Dear Parents and Carers,

I can’t believe there are only three more weeks left of term! I hope our Year 7s and new starters in other year groups are feeling like they ‘belong’ at Altrincham College now!

I have spent time this morning with some wonderful Year 8 students for ‘Hot Chocolate Friday with the Head’ and have really enjoyed finding out more about them, what they like and dislike. I was equally impressed by their good manners as they each thanked me for their treat – they are a credit to you!

Next week it’s the turn of Year 9 students and their teachers are busy emailing me as I write this, with nominations of those who get their heads down, work hard and try even harder.

Uniform

When we came back in September we made allowances for students whose families may not have been able to purchase all of their uniform due to lockdown. Unfortunately, I am still seeing some students coming into school without a tie, correct footwear or incorrect PE kit. I do expect all students to have full uniform now and to be coming into school looking smart and ready to learn.

Make-up, nail varnish and jewellery were not acceptable before Covid and they are still not. As we are unable to confiscate items at the moment, some students are constantly being asked to remove jewellery/make-up over the course of the day by various members of staff.

Please can I urge you to speak with your child about this and try to ensure they take responsibility for their attire by coming to school smartly, and correctly, dressed?  I know some things can be ‘sneaked’ on once students leave the house but I am hoping they choose not to do this as it leads to a negative interaction with staff – we want the interactions to all be positive!

Full details of our uniform can be found at: /information/uniform-and-pe-kit

Thank you.

Water!

All students should bring bottles of water into school with them or have enough money on their ParentPay account to purchase it in school. As you know, we cannot use communal water fountains under Covid restrictions but staff are happy to refill bottles whenever possible. Water keeps the body hydrated which in turn leads to clear focus and the ability to learn better.

 

Safeguarding News

The Home Office has launched a new ‘Something’s Not Right’ campaign aimed at secondary age pupils.
 
This new, month-long, campaign is aimed at secondary school children in England who suffered a range of harms, such as sexual and physical abuse, during lockdown. 
 
Developed in collaboration with NSPCC, Barnardo’s, The Children’s Society, Internet Watch Foundation and Marie Collins Foundation, the campaign focuses on helping children to recognise that they may need help and signposts them to support. The link can be found here:

https://www.childline.org.uk/somethings-not-right?scrlybrkr=23377316

 

Self-isolating students in receipt of Free School Meals

Thank you for bearing with us over the past two weeks with food parcel deliveries! With the spike in positive Covid cases in school, we were unable to bulk buy the food required for those self-isolating and had to make several visits to shops to buy in smaller quantities. I am pleased to say that cases in school have now dropped dramatically and so normal delivery service is now resumed!

 

New School Instagram Profile

Mrs Curran has established a new profile to share our amazing students’ art and textiles work! You can take a look on Instagram: altrinchamcollege_art1

Here’s a great example by TD in Year 8!

 

Student Star of the Week

The nominations this week were MJ in 11.2, SM in 11.6, BB in 7.5 all selected for their hard work and determination. The winner this week is……KA in 9.1 for her outstanding presentation on Black History! This was thoroughly researched and cleverly put together in the form of a PowerPoint which can be used with form groups in school. Well done KA and all our stars!

 

Staff Star of the Week

This week’s star has been nominated by colleagues for her compassion, tenacity and good humour! Well done Ms Vitalis from all your colleagues!

 

 

Donation Update

Thank you all again for your donations towards our escalating Covid costs. You have been extremely generous! This week’s total now stands at £1343.00 which is really fabulous! This will certainly help towards the cost of keeping our school Covid-safe.

Lockdown

Please can I continue with my plea to families to ensure that your child(ren)/ward(s) do not breach national lockdown regulations? As lockdown is lifted next week, we are still in Tier 3 and therefore very little will change. We are continuing to reinforce with our young people the mantra HANDS FACE SPACE and from next week, staff from Trafford’s Youth Engagement Team will also visit schools to be outside at the end of the day encouraging the same.

 

Looking ahead

Don’t forget that school finishes at 12.30pm on Friday 18^th December and school buses will still be running at that time. We will be having a Christmas dinner and Christmas clothes day on Thursday 17^th December … something we missed out on last year with all the problems with the English Centre roof and early closure of school! All donations will go towards charity and more details on this will follow shortly. Music will be provided by students under the leadership of our Head of Music, Mr Madden. Let’s finish the year on a happy note!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Stop the Spread! Stay safe!

Thank you for your continued support of our school.

Kind regards
Ms. Earle
Headteacher