Whole School Posting - Spring 2

Dear Parents and Carers,

We urgently need to recruit new members to the ‘Friends of Mayfield’. This group of volunteers comes together to raise much needed funds. The time commitment can be as little or as much as you have spare. If you would like to become involved with the FOM then please email Mrs. Lucie Gray, Chair of FOM, at  [email protected]

Enclosed with this letter is a copy of your child’s progress report. As ever, if you would like to discuss your child’s progress, attainment or pastoral issues further, then please do email your child’s tutor for Seniors, or class teacher for Infants. The email address for Senior tutors can be found on the school website:

www.mayfield.portsmouth.sch.uk/Senior_Home/Senior_MeetTheStaff

Infant class teachers: 

[email protected]                    Class teacher, Seahorse

[email protected]                       Class teacher, Jellyfish

[email protected]                       Class teacher, Octopus

[email protected]             Class teacher, Turtle

[email protected]                         Class teacher, Dolphin

[email protected]                      Class teacher, Seal

'Preparation for Learning'

Thank you for your continued support with Prep homework.  Enclosed with this posting is the work for Summer 1, a copy of this can also be found on the school website:

www.mayfield.portsmouth.sch.uk/Senior_Home/Senior_Homework

If your child needs support with their Prep, we run a homework club every day in room 148 from 3pm until 4pm.  This club is supported by a member of the Learning Support Team.

School Attendance Targets for 2016/17

As we continue to improve the attendance of every pupil to school, we ask that parents ensure that they notify us of their child’s absence every day.  Parents of pupils with 6 sessions (3 days) of absence in one term will receive our standard “Portsmouth City Council medical 1” letter followed by the “Portsmouth City Council medical 2” letter if 10 sessions (5 days) are reached.  If you wish to discuss your child’s attendance, please contact Mrs. Sharon Rolfe, Education Welfare Officer at [email protected] in the first instance.

Special Educational Needs Update

Are you a parent/carer of a child that has special educational needs and/or disability?  Are you aware of the Portsmouth Local Offer?  This is a website that has been put together by parents/carers and Portsmouth City Council to help you find what is available in the area for those with Special Education Needs or Disabilities (ages 0-25) and how to access a variety of services.  For more information please follow this link: http://www.portsmouthlocaloffer.org/.  Mayfield School also has a statutory responsibility to let parents/carers know what we can provide for our pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.  For further information on this follow this link: http://mayfield.portsmouth.sch.uk/about-us/sen.  If you require any information regarding SEND please contact Mrs. Erika Anders, SENCO at [email protected].

Reporting on Progress

As you are aware, there have been a number of changes to assessment and reporting in both Key Stage 3 (Years 7 and 8) and Key Stage 4 (Years 9, 10 and 11). Each half term we will send either an ‘academic’ or ‘pastoral’ report giving you an update on your child’s progress. For this half term we are sending ‘academic’ reports for years 8, 9 and 11 and ‘pastoral’ reports for years 7 and 10. The content of these reports is explained below. If you have any questions, please email your child’s tutor using the link above.

Academic Report Key Stage 3:

  We are not sending Academic Reports for KS3 this half term.  You can expect to receive an academic report on your child in the following half terms:

• Year 7:  Summer 1;
• Year 8:  Summer 1;

In the interim you will receive a new pastoral support – details of which are below.

Academic Report Key Stage 4 (Years 10 and 11):

As you will be aware, old style GCSE grades (A*-G) are being phased out in favour of numeric grading’s (9-1).  The current Year 11 are the last cohort to complete old style GCSEs in their subjects (excluding English and Maths).  These new grades are designed to be more challenging, in line with the government, and schools, vision for all pupils achieving to the best of their ability.  The current ‘good’ pass, grades ‘C’ and above, will be replaced with the new standard which is Grade 5 and above.  A GCSE Grade 5 is considered a ‘strong’ pass, while a Grade 4 is a ‘standard’ pass.

For students in Year 11, we recognise that it is important that pupils, teachers and home all understand exactly where they are.  For this reason, we add extra information to their grade to show how secure they are at that level.  A summary of this is below:

Legacy GCSE	New GCSE	Description	Example
X1	XA	A pupil is secure at this grade.  They need no intervention to achieve it providing they revise and work hard in lessons.  They should aim to work for the grade above.	C1 in Art 4A in Maths
X2	XB	A pupil is working at this grade but will require support and intervention to secure it.  If they revise and work in lessons, as well as engaging with support offered, they should achieve this grade.	B2 in Dance 5B in English
X3	XC	A pupil is not secure at this grade and will require significant support to achieve it.  They will need to prioritise revision in this subject and work very hard in lessons.  They will receive extra support and help.	A3 in Spanish 6C in Maths

For pupils in Year 10, they will also receive a ‘RAG’ grade to show how likely it is that they will reach their target and remain on track to achieve a Grade 5 in their subject in Year 11.  Pupils who have a RAG of Red or Amber will be receiving personalised interventions to support them in order to reach their target.  Pupils who are Green are working well and on track and should be trying to push themselves to reach the next grade.

This information will be communicated to you across the year, timed around key assessment points like the ‘Mayfield’ exams and subject assessments.  You can expect to receive an academic report on your child in the following half terms:

• Year 10:  Summer 2, Autumn 2, Spring 2
• Year 11:  Every half term.

In the interim, you will receive a new pastoral support – details of which are below.

Pastoral Reports (Years 7, 8 and 9):

In order to keep you informed and ensure you get a good picture of your child’s progress, we will send home Pastoral reports in lieu of academic reports in alternate half terms.  These reports will summarise the following information:

• Attendance data;
• Achievement points breakdown;
• Behaviour points breakdown;
• Presentation of work, Behaviour for learning and Homework (using the 1-4 grades);
• Reading information (Year 7 and 8).

These reports will allow you to understand how your child is behaving, being rewarded and keep track of their work in lessons.  We are sure you and your child will find these reports useful. If you have any feedback you would like to share on these changes please email Mr. Andrew Tite, Assistant Headteacher, at [email protected].

Mayfield Exams

In the Summer term, all year groups will sit their final exams.  These are an opportunity for students to demonstrate their learning across this last academic year.  As always, this is a chance for the children to gain experience of formal examinations in the Main Hall.  We would encourage pupils to revise in preparation for these tests and they can do this by speaking to their teacher and looking at revision materials on the school Moodle and website at http://mayfield.portsmouth.sch.uk/senior/revision.

We know that some pupils can find exams stressful and we encourage them to seek some help and support from their peers, teachers, tutors and home.  If you are worried that your child is struggling with their exam preparation, please let their tutor know.

A copy of your child’s exam timetable is included with this letter.

Pupil Premium Funding

The Pupil Premium was introduced two years ago to provide additional funding for schools to support children from low-income families and children whose parents are in the armed forces.  Since Pupil Premium funding has been introduced, we have been able to reduce average class sizes in English and Maths from 22 to 16 pupils. We need your help to ensure that we are able to keep receiving this funding and continue to make a difference.

• Are you currently serving in the Armed Forces?  If so, please can you inform the school by emailing Mrs. Erika Anders, Assistant Headteacher, at [email protected];
• Do you think that you may be entitled to Free School Meals?  The current eligibility criteria for Free School Meals and the application form are available on our website.  The form is quick to complete and you get a reply quickly.

Infant Extra-Curricular Clubs

The booking system for Summer 1 extra-curricular clubs is now closed.  Mrs Guy and the team have once again put together a very varied programme that will hopefully appeal to everyone’s interests. You should have received a confirmation email to ensure that your child has a place.  We are always keen to match the extra-curricular programme to the interests of the children and any suggestions for clubs for Summer 2 should be made to Mr. Matthew Stedman, Head of Primary, at [email protected].

Senior School Extra-Curricular

Details of our latest senior extra-curricular clubs can be found on the school website under Senior/Extra-curricular.

With the exception of the Childcare club there is no need to sign up for any of these sessions - pupils can turn up and try any of these clubs for free and start at any time.

Years 7 and 8 Accelerated Reader

Accelerated reader has had huge success this half-term.  Thank you to all parents and guardians who have promoted reading outside of the classroom.  Please continue to promote reading at home over the Easter holidays.

Victory                 13,462,845

Discovery            13,086,877

Endeavour          12,978,274          

Intrepid               12,817,328

Well done Victory!!

Year 11 final preparations

To help pupils in their final preparations we are running revision sessions over the Easter holidays. Details of the sessions running are on the school website under Senior/Revision. To ensure we are working with the right numbers of pupils we are asking all pupils to sign up for session in advance - this can be done by:

1.  going to tinyurl.com/mayfieldeasterrevision2017
2. Sign up with school email [email protected] and password

Period 0 and 6 sessions will also be running in the Summer term. Pupils have been given a copy of the sessions they have been requested for - if for some reason they have not received a copy then please email Mr Gibson ([email protected])

All pupils have recently been given their own copy of a revision guide - not only does this contain revision information for every subject but it also shows pupil the four steps to successful revision. Copies of this can also be found on the school website under Senior/Revision.

Finally, should you have any questions about your child's exams then please go to the school website (Senior/Exam News) where you can find lots of useful information, including a timetable of all exams. Any questions relating to exams should be directed to Mrs Patis ([email protected]).

Staffing update

Leaving us at Easter we have:

• Mrs. Gail Temperton;
• Mrs. Samantha Tearle;
• Mr. Dan Woodham;
• Mr. Tom Swinson;
• Miss Kyrie Wallis.

We wish them well in their new endeavours. Joining the school during the Summer 1 half term we have:

• Miss. Sophie Hatton in the Infant section;
• Miss. Peyton Turner in the Infant section.

INSET Days 2016/2017
During the year the school will be closed to pupils for staff training for 5 days. The remaining dates for this year are:

Tuesday 20^th June 2017

Monday 24^th July 2017

Tuesday 25^th July 2017

Finally, I would like to thank all parents and carers for their continued support and wish you a pleasant Easter break.

Best wishes,