October 2025 - Letter to Parents

10th October 2025

Dear Parents and Carers,

We have had a busy week at Orchard, with the Bristol Education Partnership Leadership Programme for students starting with a Year 10 cohort, a week full of House Assemblies, a number of sporting fixtures, including Year 10 rugby, where, as usual, we witnessed some amazing performances. Next week, we have students representing us in the Bristol Youth Talk finals and multiple sporting fixtures including Netball for year 7, 8, 10 and 11 girls against Oasis Brightstowe, Boys’ rugby against Trinity and KS4 Interhouse Dodgeball.

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 10 Mock Exam Information Evening – Wednesday 20th May 6.00 - 7.00pm   

Year 11 Mock Exam Information Evening – Wednesday 12th November 6.00-7.00pm 

These special information evenings are a welcome to the year from school staff, and a presentation to give you an overview of the year, an understanding of the learning and academic assessments that are happening, the reports you will receive, opportunities for trips and visits, clubs and advice with managing the wellbeing and mental health of young people in this age group. Staff are on hand to answer questions afterwards and ensure you feel confident with aspects such as home learning, access to laptops/resources, any support with free school meals or hardship fund applications. We look forward to seeing you. Please note that teachers are not present at these Information Evenings. The opportunity to find out about your child’s progress in each subject is at Parent Subject Consultation Evenings.

Parent Subject Consultation Evenings

The dates for these through the year are as follows:

Year 7 Parent Subject Consultation Evening – Thursday 23rd April 3.30 – 7pm  

Year 8 Parent Subject Consultation Evening – Thursday 11th December 3.30 – 7pm   

Year 9 Parent Subject Consultation Evening – Thursday 19th March 3.30 – 7pm  

Year 10 Parent Subject Consultation Evening – Thursday 27th November 3.30 – 7pm  

Year 11 Parent Subject Consultation Evening – Thursday 6th November and Thursday 12th February 3.30 – 7pm  

Please also note the following date: 

Year 9 Options Evening – Thursday 26th February 6 – 7.30pm  

To help parents and children decide together which options subjects/GCSEs they might choose to take over the next two years in school.  

Teaching and Learning/Curriculum

This week has seen House Assemblies running, with students engaging brilliantly. We’ve also seen some wonderful engagement in lessons – Year 11 Prep has been fantastic, with bigger numbers of attendance than ever before at Orchard. We’ve also seen some superb examples of students self-correcting their work. At Orchard, we do this with red pen, so if you see red pen in your child’s book, this is evidence of self-correction. We’ve also done some great revision assemblies over the last fortnight, demonstrating to students that multi-tasking and highlighting notes are to be avoided when revising, whereas writing answers from memory and committing to revising without distractions are our best bets to make revision effective.

Safeguarding - Online Safety – A Shared Responsibility

Online safety is a shared responsibility for parents, requiring active involvement, open communication, and ongoing guidance. In today’s digital world, children are exposed to various online risks, including cyberbullying, inappropriate content, and privacy threats. While technology plays a big role in their lives, it’s up to parents to create a safe and supportive environment. This means not only setting boundaries and using parental controls but also educating children about responsible online behaviour and encouraging them to speak up about anything that makes them uncomfortable. By staying informed and engaged, parents can work together with schools, communities, and their children to build a safer digital space.

For advice and support on safeguarding children from risky online behaviours, the NSPCC have a fantastic section on their website for parents.

Clubs – Term 1

Please remember to encourage your child to sign up to one of our brilliant lunchtime or after school clubs. They’re a great way for them to meet new friends, learn new skills and make lasting memories.

Orchard School - Clubs and Enrichment

Attendance

Congratulations to 9W2, 7B2 and 7W1, who have topped last week’s attendance leaderboard. Keep it up!

We are planning to carry out student voice over the coming weeks and months to find out more about attendance to school. These will be supportive conversations where we will discuss any barriers to attending school, as well as what brings students into school. We are committed to working with students and families to improve attendance, so please get in touch if we can offer any guidance or support.

A reminder that students should all be on site and ready to head to their year group line ups from 8.20am. It is an important start to the day, and also enables students to get into registration quickly, so that reading can begin promptly. Thanks for your support.

Attendance reporting absence

The student absence reporting system changed at the start of this academic year and thanks for your support and being on board with this key change to how we report absence. A reminder that if your child is too unwell to come to school, you need to call the school absence line on 0117 377 2021 between 8 and 8.45am. If the lines are busy, you will be placed in a queue for a maximum of 6 minutes, when you can then leave a message. Please don't e-mail or text the school to report absence, as we need to speak to parents and carers as part of our safeguarding procedures. The attendance team may still call or get in contact to follow up on any absences, as we want to support with getting students back into school, and with their overall attendance.

Belonging

It was brilliant to see our Houses come together this week in their House assemblies. Wisley’s is on Monday next week. Students celebrated House points, competition entries, and also had a chance to congratulate the tutor reps who will represent their tutor groups in House Council meetings. Well done to all students who have been voted into this important leadership role! There are lots of opportunities to get involved with clubs, events and competitions every day at Orchard; all information is shared daily via tutor notices.

Character Competition

Last term, I wrote to you to announce the launch of our new Character Competitions, which will take place every large term. This time, the Humanities faculty’s competition idea won, and we’d like your child to get involved if they’re in Year 7 or 8. A poster is below with details, but essentially, we would like them to interview two of their grandparents, or two of their favourite 70+-year-olds in their family/extended family, about their favourite memories from the past. They need to write the memories down, and send them in to us, using their student e-mail, at charactercompetition@orchard.tila.school with their name and tutor group, and the names and contact details of their two older family members (with their permission). We’ll choose the most impressive memories and invite the winners in to share an afternoon tea in our library, in December, with their two family members. There will be plenty of refreshments and cakes for the winners, so please encourage your child to take part! There can be two winners in Year 7 and two in Year 8, and each winner can bring in both of their grandparents/older family members to enjoy their afternoon teas with them.

Community Events

Lockleaze Youth Climate Action Group is holding a Silent Disco Litter Pick on Thursday 30th October at 10.30am. See the flyer below for details.

The Witherslack Group is running a webinar for parents on supporting families with toilet challenges, entitled Autism & Self-Care: Toilet Challenges and Hygiene. Click the link to register for the webinar.

Wishing you a lovely weekend.

With best wishes,

Mel Sweet, Headteacher