Dear Parent/Carers,

We have reached the end of another term at Stone Soup Academy and what a successful term it has been. As I am writing this letter to you eight of our finest young people are making their way over to France to enjoy three days at Euro Disney Paris. It is a great privilege to be able to give our young people opportunities like this as a reward for their wonderful behaviour and attitude, who knows where we might be heading off to next year!

This time we also had another set of mock exams which went really well and they are a great opportunity for young people to get used to the expectations of real life exams especially for our year 11 students who will be starting their exams next term. We will be making a change to our mock exams moving forward in that rather than year nine students being the last exam of the day we are going to make them the first exam of the day but based at High pavement for this exam. We think that by moving them to the start of the day they will be brighter and more ready to learn. Will send further details next term so that you are aware of where your children should be arriving and at what time?

This term we have also seen the production of our latest Stone Soup news. This is a fantastic magazine that features many of our young people and the wonderful things that they achieve at the academy. There will be a PDF version available on the website. Should you wish to have a look and if you would prefer a hard copy then please do let your child’s Personal Coach know and we will arrange for one to be sent home.

As you know through previous letters that you will have received from me, rewards are at the centre of what we do, whether it be dojo money going into your child’s account or visits to local restaurants. Well this week we have taken a group of young people out to Zaap Thai, a local restaurant and on the last day we will be taking a group of 20 young people to laser quest.

We will be launching our academy values on Thursday 24th of April. These values are:

• Respect
• Celebration
• Positivity
• Kindness
• Collaboration

You will hear more about them next term but safe to say we will be highlighting our values over the next five weeks when we return from the Easter break with lots of activities and opportunities for students to earn dojo points and participate in lots of activities.

Exams: The Year 11 formal exams start next term. You will be receiving a separate letter that details all the dates and times. We also have the Stone Soup passport for year 11s. This passport details all the coursework that students need to complete and once this document has been signed off as complete they will be able to go off on study leave after the May half term.

It is important that you do not book any holidays during the exam period. Students will be free to go on holiday from Monday 30th June.

You will also be receiving a letter about the Suits day to which Year 11 students will be allowed to bring two family members. This is a fantastic occasion so please save the date which is Friday, the 27th of June. All year 11 students who attend all of their exams will receive a golden ticket to enable them to attend Suits day. 

Students will finish this term at 12.45 on Friday 4th April. We will be giving out an Easter egg to each young person as they leave. Students will return on Wednesday 23rd of April at 9 a.m.

I hope that you have a lovely Easter break and we look forward to welcoming our young people back at the start of term 5.

Kind regards,

Kerrie Henton

Executive Principal