News

Dear Parents/Carers

Despite being shorter than other half terms, it has still been a busy one for the school.

We have been busy working behind the scenes to get the new cashless catering system installed ready for after half term. Thank you to everyone for returning the consent forms so we could take the biometric data to allow the payment process to be speeded up and remove the need for parents to find cash each day. Please remember to log onto your ParentPay account (like you do for trip payments) and add credit to your child’s account. The minimum payment is £10. This is based on advice from the company and is in line with what other local schools do. Any less and parents would have to be logging on every day or two and that creates hassle for you which we want to avoid. Within ParentPay there is the option for parents to set an alert so you know when your child’s credit is running low. To do this you need to:

• Log into ParentPay. 
• Click on “Communication” across the top of the screen (circled in red). 
• 
• Click on “Alerts” on left hand side of screen (circled in red). 
• 
• Under “Balance Alerts / School Lunches” (circled in red) enter the balance you wish to be alerted by email and tick the email box – this is free. 
• 
• If you wish to be alerted by text, tick the “text” box.  This service is not free.
• Other alerts can be set for email or text at the same time. 
• Please scroll down the screen to see what options are available.
• When you have selected all notifications, scroll to bottom of the screen and “Save”.
• If you wish to be notified by text, you will then need to select “Add credit to your text message balance” (circled in green) and follow the instructions from there.  Texts cost 7p each and you can purchase bundles from £2.80 to £10.50.

 

If you have any questions about logging into your ParentPay account, please contact the finance office (Mrs Matta or Mrs Atkinson) who will be happy to help you.

The rehearsals for this year’s school production are in full swing and Ms Hurrell and Mr Williams are pleased with how much progress is being made. There are extra rehearsals in the holidays next week, so if your child is involved in the production, please make sure you know when they are required at school. Tickets are now on sale for Thursday 27^th & Friday 28^th February. They are selling fast, so please book now to avoid disappointment.

Year 9 enjoyed an informative Personal Development Day focusing on positive/healthy relationships and sex education. This is vital information to help our students make informed choices around future and current relationships and keeping themselves safe.

Year 10 & 11 enjoyed their theatre trip to see “An Inspector Calls”. This helps to cement their understanding of this key text ahead of their exams. Year 11 also attended “Poetry Live” which involves the actual poets reading and discussing the themes explored in their work which is a key analysis skill needed for the students forthcoming exams.

It was good to see so many Year 9 students and their parents attend the parents evening last week. I would like to take the opportunity to remind you about GCSE Options evening on Tuesday 11^th March, starting at 6pm.

Year 11 also have an important night in the calendar. Monday 3^rd March 6.00pm is Exam Preparation evening. Year 7 have their parents evening on Wednesday 5^th March. Information about booking appointments will be issued straight after the holidays.

Year 10 and 11 are heading off to Barcelona on the GCSE Spanish trip in April. There will be a parents’ information evening on Tuesday 18^th March at 6pm for all those attending.

The Year 10 Duke of Edinburgh Award group have two Saturday training days coming up: 1^st March and 22^nd March. These are essential parts of the Award and mandatory to complete. Mr Thomas will share information about both days with the students in their weekly lunchtime sessions. 

I remind Year 11 that they need to be completing some revision activities next week. This might be past papers, GCSE Pods, Seneca learning or even GCSE Bitesize. The important thing is that the maintain the mantra of “little and often” and that means if they haven’t already started revising, they need to start now as there are only 7 school weeks until the first exams! There is a dedicated page on our website with information and links from departments.

We continue to try to recruit a PE teacher, but in the short term have managed to secure some PE supply teachers meaning that all PE lessons after this holiday will be back to being practical and students will therefore require their PE kit.

I hope everyone has a good break next week and I look forward to welcoming the students back on Monday 24^th February.