Bulletin - 19.5.14

1. Dates for diaries
Tues 20th May, P5: TA training
Wed 21st May: English Teacher interview day
Wed 21st May: 2-3pm: Staff meeting; 3-4pm: Dept meeting
Fri 23rd May, 1:20-2:00: Year 13 Leavers Assembly (Year 13 start study leave)
Wed 4th June, P3: Year 11 Leavers Assembly
Wed 4th June, 2-4pm: Double Dept meeting

2. Reports/Assessment Points
AP5 - due Fri 23rd May

3. Exams!
Tues 20th May, 9:00am: GCSE Eng Lit Paper 1
Thurs 22nd May, 2:00pm: GCSE Eng Lit Paper 2
Tues 3rd June, 9:00am: GCSE English/English Language
Fri 6th June, 9:00am: A2 English Literature
Tues 10th June, 9:00: A2 Media Studies

4. SIP and Wednesday's meeting
Please read the 'Student Progress' and 'Teaching and Learning' sections of the SIP before the whole staff/department meetings on Wednesday. (Feel free to read the rest as well!)

5. Nearly there with exam sets

Thank you for all that you're doing to support all our exam students in the final push. Don't forget that myself and Louise are running voluntary revision sessions on Mondays (JKY, C27, Writing section) and Thursdays (LMA, J18, Reading section). We also have the 'Walking/Talking Mock' on Friday 30th May.

We are laying on a free breakfast to all Year 11s before the English/English Language exam on Tues 3rd June. Please tell your Year 11 students about this and, if you're available, come down to grab a croissant and pass on any last-minute bits of advice/tension soothing.

Bulletin - 12.5.14

1. Dates for diaries
Tues 13th May: Interview Day - KS4 Leader
Wed 14th May: 2-3: AP5 data entry; 3-4: Dept meeting (literacy)
Fri 16th May, 6:30-7:30: BTEC Drama acting showcase
Tues 20th May, P5: TA training
Wed 21st May: English Teacher interview day
Wed 21st May: 2-3pm: Staff meeting; 3-4pm: Dept meeting
Fri 23rd May, 1:20-2:00: Year 13 Leavers Assembly (Year 13 start study leave)

2. Reports/Assessment Points
AP5 - due Fri 23rd May

3. KS4 Leader interview
We are interviewing for the KS4 Leader role on Tuesday 13th May, with two internal candidates: Heather and Maud. There will be tea and coffee in the dept office at breaktime.

4. GCSE moderation folders
Louise has sent round the list of folders that AQA have called for moderation. Please assemble yours into the necessary format, making sure all the scripts are annotated and you have the necessary signatures, and give to Louise by Wednesday lunchtime at the latest. There are treasury tags in the stationery office.

5. Walking/Talking mock exam
We are still planning to run a walking/talking mock on Friday 30th May. If you have a Year 11 class, please can you get a rough idea of how many would be interested:
Green: Definitely coming
Amber: Not sure but might do
Red: Not a chance

6. Department Detention
We have been having some issues and confusion with the use of dept detention. To clarify...

If you want to set a detention:
1. The student must have been given at least two warnings (unless the behaviour is extreme).
2. Inform the student that they have a detention and give them a detention slip telling them where the detention is located and whether it's today or tomorrow.
3. Log the event on Serco.

If you are running the detention:
1. Check the EnglishDT inbox.
2. Add all names and details to the Behaviour tracking spreadsheet.
3. Mark attendance/non-attendance.
4. Delete the emails in the EnglishDT inbox.
5. Save and close the spreadsheet.

We are having a number of instances of students not turning up for detentions because they didn't know they had one, of colleges finding no record of behaviour on Serco (which really undermines their dealings with parents) or students turning up for a detention and no-one being there to run it.

Bulletin - 6.5.14

1. Dates for diaries
Tues 6th May: Year 6 parents evening (JKY/PWA)
Thur 8th May: Year 6 parents evening (JKY/PWA)
Fri 9th May, P1-P4: PE G&T morning
Tues 13th May: Interview Day - KS4 Leader
Wed 14th May: 2-3: AP5 data entry; 3-4: Dept meeting (literacy)
Fri 16th May, 6:30-7:30: BTEC Drama acting showcase

2. Reports/Assessment Points
None.

3. Own professional development observations
This Wednesday there is an hour of directed meeting time given in lieu so that teachers can arrange to observe another colleague (from any department) to help their own professional development. Please make your arrangement at a time that is convenient to you and email me a sentence or two on your reflections of that visit.

4. After-school GCSE revision drop-in sessions
Don't forget that Louise and I are running drop-in sessions for Year 11 students who want to prepare for the GCSE English/English Language exam.

Jamie: Mondays (Writing)
Louise: Thursdays (Reading)

Students are expected to turn up with some idea of what they want to work on.
This time is also available to students who want controlled(ish) conditions to write a mock exam - either for Lang or Lit.

If you have Year 10 students who need to write up a piece of coursework, they can also come along.