{"id":1844,"date":"2023-01-06T18:14:21","date_gmt":"2023-01-06T18:14:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.darrickwood.co.uk\/?p=1844"},"modified":"2023-01-08T08:57:44","modified_gmt":"2023-01-08T08:57:44","slug":"parent-bulletin-06-01-23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.darrickwood.co.uk\/?p=1844","title":{"rendered":"Parent Bulletin 06\/01\/23"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This week<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We hope everyone had an enjoyable and restful time over the festive period. Happy New Year to all our students and their families. It was lovely to see everyone again after the break, and to have the School open without snow to deal with! However, I am sure we will all be looking forward to some lighter mornings and evenings along with the onset of spring – it seems permanently dark at this time of year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a brighter note, walking around the School and into lessons I was struck by how well the majority of our students were focused, enjoying their learning and being back at school this week. With their mock examinations out of the way, Years 11 and 13 are into their final few months before the public examinations. They need to lead the way in setting the tone for the rest of the School to follow by having excellent attendance, smart appearance (as per uniform\/dress code policy), being punctual, having the correct equipment and making the most of all the opportunities we provide for learning. All students, especially our oldest students, should be able to demonstrate our core values of Respect, Responsibility and Honesty so that the whole school community works together for mutual success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you to all parents\/carers who attended the Year 11 Parents’ Evening on Thursday. We hope you found this helpful. Please contact us if you were unable to make an appointment and still need feedback from staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were no main school assemblies this week so that tutors could spend more time directly with their form groups. The exception was Year 13 who today had their belated autumn term Achievement Assembly with the Head Teacher. Congratulations to all who were awarded certificates. Main school assemblies with the Head Teacher will return for all year groups next week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attendance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attendance at Darrick Wood School is always above the national average. Nationally, attendance at school continues to be affected by illnesses and we certainly experienced this in the lead up to Christmas. In terms of ill health, there has been guidance this week from the UK Health Security Agency here<\/a>. The advice is aimed at parents\/carers to remind them that if their child is unwell and has a fever, they should stay home from school until they feel better and the fever has resolved. This does not mean that when a child has a minor illness and no fever they should remain at home. We of course want all children in school wherever possible as they only get one chance at the education we provide. The UKHSA also advises on the importance of children and adults keeping up to date on vaccination (e.g. against flu).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, we have noted an increase in the number requests for leave of absence for holidays during term time. I need to be clear that these will not be authorised. Also, in accordance with the provisions of the Education Act 1996, parents\/carers have a legal duty to ensure their child regularly attends school and failure to do so may amount to an offence for which the Local Authority may initiate prosecution through the Magistrates Court or issue a Penalty Notice. As you would expect, our pastoral teams, Attendance Officer and Education Welfare Officer regularly review student attendance, including requests for holidays in term time. We appreciate parents\/carers cooperation and understanding on these matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

E-scooters<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are receiving worrying reports of children in the local area using e-scooters, some of them on the roads including the A21. From the reports, it is only a matter of time before someone is seriously injured or worse. In one case we heard about, a car narrowly missed hitting a child on an e-scooter. As mentioned in previous communications e-scooters are not legal on the public highways and just because they can be purchased for use on private land, does not mean they are safe for children to use, and certainly not on the road in the middle of winter (or indeed any time).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teaching and learning focus<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Effective assessment and feedback has been shown to be one of the most powerful ways to impact a child’s learning. How this is undertaken has changed considerably in schools since the traditional marking of an exercise book. Some of the most effective assessment and feedback is in the moment, in class, through questioning whole classes and obtaining responses from all in the class and not just a keen few. This can be aided by the use of mini-whiteboards, which are available for use in all of our classrooms. When using these, a teacher might ask one question, allow students to consider their answer, then they all write their own individual response on their boards, before holding them up to show the teacher. The teacher can then scan the room, follow-up any misconceptions, or ask deeper questions to the class or individuals. They can also ask pairs and groups to compare or develop their answers further. In home learning, many teachers nowadays make use of the quiz functions available on a whole range of websites and Teams. A student does not then have to wait days (if not longer) to find out if their answer is correct, they can find out immediately on completion of the quiz. The mini-whiteboard and the online quiz are just two ways our teachers are encouraged to assess and feedback to students to promote better learning for all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Uniform focus – some FAQs<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question: When is a bag not a Darrick Wood School bag?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Answer: When it has large logos on it, when it is not large enough to hold an A4 folder, when it is patterned, not plain, or when it looks like handbag or has lots of buckles etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question: When is a shoe not a Darrick Wood school shoe?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Answer: When it has sports branding on it, is a trainer, or when it is a boot (i.e. covers the ankles).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question: When is a coat not a Darrick Wood school coat?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Answer: When it is not plain but patterned in some way, has large logos on it, is not black or dark brown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question: Why do Darrick Wood School students and staff have lanyards on display at all times at school?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Answer: To keep everyone safer and to support the smooth running of the School. The lanyards and identity cards help identify all on the School site quickly making it safer for all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Staff who wear brown lanyards are employees of the School. Visitors wear green if they are cleared to work unsupervised with our students or red if they are not cleared to work unsupervised with our students but have been signed in at Reception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students wear different colours depending on their year group and collect all the colours of the rainbow if they stay at Darrick Wood all the way from Year 7 to Year 13. Wearing these enables us to quickly identify groups of students from a distance to support them being in the right place at the right time. The cards are also required increasingly for other things such as the cashless catering system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you to parents\/carers for ensuring our high standards on uniform are maintained. Please ensure your child has a note in their planner if there is any aspect of the uniform policy they are temporarily unable to follow (e.g. lost or broken item).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dates for the diary<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tuesday, 3rd January for two weeks<\/td>Year 12 assessments<\/td><\/tr>
Thursday, 19th January,
4-7pm on School Cloud<\/td>		Year 13 parents’ evening<\/td><\/tr>
Thursday, 9th February<\/td>Staff training event in conjunction with Bromley Schools’ Collegiate. This will require a slightly earlier finish than usual for students. Information to follow.<\/td><\/tr>
Monday, 13th February to Friday 17th February<\/td>HALF TERM<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week We hope everyone had an enjoyable and restful time over the festive period. Happy New Year to all our students and their families. It was lovely to see everyone again after the break, and to have the School open without snow to deal with! However, I am sure we will all be looking forward to some lighter mornings and evenings along with the onset of spring – it seems permanently dark at this time of year. On a…<\/p>\n

Read More Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.darrickwood.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1844"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.darrickwood.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.darrickwood.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.darrickwood.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.darrickwood.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1844"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/news.darrickwood.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1844\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1846,"href":"https:\/\/news.darrickwood.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1844\/revisions\/1846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.darrickwood.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.darrickwood.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.darrickwood.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}