Dear Parent/Carer
I hope this email finds you and your family well as we move through the autumn term? I wanted to get in touch to update you on a few items and celebrate the brilliant things that have happened in school so far this year:
Uniform
Thank you so much for all your support with our uniform changes. We now have the vast majority of students wearing the correct uniform and looking really smart.
If parents could continue to support us, especially helping us to ensure student only wear stud earrings (maximum of 2) in their earlobes and wear tailored trousers that are not cropped, are not leggings or do not look like leggings.
Enrichment Activities
The huge range of enrichment activities we offer has been promoted with all students and participation is really high. I have attached a link to the autumn term programme below.
If your child is not already involved in something, please urge them to have a look at the schedule and take advantage of the opportunities to get involved in something different.
ClassCharts
Thank you to all parents who have signed up to ClassCharts to keep you up to date with your child’s progress and receive key information from school.
We now have 62% of parents signed up, if you are yet to sign up, please do so as soon as possible via the website below.
If you are unsure of your log in details, please contact itsupport@southcraven.org.
Attendance
Thank you for ensuring your child attends school. We acknowledge there has been a lot of illness at the start of this term.
At South Craven, we understand the impact good attendance has on a child's education and would appreciate your continued support to ensure your child attends school. Our new drive "Attend Today, Achieve tomorrow" is linked to evidence which shows that when children miss days of education it impacts on their GCSE results; however, if there is support needed, please contact your child’s Head of Year or the Attendance Team.
Mrs Trueman
Recently, the school has been coping with some really sad news after our Catering Manager, Mrs Trueman, passed away on Thursday 21 September following a short illness. Mrs Trueman worked at South Craven for 13 years in the Art and Textiles department and within the Catering Team.
In September 2022 she took over as our Catering Manager and did a fantastic job leading the catering team through some big changes and really improving our catering service. Mrs Trueman was a friendly, kind and popular member of staff, who will be sadly missed. Both of her children attended South Craven School previously and our thoughts are with them, her husband and the rest of her family at this extremely difficult time.
Lunchtime
Thank you to those parents who have given me feedback on our lunchtime service. It is a very busy time within school, especially for Years 7 – 11, with long queues at the start of lunch. However, the queues do move quickly and all students are served well before the end of lunch. We have been delighted with the increased demand for our Meal Deal, which is a hot meal and a desert and goes down really well with many students. The rotating menu is on our website:
Following the increase in our food prices in September, we will be raising the default limit on students’ accounts from £5 to £6 per day. If you have set an individual limit on your child’s account this will not be affected, but we ask that you let your child know their individual limit and explain that this includes everything they buy at breakfast, break and lunch.
Free School Meals
If your child is eligible for free school meals, they receive an allowance of £2.75 per day (this is the cost of a meal deal), which students in Years 10, 11 and Sixth Form may spend at breakfast, break or lunch. Students in Years 7, 8 and 9 are restricted to using the allowance at lunch only. They may of course use their own money for breakfast and break. If the free school meals allowance is unused on any day, it will not be carried forward to the next day.
Successes so far this year
As well as the excellent learning atmosphere in lessons, the calm behaviour of well mannered, and polite young people around school, there has been a number of events and successes to celebrate so far this term. These include:
- A packed Year 7 Induction Evening
- Year 13 Parental Consultation Evening, where students were able to discuss potential UCAS grades and how to achieve their best in their final year in school
- The launch of the Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award for Year 9 students
- Rehearsals for the school production of Everybody's Talking About Jamie in December
- The Year 9 cricket team becoming the County Cup champions
- Start of GCSE revision and catch up sessions in numerous subjects
- The Year 8 led Autumn Fayre, which raised £300 for our chosen charities.
- Interview workshops for potential Oxford and Cambridge students in Sixth Form
- Bright Futures attending school to deliver an extended assembly to Sixth Form students on study skills.
Upcoming Events
We have a number of important events approaching as we move through the first term. They include:
- 11 October – Year 11 Progression Morning
- 23 October – Year 11and 13 SPM reports issued
- 25 October – Year 11 Parent Consultation Evening – 4pm start
- 27 October – Staff training day. School will be closed to all students on this day
- 8 November – Sixth Form Open Evening – 6pm start
- 6 December – Start of Year 13 Mock exams
- 11 December – Start of Year 11 Mock exams
And Finally,…
As always, I would like to thank parents and carers for all of the support you offer the school. I am happy to receive feedback to help us improve what we do to support our students so please feel free to get in touch at any time.
All the best,
Martyn Hill
Headteacher
