News letter September 2006

 

Welcome back

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome back all pupils after a lengthy summer holiday.Our new Y7 pupils have just completed their first few days and I will be writing to all parents/guardians of Y7 pupils in the next few weeks to invite you to a special Parents Afternoon which will be held at school on Tuesday, November 7 at 1.30p.m.

 

GCSE Examinations

The pupils did extremely well in the GCSE examinations and the school received extensive publicity in the Oldham Chronicle and Oldham Advertiser.

68% of our pupils achieving 5+ A*-C grades which is a marvellous achievement.

 

Key Stage 3 Results

We were extremely pleased to record another good set of results in at Key Stage 3.

52% of our pupils achieved level 5+ in English; 55% achieved level 5+ in Maths

and 40% achieved level 5+ in Science.

Several teachers hold additional teaching sessions for pupils in English, Maths and Science and I would urge all parents/guardians to encourage their children to attend these after school sessions where possible.

 

Uniform

During the past few years we have been extremely pleased with the standard of school uniform and the pupils looked very impressive when they gathered together for the first day on September 4.

Y11 uniform has been changed and I was really pleased to see them all wearing black shirts on the first day back. Thanks very much to all Y11 parents who have helped us to change the uniform for the older pupils. We are very grateful for your support in helping the school maintain this high standard of uniform.

In order to remind you of the correct school uniform, I attach a uniform list which is in the school prospectus and on this website uniform.

 

Building Work

We have had some major work done during the summer holidays
The windows in a couple of classrooms and on the corridor in the T block have been replaced and the corridors have been re-painted and re-floored at a cost of over £45000. We have purchased new library shelves and we have added to the ICT facilities in the library. We have also bought new ICT equipment for T16 and the Gallery and the whole cost of these additional ICT facilities is approx £35000

I trust that all the pupils will look after these facilities which have been provided to enhance their learning at Grange School.

 

Presentation Evening

The annual presentation evening will be held on Wednesday, November 22 at the Grange Arts Centre and I have invited Mrs Ruth Baldwin, the Executive Director of Children’s Services in Oldham, to be our Chief Guest.

 

Holiday dates 2006-7

The dates of opening and the holiday dates for 2006-7 are :

Opening Dates Closing Dates

Monday, September 4, 2006 Thursday, October 19, 2006

Monday, October 30, 2006 Friday, December 15, 2006

Wednesday, January 3, 2007 Friday, February 9, 2007

Monday, February 19, 2007 Thursday, March 30, 2007

Tuesday, April 17, 2007 Friday, May 25, 2007

Monday, June 4, 2007 Friday, July 20, 2007

The school will also be closed for pupil holidays on Monday, May 7, 2007

 

Picture Mobiles

Many of you are aware that we do allow pupils to bring mobile phones to school so that your children can contact you in case of emergency.

However, some pupils have picture mobiles and I need to inform you that the picture feature on the phone should not be used in school. It is also important that pupils switch the phone off whilst in lessons.

Pupils who do not follow these instructions will have their phones taken away by a teacher and the phone will be returned to a parent or guardian.

I would be very grateful if you reinforce these instructions to your child.

 

Specialist Status

The school is now a specialist Visual Arts and Language College.

We were designated as a Visual Arts College in 2002 and we have to bid for re-designation this month.

We achieved High Performing Specialist School status from the DfES during the last academic year and were invited to bid for a second specialism.

We were successful in our bid to be a Language College, which lasts for four years starting in September, 2006.

 

Access to School

Would parents all note that pupil access to school from Monday, September 11 will be either via the side gate at the Arts Centre, the side gate on Highfield Street or the gate via West End Street between the tennis courts. No other gates will be open.

Pupils should not enter the school through the main entrance or through the top playground which has now become a car park.

From September 11, pupils should not go onto the top playground. The play areas at break and lunch time will be the tennis courts.

At 3.15p.m. parents can pick up pupils at the bottom of the school on West End Street rather than the main entrance and top playground.

In the near future we will be making alterations to the siting of the fence bringing the tennis courts inside the fence rather than outside it.

 

Lunches

We have brought the catering and cleaning sections of the school under our control rather than the employment of the Local Authority. We are now implementing the food guidelines announced by the Government and the canteen is offering a more varied menu with a range of healthier options.

There will be no fast food such as burgers but there will be two counters serving a huge choice of food such as curries, cheese and onion pie, pasta dishes and a choice of vegetables and potatoes, including jacket potatoes. Other options are available at the salad bar including fresh fruit or pupils may have a sandwich bag which will include a fresh sandwich, dessert and a drink. Government guidelines indicate that chips are only allowed to be served twice per week and this will be on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The canteen will be open as normal at break for all pupils.

 

School Fund

The pupils agreed at their school council meetings last year that all pupils should pay £1 each term towards a school fund and school council would then decide on how to spend the money they raise.

At our final school council meeting in the summer the pupils asked for water fountains to be purchased with the money they had raised through school fund and we will be installing the water fountains in the canteen when they arrive in school.

Please note that the pupils themselves will be helping to collect the money through their form tutors and they have agreed that all pupils should pay £1 per term. All pupils will be informed how to pay the money in the next few weeks.

 

School Development Plan

We are continually analysing the quality of education at Grange through a rigorous self evaluation process and we have identified the following priorities for the new academic year.

• Increase the number of pupils achieving an A*-C in Maths.

• Increase the number of pupils achieving a Level 5+ in Science.

• Improve the quality of teaching and learning through department self review (This involves each department analysing what they have to do to improve even further and a planned programme of lesson observations where teachers watch each other teach and offer help to each other in order to improve their teaching).

• Improve the quality assurance of all departments (This involves a rigorous system of looking at each department in school to ensure that we are providing a high quality of education).

• Improve the consistency of target setting and the monitoring of pupil progress (This involves teachers looking at pupil’s past performance; giving them a realistic target for the end of each Key Stage in every subject and then monitoring whether the individual pupil is making progress towards that target.

  
  

Ramadan

This newsletter comes to you at a very exciting time with many of our pupils and staff looking forward to Ramadan which is due to start on September 25.

The Holy Month of Ramadan is a marvellous act of faith and self sacrifice admired and respected by all the world’s religions. It’s a period during which pupils aim to develop the skills for self control and it helps them appreciate that they are more fortunate than many people in the world. On behalf of all the school community I extend my thoughts and good wishes to all who will be observing the fast and in order to help many of our young people who will be fasting during the next month and we have reorganised the school day to shorten the lunch break.

The morning session will run as normal but starting Monday, September 25 the following arrangements will be put in place for the afternoon session.

12.50p.m. Afternoon registration

1.00p.m. Period 4

2.00p.m. Period 5

3.00p.m. School will end

These arrangements will remain in place throughout Ramadan. We will revert to our normal times after the half term holiday on Monday, October 30.

 

SCHOOL UNIFORM

Grange School uniform consists of practical clothing in the plain school colour. It can be bought at multiple or department stores, private outfitters or at the market to suit the parents’ pocket and choice. Pullovers and ties may be purchased in school.

DETAILS OF UNIFORM (BOTH SEXES)

V-necked jumper in black with the Grange School logo

Black tie with blue stripes

Black skirt or trousers of conventional cut and style

Thick tights, socks or shalwar - black or white

All hair bands, slides etc. should be plain black or white

Shoes should be black and low heeled

White shirt (Y7-10)

Black shirt (Y11)

Leather garments, jewellery, boots, training shoes, baggy style trousers and chinos are not allowed.

GIRLS’ P.E. KIT

White P.E. shirt

Track suit, predominantly black (optional)

White or black socks

Gym shoes or training shoes

Black sportswear sweatshirt (optional for wear with tracksuit bottoms)

 

BOYS’ P.E. KIT

Plain white crew neck P.E. vest

Plain white P.E. shorts

Plain white socks Royal blue football jersey

White football socks

Gym shoes or training shoes

Track suit predominantly black (optional)

Black sportswear sweatshirt (optional for wear with tracksuit bottoms)