Year 7 Welcome Back Bulletin

Dear Parents and Guardians, 

I hope this bulletin finds you well after the Christmas holiday and that you all had an opportunity to celebrate and spend time with loved ones. On behalf of the Year 7 pastoral team, I would like to congratulate all of our Year 7s for such impressive behaviour and achievements during their first term on the Secondary campus. I am confident the students can continue to build on this momentum in Term 2. 

 

Term 1 Report Reflections

At the end of last term, I asked the Year 7s to reflect on their Term 1 reports and to consider the positives and areas for development from the first term of learning. Reflection on progress over a period of time is a vital part of being a good learner. This term, we will be revisiting these reflections alongside the students’ SMART targets to ensure that all students understand what they need to focus on and how they can move forward with their learning. Not all students have completed these reflections yet so please have a conversation with your child to discuss the most recent report and to set some achievable goals for Term 2 – the reflection template can be found on Google Classroom. The aim is for students to revisit their SMART targets each report cycle and to embed a routine of reflection that will support them throughout their educational journey.

 

1:1 Tutoring

1:1 tutoring between the form tutor and the tutees will continue as usual this term and will often reinforce key foci around reflection and target setting. The 1:1s are also an opportunity for students to discuss their social and emotional perspectives in addition to sharing some of the successes happening outside school. 

The 1:1s are still a new routine for many of our Year 7s and thus were inconsistently attended at times during Term 1. Please support this initiative by checking when your child’s 1:1 is happening and ensuring they are able to access school slightly earlier on that given date (8am).  

 

Key Dates for Term 2

Term 2 will be separated by the Lunar New Year celebrations and will contain some important dates for your calendars. Next month on Tuesday 6th February we will have our first Parent–Teacher–Student Conference (PTSC) evening, which will be held on campus in addition to the offering of online appointments. This evening will be followed up by a second Strengths and Targets (S&T) report on 8th March. 

I will be emailing all Year 7 parents with further details regarding the PTSC sign-up process in the coming weeks. 

 

Summary of Important Dates

• Tuesday 6th February: Year 7 PTSC
• Friday 8th March: Year 7 S&T Report 

 

Celebrations

As discussed last term, so many of our Year 7s surpassed the 50+ house point milestone and claimed the bronze award during Term 1. The house system will continue this term, and I encourage Year 7s to continue to take opportunities for leadership, community foci and events happening around the campus. A reminder of the house point award system is listed below. 

• Bronze – 50 House Points
• Silver – 150 House Points
• Gold – 300 House Points
• Platinum – 500 House Points

As mentioned previously, thank you for your continued support of Year 7 this year. There are leadership opportunities coming up later in Terms 2 and 3 as we begin to turn our focus to the Year 6 to 7 transition, so I will be communicating those with students in the near future. I hope to see many of you at our PTSC next month and in future events around the campus. 

 

Best wishes, 

Mr Ioan Morgan