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Welcome from our Principal, Mr Hacker

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Dear Parents and Carers

Welcome to our penultimate newsletter of the year, with just two more weeks until the start of the summer break!

Last week, Year 10 were on Work Experience - a crucial element of our extensive careers provision. I know that so many of our Year 10 pupils have gained really meaningful experiences in the workplace, which supports their own thinking on future careers and positive attitudes towards their remaining time at school. To further deepen their future skills and knowledge of the workplace, we're also inviting a range of employers to join us next week, to provide mock interview experiences for Year 10 pupils. This is an invaluable opportunity which we hope they will really enjoy.

On Thursday and Friday last week, we were also joined by our new intake for September 2025. We had an action-packed two days full of taster lessons and whole-year activities like the 'Big Sing' and Science shows. Check out our social media for more information or read the summary in this newsletter. We are really excited to welcome all new Year 7's for their own special day on the 2nd September - to start what we hope will be a fantastic 5-year journey with us.

On Monday this week we held our annual Sports Awards Evening. It was wonderful to hear the stories and sporting success of so many of our young people, and we hope they all wear their badges with pride for what they've already achieved. From individual to whole team efforts - every one of them deserved to be recognised - a huge well done to them all. It was also great to be able to welcome back 2 of our former pupils who have pursued sport as a career. We hope that seeing the success of our alumni can really help to inspire and engage our current pupils in lots of ways.

Finally, over the last two days we've been raising more funds for our whole school charity through the sponsored 3-5km run/walk. Pupils (and staff) have given it their all and before we had even started on Monday we had raised an incredible £800. We will update you next week with the grand total. Well done Team Walkden!

Wishing you all a great weekend

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

Rewards Trip

A letter was sent out today with final arrangements for the Blackpool trip. Blackpool pleasure beach is a cashless park and, therefore, students will need an electronic payment method if they wish to buy food/drinks. 

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

This month we sent an email regarding attendance and fixed penalty notices. This email was sent to all students in the academy. This is something that we share with parents to ensure you are aware of the rules and consequences involved regarding absence. This is not a direct reflection of your child's current attendance. We are sorry if this email caused any undue concern.

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.

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. 

 

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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Sports Awards

Thank you so much to everyone who attended our Sports Awards this week. Congratulations to all the worthy winners. We are looking forward to welcoming more of you back next week for the 'all subject' Celebration Evening. Invites have now been sent to those nominated for awards. 

Keep scrolling to see some of our previous students who continue to excel in their chosen sports.

 

 

 

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This week's sporting events

In keeping with our Sports Awards evening, this week our amazing students have been busy raising money for charity by taking part in a sponsored 3-5k run/walk during their PE and PSHE lessons. Donations are still open on ParentPay if you would like to show your support. In addition to this, all year groups have been taking part in our Monster Kickabout at lunchtime. Look out for a social media reel being shared this weekend with a round-up of this week's events.

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Sports Day Finals

Students have been competing in the Sports Days heats over the last month. Our finalists will be competing on Monday 7th July in a behind-closed-doors Sports Day Final. All finalists have been made aware of the structure for the day and to come to school in PE kit. Finalists will be outside for an hour without shade. Please bring suncream and a hat if needed, as well as a water bottle.

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Year 6 Transition Days

Last week we welcomed our brand new Year 7 cohort, who will be joining us from September 2025. We had two days of learning, fun and settling in. Check out our socials below for photos and more.

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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

Student Success Stories

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At Walkden we love to share our students' success. This week we received updates on two of our previous students, who continue to excel in their chosen sports.

Jasmine left Walkden in Summer 2024, She’s currently No1 in the UK for the women’s 1500m Steeplechase (under 20 age group and she’s only 17.)
She has been selected and is attending the England Athletics Youth Talent Programme.
She started her running journey at Salford Harriers running club. Young people looking to start running can attend on Tuesdays at 6pm.

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Amelie has just completed her GCSE exams and is now awaiting her results before continuing on her post-16 journey. We were thrilled to be sent the below update from Mrs Cutting, who is a member of the same swim club as Amelie. 

Amelie Blocksidge defends her title

 

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Summer Holiday Activities

See below activities for all the family during the 6 weeks holidays.

Lowry Theatre
School holiday activities Salford
Summer fun 

 

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Check out our social media pages for daily updates.

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Join us next week for our spectacular production of Sweeney Todd. Our amazing students from 10 Manchester Co-op Academies are ready to blow you away with Sweeney Todd! This huge collaboration with a live orchestra is set to be truly unmissable. It's happening July 9-12, 2025, at Co-op Academy Manchester Theatre. Don't miss out on seeing these incredible young talents shine. Get your tickets now – only a few days left! Link in first comment #ItsWhatWeDo #TheCoopWay #BeingCoop
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