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Orchard School Bristol

  • 04 October 2024 - Letter to parents

    TRANSLATING THIS LETTER

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    Dear Parents and Carers,

    I hope that you have had a great week.  We were really pleased to see the support of parents and carers invited to our important Year 11 ‘Planning for Success’ evening this week, and Year 8 parents and carers at our Information Evening.

    Key Dates 

    There are some important dates to be aware of this term.  From September we have Parent & Carer Information Evenings arranged for each year group. Please make sure you put these dates in your diary.  

    Year 9 Parents’ Information Evening – Thursday 10 October 6.15 – 7.45pm  

    Year 11 Exams Prep Information Evening – Wednesday 26 March 6.15 – 7.45pm

    Parent Subject Consultation Evenings 

    The dates for these through the year are as follows: 

    Year 7 Parent Subject Consultation Evening – Thursday 3 April 3.30 – 7pm 

    Year 8 Parent Subject Consultation Evening – Thursday 5 December 3.30 – 7pm  

    Year 9 Parent Subject Consultation Evening – Thursday 6 March 3.30 – 7pm 

    Year 10 Parent Subject Consultation Evening – Thursday 14 November 3.30 – 7pm 

    Year 11 Parent Subject Consultation Evening – Thursday 13 February 3.30 – 7pm 

    Please also note the following date: 

    Year 9 Options Evening – Thursday 27 February 5 – 7pm 

    To help parents and children decide together which options subjects/GCSEs they might choose to take over the next two years in school. This is on the same date as the Subject Consultation, as we found this worked very well for parents this year. 

       

    Teaching and Learning/Curriculum 

    It’s been fantastic this week seeing calm corridors and lots of independent practice. On Monday we met with our teaching staff, discussing research behind the importance of Independent Practice.

    Next week we will be entering Year 11 ‘most likely grade’ data. We have defined a most likely grade as one where a student has consistent performance at this grade. For example, repeated test scores of a grade ‘7’ mean the student’s most likely grade is a ‘7’.

    We have also begun our targeted revision / tuition sessions, which we call ‘Prep’, for Year 11. Your support as parents is essential in making sure students maximise their potential. Both attendance and engagement in Prep sessions were excellent this week.

    Finally, in terms of extra-curricular activities, it was amazing to see rugby games after school this week, 2 Orchard students rehearsing their speeches for the Bristol Education Partnership’s Youth Voice final and a number of Year 10 students attending a Leadership Day at Clifton High School. The extra-curricular timetable of clubs available is here.

    Attendance 

    Tiredness in our students can creep in halfway through the term and we don’t want this to prevent students arriving on time! ‘Sleep hygiene’ is about how much sleep a person needs to function properly and the good habits we can develop around sleep. The NHS tells us that teenagers need 8 to 10 hours sleep a night. This means, if your child wakes up at 7am in the week, they should be asleep by 10pm and going to bed at 9pm.

    More guidance around good sleep habits can be found here: Sleep hygiene in children and young people | Great Ormond Street Hospital (gosh.nhs.uk)

     

    Based on 9 to10 hours of sleep per night:

    Start going to bed Asleep by Wake up at
    9pm

    9.30pm/10pm

    7.30am
    8.30pm 9pm/9.30pm 7am
    8pm/8.30pm 8.30pm/9pm 6.30am

     

    Congratulations to the following tutor groups in each year group who achieved the highest attendance this week:

    7A2

    8B1

    9A2

    10D1

    11A1

    Year 7 is in the lead overall, with attendance consistently above 96%, so come on Years 8- 11!

    Safeguarding

    As the days get darker, your children will likely want to spend more time on screens, in whatever form that may take, e.g. phones or TV. Please be mindful of this and encourage your children to have outdoor time as well as keeping an eye on their sleeping patterns. They should be discouraged from taking digital devices to bed with them as blue light from these devices can disrupt their sleep patterns.

    The following three websites are useful for parents with regard to internet safety:

    https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety

    Parents and Carers - UK Safer Internet Centre

    https://lgfl.net/safeguarding/parent-online-safety

    Planned Lockdown Practice

    We will be holding a lockdown practice on Friday 24 October at 2pm. Staff and students will be informed so they can prepare for this and make sure they are aware of what they need to do. It is important that we carry out these types of practices to ensure we are prepared and know what to do in the event of an emergency in the same way as we practise evacuating the building in the event of a fire. You will also receive a text from the school on the day as a gentle reminder that this practice will take place. Please speak to your child about this at home.

    Fire Alarm

    We have reported an issue with a faulty sensor to the company that oversees our school site. We have had a few fire evacuations as a consequence of this overly sensitive sensor, which we have escalated and hope to have resolved early next week, just in case your child reports this to you.

     

    World Mental Health Day

    Thursday10 October is World Mental Health Day, also known as ‘Hello Yellow’. Teachers will be encouraged to wear yellow to prompt discussions with students about mental health.

    The Grove team will be active during break and lunchtime to talk about mental health with students, provide trips and resources on how to improve wellbeing as well as giving information on how they can access internal SEMH support as well as external organisations.

    The Grove is Orchard’s Social Emotional and Mental Health provision. We have four full time SEMH practitioners who deliver a wide range of initiatives and interventions to support student wellbeing.

    Vaping – Risks

    Please remind your child about the risks of vaping, which is an increasing concern amongst teenagers. It is illegal for shops to sell vapes to anyone under the age of 18 or for adults to buy them on behalf of under-18s. If your child is found in possession of a vape, we will issue a suspension, in accordance with our Behaviour for Learning policy.

    Potential risks of vaping include;

    -Nicotine addiction

    -Negative effects on brain development of under 25s

    -Potential toxicity such as lead, tin and nickel

    -Unclear long-term consequences

    -Environmental effects

    -Unregulated vaping products

    SEND support

    Bristol City Council is asking for views on how SEND provision can be improved in the city. If you would like to add your view to this, please click this link here, read the outline of the consultation and then please fill in the survey. There are also versions available in Polish and Somali.

    Community Events 

    The Ardagh’s next Food and Craft Market is taking place on Saturday 12 October, 10am- 3pm on Horfield Common.

    The Founder of Better Food, Phil Haughton, is running two Play With Clay evenings in St. Werburgh’s in October: Play with Clay Tickets, Thu, Oct 17, 2024 at 6:00 PM | Eventbrite

    The Lockleaze Neighbourhood Trust is raising money for The Bristol Emergency Winter Fuel Fund. To learn more and also read about how a person can be referred to receive financial support from the fund, click here.

    Wishing you a lovely weekend. 

    With best wishes, 

     

    Mel Sweet, Headteacher