Head’s Newsletter – 15th September 2023

Dear parents and carers.

 

Thank you to all families of Year 11 students who attended the Pathway to Glory evening on Thursday, where the key messages and the timeline for success in Year 11 were delivered. Students in Year 11 have been an exceptional presence in the school throughout their time at Wollaston and are great role models for the younger year groups. We are very excited to see how well they achieve this year and to see them progress into our sixth form!

 

Whilst all students have settled really well in the first two weeks back, it should be said that I have been hugely impressed with the Year 7 cohort this year who have arrived and are already demonstrating our values of kindness and community around the school, helping each other and supporting each other but also showing great ambition in lessons and confidence in their step up to secondary school.

 

Bus Passes

 

An update from Mr Beeby regarding bus passes. For families who are not entitled to a free bus pass for their child and have applied for a pass with the schools’ transport team, those passes will be sent directly to the home address. For all other children we have now received the bus passes in school and have been distributing those this week. There are still a few remaining passes to hand out and this will be completed on Monday. Passes will not be checked on the buses until Tuesday, so if your child has yet to receive their pass, please do reassure them that they will not have trouble travelling on Monday!

 

Year 7 CAT4 Testing – Wednesday 20^th and Thursday 21^st September.

 

All Year 7 parents will have received a letter providing information detailing next week’s cognitive ability testing (CAT4) testing in school. The outcomes of these cognitive will be a useful indicator in understanding how best to support each student. It is important to note that the CAT4 tests are a measure of cognitive ability and not attainment. Most importantly, there is no reason for students to feel anxious and there is no preparation needed! The test will not be used to inform end of key stage 4 benchmark grades or group setting. This series of tests is designed to be accessed by all students and it will be a great opportunity to experience assessments in a more formal setting at Wollaston.

 

Wednesday 20^th X band will take the tests.

Thursday 21^st Y band will take the tests.

 

Wollaston School Open Evening

 

On 28^th September we will be holding our open evening for families with children in Year 6. As usual we are anticipating a number of students across all year groups representing our community on the evening itself by being tour guides or helping out in subject areas. Mr Litt will communicate directly with families giving details of how students can sign up for the event. Please do look out for this communication.

 

Sixth Form Places

 

We have fielded some requests from 2023 leavers and external students in the last week for places in our sixth form and we have been pleased to welcome back some students who had initially looked at alternative providers. We do have some spaces left in our sixth form so if a young person (2023 leaver or external candidates) would like to join us please do contact our head of sixth form Mr Mills   (millst@wollaston-school.net) , who will be delighted to discuss this with you.

 

Upcoming Events:

 

Flu Vaccinations for Years 7-11: Tuesday 19^th September

Wollaston School Open Evening: Thursday 28^th September

Meet the Tutor Evening Years 7 and 12: Monday 2^nd October

 

Best wishes for the week ahead.

 

Simon Anderson