Dear Parents and Carers
It was a real privilege to welcome all the parents and carers of our new cohort of Y7s last Thursday. So many parents expressed such a sense of gratitude to their children's form tutors for making their children so welcome, for making sure that the transition to secondary was seamless, for encouraging their children to meet high behavioural and academic standards and - most of all - for making sure that their children feel safe and valued in secondary school. I am deeply grateful - not only to the fantastic team of tutors that we have in the school - but also to our families who continue to share our ambitions and aspirations for the community and are deeply committed to setting and holding high standards.
Smartphones: We strongly encourage all parents and carers to avoid giving their children smartphones. Already at the start of the year we are seeing those children without access to smartphones having better attendance, better punctuality, better behaviour, better social interactions, being happier, doing better academically and being better rested than those without. Where children bring smartphones to school we cannot take responsibility for their loss or damage. We are selling "brick-phones" and alarm clocks in the school shop and urge all of our families to make the move away from smart-phones. We know that this conversation can be difficult and want to work with families to support them to go smartphone free - please contact your tutor if you would like support with this.
Attendance: On Friday I met with the Department for Education's School Attendance Lead - who had some fascinating insights:
- Good attendance is a habit: those who attend every day during the first two weeks of September are highly unlikely to become persistently absent later in the year. The majority of those who miss a day in the first two weeks will become persistently absent.
- The costs of absence are higher than we thought:
- Missing 5-10% of school days makes you half as likely to get good passes in your GCSEs than somebody with 98%+ attendance
- Missing 10-20% makes you a third as likely
- Missing more than 20% makes you a fifth as likely to get good passes.
Please ensure your child attends each day so they have the best chance of excellent academic and social progress. If there is an essential appointment in school hours then please ensure your child attends before and after. If your child is feeling "under the weather" then please send them in and let us know so that we can monitor them. If you are struggling to get your child in to school then please reach out to us for support.
I hope you enjoy the remainder of the weekend.
Please see the school notices below.
This Week's Highlights
We are already building on our successes at Ark Soane this week! Even in a shortened week, students have been hard at work and settling in to what is shaping up to be an excellent term. Our Year 7s are already fitting in like they have been here for years, as have our new joiners in other year groups. You can't be surprised, with so many exciting things happening around the school!
Year 10 are producing some fabulous art!
And enrichment lessons are in full swing, adding some variety to the week, with students injecting some drama (and food tech) into their days!
And so ends another great week at Ark Soane, clubs start next week so there is even more fun on the horizon!
Notices
Coats
As the season changes, a reminder that students’ coats must be plain black or navy. Coats with branding or pictures are not allowed.
Clubs this week
Clubs start this week. Texts have been sent confirming the club(s) your child has secured a place in. Clubs run until 16:40 each day. Students are dismissed via the main reception. A reminder of the timetable is below:
- Mon – Kung Fu, Y7 Football, Charity Committee, Chess, Y11 GCSE Art
- Tue – Senior Jazz
- Weds – Girls’ Netball, Guitar Ensemble, Architecture, Eco Club, Y10 GCSE Art, Y9/10 Axiom Maths, GCSE Music
- Thurs – Y10/11 Girls’ Trampolining, String Ensemble, Junior Jazz, Japanese, Y7/8 Axiom Maths, STEM Club, Y11 Rock Band, Y7-9 Spanish
- Fri – Y8 Football, Choir
Clubs at Soane are free for all students. Most of our clubs are now full – if your child wishes to join a particular club, please add them to the waiting list via MCAS and we will be in touch if a space opens up. Some clubs are invite-only (e.g. some music ensembles) and will not appear in MCAS.
Please note that students receiving reflections of any length may not attend clubs. If a later collection time has been agreed, students should remain in the reflection room to complete homework.