16 january 2015

All Hallows Catholic College Newsletter Epiphany Term Friday 16 January 2015 COLLEGE PRAYER

SPECIALISM SUCCESS

Prayer for Christian Unity & Peace

Year 12 BTEC Business students have acted as fantastic ambassadors for All Hallows this week in accompanying Mrs J Lynch to visit 4 primary schools to judge The Time 2 Change Competition. As part of the Unit 'Managing a Business Event', the Business students listen to presentations and ask 'interview style' questions of groups of Y5 and Y6 who worked on The Time 2 Change Project in the lead up to Christmas. Each group came up with a business idea, costed and priced products and marketed their idea before selling products at Christmas Fairs. The BTEC Business students were very impressed by what they saw, finding judging difficult at times because the standard was so high. In the end they managed to find a winning team from each school to come to All Hallows in March 2015 for The Final Celebration when the overall Winner of The Time 2 Change Competition 2015 will be announced. Further primary schools will be judged over the coming week, with all 21 BTEC Business students having had the opportunity to take part in judging. In the process of participating in this competition, the primary schools have raised hundreds of pounds for a vast range of charities, with one group of Y5 students in one school raising over £90. Congratulations to all students who have taken part this week!

God of unity & reconciliation, Following Jesus' example, make us witnesses to your love.

May we become instruments of justice, peace and solidarity.

May your Spirit move us towards concrete actions that lead to unity.

May walls be transformed into bridges.

Through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

FOR YOUR PRAYERS It is with great sadness that we learnt of the death of one of our former students Mr Abe Vincent aged 22. Abe completed his A-Levels with us in 2011 before taking up his place to study Mathematics at Lancaster University. Abe was a very popular, able and well respected student with both his teachers and his peers. He worked as a member of the Lourdes group supporting pilgrims through fundraising and his tireless work on the annual pilgrimage. Abe has been battling cancer for a couple of years and sadly passed peacefully at home on 9th January 2015. He will be greatly missed by everyone who knew him. His positive attitude was inspirational. The Vincent Family have set up a donation page through 'Just Giving' for Bone Cancer Research in memory of Abe. The page has raised over £3,000 in the last few days - If you would like to make a donation please follow this link: https://www.justgiving.com/AbeVincent/. We ask for you to keep Abe, his family and friends in your prayers during this time.

ARRANGEMENTS FOR PARENT CONSULATION DAY Wednesday 28 January 2015

Wednesday 13 May 2015

Year 7

Attend College Work Related Learning Activity Day (My Dream Job)

Attend College Activity Day

Year 8

Work Related Learning Reading Blog from home (Careers Theme)

CONSULTATION DAY Reading Blog at home when not in for appointment

Year 9

Home Study (Mathematic work to be set)

Work Related Learning Reading Blog from home (Careers Theme)

Year 10

Home Study (English work to be set)

CONSULTATION DAY Reading Blog at home when not in for appointment

Year 11

CONSULTATION DAY Reading Blog at home when not in for appointment

Home Study—Science Revision Study in College/Exams

Sixth Form

CONSULTATION DAY Home Study

Revision Day/ Private Study In College for at home

PRINCIPALS SURGERIES Parents / Carers are invited to attend a Principal's Surgery to discuss any concerns or ask questions, on the following dates There is no appointment system so please be prepared to wait

Thursday 29 January '15, 9am - 10am

Wednesday 11 March '15, 9am - 10am

Tuesday 10 February '15, 3.45pm - 4.45pm

Tuesday 24 March '15, 3.45pm - 4.45pm

All Hallows Catholic College Newsletter Epiphany Term EXAM INVIGILATORS REQUIRED FOR MAY/JUNE 2015

AHCC wishes to recruit full or part-time invigilators in preparation for GCE/GCSE exams in Summer 2015.

Training will be provided for successful applicants subject to validated DBS Checks.

Job Description 

Applicants should enjoy working as part of a team. They should be interested in working in a college environment and in supporting our candidates at this stressful time in their college career.



The position is ideally suited to responsible, punctual, calm, organised and approachable individuals.

Main duties include: 

Supervision of candidates during exams.



Secure distribution & collection of exam papers.



Compliance with JCQ regulations.

Please e-mail expressions of interest to admin@allhallows.org.uk or telephone 01625 426138.

COLLEGE INTERNAL EXAMS / ASSESSMENTS

Year Group

Dates

Type

12&13

Monday 9 March 2015—Friday 13 March 2015

Mock Exam

10

Monday 16 March 2015—Friday 20 March 2015

Mock Exam

7,8,9,11

Monday 16 March 2015—Friday 27 March 2015

Assessment

7,8,9

Monday 15 June 2015—Friday 19 June 2015

End of Year Exam

10

Monday 15 June 2015—Friday 26 June 2015

Assessment EXAM COUNTDOWN

There are 119 days left until the start of the Year 11 exams. Students who are more than one grade below flight path in their exams will be required to resit. These resits will take place on a Saturday 31 January. For all Year 11 students a revision booklet is available on the college website under Student revision. Further details will be sent shortly to parents of those students required to resit PARENTAL GATEWAY

Reports for Years 7, 9, 11, 12 and 13 are now available to view on the Parental Gateway. Reports will all be issued in this electronic format unless a paper copy is requested. Tasc Software, the makers of the software we use, are now offering access to the Parent Gateway using an app for iPhones, ipads (IOS 8.1 minimum) and also most Android devices. The app can be downloaded from the App Store or Play Store by searching ‘Tasc Insight’ and costs £2.49. The Parental Gateway is also accessible for free from any internet enabled device through common web browsers using your user name and password.

PARENT AS PARTNERS Residents have expressed concern about children who are picked up near the junction of Field Bank Road. They are concerned that parking has an effect on traffic flow at busy times with the potential for an accident. The College would be very grateful if parents would consider safety before anything else when parking to pick up their children. The College also politely requests that parents are considerate to residents, for example by not parking across driveways even briefly.

All Hallows Catholic College Newsletter Epiphany Term TRIPS AND UPCOMING EVENTS Geography drop-in session KS4/5 students every Thursday 3:30p.m.- 4:30p.m.

The session will provide assistance on case studies, exam questions and key terms.

Christian Unity Week Monday 19 January 2015 Macclesfield Town Academy Taster Day Friday 23 January 7p.m - 8.30p.m.

PTA Ice Skating Trip Saturday 24 January 2015 Parent Consultation Day—Year 11 and Sixth Form Wednesday 28 January 2015 Intermediate Maths Challenge Thursday 5 February 2015

AHLC Basketball Tournament Wednesday 11 February 2015 - 1p.m.-3p.m.

Andalucía Trip Thursday 12 February 2015—Monday 19 February 2015 SKI Trip Friday 13 February 2015—Saturday 21 February 2015 Celebration Assemblies Week Monday 5 March 2015 Year 8 Pathways Evening Thursday 8 March 2015 —7p.m.-9.p.m.

Year 11 photos Tuesday 10 March 2015 Year 12 and 13 Mock Exam Week Monday 9 March 2015 Year 7, 9 and 11 Assessment Week Monday 16 March 2015

INDEPENDENT EDUCATION APPLICATIONS Applications are invited for new panel members to join independent education appeals panels in Cheshire East.

If you have an interest in education and feel able to offer some time, we would be most grateful to hear from you. Appeals are heard Monday to Friday during normal office hours.

Each panel is made up of three members who are independent of the Local Authority. The panel hears admission appeals against decisions not to admit children to particular schools.

Applications are invited from people of all backgrounds as the panel is made up of lay members and those with experience in education. A lay member is a person without personal experience in the provision of education in any school (disregarding experience as a school governor or in another voluntary capacity). A member with experience in education is a person who has experience in education (such as a retired headteacher or teacher); or has knowledge of educational conditions in the local area or is a parent of a registered pupil at a school.

Full training will be provided for new members and if you are successful you would be required to attend a training day on Tuesday 21 April 2015.

The work is unpaid but panel members are eligible to receive travel allowances for all meetings they attend.

If you are interested in becoming a panel member, please contact Brett Dainty by email: brett.dainty@cheshireeast.gov.uk or telephone 01270 686469 for an application form and more information.

PEANUT & NUT ALLERGIES

A number of our students have allergies to nuts. In some cases they will only react when they touch or eat nuts, but in other cases their reaction may be caused when traces of nuts are in the air. It would help these students if nuts or nut related products were not brought into school. We thank parents and students for the co-operation with this matter.

All Hallows Catholic College Newsletter Epiphany Term STUDENT SUPPORT ACROSS THE COLLEGE NAME

JOB

Mrs J Pilling

Careers Advisor

Student Support Office

Mrs L Nolan

Visyon Counsellor

Student Support Office

Mrs J Jones

College Nurse

Student Support Office

Mrs P Shatwell

Family Support

Office next to rooms A9 and A10 Pastoral Office (ground floor of Fisher Building)

Education Welfare bullying@allhallowslearning.org.uk beingme@allhallowslearning.org.uk esafety@allhallowslearning.org.uk

MON

TUES

WED

Mrs J Beard and Mrs P Prince

THUR

FRI

VENUE

emails will be read by a Senior Teacher

= Staff Present MEDICAL APPOINTMENTS DURING THE COLLEGE DAY

Students must sign out at the Attendance Office before leaving College to attend a medical appointment. When they return to College the student must sign back in. This ensures registers will be accurate and we know the student is off site should we have a fire alarm. The Attendance Office is located in the office along the RE corridor. We thank parents for making medical appointments, where possible, that do not take up a whole day of schooling. This often allows a student to have their legal registration mark for both morning and afternoon sessions and so their overall attendance does not fall.

BEING PUNCTUAL AT ALL HALLOWS

Most students appreciate the importance of being in College on time. Children who are regularly late do miss out on their education and form bad habits that will not be tolerated in the workplace.

As a result of the change to the College day we need to inform parents that students must be in the registration form class for the register to be taken at 8.45a.m. This means students should arrive 5-10 minutes earlier in College to be on time.

Any student who arrives after 8.45a.m. will receive a L code. Two L codes within a week will result in a whole college detention (which started on Thursday 6 November). This is a recent change in procedures and moves the detention away from the form tutor and it will now be seen as a whole college issue.

Any student who arrives after 9.05a.m. will receive a U code. This means they will be classed as absent for the whole morning and this may have consequences for overall attendance.

We are aware that College buses are sometimes late and we can confirm these students are not negatively marked in the register when this happens.

Thank you for your co-operation in this matter.

CAREERS ADVICE FOR STUDENTS

If any parent would like their son or daughter to have a careers interview with Mrs Pilling, our Careers Advisor, this year then please notify the relevant Year Learning Leader who can ensure names are added to the list. Priority is now with Year 10 students (now Year 11 have all been seen) and also with sixth form students. Students in Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9 are welcome to attend her lunch time drop in. She uses the Student Support Office based next door to Music.

YEAR LEARNING LEADER “DROP IN SURGERIES” Year 7: held on 21 January (11.00a.m.—11.45a.m) and 4 February (11.00a.m—11.45a.m.)

Year 8: held on 11 February (1.15p.m. – 2.15p.m.) and 25 March (1.15p.m. – 2.15p.m.)

Year 9: held on 2 February (9.00a.m. – 10.00a.m.) and 16 March (9.00a.m. – 10.00a.m.)

Year 10: held on 6 February (1.15p.m. – 2.00p.m.) and 27 March (1.15p.m. – 2.00p.m.)

Year 11: held on 2 February (2.30p.m. – 3.30p.m.) and 24 March (9.45a.m. – 10.45a.m.)

These are for parents who would like to discuss any concerns relating to their child. No appointment is necessary but please be prepared to wait. Please contact our Pastoral Assistant (Pastoral@allhallows.org.uk 01625 410285 x215), should you require an appointment with a Year Learning Leader at any other time.

All Hallows Catholic College Newsletter Epiphany Term The following are the remaining dates for training days in 2014-15. Students are not required to attend on Friday 13 February 2015 and Friday 22 May 2015 unless taking an external exam.

COLLEGE TERM DATES Term

College Opens to Students

College Closes to Students

Epiphany

Monday 5 January 2015

Thursday 12 February 2015

Easter

Monday 23 February 2015

Thursday 2 April 2015

Whitsun

Monday 20 April 2015

Thursday 21 May 2015

Trinity

Monday 1 June 2015

Tuesday 21 July 2015

ATTENDANCE MATTERS

Year 7— 95.8% (3.7% on the previous week, Well done Year 7!)

Year 8— 96.4% (up 2.6%, Well done Year 8!)

Year 9— 95.8% (down 0.1%) Year 10— 94.0% (up 1.7%, Well done on the increase but you are still the lowest in the college so more work to do Year 10!)

Year 11— 94.4% (Up 2.1%, Well done Year 11 but you are still 0.6% lower than Year 11 last year during the same week) Year 12— 93.64% (1.8% down on last week, come on Year 12!)

Year 13— 94.16% (0.5% down on last week, come on Year 13!)

97.00% 96.50% 96.00%

95.50% 95.00% 94.50% 94.00% 93.50% 93.00% 92.50% 92.00% YEAR 7

YEAR 8

YEAR 9

YEAR 10 YEAR 11 YEAR 12 YEAR 13

Attendance last week was 95.3% (an increase from 93.2% in the previous week and 0.1% higher than the same week last year and also our best for 6 years at this time of year). Our overall attendance since 2 September is still 95.3%. We aim for 97%.

Last week GIRLS attendance was 95.5% (up 1.9% on the previous week so well done girls), BOYS attendance was 95.1% (up 2.3%). The overall girls attendance since 2 September is 94.9% whilst boys is 95.8%.

ATTENDANCE COMPETITION All students in Year 7 and Year 8 are challenged to full 100% attendance between Monday 2 February and Thursday 12 February. Those students who achieve this will entered into a prize draw for £25 worth of Amazon vouchers. The same competition will run for Year 9, Year 10 and Year 11 students just before Easter and for all students between Years 7 to Year 11 in the summer term.

This first competition is a challenge to Key Stage 3 students to not let their attendance slip at the end of a term.

HOLIDAY ABSENCE FROM COLLEGE Holidays have not been authorised since 1st September 2013 under new legislation on all English schools. Requests for holidays must still be made in writing to the appropriate Key Stage leader (Mrs Garvey KS5, Mr Blades KS4/KS3), but in the vast majority of cases they will be unauthorised. A Fixed Penalty Notice may be issued of £60 per parent / carer per student, to be paid within 21 days, otherwise the penalty will rise to £120 per parent / carer to be paid within 28 days. If the penalty remains unpaid then the matter will proceed to the Magistrates Court where you will receive a criminal record if you are found guilty. Please can all holiday requests be made well in advance of the holiday being taken if not before the holiday is booked.

MEDICAL ABSENCE FROM COLLEGE Whilst the College requires parents to contact us on each day of absence , school policy now requires that any student who accumulates 7 or more days of absence during the course of the academic year will be asked to provide medical confirmation of the need to be absent before any further absences are authorised for medical reasons. This is a necessary measure as we closely monitor absence due to illness / medical reasons in order that we can ensure students are supported where needed. For your information medical confirmation does not have to be a doctor's note but can also take the form of a medical appointment card, a copy of a relevant dated prescription or evidence of medication being taken If no medical evidence is provided then the absence will be coded as unauthorised. Ten or more unauthorised absences may result in you receiving a Fixed Penalty Notice. This incurs a penalty of £60 per parent / carer to be paid within 21 days, otherwise the penalty will rise to £120 per parent / carer to be paid within 28 days. If the penalty remains unpaid then the matter will proceed to the Magistrates Court where you will receive a criminal record if you are found guilty.

The link between attendance and achievement is well researched and documented and students should be aiming for an attendance rate of no less than 97% over the year. Thank you for your continued support with this important issue.

All Hallows Catholic College Newsletter Epiphany Term

LIBRARY AMNESTY Having recently swapped library management systems, the College librarian needs to make sure that our library stock is up to date. Therefore, if all overdue library books can all students and staff return as soon as possible, it doesn't matter how long ago they were taken out! There is a returns box on the desk in the top library where they can be left or they can be handed in to Ms Sinclair. Your support in this matter is much appreciated.

BOOK GROUPS I have set up two groups: the Text Factor book group for Year 7 students and Page Turners for Year 8 & 9 students.

If any students are interested in joining they should see Ms Sinclair in the Library.

COMPETITIONS I am currently running two competitions open to Year 7 & 8 students with prizes of Wimpy Kid and Dork diaries to be won. All details are available from form tutors, English teachers or the Library.

FITNESS SUITE Students are now able to use our fantastic new Fitness Suite.

Those students who have completed a Fitness Suite .

Induction and wish to use the facilities must sign up on the day using the sign up sheet on the notice board in the Sports Hall.

Places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis, up to a maximum of 28 students for each session.

The following sessions are available: Monday - Y7/8 (mixed) until 4.30p.m.

The Fitness Suite is also open at lunch (second Tuesday - Y7/8 (girls only) until 4.30p.m. break).

Wednesday - Y9/10/11 (girls only) until 4.00p.m.

Any queries please contact Mr Lawson or a member Thursday - Y11/Sixth form (mixed) until 4.30p.m. of the PE staff for more information.

Friday - Y9/10 (mixed) until 4.30p.m.

EXTRA-CURRICULAR GIRLS NETBALL

Year 10, 11 and Senior Netball Practice starts again this Thursday Break 2 in the Sports Hall.

All girls' GCSE students in Year 11 must attend in preparation for their practical exam. *Only trainers required, no need to fully change. Any problems please see Miss Gowing ASAP. GYMNASTIC CLUB

Year 7, 8 and 9 girls welcome at Gymnastics club every Thursday 3.30-4.30pm.

Please bring your PE kit and meet in the changing rooms.

BOYS STREET DANCE CLASS

Boys' Hip-Hop classes continue Monday afterschool 3:30p.m.- 4:30p.m. in F17 (Dance Studio)