Letters

Friday 27th May 2022

Dear Parent(s) / Carer(s)

 

We hope this letter finds you well and you are looking forward to the half term break. We also hope the summer weather arrives and you are able to get out and about to enjoy the fresh air.

 

Key Stage 4 and 5 parents/carers are fully aware that the exam season is upon us. The first weeks have gone smoothly and it has been great to see students turning up early for support from staff. It is important that students have a good balance over half term of down time and relaxation as well as revision. Your help in organising this is crucial. It is amazing how much time can be made available if students have an organised structure over the coming weeks. Please take some time to sit with your child/ren to help them organise their revision schedule and recreation time. If they engage well in their own revision and preparation, it will allow them to enjoy their free time more and provide them with confidence prior to their exams. We wish them all the best over the remaining few weeks of exams.

 

We are writing to outline our expectations for all students after the half term break. As you will be aware we have been meeting and greeting all students every morning to welcome them into school and also to check that The Roseland Multi Academy Trust standards, which are expected every day, are being met.

 

You will also be aware that there are some significant changes to staffing within the school. We have taken the opportunities available to us to establish new, stronger teams across the school, strengthening areas highlighted as weak within the school’s Ofsted report. We look forward to welcoming new staff over the next half term and in September.

 

Our mission is to provide outstanding education where everyone succeeds. Success is measured in many ways and not just based on final outcomes. Success for us is to create a culture in our schools where students and staff have positive relationships, are happy in school, feel confident to explore and join in, no matter what, and feel supported in doing that by their peers and staff alike. This is why our values are kindness and responsibility as well as ambition. In order for us to achieve the right culture where students are happy, polite, kind and friendly, we are asking for your support in ensuring they arrive at school and are ready to learn in the following areas.

 

Attendance

Punctuality as well as regular attendance is vital for your child’s success. Every morning some children are arriving late to school and this is disruptive to their education, their peers’ education and does not allow all staff to start the day in the positive and orderly way that is necessary. Please can you ensure each day that your child/ren set off early for school and arrive on time. Thank you to the children who arrive on time and are already achieving this standard. Meeting the children in the morning has been a real positive, with lots of smiles, greetings and how are you? Therefore, we know we can create a wonderful environment for our children and staff. We will improve our communications with you, inform you when your child is late to school and kindly ask for your support in getting them to school on time.

 

Uniform

This is such an important part of the identity of Falmouth School. After half term, Mrs de Sousa will be writing to you in order to consult on the school’s uniform policy. All schools have been tasked by the DfE to review their uniform to ensure that it is affordable. This will lead to a positive update to uniform in September – any changes will not be significant. At this time the Trust does not need your children to be wearing branded trousers or skirts, but we do expect branded blazers and ties. Any skirts or trousers have to be formal school wear. The branded items remain a positive acceptable choice of uniform and are good quality. After half term, we ask for your support in checking that your child/ren are dressed appropriately. In the mornings, we have noticed a number of children not in school uniform. To enable us to start each day positively, it helps if students are on time and in the correct uniform. After half term we do not wish to see nose-piercings, multiple ear-piercings or necklaces as these are not part of our daily uniform. Many students turn up in trainers rather than school shoes and again we ask for your support with correct footwear.

 

Behaviour

Behaviour and attitudes are such an important part of a school’s culture. Work has been undertaken to ensure we have the right positive behaviour policy in place that focuses on rewards. Many students have gained from this new approach. However, on a daily basis we are not always seeing the kindness, responsibility and ambition from some of our students and these are the key values we strive to achieve each and every day. All staff have been asked to positively reinforce the daily routines of looking smart, being on time, being equipped for all lessons, treating each other with respect and most importantly for our children, to engage and enjoy their lessons and work hard to achieve. Our staff will only ever give reasonable instructions, however, we are regularly witnessing rudeness and at times defiance and I am sure you all agree this is not conducive to the environment in which our children and our staff wish to work and learn. It also does not create the culture we hold so highly in our Trust where all our children and staff enjoy every day. The Trust has given Mrs de Sousa, the Leadership Team and all staff the support they need to make strong decisions when this rudeness occurs. What the Trust promises is timely communications with parents/carers to create a strong partnership between you and the school to support your child to be successful and make better choices. Our policy is not a punitive based approach. We all know there have to be very clear and consistent approaches when our students do not meet the expected standards and, in these cases, sanctions will be applied.

 

One area of the Trust’s expectations that we wish to reiterate to you is mobile telephones. We are seeking your support to reinforce with your child/ren that mobile telephones are not visible throughout the whole school day, ie they remain switched off and in school bags. There is no need for communications via individual mobile phones during the day. If a child needs to contact home, we will and can facilitate this via our reception team. If your child’s telephone is visible during the school day, it will be confiscated. The first instance, your child can collect their device at the end of the day, however, if there are consistent breaches, or rudeness when a phone is requested, the device will be confiscated and, in order to gain your support, we will be asking parents/carers to attend school to collect it.

 

There is a clear rationale as to why we wish this to be the case. There are so many pressures due to the nature of 24/7 communications via social media and our mobile phones. We feel it is our duty to support children in communicating positively with their peers and the adults they meet face to face, and to have that time away from their phone. I am sure every parent understands and knows this pressure. We, as adults, have to support child/ren and model that it is not necessary to always communicate via a phone and that time away is actually very healthy.

 

The Trust’s ambition has always been to create outstanding environments where children and staff are happy. We have already seen so much potential in our young people and it is our duty to be able to nurture that potential into something that is amazing. We want our school community to be a positive part of this.

 

We will keep you updated and informed on how our journey progresses over the summer term. We will create opportunities with our families to have face to face conversations to build trust and partnerships so that Falmouth School is absolutely at the heart of its community and something to be very proud of.

 

We wish you all a relaxing half term break.

 

Yours sincerely

Chris Challis	Brenda de Sousa	Nigel Hyde
Chief Executive Office	Headteacher	Chair of the Trust Board