Weekly Message 237 – 20 September 2024
20th September 2024
We very much look forward to opening our doors to prospective parents/carers on Thursday 26 September 2024. The evening is always a special event embraced by the entire school community as we share with visitors our wonderful school and all that it offers.
Owing to the extended day on Thursday, and a very late finish for many of our pupils, the school will re-open to all pupils at 0930 (instead of 0830) on Friday 27 September 2024 as published in the school calendar.
Safe travel to and from school
We thank pupils, parents and carers for making sure that a cycle helmet is worn when cycling to and from school. The A27 is a busy road with fast moving traffic; for their safety, pupils are expected to cross the A27 using the pedestrian crossings.
We encourage pupils to either cycle or walk to and from school, for the health benefits and to keep the area as vehicle free as possible. Where parents and carers are dropping off and picking up by car, we ask you to use the layby/visitors’ car park only; for the safety of pupils and staff, visitors are not permitted to drive into the staff car park to reception unless by prior arrangement. We thank you for your support in this matter.
Art Exhibition
Please join us on Tuesday 1 October 2024 from 1730 to 1900 in the Events Hall to celebrate the work of our Class of 2024. The event will showcase exam and coursework from a variety of subjects including Art Craft and Design, Graphic Communication and Photography. Drink and refreshments will be provided by our Year 10 Hospitality and Catering pupils.
Year 7 Battle of Hastings re -enactment
Year 7 pupils have begun to commemorate the 958th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings by bringing in their finest Saxon and Norman shields, to recreate that fateful day in 1066 when Britain was invaded by the Norman forces. Pupils saw how William’s tactics, Harold’s weaknesses and a big slice of luck all had a part to play in changing the course of history.
Year 7 Online Safety Evening
This week, Mr Morrison (Teacher of BICT) delivered a session on Digital Safeguarding and online safety for parents/carers of pupils in Year 7. The session looked at key aspects around how to make good choices when online and signposted parents/carers to information on how to ensure a safe environment for their children using the Internet at home, ranging from National Online Safety forums to websites that can help when setting up access to the Internet and devices such as smartphones.
Mr Morrison also outlined the responsibilities of both school and parents/carers when faced with e-safety scenarios and gave an overview of some of the scenarios that Cams Hill School has dealt with.
Thank you to all parents/carers who were able to come into school and we look forward to running this session again next year.
Year 10 Parents’/Carers’ Information Evening
Thank you to all parents and carers who were able to join us at the Year 10 Parents’ Information Evening on Tuesday. We hope that it has given you a good insight into what lies ahead, the support that the school can offer and how you can work with your child at home to support them to keep on track with independent work including homework.
The presentation that was delivered will be made available able for reference very soon.
Year 11 – Next Steps
This week Year 11 have had their first assembly focussed on their Next Steps post Cams Hill with a visit from Barton Peveril to discuss A-Levels. Over the course of the term pupils will also have visits from post-16 providers to discuss vocational courses and apprenticeships to aid them to make an informed decision regarding their future education.
Year 11 pupils and their parents/carers are also reminded of the Next Steps Evening taking place on Tuesday 24 September from 1630 in the Events Hall where many local providers will be present.
Attend to Achieve
For a child to reach their full potential a high level of school attendance is essential. We aim for all pupils to have an attendance record of greater than 95% so that they make progress and achieve well.
To promote good attendance please can you:
- Ensure your child attends school regularly and notify us as soon as possible when your child must be unexpectedly absent. Please ensure you have downloaded and registered on the app Studybugs. https://studybugs.com/about/parents
- Ensure you only request leave of absence in exceptional circumstances and with at least 6 weeks’ notice where possible. An updated form will be uploaded to the school website following new DfE guidelines.
- Ensure that where possible, you book medical appointments around the school day but if this cannot be avoided and your child has an appointment in school time, you notify the school in advance.
- Ensure that you work with the school to help understand and address any barriers to your child regularly attending school.
Punctuality
Please allow time for any unexpected issue when travelling to school as poor punctuality is extremely damaging to pupils’ progress and causes disruption to the day.
The expectations for pupils are the same regardless of how far away they live from the school. The pupil gate will close promptly at 0830. Any pupil arriving after the gate has been closed will be issued a breaktime detention (15mins), which they attend on the same day. This will be recorded on ClassCharts. Please also note that from Monday 23 September 2023, pupils who receive 3 morning late marks in a fortnight will be issued with a 40-minute after school detention. Should pupils be frequently late for school, a meeting will take place with parents/carers to discuss improvements moving forwards.
We very much hope that you will work closely with the school in promoting the importance of good attendance and punctuality and ensure your child is on time and in school every day.
Menu w/c 23 September 2024
Sports Results
Year 9 Football against Brune Part – 3/0 to us
Year 8 Netball against Brune Park – 3/5 to Brune Park
Year 10 Football against Crofton – 1/0 to Crofton
Year 9 Netball against Bridgemary – 19/0 to us
Year 11 Football against Brune Park 7/0 to Brune Park
Year 10/11 Netball against Crofton – 28/9 to us
We would like to say a big well done to everyone who has taken part in an activity this week.
Whole School Letters Published This Half Term
Below is a list of letters emailed to all parents/carers this half term together with the date and time they were sent. If you are unable to find any of the communications, please email office@camshill.com and we can send you a further copy.
School attendance – 18/9/24 1801
First completed week back – 17/9 1330
Proposal to build secondary school in Whiteley – 6/9/24 1136
Photo permissions – 5/9/24 1042
Punctuality to school – 4/9/24 1306
Uniform for Thursday 5 September – 3/9/24 1101
Start of Autumn Term – 30/8/24 1031
Summer mailing – 28/8/24 – 1354
Statistics
House Points Averages per Pupil for This Week
Year 7 8.65 points
Year 8 8.24 points
Year 9 7.90 points
Year 10 7.12 points
Year 11 4.96 points
Attendance
This week – 94.2%
Same week last year – 95.1%
MathsWatch and Educake
These are two online resources that we expect pupils to be accessing routinely with homework set by teachers and independently to support their progress in Maths, Science, and other subjects. We ask parents/carers to check in with their child to see whether they are accessing these resources routinely and to encourage the best use of them.
If there are issues with access, please bring this to the school’s attention as soon as possible so that we can help.
MathsWatch
Average number of questions answered per pupil this week
| Year 7 | 3.8 questions |
| Year 8 | 10.1 questions |
| Year 9 | 9.5 questions |
| Year 10 | 7.8 questions |
| Year 11 | 13.9 questions |
Highest number of questions answered by one pupil this week
| Year 7 | 17 questions |
| Year 8 | 85 questions |
| Year 9 | 36 questions |
| Year 10 | 48 questions |
| Year 11 | 115 questions |
Not all Maths homework is set on MathsWatch, which is likely to affect the averages.
Maths Assessment dates for Autumn term
w/b 30 September – Year 10 – 2 papers, one using a calculator
w/b 7 October – Year 9 – non-calculator paper
w/b 14 October – Year 8 – non-calculator paper
w/b 21 October – Year 7 – non-calculator paper
4 November – 15 November – Year 11 – three mock papers, one non-calculator
w/b 2 December – Year 10 – 2 papers, one using a calculator
w/b 9 December – Year 9 – calculator paper
w/b 16 December Year 8 – calculator paper
w/b 16 December – Year 7 – calculator paper
A revision list will be published a week before the assessment to support with homework preparation for the test.
Assessments will be marked by the class teacher and then feedback will be given in class along with a pupil feedback sheet to support future learning.
Calculators and other equipment for sale
Casio fx-83GT scientific calculators can be bought via Scopay and collected from the Finance Office. Prices of these and other items for sale are shown below:
Casio fx-83GT scientific calculator- £9.00
Pre-packed pencil case – £2.50
Pair of compasses – 29p
Protractor – 9p
100 blank flashcards – £1.00
A range of GCSE Maths revision materials for KS4 use – See Scopay for details
Educake – Science
These statistics will be available from next week.