Freddie's Focus
For Parents & Carers
- Issue 55
- July 14, 2023
Freddie's Focus
For Parents & Carers
- Issue 55
- July 14, 2023
Things to celebrate
- It was wonderful to see so many parents and carers in school on Monday for our Student-led Conferences. Well done to all students and thank you to everyone who attended for their support.
- Our Year 8 students took part in a ‘World of Work’ day on Wednesday. This provided them with a real opportunity to consider their future aspirations with visits from a range of representatives from different industries.
- This week we hosted a year group breakfast for all of our students who have achieved excellent attendance this year – congratulations to them all.
- Freddie’s brass band recently visited London. They were invited to perform at the Albert memorial outside the Royal Albert Hall followed by the bandstand at Windsor Castle. What an amazing experience! Well done to the team.
- This week, some of our DT students were selected to visit our new build to help lay some of the final bricks for the new school.
- On Thursday afternoon, a group of our students attended a Dance trip to watch ‘Romeo and Juliet’ at the Lowry.
- On Thursday evening, we welcomed award-winning students and their parents and carers to our Prize Giving event. We are incredibly proud of all of the students who received awards. Again, it was lovely to see so many parents and carers in school to support this event.
- Freddie's Focus on the Arts
Millie Briggs - Year 8
Talented dancer (and top student!) Millie Briggs came third in the ‘Slow Dance’ category at the prestigious World Dance Championships in Blackpool! We are so proud of you Millie – what an achievement!
Jay Taylor, Jacob Bent, Leo Livesey, Jake Rothera, Ewan Canton, Zack Roberts, Owen Fitzmaurice - Year 8
Not content with their incredible performance at this year’s Factory showcase in Manchester, our Year 8 boys took it upon themselves to organise their own gig at the Botanical Gardens in Tyldesley last weekend. They treated the crowd to a set of ten songs and went down a storm! Well done lads!
- Sporting Success this week
| Year Group / Team / Individual | |
|---|---|
| FLHS Athletics Team (All Years) | Congratulations to all athletes who represented the school at this week's Wigan Schools' Athletics Championships. The Girls finished 1st, achieving the gold medal. An amazing effort by the team with some real superstar performers! |
| Ava Halliwell (Year 9) | Its official! Ava Halliwell has signed for Blackburn Rovers Ladies. A fantastic achievement. |
| Year 7 / Year 8 Cricket Team | The Y7/8 Cricket team continue to make progress and show a real passion to develop their skills in game situations. Unfortunately, they lost to a very good St Gabriel’s team, but their desire to improve is commendable. Keep going! |
| Sophie Dudley (Year 7) | Y7 student Sophie Dudley won the Under 13 Trampolining competition in Bolton for the North West league. Congratulations Sophie! |
PE Faculty Award
We are delighted to announce that Freddie’s PE Faculty have achieved the School Games GOLD LEVEL Mark Award for the 2022/23 academic year. The School Games Mark is a government-led award scheme launched in 2012, facilitated by the Youth Sport Trust to reward schools for their commitment to the development of competition across their school and into the community. We are delighted that the department been recognised for their success.
The second award is in recognition of the faculty’s continued engagement and participation in the Wigan Warriors emerging teams for all year groups throughout this academic year. All rugby players who have represented the school have done an amazing job. Roll on next year.
The Gift of a Summer Read
Please can we encourage all parents of our new Y7 students to ensure they have read their gifted, award-winning novel: 'When the Sky Falls'. We will be welcoming the author, Phil Earle, into school in the new year, and the text is a key part of the Y7 English curriculum. We recommend 10 minutes of reading per day.
For further information about this book, along with audio chapters, as read by a selection of our teaching staff, click here.
Homework and Self-directed study
Staff are continually encouraging our students to take pride in the quality of their written work. To help, we have introduced the new Freddie’s Proofreading Guidance. Please encourage your child to check all of their work, avoiding making any basic errors by proofreading carefully:
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
Dear Parents and Carers,
We are very keen to ensure that as many of our students as possible have good attendance. Please see the information below on the importance of good attendance.
Why is attendance at school so important?
When students are not frequently absent, their grades and reading skills often improve – even among those students who are struggling in school. Students who frequently attend school feel more connected to their community and develop strong social skills and friendships, which are important life skills.
How does attendance affect achievement in UK schools?
Of those who were persistently absent (below 90% attendance), 40.2% achieved the expected standard in reading, writing and maths compared to 83.9% of pupils with no missed sessions, and 71.9% who missed between 0 and 5%.(May 2022).
Does attendance affect GCSE results?
Students whose attendance drops below 94% will have missed 2 weeks of school. This has a significant impact on GCSE results. Students with no absence are over twice as likely to achieve 5 or more GCSEs at grades 5-9 including English and Mathematics.
Is attendance truly important?
Missing 10 percent, or about 18 days, of the school year can drastically affect a student’s academic success. Students can be chronically absent even if they only miss a day or two every few weeks. Attendance is an important life skill that will help your child do well beyond school and secure employment in later life.
Message from the Headteacher
Dear Parents and Carers,