Weekly Newsletters

In the process of changing our uniform the following key principles have been adhered:

• Smartness – ‘dress smart, think smart’
• Cost – not to impose any significant burden on uniform charges

This newsletter starts the awareness and there will be opportunity to offer your opinion alongside other stakeholders, such as the students themselves!
 

So what is proposed as a change?

• We a proposing that Years 7-11 will be required to wear a white collared shirt and tie.  The tie will be linked to your son/daughters house.  
• We will not prescribe where the shirt is purchased from, but the tie will need to be the school house tie at a cost of approximately £5-10 (maximum)
• We will retain the black trousers, shoes and jumper and cardigan.
• There will be a more defined dress code for Post16 students that further enhances the standard already expected of our Post16 students. This will be around smart business attire.
• Incoming Year 7 students (from September 2019) will be required to wear a blazer.  The blazer is optional for any other student outside Year 11 to purchase and wear.
• Please note that the polo shirt will no longer be part of the school’s uniform from September 2019.

I have begun to share this with students, the Student Council.  We plan to select a number of students to model the uniform during next half term so students can see what it will look like.  I will share with you updates and the feedback of the students. 
I believe this is a very exciting opportunity to further enhance the culture and ethos of the school.  I hope you also value we are being pragmatic but creative in changing one aspect of school life. 

As ever, I welcome your feedback, as parents and carers.  To do this, please use the school website (click here) in the first instance and make sure you leave your name and child’s name and contact details so we can get back to you.

Bryan Erwin
Principal

Mrs L Bamber
Head of Faculty: Art

If they haven't yet started it is not too late to begin. For Maths, students should be revising SMART using their PLCs to specifically target their individual areas of weakness. This can be done using the multiple resources they have access to. 

Maths academic catch up continues to run on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday for all years. As well as all Maths staff taking revision sessions, I am in 3U23 on each of these days primarily helping students with areas they are struggling with on the PiXL Maths app. 

One area that continues to frustrate me is the fact that students throw away silly marks due to either not having the right equipment or not knowing how to use it correctly. A cause of this issue for some is they do not bring the equipment to school with them every day to learn how to use it. If students do not have the correct equipment it can now be purchased using the school ParentPay system. Pencil cases with all essential equipment (pencil, ruler, rubber, sharpener, protractor and compass) are available for £3.00 and scientific calculators for £7.00 each.

Every week I send out resources that students can start using at home, called the final countdown. This may seem premature but there are only 59 teaching days to the first summer exam and revising gradually is much more effective than last minute cramming. Using the countdown alongside the PiXL Maths app and other revision resources, will really make the difference to closing the gap on areas students still have issues with. Please find attached week 3 and 4 of the extra questions students can do at home with the support of parents, as mark schemes and examiners reports are also attached. Every week I will continue to attach five topics that regularly appear on examinations. Students can also use their individualised PLCs on the PiXL Maths app to target areas of weakness, using the video tutorials and PowerPoints to help them better understand topics.

Revision guides are also available in school at cost price, saving you more than 50% on the rrp. There are 3 books available at £2.50 each and an answer book for £1. Please see your class teacher, Miss Harvey, or Mr Donnelly if you have paid for them through Parent Pay. 

The final PPE exams will start on the 11th March which is only 20 teaching days away!

Mr L Donnelly
Head of Faculty: Maths

Students attending lessons late or unprepared, chewing or wearing their uniform incorrectly, using their mobile phone without permission to do so, not completing their homework or talking when they should be working. These are all issues that teachers have to address in classrooms and consequently valuable learning time is taken away from other students.

Ken Stimpson is committed to ensuring that every child reaches their full potential. In order to help achieve this we are introducing a new behaviour system next week, targeted at low level disruption. Each low level behaviour incident recorded on connect will be worth 1 behaviour point. Behaviour point totals for each student will be calculated on a Monday morning for the previous week. If a student has received too many of behaviour points, they will be required to attend a Wednesday night detention for up to 60 minutes. As parents, you will of course be informed of this detention prior to the day. If any student fails to attend their detention, it will be escalated and may result in being placed in our Internal Exclusion Unit (IEU), if the issue hasn’t been resolved by the end of the week.

Of course it is important to note that this will only affect a very small number of students and that we will also continue to work to reward positive behaviour whenever and wherever we see it. We are always trying to improve the learning environment for all students. The behaviour system hasn’t changed and we want positivity and rewards to be the most important part of our school.

Miss J Harvey
Extended leadership team