We hope you are having a good week and looking forward to the long Easter weekend. This Weekly Message aims to ensure you have all the information you need for ‘going back to school’ on Tuesday.
Well done to all the students who have attended Easter Revision in school over the last fortnight and thank you to the teachers for giving up their holiday to run these sessions. The next six weeks are vitally important for Year 11 and we would encourage you to attend the final Achieving Excellence Evening on Wednesday. You are also required to go through your son/ daughter’s personalised exam timetable which has been emailed to you and complete the online form by Wednesday.
If you have not had a chance to read through the newsletter from last half term, a copy can be downloaded here: https://www.thehambleschool.co.uk/newsletter/ It is a real celebration of achievements and events.
If your child is looking for a good book to read over the next term, the Recommended Reads have been updated here: https://www.thehambleschool.co.uk/library/recommended-reads/
Next week is WEEK 2 and we look forward to seeing your child at 8:30am on Tuesday.
Curriculum Information
You said that you would like more in depth information about curriculum areas. So once a fortnight we will now showcase a department and share a video about what students are learning. This week we will focus on Science.
Curriculum Introduction: Science
Question of the Week
Please select your answer in the form below, all fields marked * are required and to help prevent SPAM this form is protected by Google reCaptcha v3.
Each week we will ask parents/ carers a question in the Weekly Message – this will either be about a topic we are focussing on or an aspect of our school improvement plan. We would appreciate it if everyone answers it when reading the Weekly Message.
Events w/b 21 April
Year 8 Exams Week
Monday 21 April
Bank Holiday Monday – The school is closed
Tuesday 22 April
Year 8 & 9 Exams Assembly
Year 6 Transition Welcome Evening at 6pm
Wednesday 23 April
House Assembly
Year 11 GCSE Spanish and French Speaking Exams
Year 11 GCSE PE External Moderation
Year 11 Achieving Excellence Evening at 5:30pm. Sign up here: https://forms.office.com/e/3DiWtCXPDZ
Thursday 24 April
House Assembly
Year 11 GCSE Spanish and French Speaking Exams
Year 8 English Exam – Periods 1 & 2
Friday 25 April
House Assembly
Year 11 GCSE Spanish Speaking Exams
Year 11 Maths Test for Success
Year 8 Maths Exam – Periods 3 & 4
Future Dates
W/b 28 April
Monday 28 April – Year 11 GCSE Art Practical Exam
Monday 28 April – Year 8 Science Exam
Tuesday 29 April – Year 11 GCSE Art Practical Exam
Tuesday 29 April – Year 8 & 9 Achieving Excellence Evening. Sign up here: https://forms.office.com/e/XAyHRcEENc
Tuesday 29 April – Year 9 Exams begin.
Letters
You can find all letters sent home over the week here – https://www.thehambleschool.co.uk/letters-to-parents/
The canteen menus can be found here: https://www.thehambleschool.co.uk/food-and-drink/
Please check your child’s Attendance regularly on Class Charts
Theme of the Week – The House System
Next week assemblies will take place in Houses. There were a number of House events at the end of the Spring Term including the Science Quiz, Inter-House Table Tennis Competition, Swimming Gala, Comic Relief Bake Off and Easter Scavenger Hunt. Mrs Emmett-Callaghan will go through the results of all these events and the plans for the Summer Term.
In tutor time we will remind students about the expectations for final term of the school year and provide them with an opportunity to set targets.
Staffing Changes
At the start of the Summer Term there are some staffing changes which we would like to make you aware of:
- Mrs Rogers has been appointed as Assistant Headteacher
- Miss Clucas has been appointed as Progress Leader for Year 9
- Mr Denford has been appointed as Assistant Progress Leader for Year 10
- Mrs Browne joins us as Head of RE
- Mrs Martinez Sykora returns from maternity leave as Head of MFL.
Due to changes in the Senior Leadership Team, Mrs Morgan (Deputy Headteacher) will now be the Designated Safeguarding Lead and Mrs Valleley (Deputy Headteacher) will now be the Data Protection Officer.
Mr Wood (Assistant Headteacher) will now be the Senior Leadership Team Line Manager for Year 8 and Mrs Rogers (Assistant Headteacher) will be the Senior Leadership Team Line Manager for Year 9.
There are a small number of changes to tutors and these are detailed in the document below:
Uniform
It is important that students return to school after the Easter break in the correct uniform. A reminder that students must wear black shoes, not trainers and that jumpers are optional and must not be worn in place of a blazer. Full details of uniform can be found here: https://www.thehambleschool.co.uk/uniform/
False nails, nail varnish and false eyelashes must be removed before returning to school along with any jewellery other than a wristwatch, one small earring in each lobe of the ear and a medical alert. Uniform is checked daily by tutors and pastoral teams to ensure that standards are maintained across the school.
Equipment
All students must bring equipment every day and a list of the requirements can also be found on the uniform policy. All students are expected to have a planner right up until the end of the school year. If students need a replacement planner, these can be purchased via ScoPay. Students are expected to take exercise books home and bring them in for lessons when required; a plastic folder has been provided to support with this.
Punctuality
A reminder that students must be in school by 8:25am every morning in order to attend tutor on time at 8:30am. Students who arrive late to tutor will be given a late mark unless there is a genuine reason for this. Students who are frequently late to tutor or lessons will be placed on a punctuality report.
Year 8 Preferences
Before Easter a link to the Preferences Form was distributed to students’ school email addresses, with instructions for students on how to access these. The deadline for Preferences Forms to be submitted is Tuesday 22 April, however, we know that this is a new system using SIMs. Please do not worry if your child has had any problems accessing the system; we will support them with this in school next week.
Year 8 Examinations
During next week students will complete exams in all subjects. English, Maths and Science exams will take place in the Sports Hall and all other subjects will be in normal lessons.
We have taken on board Parent/ Carer feedback and moved the exams back to later in the week so that students have a chance to settle back into school before they complete the Core Exams. The new dates/ times are therefore listed below:
- Thursday 24 April (9am) – English
- Friday 25 April (11:20am) – Maths
- Monday 28 April (9am) – Science
Teachers will inform students when exams will take place during the week in other subjects and these will be added to Class Charts.
It is important that students have all the equipment they need for the exams. Please ensure they have the following basic items:
- A clear pencil case or plastic wallet to store equipment
- Two black ball point pens
- Calculator
- Pencil
- Rubber
- Ruler
- Clear water bottle (without a label).
Year 11 Update
After school intervention will take place on Tuesday and Thursday this week. Students will receive their Warm Up/ Top Up programme booklets during an assembly on Friday. We will also email home and electronic copy.
Please ensure that you have checked the personalised timetable emailed home on Wednesday and read the letter from Mrs Valleley (Deputy Headteacher); this includes a link to a form which must be completed by all Parents/ Carers. If you have any questions about exams, please contact Mrs Valleley via svalleley@thehambleschool.co.uk or if your question is about pastoral support, please email Mrs Barkshire (Progress Leader) lbarkshire@thehambleschool.co.uk
Homework
A reminder that the completion of high-quality Homework is important to academic success and students who complete homework on time and to a good standard achieve better outcomes at the end of Year 11. It is also important for students to develop effective study habits. Last half term we trialled increasing the negative points for not completing homework to -2. Both student, staff and parent voice supported this move as every agreed that students were more likely to complete the work if they knew that there would be a sanction for not doing it. After Easter, therefore, failure to complete homework will carry -2 points. A reminder that students can attend Homework Club at lunchtimes and after school to get support with this.
Support
If you or your child would like support with wellbeing, please check out the links of our website: https://www.thehambleschool.co.uk/student-wellbeing-support/
We have recently added information about a number of free parent/ carer courses or events to this section of our website.
