Whole School Newsletter - 15-03-2024

Friday 15^th March 2024

Dear Parents and Carers,

Commitment and being connected.

The theme of this week has been commitment and being connected. Today we have asked students and staff to wear red in support of Comic Relief.

In addition to our school values and RISE pillars (being respectful, independent, safe and equipped) we have 5 ‘Newport Norms’ that we ask staff to deliver every lesson. These are that;

• all students will be met and greeted at the door,
• all students will have a starter activity to do as soon as they enter the classroom,
• There will be a clear purpose to the lesson,
• The teacher will create a positive learning environment,
• The teacher will circulate in the classroom to check for misconceptions and support learning

KS4

With just six school weeks before the GCSE examinations start, it is crucial that all our Year 11 students are revising independently and preparing for their exams.

If any students need additional support with any of their subjects, please encourage them to speak to their class teacher who is best placed to support and guide them.

Behaviour for Learning and culture in school

Since last summer we have been reviewing our approach to improving the culture in school with an explicit focus on strengthening relationships between students, staff and our families. We know, that when we work effectively with our students and their carers, we can support them to achieve their best. As part of this work, we have undertaken several questionnaires with students, families, staff and governors and have run both student and staff working parties. As a result of this extensive work, we have developed some new policies which will be going to the Governing Body next week, including a new behaviour for learning policy. If our Governing Body decided to adopt these policies, we will share the detail with you before the Easter holidays as we will be looking to implement this from the start of the summer term.

As you are aware we have also been consulting on the use of mobile phones, which a number of Newport Secondary schools have already banned during the day. UNESCO have undertaken a significant global study to evaluate the impact of mobile phones on student performance. The findings of this research are concerning. One study, undertaken across 14 countries, found that students that just have their mobile phone near them with notifications coming through lose attention from their work and another study found that it can take students up to 20 minutes to refocus once distracted. The impact on learning of this is significant. If the Governing Body do decide to change our rules about the use of mobile phones in school we will ensure that we have a planned countdown to the new rule before it comes into place.  We would not be looking to introduce any change to mobile phone use straight after Easter.

Finally, we have also been consulting about break and lunch and how we can best manage the volume of students accessing the canteen at the same time. Again, we will be exploring this with the Governing Body and will communicate any plans to improve break and lunch early in the summer term.

I would like to thank all our parents and carers for their ongoing support and engagement – your views are invaluable in helping us to improve our school.

Year 12 parents evening

Year 12 parents evening is taking place online on Thursday 21^st March. If you have any queries about how to arrange an appointment or about the event, please contact Mrs James at info@newporthigh.co.uk

Lost property

Every year we amass a significant volume of lost property. All students are encouraged to go to the wellbeing hub, at break, lunch or at the end of the school day, if they have lost any uniform.

We will be running one more pick up session for parents and carers to come into school to check if any of their child’s lost items are in our lost property. The dates of these sessions have been sent out to all parents.

Any lost property that has not been collected by the end of this term, Friday 22^nd March, will be donated to charity or disposed of. Unfortunately, we do not have the space to store the volume of lost property we accumulate over the course of the year.

Free School Meals

At Newport High School we want to ensure that every child receives the financial help they need to attend school. The Welsh Government offers support with Free School Meals and School Essentials such as uniform, kit and stationery. Please check your child’s eligibility for Free School Meals. Even if you receive Universal Primary Free Schools Meals, more help could be available! If eligible, you can get up to £200 per child for School Essentials, plus extra funding for our school. Check eligibility:www.gov.wales/get-help-school-costs

School dates

We break up for the Easter holidays on Friday 22^nd March 2024 and the Summer Term starts on Monday 8^th April 2024.

The remaining two INSET days for the rest of this academic year are as follows;

1. Friday 28^th June 2024
2. Monday 1^st July 2024

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our families for your continued support.

With kind regards

Mrs Lee