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Welcome from our Principal, Mr Hacker

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Dear parents and carers

Welcome to the latest newsletter.

Over the past two days, we welcomed colleagues for our internal Trust review. I am incredibly proud of the positive feedback during this review, which highlighted the high quality of teaching across our classrooms and noted the significant improvements we’ve made to the overall pupil experience and attendance. These successes are central to our "Thriving and Belonging" agenda, ensuring every pupil feels valued and supported in their journey with us.

It has been a joy to see the school buzzing with energy during this final week. We have celebrated our pupils' commitment with prizes for excellent attendance and punctuality, alongside a variety of end-of-term activities. Seeing so many pupils rewarded for being in school and on time is a testament to their growing resilience and ambition.

A huge thank you to all the parents and carers who took the time to complete our annual survey. Your feedback is vital in helping us shape the future of the school. We are currently processing the data and hope to share the key findings and our next steps with you very soon.

Finally, as we finish for the Easter break, I want to thank our entire community for your continued support. I hope you all have a wonderful and relaxing two weeks off. We look forward to welcoming everyone back, refreshed and ready for the final term of the academic year.

Have a restful break.

Matt Hacker

 

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Noticeboard

Who to contact at Walkden

Please see the linked document for who to contact at Co-op Academy Walkden.

Communications

Please note the academy will be closed over the Easter break and all emails will be responded to on our return.

Attendance information

Pupils can see privately what band they currently sit in.  This helps pupils and parents to have a clear visual for attendance expectations. This also helps pupils set achievable short term targets to move into a higher band, and helps us to celebrate this when they do.

For more information about the attendance process and expectations, please see below.

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To report your child as absent, please use ONE of the available options below.

  • You can call our Academy to report absence 0161 8501625 (Option 1).
  • You can now use the 'log absence' function on your Arbor app. You can find this by going to Dashboard - Menu (three lines) - Attendance - Log Absence.

Please NO NOT use the in-app message function to report absence, as this will not be recorded.

For any pre-planned absences or appointments, please email our Attendance Team.

walk-attendance@coopacademies.co.uk and include an attached appointment card or letter as evidence of the reason for the planned absence.

Whichever method you choose to use, please do this each day that your child is absent from school before 8.30am.

As a helpful reminder, we wanted to share the below information that is useful to know when it comes to attendance.

The school bell is at 8.25am and students are expected to be in lessons ready to be registered by 8.30am.

Students who arrive late between 8.30am and 8.50am will be given a late mark; however, this does not affect their overall attendance percentage.

Students who arrive after 9am will be given a U code (unauthorised absence) on their register which equates to a half a day of absence, this does affect their overall attendance percentage.

The day is split into two halves with a morning attendance mark and an afternoon attendance mark, students must receive both marks to be registered in school for the full day.

Please note that medical appointments and authorised absences are marked differently and to authorise one of these absences or to make us aware of any exceptional circumstances please email our attendance team with prior notice where possible walk-attendance@coopacademies.co.uk

Thank you as always for your support.

Parent Pay guidance - Lunch payments

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We wanted to share a couple of reminders and options regarding your ParentPay account for breakfast/lunch payments.

If your child purchases meals at Co-op Academy Walkden, please ensure funds are topped up via ParentPay in advance of the week ahead. If a pupils has zero funds, our kitchen staff will ask them to go to Student Services for a note which enables them to get lunch and prompts us to contact you to request payment is made. Ideally we would prefer not to send a pupil away for this note so please ensure funds are topped up, you can ofcourse contact us if you need support with this. ParentPay has the function to set yourself an alert for when funds are getting low, if you would like this reminder please follow the process below

  • - Log into your ParentPay Account
  • - Click the three lines at the top left of the screen
  • - Communications
  • - Alert settings
  • - Balance alerts
  • - Set threshold per student
  • - Tick email (email is free to use / text messages can be set up, however there is a charge for this)
  • - Save

All students are offered a free bagel with spread during breakfast service, which runs between 8am - 8.25am.

Other breakfast items are also available to purchase during this time as well as during morning break at 10.30am.

Breakfast items range from 29p - 99p per item.

At lunchtime, students can purchase a meal deal which consists of a main meal and a dessert for £2.20

Please see our menus here

We encourage students to bring a refillable bottle as there are water fountains positioned in each zone of the academy. If your child would prefer bottled water, these can be purchased for 85p.

We believe that £5 is the most any student should need to spend on food/drinks throughout the day, which is why all students' daily spend is capped and will not let them spend more than £5 a day at school. If you would like this cap to be increased, then please let us know via this link Any changes can take up to three days to show on the catering system.

If your child is entitled to free school meals, they can have a free bagel at breakfast like all other students and then, when they put their PIN number in at the till for lunch, they can order a main meal and dessert (meal deal).

ParentPay log in details are sent via email to one parent/carer for each child at the beginning of each school year. If you have forgotten your password, you can select 'forgotten password'. If you believe you do not have an account set up for your child or if you have any queries about ParentPay and lunch payments, then please let us know via the same form here.

All students require their catering PIN number at the till when getting breakfast and lunch. If your child is entitled to Free School Meals, they still need to use their PIN number to get the meal. 

 

What's on at Walkden

Club/activity Where and when
Chess  Every break and lunch outside G9
Homework club Every Monday lunchtime with Mrs Davis - D1
Space Club Every Tuesday 3-4pm with Dr Gardner - D8
British Sign Language Every Tuesday 3-4pm with Mrs sayer - G3
Expressive Arts Club Every Wednesday 3-4pm with Miss Wharton - Drama Studio
Year 11 Revision Every day 3-4pm (check specific subject timetables)
Coming soon Every Tuesday and Weds lunchtime - Multi-Use

See below for all of our extra-curricular clubs

Extra-curricular Timetable 

Head Student Announcement

This week, our pupils have been campaigning hard and casting their votes in our Head Student Elections.

Democracy is a life skill and as the UK moves towards a potential voting age of 16 we’re preparing our pupils for the future, championing our British Values.

The votes have been counted and the candidates with the most votes has been announced this afternoon. We are pleased to share the successful candidates with you below. 

We would like to say a huge well done to all of the candidates for their strong will and determination in this election. As well as a thank you to all pupils who have voted and helped to count votes.

Well done to - Kate K and Ethan W in Year 10 for being our new Head Students.

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Careers Newsletter

Please find below the Spring Term Careers Newsletter

Careers Newsletter

 

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Show you Care

Our very own Miss Fletcher from the Safeguarding Team successfully completed the intense Hyrox event in London last weekend. This event combines running and functional workouts. Miss Fletcher did this to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support and we know this charity is close to lots of people's hearts and we were not able to host our annual Macmillan cake sale this year, so if you or your child would like to give a small donation to show your support, Miss Fletcher and Macmillan would be very grateful.   

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Salford City and Foundation 92 Family Event

Salford City FC is inviting the local community to come together for a special Community Day, marking the exciting City of Salford Centenary celebrations.

Taking place from 11am on Saturday 11th April at Peel Park, Little Hulton, this free, family-friendly event promises a day full of engaging activities, community spirit, and opportunities to get free tickets to the Salford City V Gillingham game. 

Find out more

Year 11 Easter Revision

For Year 11, we know the upcoming term is a significant one. To support them in their final preparations for GCSE exams, revision materials and sessions are available over the Easter break. We encourage pupils to strike a healthy balance between focused study and well-deserved rest so that they return feeling prepared and confident.

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Important upcoming dates

Start of Summer Term 1
All Day
20
April
Year 8 Progress Review Evening - Time TBC
All Day
07
May
Year 11 GCSE exams begin, due to end no later than contingency date 24th June 2026
All Day
18
May
End of Summer Term 1
All Day
22
May
Start of Summer Term 2
All Day
01
June

Latest stories

10 Mar 2026
International Women's Day 2026
Following International Women’s Day, we are proud to highlight the incredible work of Miss Crook and the 'Her Own Way' extra-curricular club. This week, our pupils are leading assemblies to share their mission: ending period poverty and ensuring menstrual dignity for every pupil...
Read more

Check out our social media pages for daily updates.

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walkdencoop
Easter treats all round today! Pupils were awarded eggs for being on time everyday this week as well as 657 mini eggs being won by Lucy for giving the closest guess for how many mini eggs were in the bag! Mr Ward came up with the goods for Year 11 with a spontaneous Easter egg raffle!
1 hour ago
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