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Welcome from our Principal, Mr Hacker

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Dear Parents and Carers

Welcome to the first newsletter of the new academic year, with a special welcome to the parents and carers of our new Year 7 cohort who are joining our school community for the first time.

We have had a strong start to the term, despite the unusual circumstances last Friday. I want to sincerely thank the entire community for your incredible vigilance, care, and supportive messages, they mean a great deal. While very rare, events like this highlight the potential risks associated with social media and offer a helpful moment for reflection. Limiting children's access to social platforms is beneficial in the long run, but in the meantime, it requires all of us as adults to remain vigilant about their online activities.

The rollout of our new phone pouches has gone very smoothly, and our pupils have adapted remarkably well. I understand some parents and carers have questions regarding phone access during emergencies. Please rest assured that should an emergency ever arise, the school will always aim to provide accurate and prompt communication to you at the earliest convenience, once all details have been checked. Co-op Academy Walkden is a safe environment, and phone pouches further strengthen our site as a focused space for learning while reducing online distractions and distress. Thank you to everyone who has sent in messages supporting this initiative, we are confident it will foster a wonderfully positive environment this year.

Finally, we are thrilled to share the extraordinary achievements of our outgoing Year 11 pupils. Their overall performance represents the highest GCSE results in the history of our academy! These record-breaking results are a true reflection of our pupils' hard work, as well as the dedication of the staff who taught and supported them. A huge congratulations to the entire year group.

We’re all looking forward to a really successful year at Co-op Academy Walkden.

Best wishes

Matt Hacker

 

View our website

Noticeboard

Who to contact at Walkden

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

Communications

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 free toast 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 toast 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) with no charge to your account. 

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.

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. 

 

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What's coming up this term

What's coming up

 
  • On Time for a Prize - Every Friday morning at 8.20am we have a prize draw, all pupils who have been on time for the school day all week will be in the draw. You really do have to be in to win! 
  • Music every Monday and Friday as you enter school
  • Tuesday and Thursday - Episodes from a popular TV series will be screened in the Atrium between 8am - 8.25am
  • Wacky Wednesdays - Pupils have received an email from Mr Corbett with a sign up sheet for our Wednesday morning activities, this ranges from Karaoke, Darts, Game Shows and more. It’s the best way to start the day!
  • Pupils will receive a Positive Postcard with a personal note from their teacher celebrating their great work that week. 
  • Awards to be distributed in weekly assemblies.
  • Look out for Claudia appearing later in the term for our Walkden Traitors Series 2
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Bus Timetable 2026/2027

Please see below updates to the local school bus services from TFGM

Bus Timetable 

 

Walkden Social Media

Please follow our socials for notices, reminders and day to day highlights from your children day. 

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Walkden Combined Cadet Force! Notice to all Year 7 and 8 pupils If you are interested in joining cadets, you are welcome to attend from Tuesday 29th Sept. We meet in the atrium at 3pm - 5pm Notice for all existing Cadets Our 1st parade for existing cadets will take place next Tuesday, 15th Sept, please speak to Captain Bawden for further details.
3 hours ago
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Co-op Academy Walkden View Post
Walkden Combined Cadet Force! Notice to all Year 7 and 8 pupils If you are interested in joining cadets, you are welcome to attend from Tuesday 29th Sept. We meet in the atrium at 3pm - 5pm Notice for all existing Cadets Our 1st parade for existing cadets will take place next Tuesday, 15th Sept, please speak to Captain Bawden for further details.
3 hours ago
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