Reminder to all of our parents and carers.  Outwood Academy City are hosting our Meet the Leadership Event this Thursday at 5pm in the main hall.  All parents/carers are welcome

In advance of Thursday, please use this survey link and under the relevant discussion topic, please submit your questions that will be answered on the evening.

We are keen to praise students and thank them for making good choices and contributing to the positive culture and climate we are so proud of. Praise is essential in OAC lessons and we ask staff to make use of their Hallmark Hero reward boards to recognise students for their excellence. Names are displayed for the day so that other students can be inspired by praiseworthy moments. We look to reward industrious attitudes, innovative ideas and integrity and encourage students to show care and kindness towards their peers. We frequently run student challenges which enable our students to receive quick win praise with small prize rewards delivered at the end of the half term. In order to build momentum for the termly rewards (shopping vouchers, cinema screenings and more!) we shout out students weekly in Tutor Time to create a buzz and enable staff and students to praise one another.  The PROUD Podium allows students to recognise their own achievements by encouraging them to bring their classroom work and homework to celebrate the progress they have made in individual subjects; students are given a special photo sticker, certificate and sweet treat to take home. SLT Superstar cards are given during learning walks and we delight to reward students for touchstone moments that demonstrate their progress and thirst for learning.  At the end of the year we have a prestigious awards ceremony to recognise students' efforts across the year, they receive a special plaque and a certificate, whilst proud family members look on. 

We believe that anyone who is successful in life must develop self-discipline and be given autonomy to make the right choices. Therefore we want to create a positive and happy ethos and culture where our students behave well, have good manners and develop self-discipline, so that they are able to regulate themselves effectively.  We also want our students to engage positively with their learning in class, and therefore classroom expectations are key to ensuring that students can learn effectively and maximise learning time.  We have high expectations and accept no excuses; we want all of our students to be successful in life, and therefore will support every student to meet our expectations.  

Whilst sometimes this may be challenging, we expect our students to live by our expectations all the time. If they do this, their hard work will be recognised, via our Praise system. However, if any of our expectations are not met, staged sanctions will be issued. These sanctions allow students the opportunity to reflect on how to take the necessary next steps to improve.

We aim to ensure that all students have access to powerful knowledge and teaching which challenges them and supports them to succeed. We pitch our lessons high and support students to achieve these challenging aims. In order to ensure that all students progress and learn, we insist on all students taking part in the lesson and we use collaborative structures such as turned discussions to support students to discuss their learning and work with each other. Every lesson begins with a Do Now task which allows students to recap the key knowledge for the lesson or start thinking immediately about the new learning. We use many strategies to support a fast pace and effective questioning in lessons such as timers, random name generators and mini-whiteboards. Teachers feed back to students in several ways, including in class, through live marking in books, and through written feedback to pieces of work.

Praising Stars is about reporting on how well your child is progressing at Outwood Academy City. It consists of two parts: i) a half-termly report, given out to students on the final day of each half term; ii) a parents' / carers' evening, usually once per school year. Engaging with both parts of Praising Stars is an excellent way to keep on top of your child's progress. If you have any questions or queries about any aspect of Praising Stars, in the first instance, please contact your child's Learning Manager. They will either be able to answer your question or pass it on to a member of senior staff who will assist. 

One priority for Outwood Academy City for this year has been to improve and clarify communication with parents and carers. We have introduced a new communication protocol and recording system to ensure that messages are quickly received by the correct person, and we aim to ensure that all issues are dealt with within 3 working days.  We appreciate feedback on areas where we aren't quite meeting these targets yet.

At City, we firmly believe that every child deserves a quality education that enables them to reach their full potential. Our SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) provision ensures that every student can achieve their goals. We hold termly SEND reviews with students and their parents/carers to celebrate progress and identify potential learning barriers that may require additional support. Our approach is based on the 'assess, plan, do, and review' framework, which allows us to implement appropriate intervention strategies to help our students excel. We work in collaboration with external support services to provide parental and student support. Our classroom practitioners are highly skilled in adaptive teaching, continuously assessing learners' strengths and needs to create a personalised learning environment that meets their individual needs. At City, we are committed to providing an inclusive education that empowers our students and enables them to thrive academically and socially.