Dear Parent/Carer

I hope that you enjoyed a good Christmas break and best wishes to you and your family for 2019 from all the staff and governors at Mount Carmel. The autumn term ended on a high note with all pupils taking part in the Christmas sing-along followed by our Mount Carmel version of ‘The Greatest Showman’ which raised the roof!

We have had a lovely start to the Spring Term with Epiphany Assemblies taking place during the first week of term.

This month sees the Year 11 pupils undertaking their second set of GCSE Pre Public examinations. Their conduct during the examinations has been exemplary and we look forward to sharing some encouraging results with them on Friday 15 February. We will be inviting you to discuss their results and progress at a second Year 11 Parents’ Evening which is scheduled to be held on Thursday 21 March. A letter concerning this will be sent nearer the time. After February half term all pupils in Year 11 will receive a personalised 10 week revision programme. Each revision programme is tailored to the pupils’ specific subjects and takes them up to the week before the first GCSE examination. Please support and encourage your child at home with their revision, and remind them that they can speak to their subject teacher at any time if they are struggling in any area.

In my end of term letter at Christmas, I informed you of the members of staff who were leaving us. I would like to let you know who has joined us at the beginning of this Spring Term; Mr Ali and Mrs Howard have joined the maths department and Ms Husseini has joined the RE department.

There are also some changes within our existing staff; Mr Low has been appointed as Curriculum Leader for PE; Miss Mollart has been appointed Teacher of Art; Mr Barratt has been appointed CEIAG Co-ordinator and Mr Khan has been appointed Teacher of RE. Mrs Munroe who was formerly our Reprographics Technician is now my PA and has taken over from Mrs Harris who, as you know, retired at Christmas.

We are also expecting a monitoring visit from Ofsted either during this term or the summer term. We will inform you as soon as we get the call, but in the meantime please do consider giving us some feedback on the Ofsted website – https://parentview.ofsted.gov.uk. Ofsted will want to know what progress we have made in our 4 areas of improvement, what improvements we are making on raising standards of attainment and progress for all pupils but especially; middle and high attaining, pupil premium and SEN.

Appointments with staff: A reminder that it is not possible for parents/carers to call into school and expect to see a member of staff immediately. If you would like to speak with a member of staff please contact the school office and the receptionist will endeavour to put you through or, if the member of staff is unavailable, will take your number and your call will be returned as soon as possible. Most queries can be resolved over the telephone but if a meeting is required a mutually convenient appointment will be made as soon as possible.

ParentMail:
ParentMail connects schools and parents efficiently and reliably using modern technology, making essential communications much simpler for everyone. As a school, we use ParentMail to send texts which include important school closure information and we send emails for information on school events and to facilitate Parents’ Evenings appointments. All whole school letters are sent out via ParentMail so it is imperative that we have your correct email address. We will send a text so that you will know to expect a letter by email and, if you do not receive the letter, please let us know so that we can update your details. Letters will also be posted on our website.

Homework:
We continue to enlist your support with homework in order to support learning beyond the classroom and subsequently the progress of your child. Please ensure that you make good use of ‘Show my Homework’ to track the homework set by teachers and deadlines for completion and encourage your son/daughter with their engagement in what has been asked of them. Logging in as a parent will enable you to see what tasks your child been set. If you are having problems with Show my Homework, please contact Mrs Carruthers at school. Passwords can be re-issued on request.

Year 9 Options:
This term saw the start of the build up to Year 9 in the process towards selecting their options, with assemblies that include talks from subject teachers on Wednesday mornings. The week prior to half term all pupils will be provided with a guidance booklet summarising this information. The combined Options Evening and Year 9 Parents’ Evening will take place on Thursday 28 February. Parents will also be asked on that night to make appointments with their child and a member of SLT on one of two dates in March 7th and 11th from 9.00am until 6.00pm; to discuss their preferences, so bring your diaries! It would be useful to be prepared for the meeting and start conversations early with your child to ensure a clear rationale for their choices based on attainment and progress, conversations with teachers and career choices. Mr Barratt is our Careers Advisor and appointments can be made with him by your child in school time.

Uniform:
We are proud of our high standards of uniform across school. The only jumper allowed in school is the Trutex black cotton jumper with gold striping. Hoodies are not school uniform and should not be worn at any time. Anyone wearing a hoody be asked to remove it and in the second instance it will be confiscated. During the winter months please can I remind you of the importance for your child to have a warm coat which should be placed in their locker on arriving at school. Shirts must be tucked inside trousers/skirts with the top button fastened. Trousers must be slate grey conventional tailored trousers – not black and not ‘skinny fit’. We are also seeing a growing trend in the number of girls turning their skirt over at the waist in order to make it shorter. Skirts are to be worn just above the knee in length (see images below regarding uniform requirements). Traditional sensible low-heeled black school shoes must be worn. Training shoes or boots are not acceptable. Thank you for your support and we will continue to accept nothing but the highest of standards regarding school uniform.

Mobile Phones:
Mobile phones should remain in school bags throughout the school day. If a member of staff sees a pupil using their mobile phone during school hours it will be confiscated and must be collected from the school office by a parent/carer. We make no apologies for having a zero-tolerance approach to the school rules and ask for your full support in these matters.

Planning for Bad Weather:
As seen this week, it is the time of year when we can experience adverse weather conditions. Our view is, whenever possible, school should be open to pupils at all times. We are conscious of our responsibilities to our pupils and their families and therefore any decision to close would be in extreme cases i.e. if staff cannot make the journey into school and if it is snowing hard and makes travelling unsafe in our area. If this happens, information will be available to tell you of the school closure via:

a) Local media – Radio Lancashire and 2BR.
b) School Website: this will be updated regularly as information is known and will be shown clearly (www.mountcarmelhigh.co.uk)
c) School will text parents as soon as possible – which should be before 8.00 a.m. (please ensure you inform school of any change in your mobile numbers).

Please keep updated with our newsletters and check our website for the latest news.

Once again, I thank you for your continued support.

Yours sincerely

Xavier Bowers
HEADTEACHER