Dear Parents and Carers s4

Aspire, Endeavour, Achieve December 2015

Dear Parents and Carers, A Highly Successful Term As we approach Christmas, I thought it would be useful to provide you with some updates. It has been a very positive and busy term with a great many achievements; the most recent being our delightful Carol Concert last week with superb performances from a range of students and our first ever Christmas Market run by students and our Head of Technologies, Miss Fowler. I am delighted to report that they raised £1,132.62 for Cancer Research UK. Our Open Evening feels like a long time ago but its success has been borne out by our highest set of admissions for the coming September 2016 intake; more evidence of our continuing and growing success. Our Visitors’ Book continues to record numerous positive comments from parents and other visitors to the Academy this term. They all cite how calm, purposeful and friendly the Academy is. Earlier this term, we had a visit from the Department for Education (DfE) to look at the progress we have made since becoming an academy. Tim Coulson, Regional Schools Commissioner, East of England and North East London, wrote to us following the visit and reported the following:

 “Significant improvement in results.”  “Much improved quality of teaching.”  “Much improved environment for learning.”  “Rising pupil numbers.”  “Particularly pleasing is the improvement in both A*-C passes and expected progress rates in English and Maths.” Pupil Awards – Birmingham, 10 December I am delighted to announce that the following students have been recognised by Academy Transformation Trust across a range of categories. These students certainly ‘Aspire, Endeavour and Achieve’ and we are immensely proud of them and their talents. The students beat other nominees from across the country to achieve these awards and they were presented with them at a grand ceremony in Birmingham on Thursday 10th December. Jude Mante – Secondary Transformational Progress Award Ashleigh Callaghan – Secondary Innovation and Community Award Callum Sullivan – Short Story winner Tia Knight – Pupil Voice Ambassador Ethan Cunnew – Pupil Voice Ambassador

Year 10 and 11 Mocks Our Year 10 and 11 students have conducted themselves superbly during the mock exam season and it is a delight to see them so focused on doing well. Keep going, keep making progress – you deserve to do well.

Principal: Mrs C Franceschi BA (HONS), NPQH Associate Principal: Mr A Osborne BA (HONS), MA Mark Hall Academy, First Avenue, Harlow, Essex, CM17 9LR T: 01279 866 280 F: 01279 866 286 E: [email protected] W: www.mha.attrust.org.uk Student Parliament This academic year has seen the new election of our Student Parliament. Each home group (constituency) is represented by a member of the parliament so all views can be taken into account. The parliament has elected two Prime Ministers: Ethan Cunnew in Year 9 and Leo Pontes in Year 10, along with a Deputy Prime Minister, Natasha Marie-Pritchard in Year 7. The meetings are run by the students and minutes are kept by the Parliament Secretary, Josh Smith in Year 9. The students have currently split into sub groups to work on specific projects across the Academy. The parliament meet every two weeks but will focus on their voice group projects weekly. Watch this space….. Admissions Policy 2016 - 2017 ATT have asked us to make all parents aware that the common admissions policy, which was agreed by the ATT Trust for 2016-17 has not changed from the previous year. Therefore a full consultation this year is not required. This is acceptable within the guidelines laid down in the Schools Admissions Code 2014. A copy of the policy is available on the Mark Hall Academy website. Attendance and Punctuality I am pleased to inform you that we continue to make vital progress in meeting our targets for attendance and punctuality and have improved significantly from the same time last year. If students are not in the Academy, they cannot learn and achieve. The absolute minimum attendance for a student is 95%. Even this percentage equates to two whole weeks a year being missed. We will seek to have penalty notices where fines may be issued if students are persistently absent. Punctuality at the Academy has improved from 95.8% to 98.5% in the last two years. If a student arrives late to the Academy they will serve a lunchtime detention. We do allow for genuine lateness before we issue a consequence. If the lateness continues, there will be an escalation to extended detentions and the student being placed on report if they cannot get to the Academy on time. Please impress upon your child the importance of getting to the Academy on time. It is a legal requirement of all parents/carers to ensure they get their child to school and on time. Holidays during term time are not permitted. Fixed penalty notices will be issued to any parent who takes their child on holiday during term time. Uniform Now that winter is here, may I take this opportunity to remind you of some key uniform rules that must be adhered to:  Black v-neck jumper. No hoodies, cardigans, jumpers, sweatshirts, tracksuit tops, waistcoats, body warmers, denim jackets etc. are to be worn. Hoodies and other items listed above are NOT to be worn to and from the Academy. They must remain at home.  Knee high boots of any description ARE NOT allowed.  Outdoor coats should be of a plain dark colour, with no logos. Hoodies, denim and other products of fashion are not allowed (as above).  Scarves should be plain Academy sky blue or black; fashion-type, patterned scarves are not permitted and should remain at home.  No extreme haircuts as outlined in the planner.  No piercings as outlined in the planner. The full guide (Academy Uniform and Dress Code Expectations) can be found on the website at: http://www.mha.attrust.org.uk/academy-life/uniform/ Capital Funding Working with Academy Transformation Trust, we have secured nearly £130,000 Capital funding for projects to be completed this year including full refurbishment of our Catering classroom, upgrades to our CCTV and Intruder alarm systems, new classroom furniture and decoration of some areas. There will also be works completed to address the highest priority issues identified in our Condition Survey last year, including replacing worn flooring in some Science classrooms. Road Changes I am sure you will have seen from the local press that Essex County Council’s contractors are moving ahead with improvements to the A414 and development of the Enterprise Zone, which includes construction of a new access road from the A414 to London Road. We have met with the contractors to ensure their works cause as little disruption as possible for our pupils, staff and parents/carers. We have secured their confirmation that the Felmongers subway under the A414 will not be closed at all during Academy term times, although it will be restricted to half width. There may need to be some closures during weekends and holiday periods, which the contractors will clearly signpost. These roadworks and construction will continue over a long period of time and will cause traffic delays. Please ensure you plan for this and allow plenty of time for your children to travel to the Academy so that they arrive on time every day. Parent Council A reminder that our Parent Council is open to any parent that would like to contribute positively to the life of the Academy. The council meets each half term on the third Wednesday of every month between 5.15 – 6.15 p.m. to discuss a range of issues in order to offer its opinions. It is a means of opening up dialogue and feedback on what the Academy is doing, why, and giving parents the opportunity to contribute to policy making on issues which affect them. More information and the terms of reference can be found at: http://www.mha.attrust.org.uk/about-us/parents/ The next meeting will be held on 20 January 2016. Dates for your Diary Monday 4 January 2016 Non-student day Tuesday 5th January Start of term for students – normal Academy day Thursday 7 January Year 11 Parents’ Evening Wednesday 20 January Parent Council Meeting, 5.15 pm Thursday 4 February Intermediate Maths Challenge Friday 12 February Last day of half term Monday 22 February First day back after half term Thursday 25 February Year 10 Parents’ Evening Wednesday 9 March Parent Council Meeting, 5.15 pm Wednesday 9 March Year 10 DPT & Meningitis Vaccinations Tuesday 15 March Team Maths Challenge, Cambridge Wednesday 23 March Year 11 Parents’ Information Evening Thursday 24 March Year 9 DTP & Meningitis Vaccinations Thursday 24 March End of Term: School closed 25 March to 8 April 2016 Staff Leaving December 2015 Ms Cameron is leaving us to take up post as a Head of Girls’ PE at a school in Hertfordshire. We thank her for all she has done and wish her good luck for the future. Mr Osborne is leaving us for a fully deserved promotion to Headteacher of Epping St John’s School. Mr Osborne has been instrumental in many of the major improvements we have made since becoming an Academy and we are enormously grateful. He will be sorely missed and we wish him continuing success at Epping St John’s. Mrs Klingenspor is leaving us to spend more time with her family and to pursue other avenues. We wish her well for the future and thank her for everything she has done for our students. New Staff: We are delighted to welcome the following staff in January:

Mrs Hazle will be joining us as First Vice Principal. Mr Puntrello joins us as Head of Design and Technology Mr Hawkins joins us as Head of P.E. Mr McHugh joins us as Head of Drama Ms Walford joins us as Teacher of ICT Mrs Smith joins us as Food/Catering Technician May I wish you and your family and friends a very happy Christmas and a peaceful and successful New Year. Yours sincerely

Corinne Franceschi Principal