Year 7
Information and Guidance
Evening
Tuesday 13th October 2015
What are we going to talk about this evening?
• Introductions
• Target Setting, Monitoring and Reporting
• Attendance
• Homework Expectations
• Homework – How to Help Your Child
• Literacy
• Being SMART
• SMART Rewards
Introductions
Key staff
Headteacher – Mrs A Burrowes
Deputy Headteacher – Mrs A O’Callaghan
Care, Guidance and Support
Assistant Headtecher – Mrs K Ferguson
Director of CGS – Mr Hockenhull
Lead Learning Mentor – Mr C Bingley
Student Progress Coordinator – Mr S Dootson
Form Tutors
7 Alpha – Mr Birchby
7 Beta – Miss Carroll
7 gamma – Miss Wilson
7 Delta – Miss Sweeney
7 Kappa – Mr Fairclough
7 Theta – Miss Patel
7 Sigma – Mrs Crosby
7 Omega – Mr Gavin
Curriculum
Information
How students in Year 7 are organised
Form Groups:
All students are in one of 8 mixed-ability form groups:
Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Kappa, Theta, Sigma and Omega
During the first 15 minutes at the start of every day students either attend an assembly or
a Registration period with their Form group.
Once a week students have a Tutorial Period – during this time they work on lessons
about Citizenship and Personal , Social and Health Education.
The year group is split into two populations – ABGD and KTSO.
Teaching Groups:
Students in Year 7 are taught in ability sets for English, Maths and Science.
There are 6 sets in each half-year population for Maths and 5 for English and
Science. The top set in English also study Latin.
They are taught in their mixed-ability forms for:
•RE
•Spanish
•Geography
•History
•Art
•Music
Home Technology and Design Technology are taught in mixed-ability groups.
Students study each subject for half the year.
PE is taught in 5 groups per half-year population.
Computing is taught in 6 groups per half-year population.
Target Setting
When students join Thornleigh Salesian College in Year 7, we receive details of how they
performed in their National Curriculum KS2 tests in English and Maths (SATs).
All Year 7 students are currently completing Cognitive Ability Tests (CATs). These provide us
with further information about the potential your child has.
All students will be set challenging targets and we would encourage you to support them
in establishing an aspirational attitude towards their learning.
Government policy to remove national curriculum levels means that we will no longer set
National Curriculum levels as targets.
Analysing Student Performance
Data about how well students are performing is collected centrally and reported to
parents 3 times a year.
Each time this data is collected a student’s performance is assessed by:
• The class teacher
• Subject Leader
Our aim with developing our own system for assessing students is to know exactly how
each student is performing and, if necessary, to put in place strategies to address
problems before it’s too late.
By effective analysis of each student’s performance the aim is to KEEP UP rather than
CATCH UP.
As we continue to develop our new assessment system we will inform and consult
Year 7 parents to ensure that the information you receive on your child is meaningful
and constructive.
Year 7 Reports
Three reports a year are sent home.
Year 7 Report Dates for this year are:
Progress Report 1: Week Beginning 23rd Nov
Progress Report 2: Week Beginning 22nd Feb
Full Report: Week Beginning 4th July
Consultation Day for Year 7 is Tuesday 2nd December
Parents’ Evening is Thursday 14th April
Subjects
A description of each subject (including its contents, the skills developed and the forms
of assessment) is contained within the Year 7 Curriculum Guide.
Attendance
What do the % mean?
Lessons
missed in 1
year?
Over 5 years?
95%
85%
80%
57
171
228
798 lessons
missed
One whole
school year
missed!!
266 lessons
missed
Current Yr 7 Attendance %:
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
99.4
97.7
97.7
98.2
97.3
Expectations
•
•
•
•
•
•
For all students to be here
For all students to be on time
For all students to be focussed on their learning
For all students to be able to concentrate
For all students to be polite at all times
For all students to make a positive contribution
Thornleigh Salesian College
uses…
So what is it?
Show My Homework (SMHW) is a simple, online
homework calendar that allows teachers to set
homework in advance.
How does it work?
Teachers post homework to the school calendar,
and to the student’s calendar.
This homework appears on the student’s to do list.
Once completed, the student can remove it.
Logging in
Give the power back to parents
 See the quantity and quality of work set
 Track your child’s progression
 Monitor from a distance
For the students
We hope that this will help students to keep on
top of their work load and stay organised, in a
completely transparent way.
On the move
 Mobile – friendly
 iOS & Android
 24/7 access to homework
Any questions?
Just get in touch with Mrs O’Callaghan or email
help@showmyhomework
Never be left in the dark again.
Thank you for your support,
nset
School
logo
Literacy at Thornleigh 2015 - 2016
How are we responding in Year 7?
 All students in year 7 have been given
Individual Literacy Targets.
 Reading for pleasure.
 Word of the Week
 Book of the Month
 Literacy Leader Programme
 National Poetry Day
 World Book Day
 Rewarding active reading.
Rewards for Reading…
There is a Reading Record in the training diary that
will allow students, parents and staff to keep a
track of what is being read.
This reading record should be kept up to date by
the student.
SMART rewards:
Students will receive a SMART reward sticker for reading.
Students should not be rewarded for how much they read,
but for:
 Their resilience to try a difficult book.
 For their motivation to read without distraction.
 For team work if they read to a buddy.
 For self-belief if they read an extract of their book to
the form.
How can you support?
•Encourage your child to read at home.
•Check that your child has their reading book as part of
their equipment each day before they come to school.
•Check that your child is actively taking part in ‘Word of
the Week’ and/or ‘Book of the Month’.
•Encourage your child to become a Literacy Leader!
•Check ILT’s are recorded in planners and question your
child as to how they are progressing.
•Check reading records in planners.
•CHECK THE WEBSITE…
The website…
Literacy at Thornleigh 2015-2016
The education system has seen major changes over the last few years.
Through all this change, the development of literacy skills remains central to our students’ progress.
We have a rigorous whole school policy which has been implemented systematically across the curriculum where all our teachers, no matter what their
subject specialism, view themselves as teachers of literacy.
We are focussing on a drive to improve, in line with national expectations, reading, punctuation, spelling and grammar. This will help your child
comprehend in examinations and communicate written expression with greater clarity.
How have we responded?
Individual Literacy Targets
This will allow students, parents and staff to be aware of areas in their writing that require development.
These are recorded in planners and on exercise books across the curriculum to keep students focused on their ILT’s.
Reading for pleasure.
Part of the government agenda is to make reading much more high profile in schools. One of the ways many schools are approaching this is through targeted
form time reading.
The aim is to make reading a significant core routine in school.
Please help us by ensuring your child brings a book with them every day.
“Children and teenagers who read frequently are more creative, imaginative and tend to have greater levels of academic excellence than those who don’t”.
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Word of the Week
Book of the Month
Literacy Leader Programme
National Poetry Day
World Book Day
Rewarding active reading.
Opportunities
Achievements
Behaviour
Politeness
Respect
Form Routine
Support
Consultation
Day.
 Weds 2nd
December.