NEWSLETTER - 9 SEPTEMBER

Our thoughts are with the Royal family and all the members of our community and beyond on hearing the sad news that The Queen died yesterday.  She was a remarkable women.

Today in school we marked the occasion by observing a 96 seconds period of silence to coincide with the 96 gun salute at 1.00 pm.  This will be the first of many national events that we will all be part of.  We have now entered a period of national mourning, a time for reflection and thought around the life of the Queen and the significant impact she has had on our nation and beyond.  We will look at how, as a school, we can mark the occasion and ensure that students in our community understand the historical significance of the death of the Queen. 

For those of you who are interested in finding out more about the significant moment of the Queen's life, please click here.  

THIS WEEK

It was lovely to have the students back in school after the summer break.  As you know the Year 11 and Year 13 students gained a very strong set of results.  We wish all the students who have left this year, all the very best and wish them every success.

I would also like to highlight how wonderful it has been to see the new Year 7 students in school, they certainly looked very smart in their uniform.  It has been lovely to talk to them while they have been on breaks and hear what they have enjoyed about the start of their career here at Charters. 

I would like to thank the member of public who contacted us to say how impressed they were with a group of our Year 9 students who were playing football.  Their ball went over the fence and the person very kindly took the time to throw it back over to be greeted with a cheer and a chorus of 'thank you's being shouted to them.  It is a very small aspect of school life but one that made me smile this week.

As with the start of any school year, there are countless opportunities that await all our students both in the classroom and outside.  This term's extra-curricular offer starts next week and the programme can be found here. Due to essential staff training, regrettably there will be cancellations next Tuesday and Thursday but activities on other days will still go ahead.  We are excited to see them commence and if at all possible we would encourage students to take part where they can.

FREE PORRIDGE FOR BREAKFAST

Our caterers provide free porridge for any student for breakfast.  If any student is unable to have a breakfast at home, can you please advise them that they can grab a pot of porridge that will keep them going until lunchtime and help give them a good start to the day.

YEAR 11 TARGET SETTING DAY THURSDAY 22 SEPTEMBER

Each student will have a 10-minute appointment with their tutor to discuss the targets for each of their options and core subjects.  These appointments will be via TEAMS, focusing on the individual targets and the steps that can be taken to support the targets being reached.  Students will not be expected in school on this day but will instead work from home.  If they fail to attend their meeting on TEAMS they will be marked as absent for the day. 

When students are not in the meetings they will be expected to complete work that will be set for the lessons they would usually be having in school on that day.  This also includes research around moving onto their Sixth Form education, starting to consider courses and investigating entry requirements to formulate ideas around next steps.

SCHOOL BUDGET

Like many of our local community we are having to consider operating in a very different way due to the budget constraints.  We will wait to see what impact the government’s announcement on Thursday will have us on.  It is likely, however, that the service we offer may well be impacted on by the extreme financial pressure we are under.   We will make sure that we communicate with our community the actions we are having to under take once we understand the impact of the support that has been announced.  

FACEBOOK

It has been brought to our attention that there have been a series of post raising concerns about pastoral care in school.  If the people raising these concerns could please inform the school about specific incidents so we can investigate, that would be helpful. It would mean that we can look into things further and feedback what actions have been taken to the parties involved.   

NEWS

A round up of this week's news stories from around the school:

YEAR 7 FRESHERS FAYRE

NOTICES

SCHOOL ATTENDANCE

After our first communication last week, and sharing the updated infographic highlighting school attendance processes, we are delighted to share with you that we have had an excellent start!  Not only has it been brilliant to see the students back in school and committed to their learning, but school attendance has been high. This week we have had a school attendance figure of over 96%. We look forward to working with students and their families to maintain this excellent start. 

STUDENT WELLBEING AND MENTAL HEALTH

THE STEPS SYSTEM

Alongside our students’ academic development, we take our role in supporting their pastoral welfare very seriously at Charters.

In line with this we have been listening to feedback from a variety of stakeholders throughout the year in order to evaluate our current provision and work out next steps to move things forward. As well as this you will be aware from last year’s correspondence, that the school have been working towards the Wellbeing Award supporting by advisors who are experts in school improvement.

Some key pieces of feedback we have received are:

• Our support services are not well known to all of our stakeholders and so people are not aware of what we can offer
• The support we are and are not able to provide is not always transparent
• Not everyone understands what support has been offered

In response to this, we will now be working in line with the “Charters School Steps to Wellbeing” (see below) so that we are able to provide appropriate targeted support to all of our young people who are in need of mental health or pastoral support.

Due to this we have had to start a fresh in terms of exit cards and support being accessed. This is not to stop support for our young people but rather to ensure consistency and transparency in the system.

With this in mind, we will be running a parental session focused on our support services on Monday 26 September at 6 pm. Further information will be sent out in due course. This will be similar to the session run last year which will explain what support we have available and how it can be accessed.

SUICIDE PREVENTION WORKSHOP

In addition, we are working closely with a national suicide prevention charity, Papyrus, to support our staff and students. As part of this offer, we will be having a virtual talk available for 50 parents from Papyrus on Monday 19 September at 5 pm. If you wish to attend then please complete the form here: https://www.papyrus-uk.org/training/r4-sp-ark-charters-school/  If you book onto this, the link will be sent out to you 24 hours before the session. We are sorry if you are unable to book as it becomes full but we will try to share any information possible after the session.

We want to continuing developing our provision at Charters and supporting our students and so as always if you have any concerns about your child, or they wish to speak to someone, emailing worried@chartersschool.org.uk is a great place to access support.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT LESSONS

Personal Development lessons this academic year will run every Monday P1 for all students in all year groups.

In order to enable the best access to many of the resources and platforms we use such as Unifrog and PiXL Edge, we would actively encourage students to bring a device such as a laptop or ipad (not a mobile phone) to support their learning in these sessions.

Students would need to know how to log their own device onto WiFi as we would not be able to provide individual technical support on site and students would be responsible for their own devices so we would advise bringing them in a protective case and not leaving them unattended during the school day.

We do run a  laptop loan scheme for families who qualify for Free School Meals where their child does not have access to a personal device to use at home.  If this applies to you and you would like more information on the scheme please contact Mrs Henly c.henly@chartersschool.org.uk

VACANCY: CARETAKER

Required to start as soon as possible

We are looking for an enthusiastic and hard-working school caretaker to work as part of our friendly site team to ensure our school site is safe, secure and maintained to the highest standards. The role will involve carrying out general caretaking duties including opening premises, basic maintenance/repairs, checking stock and restocking domestics/hygiene.  The role also includes health and safety and compliance checks.

Full training will be provided.

Working hours:                  37 hours per week, 52 weeks per year

                                             28 days holiday entitlement per year

Salary:                                Grade 3, point 5 - £21,124 per annum

Applications will be accepted from those with school and/or appropriate experience.

For further details and how to apply, please visit our Vacancies page.

PARK RUNS FOR CHARITY

Miss Roberts, Teacher of English, has undertaken a running challenge to raise funds for The Children's Society by completing 52 Park runs over the course of the year. 

If you would like to sponsor her, please click here for her  justgiving page.

COMMUNITY

​MARKS AND SPENCER FOOTBALL

At present Marks and Spencer are running a promotion for schools.  If you do shop in Marks and Spencer please register the school.  We might be lucky and win something.  More information can be fount at www.marksandspencer.com/football

HERITAGE OPEN DAY AT ROYAL HOLLOWAY 

The Royal Holloway, University of London’s Heritage Open Day, is part of the National Heritage Open Days scheme and will be taking place on Sunday 11 September.  Please click here for more information.

RBWM WEEKEND JOB OPPORTUNITY

DRIVE YOUTH NIGHTS

Drive Youth Nights are a fun and safe place for young people to come and hang out, play games and build friendships. With table football, table tennis, chill out zones, video games, tuck shop, football, basketball and much more.

This youth group is for school years 8-10, 7-8:30pm at Ascot Life Centre on the second Friday of the month. It is free to attend, although you might want to bring a long a little bit of money for the tuck shop.  

Please click here for flyer.

PARENT CURRICULUM/SUPPORT INFORMATION

 Disclaimer: Any websites or apps mentioned in the Weekly Newsletter are not endorsed by the School and are used at your own discretion.  Any views or opinions expressed within the website or app are not necessarily those of Charters School.