2 april 2015

All Hallows Catholic College Newsletter Easter Term SPECIALISM OF SUCCESS Groups of Year 7 and 8 Business and Enterprise students celebrated the conclusion of 'The Stalls Project' with an Easter Fair selling batches of 'Easter themed' products this week. Students started this new project soon after Christmas, first conducting primary research to determine their target group and then setting to work designing products suitable for batch production. Products included hand-decorated, recycled phone cases, 'Fab egg key rings', chocolate chick nests, hand-made chocolates and many more. In the classrooms, students worked out their material and equipment costs before determining the best pricing strategy for their products. This was followed by them developing marketing strategies based on elements of the promotional mix. The eagerly awaited Easter Fair finally took place on 30 and 31 March with students queuing up in Spring sunshine to buy from the stalls. Some students had carefully selected 'direct selling' techniques to attract customers to their stalls, whilst others had promoted their businesses in the lead up to Easter. With 50% of all profits going to The India Clinic Appeal, The College's first Easter Fair turned out to be a great success! (JL)

Thursday 2 April 2015

COLLEGE PRAYER

EASTER PRAYER Heavenly Father and God of mercy, we no longer look for Jesus among the dead, for he is alive and has become the Lord of life. From the waters of death you raise us up with him and renew your gift of life within us. Increase in our minds and hearts the risen life we share with Christ, and help us to grow as your people toward the fullness of eternal life with you. We ask this through Christ our Lord.

CATHOLIC WEEKEND CONFERENCE

SOCIAL MEDIA

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 SURGIES Parents / Carers are invited to attend a Principal's Surgery to discuss any concerns or ask questions, on the following dates 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

All Hallows Catholic College Newsletter Easter Term

Thursday 2 April 2015

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 memThursday - Y11/Sixth form (mixed) until 4.30p.m. ber 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. During extreme weather (and extreme cold conditions as it has been recently) parents are reminded that students can and are advised to wear the following: All Hallows PE trousers (plain black joggers/tracksuit bottoms will also be allowed during the cold weather) All Hallows Black jacket (or a plain black sports jacket/waterproof) All Hallows black fleece Hats (black/dark in colour/plain) Gloves (black/dark in colour/plain) Under-armour/skins/undergarments - as long as red/black or white in colour Also, a reminder that all girls should now own football boots/astro-turf trainers for use on the new 3G Astro-turf pitch.

LOTS OF SOCKS

On Friday 20 March 2015 our College joined together to celebrate World Down Syndrome Awareness Day by wearing ‘lots of socks’. Students and staff across the College turned up in crazy socks to help raise awareness and to recognise although we may not all be identical we are all valuable. As a College we promote our core values throughout the year, but it was fantastic to have the opportunity as a community to live our core values of ‘respect, compassion, honourable purpose, stewardship and co-operation’ on Friday. At lunchtime students and staff gathered together to have their photo taken and we re-enacted a photo Mr Billings had shared with staff and students at the start of our academic year. The photo was to help us all understand the South African word of Ubuntu meaning “the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity” a philosophy that has been taken on across College this year. We felt that this was the perfect representation of our ‘lots of socks’ day.

All Hallows Catholic College Newsletter Easter Term

Thursday 2 April 2015

COLLEGE INTERNAL 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 37 days left until the start of the Year 11, 12 & 13 exams.

SIXTH FORM MOCK EXAM RESITS

20 April option A 21 April option B 22 April option C

23 April option D 24 April option E Timetables were issued on 1 April EXAM TIP

Worried you will forget something important? - As soon as the exam starts, write down must-not-be-forgotten facts, dates, names and formulae somewhere on your paper. Once they’re on the paper, you can stop panicking and turn your full attention on the exam.

EASTER SCHOOL

Catering H&S

Tuesday 14th AM PM Y11 Y11

Dance

Y11 1:1 sign Y11 1:1 sign Y11 1:1 sign Y11 1:1 sign up up up up

Geography English Maths Science Languages Music English Literature Art and Textiles Product Design

Y11

Wednesday 15th AM PM Y11 Y11

Thursday 16th Friday 17th AM PM AM PM

Y12/Y13 Y11

Y11 Y11

Y11 ISA's Y11 ISA's Y11 Y11

Y11 Y12/13 Y11

Y11

Y11

Y11

Students are being offered the opportunity to improve/secure their knowledge in preparation of final examinations during the Easter Holidays.

Subject leaders will be writing to parents to provide further details. Year 8 interventions will be taking place on Tuesday 14 April and Wednesday 15 April

Y11 PARENT AS PARTNERS - 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.

All Hallows Catholic College Newsletter Easter Term

TRIPS AND UPCOMING EVENTS

DROP IN SESSIONS KS4/5 students 3:30p.m.- 4:30p.m.

Year 8 Retreat Wednesday 6 May - Friday 8 May 2015

DAY

SUBJECT

Italy Trip Saturday 23 May - 28 May 2015

Monday

Science/History/Languages/ Hospitality

Physics trip to CERN & Geneva Friday 5 June 2015 - 7 June 2015

Tuesday

Maths

History trip - London Sunday 7 June 2015 – 8 June 2015

Music/Geography

Normandy Trip Friday 12 June - 15 June 2015

Thursday

Other

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

Thursday 2 April 2015

Rome Sunday 5 July - 8 July 2015

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 Sunday13 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.

All Hallows Catholic College Newsletter Easter Term

Thursday 2 April 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 COLLEGE TERM DATES Term

College Opens to Students

College Closes to Students

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 - 97.4% (no change from last week) Year 8 - 95.1% (down 1.0%) Year 9 - 95.3% (down 1.2%) Year 10 - 90.3% (down 3.0%) Year 11 - 94.4% (down 1.1%) Year 12 - 91.8% (down 4.0%) Year 13 - 94.0% (up 0.7%, well done Year 13)

Last week was not a very good week for attendance.

Attendance between Year 7 and Year 11 last week was 94.6% (a decrease from 95.8% during the previous week). Our overallattendance since 2 September is still at 95.1%.We aim for 97%.

Last week GIRLS attendance was 94.3% (down 1.2% on the previous week), BOYS attendance was 94.8% (down 1.3%).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.

All Hallows Catholic College Newsletter Easter Term

Thursday 2 April 2015

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.

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

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 22 April (11.00.a.m. - 11.45.a.m) and 3 June (11.00.a.m. - 11.45.a.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.

All Hallows Catholic College Newsletter Easter Term

Thursday 2 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

As a school we will be following the judging process of the UK's most prestigious children's book award by meeting as a group to discuss the shortlisted books. To find out more about the awards, log onto the main site: http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/carnegie/ There will be a meeting for any students (and staff) interested in joining the shadowing group Break 2 on Tuesday 21st April in the library.

Our school shadowing site can be found if you click on this link: http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/ grouphomepages/index.php?GroupID=11283 Once our group gets started then the page will be regularly updated.

MARCH AUTHOR OF THE MONTH

Malorie Blackman is March Author of the Month in the library and there is a display of her novels available for loan. Why not read one over the Easter break?

Find out more about Malorie at http://www.malorieblackman.co.uk/ CHESHIRE SCHOOLS’ BOOK AWARD PICK OF THE WEEK

More Than This by Patrick Ness Suitable for Year 8 students upwards.

Patrick Ness is a double Carnegie Medal winning author, whose dystopian Chaos Walking Trilogy is one of the most popular teenage series of recent years, has written another unforgettable book in 'More Than This'.

Seth wakes up to find himself alone on a desolated Earth, which is strange as the last thing he remembers is the moments before he drowns in a stormy sea. What else confuses him is that he seems to be back in his English suburban home but he hasn't live there for years, his family having moved to America.

So begins the struggle for survival and search answers to the questions hanging over him. Seth soon finds he isn't alone‌ Ms Sinclair says, 'More Than This' was my favourite teenage book of 2014. The story gripped me from the beginning to the end. Patrick Ness is amazing! Read it!'

Find out more at: http://www.patrickness.com/