It has been another fantastic week at City Academy Whitehawk, with children and staff teams getting well underway with their academic learning and making the most of every minute. As a school that is always looking to improve, we have also enjoyed some fantastic opportunities to learn from others this week. We were delighted to welcome our RWI Consultant, Nick, for a day of training and coaching for our Early Reading offer. Nick has become a very familiar and friendly face to our staff team over the years, and it is always valuable to have his expertise and fresh perspective supporting our continued development. We also welcomed Tash, who spent the morning working alongside us as we launch our KS1 Daily Supported Reading project. We always love working with external professionals who bring new ideas, challenge our thinking and help us continue to improve what we offer our children.

We also hosted a very special visitor in Reception this week… who we are not yet allowed to announce! Our Reception children were fantastic throughout the filming, and the visitor and the whole crew were incredibly impressed—not only by the children but also by the positive atmosphere across the whole school. A huge thank you to the families who kindly took part in interviews as part of the filming, and to Ms Orchard for organising everything so brilliantly. We can't wait to see the finished product and will let you know when it is released!

It has also been a big week for our Year 4, 5 and 6 children, with our Student Role application and selection process concluding yesterday. We had an exceptionally strong field this year, and staff were blown away by the children's ideas, public speaking, resilience and aspiration. One of our favourite comments from an applicant was, “I want to be a helping hand to take some weight off the adults' shoulders,” whilst two children spoke about being inspired by previous Ambassadors and wanting to follow in their footsteps. We are incredibly excited to see our new Librarians, Play Leaders and Ambassadors take on their roles and begin making their contribution to our school community. A huge well done to every child who applied—it takes real courage and aspiration to put yourself forward—and a massive thank you to families for supporting them through the process. Pictured below are our new cohort of Ambassadors! 

Finally, in this week's bulletin you will find the dates for our Year Group Family Events this term. We are really looking forward to welcoming you into school, spending time together and giving you the opportunity to see your child's classroom and year group area in action. Do pop the date in your diary—we can't wait to see you!