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What do you see?

Welcome to one of my favourite lessons. I present a piece of paper with a black dot on it and ask students to describe what they see. Most of them start by saying 'there is black dot in the middle…

When students first join us in September we talk to them about a number elements at LECA which are part of our USP. The first one is the the word 'yet'. 'Yet' is our favourite word. It gives hope; it gives a sense of us being on a journey (are we there yet?); it sets up the next moment of…

As the term restarts and we look towards assessments in a couple of weeks, the focus at LECA is firmly on reading. Reading is the absolute cornerstone of education so being proficient and confident at reading is absolutely vital. Exam papers require careful reading and interpretation and students'…

No amount of leadership 'training' really prepares you for happened this week. Don't get me wrong - we had planned for closures of all types: lack of staff, positive COVID case, full closure, bubble closure and so on. But leadership isn't just about scenario planning, it's also about setting the…

Normally after an Open Evening I would be writing about how exciting it was to see so many prospective parents and students at the Academy and praising my staff and the student guides for their ethusiasm and commitment. This year was a little different to say the least! 

The virtual opening…

I wouldn't normally talk about what is said in a full staff briefing. Most of it is operational and pretty dull to those not inside the Academy (some staff might argue that it's pretty dull if you're inside the Academy but that's another story); lots of reminders and 'heads ups' about the…

This week at LECA was all about embedding our routines while also introducing new ones. Following the government announcement of new social restrictions after an increase in the R-rate, we took the decision to introduce face coverings throughout the school in communal areas. Again, we thank our…

At LECA we like to buck the trend. This week average attendance in state schools was 90%. LECA's was 95%. What does this tell us? That our parents support us and our students want to be here. This is an outstanding result considering the circumstances we are working under and may well also be due…

Sometimes you don't quite know how something will go until you do it. We meticulously planned our re-opening strategy during the summer but until staff and students came into the building on Monday, we were never 100% sure it would all go to plan. I'd be lying if I said it was perfect this week-…

This is the final blog of the academic year - one that, in equal doses, we want to remember and forget! When we remember things we often create details or forget details. We focus on the 'peaks' and these create a distorted memory. For example, if you go to Alton Towers, the chances are you won't…

Good afternoon - I hope you're all well.

We are now less than two weeks away from the end of the most unique of academic years. None of us have ever seen or experienced anything like this before. September started the year with such excitement and energy as it always does- new year 7s joining…

This week finally brought some clarity to what secondary school life will look like in September following weeks of speculation. A new word has burst (!) into our vocabulary – Megabubbles. It sounds a bit like some kind of new summer toy doesn’t it? Gone are the days of normal-sized bubbles – now…