Dear Parents and Carers, 

As this term draws to a close, I want to personally thank you for welcoming me into your community with such kindness. I have really appreciated the many parents and carers who have made contact to wish me well and provide feedback on how to drive St Mary’s towards being an outstanding provider of care and education to the young people that we serve. 

I also want to pay tribute to the outstanding work of colleagues at the College, no matter what challenges have been put their way they have risen to them and worked exceptionally hard to ensure that your child is kept safe and above all, that their education has continued.  I understand that any holiday period can bring its own challenges for some families, particularly Christmas. Mrs Skinner has created a list of useful contacts that may be of some use in the coming weeks, this list can be found here.  

Autumn Term Overview

During this term, our new year 7 students were welcomed into our faith community. Father Phil Moor led Year 7 students and staff in prayer and reflection during their ‘Welcome Mass’ at Holy Apostles & Martyrs Catholic Parish Church. Later in the term, Year 7 students enjoyed a retreat at Alton Castle, where they took part in a range of outdoor activities such as mountain biking, den building, cooking marshmallows and hiking. On Wednesday, this week, we held our first carol concert since December 2019, whilst it was a smaller event than usual it was wonderful to see the children performing again. Thank you to all of the staff who were involved in organising and running the event and also thank you to Father Phil Moor and the parishioners for allowing us to continue our strong partnerships with the Parish. 

The development of the Student Council and Junior Leadership team this term has had a positive impact of ensuring all our students’ voices are heard and how they can take an active role in our College community. The gifts and talents of our students continued to amaze us during this term, a large number of students took part in the Chester Zoo ‘takeover week’. Our dancers performed a powerful, dynamic and creative dance piece. While our singers performed their new song ‘There’s No Planet B’.  

As a community, we have taken part in a number of national awareness days, such as YoungMinds ‘Hello Yellow’ Day, to raise the profile of the importance of talking about our mental health and wellbeing. ‘Odd Socks’ Day, which linked in with our ‘Be Kind’ and anti-bullying campaign. Students also celebrated National Poetry Day, by creating poems on the theme of ‘Choices.’ 

In October, our dance students put on an amazing dance show, with the theme of ‘celebration of performance’. Some of our musicians hosted a ‘Friday Night Live’ evening, to showcase their musical talents. Our artists have produced some creative pieces of artwork, which can be viewed via our social media channels. Our Year 10 and Sixth Form students worked alongside Artist in Residence art graduate Emily Hoey to help create a fallen soldier installation for Remembrance Day. 

Meanwhile a group of students attended the Schools Climate Conference where they joined 1500 other students across the country to discuss how they can make our college more sustainable and protect our common home; inspired by Pope Francis’ Encyclical ‘Laudato Si’. Our Faith in Action group produced a collection of prayer boats which focused on working towards climate justice. They were placed in Liverpool Cathedral ahead of the United Nations COP26 summit of world leaders. The Faith in Action group also held a Macmillan coffee morning, raising vital funds towards cancer research.  

Well done to all of the students who have participated in making St Mary’s the wonderful school that it is. 

Parent voice 

In November, I conducted the first of my Parent Voice activities. I will hold further meetings throughout the year to ensure parents and carers are a full part of the improvement journey at the College. The main items of feedback in November were as follows:

  • Year 7 Transition work:  Parents were incredibly happy with the transition arrangements for year 7 and feel that the activities to support movement from primary school, despite the pandemic, supported their child to settle in at the College.
  • Homework: Many parents commented that homework was not being set regularly enough, particularly in year 7-10. Since receiving  this feedback, Mrs Parry has re-launched the homework expectations with staff and students Homework is predominantly set using GoogleClassroom which all pupils have a unique school-based login for. More information on how pupils can and should access GoogleClassroom is available in planners and also here. A complete overview of the school curriculum as well as homework expectations can be found here. You should have already started to see an increase in the amount of homework that is being set. 
  • Communication: Many parents felt that there was a lack of regular communication between home and school. to improve communication with home we will be launching the Arbor Parent Portal with you. Arbor is our new management information system and the portal lets Parents and carers view a range of information through a desktop portal or a mobile app. We will write to you again in January with login information and what features we will be using in the first instance. 

We will also be running a series of online parent information sessions throughout the year, these will be to provide parents with information on the activities that are taking place at the College. The dates for the spring term sessions are listed below, joining details will be shared in the New Year.

  • Corridor culture and disruption to learning:  A small number of parents raised this as an issue. We have put in a number of strategies to start to make the necessary improvements such as having a greater presence on the corridors and planning to introduce a clearer escalation system for students who are consistently disrupting learning. Students have responded well to these new approaches. I must note that the overall picture is extremely positive with far more students being rewarded for positive behaviour than needing to be sanctioned for negative behaviours. 
  • Extra curricular clubs and student support: Parents were very complimentary about student support and opportunities for their children to attend clubs. This is great feedback and I have shared with our hardworking staff to show how much you appreciate the time they give up to provide care and guidance and opportunities to the young people at the College. Just a reminder that the list of clubs can be found here. 

The next online Headteacher-parents meeting will take place on Thursday 20th January 2022 from 12:30pm to 7:30pm. Please click here if you would like to book an appointment. 

Uniform standards and Monday monitoring 

Each Monday, form tutors work with students to ensure they are supported to meet the uniform and standards expectations at the College. As the term has progressed, I have noticed that a number of students have consistently not been meeting our expectations despite this weekly support from their form tutor. The uniform and expectations policy can be found on the College website, the link can be found here. 

From this week, the following system will be introduced to support all students to meet these expectations. A letter will be sent to parents raising any concerns on Friday 17th December, not all parents will receive a letter.  If the issue is unresolved on our return your child’s form tutor will contact home to discuss how we can support your child in meeting the uniform standard. If the issue persists, parents will be contacted by the head of year and a meeting will be arranged to discuss the uniform policy and our escalation procedure. 

I would like to thank you in advance for your support in this matter.

Year 11 and 13 Raising Attainment Plan 

Now that the mock exams are complete we have created a bespoke plan for year 11 and 13 to support them to get as much out of the last 20 school weeks.  There will be an evening for year 11 parents on Monday 10th January 2022 during which we will share these plans and provide an overview of the support that will be on offer as we approach the next set of mock exams and then their actual GCSEs in the summer.  It is hoped that this evening will be in person, however we will move this on line if need arises. 

Year 11 parents will also be receiving a letter, early next week , outlining what resources and support pupils are being sent home with over Christmas and updating them about plans for revision boosters and exams. 

Hot Chocolate Friday 

I have really enjoyed my weekly meetings with our Hot Chocolate Friday students and I have taken great pleasure each week reviewing the students who have been given positive points throughout the week. It has also been really useful to gain their positive feedback about the College and areas they feel we need to move forward on.  

I would like to say a huge well done to the students who have been working hard all term. 

Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10 Year 11 6th Form
Kayla M

Leon R

Olivia H

Rueben A

Ella-Louise H

Sam M

Grace G

Ciaran D

Anastasia C

Dillon L

Anabelle C

Manny E

Emma M

Joseph H

 Leighton B

Hope C

Maddie F

Oscar S

Phoebe D

Jack E

Rebecca O

Jack D

Magdalena C

Alfie F

 Ruby D

Jack C

Kiera B

Riley WJ

Tayla SH

Misha KJ

Chole F

Leighton RM

Erin L

Leighton J

George G

Paradise R

Alfie W

Lacey Q

 Hope B

Alfie CW

Jasmine T

Cruz P

Emily H

Jon W

Megan H

Tom S

Elin O

Jack B

Lily-May B

Callum B

 Liam C

Lucia M

James B

Archie K

Renee B

Millie W

Chris R

Shenai C

Jack B

Shola R

Jordan S

Sindu J

Rupa S

 Michael U

Grace M

Katie R

Molly B

Alfie O

Grace R

Chloe U

Ryan B

Robert J

Leon C

Laura S

Mia C

Molly j

Joe T

 

Leavers and starters

As often happens at the end of a term, we have some staff who are leaving us for pastures new.  Mrs Woodier, Miss Wright, Ms Fletcher, Miss Crangle, Mrs Douthart, Mr Corcoran and Ms Pierce are leaving us to take up new roles in other schools. Miss Holman is starting her maternity leave from January. We are incredibly grateful for all that they have done for us at the College and I’m sure you will join me in wishing them well. 

When we come back in January, we will also be welcoming a number of new staff. Mrs Morgan will be joining the art department. Mrs Lowe, Ms Regan, Miss Nicholas and Miss Hodson will be joining the English department. We will also have Miss Chapman and Mrs Moore Joining us as Cover Supervisors. I look forward to welcoming our new staff on our return on Tuesday January 4th.

Coronavirus update 

At the time of writing this letter, the rule is that anyone who is a contact of a person who has tested for Coronavirus, omicron variant or otherwise, must test daily on a Lateral Flow Test at home. You are only allowed to leave home if the LFD Test is negative. Currently, this is being facilitated by NHS track and trace and not the College. I would very much appreciate it if you would follow these rules if contacted by NHS track and Trace. 

The current plan is that we will return to school as normal on Tuesday January 4th. The Government has asked all schools to conduct one LFD Test with pupils who have parental/carer consent on site during the first days back. If you have not already given consent for your child to have a lateral flow test in school and wish to do so, the link for this is here.  If any plans change over the Christmas holidays we will communicate with you via email. I would urge you to continue to regularly test during the Christmas break. 

Final note

The season of Advent allows us to look forward to the birth of Jesus and think deeply about how his birth brought light to the world. Here at the College we are also looking at the brightness of our future and the great things that are to come. I have really enjoyed my first 6 weeks at St Mary’s Catholic College, starting in November has given me the opportunity to get to see the College in full flow and it has been wonderful to meet the students and work with all the dedicated staff. I look forward to continuing in our mission to provide an outstanding Catholic education after the Christmas break. I wish you all a peaceful and joyous Christmas and I look forward to welcoming the students back to the College on Tuesday 4th January. 

Yours sincerely, 

Mr K Maddocks 

Headteacher

 

Calendar Events 

To further support our communication strategy at the College I want to draw your attention to the events that are planned to take place during the next half term.

Date Event 
Tuesday 4th January 2022 Start of Spring Term: School reopens to all pupils
Monday 10th January 2022 Year 11 revision parents event 6.00pm – 7.00pm
Thursday 13th January 2022 Year 10 School Cloud Parents evening 3.30pm – 6.45pm
Wednesday 19th January 2022 Online parents information evening for Mental Health and Wellbeing
Thursday 27th January 2022 Year 9 School Cloud Parents evening 3.30pm – 6.45pm
Tuesday 1st February 2022

Wednesday 2nd February 2022

 College show at the Floral Pavilion
Tuesday 8th February 2022

Wednesday 9th February 2022

 Year 10 RSE day
Friday 18th February 2022 School Closed for Staff Training
Monday 21st – 25th February 2022 February Half Term – School Closed

 

Further Dates can be found here. https://stmaryswallasey.com/holidays-key-dates/