NEWSLETTER www.cowesec.org info@cowesec.org
Friday 7th December
Dear parents and carers, As the term begins to move towards its end, it’s important that our attendance, punctuality and uniform expectations remain as high as ever. Our teaching and learning will continue right through to the very end of term and our Year 11’s and sixth formers are currently working hard to achieve their best in their mock exams. Our students do well at Cowes Enterprise College because of our strong expectations and we appreciate your support with these. I am thrilled to let you know that Cowes Enterprise College has been highlighted through Ofsted’s Annual Report as one of three schools across the south of the UK showing great practice and rapid improvement. We know that we are still only at the beginning of our journey towards excellence but it is still fantastic to achieve national recognition for our work here to this point. You may well have seen on Tuesday that BBC South Today visited and that their report about CEC was the lead story on the 6.30pm TV news programme. Well done also to our Year 11’s and 13’s for their continued determination and strong focus on revision. With the mocks so close and Year 11 and Year 13 now half way through the year in terms of their curriculum time it’s essential for students to keep this up. Please continue to support and encourage your child to be resilient during this year; working hard now is a huge investment for their future and we know how much they can achieve with determination. This Saturday we have our first all day rehearsal before our annual production, Arabian Nights, hits our stage in the final week of term. Please do come and support the academy as we are set for some terrific entertainment! The production runs from Wednesday to Friday, with performances beginning at 7.30pm. Tickets can be bought in advance from reception and through Scopay. A reminder that I hold surgeries twice weekly on a Tuesday afternoon from 1pm – 2.30pm and from 3.30pm – 5.30pm. Attendance is by pre-booked appointments only. Please either email dharrison@cowesec.org or phone the school on 01983 203103 asking for Donna Harrison to book in a slot in advance of each Tuesday. With best wishes, Rachel Kitley
Festive lunch Wednesday 19th December. Only one chance left to book a Christmas lunch on Monday (10th December)! Bookings and payments of £2.40 in cash need to be given to Reception. Please bring payment and menu choices to Reception on Monday. Thank you.
Arabian Nights coming soon…. Tuesday 18th, Wednesday 19th, Thursday 20th December at 7pm. Our school play this year is Arabian Nights adapted by Dominic Cooke for the RSC. A wonderful series of stories originally from Persia and India. The play celebrates the power of storytelling and imagination. We are working very hard to create a colourful and extraordinary version of these amazing stories. What is all about well…. King Shahrayar’s heart is broken by his wife’s betrayal and his anger ripples through the kingdom as he reaps revenge on all “the daughters of the city… Curse life, curse the world and curse all women!” His Vizier (the Kings right hand man) has two beautiful daughter’s Dinarzad and Shahrazad. Shahrazad knows she can save the King; she has the most magical stories to melt his heart, if only he would … listen!
Tickets are on sale NOW from Reception. £5 adult tickets and £2 student/child tickets.
Arabian Nights rehearsals: Saturday 8th December—10-4pm Wednesday 12th December—3-5pm Thursday 13th December—3-5pm Saturday 15th December—10-4pm Monday 17th December—Lunch time onwards
THE TWELVE READERS OF CHRISTMAS Your Christmas challenge is to identify our selected ‘Twelve Christmas Readers’ from CEC staff. Who likes Sci-Fi? Who doesn’t? Post your answers in the Christmas box at Reception.
There will be a festive prize for the winner! Remember that ‘CEC staff’ may include anyone who works here!
Our huge thanks to Isle of Wight Radio and Shide Trees for generously donating our Christmas tree this year!
Closing date for entries: 19th December 2018
Cowes Enterprise College are proud to be supporting the Isle of Wight Radio Christmas Toy Appeal. What is the Christmas Toy Appeal? The Isle of Wight Radio Christmas Toy Appeal is run exclusively to benefit less fortunate children on the Isle of Wight. The Christmas Toy Appeal was founded by local couple Deborah and Daniel Rooke and is powered by Isle of Wight Radio.
How do I know my donation will go to a worthy child? Every toy donated already has an Island child’s name attached to it. The appeal reaches out to the Isle of Wight Council and more than 20 local charities and organisations and they supply the appeal with a list of toy requests.
Where do the toys go? Here are just a few of the causes your donations could help: St Mary's Hospital, Foodbank, Homestart, Beaulieu House, YMCA Young Carers Scheme, The Women's Refuge, Daisy Chain IW, Jigsaw Family Support, Barnardo’s, Community Mental Health Services, Southern Housing Group, Help Through Crisis and Isle of Wight Council. Every toy donated stays on the Isle of Wight.
Do I need to wrap my toy donation? We ask you NOT to wrap your gifts as we want to make sure it is sorted and distributed to the right child. Every toy is looked at and checked to ensure it goes to the very best home. Some of the agencies and charities give the toys unwrapped so that parents can wrap them themselves. We will also be holding a wrapping event at Isle of Wight Radio on the week commencing 10th December. You can find more information on Isle of Wight Radio’s website.
Click here for the list of official drop-off points.
Year 9 Weekly Praise!
Year 10 Weekly Praise!
Weekly Attendance Winner:
Weekly Attendance Winner:
9JHG with over 97%!
10JRC with 99%
Year 9 Stars of the Week:
Year 10 Stars of the Week:
Billy Williams (9ANW) Sonny Beresford (9ENR) Katie Rice (9JHG) Ben Burrows and Marcos Cejudo-Leiva (9LAM) Gethin Hepworth (9LNC) Ryan Barton (9MRH) Juan Palomo (9RMP)
Anthony Tolley (10DLY) Lucy Calloway (10HAW) Mia-Ray Penn-Price (10JLS) Kieren Hawkwell (10JRC) Oakley West (10KRB) Kailee Lambert (10RML) Isabelle Crawley (10SMH)
How important is reading to you? A message from the English Team
One in six people in the UK struggle with literacy. This means their literacy is below the level expected of an eleven year old 92% of the British public say that literacy is vital to the economy and essential for getting a good job A quarter of children and young people do not recognise the link between reading and success Technology based materials are the most frequently read, with nearly two-thirds of children and young people reading websites every week, and half of children and young people reading emails and blogs/networking sites every week Age is closely linked to attitudes towards reading and reading behaviour. 30% of five to eight year olds read a book every day compared with only 17% of fifteen to seventeen year olds. Parents are the most important role models for their children and young people.
(‘Don’t Call it Literacy’ by Geoff Barton, 2013, Routledge)
Ways in which you can encourage your child to read:
Look for recommended reads for teenagers – match with films if possible eg. ‘Mortal Engines’ by Philip Reeve is now a film praised by Peter Jackson – 12A Have reading materials lying around – newspapers, magazines, short stories, novels Discuss and model your reading interests Encourage a range of reading materials – graphic novels, abridged versions of Classics Enthuse about books which have changed your life – John Hersey’s ‘Hiroshima’ was a real ‘eye-opener’ for me at the age of 14
LOOK OUT FOR THE ‘TWELVE READERS OF CHRISTMAS’ CHALLENGE – There is a festive prize for the selected winner! Closing date: December 19th 2018
Year 7 Weekly Praise! Year 7 Stars of the Week: Dolcie Rowling Tuli Olson Louise Young Sophie Reece Ellie-Jane Hoare Maxwell Port Loreli Walker Ella Wotherspoon Florrie Longford Grace Bridges Eddie Chambers Erin Avey Liam Moore
Tutor Group with the most achievement points this week: 7ELS, with 108 achievement points in one week!
Weekly Attendance Winners: 7TMH
Don’t forget that you can view recent letters on our website!
Click here to view. Click here to read our Sixth Form prospectus! For 20p a go be in with a chance to win this huge cuddly reindeer! Come and place your name on the board in Reception or join us at the Christmas Fayre on Thursday 13th!
Volunteers at Osborne are running two days of Christmas Craft activities for families over this coming weekend 8th and 9th December from 10.30am to 3.30pm both days. Come and make Victorian paper decorations, table centres, nightlight lanterns and more. No extra charge for crafts. Also on Fridays throughout December, Osborne will be welcoming local school choirs who will be filling the house with festive music. For both of these events there are no extra charges but normal admissions prices apply which includes access to the House decorated for Christmas.
Students will have the opportunity to wear their Christmas jumper on
Wednesday 19th December (the day of our festive lunch). Students are invited to wear their festive jumpers with their normal Academy uniform, blazers can be substituted for the Christmas jumper. A voluntary donation of ÂŁ1 towards Save The Children and The Toy Appeal would be much appreciated.
REMINDERS & INFORMATION Attendance
Our whole academy attendance this week was 93.1%
Attending is the first part of succeeding!
As we approach the end of term is it important to remember that our attendance and punctuality expectations remain as high as ever. Students should be in the building by 8.25am for a 8.30am prompt start in their tutor class. Any student arriving after 8.30am will be considered as being late. A reminder that the procedure to report a student absence is to call the main Academy number (01983 203103), select Option 1 and leave a message on the Student Absence Line before 8.30am. There is no direct number for the absence line. Phone calls need to be made every day of the student's absence. Please do not call any other number to report a student absence. We know there have been some nasty bugs doing the rounds the last few weeks and we have been reiterating the importance of hygiene and hand washing.
UNIFORM REMINDERS As with attendance and punctuality, our standards for uniform remain as high as ever as we approach the end of term. Trousers should not be skinny, leggings should not be worn and skirts rolled to the correct length. Support from parents is appreciated with this. Piercings are not and never have been acceptable in a nose. A clear spacer must be worn or the stud removed. Earrings should be studs, hoops are not allowed and studenst will be asked to remove them
Click here for further information on uniform. Facebook and communication We have been contacted by numerous parents to ask if we can moderate the comments on the Unofficial CEC Parent and Guardian Facebook page. For clarification, this site is completely independent of the Academy and we have no control over the posts of monitoring of this. We are arranging a meeting with the administrators of the site to discuss concerns raised. We understand that parents are finding this independent site useful for the sale of uniform and we are looking into our own facilities to enable parents to safely share this in an official way. Our official Facebook page can be found here.
BERLIN TRIP PAYMENT DEADLINE The deadline for payments is MONDAY (10th December) Please ensure your balance is paid by this date. We appreciate your support with this.
REMINDERS & INFORMATION Term Dates
Upcoming Academy Dates Thursday 13th December (4—6pm)
Monday 17th December
Christmas Fayre Carol Service
18th—20th December
Arabian Nights Performances
Friday 21st December
Last Day of Term (early closure)
HPV Vaccinations for Year 8 Girls HPV Vaccination Session for 2nd dose: Wednesday 1st May 2019 Catch-Up Session: Friday 17th May 2019
Drop off , collection and car park safety Please be aware that our local community police have been monitoring cars outside the academy that are stopping illegally on the zigzag line. The reason we continually ask parents not to stop here is for the safety of all students and those arriving for our on-site nursery. A letter has been emailed to all parents from our community police to inform parents that to ensure the safety of all our community, if there are cars stopping on the lines outside, they will be issuing fines as this is against the law. Many thanks for your continued support. Please do not use the Academy car park to drop off and collect students withour prior agreement from the Academy for you to do so. Drop off and collections should be made on Crossfield Avenue remembering that that no parking is permitted on the white ZigZag lines surrounding the pedestrian crossing outside the Academy. Please could we also remind parents that the disabled bay spaces are for holders of valid Blue Badges only.
21st December 2018 22nd December 2018 to 7th January 2019 7th January 2019 8th January 2019
Last Day of Autumn Term (early closure) Christmas Holiday Staff Development Day Start of Spring Term
16th February to 24th February 2019 25th February 2019
Half Term Holiday Return following Half Term Holiday
6th April to 23rd April 2019 22nd April 2019 23rd April 2019
Easter Holiday Bank Holiday Start of Summer Term
6th May 2019 25th May to 2nd June 2019 3rd June 2019
Bank Holiday Half Term Holiday Return following Half Term Holiday
Monday following the IW Festival – TBC
Staff Development Day
19th July 2019 20th July 2019
Last Day of Summer Term (early closure) Summer Holidays Start
Find term dates for next year on our website: https://www.cowesec.org/partners-and-new-starters/term-dates
Year 11 - BTEC Online Sport Exam On Tuesday 22nd January 2019 all of Year 11 will be sitting the BTEC on-line Sport Exam which is the external exam element of the course. There will be three sittings throughout the day at 9.00am, 10.30am and 12.30am. The exam is 60 minutes long. Unlike the CIDA exam on Tuesday 8th January students do not need to be kept isolated under exam conditions so they will be able to attend lessons when they are not in their test. There will be seating plans on the Examination board in the MIZ on morning of the exam. Year 11 form tutors and the year team will also have lists of student’s exam rooms.
Year 11 CIDA IT Exam On Tuesday 8th January 2019 (the first day back after the Christmas break) the whole of Year 11 will be sitting a CIDA IT exam. All Year 11 students should have received an exam statement of entry in tutor time.
ACADEMY CLUBS Club Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Time
Location
Cowes Combined Cadet Force (ages 12-18)
5-7pm
Capstan House
uCECLele Training Band
Lunch
MU02
Chess Club
Lunch
BT11
GCSE Art Catch Up Session
3-4pm
CA12
Year 7 Military Skills
3-3.30pm
CCF Office
Oasis Homework Support
2.45—3.30pm
Oasis
Child Development/Health & Social Care Support
2.45— 4.00pm
BT12
STOMP (jazz percussion group)
2.45—3.45pm
MU02
Jazz Band
2.45—3.45pm
MU02
Science Club
2.45—3.30pm
SRC
BTEC Business Revision
2.45—3.30pm
BU11
GCSE Art Catch Up Session
3-4pm
CA12
Communication Club
2.45—3.30pm
Reception
Oasis Homework Support
2.45—3.30pm
Oasis
CPLD/HSC Support—Years 12 and 13
2.45— 4.00pm
BT12
uCEClele (auditions required)
Lunch
MU02
Chess Club
Lunch
BT11
Badminton Club
2.45pm—4.00pm
Winder Centre
Props, Costume & Scenery Club
3-4pm
CA15
Oasis Homework Support
2.45—3.30pm
Oasis
BTEC Business Revision
2.45—3.30pm
BU11
Choir
Lunch 3-4pm
MU02
Basketball Club
Winder Centre