BELIEVE ASPIRE
ACHIEVE
Developing confident, respectful and successful young people
Our school
A special message from the Headteacher
Welcome to Aspire Academy website where hopefully you will find lots of helpful information about our school. Whether you are a prospective or current pupil, parent, carer or member of staff, an external professional or an interested visitor, thank you for showing an interest in our school.
At Aspire Academy, our goal is to provide comprehensive support, encouragement and education to our students in order to help them achieve their full potential and become fulfilled, successful contributors to society. Our vision entails fostering a learning environment that is ambitious, inclusive, diverse, and enriching, inspiring our children and young people to strive for excellence and be the very best version of themselves. Our curriculum is broad, balanced and enriching offering access to a range of experiences, opportunities and qualifications.
All of our pupils have Educational Health Care Plans (EHCP) that identify Social Emotional and Mental Health difficulties (SEMH) often alongside associated behaviours that challenge and significant gaps in their learning. Many of the pupils that attend the school have additional barriers such as attention deficit and hyperactive disorders (ADHD) and speech, language and communication difficulties. Students are never judged on previous experiences and our mantra of “every day is a new day” informs our thinking at all times. Many of the pupils that attend Aspire Academy have not had success in their education elsewhere however through their attendance and perseverance these pupils rebuild their trust and desire to learn with renewed confidence and motivation to succeed.
We take great pride in our school and in setting ambitious goals for our students. We are dedicated to creating a dynamic learning environment that seeks to captivate and motivate through educational experiences both inside and outside of the traditional classroom setting. The unique requirements of each child are prioritised, and our staff possesses a thorough understanding of each student in their care, offering diverse learning opportunities.
If you would like to visit the school, please contact the main office to book an appointment.
Helen McDicken
Headteacher
The LGC meets termly, the reports from this meeting are then fed to the Futura Learning Partnership trustees who meet termly to discuss Futura-wide issues and scrutinise the performance of all the schools in the partnership.
There is a robust and objective selection process for governors and trustees. Appointments are skills-based and made by recommendation from the LGC or relevant Trust committee – subject to the completion of a DBS check and declaration form. Governors are either parent governors, staff governors or community governors. They are usually appointed for a term of office of four years. In order to ensure good succession planning, however, a term of office for a governor may be varied by the board of trustees from between one and four years, subject to a maximum term of office.
If you have any queries relating to governance of the school, please email clerktogovernors@aspireacademy.org.uk
Or alternatively, you can write to the chair of governors, C/o Aspire Academy, Frome Road, Odd Down, Bath. BA2 5RF.
Kathryn Davies: Community Governor
Term of office: 28 March 2023 - 27 March 2027
Peter Langton: Safeguarding and Community Governor
Term of office: 1 September 2020 - 31 August 2024
Helen McDicken: Headteacher
Term of office: Appointed 21 June 2023 Ex officio
Sonia Taylor: Parent Governor, Pupil Premium and Looked After Children Governor
Term of office: 4 January 2022 - 4 January 2026
Bernadette White: Chair of Governors (from October 2023), Community Governor, SEND, Careers Education and Employability Skills Governor, and Nominated Child Protection Governor
Term of office: 12 May 2021 - 11 May 2025
Clerk to Governors
Contact: clerktogovernors@aspireacademy.org.uk
With our sincere thanks for their service:
Janet Wilkinson
Term of office: 12 July 2022 - 31 October 2023
Rebecca Briggs
Term of office: 1 July 2022 - 24 November 2023
Pete Headeach
Term of office: 27 January 2020 - 20 June 2023
Susy Summers
Term of office: 7 December 2022 - 4 July 2023
Admissions requirements
Parents/carers considering making an application for a place at Aspire Academy should contact the Special Needs Section at Bath and NE Somerset Local Authority as all admissions to the Academy are approved through them.
Students are placed at the Academy by the Local Authority seeking specialist placements for learners with social, mmotional and mental health (SEMH) profiles. All students at the school need to have an active Statement of SEN or Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) in place, outlining their specific needs and the provision determined to meet those needs. Parents are advised to speak to their local SEN department, or current school placement, if they wish to enact provision of an EHCP for their child. Parents or Professionals wishing to pursue a placement with Aspire are very welcome, and actively encouraged, to visit the school. Visits can be arranged by contacting the school.
Parents may also wish to contact the SEN department within their local authority to advise that they wish to pursue a placement at the school.
Further information
Senior leadership team
Teaching staff
Support staff
For information about our governing body please see the local governing committee (LGC).
General principles for student images and video recording
Student photos and video recordings may be used for identification purposes and evidencing educational development. Such data will not be shared unless the law requires us to do so, or specific consent has been provided by the parent/carer.
Videos may be taken of lessons to support staff development; these may be seen by other teachers in school for staff training.
Where video or sound recording is required as part of an exam course for moderation purposes, such as drama, dance, music and PE, consent is not required other than opting to choose to study the course.
Parents / carers are welcome to take videos and photos of their children at school events for their own personal use. However, to respect everyone’s privacy rights and in some cases protection, these images must not be published or made publicly available on social networking sites, nor should parents / carers comment on any activities involving other students in the images / footage. Websites and social media can be viewed throughout the world, not just in the United Kingdom, where UK law applies. When images are posted on the internet, it is not possible to prevent others from reposting them.
Futura Schools use third party school photographers. These third parties come into school to take pictures of students (and their siblings) and pass the images back to the school. Proofs are distributed to parents/carers by the school. Parents/carers wishing to purchase images, do so by direct payment to the photographer. Schools are able to provide information on the specific photographer used in each school and direct parents/carers to their photographer’s own data protection policy.
Additional and specific consent for use by external agencies/companies may be sought.
For further information about how students’ personal information is collected and managed, please refer to the privacy notice on the trust website.
Parental consent
Parents provide consent for publication of their child’s image through the Parental Consents section of the My Child At School parent portal, or by contacting the school. Parental consent falls into two broad categories: School News/Events and Promotional Material.
Parental consent - school news and events
By consenting to ‘School News and Events’, parents/carers give consent to the following:
Parental consent - promotional material
By consenting to ‘promotional material’, parents/carers give consent to the following:
Parents/carers can withdraw consent at any time either through the Bromcom MCAS account or by contacting the school.
More information
We process personal data according to the General Data Protection Regulation of 2018. For full details of how we may use this data, please see the relevant notice.
As a provider of specialist education we hold a strong emphasis on the importance of both academic achievement and the development of social and emotional well-being.
All students are assessed on arrival so staff can tailor the curriculum to meet their needs. Our aim is for students to enjoy coming to school and enjoy learning. We aim to build their self-confidence, self-esteem and build resilient learners who will cope with the demands put on them.
At the end of their time with us students will have reached or exceeded their academic potential whilst being equipped with the social skills and tools required to continue their journey of success.
Welcome to Zest our in-house catering service
Zest is proud to say it serves great homemade food using fresh, healthy, local ingredients at an affordable price for our staff and students to enjoy.
For more information please see Aspire Academy's school day (Pdf)
Our Post-16 students have a personalised pathway to achieve the best qualifications possible. Depending on a student's current attainment, they will start at a suitable level.
Functional Skills:
Functional Skills are qualifications in maths and English that provide the skills students need to live and learn successfully.
GCSE:
GCSEs are the qualifications students can work towards to gain entry into further education.
Other qualifications:
We have a range of vocational subjects including Construction, Cooking, Art, Land Based Studies, PE and Duke of Edinburgh Award. We also deliver the NOCN Independant Living qualification.
Information on the Aspire Post-16 Provision
What is Thrive?
Thrive is a systematic approach to the early identification of emotional developmental need in children so that differentiated provision can be put in place quickly by the adults working most closely with the child. It is preventative, reparative, pragmatic and easy to use.
What are the guiding principles of the Thrive Approach?
Further information
Throughout the year we offer our pupils a range of reward activities and education visits, aimed to enhance their learning opportunities, develop their skills, knowledge and self-esteem and help to open their minds to other people, cultures and opportunities.
Educational Visits and Trips Policy
Trips and visits have included the following:
Educational trips:
Rewards activities:
The school uniform is a black sweatshirt and t-shirt with the school logo, grey or black trousers or knee length skirt and black shoes.
The school provides one sweatshirt, two t-shirts and PE kit (fleece, t-shirt and sport trousers).
Parents/carers are expected to provide the trousers and/or knee length skirt, shoes and to replace lost kit which can be purchased through the school. Please contact the office.
Further information