Newsletter 020514

All Hallows Catholic College Newsletter Whitsun

PRAYER (Prayer of St. Ignatius of Loyola).

Teach us, good Lord, to serve you as you deserve, to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labour and not to ask for any reward, save that of knowing that we do your will. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

EXAM TIP– NO SENSE OF TIME? Get used to working under time limits by allocating 10,20,30 or 40 minutes to revise a topic, do a test or write an essay. This will make you familiar with the time limits you’ll allocate to questions during exams.

GSCE AND A LEVEL COUNTDOWN 10 Days until Monday the 12th May 2014, the date of the first exams.

PRINCIPALS SURGERY Parents / carers are invited to attend a Principal’s Surgery to discuss any concerns or ask questions, on the following date Tuesday 13 May, 3.30pm – 4.30pm There is no appointment system so please be prepared to wait

Friday 2nd May 2014

EXAMS Friday 23/05/14 INSET DAY EXAMS Please be advised that the following GCE/GCSE exams will be taking place on the above date.

GCE (AS) CHEM1 @ 9.00 am GCE (AS) 6RS02 @13.00 pm (Ethics and Philosophy Paper 2) GCSE (Year 11) Drama Unit 3 @13.00 pm GCSE (Year 11) History Unit 2 @ 9.00 am Dates and times are set by the exam boards and cannot be rearranged by the college. Students taking these courses are therefore expected to attend their exams on this date in school uniform or business dress. School buses will be arranged for students concerned. Parents/Guardians please complete transport requirements slips and return to Form Tutor/Reception/ Exams Office. Thank you.

Exam Results Days - August 2014 Thursday 14th August 2014 8:30am - 10:30am A2 Results (Year 13) 11:00am - 12:30am AS Results (Year 12) Thursday 21st August 2014 10:00am - 12:00 noon - GCSE Results (Y11 only) YEAR 12 EXAMINATIONS Year 12 will go on study leave on 9th May before returning on 9th June. They have recently completed their mock exams and know exactly what they need to focus their revision on in the coming weeks. Year 12 students have worked well with their teachers all year and we wish them every success in their forthcoming AS examinations.

PARENTS AS PARTNERS: HAIRSTYLES As a Business and Enterprise College we encourage our students to dress in a business like fashion – ‘Dress for Success’. For this reason extremes of hair styles and hair colouring are not acceptable. If in doubt about what style’s and colours are not acceptable speak to your child’s Year Learning Leader.

YEAR LEARNING LEADERS– DROP IN SURGERIES Year 7 and Year 8 Friday 9 May between 8.30 and 9.30 a.m. with Mrs Moffat and Mr Parke.

Year 10 Thursday 5 June between 12.00 and 1.00 p.m. with Mrs Remfry.

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. Future dates for other year groups will be confirmed shortly.

New future dates will be announced shortly - watch this space.

COMMUNITY MASS All Hallows Chapel every Friday 9am-9.45am Parents/Carers/Parishioners are all welcome CAREERS ADVICE FOR STUDENTS Our new careers advisor, Mrs Jean Pilling, has now seen 150 students for impartial careers interviews since she started in mid-December.

If any parents would like their son or daughter to have a careers interview this year then please notify the relevant Year Leader who can ensure names are added to the list. Priority will be given to Year 11, 12 and 13 students, but she will also see other students lower down the college for careers interviews. She has a drop in on Thursday lunchtime for students of any year.

ALL HALLOWS IS AGAINST BULLYING We would like to remind students and parents that our website has links to an anti-bullying email service. bullying@allhallowslearning.org.uk is the email address that can be used to confidentially report incidents of bullying to a senior teacher.

Students are also encouraged to report bullying to their form tutor and Year Leader.

Together we can stamp out all forms of bullying.

SPECIALISM SUCCESS Congratulations to Lélia Peckham in year 8 and Emma Archer in year 9 for completing their GCSE languages controlled assessments. This is just one of the benefits of being bilingual. Others include increased earning potential and delaying dementia.

ECO FACT Printer Ink is one of the most expensive liquids to purchase. To fill an Olympic sized swimming pool with ink would cost around £11.8 billion

TEACHING AND LEARNING Providing staff training and keeping up to date with current educational research is important to us at All Hallows to help provide the best possible education for our students and to support the professional development of teachers, teaching assistants and other support staff.

The Government is committed to raising standards of education and supporting teachers to do this, providing the training and development opportunities they need.

So far this year, staff have been engaged in whole school training, including developing literacy skills, effective use of ICT in the classroom, developing independent learners and teachers, creative lesson planning, effective teacher behaviour, effective learner behaviours, rigour and pace in lessons, assessment and feedback and inclusion (SEN, dyslexia, Downs Syndrome training) Faculties have also developed bespoke training for members of their teams focusing on effective use of the VLE, strategies for student feedback, thinking skills, the learning journey, curriculum changes and development, reading and writing, accelerated learning and co-operative learning.

In addition, all teaching staff, including teaching assistants, are working in action research groups, carrying out small scale action research projects which will be showcased at the All Hallows Learning Community Conference on 23 May when All Hallows staff and colleagues from our primary schools will run workshops and Teachmeet sessions, sharing best practice with each other. More details about this to follow after the event.

This has all been possible due to training days and the weekly training session on a Wednesday afternoon. The impact in the classroom is very evident with well over 90% of lessons in the last round of lesson observations (February 2014) achieving the highest grades. We believe that our students deserve teachers who are properly supported and teachers deserve the collaborative professional development that research has shown really helps children become better learners.

One of the key highlights of the training programme this year, was the last training day on 22 April when Bill Lucas led the day looking at Expansive Education. Bill is Director of the Centre for Real World Learning and Professor of Learning at the University of Winchester. He is an international speaker, has written many books on learning and led a very thought provoking day on building learning habits and learnable intelligence. It was good to hear that many of the concepts Bill spoke about are already being worked on in All Hallows and we look forward to deepening our knowledge and understanding still further in the coming months.

ADVANCED NOTICE Languages Controlled Assessments 2013-2014

Please find below the list of dates for the languages controlled assessments. Each assessment can count for 15% of the final GCSE. Teachers will let your son/daughter know on which dates they will complete assessments. Please avoid time off both on the date and in the lessons preceding these dates. Please contact a.harrison@allhallows.org.uk with any queries.

Year 10 Writing 2

10y Tuesday 6 May 10g Thursday 8 May

Speaking 2

Thursday/Friday 3 /4 July

Year 9 Speaking

Tuesday/Wednesday 8/9 July

RECOMMENDED READS The Butterfly Lion by Michael Morpurgo, Christian Birmingham ILLUSTRATED BY CHRISTIAN BIRMINGHAM. A lyrical and moving tale of a young boy growing up in Africa, and his lifelong friendship with a white lion. "All my life I'll think of you, I promise I will. I won't ever forget you." Bertie rescues an orphaned white lion cub from the African veld. They are inseparable until Bertie is sent to boarding school far away in England and the lion is sold to a circus. Bertie swears that one day they will see one another again, but it is the butterfly lion which ensures that their friendship will never be forgotten.

Necropolis - The Power of Five

by Anthony Horowitz Evil has been unleashed on the world and only five children - with special powers - can save it. Matt and the other three desperately need to find Scar, the final gatekeeper, who has been trapped in Hong Kong, where puddles of water turn into puddles of blood, where ghosts, demons and hideous creatures stalk the streets. Matt has no choice but to follow her. Now, both imprisoned, their only hope of survival is to reach a secret door in the Man Ho temple.

But even if Scar can find her psychic power, it may already be too late

PARENT VIEW SURVEY FOR 2012-13

26 parent responses so far to the OfSTED Parent View Survey for 2013-14.

Each week we will be presenting a statistic from the 2012-13 survey and asking you a question or two about how we can continue to work together to do our very best for our young people. 130 parents responded last year and we’d like to reach a minimum of 200 this year!

As a Catholic College we pride ourselves on trying to address the needs of the whole child and this means our college needs to share information with you about your child’s progress so that you can work with teachers and support your child’s learning. 92% of parents strongly agree or agree that the College gives valuable information on progress. We have a Parental Gateway on our website which gives you information to valuable real-time information as well as access to academic reports, attendance and data about behaviour.

Information about progress to targets is also to be found in exercise books, and new ‘flight paths’ have been developed this year. Parent Consultation Day’s and online booking have resulted in many more parents getting more information to support their children. Email your views to parentview@allhallows.org.uk. Please also follow this link to complete the questionnaire this year - http:// parentview.ofsted.gov.uk

ATTENDANCE MATTERS Over the last week of College attendance was as follows:

98.00%

Year 7 - 96.0% (down 0.3% on the previous week and the second consecutive weekly drop for Year 7) Year 8 - 97.0% (up 0.9%, well done Year 8) Year 9 - 97.4% (up 2.8%, very well done Year 9) Year 10 - 94.1% (up 1.3%, well done Year 10) Year 11 - 96.9% (up 3.1%, another very good week for Year 11) Year 12 - 94.24% (up 0.06% on last week) Year 13 - 93.63% (down 1.26% on last week)

97.00%

96.00% 95.00% 94.00%

93.00% 92.00% 91.00%

YEAR 7

YEAR 8

YEAR 9

YEAR 10

YEAR 11

YEAR 12

YEAR 13

The average for the week was 96.3% (up 1.6% on the previous week but the same % as the equivalent week last year). Since 3rd September attendance has increased 0.1% to 95.6%. We aim for 97%.

Last week GIRLS attendance has increased 1.4% to 95.5%, BOYS attendance has increased 1.7% to 97.1%. Since 3rd September boys are winning girls 96.1% to 95.0%.

Parents are politely reminded to avoid absence unless it is absolutely necessary. Thank you for your on-going support regarding medical absence and holiday absence.

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 and Mr Diamond 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.

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.

CALENDAR Term

College Opens to Students

College Closes to Students

Whitsun

Wednesday 23 April 2014

Thursday 22 May 2014

Trinity

Monday 2 June 2014

Tuesday 22 July 2014

Michaelmas

Tuesday 2 September 2014 (Year 7, 12 and 13) Wednesday 3 September 2014 (All Students)

Friday 24 October 2014

Christmas

Monday 3 November 2014

Friday 19 December 2014

Epiphany

Monday 5 January 2015

Friday 13 February 2015

Easter

Monday 20 April 2015

Friday 22 May 2015

The following are the dates for training days in 2013-14. Students are not required to attend on these days. Unless taking an external exam.

Friday 23 May 2014 Wednesday 23 July 2014 Monday 1 September 2014 Please click here for the 2014- 2015 Calendar