Issu

e 22

3— 2

8th

Sep

tem

ber

2018

Polesworth MattersPolesworth MattersPolesworth Matters

i

In this

issue

Headteachers Message

Assessment and Reporting

Parent Forum

Instrumental Lessons

School Play Rehearsals

Little Shop of Costumes

School Crossing Patrol Vacancy

Extra Curricular Clubs

Code Club

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Contact Details

Dear Parents/Carers

We have had a fantastic first few weeks back to school! We have had our first ELD event and year 7 had a wonderful time at Conkers. The staff at Conkers complimented our students for their manners, attention and politeness. Well done year 7! Year 13 Geography students have spent a week gathering data for their A level project from Grange Over Sands. I have no doubt that they will use this data to great effect in their coursework. Polesworth students have settled well into the new term and have responded superbly to the whole school tweaks relating to behaviour, behaviour for learning, the use of mobile phones and independent study. Our staff and students are wonderful! On Monday 1st October our first parent consultation event booking window opens. This year we shall be operating in a slightly different way. For each event one or two specific year groups will have priority booking which will last for one week before booking opens up to every other year group. Year 13 have priority booking for the first parent consultation event. This approach will ensure that parents have early access at least once in the year for their child(ren). I have already had the pleasure of conducting parental tours of Polesworth. The calm, purposeful and work orientated atmosphere leaves parents in awe and the strong relationships shine through. Over the coming weeks Mr Quinney will be launching our Parent Forum initiative. This is your opportunity to talk to us and give us feedback on issues such as homework and assessment as well as allowing us to share information with you. Look out for the date….. all are welcome! Headteacher

Key Dates

for Sept/Oct

September

PTA Pamper Night 28th

Macmillan Coffee Morning

28th

October

Y11 Geography Trip - Overstrand, Norfolk

3rd-5th Parents Evening 1 17th

Staff Training Day 10th

Y13 D&T Trip - Rag Market

11th

Y10 D&T Trip - Museum of Childhood

9th

Y8 Trip to Think Tank 15th-16th

PTA Halloween Ball 18th

Y10 & Y11 Travel & Tourism Trip to Paris

25th-27th

Out of Uniform

Y9 T&T Trip to Drayton Manor 19th

Break up for Half Term 26th

Following a number of changes to our assessment and reporting systems last year I thought it may be useful to outline for you at the start of this year how we are assessing your children, how we set academic targets, how we are monitoring their progress and how you can be involved in the development of our systems during this year. The information is set out in a frequently asked questions format that I hope you find helpful.

Students are now being assessed against GCSE assessment objectives and using GCSE grades throughout Years 7 to 11. These grades are grade 9 (approximately equivalent to a high grade A*) to grade 1 (approximately equivalent to a grade F and grade G). Being assessed through these grades does create an element of challenge for some of our Key Stage 3 students and so we have introduced two “transition” grades to support those students who may be making exceptional progress but who are not yet achieving a grade 1. We believe that this as this system creates a “progress flight path” it allows students, parents and teachers to see clearly how every child is progressing throughout their time with us and allows an easy comparison between Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 achievement.

During A level study students will continue to be assessed through Year 12 and Year 13 against the relevant A level assessment objectives and receive grades A*-E to mirror their actual results.

All subjects are also refining the grades that they award using a decimal system which is set out in the table below:

9 to 1 grade example A* to G example Vocational example

4.3

Strong chance of this grade with a possibility of the grade above

C.3 Strong chance of this grade with a possibility of the grade above

M.3

Strong chance of this grade with a possibility of the grade above

4.2 Likely that the student will achieve this grade

C.2 Likely that the student will achieve this grade

M.2 Likely that the student will achieve this grade

4.1 Possibility of this grade with a chance of the grade below

C.1 Possibility of this grade with a chance of the grade below

M.1 Possibility of this grade with a chance of the grade below

The target grades for students in Years 7-11 are based upon what a student with comparable scores or levels at Key Stage 2 is expected to achieve at the end of Year 11, which is then reviewed to ensure challenge. A similar system based upon a progress measure, is used to generate A level targets.

These targets are then broken down into where we would expect a student to be achieving at the end of each year and at each of our data points throughout the year. This ensures that as a school we can easily identify students who are not making expected progress and allows us to provide timely and supportive interventions at an early stage.

We want every child to achieve their potential during their time at The Polesworth School and to assist with this we keep target grades under review to ensure that they remain challenging. In some circumstances where a student has significantly exceeded their target in one year, their target for the following year may be revised. If this is the case we will discuss this with you and your child.

Since the summer term of 2018 all of our subjects have had a feedback and assessment policy which is specific to them while following our whole school assessment principles. This means that teachers are assessing your child at the appropriate stage of learning in their subject rather than to fit a whole school time scale. You can see our assessment principles and the subject specific assessment and feedback policies in the policies section of our school website.

Following their specific policy each department will assess students in a variety of ways with the intention to highlight skills or topics where a student performs highly and skills or topics that need to be further developed. This assessment information is recorded for your child in a system which we have designed in house to meet the needs of our school which we will have called the “Polesworth Assessment Framework”. This is specific to each subject area but allows staff to record assessment information throughout the year and then uses an algorithm to calculate the current attainment grade which we can then compare to their “progress flight path”. It also highlights the strengths and areas for development to the class teacher, the Head of Department and senior staff to allow for timely and supportive interventions at an individual student, subject and whole school level. As with any system like this it is important to note that the current attainment of a student becomes more accurate, the more topics or skills they have been assessed on and because of this there may naturally be some fluctuation in the current attainment reported.

Our intention is that as parents and carers you will continue to receive information on your child’s attitude and behaviour for learning, their target grades for the end of the year and for Years 10 to 13 the grade that their teacher is forecasting them to achieve at the end of the course. However following the development of our assessment system we intend to also provide the current attainment grade for your child in each subject, information about whether they are on, above or below their “progress flight path”, skills or topics of strength and skills or topics that need to be a focus for development.

Our aim is for our assessment and reporting systems to provide you as parents and carers with clear and reliable information that helps you to support your child to achieve their potential at school. To help us to achieve this aim, you are warmly invited to our first Parent Forum session. The details of this can be found in the Parent Forum information in this copy of Polesworth Matters.

I hope that you find this useful and I look forward to welcoming you to our first Parent Forum of the year.

Deputy Headteacher

PARENT FORUM

We would like to warmly invite you to attend our Parent Forum sessions, which will take

place throughout this academic year.

Our first Parent Forum session will take place in the main school hall on:

Thursday 11th October 2018

6.00pm to 7.00pm

The session will be led by Mr Quinney, Deputy Headteacher and will be made up of three parts;

a detailed briefing on the key assessment questions (please see Polesworth Matters article), an opportunity to feedback on a potential report format, an informal question and answer session.

Refreshments will be provided.

To confirm your attendance, or if you would like to find out more, please email

parentforum@thepolesworthschool.com or telephone 01827 702205 by Tuesday 9th October.

We look forward to welcoming you!

An email to all parents/carers will be sent ahead of each forum, containing information about the topics to be discussed.

Research has shown conclusively that parental involvement makes the biggest

single difference to a student’s engagement and achievement in school.

ALL Years Extracurricular clubs - September 2018

Why not use the fitness centre at the sports centre at

lunchtimes or afterschool?

If any pupils want to help with the clubs just turn up and help out.

Before

School Lunchtime After school

7.50-

8.25 1.15 – 1.50 3.05 – 4.15

Activity Activity Venue Activity Venue

Monday

H

A

N

D

B

A

L

L

Volleyball Sports Hall Yr10 GCSE Dance

Handball

Gym

Sports Hall

Tuesday

Girls Netball (Yr 7&8)

Dance Club

Sports Hall

Gym

Boys Football Training

Girls Indoor Football

Field

Sports Hall

Wednesday Fitness Gym

Boys Badminton

Rugby – Boys and Girls

Sports Hall

Field

Thursday

Dance club

Indoor Hockey

Gym

Sports Hall GCSE Girls Sports Sports Hall / Courts

Friday Girls Badminton Sports Hall Dodgeball Sports Hall

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Contact Us The Polesworth School

Dordon Road Dordon

Tamworth Staffordshire

B78 1QT

Telephone Number :01827 702205 Fax Number : 01827 702206

School email for general queries : To inform us your child is absent : admin@thepolesworthschool.com attendance@thepolesworthschool.com

Opening Hours

Monday to Thursday: 7.45 am to 4.45 pm Friday: 7.45 am to 4.15 pm

@PolesworthSchl

Library

Opening times:

Monday–Thursday: 8.15am – 4.00pm Friday: 8.15 am – 3.30 pm Students and Staff may use the facilities before and after school, or during break and lunchtime for book selection, research or for a quiet place to sit and do homework. Alternatively, there is a broad range of magazines and newspapers, chess and Sudoku and other games to challenge the little grey cells!

In addition to the Library is a dedicated Sixth Form area. This is a quiet study area which is available for Year 12 and 13 students to use during their free periods.

Don’t forget, you can check all term dates

on our website - www.thepolesworthschool.com

Parent Pay Shop Parent Pay Shop items

available to purchase are School Ties, Revision Guides, Calculators and Art Supplies.

Click on www.polesworthschool.com and then click on the shopping trolley.

Letters Think you’ve missed a letter from school?

Our letters—including Trip letters— can be found on our website under the School Life section.

Lost Property See Student Services where all

lost property is kept. Also be aware there will be a display of all

lost property at each Parents’ Evening .

The Polesworth School - Official