PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT

Communications

We believe that effective communication between home and school is critical to the success of the student. There are a number of channels for regular communication from school to home: a newsletter, Mini Manners, is produced by the Headteacher and staff and published at the end of each half-term, for instance; while the school magazine, Manners, is produced by a team of sixth form girls and published annually. The website is regularly updated and the latest edition of Mini Manners is available from the website, as well as calendar information and various other items of information about the school. Letters are sent home as necessary when more specific information needs to be communicated – eg for visits and trips and are also available in a password protected area of this website. Each student is issued with a planner which can be used for brief messages between school and home – either way – and parents who wish to contact the school more formally can either write or ring the school and ask to speak to a member of staff such as the Head of Sixth Form or the form tutor.

Parents’ evenings

Year 12
There are two Parents’ Evenings (with students) in the academic year.
• Early December (Term 1): an assessment of transition from GCSE to AS level work and current progress (in terms of attainment, effort, motivation etc) prior to the first AS level units in the following January
• Early July (Term 3): an update on transition from AS to A2 level, current progress and discussion on realistic post-18 plans particularly for higher education

Year 13
• Mid-September: Parents’ and students’ surgery evening for students with problems over Career/Course options for post-18 plans. Individual appointments with the Head of Sixth Form
• Mid-October: Parents’ and students’ evening with the full academic staff. This is the final, full opportunity for staff to talk to parents on academic progress prior to the A2 level module examinations in January.

Sixth form reports

Year 12
One formal annual academic report on progress in each AS subject is prepared for parents for the end of the spring term (Term 2). A reply slip is included for parental comment. Interim internal appraisals of each student’s performance take place prior to the end of each term when form tutor review appointments take place with each student.

Year 13
One formal annual academic report on progress in each A2 subject is prepared for parents early in the spring term (Term 2). The report is in two sections—the upper half represents the summative subject statement for the Progress File and the lower half of the report includes statements for constructive improvements to be made in order that targets are met.

Parents’ information evenings

There are periodic Year 12/13 information evenings for parents (and students if they wish to come) on a range of issues pertaining to the sixth form.
• Mid-September: Open University higher education units for sixth formers (Young Applicants Scheme) presentation given by the West Midlands regional organiser for OU and senior leadership team.
• Mid-October: Presentation evening given by an admissions tutor of a leading university on interview skills preparation for higher education.
• Early February: Higher education student finance evening. Advice from UCAS Finance Services, the DfES Government sources and the LA (up to 2008). Additional resources will be supplied by the Student Loans Company.
• Mid-May/June: Introduction to the higher education cycle for Year 12 parents—a full briefing on all aspects of the application process, open days, advice sources and networks.
• June: Briefing for Year 11 parents—information/preparation for prospective sixth formers induction process at the end of June and early September. This is in addition to the pre-sixth open evening for prospective (Year 11 to Year 12) students in mid-November each year.

Friends of the School

Since the school's foundation, there has always been close co-operation between parents, the school and its staff. The FOS includes parents, one staff representative and the head teacher and is mainly concerned with organising varied social and fund-raising events to support the school. In future years increasing links with past students and parents will be fostered by liaison between the FOS Committee and the Alumnae Society. The loyalty and hard work of all members are much appreciated by the main beneficiaries, the students.

The Alumnae Association

This organisation, developed in 2006 by an enthusiastic group of past students, is currently undergoing a restructuring of its activities and procedures, to ensure representatives from several year groups are included within the Committee organisation. News about former students is recorded in an Alumnae publication. Regular liaison between the Alumnae Committee and the School occurs and one member of the current staff co-ordinates information with the Alumnae Membership Secretary and the Friends of the School, with whom the Alumnae Society hopes to increase its links for the benefit of the school. Several social events involving former students take place in the summer months and it is intended to extend the range of activities in future years. Committee members comprise past students of different year groups and they are helping to update an evolving Alumnae website and an events programme towards our 50th school anniversary in 2008-9.
Further information may be obtained from the Head of Sixth Form.

School Fund

We believe that the extensive extra-curricular and personal development programme we run is vital to the success of the school, but of course we receive no extra funding for such activities. Thus we are very grateful for parental support to fund this programme through generous contributions to School Fund and other fund-raising activities, and whenever possible, we extend the power of such contributions by gift aid.

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