The night of Tuesday 15th of September will live long in the memory for Woodham Academy year 7 students as they were inducted into Woodham Sports Academy and presented with their Academy contracts. The night itself was a huge success with students and parents attending with pride as their sons and daughter received the recognition of their sporting talent. The contract signing means that students and the academy have roles to fulfil both for sporting performance, academic performance as well as behaviour. Academy Director, Mr Clough, says “The sporting contract is important as it gives students clear boundaries to work within for achievement in their subjects, maintaining high performance levels as well as following the academies behaviour policy. We believe that through sport we can target students to improve academically as sport instils certain values and beliefs that are needed to be successful”. Woodham has already seen the benefit of the Sports Academy as over 250 students have attended extracurricular clubs in the last two years. Not only have sporting academies flourished but so have students’ results and achievements. Woodham Academy now has students who compete regularly at regional, national and international levels. What is more, year 11 results have been outstanding with 87% of students achieving 5A*-C including English and Maths. This is proof that sport is having a positive impact on students’ achievements, aspirations and drive to succeed.
