Dear Year 11, parents and families,
Celebration Events 2026
We are delighted to share with you the arrangements for our celebratory events for our Year 11 Class of 2026. We would like to thank you for your patience. Whilst we know that these events are extremely important for our young people, we are determined that preparation for exams and ensuring our students achieve to the very best of their ability has been – and continues to be – our number 1 priority as we approach the final, written examinations.
In this letter:
Shirt signing and hoodie collection
On 15 June 2026, the final whole-cohort exam (Science/Physics) takes place in the morning session. After this exam, the children will be invited to gather at the oak tree, to collect their leavers’ hoodies and to sign one another’s’ shirts. For students taking Further Maths, there is an examination (Paper 2) in the afternoon of that day. Those students may wear their leaver hoodie, along with their usual school trousers/skirt, to take that examination. If they have not purchased a leaver hoodie, they will need an unsigned shirt to wear due to exam regulations.
Leavers’ celebration
On 16 June, following the final written examination, the children are welcomed to a celebration event in the Tacchi-Morris Arts Centre auditorium, where Mrs Darley and the Y11 tutor team present their ‘tutor awards’ and reminisce on the past 5 years of MWA. Students taking Spanish have their final paper at 9.00am that morning. Those students may wear a leavers’ hoodie, or their regular school uniform to take their exam; signed shirts are not allowed. They are welcome to bring a change of clothes for the celebration event.
The celebration event begins at 11.15am. We invite our leavers to meet at the front of the TMAC no earlier than 10.55am, as staff will still be teaching and supporting the Y11 Spanish cohort and will not be able to supervise before this time.
Leavers may wear their own clothes to the celebration event, but the school reserves the right to decline to admit a student in inappropriate attire, so please ensure your outfit is suitable for a school event and does not include any political or potentially offensive slogans/logos. We anticipate this event will conclude by 12.50pm.
Prom
On 23 June at 7:00pm (arrivals from 6:00pm), the MWA Class of 2026 Prom is taking place at Old Oak Farm venue in Curry Rivel. The students will have an evening of food, dancing, and entertainments. It is the culmination of our celebration events and promises to be a fitting end to our Year 11 students’ five years of hard work.
This year marks a change of venue for the MWA prom. Old Oak Farm is already a popular wedding venue in our local area, and therefore familiar to many of our families. Monkton Wood is one of several secondary schools in the county who are now using this lovely property for our Prom. If you have never been there yourself, you can have a look at their website, here: https://oldoakfarm.co.uk/
Tickets will be on sale via ScoPay from 18 May 2026. Tickets are priced at £30 per person.
In order to attend the Prom, we must also ask each student to complete a booking form, here: book for Prom.
We are especially conscious of the continued rise to the cost of living in the UK and are keen to support our children and their families to keep Prom costs to a reasonable level. If your family is experiencing financial difficulties, and the ticket price is unaffordable for you, we still want your child at the Prom! Please contact your child’s tutor in the first instance, and we will make every attempt to reach a financial resolution. Please also note that a free bus will be making the 25-minute journey to the venue from school, and we encourage all our families to consider using this instead of booking expensive, specialist vehicles (please see also the section on Prom practicalities, below).
Eligibility to attend celebration events
All children that have attended all the exams into which they were entered, are welcome to attend the celebration events. If a child missed an exam due to a medical emergency, and the ‘special considerations’ criteria were met, they will also be able to attend.
The school reserves the right to decline a Prom ticket to a child on the grounds of a risk assessment. Any children who have been suspended from school during the past year due to physical or verbal aggression towards a peer, or for damage to school property, and who wish to buy a Prom ticket, will be invited to a review of their eligibility. Where risks cannot be sufficiently mitigated, the school will decline the request to attend Prom.
The eligibility for any student with 0% attendance at school, or sitting no examinations at all, will be considered on a case-by-case basis and will consist of an evaluation of the student’s engagement with education throughout KS4 and an evaluation of the risks associated – to themselves and/or their classmates – for each celebration event.
Similarly, any child whose conduct during the exam period jeopardises the school’s ability to properly prepare the whole cohort for their examinations, will also be required to attend an eligibility review.
Thank you for your continuing support through what can be a very stressful and emotional time. We are really looking forward to celebrating with our leavers, when the time finally comes.
Yours faithfully,
Mrs Jones, Mrs Husband, Mrs Darley and the entire Year 11 team
