Policy: Home Academy Agreement

Policy details

• Date approved - 02/09/2024
• Next review date - 02/08/2025
• Policy owner - Daniel Haste

The Academy Will:

• Care for each student’s well-being, safety, happiness, and recognise achievement.
• Adopt a firm but fair and consistent approach to discipline.
• Provide high-quality teaching in a high-quality learning environment.
• Encourage and foster a sense of individual self-respect for each student, as well as respect for others.
• Report students’ progress to parents/carers regularly in writing.
• Contact parents/carers if there are concerns about attendance, punctuality, behaviour, or progress.
• Respond sensitively and promptly to any concern or complaint raised by any student, parent, or carer.
• Listen to and value parental and student contributions.

Parents/Carers Will:

• Support the academy’s values and behaviours.
• Ensure that their child attends the academy on time, with a minimum of 97% attendance.
• Inform the academy on the first day in the event of any absence.
• Support the academy’s policy of holidays not being taken during term time.
• Ensure that their child completes all work set by the academy.
• Ensure their child adheres to all policies of the academy.
• Attend meetings concerning the education and well-being of their child.
• Inform the academy if they have any concerns regarding their child, so that support can be agreed upon.
• It is your responsibility as a parent/carer to inform us by email or telephone of any changes of address or telephone numbers. This applies to all contacts listed for your child.

The Academy Student Will:

• Uphold the academy’s high expectations of values and behaviours.
• Adopt an attitude of hard work, self-discipline, and organisation in every lesson.
• Be properly equipped for every lesson.
• Meet work deadlines set by teachers.
• Attend regularly and on time, and be punctual to all lessons.
• Follow the academy’s policy on uniform and appearance.
• Respect all property, keeping the academy free from litter, graffiti, and chewing gum.

E-Safety

ICT, including the Internet, Virtual Learning Environment, email, and mobile technologies, have become an important part of learning in our academy. We expect all students to be safe and responsible when using any ICT. It is essential that students are aware of eSafety and know how to stay safe when using any ICT.

Students are expected to read and discuss this agreement with their parent or carer and then sign and follow the terms of the agreement. Any concerns or questions can be discussed with your child’s Learning Tutor.

Academy Student Acceptable Use - Agreement / eSafety Rules:

• I will only use ICT systems in the academy, including the Internet, email, digital video, and mobile technologies, for academy purposes.
• I will not download or install software on academy technologies.
• I will only log on to the academy network/Virtual Learning Environment with my own username and password.
• I will follow the academy’s ICT security system and not reveal my passwords to anyone, changing them regularly.
• I will only use my academy email address.
• I will ensure that all ICT communications with students, teachers, or others are responsible and sensible.
• I will be responsible for my behaviour when using the Internet, including the resources I access and the language I use.
• I will not share my login details with others and will be responsible for all activity that occurs under my login.
• I will not deliberately browse, download, upload, or forward material that could be considered offensive or illegal. If I accidentally encounter such material, I will report it immediately to my teacher.
• I will not give out personal information such as my name, phone number, or address, and will not arrange to meet someone unless it is part of an academy project approved by my teacher.
• Images of students and/or staff will only be taken, stored, and used for academy purposes in line with academy policy and will not be distributed outside the academy network without the written permission of the Principal.
• I will ensure that my online activity, both inside and outside the academy, will not cause distress or bring the academy, staff, students, or others into disrepute.
• I will respect the privacy and ownership of others' work online at all times.
• I will not attempt to bypass the academy’s internet filtering system.
• I understand that all my use of the Internet, email, and related technologies can be monitored and logged and made available to my teachers.
• I understand that these rules are designed to keep me safe and that if they are not followed, academy sanctions will be applied, and my parent/carer may be contacted.

Biometrics Permission

From 1 September 2013, the provisions in the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (governed by the Data Protection Act 1998) apply to any school, sixth form college, or further education institution where education is provided to children under 18 who use biometric identification, for example, attendance registration, cashless catering, and site access.

At the academy, we use biometrics solely for cashless catering. Money or free school meal credits are paid into students’ accounts, which may then be accessed at the tills using a fingerprint scanner. This reduces the need for students to carry cash around the academy.

The fingerprints (which are just partial fingerprints) are saved on a server as a code, not as a physical fingerprint. There is no way for us or outside agencies to view or use the fingerprint data. If parents or students are unhappy with the data being collected in this way, the student can be given a pin number to use instead.

Photographic Permission

I give permission for Co-op Academy Belle Vue to use or publish images in which my child is included and any reproduction or adaptation, either complete or in part. The images/films taken will be used in all internal and external media types. Use includes, but is not limited to: press, digital media, the academy website and subsidiary sites, printed materials, posters, and billboards. I understand that I do not own the copyright of the images/films, which shall be owned by Co-op Academy Belle Vue, nor do I have any other rights in or to the photographs/films.

Attendance and Absence

We, as the legal parents of the above-named child, confirm that upon accepting a place for our child at Co-op Academy Belle Vue, we will not take our child out of the academy during term time. This includes:

• Leave of absence to return to our home country for family meetings, etc.
• Leave of absence resulting in absence at the end of term or half term to accommodate flight times.

We will also ensure that:

• Our child will be present in the academy on the first day of the new term.
• Any religious festivals will be accommodated within the flexible timetable of the academy, and we will ensure our child is in attendance at the academy.

We understand that the academy may have the right to remove any student from the academy roll if they do not attend for over 10 consecutive days, and we understand that our child will lose his/her place in the academy, and the Local Authority will be informed that our child is missing in education.