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Headteacher's Information for Parents
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Friday 29th September 2023
Dear Parents & Carers
It does not seem possible that we are already halfway through the first half term of this academic year.
I am delighted to inform you that as a school, Bishopshalt, is very pleased with the results our students achieved last year. They are the best GCSE results the school has ever achieved, and this is testament to the hard work and high expectations that we hold as a school. When the data is released formally through the Government channels we will write again. For now, it is wonderful to see our Year 12 and 13 students, who have both set record results in Year 11, chasing bright futures.
During these first weeks of the academic year, we have welcomed our new Year 7 and external 12 students. Our Year 7 parents have been into the school to attend induction and the Year Ahead information events. All of the Year 12 students have been inducted and are now settling into their courses; our Sixth Form admissions are now closed for this academic year.
On the 12th September Bishopshalt held our annual Open Evening for prospective students wishing to join Year 7 in September 2024, welcoming over 600 family’s to our school. On Thursday 12th October we will be holding our Sixth Form Open Evening, beginning the admissions process over again!
With regard to Year 7 September 2024 admissions, if you have a Year 6 sibling of a student that currently attends Bishopshalt, please be reminded that you need to provide proof of the sibling relationship. You must supply a full birth certificate for both the child you are applying for and the child already at Bishopshalt and these must show both parents’ names. This supplementary information must be submitted by Friday 13th October 2023. The birth certificates can be brought to the main office or scanned and emailed to cbrown@bishopshalt.school or brought to Room 1.
Please see the ‘Admissions’ section of the school’s website to see if you are eligible for a sibling place.
As mentioned previously, the Year Ahead - Y7 took place earlier this term. As we are conscious of family commitments, especially during the early evenings, rather than having evening meetings for KS3 and 4 we have produced presentations which have been previously sent, are on the school website and below:
Our Year 13 students have begun their preparations for their final exams having sat UCAS assessments last week. Their outcomes will be discussed with parents at the forthcoming Year 13 Parents’ Evening.
Year 10 will begin their GCSE’s with their English - Speaking and Listening exams taking place from Monday 25th September to Friday 13th October. Full details of the preparation and times for these exams are available on the students Google Classroom.
With the colder and wetter weather approaching, we would like to remind you that students will need to arrive at school with a coat. Students are aware that they are not permitted to wear their hoods on the school grounds unless it is raining, and then hoods must only be up outside, not in the building. Our coat expectations are within our Behaviour for Learning Policy on the school website.
If you need assistance with school uniform, coats, stationary etc., please contact The School Uniform Bank at The Salvation Army, 16b Cowley Road, Uxbridge UB8 2LT. Equally, if you have any good quality uniform or coats that no longer fit your children, please donate them to either the Salvation Army or the school.
Finally, may I also remind of key dates for the remainder of this half term:
Friday 29th September Year 11 Ypres Trip
Tuesday 3rd October Year 13 Parents’ Evening
Thursday 5th October Drop Down Day - Love Learning
Thursday 12th October 6th Form Open Evening - a key event for all Year 11 Students
Friday 13th October End of Half Term
Monday 16th to Friday 27th October Half Term Holiday
Monday 30th October Inset Day - Students Do Not Attend School
Tuesday 31st October Start of Autumn Term 2
As always, I thank you all for your continued cooperation and support and look forward to sharing this year’s exam results in the near future.
L McGillicuddy (Mr)
Headteacher
_____________________________________________________________________
Thursday 20th July 2023
Dear Parents & Carers
I am writing today to thank you for your continued support throughout this academic year.
I have now completed my fourth year as Headteacher of this wonderful school and I can honestly say that with each year the honour I feel grows. I continue to be proud to be a part of our wonderful Bishopshalt community.
We always aim to be a little better each day, and each year. This year has been no different. There have been so many highlights from welcoming our new Year 7 and 12 cohorts back in September to seeing the Year 11 and 13 sit their public exams, completing the respective stages of their education. I felt honoured to witness all of the hard work and commitment put in by the students and the staff...
Through every day and each term we seek to embody the core values of our school, Love Learning, Show Kindness Brighter Futures, Build Character and Chase Brilliance.
Bishopshalt is above all else a place for learning, however this year I am very pleased with the co-curricular activities we have put in place for our students to learn outside of the academic curriculum. We have had Drop Down Days, overseas trips, careers based activities, BODs, Spring Reloaded, Maths Challenge, Sports Day, Creative Arts and Performance exhibition and our Year 11 and 13 celebration events amongst many others. This week we held the fabulous Culture Day that clearly demonstrated and celebrated the diversity and wealth of our student and staff community. It was humbling to see so many of our students proud of their heritage and culture.
Last month we held the NASA assembly celebrating the return of our school Fidelis badge. The badge had spent 42 days in outer space being proudly worn by Astronaut Stephanie Wilson as part of a mission. As part of the celebration of its return students were able to send six questions to NASA, one from each house, and Astronaut Wilson provided us with a pre-recorded presentation about the badges journey and answered our questions. It was an honour for all of us to be part of this event.
We are pleased to announce that this year’s house winner is for the second year in a row, Cranmer. The winning house students spent period 5 on Tuesday celebrating their victory. In the new academic year we will be enhancing our House System, as each house now has a Head of House who is a member of our teaching staff. We are looking forward to a greater emphasis on teamwork, competition and camaraderie.
Looking to the academic year 2023/2024, it will commence on Monday 4th September with our new Year 7 and Year 12 students attending for the Induction Day.
The whole school will return on Tuesday 5th September with registration at the normal time of 8:30am, please ensure that students are in site by 8:25am,
You can find the link to the Parents’ Calendar here, this will provide you with full information for arrangements for the terms. We ask you to note all key dates which can also be found on the school website
I look forward to writing to you again early in the new academic year to advise you of our Year 11 and 13 cohorts final outcomes.
In the meantime, I wish you and all of our students a wonderful summer holiday and I look forward to welcoming each and every one of them back in September.
Yours sincerely
L McGillicuddy (Mr)
Headteacher
_____________________________________________________________________
Friday 24th February 2023
Dear Parents/Carers
Re: Planned strike action by the National Education Union (NEU) - Thursday 2nd March 2023
You will be aware from media coverage that the National Education Union (NEU) has declared strike action, which is currently planned to take place in our region, on:
• Thursday 2nd March 2023
• Wednesday 15th March 2023
• Thursday 16th March 2023
The strikes are happening because of a national dispute between the NEU and the Government over teachers’ pay and the impact of funding on schools over a number of years. The Government is engaging in talks with the NEU, so we will be waiting for any update on the current position with regards to the planned strike action depending on the outcome of those talks.
Members of the NEU are not required to let us know in advance whether they intend to be away from school.
Please note, Bishopshalt will be open for Year 11 and 13, as well as the students who were previously identified as Key Worker students and who have been notified of their place for this day.
We are conscious that continued attendance is important for all students. However, if the numbers of teaching staff striking means that we cannot safely keep the school open for everyone, and in line with the Department for Education’s advice on ‘Handling Strike Action in Schools,’ should we need to either fully or partially close, we will apply the principles set out in the DfE’s emergency planning and response guidance by giving priority to vulnerable children and young people and children of critical workers (Annex A and B at Emergency planning and response for education, childcare, and children’s social care settings October 2022 (publishing.service.gov.uk. We will ensure that there is a lunchtime meal available for those students in school.
I am therefore giving you advanced notice, that if your child is not in Year 11, 13 or has not been identified for a Key Worker place, you need to identify a place of safety where your child can go for the day.
I am sorry that you may have to make alternative arrangements for your child at short notice, and that they may experience further disruption to their education but hope that communicating the uncertainty of the situation at this stage will enable you time to make arrangements.
I understand that this situation may be frustrating for you and I would like to reassure you that Bishopshalt School remains committed to providing a safe and secure environment for our students.
I will notify you as soon as possible if or when I know further details and hope that a resolution can be reached between the NEU and the Government as swiftly as possible.
Yours sincerely
L McGillicuddy (Mr)
Headteacher
Friday 20 January 2023
Dear Parents/Carers
You may be aware from media coverage that the National Education Union (NEU) has
declared strike action, which is currently planned to take place in our region, on:
• Wednesday 1st February 2023
• Thursday 2nd March 2023
• Wednesday 15th March 2023
• Thursday 16th March 2023
The strikes are happening because of a national dispute between the NEU and the
Government over teachers’ pay and the impact of funding on schools over a number of
years. The Government is engaging in talks with the NEU, so we will be waiting for any update on the current position with regards to the planned strike action depending on the outcome of those talks.
Members of the NEU are not required to let us know in advance whether they intend to
be away from school.
Bishopshalt will be open for Year 11 and 13. Students in these year groups are
required to attend as normal.
We will also be open to students identified below, as a minimum throughout these strike days. We are conscious that continued attendance is important for all students. However, if the numbers of teaching staff striking means that we cannot safely keep the school open for everyone, and in line with the Department for Education’s advice on ‘Handling Strike Action in Schools,’ should we need to either fully or partially close, we will apply the principles set out in the DE’s emergency planning and response guidance by giving priority to vulnerable children and young people and children of critical workers (Annex A and B at Emergency planning and response for education, childcare, and children’s social care settings October 2022 (publishing.service.gov.uk)). We will ensure that there is a lunchtime meal available for
those students in school.
I am therefore giving you advanced notice, if you do not meet any of the criteria above, to please identify a place of safety where your child can go for the day.
We will communicate separately and directly with those parents/carers who have
responsibility for children deemed vulnerable early next week. If parents/carers employed as critical workers wish for their child to be in school over any of the proposed strike days please complete this Google Form.
I am sorry that you may have to make alternative arrangements for your child at short notice, and that they may experience further disruption to their education but hope that communicating the uncertainty of the situation at this stage will enable you time to make arrangements. I understand that this situation may be frustrating for you and I would like to reassure you that Bishopshalt School remains committed to providing a safe and secure environment for our students.
I will notify you as soon as possible if or when I know further details and hope that a
resolution can be reached between the NEU and the Government as swiftly as possible.
Yours sincerely
L McGillicuddy (Mr)
Headteacher
Wednesday 19th October 2022
Dear Parents & Carers
I’d firstly like to thank you all for your continued support and cooperation so far, this academic year. It has been a wonderful start to the school year; the school has been brimming with confidence following last year's academic results. There have been many highlights during our ‘Love Learning’ term, from the many trips and extracurricular activities, to our potential Medics and Oxbridge candidates completing UCAS. It has also been wonderful welcoming the new Year 7 cohort, and Year 12 students into the Bishopshalt community. They have been warmly welcomed by their peers. Our next Better Bishopshalt notices will shed more light on what has been a fantastic half-term.
With regard to last year's results, as promised in my first letter to you earlier this term, I am very happy to share with you the validated results which alongside all schools will be publicly available from Thursday 20th September.
The summer 2022 results were the best results Bishopshalt has achieved over the last 20 years, where we have comparable statistics.
| Year 11 GCSE |
Year 13 A Level |
||
| Progress 8 | +0.66 | Average Grade | B |
| Grades 4+ | 91% | A*-B | 35% |
| Grades 8+ | 24% | A*-C | 66% |
| Grades 7+ | 37% | A*-D | 97% |
These results are testament to the diligence, resilience and determination of our students, as well as all of the staff who worked tirelessly to ensure that our students chased brilliance.
We now look forward to seeing how our current Year 11 and 13 students write their own page in the book that is the history of our wonderful school.
The half term ahead is once again going to be very busy. It is our ‘Show Kindness’ term and there will be many events and activities to provide students with the opportunity to give back to their community.
All students will also sit their Termly assessments. Timetables and the topics to be examined have been shared with parents and are also available on the website.
As we will move into the colder months, I am sure like us, you are increasingly conscious of the cost of heating and power. With this in mind we ask that when it is cold, students wear layers to school, for example a white t-shirt or vest under their school shirt/blouse, a navy v-neck jumper under their blazer, girls wearing skirts should wear a thick denier opaque tights and all students should be wearing a navy or black school coat. Please can we remind you that hoodies or sweatshirt, must not be worn to school. Hoods are not permitted to be worn up anywhere on site unless it is on a coat, the student is outside and it is raining. Please can I also remind you that students should be bringing a filled water bottle to school, hydration is very important to learning all throughout the year.
During the last half-term we have had several complaints from residents and concerns raised from our own staff regarding some unsafe practices when students have been dropped off and collected from school. Our Safer Schools Officer, PC Cox, has attended the area on several occasions and verbal warnings have been issued. We are asking that if you do have to drive to collect or drop your children to school, you should do so in a safe and considerate manner. From next term, anyone caught by the Police breaking the law by stopping on the zebra crossing to let their children out or indeed any other driving offences will be issued with a £100.00 fine and three points will automatically be applied to the driver's licence.
We have had several enquiries with regard to the COVID boosters and administration of the Flu vaccinations. At this time, the NHS School Nurses team have not provided us with any information that schools will be facilitating the administration of these vaccinations. If your child has a medical condition that requires them to receive an early booster, we would strongly recommend that you contact your health provider to arrange this. Should we be advised that the NHS will be in school, we will of course share this information with you at the earliest opportunity.
I thank you again for your support and cooperation. I wish all of our students and their families and enjoyable half-term holiday and I look forward welcoming students back to school on Tuesday 1st November ready for another successful half-term.
Yours sincerely
L McGillicuddy (Mr)
Headteacher