Writhlington News
Good luck to all our students taking exams!
Dates for Your Diary
**Activities Week Monday 15th to Friday 19th July**
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Parents' Evenings
Year 10: Thursday 16th May
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Term Dates
End of Term 5: Friday 24th May
Start of Term 5: Monday 3rd June
Writhlington Newsletter Term 4 2023_24.pdfPlease click on the links below to see copies of correspondence
Please see the archive page for older information
May 2024
03/05/2024: Year 7 Activities Week
03/05/2024: Year 8 Activities Week
03/05/2024: Year 9 Activities Week
03/05/2024: Year 10 Parents' Evening
07/05/2024: Year 10 Science End of Year Assessment
07/05/2024: Year 9 Science End of Year Assessment
07/05/2024: Years 7 and 8 Science End of Year Assessment
Important Message Regarding Social Media
Dear Parent/Carer
As you will be aware, Writhlington School has a mobile phone policy whereby devices are switched off and in student’s bags. This has led to a dramatic decrease in student reliance on phones in school and has had a positive impact on social anxiety and bullying based around misuse of social media.
However, recently it has come to our attention that there has been a number of chat groups set up on social media, predominantly Snapchat, on which several students have been abusive towards each other outside of school. These conflicts have then spilled over into school meaning that we are beginning to deal with a higher number of incidents that are causing increased anxiety levels for those involved.
I would like to ask parents to support us in reducing the issues we are dealing with in school in the following ways:
For our younger students, please be aware that the legal age restriction for many social media platforms is 13 years plus (and in many cases the legal age is much older). These age restrictions are put in place to protect children from harmful content so we advise that you adhere to these age restrictions when allowing your child to use their phone.
We would ask that you be vigilant around your children’s use of technology and social media by monitoring the content that is accessed by them and checking their use of social media platforms and the messages that they are sending and receiving.
In addition, you can use services such as ‘Family Centre’ to monitor not only what your child is saying online, but also what is being said to them and about them.
Please find here a link to the Apple instructions on how to set up parental controls on an iPhone/iPad.
The evidence against social media usage for all school children is overwhelming and I hope you will support us in safeguarding all pupils here at Writhlington by ensuring that their use of technology and social media is appropriate.
Kind regards
Mrs C England
Deputy Head
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Activities Week 15th to 19th July
Emails about this year's Activities Week were sent out last week - please see above for copies of these should you need them.
We need consent, as always, to take your child out of school so need you to complete the online form to provide this by Friday 17th May please. Full details can be found in the relevant letter (above).
Please also remember that if your child is interested in any of the optional trips planned for Years 8 and 9, you also need to complete the relevant online form to register interest by the same date.
Please contact Mr Bridges at mbridges@writhlington.org.uk if you need any further information.
Attendance
There are strong links between regular attendance and high attainment and Writhlington students take pride in their achievements. Together with parents/carers and students, staff will work hard to ensure that any barriers to attendance are identified quickly and resolved in a timely manner. Missed days from school have an impact on the wellbeing of students and can result in gaps in their learning.
Please see the Attendance page on our school website for more information on this important subject:
https://www.writhlington.org.uk/key-information/attendance.htm
Lost Property
We have lots of coats, bags and shoes in our lost property at Student Reception. If you have noticed that your child is missing something, please ask them to check here as soon as possible. We do not have the room to keep items indefinitely so anything not collected will end up being recycled.
Devon Orchid Show
At 5am on Saturday 4th May a group of Year 7 pupils travelled to Budleigh Salterton to attend the Devon Orchid Show. Also in the minibus were Mr Antwis, Mrs Jones and about 500 orchids! Some of the orchids were to make up our "show display" and the remainder were for sale. The pupils did all of the work - interacting with the public, talking about orchids, answering questions about orchid care and also selling! They were excellent ambassadors for the school and managed to raise just under £500 in orchid sales. Some of our display orchids won various prizes namely, several "Merit" rosettes and one "best in class" rosette. They arrived back to Writhlington at about 6:30pm very tired but having enjoyed a great day out. Well done!
Bristol Half Marathon
Mr Farr and Mr Talbot are both taking part in this on Sunday 19th May.
Mr Farr is running to raise money for the Weldmar Hospice in Dorchester who looked after his sister in her final days. If anyone would like to contribute towards this fantastic cause, please see: https://www.justgiving.com/page/graham-farr-1706037540491?utm_medium=fundraising&utm_content=page%2Fgraham-farr-1706037540491&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=pfp-share
Thank you and good luck to both teachers.
Careers Noticeboard
📋**Year 10 Work Experience: Monday 15th to Friday 19th July**
Year 10 Students will go out on Work Experience in July during Activities Week and we know it is important to get places booked as soon as possible, especially if students have a specific idea of where they would like to go. ConnectEd have now emailed your child to download the ConnecEd app where they upload details of their placement so we can complete all the necessary checks. We will continue to support students with this over the coming weeks.
📋 Careers Webinars Please see https://amazingapprenticeships.com/workshops-webinars/ for details of forthcoming free webinars on the subject of apprenticeships
Extra Curricular Activities 2023/24
We are pleased to share with you the details of our extra curricular clubs, trips and activities for this year. Please click here for a general overview. No pre-booking is necessary for most clubs; students are welcome to just turn up!
A more detailed document showing timings for school trips can be found here. We wanted to be able to share these timings early in the year so that you are able to plan accordingly. We hope that you find this helpful.
Please note that these are working documents, so any updates will be shown on them immediately. The documents will be included in this newsletter every week, so please check them periodically to stay up to date but we will also email home with details as appropriate.
CCF is held after school on Wednesdays for students in Years 9 to 13. It is not too late to sign up; please speak to Miss Mason in CO10!
Sports Clubs - please click here and here for more details
Emails have been sent home regarding the various DofE awards. Copies of these emails can be found in our correspondence section.
Orchid Club takes place every lunchtime at 12.45pm plus Tuesdays after school from 3.30pm to 4.30pm for students in KS4 and KS5.
NEW: ADVENTURE CLUB TERMS 5 and 6 Please click here for details.
Writhlington Week
Notices and News, Clubs and Events
Sports Clubs Terms 5 and 6 Please click here for details
Year 11 Science Good luck to Year 11 from all the science team, You have worked really hard and we are very proud of you all. You are all very ready for your Biology Exam on Friday. Don't forget you need a calculator as well as your usual pen, pencil and ruler!
Community News
Music Festival Market: Saturday 1st June Somer Centre, Midsomer Norton. Please see poster below for more details.
Reminders
School Visitors: Parents/carers and visitors must report to Reception on arrival and not enter the school through Sixth Form or any other school door.
Student Absence: Please remember to use the student absence line (on the main school number) for ALL student absence, including medical appointments etc. This line is always checked regularly whereas staff emails may not be. Please ring by 8.50am and make sure you leave a full reason for the absence. If you do not give a reason, the absence will automatically be unauthorised.
Parking: Please remember to be considerate to our neighbours and not park on private roads when dropping off or picking up your children. The Sports Centre car park should be used to drop off students not the school car park.
