Principal's update - 12 June 2026

Dear families

We all recognise how important attendance is. If your child is in Year 10, we are currently trialling a mentoring programme for selected students designed to further improve attendance across the year group. In all year groups, the challenge is to attend school every single day between now and the end of the year. Our attendance continues to improve with whole-school attendance reaching 93% yesterday an excellent improvement compared to 86% on the same day last year. We are working hard to continue this upward trend and are confident that we will soon exceed the national average.

There are many excellent initiatives currently taking place across the school, and we are proud to welcome Mark Sewards, elected MP for Leeds South West and Morley in 2024, who will be visiting us next Friday. He is keen to see first-hand the fantastic work happening at Unity and to celebrate the success of our school community. We are incredibly grateful that he has chosen to visit us and look forward to continuing to strengthen the outstanding connections we have built through our nationally recognised ‘Unity Community.’

It's already time for us to start welcoming our new students into the building. We have held two sessions in which incoming Year 6 students have come into school with their current teachers to get to know the environment, our teachers, and their new friends. These selected students have had a chance to become comfortable with our space ahead of the upcoming transition days we'll hold next month. One of the things I've most enjoyed about these days has been seeing the excitement of our current students when bumping into their primary school teachers on these tours. 

Our Summer Fayre is coming up on the 20th June, and I'm hoping that as many of you as possible can make it. These events are a great opportunity for us to develop stronger links with our community, and for our students to bridge the gap between their school and home lives. There will also be the raffle, with top prizes secured by Ms Parmar to include a Yamaha keyboard and a tablet. Do get your tickets on ParentPay if you'd like the opportunity to win. 

Next week will be our Year 7 parents evening. I know our teachers really value the opportunity to speak to families face to face about each child's progress, and it's one of the most powerful tools we have to ensure that each child is in school every day, on time, and ready to learn, fully supported by you all at home. 

I would like to remind families of our core value of respect, particularly when it comes to communication with Academy staff. I fully trust all of our team to communicate with respect, honestly and kindness, and I appreciate when that's reflected back to us from families. We are a busy school with hard-working colleagues who all endeavour to do the right thing, and I ask that you please meet us where we're at and treat each member of with that same respect.

Finally, we have made the decision to place Year 11 on half days during these last few days of exams. Expect to see your students home earlier than usual, and please do encourage them to continue studying in these final days. We will be celebrating their achievements at our leaver's assembly next week, and then again at prom in the near future!

James Inman

Principal