Bilton School, Lawford Lane, Bilton, Rugby, CV22 7JT 01788 840600 office@biltonmail.com

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Friday 10th February 2017 Bilton School’s Weekly Newsletter

Year 11 and 13

Progress Evening

Wednesday 15th

February 4pm-7pm

Teacher Training Days

Friday 30th June 2017

Year 11 and 13 Parents’ Evening Wednesday 15th February 4-7pm Don’t forget to book your appointments online by visiting our website at: www.biltonschool.co.uk/Parents-Evening

Ofsted Monitoring Visit

I am really pleased to share the feedback letter on the Ofsted Monitoring Visit two weeks ago. The letter is now on our website http://bit.ly/2l0nJSQ. It is really pleasing to read about the progress we are making and the overall judgement which is that:

There is of course still work to do and we look forward to working even more closely with Southam College and sharing our progress with you all in our newsletter. Some of the highlights of the report for us are to do with safeguarding and behaviour:

Leaders and managers are taking effective action towards the removal of special measures.

Pupils in all key stages say they feel safe in school and show a clear understanding of how to keep themselves safe, including online.

There is a culture that safeguarding is a high priority across the school.

Pupils demonstrate confidence and good humour while remaining courteous and respectful of one another and adults. They say very little bullying takes place at the school, which they attribute to the banning of mobile phones. Across all key stages, pupils remain supportive of this policy. They are confident that any bullying they report will be dealt with swiftly and effectively by staff. The recording of bullying is robust and records show a concerted approach to address it.

Bilton and Southam Girls come together to find their #InnerWarrior Bilton Academy and Southam College are both involved in targeted delivery with the Rugby Football Union and currently there is a spike increase in the girls game. Both schools are relatively new to the sport so bringing the two schools together was a great opportunity to showcase the skills they have learnt in lessons and in extra curricular. Bilton Academy hosted both U13 and U15 girls games for the first time on Monday 6th February supported by RFU delivery staff, Dave Lote and Anna McDonnell. The games were played in great spirit and fantastic core skills were on show from all the players involved. Dave had this to say “Its great to see these girls are trying something new and not afraid to get stuck in. Bilton have been involved in the CBRE All Schools Programme and are currently in their 2nd year of delivery, the programme was put in the place to support the growth and sustainability of the sport within the school with student and teacher education, and within 18 months, the school are able to field two girls contact teams as well as the regular boys teams" A lot of the Bilton girls below are now playing rugby on a regular basis at their local rugby clubs which include Old Laurentian RFC and Rugby Lions RFC who both have growing Women and Girls sections. This is fantastic to see and it clearly shows on the rugby pitch with them winning a county schools tournament last year and then going onto finish 2nd at the Regional Finals. The tourna-ment repeats again this year at Leamington RFC on Thursday 9th March, it promises to be bigger and even better. Are you interested in trying something new? Learning new skills? Making new friends? Girls Rugby after schools is on every Tues-day with Mr Martin, come along and give it a TRY! There is also an opportunity to come down to Old Laurentian RFC for a half term rugby camp on Wednesday 22nd February, 10am-2pm. Please go and see the PE Department to get your letter and reply slip.

FIND YOUR #INNERWARRIOR #thisgirlcan

WHAT CAREER LIVE

There is a What Career Live information event at the NEC Birmingham on the 3rd and 4th March. It is a free event, students and guests only have to sign up and print a pass from the website below. There is lots of information in regards to Apprenticeships, A levels and Career Advice.

https://www.whatcareerlive.co.uk/

On Monday 6th March 2017, the immunisation team will be in school to see our Year 11 students for their Men ACWY injection. All Year 11 students have been given a plastic wallet containing a consent form and information leaflet to take home with them. Please can you sign the consent form and return it to school in the plastic wallet by Friday 10th February. If your child misses their immunisation, the catch up day for all missed immunisations will be on Thursday 13th July.

Interested in becoming a governor? Bilton School is recruiting for new governors. If any parents/carers or members of the community want to make a contribution to the progress of the school as we move towards becoming part of a Multi-Academy Trust, please contact Helen Way at helen.way@biltonmail.com and she will pass your contact information to the Chair of Governors, Geoff Reevell for an Informal discussion in the first instance.

Year 11 mocks All of year 11 will be participating in their final round of formal mocks from Monday 13th March to 24th March. The timetable will be released and any additional information in due course. This is a really important time for all of our Year 11 and hope it to be a positive ex-perience for them all. We wish them every success in their exams.

Year 11 Science Information Exam Dates—Summer 2017

Science Core Unit 1 Biology 1Hour 16th May PM Unit 2 Chemistry 1Hour 18th May PM Unit 3 Physics 1Hour 24th May PM Science Additional Unit 1 Biology 2 1Hour 9th June AM Unit 2 Chemistry 2 1Hour 14th June AM Unit 3 Physics 2 1Hour 16th June AM Science Further Additional Biology 1Hour 9th June AM Chemistry 1Hour 14th June AM Physics 1Hour 16th June AM

Things to learn from the mock exams

1. Bring your calculator! You will need a

calculator for all of the Science exams. 2. Read, and double check how many marks each

question is worth. If a question is worth 4 marks you will need to write 4 things.

3. Check if the question has two parts. Six mark questions will often have two command words.

4. Identify command words in the question: Define, Describe, Explain, Evaluate, Compare. These will help you to understand how to fully answer the question.

5. Use Science key terms where you can. Correct keywords will often be required to gain the marks.

Useful Links www.AQA.org.uk—Access the specification, past papers, and mark schemes. www. Tassomai.com —log onto your Tassomai account and complete revision every day. www.gcsepod.com —log onto GCSEPod to access pods and questions from your teachers. Revision guides — available from your teachers. Revision Classes— Monday after school, ask your teacher for more information.

Revision Advice 1. Start now. The sooner you start the better you will do. 2. Attend revision classes on Monday. 3. Use Tassomai every day, it will identify your strengths and weaknesses and keep you on track. 4. Use your revision guide, if you need one speak to your teacher for order forms. 5. Download practice exam questions from the AQA website. 6. Bring any questions to your teacher for help. 7. Revise little and often, rather than long periods of time at once.

About Tassomai Tassomai is a revision tool which tailors itself to you. As you learn, the system adapts and targets areas where you are weakest, reinforcing your understanding of the sub-ject. This is proven to strongly support you in preparing for your GCSE Science exams.

Following our successful Pilot, we are rolling out Tassomai to all Year 11 students.

You should complete 10-15 minutes per day as your main Science home learning. You should have logged onto Tassomai already during lessons using your unique class

code.

As you complete the mini-quizzes on Tassomai, it will learn your strengths and areas for improvement and adapt to help you master the material.

Both you and your Science teachers will receive feedback as you progress.

Tassomai does all the organising - showing you which topics you need to work through, how you are doing, and what you need to do next - making sure everything

is completed in time for your exams.

Remember little and often, rather than long periods of time at once.

Attendance news:

DRAMATIZE, RUGBY 20th-24th February 2017 Dramatize run holiday theatre workshops for young people aged 6-18. We offer classes in Acting, Singing and Dancing with Industry Professionals in Bilton School, culminating in a performance at the Benn Hall. For more information, please visit www.dramatize.webs.com, email dramatize.rugby@gmail.com or call Caitlin Hargreaves on 07926 051 459.

House Week commencing 06/02

Cumulative this year

Gabor

92.2% 95.1%

Macaulay

91.8% 94.9%

Merry

90.9% 93.7%

Whittle

92.8% 95.5%

CONGRATULATIONS TO:

11J1 for having the highest attend-ance last week with 100%!

School Clubs and Revision

Revision/Coursework 3.15-4.15pm School Clubs and Activities 3.15-4.15 (unless stated)

Monday 6th Form Maths Revision in K7

KS5 Economics Revision in K15 History Revision W29

6th From Geography W35 Business Support Intervention K12

CIDA/ICT Support K13

Spanish Intervention- K2 until 4:05

Drama Club with Mr Cuff in C57.

Science Club 15.15— 16.15 K17-Starting 19th September

EFA homework club—all welcome finish 4pm

Book club in the library- Form Time

Tuesday

Science Extra Support– please speak to the

class teacher. Chinese Club K6 (3:05-4.00)

History in W28 GCSE French K!- (3:05-4:00)

GCSE PE Year 10/11 PE Obs room

Business Support Intervention K12 GCSE Art, Fashion and Photography

A Level Art, Fashion and Photography CIDA/ICT Support K13

Spanish Intervention- K2 until 4:05 Maths Homework/drop in session 3:15-4pm

EFA homework club—all welcome

History Club W33 Lunch time Maths homework club K8

Maths support—K6

Wednesday Film Club –3:05 until 5pm.

EFA homework club—all welcome finish 4pm

Lunch time Maths Homework club K11

Thursday English

KS5 BTEC Business Intervention K12 KS5 Applied Business Intervention in K15

Year 10: Additional CiDA ICT Sessions History in W28

GCSE Geography W35

GCSE Art, Fashion and Photography A Level Art, Fashion and Photography

Spanish Intervention- K2 until 4:05

Homework Club—Library

EFA homework club—all welcome finish 4pm

Drama—Romeo and Juliet rehearsals Thursday in C56/Kay Hall.

Psychology Club—W41

Friday KS4 Y11 Business Revision in K15

History in w29 GCSE Geography W35

Business Support Intervention K11

Bilton Singers C56 with Mr Tarry

Y10 D of E - W33

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LEAVE OF ABSENCE DURING TERM TIME 2016-17 – INFORMATION FOR PARENTS

The Education (Pupil Registration) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2013, govern all requests for leave within term-time. When considering such requests for a leave of absence, the school are obliged to act within the law. The amended regulations removed references to ‘holiday’ and ‘extended leave’, as well as the statutory thresh-old of 10 school days. It is now clear that Head Teachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances relating to the application. If the leave is granted, head teachers are able to determine the number of school days a child can be absent for. The Government has not defined ‘exceptional circumstances’ as referred to in the 2013 regulations. It is for the Head Teacher to decide what he/she views as ‘exceptional’ and it is at their discretion if the circumstances warrant the leave to be granted.

The school can only consider Leave of Absence requests which are made by the ‘resident’ parent. Each application for a leave of absence will be considered on a case by case basis and on its own merits. Where applications for leave of absence are made in advance and refused, the child will be required to be in school on the dates set out in the application. If the child is absent during that period, it will be recorded as an unauthorised absence, which may result in legal action being taken against the parent(s), by way of a Fixed Penalty Notice. Failure to make an application for leave in advance can also result in a Fixed Penalty Notice being issued to the parent(s). All matters of unauthorised absence relating to a Leave of Absence will be referred to the Attendance,

Compliance and Enforcement Service of Warwickshire County Council. It is important to note, Fixed Penalty Notices are issued to each parent of each absent child, (for example 2 children and 2 parents, means each parent will receive 2 invoices in the amount of £120 each, totalling £240 for both children, this is reduced to £60 per child if paid within 21 days). Where a Fixed Penalty Notice is not paid within the required timeframe as set out on the notice, the matter will be referred to Warwickshire County Council’s Legal Services to consider instigating criminal proceedings under S444 Education Act 1996.

Fixed Penalty Notices are issued in accordance with Warwickshire County Council’s Code of Conduct for Penalty Notices.

We greatly appreciate parental support to reduce the total amount of days lost due to holidays. We are com-mitted to working in partnership with you to enable your child to reach their academic targets and to support their social development. For this to happen we need to keep individual attendance as high as possible - we all need to play our part.

Your child’s progress academically as well as socially is our shared priority

Warwickshire Secondary School pupils recorded 15,291 half day sessions of absence due to

holiday in the Academic year 2014/15. This is a decrease of 7,629 on the previous year. This is

a positive outcome as it means that 3,814 more days of education were achieved.