Tutor Time Curriculum

This term’s Tutor Time Curriculum has seen a wide-ranging sweep of topics, from PSHE to marking and exploring Black History Month. The PSHE sessions have been on the topic of Law, Crime and Punishment which has given students the opportunity to explore tough topics like Youth Crime and How Laws Are Made with their Form Tutor. During this half term we have also conducted a fire alarm practice, that Year 8 behaved impeccably for.  Additionally, Form Tutors have gone through the feedback from Student Voice surveys conducted back in the Summer Term of Year 7. Well done to Year 8 on their engagement in Tutor Time! We really value our Tutor Time Curriculum and it contributes to the holistic development of your child in school.

Open Evening

Our Open Evening was a fabulous success this year, and that is driven by how Year 8 answered the call for volunteers. The feedback from parents and families on the night highlighted just how brilliant the Year 8 Tour Guides were and I also know how many more students were helping in departments to really make our school shine. Congratulations and thank you to everyone involved.

College Assemblies

This half term Year 8 and the whole school have their first College Assembly of the year, and their first chance to really grow into their new position as role models in school to the Year 7s. We know how much students value their College families and this introduction of the system is a landmark event for the new Year 7s, and a great refresher for Year 8. This year will see the Colleges once again compete throughout the year, with last year’s champions, Manor for Sports Day, Binswood for Rewards, Park for Attendance, all looking to defend their titles. It was great to see year 8 get back into the swing of things with their College, and I know that the competition is already intense on all these fronts!

Whole School Charity Events 

This half term has seen Race for Life, one of our flagship charity events. To see the whole school community come together in aid of Cancer Research UK is always really special and Year 8 absolutely played their part in that. Put together, the school raised £2703.75, which is a fantastic achievement. Thank you for all of your donations.

We went on to mark another event in school, Hello Yellow, in aid of Young Minds and children’s mental health.

This event involved allowing students to come in with a yellow item of clothing, and we followed that up with a bake sale too. There are some very talented bakers in Year 8 who helped to make such a success of the event.

 

 

 

Careers Event

On 6 October we welcomed Robert Jones from Coventry College. Thanks to the Careers Team in school, we have plenty of provision for students to start thinking about their futures.

This particular event was aimed at Post GCSE opportunities, from Sixth Forms to Colleges, and A Levels to T levels and apprenticeships, there was lots to think about for Year 8. We know that the more information, advice and guidance we can give, the more likely it is to set our students on a path to their future.

Rewards 

Celebrating achievements remains a key part of the positive culture we have built up in school. A huge congratulations goes to the all of the following students for their outstanding commitment to their school journey by having the highest number of rewards.

Online Safety

A reminder that our website contains a variety of online safety information within the Safeguarding tab and we have added the September and October Online Safety Newsletters and a link to Parentsafe which is a very useful tool produced by LGfL (London Grid for Learning).

It offers a wide range of support materials and advice for parents to keep children and young people safe in the online world.

Topics on offer include:

• Top tips for right now
• Safe settings and control on various devices
• What’s that APP?
• Talking to children about the topic
• Screen time
• Top topics including fake news
• Sex and relationships
• Help and reporting

You can view resources and advice via the links here:  Parentsafe LGfL Website and Online Safety Information on the NLS Website

Calendar

Of course, there are many more things to come in next half term. The lead up to Christmas is always a busy time, and there are a number of further community events to come including our annual Christmas jumper day and Christmas hamper appeal. This will come on top of many more new topics and content in lessons. Our Tutor Time Curriculum will address a wide variety of key life topics, such as Digital Literacy and Numeracy and Finance, along with engaging with country wide events like Anti Bullying Week. I am looking forward to watching Year 8 tackle these new topics with their Form Tutors.

• Odd Socks week supporting anti bullying culminating in odd socks day on November 14
• Remembrance November 11
• Year 8 Fair Trade Assembly - November 24
• College Assemblies - November 17-24
• Winter music Concert – Wednesday December 3
• Christmas Jumper Day - December 12

Thank you, as always, for your support of the school and of course your children. I wish you all a restful half term, and I am already looking forward to the many things to come in Autumn 2.

Joseph Piper
Assistant Headteacher – Year 8 Lead