Newsletter February 2024
A note from your Principal
Dear parent/carer
Welcome to our latest newsletter. It's now the end of the first half term and our pupils are ready for a break and a very busy few weeks, not least for our Year 11 pupils who have now finished their first two weeks of mock exams. Over the coming half term break, there are a lot of additional sessions available to Year 11 students to support their preparation for exams, but we also hope they will take a much needed break too. We wish them the best of luck as they enter the final week of exams the week after half term.
Arbor
I want to thank all parents and carers for your patience with our switch to Arbor. We now have the vast majority of pupils and parents with access now and quickly becoming more familiar with all the features. We will continue to support those pupils and parents/carers who haven't been able to gain access yet, so that everyone has access to all the information they need and to support more effective communications via Arbor.
New Parent Governor
Following our recent ballot for a new parent governor, I can now announce that our newly elected parent governor will be Paul Davies. Paul will no doubt make a brilliant contribution to the Academy Governing Council (AGC). I would like to thank all candidates for their nominations and for our wider community for engaging in the ballot. Further details regarding Governance can be found on our website here.
Parking and Road Safety
I have previously written to you regarding parking at the end of the school day, which has presented some on-going safety concerns. I want to reiterate that parking on-site at the end of the day is for the taxis for pupils in The HIVE only. Any other pickups by parents and carers must be on the local roads please. This means that the car park and exits are kept as car free as possible for our students leaving the site. I think we can all agree that our students need to be kept as safe as possible and we all have responsibility to ensure this is the case. We are exploring plans for the installation of a barrier at the exit to Old Clough Lane in the future.
Year 9 Options
Our Year 9’s are about to begin the process of choosing their options for the next 2 years. If your child is in Year 9, we look forward to welcoming you to our Options Evening on the first Thursday after half term (29th February) from 4pm-7pm. This will be a great opportunity to hear how the Options process works and to hear more information about the courses on offer from subject leaders.
I hope you enjoy the newsletter and I wish you all a brilliant half term break.
Matt Hacker
Principal
Important upcoming dates
Year 11 Mock exams continue 26th Feb - 1st Mar
A Night at the Theatre - 27th Feb
Year 9 Options Evening - 29th Feb
Year 11 School photos - Friday 1st March
Year 9 Geography Field Trip - Mayfield Depot - 4th/7th March
Year 9 Progress Review Evening 7th March
Student success
Sports
Five of our students Lucasz, Liam, Evie, Emily and Ava took part in the Salford Rowing competition,
Well done to you all for bringing home a medal.
We are proud to share more exciting news of Jasmine from Year 11 who competed in the north of England cross country championships organised by Northern Athletics, as a team (Salford Harriers) they came 1st. Included in the team were also two past students from Co-op Academy Walkden Marissa and Sophia. We are incredibly proud of all of you.
We are always proud to share an update on one of our students Amelie who has just won an unprecedented 24 gold medals at the Lancashire County Swimming Championships, Amelie broke her own British 1500m freestyle record by 10 seconds. Amelie is the Lancashire County Swimmer of the year and now ranks 8th in the world. Further details in the article below. We are so very proud of all of your acheivements Amelie.
https://swimswam.com/14-yr-old-amelie-blocksidge-wows-again-with-1610-04-1500-free-personal-best/
Music
Co-op Academy Walkden have their very own rock stars ladies and gents!!
Die-Oxide competed in the MAPAS Salford Battle of the Bands competition in January and thoroughly entertained the audience and judges alike.
Competition was so strong and our band narrowly missed out to the brilliant band ‘The Height’ who won the competition and equally brilliant runners up ‘M6’
Die-Oxide we are so proud of you for entering, writing your own song and doing what you love! You truly are winners in our eyes!
Events
In January our Year 7 students went to Victoria Hall in Bolton to see the brilliant Cinderella in Panto. The show was full of laughs and Year 7 students had a lovely morning.
In February some of our Year 9 students were lucky enough to see the spectacular Hamilton at Palace Theatre Manchester. We could not be more proud of our students for how they represented our Academy during the performance. The amazing cast and crew of Hamilton were able to give a talk and Q&A after show. We hope you all enjoyed it.
Prom shop
Here at Co-op Academy Walkden we want every student to have the opportunity to go to Prom. We have a selection of Prom dresses and suits available, free of charge. Many outfits are brand new or only worn once. There is a choice of styles and sizes. To view outfits please take a look here and complete the form with your choices.
.Please see Mrs Earley for any further details.
Charity contributions
Our wonderful staff wanted to create an event in school to help raise money for Save the Children. We held a hot chocolate and bake sale one Friday afternoon and it was a roaring success. Our staff, students and parents/carers dug deep to help an extremely worthy cause and we had a lot of fun whilst doing so.
A whopping £505.26 was raised.
PE updates and highlights
The Y7 & 8 girls football team drew against Co-op Academy Swinton. The game ended 1-1. Well done team! Mrs Bawden.
Year 7 'b' team won 11-0 at The Lowry Academy in their final Salford Schools group round fixture! Goals came from: Ted (2), Lucas (2), Harvey (2), Blake (2), Max , Blake, and Bobby on debut! Well done team! Mr Makin.
Y9 & 10 rugby game against Buile Hill ended with a 30-10 win for Walkden. Tries came from: Harry (3), Ellis (2) and Alex. Conversions came from Alex. MOM - Isaac for his big effort defensively and strong carries. Mr Makin.
We are proud of all the dancers who are currently working hard in the run up to the school production. Tickets for the school production are now available through Parent Pay. Mrs Hughes.
Well done to the Year 7, Year 10 & Year 11 Girls football teams who put a great performance in against Buile Hill. Well done to Arabella who was voted POTM by her opponents. Mrs Bawden.
Well done to those cadets who undertook their first Physical Training session which goes towards their Physical Skills element of the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze award, keep up the good work. Cpt Bawden.
Our Year 8 and 9 Rugby team went down 36-24 to a determined Buile Hill side. Despite having key players absent and showing up with only 12 players, many making their debut, the boys dug deep to produce a valiant effort in the relentless conditions. Isaac came up with a massive effort, scoring 5 tries, and Lewis managed to cross the line for 1 try on his debut. Player of the match was Leo, playing a pivotal role at Hooker in both attack and defence and inspiring the players around him with his strong leadership skills and work rate. Mr Makin.
Co-op Academies Trust
We celebrated ''Time to Talk Day'' along with the Academies Trust. This day is all about creating supportive communities by having conversations with family, friends, or colleagues about mental health. We all have mental health and by talking about it we can support ourselves and others.
PD groups were exploring this theme all week and having a conversation about different aspects of mental health. Co-op Academy Walkden staff members had a 'Time to talk' breakfast together before school.
Academies Trust arranged ‘’Thanks for the memories - Science and Music Project''.
This was a collaboration between RNCM and The University of Oxford bringing together Music and Science in an exciting way. Thank you to Zakiya for coming in and creating a beautiful piece of music with our students.
3 of our outstanding students represented Co-op Academy Walkden in the Academies Trust Spelling Bee, incredible effort from Charlie, Lily and Alex who have been coming to spelling club for a while and have made us all extremely proud.
Library
See below for a book review from one of our Year 7 students Ali .
Competitions
Ms Lee has set a competition for all students who complete 100% of their Science homework
Ms Hafferty is running a ''Sparx Star Student of the Week'' innitiative. Well done to Lujain who is this weeks winner.
Local half-term activities
RHS Bridgewater - Free entry for Salford residents on Tuesday. For more information head to https://www.rhs.org.uk/gardens/bridgewater/whats-on/february-half-term-at-bridgewater
Thank you to the brilliant volunteers from RHS Bridgewater for coming and helping our students plant some buds and bulbs in our courtyard. Spring is on the way!
Salford Community Leisure's Community Sports Development team are offering local children and young people a range of activities in local communities around the city. Find out more about this here https://salfordcommunityleisure.co.uk/be-active/
Salford City College are inviting Year 11 students to a ''Meet the Employer'' event. Which is being hosted during half term on Weds 21st February. This event will have over 20 organisations/companies in attendance to promote their apprenticeships or job vacancies.
If you would like to drop in, you can register your interest using the following link https://www.salfordcc.ac.uk/apprenticeship-event-register-interest/?CI=meet%20the%20employer%202024 you can also check out their social media platforms for updates and advice.
