George Dixon Academy

Hi, Year 8!

Year 8 Students and Families,

I hope you have all settled well into year 8. The year 8 team is led by Mr Burgher (Head of Year 8) and Mrs Small (Pastoral Manager).

Form Tutors:

The year group is divided into eight mixed ability form groups, each one led by a Form Tutor:

Support

Staff at George Dixon Academy are here to support students as they make their way through the school. We offer a range of support from informal discussions with students to more structured interventions such as the many mentoring programmes on offer. We are eager to help our students and rely on open communications to ensure we can quickly deal with any issues that may arise. Please contact your child’s form tutor in the first instance if you have something you wish to discuss with us.

Extra-Curricular

The academy provides a wide range of activities outside of conventional classroom time. It is important that students make the most of the opportunities on offer. This helps students settle into the new school year, make new friends and develop their social skills. Most departments in the school have additional sessions that further engage students and develop their knowledge and understanding. These are a great way to learn more in a specific area and make new friends with similar interests. Activities take place at lunchtimes and after school, and timetables are available in every classroom. It is recommended that all students take part in some form of extra-curricular activity to help them feel part of GDA. You can see our full timetable of extra curricular clubs here.

Achievement and Rewards

Student achievements are recognised and rewarded in several ways in Year 8. Students are registered on our Sleuth system where their teachers add positive comments. The following awards are also shared with students:

• Form Tutor student of the week 
• Head of Year student of the week 
• Department student of the week
• Committed Learner of the week 

You can see our latest nominations for the above here. Students in Year 8 can also receive letters and praise postcards from teachers and form tutors for their efforts. Now that COVID restrictions have eased it is hoped that we can reward students with end of term/end of year reward trips based on good attendance and behaviour.

Homework

Homework will be set on a fortnightly timetable. It is vital that your son/daughter completes homework fully to support/consolidate the learning done at school. The timetable is below:

USEFUL LINKS:

• Academy Council
• Committed Learners
• Extra Curricular Clubs
• Important Dates
• Our Staff
• Your Curriculum 

“Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.”