Dear Parent / Carer

As usual, this Spring Term has been very busy and we have had some fantastic events taking place in school.

A Year 5 STEM project for two partner primary schools took place over two days during British Science Week where the pupils participated in Science, Maths and Design and Technology practical activities. This project will lead to a British Science Association accredited award which will be presented to the pupils during a Celebration Evening in July. We also welcomed primary pupils from other partner schools to participate in English, Drama, Music and Spanish workshops as part of our ‘Next Steps’ transition programme, and one of our English teachers delivers weekly outreach support to pupils from our partner Catholic primary schools.

We celebrated British Science Week in school with a range of various activities including a STEM day involving all Year 7 pupils and science-based activities and quizzes during form time.

During Fairtrade Fortnight we had a cake sale at break time and raised £63.50 for our school charity – St Patrick’s RC School, Kenya.

On 6 March 86 pupils attended, and participated in, a lovely Ash Wednesday Mass at St Mary’s Church, Oswaldtwistle. The school choir led the hymns and two choir members gave solo performances. All pupils received ashes, if they wished, in what was a very spiritual start to the season of Lent.

World Book Day took place on Thursday 7 March, and pupils arrived in school to be met by Dracula, Miss Trunchbull, a mermaid, a giant, a handsome prince and almost, but not quite, 101 Dalmatians! Staff dressed up as book characters and throughout the day, during each lesson, all pupils were read a section of Roald Dahl’s ‘The Hitch-Hiker’ so that by the end of the day every pupil had heard the complete story.

On Saturday 16 March, we co-organised and hosted the Accrington Lions Family Fun Day in aid of Down Syndrome. There were celebrity appearances from the TV series “Hollyoaks” and, despite the dreadful weather conditions, lots of fun activities took place. Many thanks to all who attended and to the members of our PTFA, who kept everyone sustained throughout the day by serving refreshments. Any parent is welcome to be part of the PTFA; a wonderful team of people who provide ongoing support at all school events. The next meeting is Tuesday 21 May at 6.00pm in school and you will be guaranteed a very warm welcome.

We are extremely pleased that once again we have reached our full admission number for Year 7 places for September 2019 and, as part of the transition process, we invited pupils and their families for a Welcome Evening on Tuesday 26 March. This was an informal event providing useful information for their families, and we look forward to our new Year 7s joining us in the next academic year.

Year 9 Options: It has reached that time in the school year when we have been busy organising Year 9 option choices for next September. In order that we try and get this decision right for all our pupils we have once again held special assemblies, a parents’ / information evening, and met individually with parents and students to talk about which options to choose, with a view to their future studies and career paths. Thank you for all your help and support with these meetings and I hope you have found the process informative and helpful. Year 9 parents will receive a letter shortly after Easter confirming their child’s options choices.

Parents’ Evenings: Parental engagement at Parents’ Evenings this year has been fantastic, with an increase in attendance in all year groups when compared with last year. The partnership between school and home continues to be a key ingredient in supporting the progress of all pupils and, by continuing to work together, we can keep making a positive impact with all pupils.

As usual, I would like to remind parents and carers of the important aspects of behaviour and standards:

Homework: Please continue to support teachers by ensuring that your child is able to login to ‘Show my Homework’ and that you have downloaded the ‘app’. Please also support your child to complete their homework to the best standard and hand it in on time. It is helpful if homework tasks are regularly checked by parents and planners signed each week. Similarly, ensure that your child can log in and does so each day.

Improving standards of behaviour and attendance: Thank you to the majority of parents, for your help in ensuring that your child arrives to school on time each day. This is a really important habit to get into for life. In the world of training and work all employers will expect their trainees and workforce to be on time and attend regularly. However, there are still far too many pupils arriving late to school and arriving to lessons with no basic equipment. I have once again asked all the teaching staff to focus on getting the basics right and take a zero-tolerance approach to the persistent offenders!

School equipment: Please ensure that your child packs their bag the night before school, that they have basic school equipment such as a pen, pencil, planner, calculator etc., and they have full school uniform and PE kit in school each day. These things are essential and not optional for any pupil.

SEND Update
IEP (Individual Education Plans) and student profiles are all up-to-date and are being used to help meet the needs of all our students with SEND. As a team can we thank all parents for taking the time to complete the IEP evaluations with Mrs Wild during conversations at Parents’ Evenings. This has proved to be most successful and something we will continue to schedule for 2019-2020.

Staying Safe Online: As a school we have recently invested in Esafe technology. It is the only monitoring system to feature TripleLock protection which promotes welfare and wellbeing by combining advanced intelligent detection technology, specialist human behaviour analysis and dynamic threat libraries to identify threats that others can’t. This system will keep pupils safe online when in school, but the range and complexity of technology today can often seem bewildering for some parents, particularly with older children who may seem permanently ‘connected’. Parents and carers are key partners in helping to safeguard our children when using technologies such as laptops, tablets, smartphones and games consoles. The Lancashire Safeguarding Children Board have provided a helpful list of resources to outline the potential risks and provide supporting information for parents and carers. Please see the link on our school website: https://mountcarmelhigh.co.uk/staying-safe-online/

Keeping Teenagers Safe: Most crimes are committed against teenagers than any other age group, but below are some things they can do to stay safe on the streets. Please talk to your child about their personal safety and share the following advice:
• Stay alert, and keep music from phones turned off, so they can hear what’s going on around them;
• Stick to busy, well-lit roads, and avoid short cuts through alleyways;
• If you think someone is following you, cross the road or go to a place with lots of people around, like a bus stop or shop;
• You could carry a whistle or shrill alarm to warn off suspicious strangers;
• When travelling by bus, use bus stops on busy roads;
• If someone tries to take something from you, never fight back;
• Keep mobile phones and other valuables out of sight, and to turn off mobile phone ringers to avoid attracting attention;
• Don’t carry weapons because they are more likely to be used against you, and it’s illegal.

Easter Celebrations in Hyndburn
The Knights of St Columba have confirmed details of the interdenominational events taking place during Easter. The first is a service at 2.15pm on Palm Sunday, 14 April 2019, in Accrington Market Square. The Good Friday Stations of the Cross walk will take place on Friday 19 April. Those who would like to be involved should meet at the top of Avenue Parade by the park entrance at 11.15am. The procession finishes at the large Cross on the summit of the Coppice. I hope that you can join us at one of these events. Please also check the websites of your local church for times of Masses during Easter so that we can support our local Parishes in the long-standing traditions of the Catholic Church.

School will close for the main Easter holiday on Friday 29 March at 12.30pm and buses have been ordered for this time. If your child is entitled to free school meals, they will need to pre-order a packed lunch and collect this at break-time. We re-open for the summer term on Monday 15 April but are closed on Good Friday, 19 April and Easter Monday, 22 April.

Finally, can I wish you, and your families, a happy and Holy Easter.

Yours sincerely

Xavier Bowers
HEADTEACHER