thestreetlyacademy

A Warm Welcome from our HeadteacherThank you for expressing an interest in The Streetly Academy.

In recent years we have seen the school go from strength to strength. Improvements have not only been limited to year on year exam result increases, but also a notable improvement on traditional standards of behaviour, respect and uniform, as well as a relentless focus on improving teaching and learning.

We are very proud of our school and our students, as can be seen in our School Vision.

Our attractive site boasts superb facilities, particularly in the area of our sport specialism, with a full size synthetic turf all weather pitch, 4 court sports hall, gym and fitness area, dance studio and swimming pool.

I hope that you find the information in this prospectus of interest and that it gives you a flavour of life at The Streetly Academy. We welcome a visit at any time, so please make the time to come in and see our school at work.

Billy DownieHeadteacher

thestreetlyacademy“This is an Outstanding School”

OFSTED 2013

Achievement“Students’ achievement is outstanding, particularly in English and Mathematics. The progress made by all students, including disabled students and those with special educational needs, is exceptional.”

Behaviour“Students’ behaviour and attitudes to learning are exemplary, both in and out of lessons”

Teaching“The quality of teaching is outstanding. This results in students making exceptional progress.”

Leadership“The academy is exceptionally well led and managed. The headteacher provides outstanding leadership and his vision and energy are shared with the wider leadership team.”

Governance“The governing body is highly effective. Governors ask difficult questions, know the school’s strengths and very successfully support further improvements.”

valuesandachievementthestreetlyacademy

Billy DownieHeadteacher

Our VisionValues and Achievement

At The Streetly Academy, our moral compass is steered by our very clear

values. Our emphasis on some traditional expectations of respect, good

old-fashioned uniform standards, and effort are fully encapsulated with

our PRIDE system, drawn from the Olympic and Paralympic Values of

Personal Excellence, Respect and Friendship, Inspiration, Determination

and Courage, and Equality. These values run through the school in

everything we do.

At The Streetly Academy we feel morally obliged to consistently improve

in everything we do. From teaching to support work, behaviour

management to leadership, working to ensure that every student, no

matter what their ability, can grow, flourish, and achieve in a safe and

stimulating environment.

Values and Achievement sit at the centre of our vision, and we expect

that every person connected to the school, parent or governor, student

or staff member, maintains the same focus.

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Our CurriculumKey Stage 3

At Key Stage 3, the curriculum is broad and balanced for

all our students. They study a range of subjects including

English, Maths, Science, ICT and PE. Beyond this core,

Geography, History and Religious Education are taught as

separate humanities to all students. Drama, Art and Music

comprise the Creative and Expressive Arts curriculum. Both

French and Spanish are learnt by students in Years 7 and

8 and they specialise in one of these in Year 9. Technology

is taught through a carousel of different aspects; electronics,

food technology, resistant materials, systems and control,

graphical products and textiles. We offer Personal, Social and

Health and Education (PSHE) throughout the Key Stage.

Students are divided into two equal ability bands in each year.

These bands are then set by ability in English, Maths, Modern

Languages and PE. We also create a transition group that

nurtures those students who require additional support.

Key Stage 4

We strive towards a Key Stage 4 programme that allows for

personalisation. This is achieved through student preferences,

learning styles and the range of courses on offer. These

courses are mainly GCSEs, with some Applied and Vocational

options.

Maths, English, Science, PE, Religious Education and PSHE

are courses that remain as part of the curriculum throughout

this Key Stage.

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AssessmentAn essential part of our curriculum is the setting of student targets for

achievement over a Key Stage. These targets encourage students

to be aware of their potential and to work towards challenging goals.

The targets are based on each student’s personal achievement in

their Key Stage 2 SATs at primary school.

At Key Stage 3, targets are broken down into manageable steps

and at Key Stages 4 & 5 targets are set at the start of each course.

Progress towards targets is measured formally four times a year and,

within subjects, even more regularly. A progress report is issued to

parents and carers so that they can follow their child’s achievements

after key assessments and these reports also feed into the Parent

Portal of the FROG platform. There are regular, calendared, meetings

for students to meet with their form tutor to discuss their progress

and to set personal targets. There are additional meetings for GCSE

& Post 16 students to meet with a member of the Senior Leadership

Team to discuss vital progress towards their targets.

In addition to this, a full written report for each subject is issued

during the year. In this report there is a detailed statement outlining

what each student has studied and achieved, as well as a series of

improvement targets. Form tutors and pastoral staff also comment

on the student’s personal qualities and commitment to the school.

Parents and carers have the opportunity to meet with staff at our

Parents’ Evenings, which are always very well attended. Students

are given the responsibility of making appointments for their parents

to suit their personal needs. Parents can also contact pastoral and

subject staff throughout the year if they have concerns.

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SpecialismAlthough school specialisms are a thing of the past, we still

maintain that our commitment to our specialism is Physical

Education and Sport. Through high quality facilities, provision

and teaching we offer a high quality programme of Physical

Education and extra-curricular activities. We are a lead partner

school with the Youth Sport Trust and have achieved ‘Gold

Partner Status’ as a result of our outstanding work.

Since 2011, we have employed a School Games Organiser

to manage competitive school sport and the professional

development of staff in our partner primary schools. Our

network plays a crucial role in providing high quality sporting

opportunities for all students in our region.

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Our sports specialism is not just confined to the Physical Education

department but is embedded across every aspect of school life

through the Olympic and Paralympic values. Students are rewarded

for demonstrating; Personal Excellence, Respect, Friendship,

Inspiration, Determination, Courage and Equality in every lesson,

every day. We believe that these values are transferable to all

aspects of life and contribute to being a positive, well-rounded

citizen.

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Work Related LearningIn accordance with the QCA guidelines for delivery of Work

Related Learning (WRL) The Streetly Academy is committed

to delivering a comprehensive range of opportunities to learn

and develop skills about the work place and future career

opportunities.

Although only being obliged to deliver WRL as part of the Key

Stage 4 curriculum, The Streetly Academy has taken steps to go

above and beyond this requirement and is currently delivering

useful activities across the Key Stage 3 curriculum as well.

There are many ways in which students have the opportunity

to visit employers to gain experiences of subject skills in relation

to a particular job. Also, there are a growing number of areas

in the school that have developed links with businesses in the

local community and we are fortunate to have many employers

coming into school to get involved with project based tasks.

Along with the delivery of Enterprise Education and our Annual

Careers Information Evening in preparation for students

leaving the school, there are many other WRL events. These

other events include work simulations in lessons and interview

simulations to prepare students for the skills required when

leaving into the competitive field of work.

Over recent times there have been significant opportunities

offered by the school to make sure that students leave our

school with the most informed and rounded chance of success

when entering the world of work.

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EnterpriseThe Streetly Academy places real importance in making sure that

students are encouraged to develop the skills to be successful when

entering the world of work. Indeed, Enterprise is delivered across

the curriculum and through wider school events.

Firstly, the cross curricular delivery of Citizenship makes sure all

students are taught the important issues of financial and economic

understanding of the world they are about to enter. This deals with

important matters such as dealing with money and how to handle

budgeting.

Enterprise is also delivered in many forms in the curriculum. Lessons

are delivered with a focus to encourage those skills each student may

need to be successful in the world of work; such as team working,

taking risks, problem-solving, presenting and communicating to

people.

It is the school’s intention that through thorough use of Enterprise

skills such as these, students will develop into more prepared

employees and employers of the future.

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Careers EducationCareers education and guidance is an important

element within the curriculum. We work closely with

local firms and businesses, who attend a Careers

Fair to offer information and guidance to students.

Prospects and ESS-Team are organisations used

by the school which offer advice on education and

careers, playing a part in preparing our students for

their lives out of school, and all Year 11 students

have a Careers interview with a qualified adviser and

a mock interview, where this is appropriate.

Careers education is part of the PSHCE programme,

and a structured and varied programme is in place

for all year groups. A number of our students

participate in additional schemes through their

time in school, which support them in developing

employability skills.

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Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHCE)The PSHCE programme aims to enable students to develop

a healthy, safe lifestyle and to make informed choices

regarding personal, social and moral issues. The programme

incorporates sessions on drugs education and substance

abuse, together with sex and relationships education.

Drugs EducationSchools play a key role in providing education relating

to drugs and we aim to create a safe and supportive

environment that enables young people to develop their

knowledge, understanding, and attitudes to drugs and drug

related issues and the consequences of substance abuse.

Sex and Relationships Education (SRE) SRE is incorporated into the PSHCE programme

and is taught within a moral and values framework

which enables students to make informed choices

in their later lives.

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Citizenship The cross curricular citizenship programme aims to give

students the knowledge, skills and understanding to

become informed, thoughtful and responsible citizens.

We aim to achieve this by raising students’ political

awareness in addition to their awareness of moral and

social responsibilities and understanding of their role within

the local, national and global community. The Citizenship

programme promotes an understanding and respect for

diversity and an awareness of rights and responsibilities

and what these can mean in practice.

We encourage students to become involved in active

citizenship projects and our students regularly raise money

for a number of different charities.

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Out of Hours As a Lead Partner School with the Youth Sport Trust, The Streetly

Academy provides many out of hours activities for students. The PE

department provides a new timetable each term in a whole range of

activities for all students. These activities range from trampolining,

dance, aerobics, fitness training, badminton and futsal.

The school has teams in football, cricket, rugby, netball, athletics,

swimming and rounders. Many more opportunities are organised

through the House system and these also range from mass

participation events to more competitive events, like the annual

school Sports Day at The Alexander Stadium.

The school organises many visits, trips and holidays throughout the

year for students of all ages. These include language visits to Spain

and France, PE visits to an outdoor pursuit centre and the Year 7

residential. Weekend visits are organised for our gifted and talented

students.

The school has an annual musical production which is the culmination

of work from the Music, Drama, Dance and Art departments.

The school also runs revision classes, booster sessions and

specialist subject clubs for students in many subject areas.

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Special Educational Needs including Physical DisabilityOur Special Educational Needs department supports

students with a wide range of needs. The department

currently has a Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator

(SENCO), Physical Disability (PD) Co-ordinator and 23

Teaching Assistants, 3 of whom are Higher Level Teaching

Assistants (HLTA’s).

The SENCO teaches the Year 7 transition group. This

group benefits from small group teaching in the basic

skills and other subjects with one teacher for 40% of their

timetable, enabling their effective transition to secondary

education.

The department is streamlined into teams (autism,

dyslexia, language skills development, physical disability,

social communication, Successmaker, to name but a

few) whereby Teaching Assistants can offer effective

interventions to support students, both within and out

of lessons. We offer supervised provision at break and

lunchtimes, and a weekly Homework Club. Our Teaching

Assistants also support educational visits. We aim to

provide a personalised education programme for our

students, and involve them in person-centred reviews.

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The Streetly Academy is an Additionally Resourced Provision (ARP)

school for students with physical disability, within the Special Needs

department. We cater for all disabilities, thus enabling students to

access mainstream education, supporting both educational and

personal needs. The school buildings are accessible to all, and

our facilities include a Physio room, Personal Hygiene rooms and

specialist equipment for PE, D&T and other subjects. Also, a number

of extra-curricular activities are organised for our students.

If you require further information, please don’t hesitate to contact

either our SENCO or PD Co-ordinator on the school number,

extension 327.

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TransitionMoving from primary to secondary school is an exciting time

for most children, but we recognise that it can be a challenging

experience for some.

We aim to make the process as secure and happy as possible

and we spend a lot of time throughout the year visiting our local

primary schools to get to know students before they join us in

September.

In addition, there are occasions when primary school students are

invited in to Streetly in order to get to know the school and our

teachers and other staff.

Our induction programme is planned to enable students to feel a

part of the Streetly team as quickly as possible.

This includes:

• September Open Evening for prospective Year 6 students and

parents

• Ongoing Primary school visits throughout the year

• June Induction event for specific primary schools

• July Induction Day & Evening for all students

• September special first day for new Year 7 students

• October ‘Settling in’ Parents’ Evening

• October Residential experience

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Pastoral SystemOn joining The Streetly Academy, students are placed in one of 10

mixed ability form groups. Students will stay with their form and

form tutor for the whole of their time in school. Each year group has

its own designated social space and students are encouraged to

take responsibility for their particular area.

Each year group is led by a Head of Year and an Assistant Head

of Year, who are responsible for the care and guidance of students

in their year group. The pastoral staff, including your child’s form

tutor, work in partnership with parents to ensure that all students

are supported in their progress. We believe in building close links

between home and school in order to minimise problems and

celebrate success.

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AttendanceGood attendance is the key to your child’s success. We

have high expectations of attendance for all of our students

and we expect them to attend 100% of the time unless

they are ill. Our reward system recognises those with

outstanding attendance.

We ask that all parents support the school in maximising

levels of attendance. We work with an Education Welfare

Officer to support parents who may experience difficulty in

ensuring their child’s full attendance.

Parents are asked to contact the school on the first day

of their child’s absence to supply a reason for any non-

attendance.

If your child is taken ill at school, it is important that we are

able to contact you straight away. Therefore it is vital that

your child’s personal records and contact details are kept

up to date: if you change address or telephone number,

please notify the school office immediately.

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ExpectationsRewardsAt The Streetly Academy we aim to recognise and celebrate

the achievements of all students who demonstrate a positive

attitude towards school through the Olympic and Paralympic

values. These values are recognised and students are rewarded

for demonstrating them in all aspects of school life. Through our

electronic ‘Sleuth’ system, behaviour points are collected by

students throughout the year with our top performers receiving

e-mail certificates and prizes are awarded to tutor groups at

regular intervals. Students are also rewarded at our high profile

Curriculum Awards Evenings and our PRIDE Awards Evening

which takes place at Villa Park.

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SanctionsThe Streetly Academy expects very high standards of

behaviour from all students.

Where these standards are not met, we have a scale of

sanctions which ranges from a verbal warning to detentions

and finally to fixed term or ultimately permanent exclusion as

a last resort.

We believe in working closely with parents to prevent minor

problems escalating into more serious breaches of our

behaviour policy.

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UniformWe expect all of our students to wear their Streetly uniform with

pride. Looking smart and ready for work establishes a positive

attitude to their studies.

BullyingUnfortunately, a certain level of bullying exists in all schools. However,

we believe that here at The Streetly Academy, bullying is not a

problem that the vast majority of students will experience.

We deal with any report of bullying quickly and sensitively and we

encourage students, parents and carers to let us know if they have

any concerns.

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Project StreetlyThe Streetly Academy is committed to providing

high quality leadership opportunities to all of our

students. Our Project Streetly programme was

introduced in 2011 and has grown into 13 different

groups with over 10% of the school population

leading on various projects across the school.

Teams such as the Charities team, the Community

team, the Events team, the Media team and the

Sports Leaders team plan and organise events,

provide services and initiatives that directly

affect the lives of all people associated with The

Streetly Academy and the local community. All

students can join a Project Streetly team through

a short application process and our aim is to

have all students involved and contributing to the

successful running of The Streetly Academy in the

future.

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School MealsWe operate an in house cashless catering service, providing a variety

of high quality meals at breakfast, break and lunch time. The Sixth

Form can use the catering facilities throughout the morning as a

Bistro style service.

All meals offered comply with the current national guidelines in

line with the School Food Plan. We also identify the fourteen key

allergens, as per the Food Information Act.

We recognise the guidance and advice provided by various

organisations including the Children’s Food Trust regarding healthy

eating and healthy lifestyles.

Students bringing packed lunches are catered for and can eat with

friends in the dining area.

The Catering Manager is happy to advise and give guidance on

specific dietary requirements on request.

We have a 5 star rating from Environmental Health for food safety

and hygiene.

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Homework & Learner AutonomyAt The Streetly Academy we recognise that homework is a

vital aspect of developing Learner Autonomy and supporting

the progress of our students. We also value the support of

parents in fostering this aspect of student work. Learner

autonomy is a vital skill to develop as your child progresses

through the school. The amount of homework set should

always be reasonable, but challenging in order to prepare

students for the rigors of GCSE and Post 16 education. We

use our FROG learning platform and student handbooks to

communicate homework to students and parents.

We ask parents to monitor the quality of homework your child

is doing and of course to communicate with teaching staff

about any concerns about homework being set or being done

by your child.

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ReadingAt The Streetly Academy we see reading as having the single

most measurable impact on the progress and achievement of our

students and as such it is a priority within our curriculum and as part

of homework set. Reading helps develop concentration, vocabulary,

an understanding of language and imagination. We ask our parents

to support us by encouraging reading at home.

‘Reading for pleasure has been increasingly recognised as not only

having a bearing on reading skills but as intrinsically important in its

impact on life chances’ (Bradshaw et al., 2010).

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Sixth FormThe Streetly Academy Sixth Form is a community of learners

enrolled on Level 3 academic and vocational courses. A large

percentage of our population is made up of students who have

already secured success in their GCSE courses at The Streetly

Academy and who wish to continue their learning journey with

us – a relationship founded on success which we wish to see

continue. Our students benefit from modern, purpose-built

accommodation providing both study and recreational spaces,

including enhanced sporting facilities such as our Sports Hall,

Fitness Suite, Dance Studio and refurbished All Weather Pitch.

We are proud to offer over 30 courses of study within the Sixth

Form, with the majority of these being GCE A levels. Some

of these are in traditional academic disciplines – the subjects

students might have studied at GCSE – English Literature or

History, for example; others are non-traditional or vocational

subjects such as Economics, Film Studies or Applied Science.

We have a growing number of students choosing to join the Sixth

Form having completed their Key Stage 4 studies elsewhere.

We’re always happy to receive applications form external

applicants and support your achievements at Advanced Level.

A separate Sixth Form prospectus is available on request.

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The Streetly AcademyQueslett Road EastSutton ColdfieldB74 2EXTel: 0121-353 2709 Fax: 0121-353 0212e mail postbox@thestreetlyacademy.co.ukwww.thestreetlyacademy.co.uk

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@StreetlyAcademy

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