Three weeks in and it has as usual been a very busy week for us all, staff and students alike.

Firstly I would like to thank all the students and staff who helped out for our Open Evening on Wednesday. It was incredibly busy with 319 families (over 600 people) coming through the door to see our Academy. Fortunately our students, despite only being here for two weeks, rose to the challenge and over 100 of them volunteered throughout the night to tour families round our Academy. They are an absolute credit to their families and their school.

This week saw the auditions for our Birmingham Hippodrome Theatre School. Over 60 students applied and now will be offered places in one of two groups. Our first Theatre School group for those who excelled and our development group to push the skills of students to have them ready for Theatre School in the future. Results are announced today and Theatre School will start next Wednesday after School.

In fact, all of our clubs and societies will be launching next week, from film studies to science, wellbeing to board games, carrom to football we hope there is something to suit the tastes of every student.

Swimming started for a class this week, and we went off to use the leisure centre in the minibus for the first time. This will become a more regular occurrence as the weather starts to get worse. Assembly saw us ask for expressions of interest for our student council and house activities focussed on planning for a Macmillan Coffee morning.

This week we got our cashless catering system ParentPay up and running. This meant we began charging students for meals. I apologise that this was short notice but after two weeks of providing the students with meals for free, we felt we had to launch it as soon as possible. Every day cost the Academy funds that could be used for student opportunities throughout the year. Thank you to the many parents who signed up so quickly. If you have had any trouble, please come into reception and speak to someone who can help you.

Finally I would highlight our student blog, this week created by the fantastic students of 7.2.

I wish you all a great weekend in the fine weather we have been having.

Kind regards

George Faux
Principal