Our Manor 25-28 March 2024

Welcome to this week's newsletter

Dear families,

Happy Easter from your Manor School family - we hope you have a great Easter weekend and holiday. We also hope you get to have some fun, rest and excellent company, whether that be with family or friends. At this time of year - whether you practice the Christian faith or simply enjoy the joys of spring - it is a time for thanks and rebirth. In the keen Manor spirit of Humanity and Empathy, please take a moment to look around you, be in the moment, reflect on the gratitude of what you see, feel and hear and be good to yourself.

For some of our students, particularly Year 11 and 13, this is a crucial time for staying focused. The first written exam is on Thursday 2 May, which is only 35 days away!

If you are a parent/carer of a student taking exams this summer, please read the information in this newsletter carefully. It contains the whole exam timetable – a great thing to print out and put in a prominent place such as on the door of the fridge. It also contains times and dates for our Easter revision sessions. Please make sure your child attends all the sessions they can. Every little thing they do now matters and adds up to put them in a better position for personal success.

It is within the power of a student with their family's support (which may need to be tough love and times when the mobile phone is in the kitchen whilst revision takes place) to add 2 grades onto the trial exam results. To make this happen, please agree with your child that they will use their normal school timetable throughout the holidays as times to revise. This is a minimum expectation of the number of hours to be working on exam preparation.

Please also make sure they take regular breaks and get outside - walking the dog is a great break from studying. It is vital to make all this time count now. It only happens once and affects so much for the next few years of their lives. Keep reminding them that after the exams they will have 10 weeks to relax and enjoy life before undertaking the next stage of their dreams and ambitions. We all believe that they can do this and do it really well - please keep telling them the same. They need you all the more now for emotional and positive support. To help them in the best way be firm, support them but do not let them off, and do not give them a way out. This is something they must face and they need you to help them prepare well. Here we say, ‘if we let you off then we let you down and we just can’t do that!’. And neither will you.

We look forward to seeing you all again in April.

Dr Newman and the Manor School family

Tea with the Principal

All parents/carers are invited to attend 'Tea with the Principal' to share your positive experiences of school, your queries or concerns, and help us to reflect and improve on the service we provide for this community. We are always interested in constructive criticism and ideas which will benefit the students and their families. If you would like to book, please contact the school main phone number or email enquiries@manor.school (strictly 6 parents/carers for each session).

The sessions will be taking place as follows:

  • Friday 26 April, 12-1pm
  • Friday 10 May, 12-1pm
  • Friday 24 May, 12-1pm

Year 12 destinations trip

On Tuesday 19 March, Year 12 students were invited to attend the UK University and Apprenticeship Search Event. This was held at the King Power Stadium in Leicester.

All of this has been useful in supporting students to make informed decisions as we start to now focus on post-18 destinations moving into the summer term, preparing for the next UCAS entry for September 2025.

Sports news

Our Year 8 netball team have played for the past four weeks, and after winning every single game against 7 other schools we have won the league and will be representing the school in the finals in May. Well done to the following students - Erin U, Ece B, Evie M, Kimberly L, Monay G-T, Jesilda B, Kiara B, Bella M and Mia R.

Elsewhere, our U13 boys team finished their football season this week with a 4-2 win versus Huxlow after coming back from a 2-0 deficit to finish the season unbeaten. Goals were scored by Billie L, Gianluca P, Locke A and Luke T. Well done to all 21 players involved and apologies to anyone who missed out this time round.

Fundraising

Thank you to all students that bought some cakes and sweets at our charity sweet treat stall today. We have raised an amazing amount of £170.

Mrs Jenkins is running the London marathon on Sunday 21 April for the charity Place2Be, a charity that works with children's mental health. If anyone would like to sponsor her, please click here.

We are also hosting a charity quiz on Friday 19 April night to raise money for Place2Be. Please see the poster below for details.

Mental health questionnaire

As part of our Mental Health Support Team audit we need to collect your views about mental health provision in school. Please click on the appropriate link to complete the questionnaire.

Many thanks, Mrs Radd.

Easter revision sessions

Please see below a timetable of the revision sessions that we are running during the Easter holiday for Year 11 and 13 students. These sessions are a great opportunity for students to receive assistance from subject teachers on any particular areas of the course that they are struggling with.

Year 9 progress tests

In the first week after the Easter break, Year 9 students will be taking progress tests in English, mathematics and science. These are part of a package of external assessments that are used to track progress from the start of Year 7 and help us to improve our own assessments. They will also be used by teachers to plan for progress from the start of Year 10.

The assessments will take place during normal lesson times for these subjects and do not require any revision or preparation by your child, but they should come equipped with a pen, pencil, ruler and, in the case of maths, a calculator. The booklets for the exams are printed by the provider and not available in different colours, so if your child uses a coloured overlay they must have it with them.

If you have any questions about the progress tests, please contact gturner@manor.school.

Year 11 summer exam timetable

A full timetable of the Year 11 exams and booster sessions is available to download via the following link. Please note that this is subject to change - we will communicate any changes via the newsletter.

Students can also access their exam timetable via their Arbor calendar.

Extra-curricular timetable

Please ensure that students check the timetable each week as the running of clubs will vary depending on exams, trips, Consultation Evenings and other staff events.

Click to enlarge

Dates for your diary