We would like to wish a local Muslim community  Eid Sa’id 

This week, the Head Student Team presented their findings to the Senior Leadership Team at school and will be presenting to the school's Trustees next week. They provided feedback on the work conducted by the Year Team Student Councils and the Whole School Student Council regarding AI with education from a student's perspective. Their insights have been invaluable and will assist the staff involved with integrating AI into the curriculum, in addressing concerns raised by the student body.  We are investigating the potential AI not just in administrative tasks but also in learning  as we develop a wider whole school strategy

On Wednesday, our Year 13 students had a practical cooking session during their PDL lessons, preparing to cook for both those going to university and those who are not. It was great to smell the food wafting out of the Sixth Form common area.  The event covered using affordable healthy ingredients to help produce a balanced diet.   Although not washing up! A big thank you to our caterers, Impact Catering, for organising the event.

Changes to our rules on mobile phones and smart devices from 2^nd June for Years 7 to 10

We have decided to ban mobile phones from the school site to prioritise student wellbeing and enhance learning. We will be using a system provided by Yondr to support this change.

Excessive phone use has been linked to increased anxiety, sleep disruption, and decreased face-to-face social interactions, all of which can negatively impact mental health. Additionally, phones can be a major distraction in the classroom, reducing focus and engagement with lessons. With Yondr, students will securely lock their phones in a pouch at the start of the school day, making them inaccessible until the end of the school day.

This will help create a more focused and interactive learning environment where students can participate in discussions, develop critical thinking skills, and build stronger relationships with their peers.

This policy is intended to support academic success and overall student wellbeing and will begin on Monday, 2nd June. A letter with more information and a link to FAQs will be sent home next week, and after the Easter break, we will hold a parent information evening and assemblies for all students in Years 7 to 10 to explain the benefits of the change and its implementation.

In the meantime, please discuss with your children their phone usage and what they are accessing on their devices. The following two documents may help you understand the emoji’s and words that are being used in conversations on social media apps. We are seeing an increase in incidents affecting individual wellbeing and learning. By working together, we can help young people use their devices appropriately, ensuring safety and developing positive habits around phone usage. Taking a break from devices during the school day is part of this approach.

The charity a smartphone free childhood is doing a lot of work on this. The following link will take you to their resources page, from which you can explore the wider website.

Blue Badge Parking on Site 

Please respect these signs as we have had incidents where our students who are wheelchair users have not been able to get into school on time as people have used the Blue Badge parking areas.  These are needed at all times of the day in school, before, during and after.  Thank you.  

Take a look through our social media using the buttons above and check out this week's news stories below.

PICNIC AT THE RACES COOKING COMPETITION

YEAR 8 GEOGRAPHY STUDENTS STEP
INTO THE SHOES OF WORLD LEADERS

READY STEADY COOK FOR UNI

RELIGIOUS SPRING FESTIVALS ASSEMBLIES

YEAR 9 EXTREME WEATHER INVESTIGATION

YEAR 7 - JAYSIE 7C

Excellent motivation in lessons this week! Well done.

YEAR 8 -  CAILVON 8G

Having a fantastic academic year currently. Received a wonderful email from Mrs Phipps highlighting how amazing Cailvon is in his English lessons. Well done.

YEAR 9 - SAM 9B

Sam is an outstanding student who has achieved over 120 positives and has Zero negatives 

YEAR 10 - IRIS 10I

For volunteering and taking part in the science assembly.

YEAR 11 - JAIB 11E

His attendance has hugely improved this year in general, and since January hasn't missed a day (which is good). He gets the basics right in terms of punctuality, uniform etc. all the time and only 1 negative incident this year.

YEAR 12 - OLI 12G3

For being a team player always ready to help his friends especially with revision in the lead up to the year 12 PPEs.

YEAR 13 - SKYE 13G3

Skye is juggling a lot of coursework commitments at present but is still maintaining a cheerful and positive outlook. I have been impressed by the way she manages her time and commitments.

A round-up of the sporting fixtures this week...

FOOTBALL

EBSFA League

• The U12 Boys won 6-1 against LVS on Monday
• The U16 Boys lost 4-3 against St Crispins on Monday
• The U13 Boys lost 6-4 against Waingels on Wednesday
• The U12 Boys lost 2-1 against Forest on Wednesday
   

County Cup

• A big congratulations to the U15 Boys who won their semi-final by 2-1 against St Crispins on Monday and are now through to the final of the County Cup!
• Another big congratulations to the U15 Girls who won their quarter-final by 5-0 against Willink and are now through to the semi-finals of the County Cup! Good luck to both teams!

HANDBALL

• The U16 Boys are the Handball County Champions!! This followed a fantastic finals day on Wednesday where Maiden Erleigh Reading, The Wren and Charters competed for the title of County Champions.
• In the final between Maiden Erleigh and Charters, Charters took the win by an impressive 16-7 making them the County Champions for the second time in three years. Well done boys – a great performance from a dedicated and disciplined team.

ROYAL ASCOT LOCAL SCHOOLS ART COMPETITION - VOTING NOW LIVE!

The short-listed entries for the Royal Ascot Local Schools Competition are now live!!

View the artwork below by clicking the images below.

AGE 11-12 ART

AGE 13 ART

AGE 14 ART

Cast your vote HERE.

Congratulations to all those short-listed and the racecourse thanks you all for supporting the competition which grows in strength from year to year.  They have had a record 1,710 entries from across 35 schools and the standard was exceptionally high.

All short-listed entries will also be on public display on Sunday 30th March 2025 at the Spring Family Raceday within the “Petal Pavilion” should you wish to visit.  Link to book tickets HERE.  As a reminder children under 17yrs are free. 

Voting will close at midnight on Friday 4th April 2025 and winners will be advised w/c 7th April.

Prizes for each age group: £1,000 prize for winning school (plus their design gets created and put on display for racecourse visitors to see) £50 of Amazon vouchers for winning artists £25 of Amazon vouchers for runner-up artists

YEAR 7 SCIENCE INVESTIGATION

Do you know what the Ph of soil should be?

That is what our Year 7 students have been investigating this week. They were given two types of soil to carry out the investigation with.  First the soils were dissolved, then filtered before  universal indicator was added to test the Ph.

There were clear differences!

So, if you are about to step out into your garden to prepare it for warmer days ahead, make sure you talk to your Year 7 students for invaluable advice as to which is the best soil!

We would like to thank the Otter Nursery of Ottershaw for their generous donation of the soil samples!

KS5 PRESENTATION ON REVISION SUPPORT

This week the Sixth Form team delivered a presentation on how to support your Year 13 child with revision which can be found on the website HERE.

HOPE TO SEE YOU TOMORROW!

It is finally here!  Our fantastic rugby match between Charters Stags and Camberley RFC takes place tomorrow afternoon.  Gates open at 2pm and the match kicks off at 3pm.  

There will be music, food, drink and a general upbeat vibe so if you want a fun way to spend your Saturday afternoon, why not pop along and soak up the atmosphere.  Don't worry if you haven't got your tickets yet as they can be bought on the gate - £5 Adult £1 Child - both cash and card will be accepted. 

It should be a entertaining event and we hope to see you there! 

A RARE PIECE OF RUGBY MEMORABILIA 

 

BE PREPARED

EVERY DAY STUDENTS WILL NEED TO BRING...

HOPE CHURCH FOOD SHARE

The Hope Church food share takes place each Tuesday from 12pm-1pm. 

The items include mainly fresh food and bakery items donated from local supermarkets. The food is at the end of its shelf life (but still perfectly fine to eat!) and would otherwise just go to waste. Bring a bag to fill up, stop for a chat and a cup of tea (and cake!!) and warm up in the church. ALL welcome, no voucher/referral required.

Hope Church, Sunningdale, The Hope Centre, High Street Sunningdale, (next to Nag’s Head).

Please CLICK HERE for more details.

 

PLEASE CLICK ICON TO VISIT RELEVANT PAGE OF THE WEBSITE

PARENT CURRICULUM/SUPPORT INFORMATION

PLEASE CLICK ICON TO VISIT RELEVANT PAGE OF THE WEBSITE

PLEASE NOTE: The school’s phone system records all external calls both incoming and outgoing. 

 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.