Please see our latest Being Walkden Newsletter with updates and highlights from the last two weeks

Further information for our Year 6 students due to join Co-op Academy Walkden in September 2024

This fortnight's 'Being Walkden' Newsletter - Out now

Find out about updates, announcements and celebrating successes.

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

Principal's note

Dear Parents and Carers

Welcome to the latest newsletter, which marks the end of an action packed half term at Co-op Academy Walkden. Here, you'll find snippets of some of the activity over the past few weeks, but for more regular updates, please do check out our social media channels, which are updated most days, celebrating success and providing key information.

We have made a huge transition over the past half term to the new management system - Arbor. We now have the majority of parents logged into Arbor and the initial feedback is that it's useful, albeit very different to Classcharts. By the end of January, we are aiming to switch off Classcharts entirely and I therefore urge all parents to log into Arbor, so that we can continue to switch features on and ensure that all communications go smoothly through this one platform.

I want to remind parents and carers about the Parent Governor nominations which are live and close on Friday 5th January 2024. Please do not hesitate to contact me should you wish to discuss this important role.

For now though, I want to wish you all a wonderful Christmas break. We look forward to welcoming all pupils back into the academy at 8.30 sharp on Wednesday 3rd January, refreshed and raring to go for the new term ahead.

Mr Hacker