Year 8 Welcome to Term 2

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Following on from the great success of Term 1, which culminated in the Green Bird award Mui Wo hike in December, this term is focusing on students completing their Green Bird award by ensuring they have adhered to the requirements – 10 hours of service; three months of developing a skill and six hours of participating in a sport. When they have completed the requirements of the award, they will have earned the Green Bird certificate and badge. This award is part of the pastoral curriculum in Year 8, and I have been really impressed by students’ engagement in this process. As this award is the foundation for the Award for Young People (AYP), I am hoping that many continue this journey in Year 9 by selecting the AYP Bronze award as an ECA which I am running. 

I am also urging all students to continue posting on the Marathon challenge Jotform any on-foot activities, which promotes their physical wellbeing. From a subject perspective, each student’s subject strength and target report will be published on Thursday 16th March. This is an excellent opportunity for students to reflect on their progress within each subject by highlighting what they are doing well and areas to improve.

Tutor Time

1:1 tutoring continues each morning, and your child’s tutor will have informed them when to attend. This provides an opportunity for the tutor to discuss any difficulties, provide support or just get to know their tutees better.

House Events

With the level of restrictions relaxing, we were able to run full House events in Term 1, and this will continue into Term 2. These events are led by our House Captains, and every Friday students partake in a house competition. The students will have the opportunity throughout the term to compete in whole-school events.  

SMART Targets

The start of the term is also a great opportunity to review the student-led SMART targets. Building on what they achieved last term is important and by setting their own targets, students tend to be more motivated to strive towards them. It is important that these are realistic, and I will be discussing them with students in the coming weeks.

Uniform/Hair

I would like to take this opportunity to remind all students of the expectations regarding school uniform. Particular reminders are that students wear plain black school shoes and school hoodies, jumpers and jackets. 

Key Dates:

30th January – 10th February: SMART Target Review

16th March: Year 8 Strength & Target Report Published

 

Best wishes,

Neil O’Maonaigh-Lennon
Head of Year 8

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