From the Head of Secondary 22.01.2022

School has been a lively hive of activity this week, from active PE lessons on the court and the field to highly excited Year 7 students doing Science activities in Lab 2 to many other enjoyable and interesting lessons. There is definitely an atmosphere of ‘normality’ even though of course we continue to closely follow the SOPs. Our new students are quietly integrating, supported by their peers, which is good to see.

Now that we are all back in school, this week we have a few reminders about expectations which will be useful for students and their parents.

Absences and Attendance

Our overall expectation is that students attend school every day between the set hours.

If a student is too ill to come to school, they will be marked absent unless we receive an email from a parent / guardian confirming the absence, in which case it will be classed as a ‘medical absence’. On return to school they must collect any missed work from their teacher and to do this students can contact them via email or approach them at school. Some teachers may put work into Google Classroom, but not all.

If there is a ‘planned absence’, eg a student wishes to attend a sports tournament outside of school, the parent / guardian must email me [Mrs Renshaw] at least two weeks before the planned absence in order to gain permission. If this is done the absence is counted on the attendance record as ‘approved’. Students will be responsible for speaking to their teachers before they go, so that they can collect work and catch up as is needed.

We discourage unnecessary absences as they do impact learning, so adding extra days onto school holidays, or taking days off for holidays during the term is not allowed. If possible, medical appointments and such-like should be made outside of school hours, although we appreciate that is not always possible. There is a tendency with some students to miss the last day of each term, believing perhaps that it is a waste of time and they would prefer to stay at home. I would ask all parents to ensure that their child attends school on the last day, a day where we celebrate school and House spirit and distribute commendations and certificates. Any student not in school on that day [unless there is a genuine reason, such as illness] is marked absent and that goes onto their school report.

Homework

As outlined in my letter of last week, we have now returned to regular homework. Students must ensure that they have their school diary with them in every lesson, and that they carefully record the homework with the due date. The Term 2 report will have a homework grade so it is important that students do everything correctly in this regard. We ask that parents sign the diary and the form tutors will also do so. This supports the student with homework so that home and school can see what the work is and ensure that it is completed.

Have a great weekend

Margaret Renshaw

Head of Secondary / Deputy Principal