MESSAGE FROM MS MARRILL

This week I would like to focus on our core values of Excellence and Respect. Recently we have worked with our young people across all subject areas to establish what excellence in learning looks like in each subject and we are now having a renewed focus on the value of respect. Through lessons and active tutorial, we are building a shared language to support with the already positive learning behaviours our students display. The key terms we use in school to support with positive behaviour for learning are ‘learning ready’ and ‘respectful’, we use these terms to remind students of our high expectations in both lessons and in social times. We ask you as parents and carers to discuss these principles with your young people and to support them particularly to be learning ready by ensuring they have the correct uniform and equipment for school. I would like to take this opportunity to remind you that the equipment list includes a white board and white board pen which can be obtained from the office by paying £1 for each item on ParentPay and they also require a green pen. We use green pens in every lesson to identify where students have improved, corrected and redrafted work after receiving feedback from a teacher and this is vital to ensure they can see at a glance where they have made errors and improvements.

In active tutorials and assemblies, students have been focussing on what it means to be both learning ready and respectful and we will continue to build on this work this term. For information, our behaviour policy on the school website has been updated with the new detention system which Miss Ramsay and Mr Lindsay-Charlton wrote to you about at the start of term.

This half term Year 11 have had external input through Made Training to support them with revision. Students understand that they need to learn the information first, then transform it into revision and then recall it. We will be building on this in lessons and intervention and introducing some of these ideas lower down the school this term and beyond. Do ask your Year 11 students about these strategies and how they work for them, encourage them to use them and support them by offering to test them on their knowledge when they have upcoming assessments. In subjects, students in all exam groups will be utilising these revision strategies to help them prepare for their next set of mock examinations and beyond.

Ms Marrill

Deputy Headteacher