Achieving Excellence

Belonging Together

Challenging Mind-sets

July 2012 Dear Parents and Carers, After a long, hot, dry and scorching summer, we are all looking forward to the summer holidays and a time to recharge batteries and be ready for another successful year in September. Please see the end of this newsletter for more information on diary dates but I wish to remind families that school re-starts for all students at 8.45am (normal time) on Wednesday 5

th September.

Staffing updates…

Since my last newsletter (May) we have successfully completed the recruitment of our new members of teaching staff following the retirements and departures of colleagues.

Our first farewells go to five colleagues who have a combined history of 200 years of service to Colmers School. Mrs Rice (Geography and former Head of Year) and Mr Thomas (Art and former Subject Leader) begin their retirement this summer after teaching, literally, generations of families in this community. Whilst Mrs Ann Jones (School Counsellor), Mrs Hulbert (Assistant Subject Leader for ICT) and Mr Adie (Head of History) are also retiring, they will be returning to us on a part time basis. It is an incredible honour when a colleague chooses to devote their career to a school. Therefore many, many families will share my thanks and admiration for these outstanding colleagues. Given the fairly unique

service and timing of the famous five, a special farewell BBQ is planned, for staff to acknowledge their service, on the penultimate day of the school term. In addition to these departures we also bid farewell to Mr Bodels (Mathematics), Mrs Davies (Mathematics), Mrs Green (Assistant Subject Leader for Music) and Mr Lee (Art); all of whom will be leaving us at the end of this term. We wish them all much happiness and success in the future!

Joining us in September will be Mrs Brereton (Assistant Subject Leader for Music and Performing Arts), Ms Dennis

(PE), Ms Foulkes (English), Ms Lewis (Art), Ms Linehan (Mathematics), Mr McHale (Subject Leader for History), Ms Taylor (Science) and Mr Warner (English) – returning to us once again. These great new staff will be joined by Mr Fox who was appointed as Assistant Headteacher for Numeracy and Mathematics and Ms Toynbee who was appointed as our first Head of Sixth Form. Ms Toynbee will work closely with our own Ms Pearson, who was appointed as Deputy Head of Sixth Form.

Site developments…

When your children return in September a number of exciting site improvements will be complete. The redecorating programme in the West Building is already well under way. Visitors to the school will notice the facelift to the front of West, which includes improved safety barriers for students and the remarking of the car park. Our ‘Achieving Excellence by Belonging Together and Challenging Mind-sets’ logo will feature prominently on the front of West. Improved communal and dining spaces for students will also be completed outside our new library. In East Building, two classrooms will be created out of existing space - creating studio classrooms for Geography and History that will become the base for our first sixth form classes. Colmers students have always benefitted from a

HEADTEACHER’S HALF-TERMLY NEWSLETTER

ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE BY BELONGING TOGETHER & CHALLENGING MIND-SETS

determination to create or provide first class facilities and next year’s Student Council will be asked to develop the creation of new outdoor spaces that further improve the experience of our superb students. Site safety remains a major consideration for all schools. For this reason, we are adjusting the fencing to our site to ensure that members of the public are no longer able to use the Fordrough as a short cut. As a consequence, the school’s gates will be locked on the bell at 8.45am and access to the school will only be possible via the main entrance (adults) or Leisure Centre entrance (students). We have worked closely with the neighbouring junior, infant and nursery schools on these changes to ensure affected families can make necessary alterations to their picking up and dropping off routines each day.

Uniform Supplies

Parents will be aware that we have changed our supplier to Marks & Spencer. Orders can be made in store, on the Internet or by telephone. We anticipate that any initial glitches parents experience in placing and receiving orders will be addressed very soon. However, if families have difficulties ordering items during the holiday, please email us on enquiries@colmers.bham.sch.uk so that we can monitor the situation. We will keep you updated via Groupcall texts and notices on our web-site. We are confident that in terms of price and quality the change of suppliers will be very beneficial – even if a few teething problems causes us a few headaches! As compensation for their technical problems, which have led to the delays, Marks and Spencer have provided Colmers parents with a code for free delivery of uniform. Just type in: COLMERS1 School uniform has remained impressive throughout the year, no doubt helped by the rather cool and wintry summer we have been having. Our comprehensive guide (see right) for families on our uniform, dress and equipment expectations remains on our website. We continue to ask all families to continue adopting the mantra… if in doubt, please ask. Whilst none of rules or expectations have changed, we have added bleached hair to the examples of ‘unnatural hair colouring’ that are not permitted at Colmers: http://online.colmers.bham.sch.uk/parentstudent/uniform/Documents/Uniform%20Booklet.pdf

It’s all in a name…

Following the approval of our bid to introduce sixth form courses from September 2013, the Governing Body agreed to change the school name to ‘Colmers School & Sixth Form College’. This name change will gradually appear on our stationery and publications and will be reflected in the new signage we have delayed until we were able to confirm this announcement.

Me a Parent Governor? Why not?

Each year we ask all parents to consider joining the Governing Body at Colmers School. Experience of school governance is not needed and full training is provided. All you need is an interest in education and a desire to support the wider community here at Colmers. If you are interested then we would encourage you to attend a Governors’ meeting to find out if it is something you might enjoy and then let you decide. Please consider this carefully and contact Ms Richards, Clerk to the Governing Body, on 453 1778 if you are interested.

HEADTEACHER’S HALF-TERMLY NEWSLETTER

ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE BY BELONGING TOGETHER & CHALLENGING MIND-SETS

ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE

We anticipate further success and achievements amongst our Year 11s and eagerly await the release of their results on Thursday 23

rd August. The school will be open from 9.30am to 2.00pm to distribute results and be there to offer

students advice and guidance on their destinations. Year 10s may collect their results from 10am onwards. The weeks and days leading up to those results will be a nervous time for students and their families but we will be here to ensure the pathways our students choose are the right ones as they seek to achieve their ambitions and venture out into life beyond school. Good luck to all! In the new academic year I shall of course contact parents again with full information on how well students achieved in this year’s examinations.

BELONGING TOGETHER

In previous newsletters I have pointed towards further improvements we are introducing to ensure your son or daughter’s education can continue uninterrupted by distractions. From September, the vast majority of fixed-term exclusions will take place on the school site. In such circumstances, students will remain behind for an extended school day (till 4.15pm) and therefore we can ensure that exclusion does not damage their learning or progress. We know that this change will be greatly welcomed by parents who have often expressed their full support for the school’s sanctions but wished us to explore alternatives to a student being sent home for a serious incident. Additional staff will be appointed to extend our in house behaviour improvement programmes and we will be working closely with students, families and the wider school to ensure poor behaviour is temporary and progress is not interrupted. By working closely with students whose behaviour means that they must be temporality removed from ordinary lessons, we improve our capacity to ensure that students who are struggling to learn good behaviours can make the necessary improvements before they return to class.

In reviewing our pastoral support teams, families will be aware that with the arrival of Mr Butter, as our Adolescent Therapist, we are moving increasingly towards in-house solutions when our young people face difficulties managing their own behaviour, choices or emotions. Colmers must be a learning village where the vast majority of the barriers preventing a child being their best self can be overcome by one of us on our site. Part of this review has also culminated in the traditional Head of Year roles being reshaped as Head of Learning & Achievement (HoLA). When we adults were children, a Head of Year

often used to mop up day to day trouble and respond to crisis as they emerged. In the last ten years, Heads of Year have become much more than that with an increased emphasis on student progress, achievement, engagement and interventions. This has been recognised with the reshaping of those traditional positions. Alongside each HoLA will be an LPA – a ‘Leader of Punctuality & Attendance’. Again this stresses the importance of students being here and on time on all occasions. Belonging Together is the key to children’s success and we continue to work towards this goal in all aspects of our school improvement goals.

HEADTEACHER’S HALF-TERMLY NEWSLETTER

ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE BY BELONGING TOGETHER & CHALLENGING MIND-SETS

CHALLENGING MIND-SETS

I hope that in the last year every child, colleague and family has had their mind-set challenged in one way or another. Having a fixed mind-set rarely leads to sustained happiness or success. Being flexible and open to new ideas and new thinking is vital. Each year our students are given lots of opportunities to try something new and challenge the way they think and the way they see the world. One such opportunity included a visit by some of our students to nearby Victoria School. Victoria School is a community Special School based in Northfield, providing an outstanding education for young people with mainly physical and associated learning difficulties. A group of students visited the school and their response and experience is beautifully summed up by this reflection…

“Victoria School, what an experience… Eight stations, loads of kids, and we had to help the less abled children in their Olympic Sports Day! Varying from relays to ball throwing, slaloms to shuttle runs/wheels. The excitement went on and on. Meeting all of the kids there was one of the best experiences I’ve ever witnessed and also one of the saddest. Knowing that some of these kids won’t be alive by next year, knowing maybe all of them won’t be able to really live to a good potential and spend the whole life in a care home. I was inspired to help anyone I see or know with disabilities and not take the mick or just ignore them. Humbled by this amazing experience and life viewed from a different perspective.”

This is precisely what education is all about: honesty, reflection and growth! Have a wonderful summer and we will see everyone back again in September!

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY…

Wednesday 5th

September – first day of the autumn term.

Monday 22nd

to Friday 26th October – autumn half term. Friday 21

st December (2pm) - last day of the autumn term.

Monday 7th

January - first day of the spring term.

Monday 18th

to Friday 22nd

February – spring half term.

Thursday 28th

March (3.15pm) - last day of the spring term.

Monday 15th

April - first day of the summer term.

Monday 27th

to Friday 31st

May – summer half term.

Friday 19th

July (2pm) - last day of the summer term.

INSET Days (school closed to all students): o Monday 3

rd September

o Tuesday 4th

September o Monday 29

th October

o Friday 15th

February

Should we lose a day due to snow then students may be expected to be in school on Friday 15th

February as a normal school day. The additional INSET day would then move to Friday 21

st June 2013 instead.

HEADTEACHER’S HALF-TERMLY NEWSLETTER

ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE BY BELONGING TOGETHER & CHALLENGING MIND-SETS