Freddie's Focus
For Parents & Carers
- Issue 65
- November 17, 2023
Freddie's Focus
For Parents & Carers
- Issue 65
- November 17, 2023
Things to celebrate
- On Sunday 12th November, we took part in Tyldesley’s Remembrance Parade. 24 of our students represented the school on this special day. We were incredibly proud of each of them for the role that they played in this event.
- Last week we celebrated our Freddie’s Focus on the stars. Please ask your child if they received a shout out from any of their subject areas. Well done to all.
- On Wednesday and Thursday, 51 of our students visited the Royal Albert Hall in London to participate in the National Youth Proms. An amazing experience was had by all.
- Rehearsals for our school show ‘The Addams Family’ are now in full swing!
- Sporting Success this week
- A great unanimous win for Dexter Mole this week against an undefeated fighter from Liverpool. Well done Dexter – keep up the hard work.
- Grace Burch, Y10, had trials for Lancashire Rugby Union team and has been selected to play for the team. Well done, Grace. We are immensely proud of you in PE.
- The Y7 Rugby team had a fantastic evening at the Wigan Warriors Rugby festival winning several fixtures. There were brilliant team and individual performances on display. Well done to everyone involved.
- Basketball club started this week led by our brilliant Y11 students. They delivered various fun activities to many students demonstrating excellent skills in leadership. Keep up the good work!
How we learn
Cognitive Load Theory was developed by John Sweller. ‘Cognitive load’ relates to the amount of information that working memory can hold at one time. Sweller said that, since working memory has a limited capacity, instructional methods should avoid overloading it with additional activities that don’t directly contribute to learning. With this in mind, here are a few things that we do in class to reduce Cognitive Load for your child:
- We build in periods of independent, silent study time so that students can focus in silence on a piece of work which has previously been scaffolded by the teacher. This allows the teacher to move around the classroom and target any students who may require further support.
- SLANT is what we use to gain full attention when it is required. This means that students are encouraged to sit up, get everything out of their hands and track (follow) their teacher. We use this to reduce additional distractions and to ensure that information and instructions are heard and understood by all.
- We break information and instructions down into smaller chunks in a guided ‘step-by step’ way rather than bombarding with too much information all at once.
- We provide modelled examples of work that we are building towards and explain how to get there so that students are clear about the end goal and are gradually guided to get there.
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 why we try to set ‘Read it’ homework or encourage our students to self-direct their study time at home by reading:
Microsoft Office
Did you know that your child can access Microsoft Office at home for free? As a student at Fred Longworth High School, your child is allowed to download a fully working free copy of Microsoft Office 365 to use on their computer, smartphone and tablet whilst they are a student at our school. Click on the button below to learn more.
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
We want to do all we can to support your child to be in school every day and ask that you support this important message from home, encouraging your child to avoid missing curriculum content through absence.
Message from the Headteacher
Dear Parents and Carers,
I hope that all parents have read the letter I sent out earlier this week outlining the changes that have been made to our systems and routines in light of the move into the new school. If you have not received this letter, it can be accessed here.
Over the coming weeks and months parents will be able to visit the new school to see the facilities for themselves. Year 11 parents will get the opportunity next Thursday (23rd November) for the Year 11 support evening. Mrs Ward who has coordinated this event has sent out the details separately. Whilst we will be delighted to welcome as many Y11 parents as possible, please be mindful of the parking restrictions currently on site.
Thank-you to all parents who engaged with our on-line Progress Review Evening on Monday. We hope you found this a useful opportunity to touch base with your child’s form tutor.
Thank-you for your continued support.