Dear Families

As is always the case at the start of the academic year, it’s been busy but positive and productive. Students have settled well back into academy life and I am particularly proud of our new Year 7s, who have made a fantastic start to their time at Wells.


It was wonderful to see so many Year 7 families at our Settling-In Evening earlier this term. Building strong partnerships between the academy and families is vital to ensure every student thrives, so I’d like to thank everyone who attended.

Open Mornings
I also had the pleasure of meeting several current and prospective families during our recent Open Mornings. It was a great opportunity to offer families the opportunity to tour the academy, visit lessons in action and ask questions about life at Wells. As always, it was a privilege to showcase the brilliant work of our students and staff on a typical day.


Clean Champions
It was a joy to join a group of our students in the local community as part of our Clean Champions project. This initiative, which we have run for the past few years, gives students the chance to give back to our local community and demonstrate our core value of 'Integrity' in action. I was particularly proud of our Year 8 student leaders, who supported our new Year 7s during this event and represented the academy so brilliantly.


Reading, reading, reading!
As you know, at Wells, we describe reading as ‘the key that unlocks the curriculum’! Our aim is to ensure that every single student becomes a confident and fluent reader, regardless of their starting point.

Every student in Years 7 – 10 spends the first 20-minutes of each morning reading with their tutor as part of our tutor reading programme. It’s a wonderful way to start the day and it’s always exciting when a tutor group reaches the end of one of their books! Over their time with us, students will read 16 carefully selected books, each linked to our core values of Integrity, Resilience and Ambition and our Personal Development curriculum.


Across Key Stage 3, students have also been learning about the link between reading and wellbeing in their library lessons and they celebrated this further during World Mental Health Day.


This term we also launched our Reading Lab, aimed at supporting Year 10 students in becoming confident, fluent readers. It’s been great to see teachers working with small groups of students to help them become expert readers.


Ambition in Year 11
It’s been an important term for our Year 11 students and I’ve been so impressed with their focus and determination. Our English team in particular has gone above and beyond, providing additional revision sessions in preparation for mock exams. Seeing students walking down the drive with revision notes and flashcards in hand has been so inspiring! Thank you to our Year 11s for setting an excellent example for younger year groups.



Everyday excellence
One of the best parts of my role is walking the corridors and visiting lessons. It’s a joy to see our expert teachers delivering powerful knowledge and our students so engaged in their learning!


Miss School, Miss Out
Our partnership with the Nottingham Hoods Basketball Team continues to provide fantastic opportunities for students. Many of our students were thrilled to recieve free tickets to one of the Hoods' games. Thank you to the Hoods for this fantastic opportunity!  


Music Mark
A special congratulations goes to our Performing Arts Faculty and Music Subject Lead, Ms Hutchinson, for receiving the Music Mark Certificate. The certificate recognises our commitment to high-quality music education.


Careers and work experience
Our programme of work experience has started for the new academic year, with Year 11 students recently visiting the British Army to explore future careers. More exciting opportunities are planned for the months ahead, including a series of trips and visits from local employers delivering workshops in the academy.


Ada Lovelace Day
Earlier this month, a group of our Year 8 girls represented the academy at MediCity in Nottingham for Ada Lovelace Day, celebrating women in STEM. This is the third consecutive year we have taken part and it was fabulous to be invited to be a part of a project aimed at inspiring young women in the fields of science and technology.


Fitness Studio
We were also delighted to officially open our brand new Fitness Studio this term, developed in partnership with TGS Gyms, the Nottingham Hoods and our colleagues at Greenwood Academies Trust. Students have already been making great use of the space, though I must admit, they definitely outperformed me when I joined them for a session!



The Student Book of Fundametnal Ideas
It has been wonderful to present each of our new Year 7 students with their own copy of our Student Book of Fundamental Ideas, a book written by our teachers which sets out the core knowledge and concepts of our curriculum at The Wells Academy. A digital copy is also available on the curriculum pages of our website for families who would like to take a look.


Wider opportunities
This term we have continued to expand our wider opportunities for students through clubs, activities and enrichment experiences. Our updated wider opportunities timetable will be published after the half term break.

As always, I’ve loved being involved in rehearsals for our production. Our next show is ‘Shrek: The Musical’ which promises to be another fantastic performance! Performances will take place from 11^th – 13^th February 2026, so save the date!

Head Student and Deputy Head Students
We were delighted to anounce our new Head Student and Deputy Head Students, following impressive speeches and a student vote within Year 11. I look forward to seeing them represent our academy with pride while embodying our core values of Integrity, Resilience and Ambition.


Looking ahead
Finally, a reminder that the academy reopens on Monday 3^rd November, at 8.20am. As always, our Breakfast Club will be open from 8am and all students are very welcome to attend.

Thank you for your continued support and a special thank you to all the families that completed our most recent Family Survey. I will be writing to all families at the start of next term to share further information in response to your valued feedback.

I look forward to seeing students and staff back after half term, refreshed and ready for another exciting term!

Best wishes

Mr G Coles
Principal