Dear Parent/Carer,
As we come to the end of another busy term, I would like to inform you of the arrangements for the end of term.
Parents’ Review Morning
We look forward to welcoming parents and carers back in to College for the first of this year’s review mornings, on Tuesday 19
th December. Parents and carers will have the opportunity to speak to members of staff, to discuss their child’s performance in the recent assessments and, more generally, to discuss performance in homework and in relation to our College values of ambition, endeavour and respect.
Academic reports will be available for parents to view, via the SIMS Parent App, by 15
th December and we will also have paper copies available during the Parents’ Review Morning on 19
th December.
We were really impressed with the students’ attitudes and efforts throughout the assessment period and would like to thank you for your support throughout the process. As a reminder, students’ performance in the assessment for each subject is ranked and these rankings are used to inform set changes. Any set changes will be communicated to parents and carers.
Last day of term
Students will not attend College on Tuesday 19
th December, though they are, of course, invited to attend the review morning with their parents/carers. The students’ final day of term will, therefore, be Monday 18
th December, when the Character Education reward visits will take place for Years 7-11. If your son/daughter has earned a place on the Character Education reward day, then you will have received a separate communication.
Please note that
Year 11, 12 and 13 students will have an early finish time of 3.00pm on Monday 18
th December.
Homework
We would like to thank you for your support, with regards to our compulsory homework policy. We have a significant number of students who complete all homework tasks, week in, week out and we are pleased to see that our students are becoming increasingly more organised and conscientious regarding homework. As a reminder, we run Homework Clubs every night after school, for those students who may need some help to complete homework or just prefer to complete it before going home.
Homework schedule – Years 7 to 10
| Year Group |
Homework Set |
Homework Deadline |
Homework Support Session |
| Year 7 |
8.30am Friday |
8.30am Thursday |
Monday |
| Year 8 |
8.30am Thursday |
8.30am Wednesday |
Friday |
| Year 9 |
8.30am Saturday |
8.30am Friday |
Tuesday |
| Year 10 |
8.30am Wednesday |
8.30am Tuesday |
Thursday |
Homework deadlines over the Christmas holiday have been adjusted, as follows:
| Year Group |
Homework Set |
Homework Deadline |
| Year 7 |
15.12.2023 |
04.01.2024 |
| Year 8 |
14.12.2023 |
03.01.2024 (Training Day) |
| Year 9 |
16.12.2023 |
05.01.2024 |
| Year 10 |
13.12.23
03.01.2024 (Training Day) |
19.12.23
09.01.2024 |
Homework for Year 10 students
We have been gathering feedback from Year 10 students about the barriers they face when completing homework and have made the following changes to our homework policy, as a direct result of that feedback:
- Compulsory homework will only be set in the core subjects, on Sparx Maths, Sparx Reader and Sparx Science.
- Each of the core subjects will align, so that the maximum amount of time to be spent on a set task will be 30 minutes*.
*This time adjustment will also apply to Years 7 to 9.
We believe that students benefit from work completed outside of lessons and evidence suggests that those students who regularly engage in additional, extended learning opportunities, go on to achieve much higher grades at GCSE and Post 16 study. We are hopeful that the changes we have made will help Year 10 students, in particular, to manage their homework more easily and that they will start to feel more confident and successful.
We hope that you and your families have an enjoyable Christmas holiday and we look forward to welcoming students back on 4
th January 2024.
Thank you for your ongoing support.
Yours faithfully,
Mrs D Stanton
Assistant Principal
