15 December 2023
Dear parents and families,
Thank you for taking some time to read these end-of-term updates from Monkton Wood.
In this letter:
Good news and celebration from Monkton Wood
Arrangements for the Christmas holidays
January readiness
Good news and celebration from Monkton Wood
Monkton Wood students have been able to attend several fantastic school trips over the course of terms 1 and 2. The Spanish trip was led by Ms Lees during the October half term break, and Ms Stiby took a group of historians to London in November. Our thanks to all the staff that helped to organise and supervise these visits; a great time was had by all! Finally, proud head of York House, Mr Cuthbert, organised a rewards trip for all 250 students in his house to a special screening of The Grinch, as a prize for receiving the most house points over the course of the term. Our thanks to the Taunton Odeon for hosting us.
We have been enjoying some excellent festive performances here over the past week. Our year 7 students were able to watch the pantomime at our Tacchi-Morris Arts Centre on Friday last week, as is our school tradition. We are so grateful to the Trustees and staff at the Centre for allowing our children a sneak preview of the performance which will now run from 15 to 21 December. Tickets are still available online, but selling fast, if you would like to book for your own family.
Last night saw the annual Christmas Concert take place once again, with some extraordinary performances from MWA students in all year groups, as well as our guests from Ruishton, West Monkton and Blackbrook primary schools. We are especially proud of our GCSE Music students performing their assessed pieces in front of an audience 400-strong. Thank you to all families that attended and supported the students so generously and enthusiastically. It is a favourite event in our school calendar, and we are grateful to the Head of Music, Mr Horsey and his team for their extremely hard work in putting it all together.
Finally, in our last-day-of-term assemblies today we have been celebrating our students’ successes in our autumn terms House Cup competitions. Massive congratulations to:
Stuart House for winning our Creative Cup this term.
Stuart House (again!) for winning our Reading Cup.
York House for winning our Attendance Cup.
All of the House points earned are carried into our overall Cup competition, with the final winners announced at the end of term in July. You may have noticed that our positive points categories in Class Charts have changed to represent our school values: we aim for success; we realise our potential; we value our community. Since 01 December our students have been awarded more than 32,000 house points for embodying and upholding these values. We are immensely proud of all of them.
Arrangements for the Christmas holidays
Our school reception will close today (15 December) at 3:30pm. During the Christmas break, our office email account will not be monitored. However, our safeguarding email is monitored throughout the holiday. If you need to alert us to a concern for the welfare of a child, please email [email protected]
Families eligible for free school meals will have vouchers issued for the Christmas break. These will be sent via email.
The Taunton Foodbank is open during the festive period, with Christmas items in the boxes available. They will close at 12pm on Fri 22 December, and are closed on bank holidays, reopening at 10am on Wednesday 27 December.
Christmas time, whilst joyful for many families, can also be stressful and overwhelming. If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact Somerset Mindline on 0800 1381692, or 01823 276892. Somerset Domestic Abuse Service is also available on 0800 6949999
January readiness
School will re-open in January for a staff training day on the 2nd, with all students returning on Wednesday 03 January 2024, at the usual time. Please can families ensure that their children are back in full school uniform, including polishable black leather school shoes. Students whose shoes are broken can borrow items from student reception until replacements can be obtained, and must not wear trainers around the school site. Please can we also remind families that, whilst plain nose studs are allowed under our uniform policy, nose rings and septum rings are not. Finally, as we move into the coldest winter months, we would like to remind families that hoodies are not allowed in school and that students need to be equipped with a warm and ideally waterproof coat. Our site includes 17 different buildings and students spend a deal of time outside; they do need to be properly prepared for the weather conditions.
We have two important events coming up in the New Year. It is our tutor evening for students in Year 10, on Thursday 11 January. We are holding our next Parent Forum on Thu 01 February, on the topic of anti-bullying. We have a Progress Evening for students in Y7, Y8 and Y9 on 08 February. Further details of all of these events will be in the first newsletter of 2024.
In anticipation of the flurry of adverts from holiday tour companies that will be on the television from Christmas Day, please can I remind families that we do not authorise term time absence for family holidays. So, book early for a good deal during scheduled school holiday dates, which are available on our website.
Finally, it remains for me to wish you and your family, friends and loved ones, our very best wishes for the festive season and a Merry Christmas from us all at Monkton Wood Academy.
Yours faithfully,
Mrs H Jones
Principal
