Y8 End of Summer Term ltr 19.7.2022

18 July 2022

Dear Parents/Carers

Year 8 – End of Summer Term 2022

As we come to the end of another successful academic year, our year group has achieved an earth shattering 109,219 positive points. My thanks to all the children who day in day out do the right thing and are recognised by staff for their hard work and positive relationships with others.

Year 8 enjoyed a hugely successful Criss Cross day working with Fujitsu. The opportunity to develop their entrepreneurial skills was taken by many and the staff were impressed. Based on the end of year reports they are a year group who continue to make academic progress and the majority act on the feedback they are given and work cooperatively with staff.

Moving towards Year 9, we take another important step in education with students choosing their options. This process formally starts in January 2023. The reality is that this process has already begun with students thinking about which subjects they most enjoy and where they feel academically strongest. In Year 9 this takes on even more importance with students demonstrating to their teachers that they have the commitment and ability to access the GCSE options.

Thank you to all the parents and carers who have shown their continual support this year. I hope you have a restful summer break and time with family.

Equipment
The Summer provides an excellent opportunity to replace and restock your child’s equipment. A student that is not equipped, causes significant disruption to the learning environment and valuable learning time is lost as they are not organised. It also means they cannot be successful across the school day. We ask for your support with this, making sure purchased items to support your child. A personal reading book, their own water bottle and a fully stocked pencil case to fully engage with their learning are the minimum required. We will provide them with a student handbook and a place to write their timetable in, upon their return to school. Stationery equipment can be purchased from school via your ParentPay account.

Uniform
We return in September in our winter uniform (not polo shirts) and we ask that you resolve any issues you identify with your child’s uniform in readiness for the start of term. In particular many students have outgrown their shoes so please ensure that these are replaced in time. If students are without the correct uniform then we ask that you provide them with a dated and signed note and that the issue is rectified within three days. Students attending school without the correct uniform and without a qualifying note will have break and lunch time removed until the issue has been resolved.

Trainers
From September there is a change to the School Uniform Policy in which students will be able to wear plain black trainers to school. Trainers can be branded but cannot have any other colour than black on them. Students can still wear school shoes if that is their preference. We hope this measure will cut down the number of students with issues with shoes and expect to see a significant reduction in notes excusing students for being in trainers. Please support the school to reiterate that trainers must be plain black and have black soles and black laces.

Mobile Phones
All students in Year 7, 8, 9, 10 and Year 11 must hand in their mobile phone during morning tutor (Roll Call) as they are not permitted to have mobile phones in their possession. The phone should be silenced and notifications turned off. Students arriving late (after Roll Call) will be expected to hand their phone into Raising Standards for safekeeping. The phone will be collected by the ‘lates team’ when they enter via reception, if late without a valid reason they will incur a late detention to be served the same day after school.

Students who have a planned appointment, for example, the dentist must let their tutor know, then hand their phone into Raising Standards so that they can collect it at the appropriate time, when signing out of school.

Parents and students should be clear that the misuse of mobile phones will not be tolerated and failure to hand in their phone will be treated seriously by the school as it is in clear breach of our rules. Parents wanting to communicate with their child during the school day should do so via the school office.

Misuse of their mobile phone will be dealt with using the principle of “see it, hear it, and take it”. If a student is found in possession of a mobile phone between 8.50 am and the end of the school day, communication will be made to home and the parent/carer will be responsible for visiting the school to collect the mobile phone by appointment.

We ask for your support with this and to explain our clear expectations to your child to avoid any conflict with staff. Full details of the school’s Mobile Phone Policy can be found on the school website.

Medical issues
Please update the school regarding any changes in your child’s medical history that will impact on our duty of care or compliance with standard school rules. Please email welfare@epschool.org with any details. Our welfare team will be happy to discuss with you any changes to ongoing conditions or medication and you should make sure any out of date medicines are replaced if still needed.

Communications
Please inform the school of any changes in your named contacts (two are required for legal reasons) or if any other details have changed, for example your email, mobile phone number or address. Please email info@epschool.org.

Attendance
We will continue working in partnership with WPA Education Welfare Services in promoting a positive approach to attendance. Could I please remind parents to contact the school before 8.00 am if your child is unable to attend for any reason. The telephone number of our student absence line is 01344 304567 option 1 or 01344 390824 (direct line) and the e-mail address is attendance@epschool.org. It is likely that you will receive a telephone call or text message from the school if your child does not arrive and you have not informed us of the reason.

Return to school in September
The school will open on Friday 2 September 2022 for Year 7 and Year 12 students only. All other year groups will return on Monday 5 September 2022. We hope this approach will support our new students who are joining the school with ‘finding their feet’ before the whole school returns.

On both the Friday and Monday the school day will begin at the normal time of 8.40 am and will finish at 3.10 pm. Friday 2 September will be Week B and Monday 5 September will be Week A.

Thank you to all the parents and carers who have shown their continual support this year. I hope you have a restful summer break and time with family. I look forward to working with you and your child in the next academic year.

Yours faithfully

Mr T Ayliffe

Head of Year 8