1. What is an Academic Concern Evening?
Academic Concern Evenings (ACEs) are a new initiative for the 2016/17 academic year. They are scheduled after data collections in school. The evenings are an opportunity for a number of selected students and their parents or carers to meet with a member of the Senior Leadership Team,
Achievement Coordinator or other middle leader. Meetings will last for approximately 15 minutes.
2. Will all students and parents be invited to attend the evenings?
Selected students and their parents or carers will be invited where they are underachieving compared to their potential across a number of subjects. Between 30 and 50 students will be invited from a range of year groups.
3. What is the purpose of an Academic Concern Evening?
The purpose is to identify the core reasons why a student is underachieving, to discuss strategies and interventions which the school and parents can implement to support the students and to set specific targets and expectations for the student.
4. How will I be contacted if I am being invited to an Academic Concern Evening?
You will be contacted by phone or letter. Experience has told us that if a student has issues or is struggling then actions need to be put in place as soon as possible so we will hold the meetings shortly after each data collection. Therefore there is a relatively short lead in period to the meetings, but we will always give at least a weeks’ notice.
5. How are they different to Parents’ Evenings?
Parents’ Evenings are an opportunity to focus on successes and concerns in particular subjects. Academic Concern Evenings are an opportunity to look together at the ‘big picture’ of how a student
is doing and the factors, both within school and outside, that might be barriers to their learning and progress.
6. Who do I contact if I have concerns about the progress that my son or daughter is making and I have not been invited to an Academic Concern Evening?
If you have concerns about the academic progress that your son or daughter is making in the first instance please contact the Achievement Coordinator of the Year group that your child is in. The Achievement Coordinators are Mrs Male (Y7), Mrs Morris (Y8 and Y9), Mr Cartner (Y10 and Y11). For Sixth Form concerns please contact Mrs Cain (Assistant Headteacher/Director of Sixth Form) or Mrs Sherry (Assistant Director of Sixth Form).
