Ashcroft Newsletter - Ashcroft High School
Transcription
Ashcroft Newsletter - Ashcroft High School
A News SPRING TERM 2015 MARCH 2015 INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Introduction from the Headteacher 2 Every School Day Counts 3 World Book Day 4 Y10 Cambridge University Day 5 UKMT Maths Challenge 5 Journey’s End Trip 6 Ashcroft take on London 6 PE Success 7 Finance 8 Dates for your diary 9 Term Dates 10 “A learning community driven by high expectations and respect for all’. Crawley Green Road, Luton, LU2 9AG. Tel: (01582) 436100, Fax: (01582) 436118 www.ashcrofthighschool.co.uk PAGE 2 Introduction from the Headteacher D ear Parent, We are already two thirds of the way through the school year. The year 11 students are feeling the pressure of the GCSE final exams, which have already started. At this time of the year it is difficult to achieve that fine balance between maintaining a sense of urgency, and keeping the students calm, determined and HOPEFUL. Too much exam stress leads to many students feeling overwhelmed and giving up completely. Our year 11s need to believe that it is never too late to improve their final grades. The key to students achieving this positive, hopeful outlook is as follows: regular attendance at school and at all intervention sessions. Teachers provide support with exam preparation during intervention sessions. regular study at home. 2 hours per evening is the minimum. planning a home study timetable. The blank timetable on page 3 in the school planner is there to help. buying and using the revision guides that are available from each subject. using SAM LEARNING on a daily basis for revision & exam practice. Using the LRC after school 2.45-5pm. Staff are available to help with GCSE work. No year 11 student should feel that they are on their own. Ashcroft offers more support than many other schools. If your child is in year 7 - 10, please encourage them to develop the above good habits from now. They mustn't wait until year 11. Remind your child that every lesson from year 7 onwards counts towards their final GCSE grades. Even subjects that they won’t be taking to GCSE will be developing important skills that will improve their final GCSE grades. I am aware that many parents welcome new ideas for helping their child to be more successful in their learning. I have run a short session for parents during the recent spring term parents evenings on this very topic. I will be repeating the session during the summer term for parents who were unable to attend. Please look out for a letter and a text message giving more details. I wish you a relaxing Easter break with your child, and some important family time together. I look forward to us working together during the final term of the school year. Ms Austin PAGE 3 PAGE 3 Every School Day Counts If your child attends school every day, they will have 100% attendance. An attendance of 90% means that your child will miss 4 weeks of learning in a school year. An attendance of 80% means your child will miss more than half a term of learning in a school year. Over the course of their school career, they will miss 2 full years. Every child at Ashcroft is expected to achieve 97% or above attendance. Research proves that 90% of children with an attendance of 95% and above, will achieve 5 or more GCSEs at A*- C. However, this number reduces to 60%, for those children with an attendance of 85% and below. Every Minute Counts Being late for school reduces learning time. If your child is 5 minutes late for school every day, they will miss 3 days of learning in a school year. If your child is 15 minutes late for school every day, they will miss 2 weeks of learning in a school year. Every child at Ashcroft is expected to be at their classroom and ready to learn by 8.30am every day. PAGE World Book Day 4 To celebrate World Book Day 2015 a book fair was held in the Learning Resource Centre for 5 days. New books supplied by Scholastic were available for purchase by students, parents and staff. The book fair created a great buzz in the LRC and a record number of students attended; it was also great to welcome some parents after school too. Students were able to spend their £1 World Book Day vouchers and enter some amazing competitions. Another chance to buy books On Thursday April 23rd to celebrate World Book Night we are selling some of our old books at 50p each with the money going to charity. The books will be on sale to students during the day and parents are invited to the sale between 2.45pm and 5.00 p.m. 5 lucky students won £5 each to spend at the fair by completing a word search about World Book Day, those students were: Rhian Thelwell, Molly Hills, Kacey Collins, Reece Dean and Emmanuel Akano . We set ourselves a target of £700 worth of sales (last year we took £667.93) and I am delighted that we beat our target - an amazing £707.54 was spent. We will receive new books for our LRC worth £353.77 which is a very generous commission of 50%. This is proof, if proof were needed that our students love to read and print books are still hugely popular. Thanks to everyone who supported the book fair. Happy reading. Mrs S Yates LRC Manager PA Year 10 Cambridge University Challenge Day—Monday 2nd March We were very honoured to be able to take 9 students to Emmanuel College in Cambridge for the whole day. The students started the day with an introductory session on Higher Education and studying in Cambridge and away from home. The afternoon session students were competing with the others schools across the country by taking part in a school debating challenge. This was a fantastic opportunity for our students to develop and demonstrate points of views in a professional manner justify clearly their thought process. Mr Bishop and Mrs Shah supervised the trip and were really proud of the students on the trip for their contribution and impeccable behaviour. The UKMT Maths Challenge: 2015 The Maths department entered 120 year 7 and 8 students to take part in the 2015 UKMT Maths Intermediate Challenge while another 60 students were entered for the Intermediate Challenge. The UKMT Individual Maths Challenges contain lively, intriguing multiple choice questions which are designed to stimulate interest in Maths in a large numbers of pupils. The three levels cover the secondary school range 11-18 and together they attract over 600,000 entries from over 4000 schools and colleges. are invited to enter follow-on rounds which require full written answers. The 2015 UK Maths Intermediate Challenge was held on 6th February while the Junior Challenge will be held on 30th April. The Maths Challenge contain 25 multiple choice questions and of these, the first 15 are more accessible whilst the final 10 provide a far more stern challenge to students. Gold, silver and bronze certificates are awarded to 40% of participants nationally in the Junior and Intermediate Challenges and 60% of participants nationally in the Senior Challenge. The most successful participants at each level Silver Medal Daniel Hunt (best in year) Tyreece Ellis Out of the 60 year 9 students who sat for the Intermediate Challenge on the 6th February, 9 were awarded silver and bronze medals. All the medal recipients are listed below. The 2015 UK Intermediate Maths Challenge medal winners Bronze Medal Tomiwa Sanniowo Enrique Khan Mariam Saee Yathavan Srikurmaran Zoe Francis Tia Sinfield Demi Lee PAGE 6 ‘Journey’s End’ Theatre Trip It was a dark, gloomy evening in November.’ Over in the Boche country, transport had been rattling over the pave’ all night; trains were puffing up and going away again, one after the other, bringing up loads and loads of men….’ There, before a group of year 11 literature students from Ashcroft, the British Officers of the Infantry Company laughed, joked, cried and died, as the Germans were finalising their build up to the Spring Offensive. The performance of ‘Journey’s End’, at the Queen Mother Theatre, Hitchin, showed us how life was in a dug-out in the British trenches near St. Quentin in March 1918. It was professionally performed and a fun night out for all. The students also found it beneficial to see the play as it is studied as part of the literature GCSE; watching it cemented what they learnt in class. The production stayed loyal to the text and culminated in a shock of booms and bangs, causing the dug out to cave in, as the battle of the Somme commenced… Ashcroft Students take on London This term, seventy Year 7 students headed to London for a visit to Southbank. First, we headed to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre and entered the realm of Shakespearian work. After a comprehensive tour of the premises, students participated in an interactive workshop that focused on Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth, the play that students are currently studying in lessons. Following the theatre visit, continued on to the Tate Modern, Britain's finest and largest art gallery. Here, students were able to view, analyse and enjoy a plethora of different forms of art. Finally, students were given an enthusiastic walking tour of Southbank! Highlights of this tour included London Bridge, HMS Belfast, Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. Both students and staff had a great day and look forward the next English Department trip! PAGE 7 PE Success Year 7 Boys Luton Schools Indoor Athletics Champions ***************** Year 8 Boys Luton Schools Indoor Athletics Champions ***************** Year 11 Boys have reached the Luton Schools Football U16 Cup final to be played later in the year ***************** Year 7 Boys Luton Schools Basketball Champions ***************** Year 11 Boys have reached the County Cup semi-final for the first time in their 5 years at the School PAGE ParentPay We are trying to encourage all parents to now use ParentPay. ParentPay is a convenient method to pay for items such as the following; Dinner Money School Trips Revision Guides School Ties Other items available from the school shop This method of payment is extremely beneficial for parents as it enables you to pay by debit or credit card and also ensures a sense of security for your child with cashless payments. ParentPay eliminates the following concerns that parents have when sending their child to school with money/cheques: Your child cannot lose the money/cheque Your child cannot spend their dinner money on sweets No more forgetting to pay the cash/cheque in to finance The cash/cheque cannot be stolen from your child in the street or at school Your child will not have to queue at the school shop If you would like your log on details please email [email protected] Student Lockers School Ties We have found that some students are encountering problems with their lockers; however, they are not reporting the issues. Please ensure your child reports any problems to the finance office during the school shop time of 10:30am to 10:45am daily. Please note that we are not able to swap ties. Students are visiting the finance office with the assumption that they are able to trade an older or a previous year tie for a new one—this is not the case. Ties are sold at the cost of £5.00 and payment may be made using ParentPay. Locker codes should not be changed by any student whatsoever nor should any lockers be shared. Any students who are found to be tampering with the lockers may incur a fine to cover any damage and will be issued with a suitable behaviour consequence. 8 Dates For Your Diary March 2015 to September 2015 Friday 27 March Term ends for students at 1 p.m. Monday 30 March – Friday 10 April Easter holiday Monday 13 April Students return to school 8.25 a.m. Thursday 23 April World Book Night 2.45 – 5 p.m. Monday 27 April Parents Focus Group Meeting 5.30 – 7 p.m. Monday 4 May May Day Bank Holiday Monday 25 May – Friday 29 May Half term holiday Monday 1 June Students return to school 8.25 a.m. Monday 22 June Yr 11 Clearance Day Thursday 25 June Yr 11 Leavers assembly 2.45 – 3.45 p.m. Friday 26 June Yr 11 Prom Tuesday 2 July Yr 6 Induction Day Tuesday 2 July Yr 6 tutor evening Wednesday 15 July Rewards trips Thursday 16 July Sports Day Monday 20 July Enterprise Day Wednesday 22 July Term ends for students at 1 p.m. Wednesday 2, Thursday 3 and Friday 4 September Staff Training Days (students not in school) Monday 7 September Yr 7 students begin school at 8.25 a.m. Yrs 8 –11 students return to school at 11.00 a.m. PAGE Term Dates 2015—2016 Term Dates 2015—2016 Autumn Term 2015 Staff Training Days: Wednesday 2nd September, Thursday 3rd September & Friday 4th September 2015 (school closed to students) Term Dates: Half Term: Date s for your diary January 2015 Monday 7th September – Friday 18th December 2015 Friday 23rd October – Friday 30th October 2015 Spring Term 2016 Staff Training Day: Monday 4th January 2016 (school closed to students) Term Dates: Tuesday 5th January – Thursday 24th March 2016 Half Term: Monday 15th February – Friday 19th February 2016 Summer Term 2016 Term Dates: Monday 11th April – Thursday 21st July 2016 Half Term: Monday 30th May – Friday 3rd June 2016 May Day bank holiday: Monday 2nd May 2016 10