Principal: Miss S Asquith. BA Hons, MA, NPQH
Aldwych Drive, Ashton, Preston PR2 1SL Tel: 01772 513002 Fax: 01772 513006 Web: www.ashtoncsc.lancs.sch.uk E-mail: enquiries@ashtoncsc.lancs.sch.uk 10th September 2014
Dear Parent/Carer I am delighted to welcome you to the start of the academic year. We have once again seen students returning looking very smart in full school uniform. Thank you for the part you have played in ensuring this. I would like to remind you that students are not allowed to wear facial piercings, makeup or jewellery, except for one plain stud in each ear. Extreme hair styles and unnatural colours are also not permitted. May I also take this opportunity of reminding you that students are not allowed off-site at all during the school day unless permission has been given by school, which of course includes lunchtime. On behalf of the staff and Governors I would like to offer our congratulations to all our students who have recently left school; we wish them every success in their future. Exam results for Year 11 exceeded the targets set for the school by the Local Authority and we are extremely proud of their achievements. The results of all our students are testimony to the hard work of the students themselves, the staff and you the parents, who together have put an incredible amount of hard work and effort into the results that were achieved. We have made significant changes to the school curriculum this year, which should help improve learning even further. Completion of homework is one area that we are actively seeking to improve. Homework is given as a means to extend and enhance learning and is not given simply for the sake of it. With this in mind, students who fail to complete homework will be issued with a detention to be held for 30 minutes from 3.00 pm on a Friday. We will initially operate this policy with years 9-11 with a view to including years 7 and 8 later in the year. Students in years 9-11 who are required to attend detention will be notified by their class teacher and should let parents/carers know. We will follow this up with a back-up text on a Thursday afternoon to ensure you are notified. We sincerely hope that the need for these detentions is a rare one, but we would appreciate your support in reinforcing the need to complete homework on time. We are only four weeks away from our annual school Open Evening, which is one of the most important dates in our School’s calendar, since the success of the evening can affect the number of children who choose to join us next September. In previous years, we have closed early to allow staff and students who are involved to get things ready during the afternoon. Therefore, I intend to close the school at 12.55 p.m. on Thursday 9th October so that this preparatory work can take place. I hope that you understand and support this decision. Full lunch provision will be available for all students as we will amend the timing of lessons to incorporate an early lunch. May I also remind you that the following day is a school INSET day and therefore students will not be in school on Friday 10th October.