Parental Engagement March 2019

SUMMIT LEARNING TRUST

PARENT

ENGAGEMENT OF THE MONTH

PHOTO

Spring Term 1 - March 2019

Year 10 Girls Lead the Para Athletics Finals

HOW DO WE SUPPORT AND DEVELOP TEACHING & LEARNING AT COCKSHUT HILL?

At Cockshut Hill we have a highly qualified team of 7 lead practitioners led by an Assistant Principal Anne-Marie Keane. The lead practitioners are an integral part of the development of every teacher at Cockshut Hill. Regardless of experience or outcomes, every teacher here at the school has the desire to keep improving and learn new and innovative things that they can bring into the classroom, and the lead practitioner team support them in doing so.

Every teacher at the school is involved in events and training throughout the year. This can range from snippets of teaching gold in morning briefings that teachers can incorporate immediately to improve challenge and engagement, to longer events and training sessions like our yearly Teach-Meet; where teachers plan and prepare any teaching and learning activity that they have found success with and is easily adaptable cross-curricular.

Every member of the teaching staff is undergoing a coaching cycle with a lead practitioner to review and develop their own practice in line with evolving student needs.

SAVE THE DATE Year 11 trip to London Saturday 9th March

Year 10 Parents Evening Wednesday 13th March

Inter house Competition (Y7-10) Monday 18th March

KS4 English Parent Event Thursday 21st March

KS3 Parent Event

Wednesday 10th April

• Maths: Regularly test your child on all of their timestables.

TIPS OF THE HALF TERM • English: Your KS3 child should be reading for at least 20 minutes per night at home. Discuss their reading book with them. Your KS4 child has access to the PiXLIT app - encourage them to log on to self-test on the literature texts.

• Literacy: support your child by encouraging them to read every evening, and to complete their book quizzes on accelerated reader. Log in to Renaissance Home Connect on the following website: https://Ukhosted101.renlearn.co.uk/1894885/HomeConnect • Year 11: Encourage your child to log on to Hegarty Maths and PiXL English to support in exam preparation.

www.cockshuthill.org.uk

Follow us: @CockshutHillSch

Maths Parental Engagement Event

Year 11 Drama Theatre Trip SUMMIT LEARNING TRUST

SUMMIT LEARNING TRUS

It was great to host the first parental engagement evening, inviting parents to be taught some Maths in a similar style to how their child would be taught in the classroom. The Maths team delivered a couple of brilliant mini Maths lessons which allowed some wonderful participation by parents, giving them a real insight to Maths at Cockshut Hill. We took the opportunity to share some top tips on how best to support our students at home, handing out resources at the end of the evening to encourage parent-student involvement in Maths. We received really positive feedback from parents with some commenting on how useful it was to encourage more support at home, whilst others enjoyed learning concepts that they had not revisited since their time at school.

In preparation for the GCSE written exam, the Year 11 Drama pupils visited Malvern Theatre to watch Blood Brothers by Willy Russel. It was an opportunity for the pupils to watch a performance that they had been studying during their theory lessons. For some of the pupils, this was the first time they had ever seen a Musical before. The pupils were captivated from the moment we sat down; the musical accompaniment, singing, acting, costume and set. It was a fantastic opportunity for them and a great revision tool for their examination.

Maths Team

Drama Trip

HOW DO WE SUPPORT THE WELLBEING OF STUDENTS?

Cockshut Hill is one of the few schools that offer a number of services to support children with mental health issues. We run an Aspire programme fortnightly which every student attends. Within these sessions mental health issues and linked topics are discussed and taught about in a pre-determined programme fit for the age group. Daily assemblies allow students access to information surrounding mental health triggers, coping strategies, identifying when there may be a problem and normalising what some students find taboo subjects. We employ a full time counsellor who is available to support any student in the school where a referral is made; she is qualified to deal with self-harm and anxiety alongside a range of other mental health issues. We also have access to external agencies that deal with more complex issues that we are not qualified to deal with in-house. This includes a qualified bereavement and separation loss counsellor that we ‘contract in’ when there is an identified student in need of support due to a family death or parental/guardian separation.

Students and parents have access to a school nurse who is contactable via text message. Throughout the academic year 2018-2019, members of the student support team will be focusing on mindfulness. This will be aimed termly at groups of targeted students who trained staff feel would improve their wellbeing and success in everyday school life. We offer a breakfast club to students as well as ensuring year 11 students receive mentoring leading up to their exams. This is to help relieve anxiety and assist students in working through and dealing with any arising mental health issues caused by exams. We run a SHARP system through the school website where students can raise an anonymous concern or ask for support and these go directly to our DSL who addresses them accordingly.

PARENT

ENGAGEMENT www.cockshuthill.org.uk

Follow us: @CockshutHillSch

Student Leadership - Latest News

SUMMIT LEARNING TRUST There are 6 Student Leadership groups at Cockshut Hill that students can choose to be a part of.

Each one is led by a House Captain and they aim to meet every two weeks.

Here is an update of the work they have been doing.

Learning Group This group has been looking at the school improvement plan and a branch of the Learning Group called the Young Researchers have been undertaking action research in school with a focus on explanation in lessons.

They strive to make a change in school and will showcase their findings to our staff and then Birmingham Education dignitaries in the summer term.

Equality Group After discussing gender equality in school and around the world, the group were inspired to sell Rafiki bracelets designed to empower women and encourage a higher enrolment rate in education in Kenya. The group is also the lead on UNICEF Rights Respecting work in school and had the pleasure of a visit from Dr. Abdul Alim UNICEF advisor in South East Asia.

Charities Group Students have worked hard to raise money for World Aids Day, Heartlands Hospital and Save the Children in recent months. They also drove the foodbank collection for Birmingham City Mission. They have also been driving the Purple Community Fund Ring Pull campaign where students donate ring pulls off cans to support manufacture in the Philippines. We currently welcome any ring pull donations into student services and the main office.

Standards Group These students have been actively feeding back student views on the implementation of the SOAR programme in school. They have helped develop the systems related to SOAR as well as running the SOAR shop in school; open every break time to encourage all students to be ready to learn.

Wellbeing Group A large project has been the development of Greswolde Quad. One use of this is a wellbeing area for our students. The first phase of the development is currently underway and the next few months should see a great change in this area.

Charity certificate

Eco Group After auditing the school site, the group has been investigating ways we can work more sustainably. They have also been promoting UNICEF Clean Air Campaign in the local area.

Wellbeing Group Meeting

PARENT

ENGAGEMENT

www.cockshuthill.org.uk

Follow us: @CockshutHillSch

Our Cultural Capital Programme YE

US EU

NT

V I S IT I N G U N I V MER

CE R E & BIR MI N G

January/February 2019 saw students in Year 9 visit a range of universities across the country.

This is tied into the options process while students are deciding the paths they wish to take at GCSE level. Students had a great insight into university life at Cambridge, Oxford, University of Birmingham, Coventry University, Birmingham City University and Newman University.

IE

S

YM

PH

ON

Y H ALL

CO MIN G S OO

R N 8 are .

EAlooking Year forward to visiting

..

Y

S

SI T

HA M

In January 2019, Year 7 visited the Symphony Hall in Birmingham to watch an excellent performance by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. The performance “dissected” the orchestra to give students a thorough understanding of how songs are put together.

8-

M

Y

starting secondary school in September 2018, year 7 visited Beaudesert for a day packed full of exciting challenges including Archery, Tree Climbing, Crate Stacking and Problem Solving.

SUMMIT LEARNING TRUST

RY In September 2018, Year 9 visited the Black Country Living Museum for a truly remarkable insight into the history of the local area. Spending the day with the excellent tour guides ensured all students had a fantastic day.

IT

Y

AUDE

S ER TA 7 - BE CT R Within A E the first few weeks of IV

9 - BL ACK COUN R A T

W

the largest Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths gathering for young people in the UK. This visit will take place in March 2019.

ES

-S U PE R - M TON AR

E

Year 8 are also looking forward to visiting Weston-super-Mare in May 2019. This fantastic experience gives students the opportunity to get the sand between their toes as well as visiting the historic Grand Pier. Lets hope for sunshine!

Trip

on Av

L

YEAR 11 -

- Stratfo 10

Follow us: @CockshutHillSch

on

ENGAGEMENT

r d- u p

A true highlight of the Cultural Capital calendar. A visit to the world renowned RSC in January 2019. Year 10 watched a captivating performance of “A Christmas Carol.” Not only linked to their GCSE course but giving the students a once in a lifetime experience.

PARENT

www.cockshuthill.org.uk

R

Year 11 are looking forward to a sight-seeing tour of the capital in March 2019. Taking in the sights of Buckingham Palace, Westminster, South Bank, Trafalgar Square and Covent Garden. A much welcomed break from the everyday stresses of life as a Year 11 student.

Y

Royal Shakespeare Company

EA

on

n do