23 January 2015

All Hallows Catholic College Newsletter Epiphany Term Friday 23 January 2015 COLLEGE PRAYER

SPECIALISM SUCCESS

Holocaust Memorial Day God who knows us, who never forgets us, we thank you that, when you ‘remember’ us, you gaze on us in a way that makes new worlds possible.

Help us to remember the horrors others have faced and face.

Help us to remember the people we’d rather forget.

Help us to remember the dark corners of our own lives, for you transfigure everything, bringing light and life.

Amen.

Specialism Success Last week we hosted 3 teachers from our partner schools in Xi'an, China. They were extremely impressed with how the pupils were actively involved and engaged in the lessons. They spoke about the interesting insights into our school system both from what they observed, and also from what they discovered by chatting to our Mandarin students, all of whom displayed great enthusiasm for the language and culture of China. They were very enthusiastic about the college farm and new football pitch and we all look forward to All Hallows’ link with their schools in Xi'an continuing with future exchanges.

Specialism Focus Allowing students thinking time to answer questions allows the teacher to ask higher order questions. This means the emphasis can be on pace of earning rather than ace of activities.

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

PRINCIPAL’S 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 FRESH MILK NOW AVAILABLE IN CANTEEN Students on free school meals can now get a 189ml carton of semi-skimmed milk every day for free from the school canteen.

This will not affect their free school meal allowance of £2.25, as this is additional. Students simply need to pick up the milk and take it to the till.

The milk is also available to students not on free school meals at a cost of 65p.

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 105 days left until the start of the Year 11 exams. Students who were more than one grade below flight path in their mock exams will be required to resit. These resits will take place on Saturday 7 February. 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 EXAM TIP

Is revising a shock to your system? - Get into it gradually by starting early and plan your timetable so that in week 1 you are doing up to 30-45 minutes a day. In week 2, up it by 15– 20 minutes a day. From week 3 aim for 90 minutes or more a day.

PARENT AS PARTNERS Supporting your child through their GCSE's can be difficult. One top tip is how to cope when your child falls behind with work. The solution is to help them prioritise their work load and create a plan that helps get the balance right with college work and social time. To help with this, all Year 11 students have been given a revision pack, that includes a revision timetable, which students are completing this week. Please ask to see the revision timetable your child will bring home and have a conversation around it. Future Link Publishing have also produced a useful guide for parents that contains 101 top tips to help. This can be accessed using the following link: http:// www.futurelinkpublishing.co.uk/publish/publications/GCSE.html.

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.

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.

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

Macclesfield Town Academy Taster Day Friday 23 January 7p.m - 8.30p.m.

SKI Trip Friday 13 February 2015—Saturday 21 February 2015

PTA Ice Skating Trip Saturday 24 January 2015

Celebration Assemblies Week Monday 2 March 2015

Parent Consultation Day—Year 11 and Sixth Form Wednesday 28 January 2015

Year 8 Pathways Evening Thursday 5 March 2015 —7p.m.-9.p.m.

Intermediate Maths Challenge Thursday 5 February 2015

Andalucía Trip Thursday 12 February 2015—Monday 19 February 2015

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

SCHOOL APPLICATION PANEL 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 rare 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 4 February (11.00 a.m. – 11.45 a.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 - 95.6% (down 0.2% on the previous week) Year 8 - 95.8% (down 0.6%) Year 9 - 96.2% (up 0.4%, well done Year 9) Year 10 - 94.1% (up 0.1%, well done Year 10 but still too low) Year 11 - 94.6% (up 0.2%, well done Year 11) Year 12 - 96.03% (up 2.8%, well done year 12) Year 13 - 95.66% (up 1.56%, well done Year 13)

96.50% 96.00% 95.50% 95.00% 94.50% 94.00% 93.50%

93.00% YEAR 7 YEAR 8 YEAR 9

YEAR 10

YEAR 11

YEAR 12

YEAR 13

Attendance last week was 95.2% (a decrease from 95.3% in the previous week and 0.3% lower than the same week last year. Our overall attendance since 2 September is still 95.3%. We aim for 97%.

Last week GIRLS attendance was 95.7% (up 0.2% on the previous week so well done girls), BOYS attendance was 94.7% (down 0.4%).

For the second week running girls attendance has been better than boys. 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 be 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 WW1 EXPLORED THROUGH REAL OBJECTS

Year 10 English and History students, who are studying aspects of the First World War, have been exploring a box of objects on loan from the Imperial War Museum this week. The box contains item such as a jam tin bomb, replica training rifle and Princess Mary gift tin. The idea behind the project is to allow students to handle seventeen real and replica items and learn about the stories behind them.

BOOK GROUPS There are 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 The Librarian is 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).