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For your diary....
September 11th - Annual Privegiving Ceremony
September 15th - Parents’ Forum
September 25th - Year 11 Parents’ Evening
October 1st - Prospective Parents Evening
October 14th - Year 7 Meet the Parents
October 20th – 24th Charity Week
The introduction of extensive new buildings means that car parking on our school site is now extremely limited. Many of the overflow spaces used by parents for evening events have been taken by our new Maths buildings.
Parents may wish to consider arrangements for safe pick-ups and drop-offs for evening events or make arrangements for car sharing.
At Whickham School we welcome the involvement of parents and have a Parents’ Forum that meets every half term to discuss a range of school issues and to provide direct input for parents. The Parents’ Forum has provided important contributions to developments such as the school’s ICT policy.
The first meeting of the Parents’ Forum will be held on Monday 15th September at 5.00p.m.
Please contact Mrs Patterson at school on 4960026, extension 221, if you would like to become involved as your input would be much appreciated.
This will take place from 10.00 a.m on Friday 22nd August.
Staff will be available to support students as they finalise their option choices.
Please download the Academic Calendar for 2008-2009
Find attached a copy of the Headteacher’s latest newsletter, along with important information on changes for the year ahead.
Wednesday 2nd April
The year 8 Parents’ Evening will go ahead on the above date. Please come along and discuss your son or daughter’s progress with subject teachers. Tutors and Heads of Year. Appointments can be made when your child returns to school on Monday 31st.
The Parents’ Forum is open to ALL parents of Whickham School students. It provides an opportunity to explore a range of issues relating to many aspects of school life. Parents raise the topics they wish to discuss and these issues form the focus for the meetings. We often invite experts to provide wider awareness that enables parents to explore issues in a thorough way. We have recently explored how issues such as whole school ICT and the website, sex education, drugs and alcohol education and social inclusion are approached in school.
The Parents’ Forum meets on the second Monday of each half term between 5.30 and 6.30p.m. Any parents who would like to attend should telephone Alison Patterson on 0191 4960026-ext-221 and leave their name and the name of their son or daughter. They will then receive a copy of the next agenda and a warm welcome at the meeting.
The next meeting is on Monday 10th March.
Year 9 Information Evening
Thursday 6th March 7-8.00p.m.
Year 9 students are about to start the important process of choosing the options for the range of courses they will be following in year 10. Parents are invited to attend their own evening detailing the options process and the opportunities available to students at key stage 4. Year 9 student s will receive their own presentation earlier that school day.
Year 9 Parents’ Evening Wednesday 12th March 4-6.30p.m.
This will take place on Wednesday 12th March between 4.00p.m. and 6.30. As well as providing important information on student progress, there will be options to discuss possible with subject staff and staff representing options new to years 10 and 11.
The final date for the return of options forms is Monday 17th March
Thank you for your support in ensuring that uniform standards in autumn were consistently high. We would like to maintain these standards this term and we would like to remind you of our rules on coats and shoes that can be found in written and visual formats on the parents’ section of the site.
As part of our commitment to safeguarding students on-line, we are becoming aware of the problems caused by cyber-bullying. We would like to share the following tips from the anti-cyberbullying code to offer advice on what to do in the event of threatening or abusive text messages or seeing nasty comments about students or friends on a website:
1.Always respect others- always shows respect tom people and be careful with what you say on-line or what images you send. Always ask permission before you take a photo of someone.
Never forward on a nasty message or picture about someone else.
2.Think before you send- think carefully as what you say or share can be made public quickly and could stay online forever.
3. Treat your password like you toothbrush –Don’t let anyone use you password. It is good practice to change them on a regular basis. Only give your mobile number or personal website address to trusted friends.
4. Block the Bully – most responsible websites and services allow you to block or report someone who is behaving badly.
5. Don’t retaliate or reply! Replying to the bully, particularly in anger, is just what the bully wants.
6. Save the evidence- learn how to keep evidence of messages, pictures or online conversations as they can be used by your school, service provider, mobile pone company or even the police to investigate the cyberbullying.
7. Make sure you tell – you have a right not to be harassed and bullied online.
There are people that can help:
Tell an adult that you trust who can help you to report it to the right place or call a helpline like childline on 0800 1111 in confidence.
• Tell the provider of the service and check their websites on where to report
• Tell your school- your tutor or Head of Year can help.
• If you see cyberbullying going on support the victim and report the bullying
Thank you for your support in ensuring that pupils have started the new school year wearing correct uniform and maintaining the standards that are such an important part of school life here at Whickham. As you know, considerable time was invested in the summer term in ensuring that all students arrived at school in the correct uniform. Throughout this term, we will continue to monitor standards of dress to ensure that all students consistently meet uniform requirements.
Examples of our school uniform are available from this website and a copy of the Headteacher’s autumn uniform letter is available to download.
We would like to welcome all new pupils who will be arriving at Whickham School in September. Through Mr Morrison’s visits to local primary Schools, our taster Day, subject visits and a host of other events, we hope that many of you have already had a positive introduction to the school.
A leaflet is provided at the end of this article that offers further information on year 7 at Whickham. Information on uniform is available elsewhere in the Parents’ section of the website.
We wish all our prospective pupils a happy summer break and look forward to seeing you all in September.
In June, Mr Morrison wrote to all parents with guidance on school uniform requirements at Whickham School.
A copy of that letter is included to download here to remind parents of the uniform requirements here at Whickham, along with visual guidance on items that are acceptable, and those that are not.
A number of order forms are also attached to enable you to order the relevant items of uniform.
Downloads
Dress Code - Acceptable Standards (PDF:175KB)
A Level P.E. Order Form 2007 (PDF:85KB)
Years 10/11 P.E. Shirt Order Form 2007 (PDF:72KB)
Following the success of Easter’s Sports Camp, Whickham School and Sports College are delighted to offer a Summer Sports Camp to run for the first two weeks of the summer holidays. Pupils will be able to participate in a wide variety of sports and take full advantage of our high quality equipment and facilities with the benefit of specialist coaching.
Our Easter Sports Camp involved pupils from year 1 all the way up to year 8 and they valued the opportunities to participate in a range of activities. The camp will run from Monday 23rd July until Thurs 2nd August (excluding weekends) and pupils can attend for one or both weeks.
If you would value an active start to the summer, please download the permission letter below.
As another successful year draws to a close Whickham Sixth Form is turning its attention to enrolment. Over 200 students have indicated that they wish to enrol in August and 2007 promises to be an exciting time for the sixth form.
Whickham Sixth Form prides itself on helping all students achieve their potential. Year 11 students and parents from Whickham and beyond have already had discussions on course selection to ensure that students receive the best advice to help them make choices on the most appropriate courses for study. Further support will be provided at enrolment day itself when those important course choices will be finalised, providing options that engage and challenge and provide opportunities for further success. Even at this early stage, it may be useful for some students to research university entry requirements to address future aspirations.
Sixth Form enrolment takes place between 10am and 1pm on Friday 24th August, the day after GCSE results day. Staff will be available in the main hall to enrol students and discuss options. Please bring along a copy of your GCSE results.
The links below provide further information on the extensive curriculum on offer, entry requirements and the wider life of the Sixth Form. If there are any queries regarding the Sixth Form please do not hesitate to contact Mr Turnbull on 0191 4960026 Ext. 236.
Check out these links to key information about our school:
School Prospectus and Admissions [PDF 460KB]