Our Manor 18-21 December 2023

Welcome to this week's newsletter

Dear families,

Happy Christmas and Happy Holidays. We hope you and your loved ones have a peaceful and happy time together over the next few days. We hope you are able to celebrate your true meaning of Christmas, whether that be through your religious observance or the power of kindness and togetherness. Thank you to all in our community who have and will be generous with their time and resources to help those less fortunate. It is our humanity which brings us together.

“Before becoming a Muslim, a Sikh, a Hindu or a Christian, let’s become a human first” - Guru Nanak Dev Ji

Our sixth form have also been sharing their humanity and empathy this week. They have delivered hundreds of Christmas cards to our neighbours and wider community, including personalised cards to the residences of our retirement communities. The cards send our Manor season’s greetings along with contact phone numbers for several charities which can be vital lifelines of support for some at this time. We hope this is helpful in some small way for our community.

We have also been recruiting recently, with two great appointments in the pastoral team, Mrs Hammond and Mrs Edmonds, both who will start officially with us in January. We also have a new science teacher, Mr Okorie, starting in January and a new Assistant Curriculum Lead for Science, Mr Mayes, later in the year.

All our best wishes and see you in the New Year on Thursday 4 January, which will be a normal school day.

Dr Newman and the Manor family

Manor School Christmas card 2023

On Tuesday 19 and Wednesday 20 December, a group of 14 sixth form students braved the weather and delivered almost 1000 Christmas cards to residents within our local community, including businesses and 3 care homes. The cards were designed by students in school as part of a competition this term, with the winning designs being professionally printed, ready for delivery. These cards are a way of showing kindness to everyone in our local community - if you were a recipient of a Christmas card, we would love to hear what you thought of it.

Thank you to the sixth form students and Miss Collier for delivering these cards, and to the students who took the time to design them.

The winning designs: 7ATO tutor group, Cassie M (Y7), Riley S (Y8)
Sixth form students writing and preparing the cards for distribution

Christmas lunch

A merry time was had by all students and staff who attended our Christmas lunch on Wednesday. The catering team put on a delicious traditional meal of turkey or gammon with all the trimmings (a vegetarian option was also available), followed by a selection of festive desserts.

Thank you to everyone involved in organising, cooking and serving the meal.

Uniform

A reminder that all students must be in full school uniform from our first day back on 4 January. Some students have started to wear black leggings, false nails and hoodies. These items are not part of our uniform and must not be worn. We have also seen a number of students back in trainers, so please check your child's uniform prior to their return in January. All communication regarding uniform should be emailed to your child's form tutor in the first instance.

DofE meetings

The first after-school meetings will be on Monday 8 and Monday 15 January in room 40B. Students will be required to come to one of these sessions so they can receive their log in details for eDofE and start updating their sections for the award.

Regular meetings will then run from 29 January every fortnight.

Support during the Christmas break

Our staff will not be available to answer emails over the school holiday. If you do need support, please refer to the following document.

If you have a safeguarding concern during the holiday, please contact the MASH team 0300 126 7000. You can also report a safeguarding concern via the Northamptonshire Children's Trust.

Winter activities pack

Nene Education Trust have produced a winter activities pack to help families enjoy the festive season without breaking the bank.

Trial exam results

Yesterday our students in Year 11 and 13 received their trial exam results. Mr Bateman and Miss Collier reminded students that these grades were based solely on the trial examinations that they completed in November. Therefore, if they are completing a subject where they will also be completing a non-exam assessment these have not been included. We wish our congratulations to these students, regardless of the results. While they are an indicator of potential, they will not define students and there is certainly time for progress to be made as we build up towards the final examinations after the Christmas break.

Students who are pleased should continue to work hard and complete the necessary revision. Students who are less pleased should have conversations with their subject teachers about the actions they can take to move their progress forward.

A reminder that all Year 11 students must be completing their Tassomai weekly goals in maths, English and science. This should take about 10 minutes per day and is a quick and simple revision tool for fundamental knowledge in these subjects. In addition, students must complete subject specific homework tasks that are set via the ‘assignments’ section of Arbor. These are specific and directed to student progress and curriculum demands, lasting approximately 30-45 minutes per task.

Finally, a reminder that we have been provided free access to GCSEPod for STEM subjects (science, maths, computer science and technology). The username for this platform is a student’s full name (eg. johnsmith) and the default password is Manor123!.

Additional teacher training (INSET) day

In response to feedback since September, our leaders have been working hard to develop the next stages of the strategy to improve key areas the education we provide at Manor School. In order to increase the rate of progress in these areas, the Nene Education Trust have approved an additional teacher training (INSET) day for Manor School staff.

In order to use this time effectively, this will be split over two afternoon sessions. This means that the school will be closing early for students in Years 7-10, and Year 12, at 12:35pm on Friday 26 January and Wednesday 7 February. An education provision will continue for Year 11 and 13 groups on these afternoons, and we will direct all other students towards appropriate learning that they could complete at home on these afternoons.

Year 11 prom

This term we have launched our 'golden tickets' to students. This is their invite to join us and their peers, celebrating the end of their GCSE year in style.

This year’s prom will take place at Barton Hall, Barton Seagrave, on Thursday 4 July 2024. Participation in the prom costs £37.50 and covers food, a welcome drink and entertainment.

All students will be able to exchange their golden ticket for their prom ticket at the annual leavers assembly, providing:

  1. They, and their parents or carers have read, signed and returned the prom conduct contract
  2. A payment of £37.50 has been completed via WisePay

Students will need to have also met, or exceeded, the ‘golden ticket standards’ by the start of the exam season:

  1. Attendance to school for the academic year is greater than 97%
  2. Received their bronze REACH reward during the academic year (60 REACH points)
  3. A positive to negative ratio of at least 5:1 (5 REACH and enrichment points for every behaviour point or detention)
  4. Attendance at 20 or more after-school revision opportunities between January and the exam season
  5. An average attitude to learning score that is less than 2.5 (positive)
  6. At least 3 weekly goals completed on Tassomai each week between January and the exam season

The ‘golden ticket standards’ have been identified as we know students who meet them increase their likeliness of success for achieving or exceeding their target grades at the end of Year 11. Students and their form tutors will review progress towards the standards at the end of each month leading up to the summer examination season. Where a student is not on track to meet the standards, students will set personalised targets with a member of staff. This means that all students have the opportunity to demonstrate improvements to their conduct and efforts in school and as a result have a significant positive impact on their outcomes. These review points and personalised targets also allow for scenarios where a student's school attendance is affected by genuine absence, eg. medical appointments or procedures.

In order to secure a place at Prom 2024, we ask that students and their parents/carers read, sign and return the conduct contract below to form tutors. On receipt of a signed conduct contract, the opportunity to purchase a prom ticket will be released on WisePay.

Humanity slips

After completing the first round of the ‘Bounce Forward’ programme that was focused on being resilient, we are now taking a break from the programme and moving back to focusing on humanity. Staff will be handing students slips for showing humanity around school, with every slip being entered into tutor group weekly draws for those delicious lollipops. Most of us make New Year's resolutions to be better versions of ourselves so hopefully this is a great way to get the ball rolling!

Competitions Week

The next Competitions Week will be taking place between Monday 8 and Friday 12 January when we return to school. The subject competitions poster will be shared in the first newsletter back, and all subject staff will be promoting their own competitions during the week. This is a great opportunity for students to build their positive points as they earn 5 enrichment points for each subject competition they enter, and REACH points are given for those that are extra special.

This term we rewarded students with a Christmas film and refreshments if they were in the top 20 achievers for their year group, so if they would like to try and be invited to next term's rewards event, entering the competitions would put them in a great position.

Raunds skate park project

Raunds Town Council is launching a crowdfunding campaign to help raise money for a new concrete skate park at Amos Lawrence Park. Do you know any businesses or run a business or work for a business who may want to support the Skate Park Project? This could be as a sponsor or offer rewards/incentives for donations.

If you would like to be a part of this exciting opportunity, please email skatepark@raunds-tc.gov.uk.

Dates for your diary