Our Manor 15-19 January 2024

Welcome to this week's newsletter

We as a community have a great capacity to reframe the way we think about things in a positive way. Some would say that we have a great responsibility to be aware of this capacity and to use it for good. We discuss this capacity often with our students. We say if someone is mean to you, don’t be mean back - this is the easy but incorrect option. Instead, think about how they feel, their motivation, and show them empathy. People often make poor choices because they feel embarrassment or shame. It is possible that someone has been mean to them or that they learnt it somewhere - none of us are born knowing how to be mean. Show them understanding instead of unkindness. Forgive them and stop the cycle of harm.

Help your child to reframe small things. Instead of complaining ‘it’s cold’, instead share ‘it’s a beautiful, bright, crisp morning’.

Help your child to see the positives in the world and encourage them to make good choices about how they respond to the world around them. Suggest to them to download the Action for Happiness app, which gives daily prompts about how to respond to the world and themselves in a positive way.

We always look to model and emulate the way we behave with the students. Therefore, we are also working on helping our staff to reframe their thinking and responses when faced with challenges. For example, we will be asking them to consider:

  • When working with a child who has ADHD, think of them as a student who has high levels of awareness and observation, rather than someone who is easily distracted. Plan to help them refocus.
  • When working with a child whose needs means their work is sloppy, look for signs of effort despite difficulties and praise them for those specific reasons so they can recreate it again in the future.
  • When teaching a student who fidgets, find them opportunities for regular seat breaks, such as handing out books or equipment, so that they can manage their excessive motor activity.
  • When teaching a student who has low confidence, think of them like a wilted beautiful flowering plant which needs nurturing. Give them positive precise praise regularly, showing them the evidence of their small successes.

As leaders we are also reframing our approach to the challenges and strategic plans designed to drive school improvement. We are applying a forensic approach towards the quality of education and culture & welfare. This requires us to review practice and develop structures in order to ensure we are working effectively and that systems are fit for purpose. To do this at pace, for the benefit of the students and in response to stakeholder feedback and evaluation, we need some intensive time with our middle and senior leaders. We will be working with those leaders during the afternoons of Friday 26 January and Wednesday 6 February. As a consequence, students in Years 7 to 10 will finish school at 12:35pm on those two days. Students in Year 11 will have a bespoke programme designed to boost their exam performance. Students in Years 12 and 13 will continue their normal curriculum. Please see all the arrangement details in the newsletter section below.

Have a lovely weekend.

Dr Newman and the Manor School family

Early school closure

A reminder that the school is due to close early, at 12:35pm, for Years 7-10 on Friday 26 January and Wednesday 7 February for additional staff training sessions. School buses have been arranged to collect students in these year groups at 12:45. Normal lessons will continue for Years 12-13.

Year 11 students will be using this opportunity to complete scheduled trial examinations (maths on Friday 26 January and science on Wednesday 7 February), reducing disturbance to normal curriculum lessons during the trial exam window that follows the February half term.

The school buses will not be running at the normal time of 15:25. Parents/carers of students who normally use the buses and are unable to arrange transport for their child should contact enquiries@manor.school before 3:00pm on Tuesday 23 January.

School communications

All whole-school communications (newsletters, trips, general notices etc) is now being sent via the Arbor communications platform. This makes very little change to the way in which you receive the message via email, except that these messages will come from an email address linked to Arbor. Please do not reply directly to these emails but contact enquiries@manor.school instead for the vast majority of queries.

The school gateway apps for accessing SchoolComms messages will no longer be active. We encourage parents/carers who haven't already done so to download the Arbor app and use this to send changes of student/contact details or view school records.

Emails sent from Arbor to parents/carers will be sent direct to your registered email address as well as your inbox on the parent portal.

Chess competition

We held the inaugural Manor School Chess Competition in December. The results are as follows:

  • Chess Champion 2023: Kamran H (Year 10)
  • Runner-up: Jason F (Year 9)
  • Plate Winner 2023: Nicholas C (Year 13)
  • Runner-up: Leon M (Year 10)

Congratulations to the above students, and well done to everyone else who participated.

U15 futsal result

Our U15 girls futsal team took on Huxlow this week, with Huxlow eventually winning 6-3. Excellent effort was on show from all the girls in what was a very tough game. A special mention goes to Tia J who scored a hat-trick.

Year 11 leavers hoodies

Thank you to those who have given consent for their child's name to be used on this year's leavers hoodie design. A reminder that if you haven't already, please could you email atowers@manor.school to give consent for your child's name to be used. We would like to include as many students' names as possible, so please - even if you are not planning on purchasing a hoodie - can you consider giving consent for your child’s name to be used in the design.

If you would like to purchase a hoodie, please place orders directly via the following link:

Prices are £25 (+£3.60 for optional sleeve personalisation). The order deadline is Friday 12 April.

Smartphone safety

According to Ofcom, 69% of under-18s use a smartphone as their main method of going online. Additionally, 49% of children use them for online gaming, putting smartphones only behind consoles (59%) as the device of choice for playing games on.

Please see the following smartphone safety tips to help your child use their phone in the healthiest way possible.

Competitions Week results

Well done to all students who participated in Competitions Week last week. We're still counting up all of the entries (currently standing at 630) but the following subject winners are ready to be announced:

  • Business & Computing: Jade K (KS3), Kenai L (KS4) and Ben C (KS5)
  • Culture & Ethics: Amelia C (Year 8)
  • Geography: Dre S (Year 8)
  • World: David K (Year 12)

Congratulations to all of the above students.

The final Competitions Week of the academic year will take place 22-26 April.

Extra-curricular timetable

Click to enlarge

Job vacancy

We're looking for a Teacher of Maths to join the Manor School family. Please see the link below for full details and to apply:

Accounting apprenticeships event

Please find below details of an accounting apprenticeships event taking place on Wednesday 7 February at the University of Northampton at 7pm.

This is a fantastic opportunity for anyone who is interested in working in accounting or finance to find out about how accounting apprenticeships work and the Association of Accounting Technicians qualification. The event is open for Year 11 and Year 13 students and their parents/carers to attend if they are interested in accountancy as a potential career. There will also be the opportunity to meet some people who have been through the apprenticeship scheme and hear about their experiences.

Anyone interested in attending the event should register in advance via the booking form.

Dates for your diary

House points

As of 15 January