Headteacher Update
February 2023
Year 11 have concluded their first week of mock exams and it is pleasing to see how they have responded to the demands of an exam season. There have been a few issues along the way, but getting these ironed out now means that they won’t happen again when the real exams start in May. The year group’s commitment has been impressive and this is summed up by the fact that 145 out of 167 students attended very one of the lesson 6s that have been running for the last four weeks; this commitment is unprecedented, so well done and it looks like a lot of them will be getting their free leavers hoodie!
Year 9 students received the option booklet this afternoon to bring and home and read with you. This is a critical point in their education and a discussion at home is an important part of the decision they will make when deciding the subjects they will study at GCSE. Please remember to sign up for an SLT options appointment, if you haven’t done so already, as this is another important part of the process; options forms will be given out during this meeting. As I mentioned last week, all information can be found in the Options Section of our website.
Mrs Yellowley’s 3rd vlog can also now be found on our website. This vlog focuses on assessment and how we use it in class to track student progress through a subject curriculum. The vlog can be found here or in the How to Support Your Child section of our website.
In order to improve consistency for students our maths department are changing the days that maths homework is set for pupils in Years 7 to 10. It has been shown that homework completion and success is improved when there is a consistent message across the school around it. Therefore, from week commencing 27/2/23, all pupils will have maths homework set on a Tuesday which will be due for the following Tuesday. This will be regardless of the class they are in or when they have their maths lessons. The maths department hope this will lead to fewer opportunities to forget homework, as it makes it simpler for teachers, form teachers, parents/carers and, most importantly, the students themselves, to remember when homework is due. There will also be a drop in session with Mrs Farlow every Tuesday and Wednesday lunchtime in U20 for anyone who may struggle to complete homework at home, or who may need support in completing it.
If homework is not completed by 3pm on the Tuesday it is due, the head of maths, Mr Malkin, will send you a message to let you know. Your child will also be booked in for an after school detention on the Thursday of that week to get the work completed. We appreciate that there are often genuine reasons as to why homework can’t be done, so if it is completed before the Thursday, your child will have their detention cancelled. It is our hope that with your continued support, the number of students who need to do detention will be small. We would much rather students came to drop ins before the due date to get their work done and therefore avoid any sanctions.
Year 9 pupils will also be starting a new platform for their homework, Sparx Maths. More information will be posted to Year 9 parents and carers about this, and is available on the website, with the trial hopefully going out to other year groups later in the school year.
That’s all for now. I hope you have a good weekend.
Best wishes
Jonathan