Headteacher's update for parents/carers

Friday 7^th May 2021

Dear Parent/Carers,

I hope this letter finds you well and your week has been productive.

Thank you to parents who joined us for our forums this week. Particular thanks for attending the first of our forums on Sexual Harassment with Safer Schools Police Officers, Acting Sergeant Hayley Keyes and PC James Ridout. The session is part of our whole school drive to prevent harmful behaviour. You can find a recording of the meeting in the Year Group Forum Folder.

A useful resource shared by a parent from the NSPCC to support parents/carers in discussing sensitive matters with their children can be found here. If you wish to discuss any matters related to this topic further, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s Head of Year.

INSET Days – Friday 28^th May and Monday 7^th June

Friday 28^th May will be a Moderation day for our staff, ensuring the centre assessed grades process is as rigorous as possible for our Year 11 and Year 13 students.

With changes to the curriculum model starting next academic year, it is important to allow our staff time to prepare for the changes. Therefore, Monday 7^th June will be an INSET day.

This means that for both dates, and work will be set on Microsoft Teams Assignments for students to complete. Students are to return to school on Tuesday 8^th June 2021.

Forum for Parent/Carers of SEND Student

On Monday 24^th May at 6 – 7pm, we will be holding a parent/carer forum for parent/carers of students with SEND. This will also be an opportunity to meet with Ms Samara Sherratt, Head of Inclusion/SENCO. Please find a link to this meeting here.

Covid-19 Safety Protocols

To ensure we all play a part in keeping the community safe and stop the spread of the virus, it is vital that staff and students continue to test twice weekly to identify asymptomatic cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) and prevent the spread of the virus.

Students should continue to conduct lateral flow testing on Sunday and Wednesday evenings. As always, if your child’s test has a positive result, please email admin@sns.hackney.sch.uk as soon as possible.

Tests must be registered online, even if the result is negative. This is to ensure that correct data is being recorded, shaping the steps for safety protocol decisions, both in the SNS community, and nationally.

A reminder that test kits are available for households, please follow this link for more information and to order.

Please inform the school should you require further home test kits by emailing admin@sns.hackney.sch.uk.

Thank you for your support in keeping the SNS community as safe as possible.

Curriculum Plans and School Day 2021-2022

Thank you to parents who attended our forum on curriculum plans – your valuable feedback is very helpful. We will be making a few small changes to our curriculum from September. These changes reflect our determination to support all students as we return to a normal school day and to help mitigate the consequences of the pandemic.

English and Maths will have a very slight increase in time at Key Stage 3 and 4 to help build and revisit numeracy and literacy skills which may have been impacted by extended periods away from school.

Improved numeracy and literacy will have a positive impact for our students, potentially increasing engagement across the curriculum and building confidence.

We will be making small changes to the timings of the school day to align the Sixth Form teaching day with that of Key Stage 3 and 4 and to ensure greater consistency for students across tutorial time. Please see updated timetable of the day below.

Our whole-school sports and enrichment provision will benefit greatly from these changes, and we will be able to offer a much broader range of activities for all students from Years 7 to 13. We aim to increase student participation and have each student attend at least one club each week with vertical groupings.

A way in which we plan to do this, is by students being active participants in the development of the programme. We are closely working with student voice and the student leadership body to improve all aspects of the provision whilst allowing our students to participate in the development and design of their own learning.

We currently work with a range of partners and are always striving to strengthen this area in order to provide better learning outcomes for our students.

The relaunch will:

• give students exposure to new subjects and disciplines.
• encourage curiosity and further learning.
• helps students gain “real world” and applied experiences.
• create opportunities to develop leadership.
• contribute to the community.
• build upon cultural capital.
• strengthen links with careers, work related learning and enterprise.

Please feel free to email Amar Bailey if you have any ideas, suggestions or recommendations. Amar.bailey@sns.hackney.sch.uk. Thank you to parents who have already done so.

On Wednesday 19^th May 6.00 – 7.00pm, we will hold a further parents’ forum to present the plans for SNS in the new era. A link will follow shortly.

Literacy Trust National Reading Quiz

SNS is taking part in the Literacy Trust National Reading Quiz! The quiz is open to students aged 10 to 14 who love reading, enjoy sharing their knowledge with friends, who like being part of a team and having fun! We are looking for four Year 8 students to be part of the quiz team plus one reserve.

The North London heats will take place on Wednesday 9^th June, 10am-12.30pm (with breaks). The quiz will be live online with questions being read aloud on screen and there will be ten rounds with ten questions each about well-known books, characters and authors, plus a few word-play teasers.

There will be prizes for every student on the day for taking part.

Here are some sample questions: NRCQ_Sample_Questions_2021.pdf (literacytrust.org.uk)

For more information check out the website: National Reading Champions Quiz | National Literacy Trust or email: julie.loy@sns.hackney.sch.uk

The Carnegie Shadowing Event 2021

There has been a wonderful tradition for almost 15 years at SNS of taking part in the Carnegie Shadowing Award. Students give a presentation on one of the books on the shortlist to other participating Hackney and Islington schools and watch an author talking about being a writer and the books they have written.

This year, the online event will take place on Wednesday 16^th June. We are looking for students in Year 7 who may like to be part of a team involved in creating a presentation. We are looking for a range of skills so if you like reading or drawing, writing or performing get involved!

For more information about the books on the short list please visit the Carnegie website https://carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/cilip-carnegie-medal-shortlist-2021/ or email julie.loy@sns.hackney.sch.uk.

Parent/Carer Forums and Key Dates

Please see below parent/carer Forums for this half term. These, along with other key dates, can also be found on the school website here.

Readiness for learning

A reminder to please ensure your child is properly equipped with the appropriate equipment and correct school uniform. As we adapt back to routines, please ensure your child packs their school bag the evening before to ensure a smooth start to lessons.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend. Keep well.

With all good wishes,

Zehra Jaffer