Anti-Bullying Week 10 – 14th November 2025

7 Nov 2025

THE CONCEPT OF ‘POWER’ For this year’s Anti-Bullying Week theme, Power for Good, we focus on the importance of using power responsibly. The definition of bullying involves a power imbalance, where one person uses their power to control or harm another. It’s essential to help students understand that where we may have power and/or influence, we have a choice and a responsibility to use that positively, encouraging kindness, support, and standing up for others. It’s important to teach students that power needs to be used carefully. Power should never be used to dominate, control, coerce or manipulate others. By equipping students with the skills to recognise power dynamics and encourage respect for each other’s rights, we can foster an environment where everyone feels they belong, are safe and valued.

AMAZING ! Our Careers Fair Thursday 6th November 2025

7 Nov 2025

We hosted 40 providers from industry, HE, FE, and Businesses, who gave up their time to share expertise with all of our students. An incredible day full of information & guidance as well as interactive Have a Go experience. Our students engaged in lots of meaningful conversations with our organisations, in order to help them learn about opportunities  after school and career pathways.

We want to express our sincere gratitude to the providers who attended the event, engaging with our students and discussing a wide range of career paths they may not have explored previously. The event was a resounding success, and we hope that students left with newfound insight into potential career paths.

ROWVEMBER FUN is here! 🚣‍♂️

6 Nov 2025

Join in our rowing on Wednesday after school – join in the fun!

Sports Hall with Mr Ludlow

Download our Curriculum Plus booklet here

Year 8 Tutor Reviews – w/c Monday 24th November 2025. School closes 2.05 pm on Thursday 27th November.

5 Nov 2025

Good morning,

A reminder that PVA Year 8 Tutor Reviews will take place week commencing Monday 24th November 2025. There will be an early finish for all students at 2.05 pm on Thursday 27th November to accommodate these review meetings.

These meetings add to our partnership work with parents in helping to secure outstanding results for students. During the review week all parents and students should attend a 20 minute face to face meeting.

Review meetings are an opportunity for parents to come into the academy to meet with their child’s tutor to discuss their pastoral development and set agreed targets for the year ahead. Later in the year there will also be a subject based parents’ evening where parents will have the opportunity to speak to their child’s subject teachers about their progress in their subjects,

Year 8 Review Meetings – Week commencing: Monday 24th November 2025

Review meetings are an opportunity for parents to come into the academy to meet with their child’s tutor to discuss their pastoral development and set agreed targets for the year ahead. Later in the year there will also be a subject based parents’ evening where parents will have the opportunity to speak to their child’s subject teachers about their progress in their subjects.

When will the review meetings take place?

School will finish at the end of period 4 (2.10pm) for all year groups on Thursday 27th November 2025. This is done to provide an opportunity for parents to meet their child’s form tutor for around twenty minutes.

How to book a review meeting with your child’s tutor

Your child will be responsible for making the appointment with their tutor for you. We are aware that not everyone can attend at this time of the day or on that day, please indicate the time that you wish to attend and ask your child to tell their form tutor who will confirm. A message confirming the date and time will be sent to you via Class Charts.

Where will the meeting take place?

Meetings usually take place in the dining room if they are taking place on the day that we close early. Please arrange to meet your child at school and they can bring you to the dining room via main reception. If the meeting is taking place at another time, please come to reception and your child’s tutor will meet you there.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s form tutor.

War Poetry Ypres Battlefields Visit 19th – 21st November 2025

2 Nov 2025

WAR POETRY IN YPRES
ITINERARY DETAILS
Weds 19th Nov 2025
05:00 Depart PVA Coach
10:00 Check-in Channel Port DFDS Dover
12:00 Channel Crossing DFDS Seaways
15:00 Arrive Channel Port DFDS Dunkirk
16:45 Approx Check-in to Accommodation Menin Gate School Hostel. Located in the city centre of Ypres, right by the Menin Gate, this school hostel is the perfect base to explore the Battlefields region!
17:00 At leisure Ypres!
Free to explore Ypres at your leisure after checking-in!
18:30 Restaurant Meal Dinner at a local restaurant

Thurs 20th Nov 2025
08:00 Meal Breakfast at accommodation
09:30 Guided Tour all about the major historical landmarks of the Ypres Salient on this guided tour! Approx. length: 5 hours.
Visit Essex Farm Cemetery. Built on the site of an Advanced Dressing Station, Essex Farm is the burial place of War Poet John McCrae and also of Rifleman Valentine Joe Strudwick, who was just 15 years old when he was killed.
Visit Langemark German War Cemetery. A striking contrast to Essex Farm, the sober, foreboding Langemark German Cemetery is one of only four German cemeteries in the Flanders region.
Visit St Julien Canadian War Memorial. On 22nd April 1915, the German Army launched the first large-scale chemical weapon usage in war with a chlorine gas attack here. The memorial commemorates
the Canadian soldiers who held the line. Wilfred Owen’s Dulce et Decorum Est vividly describes the suffocating power of gas attacks during the war; more than 7000 were injured during this first attack.
Visit Yorkshire Trench and Dugout
Visit a preserved trench, complete with reconstructed dugouts and fire steps, to gain an insight into trench life.

This is an ideal place to understand the setting of many of the best known war poems and the conditions the soldiers found themselves in.
15:00 Museum Passchendaele 1917 Memorial Museum. This fascinating museum commemorates the half a million casualties of the battle of Passchendaele. Uniquely, the museum features reconstructions of both British and German trenches.
18:00 Restaurant Meal Dinner at a local restaurant
20:00 Activity Last Post at the Menin Gate. Witnessing the nightly Last Post Ceremony is always a deeply moving experience. Participate by laying a wreath.

Friday 21st Nov 2025
08:30 Meal Breakfast at accommodation
10:00 Museum In Flanders Fields Museum. Visit the In Flanders Fields Museum, named after John McCrae’s famous war poem. Students will be given an interactive Poppy Bracelet which allows them to
learn about the stories of four real people.
12:00 Activity Chocolate shopping in Ypres! Enjoy some light relief with a visit to a well-known chocolate shop. No visit to Belgium would be complete without some souvenir chocolate!
13:00 Museum Hill 62 Sanctuary Wood Museum. One of few preserved trench networks around Ypres, Sanctuary Wood gives a feel of what it was like for the soldiers who fought and died here. A wide range of artefacts are on display at the museum.
16:00 Check-in Channel Port DFDS Dunkirk
18:00 Channel Crossing DFDS Seaways
19:00 Arrive Channel Port DFDS Dover
23:45 Approx. Return PVA