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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 weekly parent newsletter is published on the website, for
instance, while a termly newsletter, Mini Manners, is produced
by the Headteacher and staff and published at the end of each half-term
and the school magazine, Manners, is produced by a team
of sixth form girls and published annually. The website is regularly
updated – see www.stratfordgrammar.co.uk
– and the latest edition of Mini Manners is available
from the website, as well as the parent newsletter, 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 on the 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
There are four Parents’ Evenings (with
students) in the course of the sixth form:
Year 12
• 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 – with full academic staff.
• 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 – with tutors.
Year 13
• Mid-September (Term 4): 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 (Term 4): 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 5). 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.
- Early September: Briefing for Year 12
parents: information/preparation for student life, work ethic,
expectations and appointments in the sixth form process. This
is in addition to the Pre-Sixth Open Evening for prospective (Year
11 to Year 12) students in mid-November each year.
- 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 and the DCSF
Government sources. Additional resources will be supplied by the
Student Loans Company.
- Early summer term: Introduction to the
Higher Education cycle for Year 12 parents—a full briefing
on all aspects of the UCAS application process, open days, advice
sources and networks.
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 is being developed by an
enthusiastic group of past students and 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 will be 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, the Friends of the School and
the Marketing Committee, 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 continuing on from our 50th school anniversary
in 2008-9.
As each Year 13 leaves at the end of June, a special Leavers’
Graduation Evening for both parents and students takes place, in
association with the Alumnae Society and FOS. Each Year 13 student
will receive an Alumnae Membership pack and a memento of Shottery
and they will be warmly encouraged to become life associates of
the Shottery Alumnae Society, fostering an ongoing two-way support
between the caring community of the school; and the maturing adult
who, in turn, may be able to support Shottery in some way eg to
assist with careers guidance and to participate in Shottery community
and alumnae events. Further information may be obtained from the
Head of Sixth Form, who chairs the Shottery Alumnae Association.
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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