Academy News

Emily has truly impressed everyone in the dance department this week. Her dedication and passion for dance are clear in everything she does. As an active member of the Year 7 dance club, Emily consistently demonstrates her skills and enthusiasm during sessions. She is always striving to improve, showing a positive attitude and a strong commitment to her development as a dancer. Well done Emily!

The unpredictable weather in January hasn’t phased our students and Team PE, who have shown determination, drive and teamwork in their fixtures this week. Check out the results below:

Year 7 & 8 Indoor Athletics are through to the next round

Congratulations to our entire Year 7 and 8 Indoor Athletics team, who have qualified for the second round of the North Somerset Indoor Athletics Finals. We had some incredible team performances, particularly our Year 7 Girls, who came in a strong second.

We want to give a big shout out to Anna, Penny, Lexi, Lottie, George and Isaac, who each won their events. Well done! 

Year 7 finally gets their Netball tournament 

After being postponed last term and almost postponed again this week due to the rain, the Year 7 Netball team had a resounding success, with both teams playing great netball and showing amazing teamwork. 

The Purple team came 4th out of 9 teams. The player of the tournament was Lottie. The Navy team were undefeated, narrowly missing out on the title on goal difference but finishing an amazing 2nd out of 8 teams. Their player of the tournament was Rebeka. Congratulations to Lottie and Rebeka. 

Well done to all who participated in the tournament and attended Netball club and matches in Terms 1 and 2. Team PE are excited to see how KS3 get on in their hockey matches in Terms 3 and 4.

Year 10 Rugby are through to the Semi-Finals

Check out Mr Redman’s match report :

“Ralph Allen were the visitors for this eagerly anticipated County Cup match, played out on a quagmire of a pitch. Both teams went toe-to-toe from the off, with the commitment there for all to see. Churchill’s territorial dominance eventually paid off when they went ahead after twenty minutes, only for Ralph Allen to reply almost immediately to level the scores. With half time fast approaching, Churchill went through the phases, built pressure, and crashed over to take a 14-7 lead at half time.

The second half followed a similar pattern, but it was Ralph Allen who scored next, though they missed the conversion to leave Churchill with a slender 14-12 lead. Both teams had chances to add to the score, but the game came down to the final play when Ralph Allen was awarded a penalty and a chance to snatch the win. The kick looked on straight to begin with, but drifted agonisingly wide of the posts, much to the relief of the Churchill boys. 

The game was played with full commitment and in great spirit throughout, with both sets of players showing respect for each other after the final whistle. Churchill now waits to find out who their semifinal opponents will be.” 

IPL U13 Boys Cricket team visit Ashton Park 

The team travelled to Aston Park to take part in Round 1 of the IPL tournament.  They played two games, winning one and drawing one, which has progressed us through to round two. 

Player of the day was Barnaby, who had a showstopping moment with an incredible one-handed catch! 

Somerset Football Cup Goes to Penalties 

Our U15 team played Gordano School in the Somerset Football Cup. It was an incredible game of football, with lots of drama and chances for both teams. The game ultimately went to penalties, which saw a magnificent penalty save by Josh. 

In the end, Gordano took the win with a final score of 4-2. Bring on the next round! 

Joshua, in Year 10, enjoyed a special opportunity over the Christmas break when he was selected to be a flag bearer at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for the Spurs vs Liverpool match. Walking out onto the pitch in front of thousands of fans was an exciting and unforgettable experience, and one that made us all incredibly proud.

We are delighted to announce that tickets are now on sale for our upcoming production, which is shaping up to be an unmissable run! Along with an unbelievably talented cast and production team, we have the UK tour set all within a professional theatre.

The shows will be held at the Playhouse Theatre in Weston-Super-Mare from the 25th to the 27th February 2026. 

Cast Performances

Opening Night and the Thursday evening performance will feature the Bend Cast on stage. The Snap Cast will perform the Thursday Matinee before returning to the stage to bring it home on Friday night with a show-stopping performance. You can expect high energy and confidence from both cast and crew.

Performance Schedule

• Opening Night – Bend Cast

• Thursday Matinee – Snap Cast

• Thursday Evening – Bend Cast

• Friday Night – Snap Cast

Don’t miss out! Tickets will sell fast, so make sure to secure yours and come along to support our incredibly talented students.

Ticket prices are £23 (Adult) / £19 (Children) per person and must be purchased in advance. 

We can’t wait to welcome you to the audience, and we encourage you to wear a touch of pink!  

Get your tickets here.

In October, we asked families of students in Years 7 and 12 to complete a “settling-in” survey to help us understand how the transition into a new phase of education at Churchill had gone. 

We had a fantastic response to the survey and we’re pleased to share the outcome with you. 

Benchmarking

The results from the survey have been benchmarked against responses from similar schools, helping us gain a clear understanding of how the Academy compares with feedback from families at comparable schools nationwide. The image below provides an overview of the data for each question and how the Academy tracks against the benchmarked data.

As you can see from the breakdown above: 

• 89% of families feel their child has a good experience of school at Churchill Academy & Sixth Form, compared to 75% nationally - a 14% difference! 

• 92% of parents said it was easy to contact the school, beating the national benchmark by 10%. 

• Our responses to families scored 11% higher than the national benchmark

• Satisfaction with the amount of communication received from the school is 18% higher than the national benchmark

Student Transition Programme

Our Admissions and Transition teams have developed a transition programme that helps students moving from primary education or into post-16 education adjust to a new way of learning and their new environment seamlessly and positively. 

We’re proud to share that the provision we offer has been endorsed by our families as good as, or better than, the national average on every single metric across the questionnaire. 

 

Additional Feedback

Families also had the opportunity to give us feedback in free text. Parents of Year 7 students noted:

• That their children particularly enjoy the variety of subjects offered, including favourites such as Art, Drama and Spanish. 

• Making friends and participating in extracurricular activities, such as sports and clubs, were significant highlights. 

• Parents mentioned the supportive teachers and the school environment that encourages independence and new experiences.

• The food choices and improved lunches compared to primary school were mentioned positively, along with the school’s commitment to nurturing students.

Sixth Form parents were also very positive about the transition into post-16 education. One family commented, 

“He likes all his teachers, the quality of teaching, the site layout and the level of trust they are given as students in year 12.”

Another said… “[she] Likes the teachers, likes the familiarity, likes the independence and the fact she is treated more grown up now that she is in 6th form. It is also very local, modern and has a lovely green space.” 

Another said… “we are so grateful that we were offered a place in sixth form!” 

Areas for Improvement

The survey also provided us with helpful points to ensure we keep improving our provision, including clear communication around specific areas and information for students unfamiliar with Churchill, concerns about site cleaning in certain areas of the school and feedback about the lunch queues. With this crucial feedback, we have been able to address all of these issues and ensure that we make the experience for families in the future even better than it is now. 

Outcome

We are very grateful to all the families who took the time to complete the survey - both for the positive endorsement of our transition arrangements and for the helpful feedback to help us improve further. 

In addition, we are proud to confirm that the Academy now holds the Parent Friendly Schools charter mark, and we look forward to working more closely in partnership with families to ensure students have access to the best possible experience at secondary school and sixth form. 

This year, for the first time, the Academy has partnered with Axiom Maths, a national organisation who aim to "help every child with the heart and head for maths realise the potential of their power". 

Around 20 Year 7 high attaining and enthusiastic mathematicians were selected at the beginning of the academic year and have been attending Axiom Maths 'circles' twice a week. Each session has involved tackling a series of interesting, challenging maths problems or puzzles, with students encouraged to display the 3 A's: being adventurous, being articulate and being accepting. 

We have been very impressed and proud of the level of commitment shown by all Axiom Maths students and we are looking forward to starting a new block of Axiom maths problems in the new year.

Thank you also to Keziah, one of our Sixth Form mathematicians and an Axiom Maths Junior Mentor. She has been pivotal in setting up Axiom Maths at Churchill Academy & Sixth Form and I know she has been a huge help to students whilst working on the mathematics during our Axiom sessions.