WELCOME

WELCOME

Freddie's Focus

For Parents & Carers

Things to celebrate

  • This week, we shared our ‘Freddie’s Focus on the Stars’ winners during Form time. Please ask your child if they were one of the lucky winners this time. Your child may have been recognised for their efforts and achievements in a particular subject area or nominated for our Headteacher Award for their contribution to the wider school community.

  • It has been a busy week of fantastic activities in the library this week as we have celebrated World Book Day led by our librarian, Mr Kendal. It has been wonderful to see so many of our students getting involved in the activities on offer. Students in Years 7-9 have also received their book token allowing them to get a free copy of one of the official World Book Day books or £1 off a book of their choice at any participating bookseller.

School Reminders

  • Year 8

    Parents’ Evening will be held on 10th March 4.30-7.30pm. We are thrilled to be returning to face-to-face consultations in school.

  • Year 10

    Work Experience week will take place week commencing 14th March.

  • Wigan Borough Dance Festival

    10th March from 7pm at The Edge Performance Venue, Wigan. Tickets are £6 and are available from Eventbrite.

  • Wigan Borough Dance Festival

    We are delighted that our much-anticipated and popular showcase will be taking place on 21st and 22nd March at 7pm in the Drama Theatre. Tickets are on sale in Science from Monday 7th March.

  • General Information

    Jewellery (including badges) is not permitted apart from a wristwatch. Ears and other body parts should not be pierced if it means that sleeper/studs have to be worn during the school day.

For more information on school events and term dates, click here.

Things we would like to make you aware of

Your child's mental health

We are delighted to advise parents that we are now working with Wigan MHST (Mental Health Support Teams in Schools). The MHST aim to prevent mental health difficulties developing for children and young people by supporting schools to identify and respond to emerging mental health needs.

We are working with Wigan MHST with the aim of reducing the stigma around mental ill-health and developing whole school approaches to support the early identification of mental health symptoms and raise awareness of self-help support and self-management strategies.

Wigan MHST would like parents and carers to be actively involved in the development of our support in school, and are keen to establish the views of parents and carers on their experience of our school and how your child’s mental health and wellbeing can be supported. We would kindly ask our parents and carers to complete the following questionnaire by Friday 11th March 2022 to hear your feedback and ideas.

You can complete the questionnaire by clicking on the icon below.

Homework and Self-directed study

Here at Freddie’s, we focus on six types of homework to help our students broaden, consolidate and extend their learning. Below is an explanation of our first homework strand: ‘Read it’. Alongside reading that may have been set for homework, we encourage our students to self-direct their study time at home with additional reading for pleasure.

For further information on about reading at Freddie’s, including our suggested reads for all students, click here.

Homework Club

Please remind your child that homework club is available to all students Monday-Thursday where they can complete work in a quiet environment with staff on hand to support them.

Personal Development

This term, we are focusing on developing our students’ character as part of our Personal Development curriculum. These are the key aspects of character that we want to inspire and develop in our students, linking closely to our BEST values. As you will see from the Headteacher’s message below, this week we have focussed upon ‘Respect’.

Message from the Headteacher

This week I have spoken to all the students in school and congratulated the majority of them for their excellent behaviour and their positive attitudes to learning: they are credit to themselves and their families. Unfortunately, a minority of students have recently let the school community down by forgetting the basic value of respect. In these challenging times that we are living through right now, respect goes a long way to making our community that little bit better for everybody:

  • Respect for self
  • Respect for learning
  • Respect for school and our environment
  • Respect for other people

We have some concerns about anti-social behaviour from some of our students in our local community. My message to all parents is very simple: do you know who your child is with and where they are in the evenings and at weekends? As a school, we are working with multiple agencies to try and tackle this problem. This week, a Youth Worker from Wigan Council, based here in school has started working with some of our students; however, I make a plea to all our parents, the vast majority of whom are incredibly supportive, to monitor who your child is with and when. The responsibility for tackling the issue of anti-social behaviour first and foremost starts at home.

Thank you for your continued support.

Freddie's Focus

For Parents & Carers

Things to celebrate

  • This week, we shared our ‘Freddie’s Focus on the Stars’ winners during Form time. Please ask your child if they were one of the lucky winners this time. Your child may have been recognised for their efforts and achievements in a particular subject area or nominated for our Headteacher Award for their contribution to the wider school community.

  • It has been a busy week of fantastic activities in the library this week as we have celebrated World Book Day led by our librarian, Mr Kendal. It has been wonderful to see so many of our students getting involved in the activities on offer. Students in Years 7-9 have also received their book token allowing them to get a free copy of one of the official World Book Day books or £1 off a book of their choice at any participating bookseller.

School Reminders

  • Year 8

    Parents’ Evening will be held on 10th March 4.30-7.30pm. We are thrilled to be returning to face-to-face consultations in school.

  • Year 10

    Work Experience week will take place week commencing 14th March.

  • Wigan Borough Dance Festival

    10th March from 7pm at The Edge Performance Venue, Wigan. Tickets are £6 and are available from Eventbrite.

  • Wigan Borough Dance Festival

    We are delighted that our much-anticipated and popular showcase will be taking place on 21st and 22nd March at 7pm in the Drama Theatre. Tickets are on sale in Science from Monday 7th March.

  • General Information

    Jewellery (including badges) is not permitted apart from a wristwatch. Ears and other body parts should not be pierced if it means that sleeper/studs have to be worn during the school day.

For more information on school events and term dates, click here.

Things we would like to make you aware of

Your child's mental health

We are delighted to advise parents that we are now working with Wigan MHST (Mental Health Support Teams in Schools). The MHST aim to prevent mental health difficulties developing for children and young people by supporting schools to identify and respond to emerging mental health needs.

We are working with Wigan MHST with the aim of reducing the stigma around mental ill-health and developing whole school approaches to support the early identification of mental health symptoms and raise awareness of self-help support and self-management strategies.

Wigan MHST would like parents and carers to be actively involved in the development of our support in school, and are keen to establish the views of parents and carers on their experience of our school and how your child’s mental health and wellbeing can be supported. We would kindly ask our parents and carers to complete the following questionnaire by Friday 11th March 2022 to hear your feedback and ideas.

You can complete the questionnaire by clicking on the icon below.

Homework and Self-directed study

Here at Freddie’s, we focus on six types of homework to help our students broaden, consolidate and extend their learning. Below is an explanation of our first homework strand: ‘Read it’. Alongside reading that may have been set for homework, we encourage our students to self-direct their study time at home with additional reading for pleasure.

For further information on about reading at Freddie’s, including our suggested reads for all students, click here.

Homework Club

Please remind your child that homework club is available to all students Monday-Thursday where they can complete work in a quiet environment with staff on hand to support them.

Personal Development

This term, we are focusing on developing our students’ character as part of our Personal Development curriculum. These are the key aspects of character that we want to inspire and develop in our students, linking closely to our BEST values. As you will see from the Headteacher’s message below, this week we have focussed upon ‘Respect’.

Message from the Headteacher

This week I have spoken to all the students in school and congratulated the majority of them for their excellent behaviour and their positive attitudes to learning: they are credit to themselves and their families. Unfortunately, a minority of students have recently let the school community down by forgetting the basic value of respect. In these challenging times that we are living through right now, respect goes a long way to making our community that little bit better for everybody:

  • Respect for self
  • Respect for learning
  • Respect for school and our environment
  • Respect for other people

We have some concerns about anti-social behaviour from some of our students in our local community. My message to all parents is very simple: do you know who your child is with and where they are in the evenings and at weekends? As a school, we are working with multiple agencies to try and tackle this problem. This week, a Youth Worker from Wigan Council, based here in school has started working with some of our students; however, I make a plea to all our parents, the vast majority of whom are incredibly supportive, to monitor who your child is with and when. The responsibility for tackling the issue of anti-social behaviour first and foremost starts at home.

Thank you for your continued support.

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.