WPCC Newsletter by Paul Capps

September2011 Issue

www.wellandpark.leics.sch.uk

PARENTS NEWSLETTER INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

Dear Parents,

School Results

Pastoral News

School Dinners/ Food Tech

English/MFL

Performing Arts/ Open Evening

PTA AGM

Reminders

Term Dates

Special points of Interest: Open Day/Evening Tuesday 4th October 2011 Teacher Day Wednesday 5th October 2011

Could I take this opportunity to welcome all students and parents to another school year at Welland Park Community College, with a particularly warm welcome to our new Year 7 students and their families. This term has got off to an excellent start with our new youngsters and indeed our Year 8s and Year 9s settling down to their work, new timetables, routines and teachers after the Summer vacation. Following an extended consultation period with key stakeholders, I am delighted to report that the College achieved Academy Status on the 1st of August 2011. This change of status is a huge achievement for us as a school and it will bring significant benefits to the young people in Market Harborough. Welland Park College is an outstanding school with an excellent track record of success and innovative practice. Whilst we always strive for excellence, Academy Status will offer us further ways to enhance our provision and will provide a unique opportunity to further improve, whilst securing our long term future. In the current very challenging national and local financial climate, we firmly believe that Academy status will ensure we can continue to provide the highest quality of education and achievement for all our individual youngsters. Governors are very clear that the college will remain a committed community comprehensive school of Leicestershire, serving all the students and community of Market Harborough. We will continue to work very closely with other schools both in Market Harborough and across South Leicestershire. We already have excellent partnership arrangements with our local primary schools, thus ensuring excellent Y6 into Y7 transition, as indeed with the Robert Smyth Academy, as we collaboratively focus on coherent 11-18 provision for students. Of course, we will continue to be a supportive member of Leicestershire schools and continue to work in partnership with the Local Authority, where appropriate. As parents will be aware, as a school, we set very high standards for achievement, behaviour and attitudes in a very positive, safe, caring environment. We welcome your support as parents as it is only through our strong partnership and working together that we can fully be successful. We value all students equally, reward effort and achievement and make every effort to ensure that all children are happy at college. Our motto ‘Learning for Life’ is very simple and very clear as to the purpose of our work. Indeed, we see learning as a lifelong process - learning in its widest sense, through maximizing young people’s potential, is at the heart of our work.

The end of last term saw our Year 9 students sustaining excellent end of Key Stage results across all subjects (Teacher Assessments) – at all levels of ability, with many areas actually exceeding college targets. An overview of results is attached to this newsletter. A huge well done to all students and their teachers, as this is the outcome of much hard work and commitment. Last year’s Year 9 students have now moved onto the Robert Smyth School to study their GCSE courses and we wish them well in their future studies. This term we welcome the following members of staff:

 

Mrs Mita Moolraj – Second in Humanities Department Ms Holly Bloomfield - Science Teacher

Ms Amy Rose and Ms Sarah Kenning – Modern Foreign Languages Teachers



Mrs Maxine Harris and Mrs Emma Raynor – Design and Technology / Science technicians

Mr Sam Blades, Mrs Karen Simmons and Ms Lucinda Terry – Learning Support Assistants I feel very confident that the year ahead will continue to bring about further achievements and new developments and I will continue to report to parents accordingly.

Pascale Powell – Principal.

Can parents please note the detail of key term dates and the beginning of year arrangements attached.

SCHOOL RESULTS This table shows the percentage of pupils at each level at the end of Key Stage 3 2011. The number of pupils at the end of Key Stage 3 is 229. Figures may not total 100 percent because of rounding.

TEACHER ASSESSMENT Percentage at each level W

Pupils disapplied

Pupils absent

English

Mathematics

Science

Modern Foreign Languages

Design and Technology

Geography

History

ICT +

Art and Design

Music

Physical Education

PASTORAL NEWS YEAR 7 Year 7 are settling in well to life here at secondary school. They nearly all know their way around already and are getting to know their timetables. The students all look extremely smart in their new uniforms. Should you need to re-order uniform at any time during the school year, the Office have order forms for this. A reminder on jewellery please—just one pair (one in each ear) of studs or small sleeper earrings and a watch. Letters will be going out shortly for our annual Northumberland Residential Trip. We are able to take 90 children so if it is oversubscribed, names will be drawn out of a hat. You should be receiving the Home College and ICT Agreement shortly. Please would you ensure that you read and sign them and return them to your child’s Form Tutor. Please could you also let us know, in writing, of any changes to addresses or contact phone numbers as they happen. Mrs D Ellis—Head of Year 7 Welcome back to a new school year. I would like to introduce myself as the Head of Year who will take overall responsibility for the care and well being of your child throughout years 8 & 9. There will be many new opportunities and challenges and I hope that all the students will tackle them in a positive manner. I will be assisted in my role by two Student Support Managers-Mrs Kerry Loomes who is responsible for year 8 and Mrs Janet Hollingsworth who is responsible for year 9. Organisation will play a vital role both this year and into the future. Our school organisers are now central to our Behaviour Policy as well as acting as a tool for planning homework etc. Please support us by checking your child’s organiser daily if possible and sign once a week. Please feel free to use this as a means of communicating with staff-particularly Form Tutors on a regular basis. I am very keen for this to be a very positive and successful year for our students. We hope to be able to focus on teaching and learning and minimise the disruption and distraction caused by behaviour and uniform issues. Please support us by ensuring all students arrive at school by 8.40am, appropriately dressed and with the correct equipment.

YEAR 8 During year 8, students have the opportunity to support various Community Projects that take place within the College, such as the School Creche and small groups work for Adults with Learning Difficulties. Throughout the year, the students also organise a wide variety of Charity events which prove to be very popular. The first of these will be the Macmillan Coffee Morning on 30th September. We look forward to finding out how much was raised. This is a very important year academically and later in the year there will be the opportunity to discuss individual progress and target setting at a designated Parents Evening in March. Please remember to check your child’s school organiser daily if possible and sign one a week. Hopefully by working together over the 2 years we should maximise the potential of each and every individual student.

YEAR 9 This term will see the start of the transfer process to Robert Smyth with their Open Evening being held on Thursday 13th October. This is an invaluable opportunity to find out what the school has to offer and to talk to staff. I thoroughly recommend making this a ‘must’ in your diary. Later in the term there will be meetings both here and at Robert Smyth explaining the Options system and whole transfer process. Please make a point of attending these if you possibly can as they help with the smooth transition from school to school. Year 9 Parents Evenings follow in November and December which will give you an opportunity to discuss progress/ options/targets etc with your child and staff. This is also a good time to start planning a revision programme and Revision Books will be available from departments at about this time. Mrs J Theobald—Head of Years 8 & 9

Attendance At Welland Park, we are continually working with our youngsters to achieve 100% attendance, because as we all know, attendance affects achievement. One particularly successful strategy we are using is to contact home in the morning of the first day of a student’s absence if we have not been notified by either letter or telephone. (Please contact the College before 8.30am if possible). To improve this strategy even further, we have a communication system called Schoolcomms. This system allows us to contact parents/guardians quickly and easily by text and email and is both an efficient and reliable system. If parents do not have access to email or text we will of course continue to contact them by telephone. Could I ask that parents avoid taking their child on holiday during term time as this seriously affects students’ learning. If this is unavoidable, please complete a holiday form, available from Mr Turner. We will work closely with yourselves and your son/daughter to organise work and later ensure it is completed.

THE MILLENIUM GATE = SAFE ROUTE TO COLLEGE! Our Millenium Gate leads onto Market Harborough’s Millenium Path, thus allowing students and parents safe access to College, avoiding roads and traffic. For security reasons, the gate will remain locked except for the beginning and end of the College day, ie 8.15-9.00am and 3.15—4.00pm. Please encourage your son/daughter to use this environmentally friendly and safe route by either walking or cycling to College. Personal Accident Insurance For Pupils Scheme Arranged With Zurich Municipal Insurance Co.

It is often assumed that if an accident occurs at school, the school can be held responsible and that financial compensation will therefore be made. It cannot be emphasised too strongly that the liability of the school is strictly limited to cases where there is proven evidence of negligence. In the vast majority of cases, the injuries are minor and the circumstances of the accident will reveal no evidence at all of negligence on the part of the school. There are, however, some accidents which can have long term consequences or result in some form of permanent disability but still without any evidence of negligence on the part of the school. The advantage of a personal accident policy therefore, is that whilst in no way preventing further action to seek damages in cases where negligence is alleged, payments under the policy are made on the basis of the injuries sustained and are not conditional on proving liability. In order to provide parents with the opportunity of arranging appropriate insurance cover at a very competitive cost, the Local Education Authority has arranged a scheme with Zurich Municipal Insurance Co. at a cost of only £12 per year (including tax and administration). The policy runs from 1st September to 31st August of the ensuing year and provides cover for 24 hours a day, 365 days per year and so is not limited to just when children are at school. If you are interested in arranging such cover for your child, proposal forms containing full details of the scheme and scale of compensation can be obtained from the school. Completed forms should then be returned to the school accompanied by a cheque for £12 made payable to the school. Confirmation of cover together with a copy of the full policy will subsequently be forwarded to you by the Education Department via the school. Please note that if you wish to arrange cover for your child but he/she has transferred to another school from September, it will be necessary to make contact with the new school/college to make the necessary arrangements.

SCHOOL DINNERS The Autumn term began with our Parents Lunch. Year 7 parents were invited in for lunch with their children so as they could experience what our Dining Room was like. The event was very successful with parents and students alike. Year 7 have settled into the Dining Room routine well and are enjoying using the cashless system. Letters have gone out about Parent Pay and you should now be able to put money onto your child’s account via the internet. If you do not have a computer payments can be made at Pay Point outlets, by sending a cheque into the school office to be credited to the account or your child can use the ‘Revaluer’ in the Dining Room. This is in operation before school and throughout the day. Students using this early in the day will save themselves time queuing at break and lunch. If you have any queries regarding any aspect of the catering operation, please feel free to contact me. We do value your feedback, Alan Palmer Chef Catering Manager

FOOD TECHNOLOGY Welcome back to the Year 8’s and 9’s and a warm welcome to the Year 7 students joining us. There will be many exciting new opportunities and events available to you within this department—please listen out for the information. Starting soon for the Year 9’s are the school heats for the FutureChef 2012 competition. FutureChef is a four-staged nationwide culinary programme helping young people aged 12-16 to learn to cook. It inspires them to explore food and cooking as a life skill, helps develop their culinary talent and informs them about entry routes into the hospitality industry. The programme encourages the next generation of young chefs and of course crowns one talented student as the FutureChef winner!. The challenge in school was to prepare, cook and serve a main course meal for two people with a budget of £4.00. We have been very successful in the past, reaching the semi finals twice and the final once. We hope that someone from Welland Park College will win the crown at the Grand Finals in March! Also for Year 9 students , planning has started towards this years Clothes Show at Birmingham in December. Mrs Bale will let you know more details soon!

FOOD OF THE WEEK—LEEKS!!! BRITISH FOOD FORTNIGHT 18th September to 3rd October 2011 This annual national celebration’s aim is to get everyone to love and buy British food for two weeks. Autumns seasonal produce is at its finest, with fruit and vegetables, game, shellfish and meat at their peak. To get the most out of the season, shop locally and seasonally. For more information and dates of events check out www.foodloversbritain.com Mrs K Dare Head of Design and Technology

ENGLISH We look forward to introducing year 7 to the Rainbow Reading Challenge. Students start on the Red Certificate, meeting all the criteria for this award, before moving onto the next colour. Year 8 will also be reminded of where they are in the scheme. We do appreciate all the support parents can give here, encouraging and discussing texts and certificates as your children move through the colours. This is particularly useful in helping students improve their reading skills and hopefully their reading age. At the moment, year 7 are being taught in mixed ability groups. However, by half term, they will be placed in banded groups according to ability, as exists in years 8 and 9. Mrs J Taylor Head of English

MODERN FOREIGN LANGUAGES Bonjour! Hallo! Bienvenu! Willkommen! A warm welcome to our new Year 7 cohort and a big well done to them for their enthusiastic start to MFL at Welland Park and to our 2 new members of staff, Miss Kenning and Miss Rose. The MFL team have been impressed by the positive attitude of Year 7 and their involvement in lessons so far. Bravo! Year 8 are settling into their new ability groups and are generally working well. Good luck to those embarking on their second language. Work hard and have fun! Year 9 start their build up to GCSE languages and will be encouraged to take a more independent and mature approach to their language learning. All 3 year groups will be receiving 3 language booklets during the course of the year. These booklets are to be brought to every lesson and then kept safe, as they will be used and referred to at Robert Smyth Academy. We do need to ask for a contribution of ÂŁ1 per student for a yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s supply of 3 booklets. Could students please hand in money to their Language teacher as soon as possible. Could you, as parents, please encourage your son/daughter to use their booklets frequently to aid their learning. 10 minutes of learning, 2 or 3 times a week, leads to great improvements. Thank you for your continued support of Modern Foreign Languages at Welland Park Community College. Au Revoir!

Auf Wiedersehen!

Mrs D Edwards Head of Modern Foreign Languages

PERFORMING ARTS MUSIC Instrumental Lessons These are proving to be popular and are running smoothly. We have already had many positive comments from the students saying how much they are enjoying their lessons. We still have vacancies for all instruments. If your son/daughter would like to have lessons on a musical instrument , do get in touch with Julian Oakland or myself at the College for further details. Storage of Instruments Just a reminder—please ensure all musical instruments bought to school are in a suitable case labelled on both the inside and outside with the students name and form. Advance Diary Dates Primary/Secondary Jazz Instrumental Morning—Wednesday 2nd November—8.45—12.20 ALL Concert Band Instrumentalists are involved. Christmas Concert—will be held in the Octagonal Hall at Welland Park College on Monday 19th December starting at 7.00pm. (All ensembles that rehearse at school will be performing. Further details regarding the Concert will follow towards the end of November. Mrs C Towers Head of Music/Performing Arts

2009

Tuesday October 4th 2011 from 6.00pm – 8.00pm

PARENT TEACHER ASSOCIATION Welcome back to another exciting and busy term here at Welland Park College. Our annual general meeting will be held on Monday 19th September and officers will be elected to the following positions Chair Vice Chair Secretary Treasurer A big thank you to all those year 7 parents who kindly put their names forward at the induction evening in July. Your names will be added to our contact list and we will be in touch soon. Just a reminder that if you are interested in helping out at any of our events, you can contact Jules Daly via the school office. Many thanks to everyone who supported the PTA last year and helped to make it a success. We now look forward to another successful year of events and fund raising.

Mrs c clIpston Pta chair

LIVING WITH TEENAGERS A Living with Teenagers Group, a course aimed at helping parents to understand their teenagers behaviour and how to parent them more effectively. 29th September 2011 to 17th November 2011 Thursdays only 7.00pm to 9.00pm Home Start, 121 Coventry Road, Market Harborough

REMINDERS Mobile Phones Students are no longer required to deposit their mobile phones at the school office although they can still use this facility if they wish to. Students may have their phones in their bags, however they are not allowed to use or have their phones visible at any time of the school day; In addition, the school cannot be held responsible for the safety of mobile phones or any other electrical equipment that students may bring into school. Students who are seen with mobile phones will have them confiscated and returned at the end of the day; on the second occasion parents will be asked to come in to collect them. Dress Code. As parents know, our school dress code is very important to us and we would like to thank all parents for supporting us in that matter. Again the dress code is displayed in the front of the organiser. Can I remind parents that trainers are not part of our dress code and that students are required to wear black shoes. Any student without appropriate black shoes will be provided with a pair of black plimsolls by the school, to wear for the remainder of the day. Student Safety In the interest of safety, could parents please refrain from dropping off and collecting students at the front of the College but use either Gate D (by the Creche) or the car park in the Park.

Uniform Supplier To request uniform, please obtain an order form from the school office. On completion of the form you can return it to the school office where it will be forwarded to the supplier on your behalf. All uniform will be delivered to the school office where it will be distributed to your son / daughter.

REMINDERS Could parents please ensure that ALL uniform items are named. Our Lost Property room is already starting to fill up with sweat shirts, football boots, boot bags etc. If a piece of uniform is named, we can return it to its owner very quickly. Due to space limitations, un-named items can only be kept for a short time so if a student misplaces a piece of uniform they should come to the School Office and report it immediately.

If a student is bringing money into school for break/lunch to be put into the revaluation machine, please ensure it is in coins. Neither the School Office nor the Dining Room have the facility to change notes. Thank you

KEY DATES

Autumn Term 2011 Open Day Teacher Day Half Term Break School Opens School Closes

Tuesday 4th October 2011 Wednesday 5th October 2011 Mon 17th to Fri 21st October 2011 Monday 24th October 2011 Thursday 22nd December 2011

Spring Term 2012 Schools Open Half Term Break School Opens School Closes

Monday 9th January 2012 Mon 13th to Fri 17th February 2012 Monday 20th February 2012 Friday 30th March 2012

Summer Term 2012 Schools Open May Bank Holiday Half Term Break School Opens School Closes

Monday 16th April 2012 Monday 7th May 2012 Mon 1st June to Friday 8th June 2012 Monday 11th June 2012 Friday 13th July 2012

REPLY SLIP AND COMMENTS

I have received a copy of the Newsletter for September 2011 Signed: …………………………………………………………………………………………..……………………………….. Name of Student: ………………………………………....……………………………….. Form: ..……….………….. Comments: …………………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………………………………… ………………………………….………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...