Parent Bulletin 28.02.20
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Parent Bulletin 28th February 2020 Excellence every day Thought for the week Solving the Unsolved Word of the week (Any student using the word of the week correctly will receive an achievement point). Metacognition - Awareness and understanding of your own thought processes. Book of the week from Mrs Bennett Lightning Mary by Anthea Simmons. Please note: World Book Day activities are taking place in school Dear Families, Following several public engagement activities recently, we learnt on Thursday that Hampshire County Council has decided not to proceed with their plans for a walking route from Hook to RMS. They will be continuing with the buses, as they are at present. Please find the link below to Hampshire County Council’s web announcement: https://www.hants.gov.uk/News/27FebHookRMSwalkingroutedecision We would like to salute the hard work and dedication of the local Hook parents’ group, PAACT, who have maintained a strong and active presence at all points of the engagement exercise, and who have been the strongest voice of reason in the debate about the walking route plans. If you would like to read their official response to the announcement, you can find it on the following link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Hookschoolbus/permalink/572254606704742/ For further information from the group please email [email protected] How brilliant would it be if HCC School Transport and Hook area became early adopters and a national showcase for electric buses? In other news, 60 of our Year 11s were selected to take the national reference tests in English and Maths during the week. The visiting invigilators, who were also being inspected themselves, were amazed at our students’ superb conduct and commented about this enthusiastically before they left the site. Thank you to Year 11! These reference tests are used by the examination boards to benchmark their grade boundaries, before the GCSE results come out in the summer. Mr McTaggart took a number of our Year 8 and Year 10 STEM ambassadors out on Tuesday to Greenfields JS, and on Thursday, to Mayhill JS, to start their annual project. This links in to RAF Odiham and we’re looking forward to the results of Year 5s presentations in due course. On the same day, our Year 9 JET group spent time at the Defence Logistics base in Worthy Down. Later in the week 25 Year 11 students went with Miss Thomas to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Watermill. 14 Year 10 students travelled with Miss Harding to Kent where they attended a major road safety experience. They came back with clear information about driving safely and I would like to thank parents, firstly for allowing them to attend, and secondly for the very kind messages of thanks that have arrived today about this important one-day course. It is a busy time next week with GCSE PPET Drama performances, GCSE Food and Nutrition practicals and GCSE Music performances among many other activities. We’d like to wish our amazing Year 11s all the best for these tests and examinations. The school will also be receiving a visit from an inspector, as part of the Hampshire area SEND review, which is taking place in various institutions across the county next week. Our inspector is due to spend time with us in our Resourced Provision and in the HUBL on Thursday 5th March. A separate letter about that has been sent to all families of SEND students. Information about the Coronavirus is re-shared below. Please could I respectfully point out that the government’s Coronavirus website is our main source of information. It is updated by the government daily. In the event of needing to change our practices, we will be told what to do by Public Health England. Have a great weekend, Joanna C West Coronavirus information The Government’s advice website is: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-information-for-the-public It is updated daily. The number to call, if you are worried you might have been infected by Coronavirus, is NHS 111 RMS Challenge announcement updates! Mrs Robinson says: We have made it 92% of the way to Siberia which is the first race that Jordan Wylie did. We are hoping to follow his path BUT at the moment he is at least one extra race ahead of us. Stats below as of 27/2/2020 Date: 27th February Running Total 960 Cycling Total 658 Rowing Total 71 Walking Total 1514 Swimming Total 24 Total Miles 3227 92% of the way to Siberia (3524 Where are we? miles) If you would like to support staff efforts and help us to run, cycle, ride, row, swim and walk further and harder, please visit our fundraising site: https://givepenny.com/round-the-world-challenge All funds will go straight to completing the building of Jordan Wylie’s School in Djibouti. Notices and news: CONTACTING THE SCHOOL Robert May’s School aims to ensure that all students have access to the best possible educational experience, in order that your children - our young people -leave us as well-qualified, accomplished, rounded people who are able and willing to make a positive contribution to others’ lives, in the locality, the country and the world. We support our aims by asking our students to follow the Robert May’s Way. The three key pillars of the Robert May’s Way are Respect, Manage and Support. We ask everyone to respect each other and respect the hard work that is going on to enable students to lead fulfilling lives in the future. We invite all to manage themselves, their work and their behaviour so that relationships are harmonious and all activities lead to fruitful outcomes for our young people. We ask everyone to support each other, so that no-one is left behind or left out. We are asking parents, carers and all adult visitors to adhere to the Robert May’s Way when dealing with the school and its staff, and to be aware of the following points: ● All staff working at the school have the right to work in a safe and positive environment. They are expected to be good role models for our students. The same is expected of visiting adults and parents/carers. ● Staff should not be expected to deal with matters that cannot be resolved sensibly and calmly. The school will not tolerate rudeness, threats or aggression of any kind from visiting adults/parents/carers. It is not appropriate, for example, to demand to meet with a member of staff instantly without an appointment, or to remain on-site without an invitation. The school has powers to bar adults who behave unacceptably. Between 8.25am and 2.25pm our teachers, team leaders and tutors are teaching. If you need to get in touch over an academic or pastoral matter directly related to your child, the best way to begin is to email [email protected] and make sure that the name of the teacher you wish to contact is in the message heading. ● Teachers will not be able to respond during the normal school day, but they will do their best to respond as soon as they can, once students have left the site and any relevant meetings and training sessions have taken place. ● Funding for schools has been uncomfortably tight for a number of years. Staffing has been cut over the last 3 years in order to try and maintain a prudent and balanced budget each year. This means that all staff in school are working to maximum capacity and are very time-constrained. Their main focus is always going to be the learning and well-being of the children and young people who are on roll at RMS. All staff have been directed not to answer emails between 5pm and 8am on weekdays, during weekends or designated holidays. This is in compliance with the government's initiative to reduce teachers’ workload and also to allow our staff to exercise their right to a family life. Thank you for respecting our approach to face-to-face and online communications, and thank you for your continuing support. MUSIC DEPARTMENT DATES 4th - 6th March - GCSE Performance Exams. All year 11 students have been given their individual date and time slot for this exam Saturday 7th March - Mayor's concert 7pm. Chamber choir and Acapella group to meet at the Anvil backstage door at 4.30pm. Tickets available from the Anvil box office Thursday 19th March - GCSE Concert 7pm. All year 10 GCSE music students will be performing in this concert. This is also an opportunity for the Year 11's to perform their exam pieces. Link to tickets for GCSE Concert on 19th March Tuesday 31st March - Spring Concert 7pm. All extra curricular music groups will be showcasing their talent in this end of term concert. Link to tickets for Spring Concert on 31st March WORLD BOOK DAY World Book Day is on Thursday 5Th March and to celebrate there will be activities in the Library all week. The theme is ‘Other Worlds’ and there will be displays and quizzes, with prizes. All students will receive a World Book Day Token which can be exchanged for specific books or £1 off any book at participating stores. There is also a Poster Competition to design an A4 poster that promotes the Library and/ or reading. Entries should be submitted to Mrs Bennett in the Library by Friday 13th March. They can be submitted electronically or in paper format. The winner will receive a £10 book token and their poster will be used to promote the Library and reading around School.