Start of term
This is a reminder that our school day starts at 8.40am when all students are expected to be in registration. The day pattern is as follows, with years seven, eight and eleven having an earlier break and lunch.

The formal day ends for all students at 3.10pm, with our Cygnus enhancement activities starting at 3.20pm on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

The new term starts on Wednesday 6th September 2023 for year sevens and twelves and Thursday 7th September 2023 for all other year groups.

Welcome evenings for year groups

As last year, we are running a series of short meetings for parents who want to hear about updates for the new year. We are holding these evenings next week via zoom and will issue invitation codes on the day. You are welcome to attend, with the opportunity to hear about developments at the school and our plans for the year.

Uniform
Please make sure that students are fully equipped with uniform and equipment for the start of term. Uniform requirements are published on our website. We continue to be committed to ensuring that uniform is affordable and reasonably priced. All students and new parents were reminded at the end of the summer term of our school policy that there should only be a maximum of one pair of ear studs, natural colour hair and no false nails / nail varnish. Students and parents have also been given advance notice that late timing of new piercings would not be an acceptable reason for failing to remove additional piercings.

6th Form Chromebooks

Year twelve parents will be sent a google form to complete containing important about the expectations and acceptable use of the chromebook devices. Upon completion of this form along with a £30 cash deposit, students will be issued with their brand new device. These devices after the two years will become the student's personal device that will be unlocked from the school system. If students wish to return these devices at the end of the two years, as long as they are in good condition, the £30 deposit will be returned.

RAAC

The issue of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) is dominating educational news. I want to reassure parents and students that RAAC is not in any part of our school premises. We are part of the rebuilding schools programme and we anticipate that investment in building a new school will commence in the next academic year.

Class Charts

We informed parents in June that we would be moving our main communication system to Class Charts from the beginning of this term. We plan for messages and information to be sent via both WeDuc and Classcharts over the next two weeks whilst parents make the transition. Please use the Class Charts code that will be sent to you by email over the next couple of days to activate Class Charts (app and webpage) and then you will be able to deactivate WeDuc.

Curriculum details

We have updated links for the school curriculum and parents can now access the details of their child's curriculum through either a faculty link or a year link. If you want to see progression in a subject across year groups, choose the faculty link. If you are a parent of a child in a particular year and want to see all the subjects in a year, choose the year link. This information will also be available via your child's class in google classroom.

Achievement and behaviour

Both positive achievement and behaviour are vital and as well as ensuring that parents are informed through the Class Charts app, we have further streamlined systems so that we can ensure that when students are rewarded, parents can see the achievements of students and students can rely on productive learning in all lessons. This will be shared with students in their welcome back assemblies.

iPay

We have transferred to a new payment system over the summer period. Communication containing app download details and access codes will be sent separately to your primary contact email address later today. Our new year sevens will receive a follow up email on Wednesday morning with their access codes.   

Welcome to new staff

We are pleased to welcome a number of staff new to the school. We have specialist teaching staff across all subject areas and an excellent group of support staff who ensure that students are well supported.

• James Bird - behaviour support assistant
• Christopher Moore - assistant head teacher
• Jason Nichols - head of sixth form
• Daniel Jose - head of year
• Lauren Measures - English teacher - intervention
• Edward Evans - mathematics teacher
• Zachary Menhinnitt - science teacher
• Vivyan Lisewski-Hobson - geography teacher
• Charlie Kelvey - pshce teacher
• Sharon Walters - food teacher
• Richard Clynick - MFL teacher

Welcome back!