A message from the Principal

Welcome year 6 students. We are really looking forward to you starting in September and I hope that the information you find here is useful. Everyone at Ormiston Forge Academy understands that this must be a very strange time for you, even I remember moving to big school when I was your age. I want you to know what a fantastic place you are coming to, that we will look after you and if you promise to do your very best every day we will provide you with fantastic opportunities. Our students travel the world, play instruments, go to university, score goals, get good qualifications and smile; they smile a lot. I hope to see your smile in September.

I'm sure that you are aware that transition for September 2021 will be a little different this year. We’ll be updating this page with information that we send out to parents, the latest will be dated and at the top. If you have any questions or concerns, please email [email protected]

Thank you.

Dr Lisa Mason
Principal

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21st July 2021 - Arrangements for September

Dear year six parents,

Our update this week is a little different. We’ve announced all of our plans for our return in September and we wanted to share them with you too. We're mindful that there is lots of information in this document and it could be a little overwhelming. There is so much to communicate, we felt it was important to write directly to you and highlight some of the specific areas that are relevant to our new year 7.

We've already created lots of transition information which you can find here on the website including the student handbook. At the start of term, the aim is for us to have a mini-transition to replace those we have lost. We want year 7 to have the first two days without the rest of the main school (year 12 will be in) so that they can feel comfortable. We wanted to give you some details on how those first two days will look for the students. Many of these are standard expectations but there are a few that are specific to the first few days:

• We would like all students to be in school each day, wearing full school uniform.
• We would also like students to be fully equipped for school (a pencil case containing: pens, pencils, a ruler and rubber).
• Year 7 students will use the main school entrance to come into school, this will continue for the first half term.
• We would like students to be on site by 08:30 each day.
• For the first three days, we will be accepting cash in the canteen. If your child needs to buy food, please send them in with £3 in cash.
• There will be lots of different things going on in the first few days. Students will be getting to know their progress tutor, experiencing some lessons and logging on to the Academy computers and homework app for the first time.
• Students will also use the canteen system for the first time. To do this we need families to have returned the induction pack which contains permission slip for biometrics. If you have not returned that as yet, please do so.
• Students will also finish each day ten minutes before our normal finishing times. This is to aid the transition period whilst they settle into life at Forge.  Again, they will be dismissed via the main gate, this will also continue for the first half term. Here are the start and finish times for year 7:

Monday: 0830 - 1600
Tuesday: 0830 - 1500
Wednesday: 0830 - 1500
Thursday: 0830 - 1500
Friday: 0830 - 1305

We are absolutely delighted to be welcoming year 7 into school in September and want to ensure that they get the most from these updates and their transition into the Forge family. If you have signed your child up for summer school, they are in for a brilliant time. If you have any questions, please get in touch via the dedicated transition email address: [email protected]

Thank you for your continued support.

Yours faithfully,

Mr Michael Gill - Head of Year (year 7)
Miss Hannah Smith - Pastoral Leader (year 7)

19th July 2021 - First Day Tour

Our head of year 7, Mr Gill, shows our new year 7 students who are starting in September, the route they take on their first morning.

14th July 2021 - Transition from a student perspective

We asked some of our year 7 students what they thought about their transition from year 6 into Forge last year.

8th July 2021 - Greetings From Mr Gill and Miss Smith

1st July 2021 - Uniform Update and Summer School Reminder

We'll start the transition update today with a reminder about summer school. We have written to everyone who applied to confirm places - if you applied and haven't heard from us, please email [email protected]. We have some places left, the number of children in a group is still below ten and we have lots of outdoor activities. Please visit THIS LINK to learn more about summer school and register.

Our new uniform supplier is Crested Schoolwear and we are very grateful they sent us this video. Details about Crested Schoolwear can be found HERE and information about our uniform at Forge can be found HERE. Don't forget that all new year 7 students can claim a free blazer, the information about this is in your induction pack.

Finally, did you know that Sandwell council have a scheme that helps families on benefits to buy uniform You can find all of the details about the scheme here: www.sandwell.gov.uk/schoolclothing

Thank you.

29th June 2021 - Mr Daly Welcome

Our senior leader for key stage 3, Mr Daly, welcomes the cohort of year 6 students who will be starting at Forge in September 2021.

23rd June 2021 - Summer School

We are delighted to announce that we are going to run a summer school in the first week of the summer holidays for students joining us in year 7 in September.

The week will run from Monday 26th July to Friday 30th July from 9.30am until 1.30pm each day with breaktime and a lunch break. Activities over the week will include literacy, numeracy, art, STEM (science technology, engineering and maths), music and even a circus workshop. There will be sports activities on offer each day and orientation activities to help students get to know their way around Forge in preparation for September. Best of all, the entire week is free of charge!

Due to transition days being cancelled and our move to a virtual transition programme this is the ideal opportunity for new students to visit Forge and meet many of our staff who will be teaching them in September. We've been able to plan this because the pupils will not be going back into the primary settings after summer school.

Places are limited so book now by following this link: https://tinyurl.com/y9skzrew - it's a first-come, first-served process and we'll be writing shortly to all of the successful applicants with full details of the week including details of catering.

If you have any questions, please email [email protected]

Thank you.

18th June 2021

17th June 2021

You should have received the letter and the FAQ through the post this week, the booklet is an excellent resource that will help guide you and your child through transition.

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Content from 2020 Transition

We've decided to leave the content up from the 2020 transition programme to give you an idea of the things we'll be doing this year. If there is something else that you would like to see or feel that we've missed anything, please email us on [email protected]. Thank you.

24th August 2020

We're delighted to share some letters from current year 7 students who will be year 8 in September with our new year 7 students who will be starting with us in September.

27th July 2020

All the maths teachers at Ormiston Forge Academy are very much looking forward to meeting you. Normally during the transition weeks before the summer holidays, you find out about us, we find out about you and together we do some maths. Unfortunately, due to the transition weeks being cancelled we didn’t get to meet in person. However, hopefully completing this booklet you will be able to find out some facts about the maths teachers at Ormiston Forge Academy, do some research into some of our favourite mathematicians and do some maths either on your own or with your family/carers.

DOWNLOAD the booklet here

Additionally, www.numerise.com/secondary-ready/
is free to all learners until September 2020 and is designed to bring year 6 up to speed ready for maths in year 7.

16th July 2020

15th July 2020

Dear year six parents,

Our update this week is a little different. Today we’ve announced all of our plans for our return in September. I wanted to share them with you too. However, I’m mindful that there is lots of info in this document and it could be a little overwhelming. There is so much to communicate and we felt it was important to write directly to you and highlight some of the specific areas that are relevant to our new year 7.

The aim is for us to have a mini-transition to replace those we have lost. We want year 7 to have the first three days without the rest of the main school (year 12 will be in) so that they can feel comfortable. We wanted to give you some details on how those first three days will look for the students. Many of these are standard expectations but there are a few that are due to the circumstances we find ourselves in:

• We would like all students to be in school each day, wearing full school uniform.
• We would also like students to be fully equipped for school (a pencil case containing: pens, pencils, a ruler and rubber). We have a flyer being developed detailing exactly what you will need.
• Year 7 students will use the main school entrance to come into school, this will continue for the first half term.
• We would like students to be on site by 08:30 each day, this will continue for the first half term.
• For the first three days, we will be accepting cash in the canteen. If your child needs to buy food, please send them in with £3 in cash.
• There will be lots of different things going on in the first few days. Students will be getting to know their progress tutor, experiencing some lessons and logging on to the Academy computers and homework app for the first time.
• Students will also use the canteen system for the first time. To do this we need families to have returned the induction pack which contains permission slip for biometrics. If you have not returned that as yet, please do so.
• Students will also finish each day ten minutes before our normal finishing times. This is to aid a dismissal system inline with Covid-19 guidance. Again, they will be dismissed via the main gate, this will also continue for the first half term. Here are the start and finish times for year 7:

Monday: 0830 - 1600
Tuesday: 0830 - 1500
Wednesday: 0830 - 1500
Thursday: 0830 - 1500
Friday: 0830 - 1305

Click here to find the full plan.

We are absolutely delighted to be welcoming year 7 into school in September and want to ensure that they get the most from these updates and the transition days into the Forge family. We will continue to post our transition updates over the summer. If you have any questions before then, please get in touch via the dedicated transition email address: [email protected]

Thank you for your continued support.

Yours faithfully,

Mr Tom Daly
Senior Leader Key Stage 3
Ormiston Forge Academy

Please follow Government advice by washing your hands frequently and reduce your social interactions – here is some Government guidance on staying alert and safe: https://bit.ly/2T0FT7j

8th July 2020

1st July 2020

23rd June 2020

This week our transition update is about uniform. We've been talking to our uniform supplier - A Oakes - about their response to Covid-19 and we've produced a handy flyer with everything that you need on it. We know that you've already had this info in your welcome pack, including the £25 voucher, but we wanted to let you know that Mr Oakes is now open for business and has given us these assurances.

Until further notice, the opening time of the uniform shop will be: Monday to Saturday from 10am until 4 pm. The shop is closed all day on Wednesday and Sunday.

The shop can be found at:

A Oakes Limited
Oakend House
174-180 Vicarage Road
Oldbury
West Midlands
B68 8JB

The contact number for the shop is 0121 552 1684.

We'd also like to mention that the privacy policy for students that was included in your original welcome pack has been updated to include live learning. We have a legal requirement to inform you of this and you can find the updated policy by clicking here.

If you have any questions about the uniform or about the policy, email us at [email protected]

We appreciate that the update this week is geared more toward parents. Hope you don't mind. We have some great video content coming up over the next few weeks for students.

Thank you. 

Click here to download the uniform flyer.

17th June 2020

11th June 2020

Meet our progress tutors. This week, students joining us in year 7 in September will receive a letter from their progress tutor. We’ve popped the letters here too so you can meet them all. Click the form link to open the PDF from the tutor in a new window.

7AHL – Miss Howell
7ASO – Ms Sicignano 
7EBN – Miss Burton
7EPR – Mrs Porter and Mrs Broughton
7JLD – Mr Lloyd
7LCL – Mrs Colwell
7MCE – Mrs Clarke
7NHF – Mrs Hanif
7RDS – Miss Dass
7SCE – Mr Crocombe
7TLW – Mrs Law

2nd June 2020

20th May 2020