Headteacher's Newsletter

Dear Families,

I hope you all enjoyed the half term break and that your children are refreshed and ready to return to school with a positive mindset.

I am sure that our children will have been watching the news over the last few weeks and I have no doubt that many will have struggled to comprehend the tragic events and indeed the continued events taking place in the Ukraine, as well as several other places around the world. Many will have members of their families or friends involved in these conflicts and this will be a very difficult time for them. On Monday I will be sending a message to our students to reiterate my previous words regarding tolerance, mutual respect and consideration for everyone within our community, as well as a reminder that everyone deserves to be safe from harm and discrimination, at school and in society, and that we must try to support each other as much as possible. Please do reach out to the school should you be concerned about your child and encourage them to speak to someone at school if they feel they need to do so.

In a couple of weeks our Year 11 and 13 students will be sitting their Pre Public Examinations and I hope they have all used the half term break to start their revision; these exams not only support the school in providing predicted grades for post 16 and 18 study, but also helps us target the areas where students need additional support in preparation for their final exams in May. With just over 26 weeks until the exams start in earnest, it is important all students are on top of their school work and revision and I encourage parents to ensure this is the case. The link below has been sent to families but is a good resource in how you can support your child with revision.

As always I hope you find the information below useful.

Daniel Leonard

Headteacher

Just a quick reminder that students are only permitted to wear plain black, navy blue and dark grey coats, and Carolina one of our outfitters have winter coats back in stock. Please do not send your children into school with other colour coats as they will not be allowed to wear them.

Hoodies are not coats and will be confiscated, whether they are zipped or not.

Following numerous emails there are still a number of students who do not have an appropriate length of skirt. If students continue to wear skirts that are not on their knee, parents will be contacted and ultimately those students will be isolated from lessons. Please ensure your child has the right length of skirt, we will be giving some leeway to Year 11 students if their skirt is an acceptable length.

Please remind your son or daughter that if they feel unwell whilst at school they should report to the main office medical room to be assessed and then the office will call home if they feel it is necessary . Your child should not be ringing home to say they feel unwell before being assessed, otherwise this may lead to an unauthorised absence.

Following on from the success of our Student Diversity and Equality Committee we would like to invite parents to be part of our commitment to improving equality and diversity across the school. If you are interested in being part of the Committee to help us make positive changes within our community then please email lchittock@westhatch.net

Once again I write to remind parents and carers that are dropping off or collecting their child from school to drive and park safely and take into consideration the local residents.

I have also received several complaints from Chigwell Nursey that parents are using their car park as a drop off and collection area. This is unacceptable, spaces are limited in their car park and are designated for those visiting the garden centre. If our families continue to use this car park then the centre will be forced to close the gates during certain times. Please arrange to drop off and collect your child elsewhere.

More and more of our students are using the 667 bus, however TFL will not provide any additional services because our students are not touching in with their oyster cards, and this means the number of passengers using the bus is not being truly reflected. The bus company are aware of the heavy loads, however this is not translating into how many students touch in. They carried out their own investigation and found the following results;

Neville Road - 10 children board - only 2 touch in cards on the reader.

New North Road - 40+ children board - only 2 touch cards on the reader

Murtwell Drive - 40+ children board - only 2 touch cards on the reader.

Linkside - 5 children board - NONE touch in as they all board at rear doors.

The above shows that around 90 children board the bus but TFL will only see 6 children as having boarded from the oyster card data, and as a result TFL are unlikely to sanction any additional trips as they are not seeing an overloaded bus.

Therefore can you please speak to your children and make it clear that they must board the 667 bus correctly through the front doors and touch their oyster cards on the reader. Otherwise we run the risk that the buses become overloaded and students are turned away from getting on the bus.

A reminder that the following procedures are in place and parents are expected to follow them should they have a query about a detention.

· The school will not accept phone calls regarding detentions.

· We can only move a detention for a medical appointment if proof of the appointment is provided.

· Should parents wish to query a detention with a teacher the query must be put in writing via an email to the admin email (admin@westhatch.net) or the Department via the ‘contact us’ website link.

Teachers will only consider a removal of a detention for the following three reasons:

1. The teacher has the wrong student.

2. The student was not in school on the day the homework was due in (students should still attempt homework even if they are not in the lesson when it was set, they should speak to the teacher on their return with any queries about it).

3. The homework was not set on Show my Homework.

For any other reason parents must respect the teachers professional judgement and legal right to set detentions.

Before half term our Year 12 students visited the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to attend the annual University and Apprenticeship Fair. An excellent day was had by all and thank you to all the staff who supported the event.

We had a wonderful day on the Thursday before half term with our students creating some fantastic delights for our annual Bake Off. I had the pleasure of being Chief Judge and Taster, and what a brilliant job they all did. Thank you to all involved and to the families who supported their children's baking. Please see some photos below, along with our winner Olivia Lam in Year 8.

In September Satchel One implemented an email verification system for parent/guardian accounts; as a reminder, this was to improve security and GDPR practices, minimise potential data breaches and ensure that only verified parents and guardians gain access to student data.

Existing parent users were asked to complete the email verification process by the 31st October, otherwise their account would be deleted. While the majority of parents and guardians have completed this process, there are some outstanding users who remain unverified.

Satchel One have advised us that any pre-existing parent accounts that remain unverified have now been deleted and the parents will have been informed of this via email automatically. If your parent account has been deleted, in order to recover it you will need to obtain a current Parent Code and complete the signup process again. You can obtain a Parent Code independently via your child's Satchel One account. Please see below the steps so you know how to locate your Parent Code and regain access to your account.

Logging in as a Parent / Guardian

Events

Year 7 Aspirations Days - 9th and 10th November (by appointment only)

Year 12 Open Evening (for 2024 applicants) - 16th November from 6-8pm

School Musical - 6th-8th December (tickets will be on parentpay)

School Closures

Monday 4th December - Inset Day - school closed to students

Tuesday 19th December break up for Christmas - students dismissed at lunchtime

Thursday 4th January - Inset day - school closed to students. (students return after the Christmas break on the Friday 5th January)

Aaron who is currently in Year 13, travelled to Ghana and worked as an educational based volunteer for 2 weeks in communities across the country during the summer break. Working in schools, he along with the other volunteers were welcomed with open arms, and this showed him the importance of gratitude and kindness. He felt so honoured to have met the wonderful young people who reminded him to never turn up anywhere without a smile on his face!

Thank you once again for taking the time to read this newsletter. Thank you also to all of the families who sent in information about their child's successes outside of school, I always love reading about these achievements.