Bulletin - 11 October 2024

Thank you to the parents and carers who have completed the survey we circulated earlier in the week. There is still time to share your views, and I will of course share a summary of your feedback, with our next steps, before the end of this half term. Students will complete their surveys, in computer rooms, across the week next week. Student voice panels have told us that they have noticed the improvements in behaviour, extra-curricular and in the main canteen. There are changes we will be making to the Year 7-9 playground, including additional picnic tables. Queuing arrangements for the main canteen also need work.

I have dropped in on 58 lessons this week. The energy in every DT and GCSE Construction lesson has been fantastic as has the quality of written work in English. Discussions in PER, particularly in Year 10, have been strong and I was impressed by a Year 13 Politics lesson focused on Positive Liberty.

Heart points

This week’s totals are:

Year 12: 65

Year 11: 504

Year 10: 1021

Year 9: 720

Year 8: 1368

Year 7: 937

Well done to Year 8 for continuing to lead the way. Let’s see more HEART points for Year 9 and Year 11 next week!

Just before half term we will be awarding HEART badges and certificates based on HEART points awarded since the start of term. The thresholds for a badge and certificate are:

50 points – Bronze Award

100 points – Silver Award

200 points – Gold Award

400 points – Platinum Award

500 points – Ruby Award

I am sorry to report that there have been further suspensions for students who have been vaping on their way into school. Our understanding is that there is a shop in Braintree selling vapes to minors. This has been reported to the police. There have also been detentions for poor uniform.

Finally, there are several attachments to this bulletin:

• Our next E-safety bulletin (more information can be found here: https://www.notleyhigh.com/safeguarding-overview/e-safety-guidance;
• Year 11 Revision Topics for English, Maths and Science.

You will see that this month’s E-safety bulletin includes information on Instagram’s new ‘Teen Accounts’ as well as Online Gaming (which was the theme of this week’s Year 13 assembly). The revision information for Year 11 are topics/skills that they should be re-visiting now and in preparation for the November mock examinations. For Maths revision via ‘Sparx’, students should:

• search for 'Sparx student login';
• usernames is firstnamesurname with no spaces and no upper case;
• passwords are set by students - click 'forgotten password' and the class teacher will be sent a request for a reset. Students are also able to log in using the 'log into Sparx using Microsoft' button.

The link to our Sixth Form Open Evening can be found here: Braintree Sixth Form Open Evening - Notley High School & Braintree Sixth Form.

With best wishes for the weekend.

Mr M Barrow, Headteacher