News

 

Monday 20th June

Dear Parents, Carers and Students,

Welcome to our weekly update for the ninth week of the Summer Term 2022. Our enrichment and trips programme has really kicked off over the course of the last week. Y11 enjoyed an excellent day at Oxford Brookes University on Friday; over the weekend our intrepid Bronze DofE students completed their initial expedition and 8M visited Beaver’s Primary School to provide a samba accompaniment to the school’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations! This week sees a visit to University College London among other opportunities for our students.

As it is Week A, our whole school assemblies this week are focusing on formal reparation and character - please see more details below from Ms Kapila.

Last Thursday evening the school’s Board of Trustees adopted updated Articles of Association. Moving forward, there will be two Parent Trustee posts and these will be elected before the end of this term. If you are interested in standing for election, please look at the Trust Board section of the school’s website for more information. Also at the meeting, we said farewell to Mr Edward Locke who has served as a Trustee/Governor of our school for 32 years! He has been a stalwart and a great supporter of our school and we wish him every best wish for the future and express our gratitude for his outstanding service to our community.

Now that the weather has become cooler, we have reverted to normal school uniform. If the temperature rises again and we need to make an adjustment in the future, we will inform you accordingly.

With best wishes for the week ahead,

 

Stephen Davis

  

 

New Uniform Policy

Following on from an extensive consultation with students, parents, trustees and staff, in assembly this week we have been briefing students on our new uniform policy for September 2022. Thank you to the many parents who completed the survey, which showed high levels of support for our current uniform arrangements, and some other feedback which we hope to address through our new policy. 

In terms of key changes from our current uniform code:

We have included a statement on how we intend to reduce the cost of school uniforms. With this in mind, from September 2022 there will no longer be a requirement to purchase a school bag. Instead, we will require that students bring a bag that is black, and at least 20L in capacity, so large enough to carry all exercise books and equipment required for that day. For those parents who prefer that their child has a Lampton bag, these are still available for purchase at School Bells.

We have included statements on protected characteristics, on religion to make clear that students have the right to wear required religious symbols such as the kara, turban and headscarf and protection for students to wear all Afro-hairstyles. We have also made clear that we will make reasonable adjustments for students with disabilities, and that our uniform code is explicitly non-gendered.

We have also included a provision to declare a ‘heatwave’ day, where we will ask students to take off their ties, and blazers are optional. We trialled this approach last week during the hot weather, and students and staff were very positive about the provision. This is to allow students to study in a more comfortable environment on very hot days. When we expect the temperature to exceed 25C for a substantial part of the day, the headteacher will declare a ‘heatwave’ day, and this will be communicated to students via messages in registration, and to parents and carers via a text message. We will communicate the duration of the heatwave, with a clear expectation that students wear their full uniform following the end of the heatwave. 

 

Parents of ex-Year 11 students / uniform donations

If your son or daughter is in Year 11,  and therefore will no longer require school uniform following the final exam - we are strongly encouraging you and your child to donate any items of uniform that are in a good condition to our new uniform exchange. This will help low-income families who may otherwise struggle to afford school uniform. There will be a reminder in Thursday’s leavers’ assembly, where we will encourage students to leave items at student services. 

 

AQA GCSE Physics Higher Tier Paper 1 Exam:Thursday 09 June 2022

The final question on this exam was about energy transfers and circuits. Energy transfers were listed in the advance information as being assessed, but circuits were listed as not being assessed.

The exam board is aware of this issue and to make sure students aren’t disadvantaged, they will be awarding everyone full marks for all parts of the question, which were worth a total of 9 marks.

The exam board has said that if anyone has questions about this issue or would like to speak to someone, they should get in touch with their customer support team on 0800 197 7162

 

Special Consideration/ Extenuating Circumstances

Special consideration is given to a candidate who has temporarily experienced illness, injury orsome other event outside of their control at the time of the assessment.  If you are not sure if this might apply to your son/ daughter, then I have attached the guidance below (pages 6/7 are probably the most helpful).  https://www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/A-guide-to-the-special-consideration-process-202122-–-General-and-Vocational-qualifications-Updated-8-April-2022.pdf

As we have to apply on an exam by exam basis, it is helpful if you can make a note of how the circumstances affected your son/daughter for each exam in the form of a short diary.  You will be asked to provide this and whatever evidence you have such as doctor's notes/ death certificates etc to Ms Lewis.  

You can pass this information to Ms Lewis via email (vlewis@lampton.org.uk) or if students would rather pass it in person, then her office is by the staff room)

 

Safeguarding briefing

As we approach the summer, students may be heading out to the beaches, rivers or lakes to cool down. This campaign from the UK Coastguard has some essential tips for families when out on the water: https://coastguardsafety.campaign.gov.uk/