News

Dear Parents, Carers and Students,

Welcome to our newsletter for the ninth week of the Spring Term 2023. It’s Week A and our whole school assemblies are taking place, led by Ms Grantham and students, on the  theme of ‘International Womens’ Day’ which takes place on Wednesday 8th March. 

Last week saw ‘World Book Day’ take place on 2nd March. Though the day itself was disrupted by strike action, we celebrated the event and the importance of reading throughout the week - thanks to Ms Bridge and groups of students who led this work.

Our character theme is - ‘self-awareness’ and students are being asked to reflect on motivation, self-regulation and mindfulness in respect of this. In particular, self-regulation in challenging circumstances.

Tomorrow (7th March) we look forward to welcoming Y7 and their families to the first of our new style Celebration and Awards events. The afternoon begins with refreshments in the new canteen - a chance for families to sample the new cuisine provided by Cucina - followed by meeting the form tutors, then a brief presentation by myself and senior staff followed by the presentation of awards. It promises to be a great event and I look forward to these taking place over the coming months for all year groups. My thanks to Mr Smale and Mr Bugembe for organising tomorrow’s celebration.

Finally, next Wednesday and Thursday - 15th and 16th March - are the last two days in the current round of industrial action by the NEU regarding school funding and staff pay.  I anticipate the school will be closed,as per the previous strike days this term, but I will confirm arrangements in next Monday’s update.

With best wishes for the week ahead.

Stephen Davis

 

 

Revision strategies

With the approach of exam season, parents of students in Year 11 and Year 13 may be wondering about how they can best support their children in revising for the upcoming exams. This article summarises important tips to help your child revise, while this article contains  a helpful reminder of some key strategies for when students use revision guides. Students will also be receiving further guidance on effective revision through assemblies and the tutor programme both before and after the Easter holidays.

 

Safeguarding Bulletin: Sexting / Sharing Nudes and Semi-Nudes

Adolescents going through puberty, mobile phones with cameras and the internet is a combination that in recent years has fundamentally changed how children experience and explore their sexuality. Recent research suggests that by the age of 12, most young people have been sent sexualised content through their phones, and by 15 most young people have sent such messages too. 

This presents a massive challenge in terms of how to keep young people safe, such are the many risks of these forms of behaviour. As much as we may like to say to young people to abstain from such behaviour, experience tells us that this may fall on deaf ears. 

As a parent it's really important that we are aware of just how common these behaviours are so that you can make choices around the extent to which your child has access to a mobile phone. We strongly recommend that if your child does have their own internet enabled mobile phone, that either you check it regularly and / or you install software to monitor their usage to act as a deterrent. 

It’s also important to know the minimum ages for accessing particular apps so that you can enforce this. Please note that the minimum age for Whatsapp is 16. This guide from the NSPCC also gives more information on how parents can approach talking to their children about this. 

If you are concerned that your child, or any other is at risk, please do not hesitate to contact the safeguarding team at Lampton safeguarding@lampton.org.uk.