22 April 2018
Two weeks into the new term and Easter seems a distant memory for students, staff and parents. School was open and busy over the Easter break with lots of Year 11s (and several Year 10s) coming in for Easter School to assist them in their preparation for the upcoming GCSE examinations. School is about much more than just examinations, though - I was talking in assembly about resilience and "bouncebackability" - the way in which we recover when things go wrong. School is about academic learning, definitely, but it is also about equipping our students with the skills that they will need when they leave us. Skills such empathy, resilience, independence, self-motivation, working with others.... These are harder to teach than knowledge, but we place an emphasis on these skills so that our young people are ready to play their part in the world beyond our gates.
Year 11
Year 11 are in the final run-up to their examinations and their teachers are very positive about their potential results. This is the stage where they need to have faith in themselves, keep on working and calmly and confidently tackle the upcoming examinations. Staff, students, parents and carers need to work together to make sure that all our young people are well prepared and ready for the coming exam series. Please do not hesitate to contact us if there is any more that we can do!
Doddle
We have placed a lot of emphasis on independent study this year, across all year groups and subjects. Doddle is an online learning environment that has been used very successfully in ICT and Business Studies for several years and is now being rolled out across the school. It provides resources for every student to study and review topics independently. There is more information on our revision page (https://www.waltonledale.lancs.sch.uk/curriculum/revision). Please ask your son or daughter to show it to you and encourage them to use it alongside their set homework, particularly to go over previous topics
Data Protection
Many of you will be aware that the laws on Data Protection change at the end of May. We will be sending out information about the ways in which it affects Walton-le-Dale in the next few days.
Parking
Many thanks to everyone for avoiding parking on the double yellow lines around the entrance to the industrial estate opposite school. We have had someone from the local council in to look at the issues and we will implement any suggestions that will improve road safety around school, particularly at the end of the day.
Communications review
Thanks to everyone who responded to the review of the ways in which we communicate with our parents and carers. We had over 150 responses, which was great. We will publish a summary of the responses and any actions required shortly.
As always, many thanks for your support of the school and, should you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact me.
James Harris
Headteacher
