Welcome from the Executive Headteacher

Dear Parents, Carers and children,

It is my great pleasure to welcome you to Orchard Academy, a proud founder member of the East Midlands Academy Trust. At Orchard, I am proud to say with certainty that you will find a positive, family atmosphere in which we develop friendly, welcoming, confident and independent young people.

Orchard has an excellent reputation for the service we provide our pupils. In recent years, Orchard has grown from a two-class entry school to a three-class entry one, growing from accommodating 250 children six years ago to now having 360 pupils on-roll. This includes twenty-one pupils in our specialist social communication department for children with autistic spectrum condition, known as Aspen. Opened in January 2022 and funded by Milton Keynes City Council, the department offers a fantastic facility for children from Orchard and Shepherdswell Academies to learn and develop in a specialist environment.

In our classrooms, you will find calm, happy, purposeful and inclusive environments, with children who are engaged in their learning, make excellent progress and love their school. You will find highly professional staff who want the best for their children and wish to instil in them a love of learning.

Beyond the classroom, Orchard provides many wider opportunities through sport, modern languages and music. We additionally offer a range of educational visits and residential trips throughout each academic year to further develop our children’s independence and character.

Together with strong community links, we share leadership, staff and administration with our neighbouring infant school, Shepherdswell Academy, allowing us to offer the pupils a continuing broad and balanced curriculum at both key stages 1 and 2. Through the Orchard creed we encourage the children to celebrate diversity and respect others regardless of ability, gender, ethnicity or religion. We aim to sustain a happy, caring, supportive and positive learning community where each child can develop and extend their potential and achieve success.

I am excited to work alongside all our families to ensure our pupils have every opportunity to be the best they can be. We understand that parents are a vital part of our Orchard family. Parents and carers are a child’s first, best and most important teacher. We aim to build upon the positive relationship between home and school and invite parents to celebrate their child’s successes at as many events as possible. It is through working together that we will provide the children with an outstanding experience in preparation for secondary education, as well as the demands of modern living. In this endeavour, you will have our full commitment. Orchard is committed to working in partnership with parents and we welcome you to take full advantage of the many informal and formal opportunities to enhance the home-school relationship.

An exciting journey awaits all of us and we are so proud to be a part of it. Enjoy the journey. Enjoy success. Together, we will achieve!

Yours sincerely,

Ruth Ryan
Executive Headteacher