Year 12

Parents’ Information Evening

A* - B 52%A* – C 79%

A* - E 99.3%

Staff

• Director of Sixth Form – Mrs C Hogarth• Head of Year 12 – Mr D Roberts• Head of Year 13 – Mrs K Coulter• Form Tutors• Learning Mentor – Mrs Bev Scaife• Sixth Form Secretary – Mrs Sandie Brown• Attendance Officer – Miss Sam Proud• Bursary / Exams Officer – Mrs Diane Rutherford

Targets

• ALIS – based at Durham University• A Level Information System• Linked to GCSE scores• ALIS targets are based on what students with

similar GCSE results / went on to achieve at A Level.

• Likely AS / A Level scores – targets.• Students who give 100% often exceed their

targets.

• Usually students take 4 AS levels, 3 A Levels – although we appreciate that each student will have an individual programme of study.

• We hope now that students have made any changes – the deadline for changes is Friday 18th September.

• Already, they would have missed a lot of work in the subject that they transfer to and, in the past, students have found it difficult to settle into this.

• We appreciate that there still might be minor changes to make but decisions must now be made with a commitment to the subjects selected.

Subjects and Timetable Changes

• Important that students attend everything that is timetabled.• If students are free at any point in the day, they are free to come and go as they

please. If they are free 8/9, they are free to go home. These ‘free’ periods are actually study periods.

• Assembly is on a Tuesday. • Registration – Key for notices, advertised opportunities, the chance to develop a

relationship with the form tutor who is the main source for a reference. • PSHE – A varied programme that aims to develop our students beyond the classroom.• MET – Broaden your horizons, extend your knowledge beyond chosen subjects. Part of

the moral / spiritual / reflective experience we offer.• Some resit classes are after school. Students have signed to say they will attend – this

is part of the compulsory provision that we offer.• Supervised Study periods – to support students to use their time effectively in a quiet,

studious environment.• Full time students need to satisfy these hours to qualify to be a student at a college

like this.

Registration, PSHE, MET, Re-sit classes, Supervised Study

• A student knows that they will be absent OR becomes ill during the day and needs to go home:

• A GREEN SLIP MUST BE COMPLETED. All appointments, as far as possible, must be made outside of college hours. If students know that they are going to be absent for an unavoidable appointment e.g. hospital appointment, they must fill out a green slip. They should fill in all of the details and provide an appointment card if possible. On the reverse there is a mock up of a timetable. They need to have this signed by the relevant teachers for that day, requesting any work that they will miss. This should be returned completed to Sam who will amend the register.

• A student is ill on the morning so they cannot attend college:• In the case of illness, the student, or preferably a parent, will need to

telephone the college on the morning – ideally between 8.30 and 9.00 am on the morning of the first day of illness and each subsequent day until their return. Please ask speak a member of the sixth form staff or leave a message.

Absence Procedures

We do take the issue of attendance seriously – we are proud of this.

From our experience, attendance does correlate with the achievement of students. Therefore, we aim to monitor and

address any attendance issues and concerns.

• We expect that the attendance of all students is above 90%, ideally 95%. If attendance falls below 90% without adequate reasons given such as illness or study leave, this will trigger action.

• All students will be monitored and a record kept by the relevant Head of Year.

• It will be up to the discretion of the Head of Year in consultation with the Director of Sixth Form for some students to be contacted daily to encourage their attendance in college.

Attendance Monitoring

• First time - Spoken to by tutor. Tutor will collect details of students who need speaking to in Assembly from Head of Year.

• Second time - Spoken to by Head of Year. HOY will enter comments on attendance spreadsheet for future reference and the student will be monitored.

• Third time - Letter to parents from Head of Year. • Fourth time - Letter to parents/ student placed on an Attendance Report.

Attendance Report to be monitored by HOY.

• Fifth time - Parents invited in to speak to Head of Year. • Sixth time - Parents invited in to speak to Head of Year and Director of Sixth Form.

Attendance Monitoring – What happens if attendance falls below 90%?

• If a teacher has serious concerns about a students and they have given the student opportunities to rectify this but there has been little or no improvement, they will complete a Cause for Concern and it will be logged on the students’ profile in SIMS.

• We treat this as a serious issue – the Head of Department, form tutor and the Director of Sixth Form will all be informed.

• The student will be invited to a meeting with their Head of Year and / or the Director of Sixth Form and / or Head of Department depending on the nature of the concern. A course of action will be decided – it can range from a letter home to a monitoring report to inviting parents in.

• We do think it is important to keep parents informed and we always appreciate your support.

Causes for Concerns

• Recorded as unauthorised.• Full attendance is so important.• Still need to complete a holiday

form – available from Sandie Brown.

Holidays – Only in holiday time...

Bursary Information• Bursary schemes provide help to young people who face

financial barriers to participating in education, providing they meet the agreed standards of attendance and behaviour.

• The type of help you could receive includes:

• Help with transport to and from college for qualifying students.• Help with the cost of meals.• Help with the cost of equipment, trips and expenses incurred in

connection with your chosen course.• Loan of iPads and laptops (subject to terms and conditions).

Bursary EligibilityThe Enhanced Bursary To be eligible for the enhanced bursary the student must meet all four of the following conditions:

• Attend English Martyrs Sixth Form College.• Be starting Year 12, 13 or 14 in September 2015.• Be aged between 16 and 18 on 31 August 2015.• Belong to one of the following groups:• be in care; or• have recently left care.• in receipt of income support.• in receipt of both Employment Support Allowance and a Personal

Independence Payment.

Bursary Eligibility

The Standard Bursary• To be eligible for the standard bursary you must meet all four of the following conditions:

• Attend English Martyrs Sixth Form College.• Be starting Year 12, 13 or 14 in September 2015.• Be aged between 16 and 18 on 31 August 2015.• Living in a household with an annual income below £25,000 before tax and national insurance. Household

income includes any benefits received such as Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit.• Priority will be given to learners with a household income of less than £17,000 applying for the standard

bursary.• Benefits available to learners with a household income between £17,000 and £25,000 may be subject to a

reduction depending on funds available.

Full details of the bursary fund are available in the Handbook or you can contact Mrs Rutherford, the Bursary Administrator, at the college.

Transport Unfortunately the College is unable to subsidise travel for students who live in Hartlepool and are not eligible for the Bursary.There are two options available to parents to help with costs:1. Contact the Local Authority. If there are spaces available on

the school buses parents can purchase a termly ticket direct from them for around £60.

2. Apply for a Stagecoach VIP Pass, this reduces the cost of a weekly megarider to £8.00.

VIP application forms and information are available to collect after tonight’s talk.

• Students must take responsibility for their own learning and special learning needs. We want everyone to succeed and do their best. We encourage them to access all of the help that is available to them.

• We need to know if students received support of any kind in school – particularly in terms of examinations.

• If you think that your son / daughter is entitled to support, extra time in exams or if has a condition that would mean that they need support with their learning (and hasn’t yet disclosed this to us), please let us know at the end of this talk so that we can liaise with our SENCO, Mrs S Irvine.

• The link that we have with the school means that sixth form students can OFFER to support too. In the past, students have found this experience invaluable and it has been looked on favourably by employers and universities.

Learning Support

• We would encourage students to think NOW about what they want to do following their time in 6th form.

• We provide lots of opportunities to explore this: UCAS support, speakers from various sectors, visits to Open Days, advertised opportunities in industry, work experience, Activities Weeks.

• Students must also take responsibility for looking at what they want to do and what they need to do to get there: asking specialist staff, using the resources in the library / on the internet, arranging their own work experience in their own free time / holidays, visiting universities etc.

Careers, university and the future...

• Unfortunately, we do not have the capacity to allow sixth form students to park on the Sixth Form site at the moment.

• Bays are free and available over the road.• Problems in the past....

Car Parking

Taking advantage of other opportunities Activities Weeks

Engineering Education Scheme

EDF PartnershipRetreats

Leavers’ DinnerOpen DaysOrchestra

DramaDebating

And much, much more!

Thank you for making the time to attend this evening.

We hope the information has been useful.

Please feel free to ask us any questions.