Welcome to this week's newsletter
Please, if you can, watch or listen (in the car) to the videos which accompany this letter to get the more personable version of the explanations and information below.
Dear families,
This week we are immensely proud of our music department, who through their dedication to the promotion and provision of music, have gained us the accolade of Music Mark. An example of this has been the excellent performances by Oliver (Year 13), Rose (Year 13), Phoebe (Year 12) and Amy (Year 9) at this week's Year 6 Open Evening. The quality of their performances was phenomenal, delighting the ears of the full auditorium, showcasing the best of Manor School.
The students have also made us proud this week. Many students took part in our Year 6 Open Evening which was a resounding success because of their efforts. We had over 500 visitors who shared with us their overwhelming positive experience of the school and our community. My particular thanks to Kylan (Year 7) who spoke of his first few weeks at Manor School. Also, to Amelia and Jamie (both Year 13) who shared their whole Manor School experience, including all of the great extra-curricular activities they had taken part in and Manor School is known for. They were all eloquent and received warm applause for their presentations.
Charity day
We are proud to be part of the Nene Education Trust's commitment to support suicide awareness and tackle this growing issue which effects so many young people. To this end, we have a charity day on Tuesday 10 October in support of the local charity Kelly’s Heroes. Please watch this short video for clarity about the event and what to wear and donate to support it.
Footwear
As promised, we have an update on the expectation to meet the full requirement for footwear from Wednesday 1 November - please see the section below.
The expectation is that all students are in shoes from Wednesday 1 November. Thank you to all parents/carers who are supportive of this.
Some parents/carers have questioned the need and the time frame for this application of the school shoe policy. We would like to share once more the reasoning behind why this is vital for the success of your child and all of the students at Manor School:
- The policy states shoes
- We know the behaviour and self-esteem of students is significantly improved when the uniform is worn correctly and fully
- This leads to calmer, more purposeful, well-behaved lessons
- As a consequence, learning improves, students have more success and teacher retention increases
We have already considered whether it would be best for the students to wait until later in the year to make this adjustment. However, we have recognised further barriers for parents/carers and additional arguments to changing the date from 1 November - this means we need to make the change now. We are sharing these barriers with you below:
- Students deserve excellent teaching and learning to be taking place now. The Year 11 students especially need this to be immediate. We must professionally do everything in our power to protect their GCSE outcomes because they deserve to achieve their future dreams and ambitions.
- Bullying will continue to take place as there is specific pressure for students by students to conform to wearing AirForce One’s. You have told us we need to reduce/remove bullying and this is one of the fundamental steps in doing so. Knowing this is an issue, we must tackle it immediately.
- If we make the adjustment for 1 January 2024, this would put an additional financial burden onto parents/carers at Christmas time when money is even more tight.
- If we make adjustments at February half term, some parents/carers will argue that the trainers should still be worn as they have been OK for half a year.
- If we make adjustments at Easter, many parents/carers will not want to buy shoes which will have one term of use, as children may then grow out of them over the summer.
- If children’s shoes wear out mid-year and need replacing, then the bullying aspect of having to wear what other children say will still be the norm. Parents/carers will be under pressure from their children to replace the trainers with more trainers. As these new trainers are likely to be still wearable in September 2024, some parents/carers will argue that they should allowed to continue to wear them until they wear out. Therefore, the cycle continues.
Thus, there is no good time to make change which suits everyone. That is why we are putting the welfare and success of the children first and making the change for 1 November 2023.
If you need support with providing your child or children with a new pair of shoes then please use the link below to let us know. Please let us know by a week today (Friday 13 October). We will then contact you to select from a small range of shoes, order them for you and give them to your child in the week before half term, week beginning 23 October.
We sincerely hope that you will work with us to ensure every child feels safe, free from bullying, and smartly dressed in appropriate shoes from 1 November. We know as professional educators that this standard is needed for learning to be good, benefiting all students and their future life chances and choices. We make decisions on behalf of what is best for your child’s education. We will always make thoughtful decisions and do what is right, even if sometimes these decisions are hard and unpopular. To do any less would be to let your child, all children and the community down and we cannot and will not do this.
What makes a shoe fit the policy?
The policy states "Shoes must be plain black and have no visible markings. You must be able to polish the shoes. Shoes made of a fabric material e.g. canvas/suede are not permitted due to health and safety concerns in practical subjects."
Does the shoe need to be actual leather?
A polishable black leather shoe will fit the policy - this means leather-like material as opposed to fabric material (leather-type material is needed so sharp objects and liquids, if dropped on the shoe in DT or science, protect the foot.
What do you mean by ‘no visible markings’?
The shoes must not have large sports brand logos such as the Adidas stripes or Nike tick. All shoes now have small discrete labels or embossed stamped names. These are acceptable and examples are shown below. Please consider the appropriate branding to be like the size of branding seen on players' shirts at Wimbledon, but not the type of branding. Please stick to known shoe brands, not sportswear as sometimes the companies brand footwear as shoes when they are clearly trainers and these will not be acceptable. Example which are acceptable and fit this description are below.
What can I do if my child has a medical or sensory needs relating to uniform?
If the need is known already by the SEND team, please contact Miss Notley (our SENDCo) to arrange an exemption or reasonable adjustment to the policy for your child. If the need is unknown by the school, please email the uniform address below with a simple explanation and we will contact you to discuss.
What should I do if I see a shoe to buy but I am not sure if it meets the requirements?
Send us a picture via email to enquiries@manor.school, with the subject line "shoe confirmation" and we will get back to you within 48 hours with a response.
Have you got visual examples of what is acceptable?
Here are a basic non-exclusive selection of shoes which fit the description and all are below £25 per pair:
The following are examples of what is not acceptable:
Next week's newsletter
Next week I will be writing about 'sticky knowledge' and the power of homework. Until then, have a good weekend.
Dr Louise Newman, Principal
Behaviour and attitudes
I’d like to thank all the parents and carers for their support in helping the children to look their best at school. I’ve been at Manor for quite a few years and the students this year are looking so smart. A reminder that the following items are not allowed: leggings (trousers or Manor skirt only) and long or false nails (please don’t spend money having them done as they’re not allowed). Students should also be wearing their blazers at all times around the school.
Now the colder weather is starting to take hold, a reminder that hoodies are not allowed in school. We, of course, want students to bring in coats, but fabric hoodies offer no protection from the rain so please make sure they leave them at home. If students are cold, they can wear a v-neck, navy sweater underneath their blazer.
In my video above, I also explore our Ask–Tell–Consequence system that we use in class to help students manage their behaviour and to stay focused.
Finally, I’d like to say a big thank you to the students and their parents and carers for responding to our drive to be kind to one another. There are so many polite and caring children in our school community. The past few weeks have seen a dramatic change in the way people are talking to each other and interacting.
Mr Carter, Assistant Principal
Arbor
Homework
For some time we have been using Arbor to set homework (known as assignments in Arbor) for students. This is an important aspect of our curriculum and teaching and allows communication for homework to be explicit for staff, students and families. Students who do not submit homework to their teacher are set a behaviour point that is not directly associated with a sanction. Form Tutors and Progress Leaders monitor repeat behaviour points for homework and intervene to support this.
Unfortunately, there are some functionalities of this system that are not functioning exactly as we would like and after discussions with Arbor, cannot be altered. As such, we have taken the decision that teachers will not record homework as submitted, late or overdue using Arbor. The indicator of homework completion will be a lack of behaviour points for homework. This will mean that all homework will show as 'overdue' on the student or parent portal. The way to identify late or missing homework will be the record of behaviour points.
Student and parent portal settings
We have discussed settings of the student and parent portals with our account management team at Arbor. In particular, we have asked Arbor to consider allowing greater control over the details that can be shared on the student portal so that they mirror the information in the parent portal. At the moment this is not possible but we will update you if and when this becomes available.
Data checking
It is important that the data we hold for parents, carers and students is correct on the portals. In particular, we must hold up to date and accurate emergency contact details for parents and carers. As such, please ensure that you log onto the parent portal and check the details are correct that we hold, amending them as necessary. It is the responsibility of the legal guardians to update these records via the portal.
Tassomai
Students in Years 7-11 should now be logging in and using Tassomai on a regular basis to support their home learning.
If your child has previously had an account, which is the case for Year 8 upwards (unless they have recently joined the school), their Tassomai account is already set up. All they need to do is visit app.tassomai.com and log in with their school email address. If they can’t remember their password, they can reset it by clicking on ‘forgot password?’.
From here, they need to select their English, maths and science sets from the drop down. It may help to have their timetable available to check the class code. Some of the Year 10 and 11 maths and science classes will have two versions of the class with either [H] or [F] after the class code. Students should select [H] for higher tier or [F] for foundation tier. If in doubt, select the [H] option.
If your child is in Year 7 or is new to the school, they will have a preset password. Please watch the video link below to hear the password (Tassomai section starts at 2:38). Your child will need to set a new password on first login and select their classes from the drop down menu.
Year 7 Settling In Evening
Our Year 7 Settling In Evening is taking place on Thursday 19 October, 4-8pm.
We are looking forward to the opportunity for you and your child to meet their tutors or a member of our senior team to discuss how they are settling into life as a Manor student - an important aspect of our commitment to provide you feedback and an opportunity for you to ask questions or provide us with further information about your child.
Bookings for meetings with teaching staff must be made using the Arbor app or online portal by following the link to the Consultation Evening on the dashboard. The link will become live at 9:00am on Monday 9 October.
Library books
At the start of this term, your child picked a book to read from our school library. This is part of our reading enrichment program at Manor and they will have the opportunity to read the book during their two tutor sessions allocated to independent reading. Students are also encouraged to read their chosen books in their own time at home after school.
As with all library books, our students know that the books are to be treated with respect and care so that they can be returned at the end of the term (this date will be communicated to students by their reading enrichment teacher). Should your child complete their book and want to swap it before then, they can visit our librarian to swap it for a new book.
Thank you for your support in fostering a reading culture in your child.
Should you have any queries, please direct them to kdicker@manor.school
KS3 geography
In geography, we are encouraging students to take ownership of their work and become inquisitive, independent learners. Please download the following document to see what students in Years 7, 8 and 9 will be learning, as well as how you may be able to support their studies at home.
Careers talks
On Monday this week we had a successful careers talk delivered by Nicola from Northampton General Hospital for students in Years 11, 12 and 13. Nicola made the following comment:
"It was a real pleasure, the young adults were so engaged and asked wonderful questions, a real asset to the school"
The next careers talk that we have booked in is on Tuesday 5 December from Greatwell Homes:
"Greatwell Homes is a local housing association, where our vision, mission and promise drive everything that we do. We offer apprenticeships at Greatwell Homes which we would like to give an overview of, and would also like to talk to students about our own personal career journeys that began as apprentices and the life skills that being an apprentice has given us. As a local employer, we would also like to talk about the career opportunities that we can provide to local people."
Students in Years 10, 11, 12 and 13 can email Miss Smedley on lsmedley@manor.school if they would like to attend. Places are given on a first come first served basis.
Sports results
Our sports teams have had another busy week of fixtures:
- Tuesday 3 October: KS4 netball team lost 18-14 to Sir Christopher Hatton , whilst the Year 9 netball team lost 5-4 to Sir Christopher Hatton and won 4-0 against Rushden
- Wednesday 4 October: U15 boys football team drew 0-0 against Rushden and lost 1-0 to Sir Christopher Hatton
- Thursday 5 October: U15 girls football team drew 1-1 against Sir Christopher Hatton and won 5-0 against Rushden
Extra-curricular timetable
We are pleased to announce that our tabletop games club has returned, with students able to paint Warhammer models as well as play games on Thursday lunchtimes.
Please note that there has been a change of day for our KS3 rugby club, which will now take place after school on Thursdays.