Parent Bulletin 17th November

Thank you for all your support as we start to approach the exam season.

Remembrance Day:  Thank you for encouraging your child to bring a donation with which to purchase a poppy.  We started the week with really poignant Remembrance Assemblies beautifully led by a number of our pupils in which they had an opportunity to reflect on the importance of our hard-won freedoms.

Exam Preparation:  We had almost 100% turnout for our Y7 Exam Preparation session on Monday evening.  Thanks to those of you who attended.  For parents in other years the key messages were:

- There will be two sets of exams each year (Christmas and Summer) for all pupils in Year 7-10.

- All pupils are able to be successful in these exams provided they revise effectively.  They should use the Exam contents list and their 100% books to help them prepare.

- Smartphones are the biggest single threat to pupils' success.  Pupils with smartphones suffer poorer mental health, lower attention span, less active lifestyles, poorer social interactions and much higher levels of sleep deficit than those without.

- We strongly encourage parents to avoid purchasing smartphones for their children - or replacing them with "brick phones".  We are happy to lock away phones in the school safe for the duration of the exam period and we can supply brick phones and alarm clocks at cost price through the school shop.  

School closure Monday 25th November:  A reminder that the school is closed for INSET on Monday 25th November.  Please encourage your child to use this time to do final preparation for their Christmas Exams.

Attendance:  Thanks for all your support in ensuring that your child attends school every day.  The rate of progress that pupils make in Soane lessons is exemplary - making it particularly hard for pupils to catch up after a period of absence.  Please ensure that, even if your child is "under the weather", they still come to school.  Please notify us so that we can keep an eye on them and send them home if they deteriorate.  Please only keep them home if they are clearly too unwell to attend.

School leaders visit:  We were delighted to host 15 Deputy Headteachers from schools across the West of England on Wednesday.  They were awestruck by how proud the pupils were of their school.  If you get a chance please view their video here.

I wish you an enjoyable end to the weekend and I look forward to seeing pupils return tomorrow.

Kind regards,

Mr Neuberger

It's been a great week for clubs as many of the students get stuck into extra-curricular's before and after school! Year 7 and 8 Basketball club hosted over 45 pupils on Wednesday, who showed up to school extra-early to practice their skills, and years 9 and 10 had a similarly high turn out! GCSE Art club also had a full house as the Year 10s continue to prepare for their exams. 

As exams approach, the students have been putting in a brilliant display of effort with their revision. From year 7 to year 10, the tutor groups are all working hard to display their potential. A big shoutout in particular goes to 8 Ramesses, 8 Augustus, and 7 Alexander for their already copious piles of revision! 

There was also some impressive creativity going on during 8 Ramesses during their art lessons this week. Ms Back was very impressed with the structures being created, as the class got to work building shelters that could withstand rain and earthquakes! 

The Parents’ Association AGM happened on Tuesday 12th November, minutes of which are attached for your perusal. 

The Parents’ Association is all about community and parent involvement and it needs the participation of many parents. The committee are hoping to pass the baton on to some new, enthusiastic individuals who are eager to get involved with our school community. Successful PTAs help the school thrive, providing funds and resources for extracurricular activities, such as the purchase of musical instruments, subsidizing transport, and covering entrance fees for school trips. None of this can be achieved without strong parental support and the school is grateful for all parental support.

We have an exciting exhibition evening coming up on December 12, and the Parents’ Association are really counting on your support. We would like to run a second-hand uniform sale as well as a bake sale. To make this happen, we need two people to volunteer to lead each event and help gather additional volunteers for sorting uniforms, baking cakes, and selling on the day.

If you are interested in running either the bake sale or the uniform sale, please get in touch on soanepta@gmail.com. Your involvement, no matter how big or small, makes a huge difference in enriching our children's school experience.

Students in all year groups will sit their Autumn exams between Thursday 28th November and Tuesday 3rd December. These exams are an important chance for pupils and parents to see how much progress pupils are making in learning the curriculum at Soane, and to give students practice at completing exams.

We know that one of the biggest factors in students’ success is the amount of work that they do at home. To support students in building excellent study habits, we will be encouraging students to revise at home in addition to their normal homework. Form tutors will be working with their tutor groups to plan out the revision work that they should complete each night in the run up to exams, to ensure that students feel they are well prepared.

You can support your child in preparing for these exams by asking them what topics they will be revising each night and encouraging them to complete additional revision in addition to their homework. Please see attached an exam content list that sets out what topics students should study for each subject.  100% books are available for download in the student section of the website.

If you need face-to-face assistance then the school office is open during term-time from 8am-4pm. So that we can deal with email enquiries promptly please see the school email addresses below:

• General Enquiries – info@arksoane.org
• Attendance - absence@arksoane.org
• Free School Meals - fsm@arksoane.org