families qualify than you might think
From this September the rules changed. Every child in a household that receives Universal Credit is now entitled to free school meals, whatever the household earns. Families receiving Income Support, income-based Jobseeker's Allowance, income-related Employment and Support Allowance, the guaranteed part of Pension Credit, Child Tax Credit (without Working Tax Credit) or support under the Immigration and Asylum Act also qualify.
It is completely confidential. Nobody at school, and none of your child's friends, can tell who has free meals: every student pays the same way, and the money simply appears on their account.
Registering also brings extra funding to the academy for your child, which we use to help with the things that add up: school trips, uniform, revision materials and music lessons. Even if your child brings a packed lunch, please register, because the extra support follows the registration, not the meal.
- Apply online with Norfolk County Council. It takes about five minutes and you only need your National Insurance number
- If you are not sure whether you qualify, ask us. We will check with you, quietly
- Already registered? You do not need to do anything. It carries on automatically
- If your circumstances change during the year, apply then. It is not a September-only thing
Where to get help
- Apply Norfolk County Council, free school meals www.norfolk.gov.uk/freeschoolmeals
- Not sure? Main reception will help you check, in confidence 01493 661504, option 2
Get the Arbor app
Arbor is how we communicate with parents and carers: attendance, messages, reports, trips and payments all come through it, and from this year so do CARE Tokens, praise and any behaviour concerns. If you have not yet set it up on your phone, please do so this week.
- Scan the code below with your phone camera, or search for Arbor in the App Store or Google Play, and install the app
- Open the app and search for Cliff Park Ormiston Academy
- Log in with the email address you have registered with the school
- First time? Tap First time logging in to set a password. A link will be emailed to you
If the email address we hold for you is out of date, or you cannot get in, contact reception on 01493 661504, option 2, or email enquiries@cliffparkoa.co.uk and we will sort it.
Reminders
Gates close at 8.30am. Students arriving after 8.30am will be logged as late. If your child travels by bus, please make sure they use a service that arrives before 8.30am so they are in the line-up on time.
Parking and pick-up. Please do not drive into the school car park at the end of the day. At 3.00pm it is full of students on foot and on bikes, and cars moving through it put them at risk. If you are collecting by car, please park courteously on Kennedy Avenue, away from the gates and residents' driveways, and let your child walk to you. Thank you for helping to keep the end of the day safe.
Uniform. Academy blazer, sleeves down, worn at all times inside the building unless a member of staff says otherwise. White socks are not worn over tights. Hoodies are not uniform and will be confiscated. If uniform is a struggle this term, please talk to your child's Head of Year in confidence.
Main reception. Open 8.00am to 4.00pm Monday to Thursday and 8.00am to 3.30pm on Friday. 01493 661504, option 2.
Principal drop-in. Parents and carers are welcome to drop into reception between 8.50 and 9.30am every Wednesday to meet me or a member of the Senior Team. No appointment needed.
Dates for the term
Key dates for parents and carers for the rest of the Autumn term. Trips and events for specific year groups will come with a letter nearer the time.
| September | |
|---|---|
| Mon 28th | Trip: Hunters Yard Sailing (all week) |
| Tue 29th | Trip: Houses of Parliament (Years 8 and 9) |
| October | |
|---|---|
| Thu 1st | Year 6 Open EveningParents and carers welcome |
| Mon 5th to Fri 9th | Open Week: tours of the academy, 9.15am to 9.45am dailyBook a place, 20 per day |
| Thu 8th | Year 11 Parents' Evening (pre-mock information)Parents and carers welcome |
| Fri 9th | External drama production (Years 8 to 10) |
| Wed 14th | Flu vaccinations (Years 7 to 9) |
| Thu 15th | Trip: DofE navigation walk (Years 9 and 10) |
| Tue 20th | Flu vaccinations (Years 10 and 11) |
| Thu 22nd | Year 7 Settling In EveningParents and carers welcome |
| Fri 23rd | Last day before half term |
| November | |
|---|---|
| Mon 2nd | Return from half term |
| Mon 2nd | Year 11 mock exams begin (window runs through November) |
| Tue 17th | A Cliff Park Christmas: matinee performance |
| Thu 26th | Careers Fair and Presentation EveningParents and carers welcome |
| December | |
|---|---|
| Tue 1st | Flu vaccinations mop-up (all year groups) |
| Mon 7th | Trip: Houses of Parliament (Years 8 and 9) |
| Thu 17th | Reports sent home |
| Fri 18th | Last day of autumn term |
Local support and services
A different set of services this week. All are free, and all are used by Cliff Park families. If you are not sure where to start, ask us and we will point you in the right direction.
SEND
Norfolk SENDIASS
Free, impartial advice for parents and carers of children with special educational needs or disabilities, including help with EHCPs and school meetings.
01603 704070
norfolksendiass.org.ukMental health
YoungMinds Parents Helpline
Free, confidential advice for any parent or carer worried about a child's mental health, from a trained adviser.
0808 802 5544, Monday to Friday 9.30am to 4pm
youngminds.org.ukFor young people
Childline
Free, confidential support for anyone under 19, by phone or online, any time of day or night.
0800 1111
childline.org.ukFood and essentials
Great Yarmouth Foodbank
Emergency food and support for families in Great Yarmouth and Gorleston. Ask us in confidence and we can arrange a referral.
greatyarmouth.foodbank.org.uk
Who to contactUseful contacts
Not sure who to speak to? Your child's form tutor is always a good first call. For anything urgent, ring the front office on 01493 661504. Tap a name to email.
Front office and attendance
| Contact | For | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Front office | General enquiries, messages for staff | 01493 661504 (option 2), cpoaenquiries@cliffparkoa.co.uk |
| Attendance line | Report an absence before 8.30am | 01493 661504 (option 1), cpoaattendance@cliffparkoa.co.uk |
| Ms L Ross | Attendance Manager | lross@cliffparkoa.co.uk |
Heads of Year
| Year group | Head of Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Year 7 | Mr D Dudley | ddudley@cliffparkoa.co.uk |
| Year 8 | Mr E Phillips | ephillips@cliffparkoa.co.uk |
| Year 9 | Mr R Callaby | rcallaby@cliffparkoa.co.uk |
| Year 10 | Mr M Warnes | mwarnes@cliffparkoa.co.uk |
| Year 11 | Mr M Harris | mharris@cliffparkoa.co.uk |
Safeguarding and support
| Name | Role | |
|---|---|---|
| Ms S Huggins | Safeguarding Manager | shuggins@cliffparkoa.co.uk |
| Ms D Giles | SEMH Support Worker | dgiles@cliffparkoa.co.uk |
| Ms A Waters | Vice Principal and SENDCO | awaters@cliffparkoa.co.uk |
| Ms K Todd | PA to SENDCO, SSU Manager | ktodd@cliffparkoa.co.uk |
| Ms J Slack | Director of Behaviour and Student Care | jslack@cliffparkoa.co.uk |
Senior leadership team
| Name | Role | |
|---|---|---|
| Mr H French | Principal | hfrench@cliffparkoa.co.uk |
| Ms J Spurgeon | PA to the Principal | jspurgeon@cliffparkoa.co.uk |
| Ms J Bunting | Vice Principal, Quality of Education | jbunting@cliffparkoa.co.uk |
| Ms A Waters | Vice Principal, SENDCO | awaters@cliffparkoa.co.uk |
| Ms A Dudley | Assistant Principal, Teaching and Learning | adudley@cliffparkoa.co.uk |
| Ms R Sewell | Assistant Principal, Student Development | rsewell@cliffparkoa.co.uk |
| Ms K Milner | Assistant Principal, Raising Attainment | kmilner@cliffparkoa.co.uk |
| Mr S Sorrento | Director of Curriculum, Data and Exams | ssorrento@cliffparkoa.co.uk |
Form tutors
Your child's form tutor sees them every morning and is the first person to contact about day-to-day matters.