In This Issue…. in This Issue…. School Newsletter
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
SchoolSchool NewsletterNewsletter || FebruaryFebruary 20192019 InIn thisthis issue….issue…. ...Notices, News & Updates, Trips, Sports Results & Successes, Duke of Edinburgh Awards... ...Plus...Plus muchmuch moremore Lealands High School, Sundon Park, Luton, LU3 3AL. Tel: 01582 611600 Email: [email protected] www.lealands.luton.sch.uk @LealandsHigh InIn ThisThis Issue….Issue…. Content Page Introduction from Headteacher Mr Burridge 3-4 Dates for your Diary 4 Peter Pan Production 5 School Notices 6-8 Value of the Month 9 CLIMB The Mountain To Success At Lealands 10 MyEd Parent App 11 Sports Results 12 Sports Successes 13 Success At Basketball County Finals 14 Schools Regional Acrobatics Competition 15 Outstanding Achievement / Christmas Jumper Day Update 16 Battlefields Trip 2019 17 STEM 18-19 Literacy Week 4th - 8th March 2019 20-21 Remaining 6th Form & College Open days 21 Duke of Edinburgh Awards 22 Year 8 Noah Donations 23 Year 10 Trip To Cambridge University 24 Careers Fair 25 #PassOnPlastic 26-27 Blue Peris Trip - November 2019 28 Year 11 GCSE Revision 29 Clubs & Extra-Curricular Activities 30-31 2 IntroductionIntroduction fromfrom HeadteacherHeadteacher MrMr BurridgeBurridge Dear Parent/Carer, It feels like we are starting to emerge from the dark cold Winter with all the positives that Spring is bringing. Our vision, which incorporates our core values, continues to drive our work supporting everyone to climb the mountain to success where:- Everyone achieves excellence, demonstrates respect for all and takes responsibility for their own actions, while helping others to be successful. This ethos, the CLIMB code of conduct (see page 10) and our enhanced behaviour and attitude to learning policies have been leading to some dramatic improvements across the school. A few parents will have been experiencing significantly increased contact from school to ensure their children do not disturb the learning of others. Many of you will also be experiencing a significantly increased number of positive communications about your children. This will be further enhanced after Easter with the introduction of a new online praise and reward system. In December, we issued our new style interim reports based on feedback from parents/carers. These give far more information and should assist parents in knowing exactly where their children are on their learning journeys and what will help them to be even better. Any parental feedback on these will be greatly received. Students have, this term, been putting their Summit Steps and Summit Ranges in their books to keep track of their progress towards their goals. To support our Year 11 students we have introduced a Summit Support Centre alongside all our usual after school and holiday interventions (see page 29). Our Year 11 students have just completed a very successful second set of mock exams and are all working very hard to maximise their achievements. Many of you will have wondered what is happening to the building that sits next to our front entrance (former elearning centre). It has been empty and unused for a number of years now which has been a significant frustration to us all. During this time we have been negotiating with the Local Authority, who own the building, to get use of it to benefit our school and students. This has been a very long journey, but I am pleased to inform you that we will be developing a provision in the building to support some of our students who will benefit from more intensive work. We will also be developing this provision to support other schools. This is an exciting development and we are looking forward to the building being back in use again. This year we have been reviewing our school curriculum. The current curriculum is outlined on our school website. In particular, we hope to introduce more vocational (work related) GCSEs 3 IntroductionIntroduction fromfrom HeadteacherHeadteacher MrMr BurridgeBurridge this year alongside our academic curriculum and map out the wider opportunities that students get to participate in during their time in the school. Our Year 8 students have been hearing about the many options they will have in assemblies recently. We have many trips and visits (over a third of the school have already attended at least one this academic year) and we would like to plan these into the school curriculum so they are mapped from Year 7 to Year 11 as part of the Lealands Journey. Our Directors have been working together to develop links between their subjects and ensure that the curriculum is as well designed as possible to support progression. This process will continue throughout the year. Our Year 10 students (as part of their curriculum) are currently experiencing two weeks of work experience. We believe that this supports our students very well to understand the demands of work and also make decisions that will affect their futures. So far, they seem to be doing very well and we’ve already had some extremely positive reports from employers. Finally, before we break up for February half term, we are all really looking forward to the whole school production of Peter Pan the British Musical. Preparations and rehearsals have been underway for many months and it promises to be a wonderful production. I hope to see many of you there, supporting our students and the Performing Arts Department. Mr J Burridge Headteacher DatesDates ForFor YourYour DiaryDiary Peter Pan Production:Weds 13th, Thurs 14th & Fri 15th February 2019 February Half-Term: Monday 18th - Friday 22nd February 2019 Year 8 Options Evening:Wednesday 13th March 2019 5pm - 7.30pm Spring Term Ends: Friday 5th April 2019 Summer Term Begins: Tuesday 23rd April 2019 Bank Holiday - School Closed: Monday 6th May 2019 Term Dates Spring Term: Tuesday 8th January 2019 - Friday 5th April 2019 Half-Term: Monday 18th February 2019 - Friday 22nd February 2019 Summer Term: Tuesday 23rd April 2019 - Friday 19th July 2019 Half-Term: Monday 27th May 2019 - Friday 31st May 2019 Full term dates for 2018 -2019 are available to download from our website www.lealands.luton.sch.uk/termdates 4 PeterPeter PanPan ProductionProduction 5 ££ ££ ££ OnlineOnline PaymentsPayments SevereSevere WeatherWeather ProceduresProcedures You can pay for school dinners, trips, events, music lessons and school ties on our online payments system. This can be accessed by clicking the PAYMENTS button on our school app. The school prefers for all school meals to be paid for online. This gives you the flexibility to top up your child’s account at home using a debit or credit card rather than having to use cash or cheque. Further details and an online payments instruction manual can be found on our website under the ‘Parents’ Information’section. To set up online payments, you will require a link code. To get yours contact the school Finance Office on01582 611600 (option 2). NO CHANGE GIVEN! Please can we remind parents and carers that the school is unable to provide change to students for the catering cash terminals. Wherever possible, please can you ensure you provide your child with the correct change before they come to school. Ideally all payments should be made online and we discourage strongly students from bringing cash into school. LearningLearning DiariesDiaries If your child loses their Learning Diary, they will need to purchase a new one from the school’s Finance Office at a cost of £2.50. 6 SevereSevere WeatherWeather ProceduresProcedures Occasionally during the year, particularly in Winter, we experience spells of very bad weather (e.g. snow). During these times we will always do our very best to keep the school open. However, there may be occasions that we have to make the decision to close based on: the safety and wellbeing of students and staff the number of teachers who are able to safely travel to school to determine if we have adequate numbers of teachers to take classes the severity of the weather, which impacts on whether the school grounds are safe for students, teachers and visitors In the event that the school has to close, we will always endeavour to give as much notice as possible. The school will follow these procedures to notify parents/carers: Update the school website - a message will appear in red running across the top of the home screen, this should be your first point of reference. App Message* - parents/carers who have downloaded our Parent App will receive a message directly to the app. *Please ensure you have your notifications turned on on your mobile device so you are notified as soon as the message comes through. Details about our Parent App can be found by clicking here. Text Message* - parents/carers who have not yet downloaded our Parent App, will receive a text message. *Please ensure you inform us if any of your contact details change so we always have the most up to date information for you. Failure to do so may result in messages not being received. Social Media Updates - keep an eye on our Facebook and Twitter pages for updates. If you would like to follow our social media pages, click here for further information about where you can find us. Inform Local Authority - The school will inform Luton Borough Council, who have a page dedicated to school closures. This can be found on their website at: https://www.luton.gov.uk/seasonal/winter/Pages/School-closures.aspx 7 ImportantImportant ContactContact InformationInformation It is extremely important that we have up to date contact information for all students. We may need to contact home at short notice, plus, important information is sent home via these methods and if contact details are incorrect, unfortunately, important information may not get passed on. If there are any changes to a student’s address, parental contact telephone numbers or email addresses, etc.