News

 

 

Tuesday 3rd January 2023

 

Dear Parents, Carers and Students,

Happy New Year!

Welcome to our newsletter for the first week of the Spring Term 2023. It’s Week A and Dr Isham is leading our whole school assemblies focusing on the power of the individual and kindness.

I hope you all had a restful break and students are back ready for an excellent term ahead. The start of a new term is a good time to ‘reboot’ and refresh expectations. In assemblies we have been reminding students of our ‘learning modes’ - our expectations in lessons. These are: silent work; pair work and group work; listening positions and hands-up; quiet voices. These modes allow a variety of learning techniques to be used in lessons and all students to make progress.

We are also streamlining our praise points so that they align with our focus on developing students’ character - please see Mr Smale's update below. 

I am pleased to report that our attendance figures are above the national average and we are working towards our pre-pandemic levels. All students should aspire to achieve at least 96% attendance to school - if students are absent, their achievement will suffer. The same applies to punctuality - being on time to school and lessons is vital and a sign of aspiring for excellence and respect for yourself and others. A reminder that students should be on-site by 8.30am every morning, ready for Registration at 8.40am.

With best wishes for the New Year and the week ahead.

Stephen Davis

 

Changes to achievement points

This term we are changing the achievement points system to reward students' character virtues. Achievement points will now be given for the following categories - Grit (hard work, determination, ambition), Kindness (kind and respectful community), Responsibility (do the right thing, self regulation) and Intellectual (thinking like scholars). More details can be found in the table below…

 

 

Please discuss these at home with pupils and encourage them to earn as many achievement points as possible. We will continue to send home shout out messages to students that go above and beyond and will focus on character traits when recognising students in end of term awards assemblies.

 

 

Back to school advice issued amid high levels of flu, COVID-19 and scarlet fever

The UK Health Security Agency has issued some advice to parents on how they can help to ensure that their child doesn’t catch and spread illness in school or college. Specifically, the guidance says:

• emphasise routines of handwashing

• keep your child off school if they are ill and have a temperature

• get a flu jab for your child if they are eligible

You can read the guidance here. 

 

 Lampton Students become Sky Sports pundits

A shout out for Naveed and Rishi who made an excellent debut as Sky Sports pundits during yesterday’s Brentford v Liverpool match - and a thank you to their Head of Year Ms Ali for organising the opportunity. To see more, please follow the link.

 

Safeguarding Briefing: Mental Health and Wellbeing 

The next whole school assembly will focus on mental health and wellbeing. The assembly will aim to  remind students of the practical steps they can take to support themselves and who to seek when they need further support. For parents and carers, having conversations with your child about their wellbeing can be really supportive. For more information, we suggest the following: 

For lots of fun activity ideas and resources to make talking easier, visit youngminds.org.uk/take20 or call the YoungMinds’ Parents Helpline: 0808 802 5544

Visit the Anna Freud - Parents and Carers section: https://www.annafreud.org/parents-and-carers/

Seek support from Childline: https://www.childline.org.uk/info-advice/home-families/

Encourage your child to use the app Kooth to support with wellbeing: https://www.kooth.com/

Our counsellor has recommended: https://www.pookyknightsmith.com/ especially for families who have a young person with ASC. 

Make an appointment with your GP to discuss your concerns or flag with your child’s Head of Year who can make a referral to our Pupil Care Team.