News

Monday 14th October 2024

Dear Parents, Carers and Students,

Welcome to our newsletter for the seventh week of the Autumn Term 2024.

It’s Week A and our whole school assemblies are being led by Mr Bates and Mr Marks on the theme of independent learning and its importance in securing educational success. At Lampton students have access to a wide range of online resources to support them with learning outside of the classroom, these range from Century to Sparx, GCSE Pod and Seneca - many with AI capabilities to tailor the work to the progress of individual students. Please do ask your child about the different platforms they use in their subjects.

Today marks the start of the Pre-Public examinations (PPEs) for Y13. These examinations will take place in the Sixth Form Centre and will provide useful data for UCAS predicted grades and important feedback for students as they prepare for next summer’s examinations. Y11 will follow suit next week when their PPEs begin in the Sports Hall. Both events emphasise the real importance of independent learning beyond the classroom and the school day. This really is one of the keys to success for students.

As the weather becomes more Autumnal, a reminder that school coats must be plain black and scarves must be plain black too. Thank you for your support.

With best wishes for the week ahead.

Stephen Davis

Headteacher

 

Independent Learning 

Further to the Headteacher’s comments above, parents should expect to see that each evening students have been set Independent Learning to complete to augment their studies in class. As a minimum expectation, our policy states that the following amount of Independent Learning should be completed: 

Y7-11

• 1 lesson per fortnight (e.g. PSHE) = No Independent Learning
• 2 lessons per fortnight (e.g. RS) = 1 piece of Independent Learning per fortnight
• 3 or more lessons per fortnight (most subjects) = 1 piece of Independent Learning per week

Y12-13

• Students at KS5 should spend the same amount of time carrying out structured independent learning as they spend in lessons (5 hours per teacher per week). 

Each piece of Independent Learning should last for between 30-45 mins for KS3 students and between 45-60 mins for KS4 students. Parents should be able to check how much work is being set via the Satchel app. 

Where students do not complete their work, a Homework Support issued. Where the Independent Learning is a quiz that can be retaken multiple times, the expected pass mark is 80% (students should restudy the material provided and then take the test again). After half term, there will be slight change to the current system - and all students issued an Independent Learning support will be helped to catch up on Independent Learning from 3.10-4.10. Where the member of staff in charge is clear that students have caught up on any outstanding work, the student may be allowed to leave by 3.40. Parents will continue to be sent a text message when their child is issued with an Independent Learning Support.

The vast majority of students are never issued a Homework / Independent Learning support as they complete the set learning on time. The challenge for most students is how to go beyond the minimum expectation to take responsibility for their own learning. In support of this goal, the school continues to invest in cutting edge learning platforms such as Century for English and Science, and Sparx for Maths - these utilise artificial intelligence to personalise each student’s learning path to better enable progression. 

 

Celebrating Black History Month

Black History Month has arrived and we are focusing on celebrating and reclaiming narratives- celebrating and honouring individuals who revolutionised art, literature, technology and science. We celebrate the contribution these individuals made to British History. In lessons teachers will be teaching explicit resources celebrating BHM and focusing on inspiring people who were trailblazers and made changes that we have all benefited from.

Many students also spoke in assemblies about who has inspired them and who are their role models! So, congratulations to them!

 

Data Protection

At Lampton School we take looking after your personal data very seriously. As part of our data protection practices we create a privacy notice that tells you about how we collect, share and retain the personal data of pupils, parents and carers.

We have updated our privacy notice with extra information on how we inform parents about how well their children are doing when they are using sparxmaths.com. We recommend that you read the privacy notice in full, as it provides more detail on how we manage data protection and your privacy. The privacy policy for pupils, parents and carers can be found here