Dear Parent/Carer

It is hard to believe but we are at the end of another busy academic year and once again I would like to thank you all for your continued support. Well done to our Year 7 pupils for a successful first year at Mount Carmel and well done to our Year 11 pupils for a fantastic 5 years at the school. The 2019 leavers have been a great credit to themselves, their families and the school. We hope that they had a wonderful Prom and wish them, and their families, all the very best for the future. Let’s also hope that their hard work and that of the staff is reflected in the summer examination results!

We are delighted that the Ofsted report from our monitoring inspection visit on 2 May is extremely positive and recognises the improvements that have been made over the last two years. The results of the Ofsted Parent View survey also reflects the positivity and good practice in our school. We feel that they are more evidence that by working together in partnership, the school will continue to go from strength to strength.

Oliver! Over the last few months pupils, and staff, have been working hard to prepare for our school production of Oliver! The show did not disappoint with audiences enjoying professional sound, lighting, direction, music and dance. The pupils involved performed to packed audiences of primary pupils on Tuesday 9 and Wednesday 10 July before the final performance on Wednesday evening to an audience of over 250 people. Well done to all the staff and pupils involved, and thank you to all who came along to watch the performance – we’re sure you will agree that the cast were absolutely fantastic!

Once again we are saying thank you and goodbye to some of our staff who are moving on to new posts; Mr Green (Maths Teacher) and Mr Ali (Maths Teacher). We wish them well in their new posts and thank them for their service to the school. We are also saying farewell to Mr Wallace after 19 years’ service and Mr Cunningham who is retiring after 36 years’ service to Mount Carmel. We wish him a very long and happy retirement.

In September we welcome new staff to Mount Carmel: Mr Dugdale – Deputy Headteacher; Mrs Bancroft – Curriculum Leader for Science; Miss Whittles – Assistant Curriculum Leader for Modern Foreign Languages; Mr Goldsmith – Assistant Curriculum Leader for Maths; Mr Doskocz – Computing/ICT Teacher; Miss Khan – Maths Teacher; Miss Robinson – English Teacher; Mrs Peake – Lay Chaplain/TA3 English and Miss Takacs – Examinations Officer.

Please note the following information:

School will reopen to ALL YEARS on Tuesday 3 September 2019. Once again, we are staggering the start of the first day of the new term. Year 7 only will start school at 8.45am. This will allow us to go through key Health and Safety information, allow a tour of the school and ensure that all Year 7 pupils are set up on the cashless system. Year 8 to Year 11 are asked to arrive at school during break time; i.e. between 11.10am and 11.30am at the very latest. Please note, unfortunately, you may have to make alternative arrangements for your children to get into school that day as we would be unable to arrange school buses for that time. All pupils will then have an extended form period before lunch and have normal lessons in the afternoon session.

Behaviour Policy: As you are aware, we introduced a new Behaviour Policy this year to deal with low level disruptive behaviour. This has ensured that persistent offenders have more quickly escalated through the sanctions system. The end result has been good behaviour across school acknowledged by staff, pupils, parents and Ofsted alike. The pupil planner has been central to this process and will continue to be so. It is therefore crucial that parents/carers check their child’s planner every night. The behaviour policy will have slight changes made in the escalation of sanctions 1 to 10 and these changes may be seen in the revised policy on the school website from September. Please support us in continuing to encourage your child to be at their best behaviour in school at all times. We will also continue to recognise and reward good behaviour with positive phone calls, post cards, achievement points and positive comments/stamps written in your child’s pupil planner.

School Uniform and Equipment: Please can you ensure that when your child returns to school in September they do so with full uniform, a suitable bag to contain school books and equipment such as pens, pencils, calculator etc. There should be no extreme haircuts or tram lines. Pupils should only have one small stud in each earlobe. Any other piercings are strictly not allowed. Pupils not conforming to these hair and jewellery school rules will be placed in the Reflect Room until the issue is resolved.
The vast majority of pupils wear their Mount Carmel uniform with pride and always look smart. We have however had a number of pupils wearing incorrect black trousers instead of charcoal grey ones and also training shoes. Girls who wish to wear a headscarf must also use the school designed and approved version. Please be aware that pupils who turn up in September not wearing the correct uniform will also be placed in the Reflect Room until the issue is resolved. Please support us by always ensuring that your child comes to school in the correct uniform.

Homework / Timetable 2019.20: All pupils should use ‘Show My Homework’ to access their homework and submission deadlines; they are now able to ‘log-in’ using their school email address and create new passwords for themselves if needed. There is also a link at the bottom of the school website for pupils and parents. https://www.showmyhomework.co.uk/login If you need a new pin to login and see your child’s homework, then please contact the relevant Pastoral Leader for your child’s year group. Don’t forget you can also down load the Show My Homework app to receive alerts and track your child’s homework. Pupils will be issued with their new timetable on the first day in September.

School will close for the summer on Friday 19 July and arrangements for the day are as follows:
• 8.45am to 9.10am – morning registration
• 9.10am to 10.10am – lesson 1
• 10.10am to 11.00am – lesson 2
• 11.00am to 11.30am – early lunch
• 11.30am to 12.30pm – pm session (the second register will close at 12.30pm)

The buses have been ordered to come at 12.30pm. If your child is entitled to free school meals, they will need to pre-order a packed lunch and collect this at break-time.

Finally, may I wish you a safe and enjoyable summer break and look forward to welcoming your child back at school on Tuesday 3 September 2019.

Yours sincerely

Xavier Bowers
HEADTEACHER