Dear Parent/Carers,
Welcome back to Monkton Wood Academy! We are looking forward to seeing all our students return at the start of next week. For the past two days this week, staff have returned and have participated in training and CPD activities, ready to make the best possible start to the year ahead.
In this letter:
Arrangements for the first days back
On Monday 07 September, only Years 7, 11 and 12 (SPACE year 1) will be in school. From Tuesday 08 September 2026, all year groups are back.
The school gates open at 8:45am as usual, and students should be on site by 8:55am. For the first week, we invite our Year 7 children to use the middle gate (between the Tacchi-Morris Arts Centre and the SPACE VI form centre), as they did on their induction days. Parents and carers are welcome to come onto the hard court with their children as they wait for their tutors to arrive. From Monday 14 September, Year 7 children will use the same KS3 gate as the children in Years 8 and 9.
Please do be aware that we begin teaching the normal timetable almost immediately, and therefore children need to attend with their full school equipment, including their PE kit. Children in Years 8-11 will already be able to see their timetable in Bromcom if they would like to look ahead for their lessons. Children in Year 7 will receive their Bromcom login details on the first day. However, we do know that all Year 7 children do have PE on the first day back, so please do support your Year 7 child to pack their PE kit ready to have a great first lesson.
Uniform Reminders
Making a good start to the year can make all the difference to children’s self-belief and feelings of belonging. We appreciate your support in ensuring that your child is dressed in complete and correct uniform on their return, therefore avoiding the need for negative points on the first day back. With the weekend ahead, please encourage your child to locate their tie, school shoes, trousers, etc, and to check that their shirts are clean (and still fit!) Taunton Uniforms, now Southwest School Wear, has all uniform items in stock, including all House ties. So, it is not too late to obtain one if your child has lost theirs. The uniform illustrative guide is on our website: https://monktonwoodacademy.clf.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/uniform-guide-1.pdf for your reference. As always, if financial difficulties are preventing you from providing full uniform for your child, we have items to lend on a daily basis and can arrange for a slightly longer loan until you are able to purchase the items you need. Please do contact your child’s tutor if you need this additional support.
Mobile Phone Reminders
I wrote to all families at the end of last term with an update to our mobile phone policy for students. We would appreciate your support in reminding your child that they are not allowed to use their phone or have it out of their bag at any time when they are in school, for any reason.
If you need to contact your child during the day, please telephone reception who will have the message delivered (written, not read aloud) to your child in their lesson. If your child needs to contact you, they will need to speak to a staff member who will make the call with them, using a school telephone. We will go through these arrangements with the students very carefully in the first few days back, so they are completely clear about the expectations.
Summer Results
We would like to congratulate again our Class of 2026, with our outgoing Y11 leavers and Y13 SPACE leavers collecting their results over the summer holiday. In due course, we will publish the results on our school website in the ‘Key Information’ section. We were delighted to see an increase in performance for our KS4 results from 2025, and yet another year of exceptional outcomes for our VI form SPACE company leavers. If you have not already done so, please do visit our social media pages for the pictures of happy children.
As a quick reminder, our social media platforms are Facebook (for parents and the wider community) and Instagram (for students over the age of 13). We use these to share our good news and student achievements; essential messages for all parents are always shared via Bromcom.
Attendance Messages
There is a growing body of evidence that children who have school absences in the first week of the new year go on to become persistently absent (miss more than 10% of the entire school year). Attending every day in the first week back ensures your child experiences all the welcoming activities that teachers have planned, come to know their timetable and the other opportunities available, and experience the same social moments catching up with their friends. If your child is feeling anxious about coming back and needs a little more support, please do contact your child’s tutor in the first instance so we can plan to scoop them up early and provide the reassurance they need.
Site Changes
We are thrilled that we are finally able to begin using our new canteen, which has been under construction for the past year. Meals will be served here from the first day back. (If you have not registered with Somerset council for free school meals, the letter with the information you need is still on our website, here).
The old kitchen and servery are now in the process of being re-purposed, and you will notice that we have Heras fencing up around this space which is impacting a little on the car park. This project will not be complete for a couple more months, as the space is being fundamentally reconfigured into additional accommodation for our learning support department and Healthy Minds Hub. More information will follow.
We can’t wait to see our students again next week, and we thank you in advance for the work you do at home to prepare them to make the very best start to their next year at Monkton Wood.
Yours faithfully,
Mrs H. Jones
Principal
