Newsletter

Dear Parents and Carers, 

I am proud to say, we have had many visitors to the school who have reported how warm, calm and purposeful learning is across classrooms and during unstructured times. We continue to ensure all students feel safe and happy at The Suthers School and student voice this half term has outlined that the majority of students clearly understand the high expectations we uphold as part of our wider commitment to our TORCH character strengths. 

Our focus this half term has been to develop our Practice Learning. Since our last parent and carer survey, and Family Forum meeting, we have adapted our policy and have introduced a carefully planned home learning strategy linked to our subject curriculums. This half term, Curriculum Leaders and teachers within departments have utilised their Monday night CPL sessions to plan collaboratively the programme for Practice Learning. We are currently taking feedback from students and staff to look at the impact of this work. It would be great to receive further feedback from parents and carers at our next Family Forum meeting which will be held on Monday 20th March. We continue to develop this strategy and all feedback helps students to see the value in the work they are doing in and out of school to connect to the new knowledge being taught in class. 

Next half term sees our Year 9 students select their options. This can be both exciting and nerve wracking for some students when making their choices. We will be holding various assemblies, CAS evening, Option Evening and taster sessions in school to help students make informed decisions.  Further information has been delivered to students today so they are informed in advance about the process. Year 9 students will have an option review form to discuss initial thoughts about their option choices and this will be set on TEAMs for students to be able to access over half term. 

Year 11 will be sitting their second mock examinations. Year 11 continue to show dedication and commitment to their studies and it is great to see them build in confidence to approach their learning with exceptional focus. We are looking forward to celebrating their successes. Information has been shared on additional sessions which will take place throughout February half term, so thank you to staff and parents and carers for supporting.

Our Student Parliament demonstrated their leadership by running their first student led initiative. They wanted to share the importance of having the essential equipment for learning in school so students are taking responsibility for their own learning and future success. We will be meeting with the Student Parliament to discuss next steps and how more students can get involved in having a voice in school and generating more opportunities for students to be rewarded for demonstrating our school values. Our Student Parliament focused on the daily expectations of what it means to be prepared for learning and how this is essential in the world of work. 

After half term, and during assemblies on the first day back, we will be delivering our updated behaviour and attitudes expectations and will be sharing with students the student voice gathered from our recent behaviour survey. We will share with you the changes when we return after half term. 

Have a good half term break,

Nic Watkin

As mentioned in our December Newsletter, we currently have  a Parent Governor vacancy.

If you would like to stand for election, please follow the links below to see how to make a nomination.

The closing date is Friday 24th February. Please return applications to Clerk of Governors, Mrs Wallbank.

Email -  lwallbank@suthersschool.co.uk or forms can be returned to the school office.

Links:

Invitation to stand for election letter

Qualifications and disqualifications to serve as an Academy Governor 

Nomination form

Thank you to those parents/Carers who have already expressed an interest. 

To keep up to date with all events happening in the fourth half term of 2022/23 please click this Link

Road Safety update:

The Suthers School would like to thank Julian Smith for his very generous donation of two lollipop sticks to allow us to ensure students are safe each evening when leaving school.

Thank you to all parents and carers for your continued support when dropping off and collecting children each day.

We are currently in contact with Councillor Jono Lee regarding a road safety system outside of school.

Medication & Asthma

Please leave all medication (including paracetamol) at the Main Office clearly marked with your child’s name and dosage instructions.

Asthmatic children should carry their inhaler with them at all times but we ask that you also leave a spare inhaler with the Main Office.

Please note: no other medicines should be carried by students within school.

If a student feels unwell during a lesson then they need to tell the teacher who will call On Call for assistance of a First Aider. A decision will then be made to remove a child from lesson and a phone call home made if they are too unwell to carry on with their learning. 

We appreciate parent and carer support to advise children to take medication and continue to try to stay in school if they are well enough to do so. 

Teaching and Learning at The Suthers School

By, James Griffiths (Deputy Head Teacher)

At The Suthers School our lessons follow an approach known as Fully Guided Instruction. This approach consists of a ‘Connect’ at the start of every lesson and a ‘Review’ at the end of every lesson. The subject teacher introduces and embeds new knowledge using the ‘I Do, We Do and You Do’ structure. Fully Guided Instruction consists of the following:  

Connect – all lessons start with a ‘connect’ retrieval activity which supports pupils to recall prior knowledge that supports the learning of new content within the lesson. Retrieval of prior knowledge reduces a pupil’s cognitive load which frees up their working memory to learn new content within the lesson. Furthermore, the retrieval of prior knowledge helps to address the forgetting curve and embeds core knowledge into the long-term memory.

I Do – subject teachers deliver powerful knowledge by modelling to pupils who listen, make notes and annotate, as instructed by their teacher. The subject teacher also models how to apply new knowledge to a task.

We Do – the subject teacher, through directed questioning, models how to apply new knowledge using a collaborative approach with pupils. This might include class discussion, paired work or whole class engagement.

You Do – pupils work independently on a similar task to that modelled by the teacher. Pupils use their modelled examples from the ‘I Do and We Do' as a scaffold to support them achieve their full potential. The subject teacher circulates the room providing bespoke feedback that pupils can action immediately. This part of the lesson provides the subject teacher with the opportunity to identify misconceptions that might be common to several pupils in the class and which can be addressed through live feedback via the visualiser. Alternatively, the teacher might use a check-point as to not disturb those who are exceeding the task. This ensures that learning opportunities are maximised for all pupils.

Review – subject teachers use this final part of the lesson to check that pupils have understood the main learning points of the lesson. This might involve the use of hinge questions to check for common misconceptions, exit tickets to measure understanding and to inform the planning of the next lesson, and directed Q&A. The review also provides the opportunity for the subject teacher to link the current learning to past and future learning.

Spotlight on Learning

In this first spotlight on learning I will be explaining the important role that the Connect activity plays in helping your child to learn.

To find out more about the Connects, Click here

Please see below how fully guided instruction is applied in Maths.

Maths Half Term 3

Students across all year groups have worked hard in Maths this half term and are displaying and developing their TORCH character strengths in lessons. It has been excellent to see the impact of the ‘I Do, We Do, You Do’ Fully Guided Instruction approach across classrooms in the department. Feedback from students has been very positive, with a student in Year 8 saying ‘I really like doing the ‘I Do’ because when we do the ‘You Do’, if I get stuck, I am able to look back at the worked example and it supports me. I also like the ‘We Do’ because when we work together the person who sits with me can also help me and I can help them too’. Below is an example of work from a Year 9 student showing an ‘I Do’, which was completed as part of their work in the Rounding and Estimation unit:

This half term, Year 7 students have studied the Multiplication and Division, Statistics and Rounding and Estimation units. Within Multiplication and Division, students were working with decimals and also solving problems with the mean. This knowledge was then applied in Statistics, where students learned how to calculate the mode, median and range of data. Students also developed knowledge of drawing and interpreting bar charts. At a time where ‘Fake News’ is ever more prominent, especially on social media, throughout the Statistics units across the school, a large real-world emphasis was placed on the reliability of data.

Year 8 completed work on rounding numbers to significant figures and estimation as part of their Rounding and Estimation unit. The 5 key words that are explicitly taught in every unit across the Mathematics curriculum made links to using estimation in careers, such as within construction where estimates and quotes for completing work would be used. Year 8 also developed their knowledge of fractions from Year 7, learning how to increase and decrease a number by a percentage using a multiplier.

This knowledge of multipliers is then developed in Year 9, who have this half term been using these to solve monetary based problems on compound interest. These lessons are especially important for students, and providing students with the knowledge of bank accounts, and how interest and investments work is a key element of the Mathematics curriculum. Students across all year groups retrieve and recall prior knowledge from last lesson, last week, last term and the previous unit through use of the Connect at the start of every lesson. The following example from a Year 9 lesson shows very effective use of the red pen to uplift an answer to improve it further following class feedback:

Students in Year 10 have been developing their prior knowledge when learning about volume of shapes, including cylinders cones, pyramids and hemispheres, and building upon their algebraic knowledge with expanding triple brackets and factorising quadratics of the form ax2+bx+c. Students have also completed a GCSE paper for the first time, for their assessment that was carried out in January. Targeted, impactful feedback lessons from Year 10 teachers allowed students to know how they can develop even further. Students will have received an personalised report from their class teacher which shows their current areas of strength, areas to develop and overall grade for the assessment. If you would like an additional copy of this report please email me (jubhi@suthersschool.co.uk) and I will send you an electronic copy.

Year 11 have developed knowledge of simultaneous equations, graphical inequalities and use of the quadratic formula this half term. The effort shown across the year group has been superb. Year 11 have been getting regular exam practice in readiness for their mock exams after half term. This paper is completed as their Practice Learning and has been vital in honing technique with exam questions, as well as helping to identify topics to be included by class teachers in future Connects and key topic practice lessons. The best way to improve with Maths is to practice Maths and as much practice outside of lessons will be key from this point forwards for the year group. It has been pleasing to see Year 11 students attending drop in Maths sessions at lunch times and after school, allowing them to have targeted support with any topic they would like to practice. These sessions are held every day in B3 and B4. Finally, I would like to give a reminder of key revision websites for Year 11:

Corbettmaths.com (the 5 a day is very good for revision)

Mathswatch (list topics by grade and focus on target grade/target grade +1 topics). Username example: jbloggs@suthers password: suthers2022

Youtube: GCSE Mathstutor has excellent revision videos for every Maths topic

Practice Learning  

As you will know, this half term has marked the launch of our Practice Learning strategy. All students were issued with a paper copy of their booklets containing all the Practice Learning (Home Learning) activities required of them to complete over the 5 weeks of this half term, as well as being able to access these digitally through Teams, emails to parents and the school website. This strategy is one we’ve had positive feedback on from staff, students, parents and carers. It allows students to showcase their independent learning skills which have reflected in their most recent approach to learning scores from their teachers. We will continue to update the booklets for students in the first week of each half term electronically, if students require a paper copy, these will be available upon request. Thank you for your continued support in working with students to complete their Practice Learning and develop their curriculum learning.  

World Book Day – Thursday 2nd March 2023! 

On Thursday 2nd of March we will be celebrating World Book Day in school with some exciting events. Students are invited to join staff in fancy dress to showcase their favourite book character. Please ensure outfits are appropriate for school and represent a character beyond Diary of a Wimpy Kid in jeans and a t-shirt…the more creative the better! We will be rewarding the best dressed staff and students on the day. To build awareness of World Book Day we will be hosting The Suthers School Masked Reader in the week prior to the main event. Teachers will be disguised in reading short clips of a story to students that will be watched during our daily drop everything and read time, students will have to work to guess who is behind the mask each day as well as spotting clues for a finale quiz in the story itself. English lessons at KS3 will have a creative writing take over for the day to take inspiration from well known stories and recreate them through independent story telling – a voluntary competition with the chance to win a place on a rewards trip will follow this. We’re also inviting students to bring with them on the day a pre-loved book, at lunch time in The Fern we will be hosting a book swap to encourage sharing and recycling of great stories. All students will also be issued with a World Book Day token on the day to spend outside of school. We look forward to sharing and spreading the love of reading with students on the day.   

The week commencing 20th February is Online Safety Week.

Students will take part in an assembly given by PC Cartwright to highlight Online Safety.

Please follow the link for a practical guide for parents and carers whose children are using social media.

Tips for Parents

1) Limit screen time for your child.

2) Encourage alternative activities which do not require a mobile or other electronic devices.

3) Engage and encourage conversations your child about what they look at online, what pla6orms they use and who they talk too.

4) Check privacy settings on all platforms; we recommend these are set to ‘Private’.

5) Be supportive about any concerns or issues they may have.

6) Remind them of their responsibility; talk to your child about their responsibility when they use the internet— what is said online, stays online.

7) Help them manage their online reputation.

Remind them that they should only post things online that they wouldn’t mind you, their teacher or a future employer seeing.

8) Ensure your passwords are strong and are not shared with others.

9) Check attachments and pop ups for viruses before your child clicks or downloads anything.

Other resources are available:

Childnet

Advice and useful resources for parents, carers and young people.

https://www.childnet.com/resources

ThinkUKnow

Support and useful resources for parents, carers and young people. Resources are available for children also.

https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents

NSPCC

Resources and support platform for advice on key topics and issues around e-safety.

www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/

The wonderful artist, Rory McCann has returned to our school this term to create some inspirational murals for the Science department and History Department. 

Barclay Life Skills

The Suthers School contributed to  Barclays, LifeSkills Unpacked - a CPD week exploring the vital importance of core transferable skills for the future of work. Follow the website link to barclayslifeskills.com/unpacked to view Mrs Pettit taking part.

"to hear from our selection of expert panellists who will be coming together to share their real-world insights on the current labour market problems, explore what the future of jobs looks like and how LifeSkills can help unlock your students’ potential and prepare them for the future through developing core transferable skills"

Student sport achievements.

Connie and Evie, year 9  are part of Grantham Water Polo Club (GWPC) where they train two mornings a week before school. In addition, they participate regularly in matches against other clubs and also take part in East Midlands training camps and charity events.

As this is a minority sport, this involves travelling long distances to take part.

Connie and Evie really enjoy playing water polo, complimented by their other sports, adding strength and stamina. They demonstrate all of the TORCH values through their sport, the main ones being tenacity, respect and hard work.

Joshua Bradford year 8 races for Nottingham Outlaws BMX club and is racing in the regional race series at the moment.

Nottingham Outlaws BMX Club is one of the UK’s oldest and largest BMX Clubs Est 1982.

There are still tickets available to purchase for Thursday and Friday's performances. Please go to your child's Parent Pay account or alternately you can pay with cash in school between the hours of 9am and 1pm, Monday to Friday. 

For all Grease performers, please see a reminder of the rehearsal schedule below.