Mobile Phone Policy
Monday 30th January 2017
As mentioned in last week’s newsletter, Year 11 students have received their December Exam Results, based on the written exams, but also taking into account any Controlled Assessments and other information or factors that teachers are aware of. They give a good indication of the type of grade that each student will receive in the summer if they continue to work as they have been. A paper copy of the mock results have also been posted home today, along with the full academic report. The reports that students receive may be asked for by colleges, for interviews, so please do ensure that they are close to hand. In this All students have also been seen individually or in groups, and they have been reminded about the importance of regular and consistent work at home - they should be working for at least an hour and a half each evening, and four hours over the weekend. Some of their work will continue to be homework, but ‘having no homework’ should not be an excuse for Year 11 students, as they all have ongoing revision / exam preparation to be getting on with. This message is also relevant to students in other year groups, though, as they should be getting into the habit of ‘reviewing’ work on daily basis, even if there has been no actual ‘homework’ set.
There have been a couple if incidents recently, at the end of the school day, where mobile phones have been confiscated and returned to parents, as per our behaviour policy. All students have been reminded of our policy, and for clarification I attach the following section from our policy below. I would like to emphasise that if any student needs to contact home if, for example, a school bus is late, the school will always facilitate this, either by allowing them to use the school phone or by giving them permission to use their own. Permission, however, must be given.
Mobile phones and electronic devices including ipods, along with Smart watches are not allowed in school. Any pupil’s phone or i-pod type device that is seen or heard should have it confiscated.
Mobile phones ipod devices are not to be used outside the front of the school, students would be able to use such devices when they have left the school grounds or boarded their bus to go home.
When students are arriving at school they must make sure that they are not seen with a mobile phone or electronic device as they are leaving the bus/car that they have made their journey in or entering the outer school gate if they have walked to school.
If students have missed a bus or have stayed late at school for whatever reason and they need to contact home they should either wait until they have left the school grounds to use a mobile phone or ask permission from any member of staff to either use the school phone or their own to make contact with a parent/carer.
School will not be accountable for the loss, theft or damage to personal equipment such as i-pods or mobile phones and we will not investigate any such incidents.
Confiscated items will be put in an envelope and be placed in the school safe as soon as is practical Confiscated items must be collected from the reception by a parent or carer.
For the last couple of years the PTA have organised a very successful uniform sale, and they would like to start collecting any used, good condition uniform in preparation for another sale later in the year. If you are planning on buying a new item of clothing, therefore, because it is now too small for your son or daughter, please do send the old item into school. The work of the PTA is highly valued by the school, but unfortunately, because of a lack of volunteers, they are struggling to complete some of their traditional services, like providing tea and coffee at parents’ evenings - there was no tea and coffee served at the Year 10 parents’ evening a fortnight ago. If they don’t get any volunteers for this Thursday, there may be no refreshments at the Year 9 parents’ evening either. If you would like to volunteer, please do contact the school reception and your name and details will be passed on to the PTA. In the meantime I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at the Yr 9 Parents’ Evening on Thursday 2nd February.