PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING

Lord Jesus, through the gift of your Holy

Spirit fill us with a spirit of praise and joy

which no earthly trial can hold back. Fill us

with your resurrection joy and help us to

live a life of praise and thanksgiving for

your glory. May we witness to those

around us the joy of the gospel and the

reality of your resurrection. Amen.

Friday 8 May 2015 All Hallows Catholic College Newsletter Whitsun Term

Year 6 pupils in our in partner primary schools are writing

poems in French and Spanish, for the “Mother Tongue- Other

Tongue “Competition. They have produced highly creative and

imaginative poems demonstrating risk-taking skills and great

resilience, which will stand them in very good stead for their

future language learning.

COLLEGE PRAYER SPECIALISM OF SUCCESS

DINNER MONEY FOR LEAVERS

YEAR 5 PARENT OPEN MORNING

It’s that time of year again! As students prepare

to leave All Hallows, we are mindful that many

of them will have balances on their school meal

accounts. Please be aware that any balances

below £5.00 will not be refunded. With this in

mind, can you ask your children to run down

their account balance as they get towards the

end of the school year? Any balances over £5.00

can either be refunded or transferred to another

sibling staying at All Hallows. Unfortunately, no

money can be transferred to trips as the school

meals money goes directly to our outside

caterer. If you have any questions, please

contact the Finance Office

finance@allhallows.org.uk or 01625 426138.

Thank you for your continued support.

PARENTS AS PARTNERS—PARENTAL BOOKINGS

As the Year 8 and 10 Parent Consultation Day is fast

approaching all parents should make bookings using the

online Parental Gateway. If you have lost or forgotten your

username and password please call 01625 426138 and ask

to be put through to IT support. All bookings are now to be

done online and we must insist that there are only 8

bookings per student. Please also note that some teachers

have more than one class and availability is limited. Thank

you for your support in this matter

Former student Stephen Rooney is currently competing in

one of the worlds most popular TV shows Australian Master

Chef. Follow the link to watch his take on the British roast

dinner and to follow his story. From everyone at All Hallows

we wish him the very best of luck in the competition! https://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=u88elkHNMzs

FORMER STUDENT BECOMES HOPEFUL ON

AUSTRALIAN MASTER CHEF

Wednesday 13 May 2015

Year 7 Attend College - Activity Day (Students to wear

full PE kit)

Year 8 CONSULTATION DAY - Reading Blog at home

when not in for appointment

Year 9 Work Related Learning - Reading Blog from home

(Careers Theme)

Year 10 CONSULTATION DAY - Reading Blog at home

when not in for appointment

Year 11 Home Study—Science Revision Study in College/

Exams (ICT/RE)

Sixth

Form

Revision Day/ Private Study - In College or at

home

ARRANGEMENTS FOR CONSULATON DAY MAY 13 2015

Year 10 mock results

Saturday 16th May 2015 9:00am

Exam Results

Year Group Dates Type

7,8,9 Monday 15 June 2015—Friday 19 June 2015 End of Year Exam

10 Monday 15 June 2015—Friday 26 June 2015 Assessment

COLLEGE EXAMS / ASSESSMENTS

Parents, please be advised that Y11, 12 & 13 students are expected in college, as usual, if they are taking any of the

following exams on Wednesday 13th May:

Failure to attend will result in students being unable to receive a final grade from the Exam Boards. All students are

expected to wear full school uniform / business dress. School buses will run as normal.

Supporting your child through their GCSE's can be difficult. One top tip is how to cope when your child falls behind

with work. The solution would be to help them prioritise their work load and create a plan that helps get the

balance right with college work and social time. To help with this all Year 11 students have been given a revision

pack, that includes a revision timetable, which students are completing this week. Please ask to see the revision

timetable your child will bring home and have a conversation around it. Future Link Publishing have also produced

a useful guide for parents that contains 101 top tips to help. This can be accessed using the following link:

http://www.futurelinkpublishing.co.uk/publish/publications/GCSE.html.

SUPPORTING YOUR CHILD IN EXAMS

PARENTS AND PARTNERS— EXAMS ON PARENT CONSULATION DAY MAY 13 2015

RE revision morning for all Year 11 students on Saturday 09 May from 10:00 a.m -12.00 p.m. This will be a final

push before both exams the following week. Please encourage your son/daughter to attend

RE REVISION CLASSES

Friday 8 May 2015

YEAR 12 EXAMINATIONS

Year 12 have now commenced their study leave until the 8 June. Subject teachers will be available throughout

this time should students wish to come in to College for extra support, and arrangements have been made for all

BTEC students. Students are expected to check the website to confirm examination venues and start times; they

should also arrive promptly to all examinations in full Business Dress, with all appropriate equipment (including a

black ball point pen). We wish Year 12 the best of luck in their forthcoming examinations.

Afternoon (1:00 pm start)

GCSE Religious Studies Unit 8

A-Level History: HIS1M

Morning (9:00 am start)

A-Level Mathematics: MFP3

and MPC1

GCSE ICT Unit 1

EXAM COUNTDOWN

THE YEAR 11, 12 AND 13 SUMMER EXAMINATIONS HAVE NOW STARTED. GOOD LUCK TO ALL STUDENTS

Please ensure that your child has the appropriate equipment for their exams:

Clear plastic pencil case, black ink pen, pencil, ruler, eraser, protractor, compass and a calculator (for Maths, Science&

Business exams)

Can you revise on the morning of the exam? - Non-stressful revision of something already well-revised can

help, but don’t change your routine to wake unusually early. Give yourself plenty of time to get ready—it

take 60 minutes after waking for your brain to be working at its peak level.

How can you prevent answering the wrong number of questions? - Carefully read all of the questions you

are going to do. As you start each question, double check the instructions to make sure you are doing the

right thing. Better to spend 5 seconds checking, than 5 minutes working on the wrong question

Students should make sure that they have eaten well (don’t skip meals) and drink water before their exams

EXAM TIPS

All students have now been provided with a paper copy of their timetables for the forthcoming GCE A

Levels and GCSE exams.

Parents can view their child's timetable via the Parental Gateway under the "Assessments" heading.

STUDENT TIMETABLES

EXAM EQUIPMENT

RESULT DAY DATES

Students are now able to use our fantastic new Fitness Suite.

Those students who have completed a Fitness Suite. Induction and wish to use the facilities must sign up on the

day using the sign up sheet on the notice board in the Sports Hall. Places will be allocated on a first come, first

served basis, up to a maximum of 28 students for each session.

The following sessions are available:

Monday - Y7/8 (mixed) until 4.30p.m.

Tuesday - Y7/8 (girls only) until 4.30p.m.

Wednesday - Y9/10/11 (girls only) until 4.00p.m.

Thursday - Y11/Sixth form (mixed) until 4.30p.m.

Friday - Y9/10 (mixed) until 4.30p.m.

FITNESS SUITE

The Fitness Suite is also open at lunch (second

break).

Any queries please contact Mr Lawson or a

member of the PE staff for more information.

Please make sure students are

bringing appropriate clothing to

their PE lessons if they are on an

outdoor lesson. Also, a reminder

that all girls should now own

football boots/astro-turf trainers

for use on the new 3G Astro-turf

pitch.

TO ALL PARENTS

UPCOMING SPORTING FIXTURES

Year 7 Minor Cricket Year 7 Wednesday 27 May Away

SUMMER EXTRA-CURRICULAR PE TIMETABLE

NEW LACROSSE CLUB

STAFF VS SIXTH FORM FOOTBALL

Thank you very much to everyone who helped last night, be it

'playing', 'managing', selling sweets, tickets, or spectating. it was a

hugely enjoyable evening with an excellent turnout

Sixth form student 5

Staff 3

Italy Trip

Saturday 23 May - 28 May 2015

History trip - London

Sunday 7 June – 8 June 2015

Normandy Trip

Friday 12 June - 15 June 2015

Rome Trip

Sunday 5 July - 8 July 2015

College Production

Wednesday 1 July 2015

KS4/5 students 3:30p.m.- 4:30p.m.

TRIPS AND UPCOMING EVENTS

DAY SUBJECT

Monday Science/History/Languages/Hospitality

Tuesday Maths

Thursday Music/Geography

Other ICT any break/lunch Business – by arrangement Art – by arrangement

DUKE OF EDINBURGH’S AWARD

Congratulations to those students who have made a

commitment to work towards their Duke of Edinburgh

award. Currently we have 35 students working

on their bronze award, 21 on silver and 5 on gold.

Thank you to those who attended the drop in last

week with Steve Wilson and Nicky Young who are

supporting the College with DofE.

If any students are unsure, need help or want more detail please see Mrs Connor.

Well done to all those who are uploading their evidence for each of the areas on eDofE. If you have not started

to do this yet can you please have a go.You will need to have completed two of the three sections before the

expedition. Again if you need help with this come and see Mrs Connor

Thursday 14 May 1:15pm - 2:00pm - DofE drop in, in Mrs Connor Office

Silver DoE practice expedition Friday 26 to Sunday 28 June 2015

Silver DoE assessed expedition Friday 10 to Sunday 12 July 2015

Bronze DoE practice expedition Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 September 2015

Bronze DoE assessed expedition Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 October 2015

Gold DoE practice expedition Thursday 24 to Monday 28 September 2015

Gold DoE assessed expedition Thursday 22 to Monday 26 October 2015

Good luck and well done so far.

DUKE OF EDINBURGH FUTURE IMPORTANT DATES

DROP IN SESSIONS

Friday 8 May 2015

Parents / Carers are invited to attend a Principal's Surgery to discuss

any concerns or ask questions, on the following dates

Wednesday 13 May '15, 9am - 10am

Tuesday 19 May '15, 3.45pm - 4.45pm

There is no appointment system so please be prepared to wait

PRINCIPAL’S SURGERIES

Whilst the College requires parents to contact us on each day of absence , school policy now requires that any student who accumulates 7 or more days of absence during the course of the academic year will be asked to provide medical confirmation of the need to be absent before any further absences are authorised for medical reasons. This is a necessary measure as we closely monitor absence due to illness / medical reasons in order that we can ensure students are supported where needed. For your information medical confirmation does not have to be a doctor's note but can also take the form of a medical appointment card, a copy of a relevant dated prescription or evidence of medication being taken

If no medical evidence is provided then the absence will be coded as unauthorised. Ten or more unauthorised absences may result in you receiving a Fixed Penalty Notice. This incurs a penalty of £60 per parent / carer to be paid within 21 days, otherwise the penalty will rise to £120 per parent / carer to be paid within 28 days. If the penalty remains unpaid then the matter will proceed to the Magistrates Court where you will receive a criminal record if you are found guilty.

The link between attendance and achievement is well researched and documented and students should be aiming for an attendance rate of no less than 97% over the year. Thank you for your continued support with this importance issue.

MEDICAL ABSENCE FROM COLLEGE

Term College Opens to Students College Closes to Students

Whitsun Monday 20 April 2015 Thursday 21 May 2015

Trinity Monday 1 June 2015 Tuesday 21 July 2015

ATTENDANCE MATTERS

Holidays have not been authorised since 1st September 2013 under new legislation on all English schools. Requests for holidays

must still be made in writing to the appropriate Key Stage leader (Mrs Garvey KS5, Mr Blades KS4/KS3), but in the vast majority

of cases they will be unauthorised. A Fixed Penalty Notice may be issued of £60 per parent / carer per student, to be paid within

21 days, otherwise the penalty will rise to £120 per parent / carer to be paid within 28 days. If the penalty remains unpaid then

the matter will proceed to the Magistrates Court where you will receive a criminal record if you are found guilty. Please can all

holiday requests be made well in advance of the holiday being taken if not before the holiday is booked.

HOLIDAY ABSENCE FROM COLLEGE

The following are the remaining dates for training days in 2014-15. Students are not required to attend on Friday

22 May 2015 unless taking an external exam.

Please click on the link for Term dates 2015/16.

COLLEGE TERM DATES

Over the last week of College attendance was as

follows:

Year 7 - 95.8% (down 0.4% from last week) Year 8 - 94.8% (down 0.4%) Year 9 - 96.4% (down 0.3%) Year 10 - 93.3% (down 0.3%) Year 11 - 94.7% (down 0.5%) Year 12 - 93.1% (down 0.1%)

Last week was a second consecutive poor week for attendance with all year groups showing another fall.

Attendance between Year 7 and Year 11 last week was 95.0% (a decrease from 95.4% during the previous week and 0.4% down on the same week last year). Our overall attendance since 2 September is still at 95.1%.We aim for 97%.

Last week GIRLS attendance (Years 7-11) was 94.6% (down 0.2% on the previous week), BOYS attendance(Year 7-11) was 95.4% (down 0.7%).The overall girls attendance since 2 September is 94.7% whilst boys is 95.5%.

Friday 8 May 2015

88.00%

90.00%

92.00%

94.00%

96.00%

98.00%

YEAR7

YEAR8

YEAR9

YEAR10

YEAR11

YEAR12

YEAR13

Most students appreciate the importance of being in College on time. Children who are regularly late do miss out on their education and form bad habits that will not be tolerated in the workplace. As a result of the change to the College day we need to inform parents that students must be in the registration form class for the register to be taken at 8.45a.m. This means students should arrive 5-10 minutes earlier in College to be on time. Any student who arrives after 8.45a.m. will receive a L code. Two L codes within a week will result in a whole college detention (which started on Thursday 6 November). This is a recent change in procedures and moves the detention away from the form tutor and it will now be seen as a whole college issue. Any student who arrives after 9.05a.m. will receive a U code. This means they will be classed as absent for the whole morning and this may have consequences for overall attendance. We are aware that College buses are sometimes late and we can confirm these students are not negatively marked in the register when this happens. Thank you for your co-operation in this matter. From 20 April - gates will be manned and students names will be taken if they are late.

If any parent would like their son or daughter to have a careers interview with Mrs Pilling, our Careers Advisor, this year then please notify the relevant Year Learning Leader who can ensure names are added to the list. . Priority is now with small groups of Year 11 and 12 students (any remaining Year 10 students will be seen shortly) . Students in Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9 are welcome to attend her lunch time drop in. She uses the Student Support Office based next door to Music.

CAREERS ADVICE FOR STUDENTS

BEING PUNCTUAL AT ALL HALLOWS

Year 7: held on 3 June (11.00a.m. – 11.45a.m.) Year 8: held on 20 May (10.45p.m. – 11.45 a.m – NEW TIME) and 8 July (1.15p.m. – 2.15p.m.) Year 9: held on 1 June (9.00a.m. – 9.45a.m.) and 13 July (9.00a.m. – 9.45a.m.) Year 10: held on 22 May (1.15p.m. – 2.00p.m) and 17 July (1.15p.m. – 2.00p.m)

These are for parents who would like to discuss any concerns relating to their child. No appointment is necessary but please be prepared to wait. Please contact our Pastoral Assistant (Pastoral@allhallows.org.uk 01625 410285 x215), should you require an appointment with a Year Learning Leader at any other time.

YEAR LEARNING LEADER “DROP IN SURGERIES”

NAME JOB MON TUES WED THUR FRI VENUE

Mrs J Pilling Careers Advisor Student Support Office

Mrs L Nolan Visyon Counsellor Student Support Office

Mrs J Jones College Nurse Student Support Office

Mrs P Shatwell Family Support Office next to rooms A9 and A10

Mrs J Beard and Mrs P Prince Education Welfare

Pastoral Office (ground floor of Fisher Building)

bullying@allhallowslearning.org.uk emails will be read by a Senior Teacher beingme@allhallowslearning.org.uk

esafety@allhallowslearning.org.uk

= Staff Present

MEDICAL APPOINTMENTS DURING THE COLLEGE DAY

Students must sign out at the Attendance Office before leaving College to attend a medical appointment. When they return to College the student must sign back in. This ensures registers will be accurate and we know the student is off site should we have a fire alarm. The Attendance Office is located in the office along the RE corridor. We thank parents for making medical appointments, where possible, that do not take up a whole day of schooling. This often allows a student to have their legal registration mark for both morning and afternoon sessions and so their overall attendance does not fall.

STUDENT SUPPORT ACROSS THE COLLEGE Friday 8 May 2015

LIBRARY NEWS

When Triss wakes up after an accident, she knows that something is very wrong. She is insatiably hungry; her

sister seems scared of her and her parents whisper behind closed doors. She looks through her diary to try to

remember, but the pages have been ripped out. Soon Triss discovers that what happened to her is more strange

and terrible than she could ever have imagined, and that she is quite literally not herself. In a quest find the truth

she must travel into the terrifying Underbelly of the city to meet a twisted architect who has dark designs on her

family – before it's too late…

(Review taken from Frances Hardinge's website)

Ms Sinclair says: ' I found this book gripping from beginning to end. It was strange, sinister and very well

written. I loved the quirky twists and turns, all the varied characters and unusual and beautifully described

settings. Read it now!'

Check out Frances' website for more information: http://www.franceshardinge.com/

We also have several other novels by Frances Hardinge - all very interesting reads.

OUR PICK OF THE WEEK IS CUCKOO SONG BY FRANCIS HARDINGE

BOOK AMNESTY

A big thank you to all those students who have returned their overdue books. A polite request for you to

continue to search for any school library books and return them - no questions asked. The library catalogue

is slowly being updated but we still have a lot of missing stock that readers want to borrow.

If you want to view our catalogue click on the Library Search tab under the For Students tab on the AHCC

website. That takes you to the Eclipse homepage and then click on the Search icon.

Friday 8 May 2015

TEEN BOOK CLUB

Teen Bookclub is back!

Deadline for orders is Friday May 16th so that books can be delivered and collected in time for the half term

holiday. All books are discounted and there is a huge range of popular titles to suit all reading tastes.

Log onto: http://schools.scholastic.co.uk/all-hallows-catholic to order discount books securely.

For every £10 order we will receive 20% back in commission to buy books for the library. Please contact the

library: library@allhallows.org.uk if you have any questions about ordering.

Thank you in advance for your support!

CARNEGIE/GREENAWAY BOOK AWARDS

It is definitely book award season at the moment and we are following (shadowing) the judging process for the

most prestigious children's award. Log onto: http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/carnegie/

current_shortlist.php

Students (and staff) can read the shortlisted titles and post reviews on our group page :

http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/shadowingsite/index.php To find our page, click on Reading Groups and

the AHCC group, A New Chapter, is under A.. The shadowing group will be meeting weekly in the Library,

Tuesdays break 2. All are welcome.

We also have a large and varied selection of previous Carnegie winners from across the decade if students want

to see what was considered 'outstanding' in past years!

We also have a number of students reading and reviewing the shortlisted books for The Greenaway Awards -

this is for the most outstanding picture book. Log onto the site to find out more.