As part of transition all children have been given a copy of Homer’s ‘The Odyssey’ and a Transition Reading Booklet. Children are expected to read a chapter and complete associated activities. All children are expected to have engaged with six chapters over the summer holiday and are to bring the completed booklet in on their first day handing it to their form tutors. To support struggling readers, staff across the Trust have filmed videos of themselves reading a chapter. A link to the videos can be found below.
Enjoy reading the book and see you all in September.
I hope you are all managing to stay comfortable in the heat, I am writing in advance of the summer holidays with some key reminders.
The start of term
· Term starts for children on Monday the 12th of September. Children need to be in school for 8.10am at the latest ready for morning line up at 8.15am where they will be met by their form tutor.
· Breakfast club will not start until Wednesday 14th September. From this date students may either purchase breakfast items or free porridge is provided for all. On the Monday and Tuesday mornings children will be directed to the Brian Clarke playground before the start of school.
· Due to the lack of parking in the area surrounding the school, we ask that any parents dropping off or collecting their child by car do so at a safe distance without creating obstruction for other road users. Please do not use the bus lay-bys as they are for the Blue Coat school buses. Parents are not permitted onto the school site to pick up or drop off their child.
· Please can children bring a clear plastic bottle filled with water. They can fill this bottle up at break and lunch times in the restaurant. Fizzy drinks and energy drinks are not permitted.
Uniform
The Brian Clarke staff are very excited to see our founding cohort looking smart in their Brian Clarke uniform. Please can you ensure that you have read the uniform policy with your child. The policy is explicit around expectations for hair, jewellery and footwear. For clarity there is also a visual guide for parents at the end of the policy. A link to the policy is here.
Our uniform provider Monkhouse supply the vast majority of Oldham schools so please do book your appointments as soon as possible if you want to try items on.
Children will not need to bring their PE kits on the first day.
For this year only we will be gifting each child with a pair of Brian Clarke jogging bottoms. Whilst we are in the temporary accommodation students will be expected to come into school in their PE kits on the days they have PE. This will ensure we have as much curriculum time for lessons. During the summer holidays you will receive a form which asks you for your child’s waist size. We will be giving out the jogging bottoms on the first student day in September
The Family Handbook
Children received a ‘hard’ copy of the Family Handbook on transition day and an electronic link is here. The handbook contains all the essential information to help your child make the best possible start in September.
The Transition Reading Project
We can see that many children have already started this project and completed a number of the activities. There are six chapters of the Odyssey to read and associated quizzes. Please can we encourage you to support your child with this project as it links to their English curriculum and Form Time reading.
This project runs across the secondary schools in the Trust. Brian Clarke, Blue Coat and St Anne’s children are all reading the same text. Members of staff from across the Trust are reading six chapters aloud. A link will be emailed out to you at the start of each week for each chapter.
· Monday 25 July Chapter 1
· Monday 1st August Chapter 2
· Monday 8th August Chapter 3
· Monday 15th August Chapter 4
· Monday 22nd August Chapter 5
· Monday 5th September Chapter 6
The completed transition reading booklet needs to be handed in to Form Tutors by Tuesday 13th September.
ParentPay and MyChildAtSchool (MCAS)
As a cashless school ParentPay is the facility we use for parents/carers to pay for their child’s dinners and any proposed trips. MCAS is the facility that allows parents to view their child’s attendance, rewards, behaviour records and receive any school notices.
You will be receiving information about how to access your own ParentPay and MCAS accounts towards the end of the summer holidays.
The Temporary Accommodation and Permanent Site
If you follow us on social media you will have seen our most recent updates in relation to the temporary accommodation and the main building. Everything is progressing extremely well. We are now in the final stages of surfacing the area around the temporary accommodation and decorating the classrooms. The permanent building is on track for completion next spring.
The School Verse for the Year
Each year at Brian Clarke and across the schools in the Trust we collectively agree on a verse for the year to support us on our spiritual journey.
This year the verse is:
LOVE the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘LOVE your neighbour as yourself.’ Matthew 22:37-39
Finally
We are very excited for the start of term. Please do continue to check your emails for relevant updates from the school. I hope your child enjoys the remaining days of their primary school and that you all have a lovely, restful summer.
Yesterday was such an occasion and a huge milestone in many ways.
Your child got to meet all of the teachers who will be teaching them next year and sampled some of the secondary curriculum lessons. There was wonderful singing filling the building and some fantastic experiments in science, creativity in Art and many children will have had the German crocodile song ringing in their ears. The food seemed to go down extremely well. Particularly the chocolate cake.
You should be extremely proud of your child. We don’t underestimate how difficult change can be and yesterday was just the very start of the transition process. Hopefully many came home enthusiastic, and fears alleviated. We know however there will be some that throughout the first few weeks will need extra support to manage the change and make friends. We will absolutely ensure this happens.
Your child came home with their transition reading project based on Homer’s Odyssey. Please do speak to them about this. We will be following up over the summer with videos from staff across the Trust to support this project.
We will of course continue to communicate with you over the next few weeks and the summer holidays so please do continue to check your emails regularly.
It was a real privilege to welcome our founding cohort yesterday and we look forward to seeing them all looking smart in their school uniform in September.
We recently welcomed a whole host of very special guests to a “signing of the steels” ceremony at the new Brian Clarke C of E Academy site at Bloom Street in the centre of Oldham.
The (now former) Mayoress Jennifer Harrison was joined by two of our brand new students who will be part of the first cohort to join the school, which is part of the Oldham-based Cranmer Education Trust, in September. Additionally, members of the new staff body and current sixth formers from The Blue Coat School, which is also part of the Cranmer Education Trust and will be the natural progression for Brian Clarke students, joined in the ceremony.
They were all welcomed on site by the school’s Headteacher Allison Ash, Cranmer Education Trust CEO Julie Hollis and the site manager Andy Beale from Oldham-based main contractor Willmott Dixon.
The signing of the steels has become part of the tradition of marking the celebration of a brand new building, along with “topping out” when the last brick or tile of a more traditional building is laid.
Former Mayoress Jennifer Harrison said:
“I congratulate everybody on, the fantastic progress that’s been made! I really hope you’ll invite me to the opening and I really look forward to seeing the finished product and young people having a fantastic education. And we’ve all been part of history today, haven’t we? Our signatures are part of the fabric of the new school!”
Headteacher Allison Ash added:
“Its been such a lovely ceremony, and to have the Mayoress as well as one of the first students and members of staff being made part of the history of this brand new school is amazing. We are so pleased that the school has proved so popular, with close to 700 applications. All 240 places have been offered and accepted and our admissions policy has worked so well. We really are going to see a student population that is a reflection of the town and borough”.
September 2022
The Brian Clarke C of E Academy will open in a new, temporary school building situated on the site of The Blue Coat School in September 2022 with the move to our permanent home taking place in the spring of 2023.
The Brian Clarke Church of England Academy is proud to be part of the Cranmer Education Trust
Cranmer Education Trust is a company limited by guarantee and an exempt charity registered in England. Company registration number: 07687709. Registered Office: Cranmer Education Trust, c/o The Blue Coat School, Egerton Street, Oldham OL1 3SQ. The website address is www.cranmereducationtrust.com and the phone number 0161 785 5082.
