25 april 2015

All Hallows Catholic College Newsletter Easter Term

COLLEGE PRAYER

SPECIALISM OF SUCCESS Congratulations to the April students who have been named linguist of the month. We celebrate linguists of the month who are students who seize the opportunity to use the language they are learning as the natural means of communication. They are not afraid of making mistakes and use all the resources available to them to express themselves in the foreign language.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Friday 25 April 2015

GOOD SHEPHERD SUNDAY Lord Jesus, you are the Good Shepherd. In you I place all my hope and I entrust myself to you completely. In your plan for our salvation you provide shepherds for your people. Fill your Church with the spirit of courage and love and raise up worthy ministers who are passionate but gentle servants of the gospel. Amen.

ARRANGEMENTS FOR PARENTS CONSULTATION DAY Wednesday 13 May 2015 Year 7

Attend College Activity Day

Year 8

CONSULTATION DAY Reading Blog at home when not in for appointment

Year 9

Work Related Learning Reading Blog from home(Careers Theme)

Year 10

CONSULTATION DAY Reading Blog at home when not in for appointment

Year 11

Home Study—Science Revision Study in College/Exams

Sixth Form

Revision Day/ Private Study In College or 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

ECO FACTS • The largest lake in the Britain could be filled with rubbish from the UK in 8 months.

• On average, 16% of the money you spend on a product pays for the packaging, which ultimately ends up as rubbish.

• Up to 80% of a vehicle can be recycled.

Wednesday 13 May '15, 9am - 10am Tuesday 19 May '15, 3.45pm - 4.45pm There is no appointment system so please be prepared to wait

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 Thursday - Y11/Sixth form (mixed) until 4.30p.m. member of the PE staff for more information.

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

TO ALL PARENTS Please make sure students are bringing appropriate clothing to their PE lessons if they are on an outdoor lesson. Also, a reminder that all girls should now own football boots/astro-turf trainers for use on the new 3G Astro-turf pitch.

UPCOMING SPORTING FIXTURES Athletics Competition

All Years

Thursday 30 April

Away

Year 7 Minor Cricket

Year 7

Wednesday 27 May

Away

SUMMER EXTRA-CURRICULAR PE TIMETABLE

Friday 25 April 2015

COLLEGE EXAMS / ASSESSMENTS

Year Group

Dates

Type

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 15 days left until the start of the Year 11, 12 & 13 exams.

RE REVISION CLASSES

RE revision morning for all Year 11 students on Saturday 09 May from 10:00 a.m -12.00 p.m. This will be a final push before both exams the following week.

Please encourage your son/daughter to attend EXAM TIP

Exam and examiners are out to get you? - Wrong! Exams are not trying to catch you out with sneaky questions and examiners are not looking for ways to take away marks—they look for ways of giving you marks!

PARENTS AND PARTNERS Parents are asked if they could work with their children about the importance of punctuality. A good starting point would be how important being on time is, not only for college, but for their future work places. To support this important life skill, college has introduced a 'Late Gate'. Any student arriving late will be met by a member of the Senior Leadership Team and their names, together with reasons, will be recorded. This Late mark will appear on your child's register. College policy of two late marks in a week will result in an after college detention. Many thanks for your support with this important area.

SUPPORTING YOUR CHILD IN EXAMS

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 would be 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.

ATTENDANCE COMPETITION

Congratulations to Izzie Hughes 11M who won the recent full attendance competition for students in Years 9-11.

Izzie was one of nearly 400 students who had 100% attendance in the last two weeks of term and her name was picked at random by Mr Nickson, Deputy Principal. Izzie won a gift voucher worth £25. Well done to all students in these year groups for having full attendance during this time.

Friday 25 April 2015 DROP IN SESSIONS KS4/5 students 3:30p.m.- 4:30p.m.

DAY

SUBJECT

Monday

Tuesday

Thursday

Science/History/Languages/ Hospitality

Maths

Music/Geography

TRIPS AND UPCOMING EVENTS Year 8 Retreat Wednesday 6 May - Friday 8 May 2015 Italy Trip Saturday 23 May - 28 May 2015 Physics trip to CERN & Geneva Friday 5 June 2015 - 7 June 2015 History trip - London Sunday 7 June 2015 – 8 June 2015 Normandy Trip Friday 12 June - 15 June 2015 Rome Sunday 5 July - 8 July 2015

Other

ICT any break/lunch Business – by arrangement Art – by arrangement

DUKE OF EDINBURGH’S AWARD

Congratulations to those students who have made a commitment to work towards their Duke of Edinburgh award. Currently we have 35 students working on their bronze award, 21 on silver and 5 on gold. Thank you to those who attended the drop in last week with Steve Wilson and Nicky Young who are supporting the College with DofE. The next official drop in will be on Thursday 21 April at 1:15 - 2:00. More details to follow If in the meantime any students are unsure, need help or want more detail please see Mrs Connor.

Well done to all those who are uploading their evidence for each of the areas on eDofE. If you have not started to do this yet can you please have a go.You will need to have completed two of the three sections before the expedition. Again if you need help with this come and see Mrs Connor DUKE OF EDINBURGH FUTURE IMPORTANT DATES 

Silver DoE practice expedition Friday 26 to Sunday 28 June 2015



Silver DoE assessed expedition Friday 10 to Sunday 12 July 2015



Bronze DoE practice expedition Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 September 2015



Bronze DoE assessed expedition Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 October 2015



Gold DoE practice expedition Thursday 24 to Monday 28 September 2015



Gold DoE assessed expedition Thursday 22 to Monday 26 October 2015

Good luck and well done so far.

Friday 25 April 2015 COLLEGE TERM DATES Term

College Opens to Students

College Closes to Students

Whitsun

Monday 20 April 2015

Thursday 21 May 2015

Trinity

Monday 1 June 2015

Tuesday 21 July 2015

The following are the remaining dates for training days in 2014-15. Students are not required to attend on Friday 22 May 2015 unless taking an external exam.

Please note the College will be closed on Bank Holiday Monday 4 May 2015 Please click on the link for Term dates 2015/16.

ATTENDANCE MATTERS

Over the last week of College attendance was as follows:

Year 7 - 97.5% (up 0.1%, well done Year 7) Year 8 - 95.7% (up 0.6%, well done Year 8) Year 9 - 98.0% (up 2.7%, well done Year 9) Year 10 - 94.0% (up 3.7%, well done Year 10) Year 11 - 96.6% (up 2.2%, well done Year 11) Year 12 - 96.0% (up 4.2%, well done Year 12) Year 13 - 97.0% (up 3.0%, well done Year 13)

99.00% 98.00% 97.00% 96.00% 95.00% 94.00% 93.00% 92.00% YEAR YEAR YEAR YEAR YEAR YEAR YEAR 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Last week was a very good week for attendance with all year groups showing an improvement.

Attendance between Year 7 and Year 11 last week was 96.3% (an increase from 94.6% during the previous week). Our overall attendance since 2 September is still at 95.1%.We aim for 97%.

Last week GIRLS attendance (Years 7-11) was 95.9% (up 1.6% on the previous week), BOYS attendance (Year 7-11) was 96.8% (up 2.0%).The overall girls attendance since 2 September is 94.7% whilst boys is 95.5%.

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.

Friday 25 April 2015 STUDENT SUPPORT ACROSS THE COLLEGE NAME

JOB

MON

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

TUES

WED

THUR

FRI

Mrs J Beard and Mrs P Prince

VENUE

emails will be read by a Senior Teacher

= Staff Present 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.

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.

From 20 April - gates will be manned and students names will be taken if they are late.

YEAR LEARNING LEADER “DROP IN SURGERIES” Year 7: held on 3 June (11.00a.m. – 11.45a.m.)

Year 8: held on 20 May (1.15p.m. – 2.15p.m.) and 8 July (1.15p.m. – 2.15p.m.)

Year 9: held on 1 June (9.00a.m. – 9.45a.m.) and 13 July (9.00a.m. – 9.45a.m.)

Year 10: held on 22 May (1.15p.m. – 2.00p.m.) and 17 July (1.15p.m. – 2.00p.m.)

Year 11: held on 27 April (2.15.p.m – 3.15.p.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.

Friday 25 April 2015

LIBRARY NEWS BOOK AMNESTY AND OVERDUE BOOKS

Once again, a polite reminder to students who have very overdue books. Please look for them and let Ms Sinclair know their whereabouts. All books returned are gratefully received!

Students who have borrowed books more recently should be noting the due date in their planners and/or on a calendar at home to make sure that all loans are returned on time.

Your support in this matter is much appreciated.

CARNEGIE/KATE GREENAWAY SHADOWING GROUP

The Carnegie Book Awards More detail: http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/carnegie/current_shortlist.php This annual award is for the outstanding children's book of the year and is the one authors want to win. We will be following the judging process in school with a shadowing group. Students (and staff) can read the shortlisted titles and post reviews on our group page : http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/shadowingsite/index.php To find our page, click on Reading Groups and the AHCC group, A New Chapter, is under A. The shadowing group will be meeting fortnightly in the library, Tuesdays break 2 and the next meeting is May 5th. All are welcome.

OUR PICK OF THE WEEK IS 'APPLE AND RAIN' BY SARAH CROSSAN

What's it about?

When Apple's mother returns after eleven years of absence, Apple feels whole again. She will have an answer to her burning question - why did you go? And she will have someone who understands what it means to be a teenager - unlike Nana. But just like the stormy Christmas Eve when she left, her mother's homecoming is bitter sweet, and Apple wonders who is really looking after whom. It's only when Apple meets someone more lost than she is, that she begins to see things as they really are.

What the judges said: 'This cleverly plotted story - ultimately about the meaning of family and love - draws a moving portrayal of a teenage girl's emotional upheaval as she needs to reassess all her previous assumptions. The writing is simple, but lyrical, dialogues are sharp and realistic, and the subtle use of poetry, woven throughout the book, adds emotional depth. All the characters are well-developed and the relationships between them are particularly well drawn. This is a powerful and poignant story with the perfect ending.'

We have one of Sarah's other books in the library, the award winning The Weight of Water, which is a really interesting read.

This is how it is described on Sarah's website: 'Armed with a suitcase and an old laundry bag filled with clothes, Kasienka and her mother head for England. Life