Year 9 Parents’ Evening Wednesday 28 September 2016

Plan for the Evening Head of Year – Mr Magill Head of Junior School – Mrs McLaughlin . Mr Magill

Purpose of Evening Awareness/Communication Changes/Initiatives Support Dealing with the pressure The main aim of this evening is to help strengthen links between school and home. It is essential that we all work together and communicate effectively to help your child reach their full potential. We will also be making you aware of any changes or new initiatives that we are implementing this year. Later in the presentation Mrs McLaughlin will be highlighting the various avenues of support on offer to your child throughout the year and giving you tips on dealing with pressure. Mr Magill

Why is Year 9 so important? Maintain enthusiasm Expectations Lots of teaching completed Impact of results and experiences -> GCSE subject choices Generally the majority of our pupils remain as enthusiastic about school in Form 2 as they were in Form 1. It is important that you at home and us in school continue to develop this enthusiasm so that pupils are keen to come to school every day and try their best. Our levels of expectation in Form 2 rise, there are no excuses anymore. They are no longer the youngest pupils in the school they are now role models for our Form 1 pupils. We expect pupils to be more organised, more independent as the work becomes more demanding. Form 2 is the middle year of the Key Stage 3 process, your children are now almost half way through there first stage of secondary education. This period in your child’s education is crucial to their future attainment. Evidence shows that if children do well at Key Stage 3 they significantly increase their chances of doing well at GCSE and beyond. Results in the winter and summer examinations will have a significant bearing on a pupil’s perception of a subject i.e. if they achieve a pleasing result in the Form 2 summer exam, the confidence and pride that they take form the result will inevitably carry through to Form 3. However, if they achieve a poor result, it will likely lead to a “switch- off” in that subject. Mr Magill

The Year Ahead Key Dates: Friday 11 November: Report Cards issued Wednesday 11 – Tuesday 17 January: Winter Examinations Friday 10 February: Report Cards issued Monday 20 March: Parent Consultation Friday 7 April: Report Cards issued Monday 22 – Monday 29 May: Summer Examinations Tuesday 20 June – Careers Day The first report card in November will give a Grade for each subject and this grade will be based on attainment in that subject. We do not expect everyone to get A’s in all subjects but I do expect everyone to get good or better effort marks. As a reminder there are 4 effort marks given excellent- highly motivated and engaged Good – consistent application and positive attitude Satisfactory – usually focused but room for improvement Unsatisfactory – lack of focus, engagement and effort After the winter examinations in January you will receive a report in February giving a standardised score in each subject. This will have a mean score of 150. This will allow you directly compare your child's progress across all their subjects and it will also allow you to compare against the year average. The parent consultation is in April is your opportunity to chat directly to your child’s subject teachers, however if you have an issue please do not wait until April contact us sooner so that the issue can be resolved. Mr Magill

Careers: looking ahead Subject choices in Year 10 - interviews Careers Day in June 2017 Start early – information for pupils and parents on our website Work experience in Year 11 CEIAG – Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance – contact to Mrs Browne fbrowne192@c2kni.net Mr Magill

Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Time-bound Target Setting Setting SMART Targets Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Time-bound Target setting will happen twice in the year. Once in November for 3 weeks setting targets for the winter examinations and then again in April to set targets for the summer examinations. Pupils will select a maximum of 4 subjects that they will set specific targets for. This will be completed in consultation with subject teachers and Form Teachers. Targets will all be recorded in the homework diary. You as parents will also be asked to review your child's targets and sign their diary to confirm you have seen them. Mr Magill

SMART Targets - Example Improve my standardised score in Maths to at least 160 (10 above the mean) in the winter exams Make detailed revision notes before the end of December. Complete at least 5 extra questions on the topics that I find difficult and ask my teacher to check them. Ask my parents to test me for 30 mins a week on the Maths that I have studied that week. As you can see from this example the emphasis is now much more on how the target will be achieved rather than just the target itself. Mr Magill

Lesson Monitor Applicable to all students in all lessons An integrated classroom tool to monitor behaviour, attendance and achievements in the classroom Behaviour – e.g. Unprepared for class; Disruptive Behaviour; Achievement – Marked Improvement; Outstanding work; Excellent effort; Helpfulness Read first two bullet points This is invaluable to Heads of Year as we no longer have to rely on word of mouth, we now have tangible evidence and data to act upon. I personally have it set up so that I can check any updates daily for both positive and negative behaviours. All those with positives get a mention in the weekly year assembly. Various strategies and sanctions will be applied if a child has persistent negative behaviours. Currently the biggest problems that are occuring are with organisation and pupils failing to bring in homework on time. Mr Magill

Helping with organisation Homework Diary In Form time and year assemblies over the last few weeks we have been trying to address this by focusing on how to set up good routines to help with organisation, in particular correctly using the homework diary. Ways in which you can help. Each child was given a copy of the homework timetable and this was sent home to you. You can check your child has their homework timetable copied into the back of their homework diary and this can be used to fill in the subjects on the relevant days in advance. This means that your child only needs to write in the details of the homework when they are in class and it allows you to know what homeworks to expect to be handed in on those days. Mr Magill

School Planner Mr Magill We have been reminding the pupils that they must write in all details needed for example page numbers, how and where the work has to be presented. Once the homework has been completed pupils should tick it off in their diary. If no homework was set they should write that in as well so you know that they have not just forgotten to write it down. Weekly you should be checking your child's homework diary and signing it and this will be checked by the form teacher. We really appreciate your support on this in particular at the start of the year when it takes a little bit longer for some children to get organised. Every night pupils should be checking their homework diary and ensure that they have packed their bags correctly for the next day. Some child may need more help with this than others until they develop this organisational skills and can do this independently. Mr Magill

Form Period New initiative – September 2016 Mr Magill

Extra-curricular Mr Magill

Support on Offer Subject Teachers Form Tutors HOY School Counsellor – Mrs Caulfield Additional support Pastoral Mentoring Academic Tutoring Fronter Library Website: www.grosvenorgrammarschool.org.uk Good afternoon – I would like to begin by thanking you all for coming this evening, I know that it’s not always easy getting away from work or home at this time so we really do appreciate you making the effort. As Mr Magill mentioned at the beginning of his presentation, this evening is about helping us to strengthen links between school and home so that we are all working together to ensure that your child has the opportunity to reach his/her full potential. As Head of Junior School my role is to oversee pastoral care within the Junior School. I would therefore like to take this opportunity to outline the support that is available here in school for your child. Subject Teachers – If your child is struggling to cope with aspects of their work then the first point of contact should be their subject teacher. I would ask you to encourage your child to speak to their sub teacher as soon as a problem arises before it gets out of hand. The subject teachers are experts in their field and are therefore best placed to give your child the extra support and guidance that they need. Teachers want to know … Your child’s form Tutor – is another very useful point of contact. The Year 9 tutors are a team of very dedicated form teachers who have already begun work on delivering Pastoral Scheme of Work, which deals with issues such as bullying, respect for Self/Others, Study Skills, Emotional Health etc. Your child sees their Form teacher every morning and also during their Form Period so if a problem arises please encourage them to speak to their tutor as soon as possible. The HOY Mr Magill– is always available for help. Obviously throughout the school day Mr Magill will be teaching his classes but if you ever need to speak to him please contact the school office and they will inform Mr Magill who will then get back to you as soon as possible. We also have a School Counsellor - Mrs Caulfield. Mrs Caulfield is a very experienced counsellor who is available to deal with individual pupils and more sensitive issues on a one-to-one basis. The Pastoral Mentoring Programme - is a scheme which provides additional support to small groups of pupils who it is deemed would benefit from it. The programme runs in the mornings during registration and looks at issues such time-management/organisation/study skills etc. – this year we are introducing 6th form mentors who have been specifically chosen to work on a one to one basis with individual pupils. Referrals for the programme are made through the HOY, Mr Magill. Academic Tutoring – is a another scheme that is run in the mornings during registration . Pupils are usually referred initially by their subject teachers to the HOD who then refers the pupils on. However, if you feel that you child is struggling with any aspects of their academic studies you can contact us and we can then speak to the relevant HoD in order to refer your child. The aim is to support pupils who require additional support with particular aspects of their academic studies. The programme is overseen by Mr Kernohan and Dr Elliott and is delivered by A level students – who work with the younger pupils, the ratio is 1:3 maximum, if pupil arrives on time it can be a full 20 minutes, 2 days a week. If your child is referred for Academic Tutoring it won’t necessarily be for a long time, it may simply be for a few weeks until they have mastered a particular part of the course. Library – We also ask you to encourage your child to use of the library during break and lunch – obviously not to do homework that is due the next period. Website – Parents section on website, copy of this PPT will be made available. Also on there is information on study skills and how you can help your child. Mrs McLaughlin

What if they still feel overwhelmed? Contact school HOY Head of Junior School School Counsellor FamilyWorks Designated Teachers: Miss Hyndman, Mrs McLaughlin and Mrs Fox If your child feels overwhelmed and you are worried about them at any time please do not hesitate to contact the school to speak to either Mr Magill or myself. If you contact the school and Mr Magill is not available but you really need to speak to someone then please ask to speak to me. Also, as mentioned previously we have Mrs Caulfield, our school counsellor who you or your child can speak to if you have concerns regarding your child's well-being. This can be arranged by you contacting the school directly or through your child’s Form Tutor, Head of Year or myself – Head of Junior School. We also use the services of Family works counselling an organisation with experienced counsellors who offer pupils counselling to help them work through the challenges facing them. We generally refer pupils to Family works counselling when they don’t wish to speak to anyone in school or if we feel that they require a higher level of support than we can provide here in school. Any child protection or safeguarding issues should be passed on immediately to Miss Hyndman who is our Designated teacher or me or Mrs Fox as the Deputy Designated teachers. Sometimes your child might mention that they have concerns about some of their friends – if that is the case please encourage them to speak to either Miss Hyndman me or Mrs Fox as soon as possible and not to try to deal with the situation themselves. Also, the sooner we know that there is an issues the sooner we can put systems in place to ensure that the pupil is safe. Mrs McLaughlin

Balance Diet and exercise Treats/rewards Support network Work/leisure Obviously I’m not here to tell you how to raise your child and you know your child better than anyone else but I would encourage you to try to ensure that your child has a balanced lifestyle both in terms of what they eat and how they spend their time. There is lots of evidence to support the view that healthy eating can stabilise children’s energy levels, sharpen their minds and even out their moods. Good nutrition and plenty of exercise are the building blocks for strong growth, healthy development and lifelong well-being for children. Good nutrition is essential to healthy brain development in children which is of course critical to learning. Children who eat healthily and exercise regularly are likely to perform better academically, feel better about themselves and their bodies , be better able to cope with stress and regulate their emotions better and avoid feelings of low self esteem, anxiety and depression. The school dining centre operates a healthy eating policy so we would encourage those of you whose children take packed lunches with them to school that you try to ensure that there are healthy treats and drinks in their lunches to ensure that they are able to fulfil their potential when they are in class. Also extra-curricular programme. Wide range of activities different days of the week. Great getting to know other pupils outside of their class, year even, also developing social skills and giving them a bit of light relief from their studies etc. Mrs McLaughlin

Our aims for the pupils Happy Well-taught Self-confident Self-motivated Well-adjusted Well-presented Personal discipline Good communicators Problem solvers/thinkers Managers of Information Caring Responsible Able to build relationships Respectful Academic ambition Conclusion My final slide simply outlines our aims for our pupils, your children as they progress through this current academic year and of course throughout their whole time in Grosvenor. With each of us working together I am sure your child will be able to reach their full potential. We hope you have found this evening informative and thank you very much for coming along. We really appreciate your support. Mr Magill and I will be around for a while to answer any questions that you might have. Also, a copy of the presentation will be on the school website. Mrs McLaughlin

Finally Thank you