Parent Bulletin Friday 6th September
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Parent Bulletin Friday 6th September 2024
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Hello, and welcome to the first edition of the Wildern Weekly for this new academic year. It has been a fantastic start to they year!
This week we have welcomed our new cohort of Year 7 students. It has been great starting to get to know you and see you settling in. Year 11 have also been in school for their study sessions and have made an impressive start to their final year with us.
It has also be wonderful to see so many parents in school and virtually for 'Meeting Me' sessions. These have been extremely helpful and informative in order that our tutors are able to continue to forge strong relationships with your child(ren) and yourselves, signpost any support that may be necessary and also ensure that key information is shared with the relevant people.
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We welcomed last year's Year 11 back into school to collect their GCSE results on results day and it was great to see so many happy faces. We wish them all the best for their next steps... wherever that takes them!
Sadly, the weather yesterday was not the sunshine we would have wanted for the first day everyone was back in school but all our students were superb in coping with this and were thankful for the wet weather rooms. It would be worth reminding your child to look at the weather forecast and bringing a coat with them on rainy days as many had not anticipated the rain yesterday.
We are looking forward to, once more, a really successful year, working alongside you.
Mrs Oakley
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Parent Information Evening - Welcome to…
We would love parents to join us for these events - these will be about highlighting the important aspects of the year ahead for your child's year group and how we work as a partnership to support students throughout the year.
Year 11 - Tuesday 10th September, 5:15pm in the Berry Theatre
Year 10 - Tuesday 10th September, 6pm in the Berry Theatre
Year 9 - Thursday 12th September, 5:15pm in the School Hall
Year 8 - Thursday 12th September, 6pm in the School Hall
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Parent Communication Evenings
We always ask for feedback after a parents evening so that they continue to be well attended and purposeful. Many parents favoured a face to face meeting whilst some preferred virtual to fit in around their work and family commitments. At the end of last year we had two face to face parents evenings which were incredibly successful and well attended. This year we will continue to offer a hybrid of virtual and face to face evenings whilst increasing our face to face offer.
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Contacting School
The start of the year is always a good time to remind parents of the best ways to contact us. Please see the diagram to help with various reasons that you might be getting in touch, who to contact and how.
Further information can be found here along with our parent communications guidelines.
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Whole School
Monday 9 September Week B
Tuesday 10 September Parent Information Evening - Welcome to Year 11 (5:15pm) & Year 10 (6pm) Berry Theatre
Thursday 12 September Parent Information Evening - Welcome to Year 9 (5:15pm) & Year 8 (6pm) School Hall
Monday 16 September Week A
Wednesday 18 September Individual Photos
Wednesday 18 September Race for life event, 3:30pm
Monday 23 September Week B
Thursday 26 September Open evening
Friday 27 September School opens at 10am
Year 7
Wednesday 11 September Hilliers trip - A1, A2, D1, D2, J1
Thursday 12 September Hilliers trip - J2, P1, P2, S1, S2
Year 10
Tuesday 17 September Parent information evening - Experience of a workplace, 6pm, School Hall
Year 11
Tuesday 10 September Parent information evening - Careers, 6pm, School Hall
Staff In-Service Training Days 2024-25
Students will not be in school on the following INSET Days:
Friday 11 October
Friday 29 November
Friday 14 February
Tuesday 22 April
Friday 20 June
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UK Riots - Summer 2024
Next week all students will participate in an Education for Life lesson where we look at the riots that took place over the summer. You may wish to discuss this further with your child at home.
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Flu Vaccination Programme
This autumn term, all school children in England will be offered a flu vaccination in school. This can help protect children against flu, reduce absence and reduce transmission within the community – including the likelihood of teachers catching flu from pupils.
The DFE has published a blog with top tips on how to keep children healthy at school. Please read this and discuss with your child.
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English
Welcome to Year 7 English lessons. We are writing to you with information on what students will be studying this year.
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Design Technology Materials
Year 7 parents will have received a letter via email on 4th September regarding a contribution towards the cost of ingredients in Cooking and Nutrition lessons and for project materials in Design & Technology lessons. Thank you so much to the parents who have already contributed. There was a small delay to this payment appearing on parentpay and this has now been resolved. If any parents were not able to make a payment at the time they read the letter, it would be wonderful if they would be so kind as to check back into parentpay again.
NOTE: Parents who have children on our pupil premium register will find that this payment option does not appear on their parent pay account.
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Design Technology Materials
Year 8 parents will have received a letter via email on 4th September regarding a contribution towards the cost of ingredients in Cooking and Nutrition lessons and for project materials in Design & Technology lessons. Thank you so much to the parents who have already contributed. There was a small delay to this payment appearing on parentpay and this has now been resolved. If any parents were not able to make a payment at the time they read the letter, it would be wonderful if they would be so kind as to check back into parentpay again.
NOTE: Parents who have children on our pupil premium register will find that this payment option does not appear on their parent pay account.
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English
Welcome to Year 8 English lessons. We are writing to you with information on what students will be studying this year.
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Geography Trip to Sea Life Centre - Deadline 17th September
In order to enrich the Geography curriculum and support the teaching of our oceans unit, the Wildern School Geography Department has organised a day trip to London. This trip will visit the Sea Life Centre where students will be able to explore the exhibitions and further their knowledge on topics such as ocean adaptations, coral bleaching, plastic pollution and overfishing that we study during Year 8...
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Geography Revision Guides
Year 9, 10 and 11 Geography Students are encouraged to purchase the AQA Geography Revision guide to support their learning. These can be used within lessons and at home to support self-study and revision. Forms can be collected from finance to purchase these at a price of £3.50 which is significantly discounted. Students in receipt of Pupil Premium will receive their copies from the school.
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English
Welcome to Year 9 English lessons. We are writing to you with information on what students will be studying this year.
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Food & Nutrition or Hospitality & Catering
We have a very exciting curriculum planned this year, which we look forward to sharing with your child. We will be working with your child to develop a wide range of food preparation and cooking techniques using an array of different ingredients and flavours. This year we are kindly asking parents to contribute towards the costs of some food items and ingredients used to support learning. More information in the letter.
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Beewell Project
Your child is being invited to take part in a research study to look into the wellbeing of young people across Hampshire. Please take time to read the following information carefully. More detailed information available here.
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English
Welcome to Year 10 English lessons. We are writing to you with information on what students will be studying this year. All students will be studying Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ in the Autumn term of Year 10, so will need a copy. We recommend purchasing the ‘Oxford’ edition, with space for notes, and a glossary to the side of the original script.
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Careers update
As we prepare for the new academic year we thought this would be a good time to outline all of the careers information, advice and guidance programmes your child will experience as they progress through year 10...
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Food & Nutrition or Hospitality & Catering
We have a very exciting curriculum planned this year, which we look forward to sharing with your child. We will be working with your child to develop a wide range of food preparation and cooking techniques using an array of different ingredients and flavours. This year we are kindly asking parents to contribute towards the costs of some food items and ingredients used to support learning. More information in the letter.
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Beewell Project
Your child is being invited to take part in a research study to look into the wellbeing of young people across Hampshire. Please take time to read the following information carefully. More detailed information available here.
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Careers update
As we prepare for the new academic year we thought this would be a good time to outline all of the careers information, advice and guidance programmes your child will experience as they progress through year 11.
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Food & Nutrition or Hospitality & Catering
We have a very exciting curriculum planned this year, which we look forward to sharing with your child. We will be working with your child to develop a wide range of food preparation and cooking techniques using an array of different ingredients and flavours. This year we are kindly asking parents to contribute towards the costs of some food items and ingredients used to support learning. More information in the letter.
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English
Welcome to Year 11 English lessons. Please see the attached for a summary of your child’s curriculum in English this year and key study and revision resources to support them in the year ahead.
Please note that Year 11 students will need a copy of ‘Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ for their Autumn term study of the 19th century novel for their English Literature GCSE. This does not have to be new and students in receipt of Pupil Premium will receive their copies from the school. We recommend the Wordsworth Classic edition if you are needing to purchase a copy.
A select few students in Mrs Dare’s and Mrs Mullen’s new classes will be studying ‘A Christmas Carol’ - these students will be clearly told this.
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British Nutrition Foundation’s National Schools Breakfast Week 2024
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We will be taking part in National Schools Breakfast Week, 9th-13th September, to raise awareness of the importance of healthy breakfasts and to help our students have a great start to the day.
Studies show that healthy breakfasts can benefit children’s health and learning. However, many school-aged children skip breakfast. Missing out on a nutritious breakfast can make it harder for children and young people to get enough of the nutrients they need to maximise their potential.
Throughout next week (9-13 September), our canteen will be serving a special breakfast menu each morning and we are inviting parents to join their children for breakfast in the Main School Hall on Friday 13th September 7:30 to 8:25am. Chef Dan has put together a delicious menu that we hope you and our students will enjoy! If you wish to join us for breakfast with your child/ren on Friday 13th September please RSVP here.
Students who receive free school meals will have £2.50 added to their accounts to purchase breakfast in addition to their lunch meal. The additional funds will only be added to accounts from Monday 9th September to Friday 13th September. Parents of students who receive free school meals, who join us for breakfast on Friday 13th September will receive a 50p discount off the hot and continental breakfast.
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British Nutrition Foundation’s National Schools Breakfast Week 2024
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On Wednesday 18th September, we are holding our next Race for Life event here on the school field. All students will be invited to participate in the 5k, whether they walk or run it (or a bit of both!) we are encouraging as many students to join us as possible.
Cancer affects 1 in 2 people in their lifetime and Cancer Research UK are doing a fantastic job to make a difference to this; all moneys raised will go towards this amazing charity. Last time we ran this event, we raised just over £2800. This time we would love to reach over £3000 for such an important cause. As Cancer Research UK so aptly say, "No matter how cancer affects us, life is worth racing for."
Students will voluntarily sign up to the event through their tutor group and try to get sponsors to support them in doing so. So if the whole family want to get behind your child, then that would be amazing! Our event will being at 3:15pm and take about an hour on average.
We have set up a Just Giving page where all donations can be made to - https://www.justgiving.com/page/wildern-school-1725552913947
Keep your eyes posted on the Wildern social media pages for more.
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Update us about any health changes?
If your son or daughter has any new health conditions please remember to contact us to provide more details. Please email firstaid@wildern.org
#talk2us
#talk2us is an online form that students can fill in at any time if you have any concerns or would like some support. Everything they write on the form is confidential and we will find a time to discreetly talk to them and address their concerns. It can be accessed via the wellbeing section of the website.
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Nut Allergies - important information
The beginning of the academic year is a good time to remind ourselves that a number of students and staff at Wildern have severe allergies to nuts. It is imperative that there is a strict avoidance of this food in order to prevent a life-threatening allergic reaction and we ask that students and staff do not bring nuts into school to support our safe school environment.
Any exposure to nuts may cause a life-threatening reaction that requires emergency medical treatment. To help reduce the chance of this happening we ask that you do not send your child to school or on school trips with products containing nuts.
We appreciate your support with these procedures.
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Student Services
We are always open to support all students between 8:45am and 3:30pm. The best times for students to drop in are:
- 11:10-11:25am - Breaktime
- 1:30-1:55pm - Lunchtime
- 3:00-3:15pm - After School
If students need to attend during lesson time they must remember to register with their teacher and collect the pink lanyard before they come.
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Here is our Autumn term Co-Curricular timetable of activities including our Autumn PE menu. Clubs start in the next couple of weeks. Please look at what is on offer to your child and discuss this with them as their might be something that they would like to get involved with. Full details are available in the Student Wildern Weekly and from that subject area.
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Please see the menu below for our hot food options for next week.
The main school meal deals are £3.20 which is in line with all Hampshire schools. In a meal deal, students can get one of the meal choices below with a bottle of plain water and a cookie or piece of fruit.
- either of the hot meal options,
- a jacket potato,
- a pasta pot,
- a chicken or beef burger,
- a salad pot (from the salad bar)
We encourage all families to use the free school meals eligibility checker, which can be found here, to determine if they qualify for this entitlement.
We remain committed to providing the highest quality food for your children every day. Please remember, we can adapt the majority of meals to any dietary needs if we know in advance (your child can speak to kitchen staff by visiting the kitchen before 8:30am that day). Main A/B vegetarian options are always available - just ask Dan and his team.
* correct at time of sending, but may be subject to change
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What Parents need to know about Snapchat
Snapchat is a photo- and video-sharing app through which users can chat with friends via text or audio. Images and videos can be shared with specific friends, or as a ‘story’ (documenting the previous 24 hours) which is visible to a person’s entire friend list. Snapchat usage rose significantly during the lockdown periods, with many young people utilising it to stay connected with their peers. The app continues to develop features to engage an even larger audience and emulate current trends, rivalling platforms such as TikTok and Instagram.
In the guide, you'll find tips on avoiding potential risks such as sexting, visible location and contact from strangers.
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Every Student Matters, Every Moment Counts
Follow us on social media:
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Wildern School
Wildern Lane
Hedge End
Southampton
Hampshire
SO30 4EJ
01489 783473
#WeAreWildern
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