Welcome back to our Year 10 students and families

Dear Parents / Guardians,

 

Welcome back, I hope you had a restful and stress-free summer and are feeling positive about the new school year. As you know, I have recently returned after maternity leave and am looking forward to enjoying the year with our Year 10 students with the hope that this year will be much more ‘normal’ than the past two.

 

Our Year 10 tutor team consists of Dr Evan Murphy, Ms Anais Fenning and Ms Natasha Johnstone, with one of the tutor teams from last year being dissolved and absorbed by these tutor groups. Our team is fantastic and knows all of the students very well; this will, no doubt, help ensure that the students’ transition into Year 10 is smooth.

 

My hope for this year is that all students feel confident in their new courses, are demonstrating independence and are taking responsibility for their learning. I would love for the students to enjoy the whole year in school, to develop their friendships and to be consistently mindful of themselves and others. Myself and the tutor team are here to support your child and we all hope that they will approach us, or our Head of Wellbeing, Mr Jason Broderick, if additional support is needed.

 

This is an important year for our students as they embark on their IGCSE and BTEC courses. We begin the year with the hope that the choices made last year will be the right ones for each of the students, but are open to students making some changes if, after careful thought, research and communication with parents and teachers, they decide that a different course would suit them better. This comes with the caveat that there may be some restrictions with the timetabling and with class numbers, and no change is guaranteed to be able to work. We request that any changes in options come as soon as possible, and definitely by September 3rd.

 

Leading on from this, students are expected to be growing in independence as they progress through the school. Some students find the jump from Year 9 to Year 10 difficult and so it is wise for students to begin to organise themselves effectively from the very start of the year. Each student will have a diary that must be used; they are required to write down homework set and the date it must be handed in, alongside other key dates such as tests and coursework due dates. Parents are asked to sign these weekly and tutors will be checking diaries too. This is another line of communication between students, parents and tutors that we will be actively using this year. 

 

Of course, attendance at school is always important, but the stakes grow higher when students are covering IGCSE and BTEC content every lesson. If your child is to be absent from any lessons, then please ensure that you fill in the JotForm here (this can also be found under the ‘Parent Information’ section on the Hub) so that no follow-up action is taken. Students are also expected to contact each teacher for catch-up work; it is their responsibility to do this for every lesson missed.

 

Building on from last year, students will, in the first half-term, be setting SMART targets for each of their subjects after a conversation with their teachers. These targets will be reflected upon throughout the year in one-to-ones with their tutor teachers and are there to help focus and inspire our students. Weekly targets will also be set in the students’ diaries, and parents may wish to have a conversation with their children about these too.

 

Key dates for this term

• Student Target Setting in subject lessons – 13th – 24th September
• Settling into Year 10, Target Setting and Report Guidance Evening – 20th September
• Transition Reports Published – 30th September
• Swim Gala – 18th November
• Short Reports with Tutor Comments – Published 25th November

 

Lunchtime reminder

To accommodate the Education Bureau guidelines requirements about students eating arrangements at lunchtime, we will have to return to having two sittings, with set year groups having their lunch at certain times. Students will also need to eat their lunch in either the Canteen, Globe or Sports Hall.

The first sitting will be from 1:30-1:50 pm and will be for students in Years 7, 9 & 10.

The second sitting will be from 2:00-2:20 pm and will be for students in Years  8 & 11.

 

Uniform reminder 

As you know, students are expected to adhere to the uniform requirements of the school, including wearing black shoes and not having unnaturally coloured hair. The full uniform list can be found on the  Hub under ‘Parent information’ / ‘Uniform and Stationery’ and on page 123 of the student diary.

 

1:1 Tutoring

Students and tutor teachers will begin meeting for their 1:1 sessions from 30th August. Tutors will create and share a timetable for these with students. These sessions are incredibly important and valuable for many reasons and attendance is, of course, compulsory.

 

Finally, if you have any questions, your first point of contact is your child’s tutor. They may then contact me if required, and of course, you are also welcome to contact me for urgent matters. We are here to support your child in terms of their academics and wellbeing and look forward to enjoying a positive and productive year.

 

Best wishes,

Samantha Hine