Dear Parent/Carer
I hope this email finds you well and you had a great summer?
As usual, we have enjoyed a really positive start to the school year and I wanted to get in touch to let you know about this and remind you of some of the key changes that we have put in place for this school year.
Mobile Phones
I would like to thank all parents for their support to ensure mobile phones should “never be used, seen or heard” in school from the start of term. The students have responded brilliantly to this, especially in upper school and we have noticed a much nicer atmosphere during social times in the Year 10 and 11 areas. We have confiscated very few phones so far this term and hope that this will continue. Please support us by reminding your child to switch their mobile phones off and put them in their bags before they arrive at school in the morning.
ClassCharts
As we continue to develop ClassCharts I would like to remind you of a couple of changes that we have implemented over the past year:
Last year we introduced ClassCharts announcements. This allowed us to pass on important information such as fixture cancellations, information regarding in-house events and requesting parental consent for trips and fixtures. It is therefore important that you have signed up to the ClassCharts Parent app.
Students will continue to receive 5 additional merits for 100% attendance and 5 additional merits for receiving zero sanctions in one week.
The ClassCharts Parent app can be downloaded from the app store on Apple or Android, or you can login online at https://www.classcharts.com/parent/login.
For login/password/registration problems, please contact ITSupport@southcraven.org with your name, your child’s name and your child’s Date of Birth.
Standards
‘Ready, Respectful and Responsible’ is our new motto that will underpin our drive to develop and improve standards at South Craven. Throughout the week, students have attended assemblies and coaching sessions where we focused on these three South Craven characteristics and how students can take ownership of their actions and behaviours. Students have responded in a really positive manner to these expectations.
Attend Today, Achieve Tomorrow
Being in school is important to your child’s academic achievement, wellbeing, and wider development. However, we understand that at times your child may be unwell or there may be exceptional circumstances as to why your child cannot attend school. If you know your child is going to be absent please ensure that you contact school on attendance@southcraven.org or 01535 639772, as soon as possible, and before 8.25am.
Please be aware that The Department for Education has made some dramatic changes to how schools are required to deal with unauthorised term time absence. The threshold for prosecution is now much stricter and the penalties have increased. Please refer to the following link for more information:
Alongside attendance, punctuality also plays an important role in ensuring that your child achieves their educational potential. It is also important to form good habits for later life. Evidence suggests that positive attendance and punctuality are key factors in academic achievement and will have a positive impact on your child’s achievement in school. It is important to note that unauthorised lateness to school also has a threshold for prosecution under the new DfE attendance guidance.
If you have any concerns or need support with your child’s attendance, please contact the
Life Skills Curriculum
Our change to form time has also been a big success. This session is now called Life Skills in Years 7 to 10, Careers and Progression in Year 11 and Coaching in Sixth Form. The sessions now focus on students’ personal development and preparing them for day to day school life and their future.
Enrichment Activities
Once again, we are offering a huge range of enrichment activities for our students to get involved in outside their lessons. These activities are being promoted with the students at the moment and the list of activities available are on the link below.
Please urge your child to take part in at least one activity per week and remind them that they will receive a merit every time they attend an enrichment session. This is also a great opportunity to meet new friends and broaden their horizons.
Uniform
Once again, our summer holiday pre-loved uniform store was extremely popular with hundreds of parents coming along and benefiting. I would like to thank everyone who donated items. It makes a real difference to many families.
There are still some uniform items available so if there is something you need, please contact us on uniformsupport@Southcraven.org.
I have attached a copy of the uniform policy below as a reminder for all parents to read and would like to thank parents who have supported the minor changes we have made this year.
Courage Tasks
Our focus on developing student independence in class has got off to a great start with all students now regularly completing Courage Tasks in lessons. Our expectation is that students will spend time in every lesson working in silence (with teacher support) on an extended task to enable them to apply their learning, think hard and build resilience.
Exam Invigilator (Casual Contracts)
We are seeking to appoint Exam Invigilators with the drive to contribute to an atmosphere of respect, recognition, and mutual support within the school.
This role is essential to the smooth running of the examination process. In addition to ensuring correct exam procedures are followed, you will be responsible for setting out and collecting exam papers and materials, admitting students to the exam hall / room and invigilating. If you are interested in contributing to the successes of our students, please look out for the job advert on the school website and social media platforms.
SchoolComms
We've been made aware that our communications provider is changing the phone number that our school text messages are sent from. The text messages currently arrive from 01535 872008 but this will be changing shortly. We will update you when we know what our new number will be.
Key Events
As always, this half term is packed full of important events. Please see the list below for your diaries. Full details will be sent to parents in the relevant year groups:
- Thursday 19 September – This is Year 7 Evening (6pm start)
- Monday 23 September – Year 13 SPM reports issued
- Wednesday 25 September – Year 13 Consultation Evening (4pm – 8pm)
- Tuesday 8 October - Year 11 SPM reports issued
- Wednesday 9 October – Year 11 Progression Morning and Careers Showcase (3:15pm start)
And Finally…
It has been a fantastic start to the year in all the groups. Year 7 have settled down really quickly and it is great to see all the students looking happy, smart and ready to learn. We have already awarded over 25,000 merits to our students for their superb work and there have been very few behavioural incidents to deal with.
I’m looking forward to a very successful year in and out of our classrooms, and want to keep building on the big success of Year 11 and Year 13 results this summer and the improved attendance in 2023-24.
Thank you, as always for your strong support of the school and I look forward to seeing you at some point during the year.
All the best,
Martyn Hill
Headteacher
