Dear Parents and Carers,

The themes of this week have been integrity and independence. By supporting our students to become more independent we want to encourage them to be more reflective, resilient and purposeful.

Split break and lunch

As you know, this week we moved to a split break and lunch. We now run two break and lunch sittings – one for Years 7 & 8 and another for Years 9 to 11. The new times are as follows:

Years 9, 10 & 11		Years 7, 8, 12 & 13
8.45am – 9am	Form time	8.45am – 9am	Form time
9am – 10am	P1	9am – 10am	P1
10am – 10.20am	Break	10am – 11am	P2
10.20am – 11.20am	P2	11am – 11.20am	Break
11.20am – 12.20pm	P3	11.20am – 12.20pm	P3
12.20pm – 1pm	Lunch	12.20pm-1.20pm	P4
1pm-2pm	P4	1.20pm – 2pm	Lunch
2pm-3pm	P5	2pm – 3pm	P5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While some students are on break or lunch, the remainder of the school will be in lessons so it is essential that students are not wandering around the school building and will be restricted to where they can go during these times. Students on break or lunch will be using the ground floor toilets and will need to be either in the canteen or outside on the canteen yard.  They will not be allowed upstairs or into the corridors or wings.

Any students that are found out of bounds will trigger a ‘safe’ sanction. It is really important that all students stay within the designated break and lunch zones which are staffed and supervised to ensure the safety and wellbeing of everyone.

 

Mobile Phone ban

 

We now have four weeks left before we ban the use of mobile phones in school. This is in line with a number of other schools in Newport. From Monday 3^rd July, students will not be able to use their mobile phones in school from ‘gate to gate’ i.e. from coming into school in the morning until they leave the building at the end of the day. It is really important that all students have a school bag with them so they can ensure, if they wish to bring a phone to school, that it is switched off and in their bag. We will be sharing with students and families how the mobile phone ban sits in the new behaviour for leaning policy.

 

Attendance

As you are aware, improving student attendance to school is a national priority. We have run a number of incentives to encourage students to improve their attendance. We have just launched our Attendance Streak initiative. During this term, we have set every student the challenge of building up a 50-day attendance streak.  The first reward for a ‘streak’ of ten consecutive days of attendance was given on Monday 22^nd April, with many students meeting this initial target.  We will then review a twenty-five-day streak and finally a fifty-day streak.  Streaks will be checked during form time and rewards issued accordingly.  As you would expect, the rewards will get more substantial as students streaks increase!

 

KS4

 

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

Students in Year 11 are expected to attend every lesson up to and including Wednesday 8^th May. From Thursday 9^th May, students are expected to attend every lesson until they have completed their final examination in that subject. Once students have compieted their final exam in a specific subject they can chose to revise from home as part of study leave.

Parental Forums

Working closely with our families is an essential element of ensuring our students make progress. To support this, we are continuing to run both our on-line Parental Forum and our Parental drop sessions. These are calendared across the year. The next forums are taking place as follows:

• Parental drop in (takes place in school) – Friday 10^th May at 10am
• On-line Parental Forum (takes place on Teams) – Thursday 9^th May at 5pm

 

These are not parent/student meetings to discuss specific queries but are an opportunity to meet with myself so you can raise broader issues about the school. If you are interested in attending either of these sessions please email info@newporthigh.co.uk stating which one you would like to attend.

 

 

Extra curricular

Two years ago, we re-structured our school into six areas of learning – Connect, Create, Discover, Explore, Reason and Thrive. Many of our areas of learning offer additional extra-curricular activities.

These are the extra-curricular clubs that Thrive are offering this term.

I am extremely grateful to those staff who, in their own time, lead additional activities to support our students outside the classroom.

 

Beauty and the Beast

We are really looking forward to our whole school production of Beauty and the Beast this year.

Ms Milton, Assistant Headteacher is now taking the lead in running the production. Ms Milton has extensive experience of performing arts having successfully led a number of whole school shows in her previous school.

A huge thanks to all our talented and committed pupils and staff who have been working so hard on this year’s production.

 

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

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

May half term is Monday 27^th May until Friday 31^st May and we finish this school year on Friday 19^th July 2024.

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

With kind regards

Mrs Lee