Welcome to another Principal’s Blog, a little later than usual, apologies for that.

After weeks of rain today I write in the sunshine, but this was not the case on Tuesday when I went for a pretty soggy site visit. Still it was good to see all the progress that has been made especially internally and students will get an opportunity to judge for themselves at the induction day. This will be the first day we are all together and although we are not able to host it at our school we will at least ensure each student has a brief opportunity to get onsite.

On Thursday most of the staff came together to discuss the plans for the induction day. For us too it was the first time we had all met together and the first time that many of the staff had met each other. All of us, teachers and students are in the same situation and it will be a real time of excitement and new friendships when we are all together, both next week and in September. While we focussed on the induction day we had a wide ranging conversation about the Academy and the kind of school we want to create. Everyone is looking forward to meeting the students.

Other progress this week has seen us award our major furniture tender ready for delivery, order the Academy minibus, decide on the devices for students, (we are ordering Lenovo x250 laptops), complete work on our site security, discuss potential counselling opportunities for students in challenging situations and create our form groups. Teachers were as keen as students to see who they would be with next year.

Every day brings us closer and closer, it seems barely believable we are only three weeks from the end of term. Next week is of course the induction day, more work around ICT and procurement for specialist subjects and we are looking at a round of primary visits. Next Friday, Miss Gardner and I have been invited to the House of Lords to celebrate the opening of the new Academy! A full report will of course follow.

Have a great weekend in the sunshine.

George Faux

Principal