Dear Parents/Carers,
We have already had a very busy start to the new term, with much to celebrate. We were incredibly proud of our Year 11 learners who received some superb GCSE Numeracy results earlier this month. This week, we have been running exciting Digital Competency Skills workshops for year 8 learners, led by Sky Digital. The children have had the opportunity to work together to write, present and film their own news reports and have thoroughly enjoyed working with state of the art equipment. Yesterday, we ran a very successful PSE Day for Year 10 with a range of activities including challenges with the Army which were great fun and developed leadership and team building skills.
However, it has also been quite an unsettled start to the new term, with poor weather and disruption to learning. We have seen a significant deterioration in the standard of uniform and behaviour has also been negatively affected.
To address these issues, from Monday January 30th we will be reverting back to using one main entrance (the Pupil Entrance) to welcome our learners in the morning. Heads of School, Pastoral Assistants and Senior Staff will do a “meet and greet” at the door, but this will also enable us to carry out a uniform check and tackle any issues which arise at the start of the day.
I have summarised our uniform expectations below and wish to remind parents and carers that should there be any difficulty with providing your child/children with the correct uniform, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s Head of School to discuss this and we will do what we can to support you.
Uniform expectations
Our school uniform expectations are very clear and these are shared on our website (https://macs.uk.net/school-uniform/). We will be monitoring school uniform far more closely and our pastoral team will contact you if there are any uniform issues which need to be addressed. May I respectfully remind you that:-
- hoodies and leggings are not part of school uniform and we do not expect to see these being worn to school
- PE kit needs to be brought to school to change into, not worn to school
- we expect all learners to bring a bag to school.
Behaviour expectations
We have very clear expectations of behaviour linked to our values of Ready, Respectful and Safe. All learners in Years 7-10 will have assemblies next week reminding them of our expectations, revisiting routines, our Learner Code of Conduct and Classroom rules.
Mobile phones have also become more of an issue this term. The information below is a polite reminder of the rules regarding mobile phones, which was shared with you all in
September 2022.
Mobile phone ban (also applies to ear pods/ headphones/smartwatches)
In order to promote the wellbeing of all learners, mobile phones will be banned for learners Years 7-11. This ban begins and ends at the school gates and includes all parts of the school site and grounds. Mobile phones will not be permitted to be used at any point in the school day including breaktime, lunchtime and transitions between lessons.
If you wish your child to bring a mobile phone to school for use to and from school, it must be switched off (not just on silent) and kept in a school bag at all times whilst on school premises. If your child is found to be using a mobile phone at any point during the school day it will be confiscated and appropriate sanctions will be issued.
Our priority as a school is to safeguard all members of the school community from cyber-bullying, inappropriate use of social media and inappropriate use of the internet and this ban is integral to this duty. We are aware that constant use of mobile phones can affect concentration, sleep and cause anxiety, all of which can negatively impact learning, which is our core business as a school.
School reception is the main and most appropriate point of contact for parents/carers. In the case of an emergency, should you need to contact your child, a message can be sent quickly to them. The use of school reception to pass on important messages also ensures that lessons are not being interrupted with learners responding to contact on mobile phones and incurring .
I thank you in anticipation of your support working with us to uphold high standards of behaviour, uniform and work to enable all our learners to achieve their full potential.
Yours sincerely,
S J Evans
Headteacher