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Our Manor 7-11 February 2022

Welcome to this week's newsletter

Families will be aware from the letter that was sent out earlier this week that Glenn Martin, Interim Co-Principal, will be leaving us after Easter. Mr Martin has dedicated 17 years of his professional career to Manor School, driving to and from Stamford every day. In his time here he has held a number of roles, not least the one he is doing now in supporting the leadership of the school. Whilst we will be sad to see him leave, Mr Martin will be with us for the whole of next term and into term 5 so we will have further opportunities to wish him well.

You will also be aware from the letter of the exciting developments in the leadership of the school, with James Birkett working with us. This will obviously add significantly to the leadership capacity already in the school and the organisation as a whole. Next term will also see the recruitment process take place to appoint the permanent Head of School. As a leadership team, we will not let this process distract us from the job in hand which is continuing to make this school the best it can be. I will be continuing in the Acting Principal role when Mr Martin leaves and this will be the case until the end of the academic year. Mr Bateman will support the leadership team and wider school in the role of Acting Vice Principal.

We do hold regular Meet the Principal sessions and would welcome any families that would like to come and talk to us. The dates of our upcoming sessions are as follows:

  • Friday 25 February
  • Friday 11 March
  • Friday 25 March

If you are interested in attending, please send your request to principal@manor.school.

Lee Towers, Interim Co-Principal

Year 11 and Year 13 examinations

As you may already be aware, awarding bodies have published advance information concerning the summer examinations on their websites this week. This information includes the topics that questions will be based on in the final examinations and although it is not detailed enough to allow us to predict the actual questions, it will be useful for students to focus their revision on the areas that are covered the most. Once we have had a chance to digest the advance information we will talk to students in lessons about how to make the best use of the remaining weeks of the course. For more general exam and revision support, the following GCSE advice guide for parents may be helpful.

We will soon be carrying out another series of internal examinations for Year 11 and Year 13 in which they will complete a second trial examination for all subjects where there is a terminal examination component. These examinations will take place between 21 March and 1 April, and we will issue students with an examination timetable in due course.

It is still the stated intention from the government that examinations will go ahead in the summer of 2022 as planned, but you should be aware that evidence from these trial examinations will be used in the determination of a Centre Assessed Grade should it become necessary due to examinations being cancelled.

For information, the external examination period for A levels, GCSEs and BTEC examinations is 16 May to 29 June 2022 inclusive (but excluding the half-term holiday week beginning 30 May). We will issue students with individual examination timetables nearer the time, but please keep these dates clear as it is not possible to reschedule external examinations for any reason.

In the meantime, thank you once again for your support in helping prepare students for these examinations.

Year 9 into 10 preferences

Key Stage 4 Preferences Information Evening, Tuesday 8 March, 5:30pm-7:45pm

We will shortly be inviting parents/carers of Year 9 students to an introduction to the Key Stage 4 preferences process for 2022. The purpose of this process is to allow students to express a preference for the subjects that they would like to study at Key Stage 4 alongside the core curriculum. This can sometimes provide challenges for students and we know that the support and guidance offered by parents and carers is extremely valuable. The event is intended to ensure you have access to information about the various courses on offer and the process by which students can select their preference choices. It will also offer an opportunity for you to ask any questions you might have about individual subjects or the overall preferences process.

We will provide further details after the half term holiday but we are currently planning for this to be a face-to-face event where you can talk to the teachers of each subject and ask any questions that you may have. In order to reduce crowding in indoor spaces, we will invite you in three groups according to the house that students belong to and will spread out the subject stalls as far as possible. After the half term break, students will be viewing information videos about each subject during tutor time and we will make these videos available via the school website in the run-up to the event. There will also be short video presentations from Mr Towers and Mr Hurren to introduce the preferences process and explain how to make your choices.

We look forward to welcoming you on 8 March.

Year 7 class changes

It has been our pleasure to teach your child for 5 months and in this time we have learned lots about the way they learn and how best to support them. From Monday 21 February we are going to change the groups your child is taught in for some of their lessons to better reflect the way they learn. The advantage of this is that your child will be in a class where the pace of learning will get the best from them. These class changes are primarily driven by mathematics and science but will also affect their computer science and RE and Citizenship lessons.

New timetables will be issued on Friday afternoon tutor time so that your child can ensure they bring the correct equipment for their lessons – in some cases the day of their lesson may change so please pay particular attention to this.

If you have any questions about these changes, please contact the Director of Learning for Mathematics, Mrs Bristow, or Science, Mr Turner.

Student punctuality

We would like to start by thanking all students and families who continue to ensure that students arrive on time to school each day.

Encouraging regular school attendance and consistent punctuality is one of the most powerful ways we can prepare our students for success – both in school and in life. Punctuality is an important aspect of attendance here at Manor School and we have very clear expectations around when students should be arriving at school each day.

The school day starts, and therefore entrance gates close, at 8:35am each morning and we expect all students (including sixth form) to be in registration by that time.

After this, the school attendance team will sign any student in late between 8:35–8:45am. The only entry into school after 8:35am is through main reception.

Year 11/13 Consultation Evening

Our Year 11/13 Consultation Evening is being held virtually on Thursday 24 February, 4-8pm.

A letter with full booking details will be sent via schoolcomms in due course.

The deadline for parents/carers to book appointments is Tuesday 22 February at 4pm, as the booking system will then be closed.

Principal's Commendation

Congratulations to Year 12 students James and Ethan who have been awarded the Principal's Commendation for stepping to assist in the canteen following staff shortages on Friday. They have proven to be excellent role models, and their help was pivotal in keeping the lunch time service run smoothly.

Dodgeball house competition

Students battled it out in the Sports Hall throughout the week in our dodgeball house competition. Each day saw a different year group participate, with results as follows:

  • Year 7 - Acer first, Quercus second, Betula third
  • Year 8 - Betula first, Acer second (Quercus did not submit a team)
  • Year 9 - Quercus first, Betula second, Acer third
  • Year 10 - Acer first, Betula second, Quercus third
  • Sixth form - Acer first, Quercus second, Betula third

Well done to everyone who took part.

Oxford University Computing Challenge

On Thursday 10 February, 17 students competed in round 1 of the Oxford University Computing Challenge. These students had been invited to take part after scoring in the top 10% nationally for the Bebras Computing Challenge earlier this academic year. The competition involved students producing programmed solutions to solve computational thinking problems.

Safer Internet Day

We hope that you have found the videos that we have shared on Twitter and Facebook throughout this week helpful.

To end the week of Safer Internet Day activities focused on gaming and relationships, here are four parent guides related to this theme.

National Apprenticeship Week

National Apprenticeship Week is an annual week-long celebration of apprenticeships that takes place across England. They have produced a parents guide that provides information on the event, insights from current apprentices and much more. You can download the guide below.

Manor Maths Challenges

Love maths as much as we do? Then have a go at this week's challenges, curated by author and maths communicator Alex Bellos.

Community music event

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Service Six newsletter

Service Six is a Northamptonshire based charity committed to changing lives and creating futures for disadvantaged children, young people and their families.

You can download the latest issue of their newsletter below.

House points

As of 7 February