1 Newsletter: Issue 9 February 2018 North Devon Schools’ Rugby Champions! L to R: Josh Glover, Billy Heard, Jacob Stevenson, Louis Mathers, Ben Quance, Kai Pett, Ben Pomeroy, Adam Leworthy, Year 9 played Park School in the North Devon Schools’ Rugby Cup Final at Bideford RFC. They domi- nated the first 20 minutes then conceded to go behind 7-0. Two tries then put them 12-7 in the lead but the score was level 12-12 at full time. Extra time followed and Bideford dominated again, scoring 3 times to win the cup and give a final score of 31-12. It was a great team performance with the forwards winning the scrums and lots of players involved in the build up to the tries which were scored by Oli Haste (1), Sam Abbott (2) and Captain Matt Lewis (2) with the conversions kicked in very difficult conditions by Adam Leworthy. The team will now have a county semi-final. www.facebook.com/bidefordcollege www.bidefordcollege.org 2 Lyndsey Kane - Principal It is hard to imagine that 6 weeks have already flown by since we returned from the Christmas break! There has been a relentless drive this term to really think about what we are all achieving and times of reflection to assess how we can do even better. Teachers have been working hard to deliver stimulating and challenging lessons and the students have been benefiting from these and the positive impact this has had to their learning experience. Another huge focus area has been student attendance and all staff have been working really closely with their tutees and the stu- dents they teach – to remove every obstacle possible – which might stop a student from attending school. Thank you to all of the positive support from so many of our parents in arranging medical appointments out of school hours and working with us, to ensure their children are in school every day – which will only result in them having a positive future full of choice and opportunity – afforded by a good education. We have also been looking at our reward systems and I hope that a large number of you have been receiving regular texts and emails from the school about your child as they are awarded House Points for doing well at school. We will continue to look at ways of celebrating achievement next term and are already planning some addi- tional celebration evenings – due to the success and achievement of so many of our fabulous students. I would like to close by reminding the Year 11 and 6th Form students that this is a time when they need to be continuing their focus on preparation for their forthcoming A’ Level and GCSE exams and you will see in the Newsletter the revision timetable of extra sessions to support the students in doing the very best they can. Have a peaceful half term and I look forward to welcoming you all back on Monday 19th February. Lyndsey www.facebook.com/bidefordcollege www.bidefordcollege.org 3 Attendance Are your children attending school every day that they possibly can? Do you struggle to get them out of bed in the morning? Are your children ill more often than other children? Regular attendance at school is vital to help children achieve and get the best possible start in life. En- couraging regular school attendance is one of the most powerful ways you can prepare your child for success—both in school and in life. We are one of the only schools in North Devon to have a dedicated, qualified school nurse in College every day. Dee Lamb has worked at the College for many years and has supported a great number of students with managing their health and wellbeing. If your child wakes up and says that they are ill and a doctor’s appointment is not readily available please bring them into College between 8.30am and 10am and Dee will see them and assess whether they are well enough to be in school. The only incidence where this would not be appropriate would be if there is diarrhoea and/or vomiting. In this case please phone in and inform the attendance officer. If your child is absent from school due to illness and there are no ongoing medical conditions a referral will be made. Please support the college in its ethos that every lesson counts by ensuring that medical and dental ap- pointments are made outside of school hours where possible. We understand that orthodontist ap- pointments are difficult to make outside of College hours but routine dental appointments should be made for after school or during school holidays. Known absences need to be communicated to the college via an absence request form at least two weeks in advance of the absence. These forms can be downloaded from the website or collected from Reception. There are a number of students who have an attendance figure below 90% - this means that they are missing on average a day a fortnight which is five hours of teaching. The Government classes these chil- dren as persistent absentees. We now have a robust attendance tracking system and letters are sent home to alert parents to poor attendance. If attendance improves then no further action is taken. If attendance continues to stay be- low 90% a Penalty Notice warning letter will be sent home to parents. Parents and the student will be invited to a meeting with Mrs Jewell or Mrs Vowles to see if anything additional can be put in place to support an improvement in the student’s attendance. If attendance still does not improve all documentation will be sent to Devon County Council who will issue a Penalty Notice and take over proceedings from that point. The fine associated with the penalty notice is currently £60 per child. All of this money is taken by Devon County Council. No money comes to Bideford College or the Multi Academy Trust. A number of these Penalty Notices have been issued in the last few weeks. www.facebook.com/bidefordcollege www.bidefordcollege.org 4 Energy Drinks Energy drinks have featured heavily on the news and social media over the last few months and some shops have already made steps to ban children under 16 from buying them. A number of organisations are lobbying the Government to make it illegal to sell energy drinks to under 16s following studies showing the harm that it is doing to their bodies, mental health and sleep patterns all of which are having a detrimental impact on their ed- ucation and wellbeing. Energy drinks contain high levels of caffeine and other stimulants and some have high levels of sugar. Drinking these before or during school is not beneficial to any student in any way. Some popular energy drinks contain more caffeine than has been deemed safe for the average 12 year old. Last May in South Carolina a student died in his classroom after suffering heart failure as a result of ingesting such a large amount of caffeine in a short time. Cardiac arrhythmia, a condition where the heart stops beating regularly, can be caused by an overdose of caffeine, which is one of the main ingredients in energy drinks. The canteen at Bideford College does not sell energy drinks in its canteen or in any of the vending machines. We encourage students to bring in a refillable drinks bottle which can be used with a number of the water foun- tains around the College. The canteen stocks a wide range of drinks including fruit juices, naturally carbonated fruit drinks, milk, milkshakes and still or sparkling water. Any student seen with an energy drink in College after half term will have it confiscated. If it is open it will de- stroyed. If it is not open it will be taken to reception and can be collected by parents. www.facebook.com/bidefordcollege www.bidefordcollege.org 5 The school has been given the opportunity to take part in a project that will run jointly between schools and Devon and Cornwall Police Operation Encompass is the reporting to schools, prior to the start of the next school day, when a child or young person has been exposed to, or involved in, any domestic in- cident. Operation Encompass will ensure that a member of the school staff, known as a Key Adult, is trained to allow them to liaise with the police and to use the information that has been shared, in confidence, while ensuring that the school is able to make provision for possible difficulties experienced by children, or their families, who have been in- volved in, or exposed to, a domestic abuse incident. We are keen to offer the best support possible to all our pupils and we believe this will be extremely beneficial for all those involved. www.facebook.com/bidefordcollege www.bidefordcollege.org 6 E-Planner Bideford College have recently launched our e-planner which is an on line homework planner. It manages homework, resources and revision materials electronically After February half term, all homework will be loaded on to the e-planner. Students can access this from home by going to the college website and entering through the student portal, using their usual Bideford Col- lege log in details. The e-planner shows homework by subject, detail and date. Students can tick off when they have completed the homework to alert the class teacher of their progress. If, as a parent, you would also like access to this e-planner to monitor homework that is set, you can create a parent account.