27 January 2018
Happy New Year! We are 3 weeks into the new term and already Christmas seems a long time ago. So much is going on, as always: I am writing this while a major gymnastics competition is going on in the Sports Hall, supported by our fantastic Sports Leaders; Year 8 and 9 came back from the Christmas break straight into examinations; one of our Public Speaking teams is through to the regional competition in Windermere; Year 9 are about to start the options process for next year; Year 11 are heads down and focused on the final stretch to the GCSEs; a lot of Year 7s were involved in a great Science and Maths (STEM) event on Thursday; Preston College were in school on Friday interviewing Year 11 for places for September..... the list could go on.....
Uniform
Many thanks to all our parents and carers for investing in suitable shoes over the Christmas period - we recognise that this is not an easy time for everyone to buy new school uniform. Uniform is looking very good across the school - as usual, should there be any financial issues around uniform, please contact Mrs Laverty at school.
Year 7 Parents' Evening (8th Feb)
Those of you who have been connected with the school for a while know that we have historically had KS3 review evenings, where parents met with the form tutor rather than the subject teachers. We are trialling "conventional" parents' evenings in Years 7 & 8 this year so this will be the first time for many years that Year 7 parents & carers have met with individual subject teachers. With that in mind, several members of staff teach more Year 7s than they can possibly see in one evening. To avoid long queues and disappointment I have asked all staff to only make as many appointments as they have appointment "slots". Should you be unable to see a particular teacher on the evening we will be happy to make other arrangements for you to get appropriate feedback.
Report format
We have changed the format of our interim reports, as you know, to include 5 measures of attitude to learning (homework, classwork, assessments, effort & behaviour) with clear descriptors of each of the values used. We consider that this level of precise detail replaces the long comments found in the full written report and therefore we are piloting a briefer full report which uses the same format - Year 11s will receive reports in the new format this week. Reminder - Year 11 Parents' Evening is on Thursday this week (1st Feb).
Front of school
Many thanks to everyone for not obstructing the entrance to the industrial estate opposite the front of school - the double yellow lines are clearly marked and parking on them stops trucks turning in and out safely. It is noticeable at the start of the day how many students are dropped off in the final minute before the bell - this makes it very hard for them to be on time so perhaps aiming to drop your son or daughter off before 8.40 would give them a better chance of not being late.
Even in the wet and cold of the end of January school is a very positive, calm and settled place to be - thanks to everyone for all that you contribute to Walton-le-Dale - it is students, staff and parents/carers working together that makes Walton-le-Dale a very special community.
As always, should you have any concerns or queries, please contact me at school.
James Harris
Headteacher
