There has been a flurry of activity on site since the last Principal’s Blog. As you can see, the building is almost complete; the tarmacking and landscaping of the surrounding area is underway and the WBCA signage is up. Our new academy is almost ready for handover. There are several things remaining, such as snagging and the finalizing of the ICT but over the last few weeks we have been busy purchasing everything that is required to give the children the best possible start in September. Everything from kitchen equipment to cricket sets, pastels to plasticine, felts to folders, exercise books to elastic bands and hundreds more items besides are on order, not forgetting the tons of exciting Science equipment already on its way to us.

On that note, many families may have already started to purchase the new Academy uniform. The ties are now in stock alongside the blazers and PE kit at CC Uniforms in West Bromwich and look fantastic in the five House colours. I’d like to take this opportunity to remind you of the WBCA uniform, just to ensure that all of your purchases are in line with what we expect the children to be wearing in September, particularly when it comes to shoes. We know that most families leave school shoe shopping until later on in the six weeks holiday in case of late growth spurts so hopefully this update will prove useful. The WBCA uniform is simple yet smart and the attached guidance goes through this, including some examples of the types of shoes we expect the children to be wearing.

Put simply, we expect students to wear something on their feet that looks like a shoe and not a trainer. Many high street shops have ‘Back to School’ sections containing items that are actually trainers or leisure shoes and we do not allow these as part of our Academy Uniform. We expect students to wear shoes that are:

• Black, leather-type and polishable – not canvas, fabric or suede. This means they will be waterproof to keep feet warm and dry
• Smart – suitable for an office environment or job interview. This is in-keeping with the rest of the uniform that is smart and formal

We would like to make shopping for school shoes as easy as possible for you by providing some examples here:

WBCA Uniform Guidance

Please note: This is not an exhaustive list as we cannot include every pair of shoes that are available. This guidance is not intended to be patronizing in any way, ultimately we want to support our families to follow our simple uniform policy and appreciate that shopping for back to school is a stressful process! We certainly don’t want families to spend lots of money on expensive footwear that are in the ‘Back to School’ section but are not be allowed as they are not smart enough.

So, Summarising Summer Shoe Shopping for School:

• Please use your professional judgement and ask yourself ‘Does it look like a shoe or a trainer?’ before buying
• If in doubt, send a photo to the WBCA Facebook inbox and we’ll give a quick yes or no
• Please ask if you’re unsure, rather than following advice from shops and brands, as many items in the ‘Back to School’ section are trainers and do not follow our Uniform Policy

I hope you all enjoy the remainder of the summer holidays and I look forward to seeing the children again on the 4th September!

Kind regards,

Mary Gardner

Assistant Principal