WELCOME

WELCOME

Freddie's Focus

For Parents & Carers

Freddie's Focus

For Parents & Carers

Things to celebrate

This week we were delighted to be able to hand over a cheque for £438.50 Raised on non-uniform day at Christmas for St Ann’s Hospice.

  • Emily Wild (Year 8) competed in a district street dance festival. In the solo competition she gained 1st & 2nd place for two separate dances. In the team competition she finished first also.
  • Dylan Prinsloo (Year 9) has just been selected to play for Sale Sharks U14’s DPP Rugby Academy.
  • Luke Bullock (Year 10) became the WKO English Open Champion in K1 Kickboxing last weekend.
  • Ashton Walters (Year 11) has been selected to play for Leigh Leopards U16’s Development squad.
  • Three students are representing the school tomorrow (Sat 4th  February) at the Greater Manchester Schools Cross Country.
    • Sam Barlow (10 RT)
    • Jessica Hodgkinson (9BT)
    • Ella Watson  (7 MH)

School Reminders

  • Year 9 - Options Meetings

    Year 9 options meetings with the Senior Team will take place online via School Cloud on Wednesday 15th February or face to face on Thursday 16th February. Please use the School Cloud booking system to book onto one of those nights. The booking system will go live on Friday 10th February.

  • Year 11 - Date for the diary

    On Thursday 9th February from 6pm, we are hosting an event in school for parents only offering advice and guidance on how to support your child with their management of exam stress and anxiety as they approach the GCSEs. More information to follow.

  • Year 11 - Prom

    We would like to make all parents and carers of Year 11 students aware that invites to the prom will be released soon. There are clear criteria of which all students have been made aware. Please remind your child of this.

  • General Reminder

    Could we please ask all parents and carers to support us in ensuring that your child does not wear jewellery in school.

School Reminders

  • Year 9 - Options Meetings

    Year 9 options meetings with the Senior Team will take place online via School Cloud on Wednesday 15th February or face to face on Thursday 16th February. Please use the School Cloud booking system to book onto one of those nights. The booking system will go live on Friday 10th February.

  • Year 11 - Date for the diary

    On Thursday 9th February from 6pm, we are hosting an event in school for parents only offering advice and guidance on how to support your child with their management of exam stress and anxiety as they approach the GCSEs. More information to follow.

  • Year 11 - Prom

    We would like to make all parents and carers of Year 11 students aware that invites to the prom will be released soon. There are clear criteria of which all students have been made aware. Please remind your child of this.

  • General Reminder

    Could we please ask all parents and carers to support us in ensuring that your child does not wear jewellery in school.

Homework and Self-directed study

At FLHS, we strive to provide timely and purposeful feedback. A variety of methods will be used to provide feedback, such as whole class feedback, verbal feedback, ‘where next?’ feedback and follow-up tasks. Quizzes, spelling tests and numeracy tests will provide students with immediate feedback. We may use more extensive, targeted marking on longer tasks which may require written feedback.

It is vital that students engage with their feedback and respond appropriately in order to move their learning forwards.

Satchel:One

You can keep track of your child’s homework using Satchel:One. It is advisable to remind your child to get into the habit of checking their homework on Satchel:One regularly. Relying upon notifications is not the right approach and we advise students to turn off notifications so that they are not disturbed by them.

Homework Club

Please remind your child that homework club is available to all students Monday-Thursday in the Library (apart from Monday week B) where support and IT equipment is is available.

Attendance

Attendance Messages to Parents and Carers – please read to be aware of what good attendance is and the impact of poor attendance. Our key message is EVERY DAY COUNTS.

Why is it important to have good attendance?

Good attendance habits pay off! More school days attended increases a child’s academic success, improves their chances to achieve good GCSE grades leading to greater chances of success at college and later in life, so they can earn higher pay in their careers. 80% of success is showing up! School keeps you safe, it educates you, it prepares you for your future.

What is a good school attendance percentage?

95%

An attendance rate of 95% is generally considered good; this still allows for children to miss 9.5 days across the school year. Persistent absence (PA) is defined as an attendance rate of 90% or below.

At Freddie’s we would like all students to aim for 97% attendance – this equates to 6 days absence per year.

How many days off is 90% attendance?

90% attendance means that your child is absent from lessons for the equivalent of one half day every week. Over five years this is the equivalent of about one half of a school year.

Examples of poor attendance and what this means in terms of days lost:

School Attendance Percentage Days Absent
85
29 days off
86
27 days off
87
25 days off
88
23 days off

Message from the Headteacher

Dear Parents and Carers,

Yesterday we held our Year 9 Parents’ Evening. I hope Year 9 Parents found the event useful and that the discussions with your child’s teachers will help to inform their option choices. I have attached the link to the Options section of our website where you can find more information about the process. We will be writing to you separately with further information, including your child’s Progression Route.

On another note, following the strike this week I fear that this will not be the end of the disruption as further action is planned for Tuesday 28th February, Wednesday 15th and Thursday 16th March. Our staff, governors and leaders of the school fully understand the impact that all of this is having on our students. As the dispute moves forward, we will try to mitigate where we can; however, this is challenging and unless a breakthrough is made there is a strong likelihood that we will have to close again on those days. I’d like to thank-you for your patience and understanding. Provisionally, we are hoping to be able to bring Year 11 into school on Tuesday 28th February. We will obviously keep you updated as this situation develops. I also attach a copy of the letter that the Chair of Governors and I have written to our local MP.

Regards,

Mr Davies.

How Yondr Works

Frequently Asked Questions

We want our students to be engaged in their learning. A child at high school should not really have a reason to contact a parent during the day; however, if there is a genuine reason e.g. they have forgotten their packed lunch, a phone call can be made home from the school office. If a parent needs to contact their child in an emergency, they should contact the school office. If you need to contact your child during the school day, contact the main office on 01942 883796.

In case of a school emergency, we direct our students to safety first, following our school emergency procedures.

 

Students are in possession of their phone - in their Yondr pouch - for the entire school day. We will advise students to store the pouch safely in their school bag or blazer pockets.

If a student damages their Pouch or is caught on their phone, we will confiscate the phone and issue a sanction which is likely to be a suspension.

Note: Damage consists of any signs that the physical integrity of the pouch has been compromised, whether intentional or unintentional, as determined by the school or Yondr staff.

Damaged pouches will be charged to parents at a cost of £20.

They will be searched and wanded with a handheld scanner by a member of SLT. If they are found to have their phone on their person they will be expected to place it in their pouch. Refusal will be met with suspension.

If a student forgets their Pouch, their phone will be confiscated.

As per our previous mobile phone policy;

  • Confiscated phones will be taken to reception where the phone will be secured in the school safe.
  • Parents will be alerted to the phone confiscation via the school office.

Parents will have the option to collect the phone at the end of the day. If parents do not collect the phone, the phone will remain in school until the end of the week or until the student has their pouch.

In Yondr’s experience, this almost never happens. All students funnel past the unlocking stations at the exits, they want their phones back and don’t forget to unlock their pouches. If they do arrive home with a phone in a pouch, they can either come back to school to unlock it, or have a phone free evening!

The unlocking process is quick and takes under a second per student. 

As a privilege, Year 11 will be able to unlock their phones as they go off site at lunchtime; however, they will be expected to put their phones back into their pouches when they return to school for period 5.

Yes. There is an adapted version of the pouch which uses a Velcro fastener instead of a magnetic lock. This means the student still follows the policy, but the adapted pouch gives them easy access to their phone when required. If the student abuses this, they will face a sanction. We are already aware of these students.

Your Office 365 account username is your school network account username followed by @flhs.wigan.sch.uk 
The password is the same password that you use in school to access computers.