Year 8 Welcome Letter

September  2022

Dear Parent

A big welcome back to all our Year 8 students. I hope that you had a restful summer holiday; it’s great to see everyone back in school ready for a new year.

I look forward to a productive partnership with you during this next academic year to ensure that your child can achieve their highest potential. In order for your child to be successful in school they need support from both home and school. A strong partnership with you will make a great difference in your child’s education. We believe communication is the key to building good relationships between school and home and are always keen to meet with parents to resolve matters face to face. We fully understand that urgent issues can arise but please bear in mind that we cannot always see parents who arrive without notice during the school day. Staff are often teaching or in meetings. Please call ahead to arrange a mutually convenient time to meet rather than arrive at school unannounced and risk disappointment if no one is available. Many thanks for your understanding on this matter.

A reminder about uniform and belongings – the uniform policy is on the parent’s section of the website, and please can you ensure that all uniform and personal items are named; this helps us to track down any items that get mislaid. In terms of equipment, all students should be carrying black pens, green pens, pencil, rubber, sharpener, ruler, highlighters, glue stick, a scientific calculator, a protractor and highlighter pens. If your child brings a mobile phone to college for use before or after school, it is their responsibility to ensure that it is switched off and out of sight during the school day. If your child uses social media, please can I also ask that you are mindful of age restrictions for the platforms and that you regularly monitor the content of their interactions. This will help you to head off any problems that may potentially spill over into school life and detract from your child’s studies.

I would also ask that you continue to contact form tutors initially regarding queries or concerns about your son or daughter, as they play a vital day to day role in the pastoral care of your child. As well as via email, you can also communicate with your child’s tutor using the student planner. Year 8 Form Tutors and email addresses are as follows:

8A – Mrs Low – rlow@blessededward.co.uk

8C – Miss Ali – aali@blessededward.co.uk

8J – Mr Nicholls – mgn4@blessededward.co.uk

8L – Mrs Wones – beocws@blessededward.co.uk

8P – Mrs Keetley and Mrs Strauss – wkeetley@blessededward.co.uk and cstrauss@blessededward.co.uk

8S – Mr Long and Mrs Barrett – rjl27@blessededward.co.uk and beobar@blessededward.co.uk

8W – Miss Bone – fbones@blessededward.co.uk

There are a few dates for your diary this term:
Thursday 29 September – 12.30pm finish – Open Evening
Tuesday 18 October – 1.35pm finish – Curriculum Planning Afternoon
Friday 21 October – Students finish for half term

If you have any concerns, please do not hesitate to contact tutors, subject teachers or myself
so that we can work together to support your children. I thank you for your continued
support, which is always very much appreciated.

Yours sincerely

Mrs L Jones
Head of Year 8