News

Dear Parents, Carers and Students,

Welcome to our newsletter for the eighth  week of the Spring Term 2023. It’s Week B with year assemblies taking place. 

I am able now to confirm that the school will be closed to all students on Thursday 2nd March for the second day of industrial action by the NEU in relation to pay and school funding. The attached letter, which was also emailed to all families, gives further details. Non-striking staff will be delivering online lessons on 2nd March and your child should check their Google Classroom year page for more information. Please also see the item below, and the formal letter to parents here. Another round of industrial action is due to take place on 15th and 16th March - I will update you with our plans nearer the time.

On Friday 3rd March our Exam Support Day takes place as planned and details can be found below. Only selected Y11 and Y13 students will be on-site that day.

The first week of Cuncina’s operation in school has gone very well, with students and staff enjoying a much wider variety of meals, snacks and drinks. As a reminder, students can only be served using their school ID card and that this must have sufficient funds loaded to cover the cost of purchases. Parent Pay now tops student accounts much more quickly than in the past.

Y11 are currently working well on their PPEs.  Next week we look forward to the launch of our new Celebration Evenings which have replaced our Awards Evening which was held annually pre-Covid. We kick-off with Y7 (details below) and look forward to hosting these for all year groups between now and the end of July 2023.

With best wishes for the week ahead,

Stephen Davis

 

Strike day - Thursday 2nd March

As per the previous strike day earlier in February, non-striking teachers will be delivering lessons online. Students should check their Google Classroom page between 8.40-9.10 to find out which teachers will not be available to teach their lessons. All other lessons will take place as per the timetable, and as before the whole school will follow KS3 timings, with break at 10.10-10.30 and lunch between 12.30-13.10. 

As Year 11 students are currently taking exams, these will still go ahead in person at the school. Year 11s should go directly to the Sports Hall ready for their English Language exam at 8.40. Students will then sit their Science and Maths exams during the late morning and afternoon sessions. 

 

Exam Support Day - Friday 3rd March

Friday is Exam Support Day, which means that the only students on site will be selected students in Year 11 and Year 13. Students in Year 11 with individual timetables, and a summary is available via student’s Google Classroom page. Please ask your child to show them your timetable so that you are clear which session(s) they should attend. 

 

Success in extra-curricular activities

The last two weeks have seen our students excel in a range of different extracurricular activities. Last week our Y8 netball team took part in the borough championship, and the A team finished in first place and are now borough champions - beating Gumley School in the final 4-2.  

And lastly many students took part in the UK Intermediate Maths Challenge - and our students brought home no less than 76 medals. Five of our students really excelled and passed to the next stage (the infamous Kangaroos), which will be sat on the 16th March: Max, Christopher, Naman, Simran and Pranav.

Well done to all our students who have demonstrated excellence, and many thanks to Ms Newman, Mr Batten and Dr Scalise for organising and running the activities! If you would like to find out more about our extra-curricular offer, please see this page for the activities timetable.  

 

Careers Showcase Events

In October we held a successful ‘you can do day’ for all our Year 11 students. This gave pupils a chance to meet lots of different people from a huge range of different careers. We would like to build on this success and expand our careers provision through careers showcase events. 

These will be short (perhaps 30 minute) sessions with a guest from a particular area. Ideally there would be a short talk from the guest discussing their job and how they got there and then a chance for a Q+A with the students. These could be during lunchtimes or after school.

We are looking to give students an insight into areas they may not have thought about before and that may not be as 'obvious' to them so the more diverse the career path the better. We would also like to provide students with more information on 'non-traditional' routes e.g., Apprenticeships and degree apprenticeships - so anyone who has done one of those or is doing one of those would be great.

If you would be interested in coming into school (or if you know anyone who would like to) to run one of these sessions please email Mr Smale (tsmale@lampton.org.uk) outlining the career pathway and availability.

 

Year 7 Celebration Event 

The Year 7 celebration event will take place on 7th March from 16:30 - 18:00.

Programme for the evening:

16:30: Arrival, refreshments

16:30-17:00: Meeting other parents as well as Form Tutors, Head of Year and Senior Staff

17:15: Talk in the main hall on how to ensure all students are successful and Year 7 prize giving

18:00: Depart

 

This will be a fantastic event and a great opportunity to meet members of staff, see the school and celebrate success. 

We will also be holding events in the future for other year groups and the dates can be seen below…

Year 8 - 25th April 2023 

Year 9 - 16th May 2023 

Year 10 - 23rd May 2023 

 

Safeguarding Bulletin: talking to young people about being safe online

It can sometimes be difficult for adults to relate to children, especially when it comes to discussing safety online. The way that we may use the internet is likely to be radically different to how teenagers use it. The NSPCC earlier this month published ‘Want to talk about it? Making space for conversations about life online’. The gist of the page is highlighting ways in which parents and teachers can have sensible, non-accusatory conversations about the online world, and their children’s role within it. It’s a great page for those who are considering having a talk with children about the online space. In a similar vein, for further information on Andrew Tate and the threat posed to children by Andrew Tate and the world of online misogyny, please see below the BBC Documentary and a guide for staff. As ever, if you have any concerns about the safety or wellbeing of children please do get in touch with the safeguarding team, safeguarding@lampton.org.uk.