Welcome to Joseph Norton Academy!
We hope you had a restful holiday and that it hasn’t been too difficult encouraging your children to get out of bed and back into their school routine over the last week.
We are extremely pleased to confirm that our conversion to Joseph Norton Academy was completed during the summer holiday and at 12:00 midnight on 31st August the school officially joined Wellspring Academy Trust. Wellspring is focused on improving the life chances of pupils and communities across the Yorkshire and Humber region and, through our link with the Trust, we believe we are better placed to meet the needs of our pupils, now and in the future.
As an Academy we are required to re-organise our governing body and, as a consequence, we have a vacancy for a parent governor. The governing body’s main tasks are to support the school, ensure that pupils receive high quality education and plan for future development and improvement. We feel sure that there are parents and carers who will want to contribute to the development of the school by becoming members of the governing body. If you feel you are such a person, please contact the school office for more information. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank Catherine Thompson for all the work she has undertaken as a parent governor over the last academic year.
As always, our premises team have been extremely busy over the summer. To improve the school environment we have decorated Key Stage 4, fitted a number of new doors, revamped the adventure playground and opened our school farm. We are very excited about this final addition to our grounds, which will bring new vocational and personal development opportunities to our curriculum and will be inviting you to our official farm opening ceremony very soon! In the meantime we will let your children tell you about Gordon the goat and his friends.
I am delighted to introduce two new members of staff who have joined us this year: Anita Pritchard at Key Stage 2 and Tom Oates at Key Stage 3. The following list shows the teams who are working directly with your children:
- Group One: Anita, Bev, Chavez, Carole, Mando, Helen
- Group Three: Ryan, Stephen, Ruth
- Group Four: Tom, Abigail, Graeme
- Group Five: Lee, Gina, Jon, Josh
- Group Six: Mark, Jackie, Marcus, Jess
- Group Seven: Heather, Jane, Michael
- Group Eight: Lydia, Kathryn, Hannah
- Group Nine: Carl, Ross
Your pastoral leaders and their contact details are as follows:
- Amanda McGarry: Group 1 – 07719979131
- Scott Turner: Group 3, 4, 5 – 07719979127
- Darryl Jones: Group 6, 7, 8 – 07719979128
- Carl Peel: Group 9 – 07764336101
Your group staff will be in touch over the coming weeks to update Self-Regulation Plans and share information about timetables etc. Please note that our new school uniform includes additional items for PE and outdoor education so pupils should now be in uniform at all times. Additional items can be ordered through the school office. Pupils who are not wearing the correct uniform may be sent home to change. Please remember to inform group staff of any important changes that have taken place over the summer. It is important, for example, that we have up-to-date information about your address, contact details and your child’s medication.
Finally, I would like to draw your attention to our new school website: www.josephnorton.co.uk. It is a work in progress; however, our school policies, including the school’s Attendance, Behaviour and Safeguarding Policies, will be available to view over the next few weeks. If you would like a hard copy of any of our policies, please get in touch with the school office.
I look forward to seeing you all again soon.
Sarah Wilson