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Welcome from our Principal, Mr Hacker

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Dear Parents and Carers

This academic year is flying by and we've now reached the end of another half term, the last two weeks of which have been particularly intense for our Year 11s, who have been very busy sitting their GCSE exams. We're all behind them during this stressful time and wish them the very best of luck in all of their exams that run through to the middle of June. As always, we'll be officially celebrating the past 5 years at their Leavers' Assembly and welcoming most of our Class of 2025 to the Prom in June too.

In the last newsletter I mentioned that we were trialling a one-way system with a group of pupils and they have been brilliant. As a result, we will be implementing a whole school trial in the final half term so that we can fine tune and install all the relevant signage ready for the new year in September.

Lots of transition work is taking place at the moment and the team have been out visiting primary schools to talk with staff and pupils about the move to Walkden. We're also looking forward to welcoming our new Year 7 pupils for the transition days in late June as well as the information evening for new parents on Monday 23rd June.

Wishing you all a lovely half term week ahead.

Matt Hacker

Principal

 

View our website

Noticeboard

Who to contact at Walkden

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

Communications

School leavers bus pass

Year 11 students - please take a look at Our Pass website for information on how to apply for a bus pass for 16-18 year olds in further education.

Rewards Trip

Reminder for all remaining Blackpool payments to be made by Monday 2nd June at the latest. If students have not paid by this date, we will add them to the list of students who will be staying in the academy on this day.

Carpark barrier

The barrier is operated from reception and any visitors will need to use the intercom to speak with reception to enter the car park. Regular drivers who need to pick children up with additional needs or disabilities, closer to the entrance, will be allowed access, but it is important that all other vehicles are parked in the surrounding streets if you need to wait for children. Please do not attempt to enter the drive from Old Clough Lane.

Attendance information

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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.

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 possiblewalk-attendance@coopacademies.co.uk

Thank you as always for your support.

Parent Pay guidance - Lunch payments

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An email was sent last week with the below information.

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. 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. 

Year 11 only

Once Year 11 students have finished their exams and left the academy, students with more than £5 in their account will be refunded. This will sit in ParentPay and you will have until the end of the school year to transfer back into your account.

Any balances below £5 cannot be refunded, therefore please encourage your Year 11's to use this in the final weeks to spend any funds available.

What's on at Walkden

Club/activity Where and when
Grow and Taste Club Tuesday's 3.05pm-3.30pm D6 with Ms Lee, Dr Kaloo and Mrs Davis
KS3 STEM Club Monday's 3.10pm-4.10pm D2 with Miss Glennie
KS3 Drama Club Monday's 3.05pm-3.45pm Performance Hall with Mrs Bentley
Pride Club KS3 lunchtime - D6

See below for all of our extra-curricular clubs

Extra-curricular Timetable 

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Pride Month

June is Pride Month. We celebrate Pride Month by championing love, inclusion, and equality. Let’s create a world where everyone can be their true selves. 

We have a weekly Pride club which all students are welcome to join, whether they are part of the LGBTQIA+ community or a proud ally.

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Sweeney Todd, a Co-op Academies Trust Production

Rehearsals are well underway for our Trust production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

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Students from 10  Co-op Academies - including  Walkden - have joined forces to put on a spectacular show - this deliciously thrilling story of revenge and retribution.

🎟️ Tickets are now available for the performances in July, taking place in Manchester.

Buy tickets here

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Free toiletries and hygiene products available during half term

The Co-op Academies Trust have delivered a large bulk of toiletries and hygiene products which we are able to give out to our students' families.

The academy will be open on Tuesday 27th May between the hours of 10am - 12pm only, where Mrs Earley will be setting up all items for collection.

There is no criteria, please just come along and we will create a box of items for you to take home.

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 The Big Lunch

Co-op Academy Walkden has been invited to take a small group of students to the Academies Big Lunch in June. This is an opportunity for us and Co-op Academy Swinton to join together with our community to share food and connect with local organisations to hear what is available to our young people. 

Some of our students helped create a short promo video which you can look out for on the local community social media pages. 

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UK Maths Challenge

Some of our Year 7 & 8 students were invited to take part in the UK Maths Trust, Junior Mathematical Challenge.

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This is a 60 minute, 25 multiple choice Challenge. It encourages mathematical reasoning, precision of thought and fluency to make students think.

All students have been awarded a certificate for taking part, as well as 43 students being awarded a Bronze certificate and 22 students being awarded a Silver certificate.

Huge well done to William P (7D) for picking up a Gold Certificate.

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School Production 2025

Disney’s worldwide phenomenon is taking Walkden by (snow)storm!
This years school production will be....

Disney's Frozen Jr.

Auditions will be help in E1 on Tuesday 3rd June at 3pm.
Please prepare a Disney song of your choice for your audition.
See Mrs Saunders with any queries.

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All the fun of the fair

For all you thrill seekers out there, don't forget, Parr Fold Park are holding their annual Bank Holiday Fair this weekend.

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Here at Co-op Academy Walkden it is not just the success of our students that we like to celebrate, but also that of our staff. Last year, our very own PE Teacher, Mrs Bawden flew over to Belfast, Ireland to compete in the British Open Masters Powerlifting Competition. Although Mrs Bawden...
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Upcoming dates for your diary

Half term
All Day
from 26 May until 30 May
26
May
School opens for 2nd half of Summer Term
8:00am – 8:00am
02
June
Year 8 Progress Review - further details to follow
4:00pm – 7:00pm
12
June
Year 11 leavers assembly
12:45pm – 3:30pm
18
June
Class of 2025 Prom
6:45pm – 6:45pm
19
June

Check out our social media pages for daily updates.

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walkdencoop
@coopacademies have delivered a large bulk of toiletries and hygiene products which we are able to give out to our students families. Please drop in to the academy on Tuesday 27th May between 10am - 12pm only. (this is during half term) #Showyoucare #Dowhatmattersmost
4 hours ago
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