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17 January 2025 - Letter to Parents
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Dear Parents and Carers,
I hope that you’ve had a great week. In assembly this week, we have been discussing online safety and celebrating women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) and we also saw some new clubs starting, including fitness club, school orchestra, hockey club and Future Men. Furthermore, Year 10 have seen the launch of this year’s Head Prefect timeline. Being a Head Prefect is an honour, and comes with it the opportunity for public speaking, liaising with the Senior Leadership team and representing the school at important events.
Key Dates
Year 11 Exams Prep Information Evening – Wednesday 26th 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 3rd April 3.30 – 7pm
Year 9 Parent Subject Consultation Evening – Thursday 6th March 3.30 – 7pm
Year 11 Parent Subject Consultation Evening – Thursday 13th February 3.30 – 7pm
Please also note the following date:
Year 9 Options Evening – Thursday 27th 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.
Year 11 Mocks Update
After four busy weeks (and more including revision and preparation!), Year 11 mocks have now come to an end. The vast majority of students engaged incredibly well with the process, showing effort, a positive attitude and great resilience. In the coming weeks, students will be receiving feedback from the mocks in lessons, with tasks that are focusing on any gaps in knowledge and enabling students to make further progress. Students will then receive their results at the Year 11 Parent Subject Consultation evening on Thursday 13th February. We look forward to seeing you there!
Kinship Care – An Overview
Kinship carers are friends or family who step in to raise a child when their parents may not be able to. This may be temporary or long term. You might be a grandparent whose grandchild has come to live with you or perhaps you are taking care of a younger sibling or niece. You may be a kinship carer in a formal foster care arrangement or special guardianship order. Alternatively, you may be providing informal care for a close relative or family friend.
There are more than 141,000 children living in kinship care in England and Wales (source: Kinship care charity) and so you are certainly not alone. If you are a kinship carer, please let us know. This will help us to better support you and your child, and we will be able to signpost you to further help and advice. We will handle any information shared sensitively. Our Kinship Lead is Ms Sophie Alderson and you can contact her by e-mail at SAlderson@orchard.tila.school , marked FAO Kinship Lead.
Our Kinship Lead has awareness of the particular needs of children in kinship care and the support available for children, carers and families. You can also access information via:
• The HOPE Virtual School Kinship care Kinship care
• The Kinship care charity Kinship: Home | The Kinship care charity | England and Wales
The Kinship care charity offers a wide variety of support for kinship carers including online workshops on a range of relevant topics and local coffee mornings. You can sign up for the range of in person and online workshops provided by The Kinship care charity through this link: Free training and events for kinship carers | Kinship
Kinship will also be running a Kinship Roadshow in Bristol on 20th March 2025. Kinship carers can find out more and sign up here: Kinship Roadshow Bristol - Kinship
Attendance
The second week back to school has seen many of our students back into their routines and ensuring they are on time. Just a reminder that students should be in school for line up by 8.20am as this ensures a positive and settled start to the day. Attendance in the first week back was 3% higher than the last week before the break, which is excellent.
Just a reminder that Year 11 students should be in school every day to ensure they give themselves the best chance of success in their GCSEs. Every day counts; students that attend 95% and above are more likely to hit their target grades and be accepted into colleges and onto apprenticeships in Year 12.
Congratulations to the following tutor groups for having the best attendance in each year group in the first week of term:
7D2, 8W2, 9W2, 10 W2, 11B2
Friday 10th January attendance winners were:
Year 7 – Overall best attending year group
Avalon - Overall best attending Houses
Extra-curricular timetable for this term
Please visit our updated website page for details of our Term 3 Clubs timetable. We look forward to seeing as many students as possible at one or more of our clubs this term! Participation in enrichment has multiple benefits for students, including improved mental health, the chance to make new friends and the opportunity to learn new skills. Please do encourage them to engage with our activities.
Safeguarding
With the winter still with us and nights being long, there is a tendency for young people to spend their time playing online games. Online games – especially multiplayer games – can expose your family to a variety of threats.
-cyberbullying and online harassment
-inappropriate or upsetting content
-account takeovers and hacking
-malware and viruses
-identify theft and privacy issues
-online predators
-excessive in-game spending
-gaming addiction
To support with this, the NSPCC have some excellent resources for parents. Please read here.
Yondr Pouch Reminder
Yondr pouches are designed to create phone-free spaces in schools, helping pupils focus and engage with their learning, without phone-related distractions. Our Trust recently sent out a survey to our students about their experiences of Yondr pouches, and they made some very positive statements about them:
“They have led to quieter classrooms for me to study in.”
“We do more work without distractions in lessons.”
“They have reduced my screen time.”
“It helped me to concentrate in class and not think about it while studying.”
“It prevents students from taking photos of other students without their permission.”
“People in my year group are more sociable at lunch time and focus better in class.”
As per school policy, it is essential that students bring in their Yondr pouch every day and that if they bring their mobile phone, it must be kept in the pouch throughout the whole school day. As per government guidance ‘by removing mobile phones from the school day, we can create a safe space where pupils are protected from the risks and dangers associated with social media and cyber-bullying, as well as the peer pressure and possible stigma associated with owning what are often expensive devices.’ If your child has misplaced their Yondr pouch, a new one can be purchased on Arbor for £25. If you require any support with purchasing it, please contact your Head of Year/Pastoral Manager.
Community Events
Bristol City Council is sharing guidance for keeping warm this winter:
Bristol Parent Carers Forum supports the parents and carers of children with SEND in Bristol. Their January newsletter is out now, free to read, with links to useful information and events: January Newsletter – Bristol Parent Carers.
Have a lovely weekend.
Kind regards,
Mel Sweet, Headteacher