16 September 2022
16th September 2022
Dear Parents/Carers,
September Update
We have been delighted to welcome our Year 13 students back to college and to witness how quickly they have settled into their studies following the summer break.
I am writing today as Mr Mullins and I would like to take this opportunity to provide you with an overview of the year ahead and to remind you of our expectations for students as we begin this important year.
College starts at 8.40am with morning registration for all Bishop Challoner Catholic College students. Notices with key information are given out in this time and hence we expect all students to arrive promptly to registration. If a student has a study period after morning registration, then the expectation is that they utilise this time in one of their study areas. During Year 13, we expect students to remain onsite to study during the day and students have been informed that they are only permitted off-site during their lunch break, or after their last timetabled session of the day. Please note that students have afternoon registration on a Tuesday and Thursday and so will not be allowed to leave before 3.10 pm on those days.
The majority of students have excellent attendance and punctuality, however I would like to alert parents/carers about an initiative that will be in place from Monday 19th September for students who are persistently failing to meet expectations. If a student is persistently late to college and misses their morning registration time, they will have their offsite privileges withdrawn and must remain onsite each day until 3.10 pm, regardless of their timetabled finish. Once a student has improved their punctuality, offsite and early finish privileges will be reinstated.
For this term, our focus is preparing students for their UCAS or apprenticeship applications and we have asked all students to have a draft of their personal statement ready for 19th September 2022. We have been supporting students throughout this process and have a team of teachers across the school acting as academic coaches, an additional point of contact and guidance for students, in addition to subject teachers.
Looking a little further ahead, students will complete subject assessments throughout the autumn term, and there will be a specific assessment window from 7th November - 18th November. Parents will be invited into college if we have any concerns following these assessments. A report on academic progress will be posted home at the beginning of December. The Mock Examinations are scheduled to take place between 9th and 20th January 2023, and we will be holding a Parent’s Evening at the end of March, where there will be an opportunity to meet with subject teachers to discuss your son/daughter’s progress in detail.
We appreciate that this year can be a little daunting for students and we value your support in continuing to keep an open dialogue at home. Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any concerns of an academic or well-being nature, so that we can provide appropriate support to your son/daughter. There are many useful links, which are regularly updated, on the safeguarding and wellbeing area of our website.
https://www.bishopchalloner.org.uk/about/mental-health-and-wellbeing
With best wishes,
Dr Osborne Mr Mullins
Head of Year 13. Head of Sixth Form.