New Parent Guide September 2025 by Schudio

We are proud to welcome students this September from…

★ Amberley Primary

★ Backworth Park Primary

★ Bailey Green Primary

★ Balliol Primary

★ Benton Dene Primary

★ Benton Park Primary

★ Burradon Community Primary

★ Bridgewater Primary School

★ Forest Hall Primary

★ Fordley Primary School

★ Grasmere Academy

★ Hadrian Park Primary School

★ Holystone Primary

★ Ivy Road Primary

★ Redesdale Primary School

★ Shiremoor Primary

★ St Bartholomew’s CofE Primary

★ St Mary’s Catholic Primary

★ St Stephen’s Catholic Primary

★ Wallsend Jubilee Primary

★ Waterville Primary

★ Western Community Primary

★ Westmoor Primary

It gives us great pleasure to welcome you to Longbenton High School. We are heavily oversubscribed for the THIRD year running, so we are delighted you have been successful in your application to join us.

The purpose of this document is to guide you through the information you will need as new Year 7 parents (our full parent guide will be issued in the summer term).

We are a fully inclusive school and we have the highest aspirations for and expectations of our students, regardless of their starting points. We aim to instil our core KIDMAP values - kindness, integrity, determination, manners, ambition and positivity - from day one.

LHS has an exceptionally well-qualified, talented and experienced team of staff. Our ‘Warm:Strict’ approach is valued by students here who feel safe and nurtured. We hope that the years your children spend with us will be happy ones and look forward to an enjoyable and fulfilling relationship with you as parents and families.

Kelly Holbrook Headteacher

WELCOME TO LONGBENTON HIGH SCHOOL

The transition from primary to secondary school is an important milestone in the lives of children and their families. At Longbenton High School we pride ourselves on providing our new students, parents and carers with a smooth and extensive transition programme. We want all students to arrive on their first day in September excited about the next chapter in their education.

We want students to develop new friendships, increase their confidence and get used to their new routines and school organisation with ease. We aim to enrich their learning experiences by providing them with new opportunities and challenges, along with practical skills and knowledge to be confident, well qualified individuals, ready for employment, training or the next steps in their education. We believe the local community and families deserve a brilliant school and we are committed to helping our young people to evolve, create, discover, perform and achieve.

OUR SCHOOL BLUEPRINT

OUR PURPOSE Opening doors, offering opportunities, delivering outcomes

OUR PRINCIPLES Social mobility and social justice, belonging and inclusion

OUR MANTRA Evolve, create, discover, perform, achieve

OUR VALUES KIDMAP: kindness, integrity, determination, manners, ambition, positivity

FIRST STEPS IN YOUR TRANSITION JOURNEY

Now that you have been allocated a place at Longbenton High School we can start to liaise with your primary schools. We work very closely with your child’s Year 6 teacher, school SENCO and other key staff to ensure we have all the required information to enable us to fully support your child’s academic progress. During these visits, we give your child the opportunity to hear more about life at Longbenton High School and to answer questions they have about their next steps.

We invite all of our parents in very early prior to the Easter holidays each year so that we can start to get to know you, give you information as early as possible and provide an opportunity for students to see our building again prior to transition events and visits beginning in the summer term.

TRANSITION TIMELINE 2025

Induction is when young people start school and go through the first few days of the new term. Transition is the process by which we get people ready to come to school over a longer period, so they get used to it over time. We try to create as much contact between Easter and September as follows.

Support

National Offer Day: school places offered. North Tyneside handle our admissions.

Parent Guide: Moving onto Middle & High September 2025

Welcome Event: An opportunity for students to meet key staff and other students starting in Year 7; to outline the transition process with parents.

Primary School Data Collection: A spreadsheet will be emailed to primary schools in order to collect data on pupils transferring to us. This data collection also includes details of any vulnerable students (something we call ‘enhanced transition’). Our SENCO will make contact with primary school SENCOs by the end of April with a view to collate information on SEND students.

Primary School Data Collection meetings: One-to-one visits with primary teachers to get further information on each student transferring to LHS.

Group Work Session: A small group work session with our Y7 Pastoral Manager with the aim of getting to know pupils feeling anxious around transition.

Inspire: Primary schools can bring students starting in Year 7 to our clubs and activities timetable 3.15-4.00pm. LHS will arrange this with your primary school or you can contact us directly to let us know you would like your child to attend.

Transition Welcome Morning: An opportunity for individuals to have a tour and to meet other students who are coming from primary schools to LHS with smaller numbers eg fewer than 10 children

Transition + Day: A shortened transition day at LHS for a smaller groups (eg SEND and/or vulnerable students) that focuses upon familiarising students with the school and its routines, alongside team-building. Students to be escorted by primary school staff.

New Intake Parents’ Meetings: Individual meetings for students and parents with a senior member of staff. Appointments will be sent to parents.

Transition Days: 2 full dayS focused upon familiarising students with the school and its routines, team-building and sample lessons. (NB - students wear their primary school uniforms on these dates). We are trialling TWO days for the ﬁrst time following feedback from students and parents.

September start: The ﬁrst day of term is Year 7 only at LHS. Students do not need to worry about older year groups as they are the only ones here. Staff can therefore concentrate on getting to know the new cohort.

Thursday 3rd April LHS

LHS and primary school staff April onwards

Pastoral staff SEND Team; Senior staff April onwards Primary schools

Pastoral Staff TBC/Various Primary school

Year 6 students

Transport is usually arranged with larger feeders if necessary May half term onwards LHS

Students coming to us in smaller numbers

Identiﬁed students agreed between LHS and primaries. 24th June

July 2025

Wednesday 3rd Sept 2025

How we will communicate with you

COMMUNICATION WITH PARENTS

We use an electronic communication and payment system called My Child At School (MCAS). MCAS enables you to receive information from school securely, quickly and reliably as well as make payments for dinners, clubs and trips. MCAS is an online portal providing access to information from school via any modern web browser as well as a free app which can be enabled with push notifications to ensure you receive timely information.

You will be able to: • receive letters reliably and promptly • get a short app message if we need to contact you urgently • see your child’s timetable for the current week • update your child’s medical information, personal information and your own contact details • top-up your child’s lunch account securely, quickly and easily, as well as monitor their spending • pay for trips, clubs and other purchases (from Spring 2025) • access assessment reports • access live lesson attendance information • access information regarding positive and negative behaviour We can: • share more information regarding your child/ren • save money on admin time, texts, printing and paper.

Instructions on how to set up and register your MCAS account will be sent to you in the summer term so your account can be set up ready for the new academic year. If you already have the MCAS app for your child at their current school, you will be able to add the account for Longbenton High School to the same app.

We have the following main points of contact for Year 7:

★ Meet the tutor evening: opportunity to meet your child’s tutor in September and discuss how they have settled in

★ Parent Carer Forum:opportunity for parents to meet other parents/receive tailored support

★ Year 7 Parents Evening: usually in the Spring Term, to meet your child’s teachers and discuss academic progress (you will receive a written update/report each term)

We also share news via our website and social media channels on Instagram , Facebook and Twitter/X

How we ask parents to communicate with us

In a school with over 1,000 students, with multiple members of staff in contact with your child, for non-urgent contact we advise you email us in the first instance (please refer to the table on the following page). The main point of contact before your child starts in September is transition@longbenton.org.uk From September it is year7@longbenton.org.uk

We ask that you always make an appointment first - please do not just turn up at reception expecting to see staff.

Please respect our mobile phone ban and avoid ringing or texting your child during core school hours between 9am and 3.15pm.

We also ask that you acknowledge the fact that we will be best placed to know who the right person is to speak to about your issue. This may not always be a senior member of staff in the first instance.

Issue

Attendance including medical/dental appointments

COMMUNICATION WITH PARENTS

Building a relationship of trust between us and parents is vital, especially if there are challenging conversations further down the line. Our approach is always to listen first so that parents feel able to open up about important factors that may affect children’s learning and behaviour in school, so that both sides can focus conversations on working together to support the child. You can read more about the blueprint we try to follow here

New parents need to be aware that communication with parents at secondary is different to primary school. We have over 1,000 children in our building, so the model you may be used to (one class teacher you might see every day or straight to the headteacher for anything serious) does not work in our setting.

Who to contact Details

Attendance Officer

Issues settling in, friendship issues Your child’s tutor transition@longbenton.org.uk pre-September

Concerns about learning, subjects, class teachers or behaviour issues

SEND information or discussions around diagnosis and referrals

General queries you are not sure about

Mrs Aikman (Pastoral Manager) Mr Wilkinson (Year Leader) Mrs Lambert (AAHT Y7-8)

attendance@longbenton.org.uk

year7@longbenton.org.uk

SEND team (Deputy SENCO Amy Blackburn) SEND@longbenton.org.uk

Main school office

Terminology can sometimes be a barrier to successful collaboration between parents and schools. ParentKind recommend the use of the following common language which ensures everyone has a shared understanding of terminology, to reduce misunderstandings and improve communication. The main terms we use at LHS are here.

LHS@longbenton.org.uk 0191 218 9500

SCHOOL DAY & ATTENDANCE

Our approach to attendance at LHS is embedded in our KIDMAP values - having the determination, ambition and positivity to strive to attend school each day - and is rewarded via our daily HERO points (here, equipped, ready to learn, on time). Our school day starts at 8.45am and ends at 3.15pm (4pm for those attending enrichment).

Regular attendance is a vital component of school success at LHS; when students are present, engaged and involved they have the greatest opportunity to learn. When children attend school consistently they are not only more likely to do well academically, but also build strong relationships and feel connected with our school community. Students who miss school frequently can quickly fall behind and this affects their ability to access the classroom. We know that those with 98% attendance do almost twice as well in their GCSEs than those with attendance below 90%.We define attendance thresholds as follows.

By attendance we do not just mean the classroom; we also mean attendance at registration with form tutors and in our Inspire curriculum from 3.15-4pm at extra curricular clubs and activities. We also mean engagement in the classroom: the degree to which students are involved in lessons and motivated to learn. The more time students spend in school, the more time they can spend in a positive and safe setting with their peers. This in turn boosts social skills, confidence, resilience and self esteem. Please get in touch with us via transition@longbenton.org.uk if you would like some support in improving your child’s attendance as they move from primary to secondary school.

Attendance also includes being punctual. Being on time to school is a life skill and one that we promote here at Longbenton High School. Being late makes us feel anxious, we miss the start of lessons where often important instructions are often being given, and we start the day feeling less engaged than we would have if we had been on time

Time What happens?

8.45

School gates close. You should be in your form room by this point

8.45-9.00am Morning form - with your tutor HERO prep

9.00-10.00am Lesson 1

10.00-10.15am Break

10.15-11.15am Lesson 2

11.15am-12.15pm Lesson 3

12.15-12.45pm Lunch

12.45-1.45pm Lesson 4

1.45-2.45pm Lesson 5

2.45-3.15pm Afternoon form - with your tutor. One day per week is assembly.

3.15-4.00pm Inspire Extra Curricular timetable

Tuesdays only Slightly earlier ﬁnish - 2.30pm

12.45-1.45 Lesson 4

1.45-2.30pm

PSHE - with your form tutor Finish at 2.30pm instead of 3.15pm

YEAR 7 CURRICULUM

Reading & Homework

Students will have weekly/fortnightly homework expectations for each subject. This will include tasks such as: learning key vocabulary, reading relevant articles, revision and written assignments. Students are expected to read each day for 30 mins (in addition to 10 mins per day in form).

Your child will start and end each day with their form tutor, but in between, they will move around the building for their 5 lessons. This is the main difference between primary and secondary. They will have lots of different teachers. We keep our classroom routines and expectations the same across all staff. The benefit is that they get to learn in specialist spaces like science labs and are taught by subject specialists.

We believe uniform can play a key role in: • Promoting the ethos of a school • Providing a sense of belonging and identity • Setting an appropriate tone for education.

By creating a common identity amongst all students, regardless of background, a school uniform can act as a social leveller. It can reduce bullying and peer pressure to wear the latest fashions or other expensive clothes. We must insist that all students follow the correct uniform to ensure fairness to all. Our uniform policy has been devised with due consideration of the statutory guidance from the Department for Education. Beyond our blazer and tie, uniform can be purchased from a range of supermarkets and department stores to suit family budgets - we have tried to keep it as affordable as possible.

We appreciate that parents will want to start purchasing new uniform; we would advise you to wait a few more months (to allow for growth!) if possible. We will communicate to you again in the summer term about the opportunity to collect pre-loved uniform and arrange dates for you to come in and try on kit/blazers. We can also support parents with payment plans for new uniform if necessary.

➔ School Blazer with badge

➔ Plain black V neck jumper - this must not be a sweatshirt or with a rounded collar. This item of uniform is optional - the blazer is not.

➔ Plain white shirt with collar

➔ Black trousers or black skirt, underwear should not be visible

➔ Black or white socks or black tights

➔ Black shoes, this can include all black trainers with no white markings or logos, low heeled black shoes and flat black ankle boots (please ask when purchasing footwear if you are unsure)

➔ Striped clip on tie, this will be matched to the students house (you will be informed of your child’s house when we arrange tutor groups in the summer term)

MOBILE PHONES / SMARTPHONES

At Longbenton High School we are seeking to create a distinctive culture with respect to mobile phone use and screens, one which intentionally limits and restricts mobile phone use in order to prioritise deeper knowledge and face to face relationships. We have long had a mobile phone rule - that phones are off and away. However, over time, we have been seeing them creep back into everyday usage, with some students deliberately disregarding this rule, or using them covertly.

From June 2025 we are in the process of planning for a distinctive change - from ‘no phone visible’ to completely ‘phone free’. This means that from September, Year 7 will have to hand their phones in to staff each morning if they bring a phone to school. Years 8+ will have already had this introduced during the Summer Term.

If you are interested in finding out more in the meantime, please check out https://smartphonefreechildhood.co.uk/ The website contains support and resources for parents considering delaying smartphones until Year 9 (which we would recommend).

Why have we taken this approach here? Our main rationale is as follows:

1. There has been an explosion of mental illness in Generation Z (the generation that grew up with smartphones). Multiple studies from across the world have found a correlation between teen depression, anxiety and excessive smartphone use.

2. We know that the research basis tells us: smartphones are linked to anxiety and depression; smartphones expose children to extreme safeguarding risks (UK children are being exposed to violent and sexual imagery, grooming, cyberbullying and sexting); smartphones impair attainment (they are designed to distract attention and increase dependency; schools which ban phones have higher exam outcomes).

3. As teachers and school leaders, we have dealt with countless negative situations involving the use of smartphones and social media amongst the student population. Students are bringing their phone-based behaviour patterns into school, which is causing classroom conflict, cyberbullying and distraction from learning.

4. Children spend more time in school than in any other place outside their home; we have a duty to protect them from harmful influences via smartphones.

5. We have the ability to move faster than the government to effect change. The government issued new school guidance on smartphones in February but stopped short of issuing an outright ban.

6. We want to build the resilience of our students. It has come to our attention that, despite phones being banned in school already, some students are calling parents and / or carers at times during the school day to discuss friendship issues or even something that may have happened in a classroom. There has been a rise in the number of occasions parents have arrived at school to discuss an incident or collect a student having spoken to their child rather than a member of staff, which undermines the authority of staff within the school to deal with issues as they arise.

SUPPORTING YOUR CHILD WITH THE MOVE TO SECONDARY SCHOOL

Moving from primary to secondary school is exciting – a rite of passage. But it can also be a daunting or anxious time. For children with SEND or mental health difficulties, the change may be particularly challenging. If you feel your child might need more support, your primary school may flag this to us, but you can also let us know via transition@longbenton.org.uk

As a parent there is much you can do to help your child manage the transition to secondary and minimise anxiety, whatever their situation. Chat about how they are feeling and how it will be different from primary – for instance a bigger site, new people, changing teachers and rooms for subjects, more homework. Reassure them that nerves about starting something new are normal, as is some sadness at leaving familiar things, and that these feelings usually subside. But be careful not to impose your own worries.

Focus on exciting opportunities too – new subjects, activities and friends. Celebrating the milestone of finishing primary school, and all the ways they have grown, can boost self-esteem and confidence. There is more advice for parents on the Young Minds blog Your child will be spending the next 8 years with us if they stay in our sixth form; they will be the Class of 2032! Our key aim is to work with you to support them as they discover who they are and what they want to be. Getting the transition into Year 7 is crucial in ensuring their time with us is as positive and enriching as possible.