Principal's Message

The Samworth Enterprise Academy opened as a brand new school in September 2007, and is a fantastic resource for the local community. Since opening the Academy has been focused on a continual programme of school improvement, in order to ensure that the pupils are being provided with the best possible provision and that standards within the Academy are rising. Over the past two and a half years I have seen the Academy go from strength to strength and I am delighted to be part of this development and to be making a difference to our children, their families and the local community.

We currently have children from 3 years up to Year 9 and are currently working hard to put plans in place for our Year 10 pupils to join us in September 2010.

As a Church of England School we promote a positive ethos and values and are committed to driving this through all aspects of school life. We work in partnership with St. Christopher’s Church, which is co-located with the Academy, and we are fortunate to have Rev Alison Roche and Curate Jordan Ling providing support for our collective worship programme and our specific celebration events. In addition to this Alison and Jordan are also frequently around the school getting to know the pupils and providing support where required.

Within the Academy as a whole we have a strong pastoral system with a wide range of professionals working together to meet the diverse needs of our school community. Last year we further developed our anti-bullying procedures and a key aspect of this was the setting up of our Friends Against Bullying (FAB) pupil group and have recently achieved the ABC award.

We believe that regular attendance of all our pupils is essential if they are to achieve success and in line with this we do not normally authorise holiday leave during term time. Any unauthorised holiday leave will normally lead to a referral to EWS and the issue of a fixed penalty notice (£50 per child per parent).

Our focus on Business and Enterprise supports us in ensuring that we develop all our children as good citizens and ensure that we give them the right learning opportunities for them to have the skills, qualifications and experience in order to access future work opportunities. In addition to ongoing business and enterprise developments, we also work in partnership with a number of businesses to deliver a range of real life experiences.

Within the Academy we also have a particular focus on food and use this to drive forward a healthy schools agenda, as we believe that helping our children to eat healthily will also help them to achieve the success they deserve.

We have a strong focus on community engagement and already work very closely with our community providers and members of our local community, including our parents. Our active parents’ group SEALS have been supporting us through fund raising activities and also through their ongoing involvement in identifying future improvements / developments in relation to Academy practice. We very much value their support and involvement in the ongoing development of the Academy.

We are committed to providing a strong team of staff, with a range of skills and experience, who are focused on providing the best possible teaching and learning opportunities for our children. There were a number of new staff who joined us last September, and this will continue to over the next few years while the Academy increased in pupil numbers. In response to this ongoing training is provided to ensure that everyone works in line with the vision and expectations of the Academy. Our current developments are focused on ensuring that teaching and learning is tailored to meet individual needs and both supports and challenges every child to make the most progress they can. Our children are at the heart of everything we do and we work hard every day to ensure that EVERY CHILD MATTERS.

Pat Dubas

Principal