Year 7 Induction 2020
A guide for pupils and parents
EXAMPLE FROM LAST ACADEMIC YEAR
Year 7 induction 2020
Contents
Page number
Introduction
3
Welcome to Rawlins - A message from the Principal
4
Meet your Head of Year and information about meet the tutor event 5
The House System
6
Vision and Values
7
Day Pattern and social time
8
Cashless payment system
9
Uniform
10
Equipment
11
Map of the school
12
Attendance and Punctuality
13
Curriculum
14
Extra-curricular
15
Transport
17
The following booklet contains a wealth of information about starting as a Year 7 pupil at Rawlins Academy.
We’ve written this booklet as a basic guide and we hope that you appreciate that some items may need to be re-viewed and changed as we move forward.
In the meantime, we hope that you find this booklet informative and should you have any additional questions, please make note as you go through this booklet and get in touch if you think we can help.
Welcome to Rawlins
Introduction
Welcome
Message from the Principal
On behalf of the staff, pupils, post 16 students and governors, I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to Rawlins Academy. Our school is an extremely popular and happy place; with a great atmosphere, enthusiastic and fo-cused pupils, who are supported by a team of highly qualified, committed and skilled staff.
Choosing your child’s secondary school has been an important decision. I hope that the information within this booklet will support this stage of transition to secondary school and ensure that, having chosen Rawlins Academy, we can now work successfully together.
We are a fully inclusive school, with a focus on academic success through personal development and an emphasis on our school values. Our aim is for your child to become a fully independent, confident, inquisitive and articulate learner who is fully prepared for the next stage of their life.
As well as curricular opportunities and academic success, we are extremely proud of the wide range of extra-curricular clubs and activities offered to our pupils. Our Performing Arts productions are renowned for their outstanding quality and our sports teams are highly successful at local, regional and national level. There are also a wide range of trips and visits that will enable your child to gain skills and experiences beyond the classroom and enrich their learning.
Our teaching is underpinned by Christian values, which affect the way we expect everyone to work with each other. This includes manners, courtesy towards others, self-respect, discipline and wearing the school uniform with pride. We hope that by choosing us, you and your child will be fully supportive of our values.
We believe that we can only achieve the best for our pupils by close co-operation between home and the Academy. Therefore, we look forward to an effective relationship in the coming years as we work together. We know that pupils prosper when parents/carers engage fully with school and we are committed to working with you. We hope that this Year 7 Induction Booklet, along with our ongoing planning and discussions with Primary schools during the final half of summer term, ensures your child moves seamlessly from the Primary to Secondary school phase of their education. I am extremely proud of what our pupils achieve. It is a real pleasure to lead and work in a school that is friendly and aspirational. I look forward to welcoming your child.
As shared in the 4 letters to date, during this period of school closure, if you have any queries or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us by email, making all such enquiries for the attention of Mr.Byrne (Assistant Principal) through the following email address [email protected].
Best wishes,
Clare Darby Principal
Rawlins Academy Inspiring Learning for Life
As with many educational establishments, we have a lot of acronyms for staff and their roles.
We have SLT (Senior Leadership Team) DOLs (Directors of Learning) PMs (Pastoral Managers) and many more which your child will get used to over time.
For parents of new Year 7’s, the tutor will be the most important contact, with each tutor led by your HOY (Head of Year). For Year 7 we have a non-teaching Head of Year— Mrs Kinsey. Usually by now, you would have met your HOY, but as that hasn't been possible, it’s always good to put a face to a name, so here is a brief message:
Hello and welcome to Rawlins.
Over the past few months, we’ve been in touch with your Primary
school and many of you have been in touch with us through the
“getting to know you “ task, which has been great to find
out a little more about you.
I know that the transition process hasn’t been what we had
hoped it would be, but we will make sure you are fully equipped
to start the next steps of your education as a Year 7 pupil.
I look forward to meeting you all soon.
Best Wishes
Mrs Kinsey, Head of Year 7
Meet the Tutor eventThis year we won’t be able to host our usual face to face event, so we will be conducting a virtual version.
You will each receive a video presentation with an introduction from respective tutors. The presentation will include a virtual tour of our school and we hope that we will have more details about the start of next academic year by its release date.
We will also look for opportunities in the future by which tutors can speak with incoming parents and pupils either over the phone or through video conference. More details will follow during this final half term and as we have more detail about how we can proceed.
House System
Each year group has 8 tutor groups.
These are divided into our 4 houses, meaning that each house has 2 tutor groups per year group (14 in total).
Pupils in years 7-11 wear house coloured identification lanyards as part of their uni-form. Lanyards, which contain a personalised badge showing the name and a picture of the owner ,must be worn at all times by anyone who is on our campus.
Post 16 students have black lanyards. Staff have blue lanyards with a dark blue badge holder. Other visitors to our site have various coloured lanyards.
By wearing a house coloured lanyard, pupils are not only representing their school, but representing their house everywhere that they go and in all that they do.
This academic year we started our new house system, with pupils voting for the house names in a number of year group, house and tutor group votes.
We now have the following 4 houses who compete in a house competition.
Air
Earth
Fire
Water
House events take place in lessons, during social time, after school and remotely through our newsletter Raw Release. We also host house assemblies and have a Post 16 student led house Government structure. Can your house win in 2020/2021?
At our school we have a clear vision which we aim to achieve
through three Christian values
We challenge all members of our community to
Act wisely and make the most of every opportunity
As a school we ensure that we are
Developing Trust | Inspiring Hope | Building Success | Shaping the Future
Through the values of
Compassion, Wisdom and Endurance
Day Pattern
We currently have a split day pattern and a 2 week timetable. This allows year 7 and 8 to have lunch together, with our older pupils in key stage 4 in lessons during this time. Pupils each receive a 2 week timetable (showing Week A and Week B) .
The current day pattern for Year 7 is shown below:
Pupils arrive to school by 8:30, to ensure punctuality to tutor time 8:40 Tutor Time 9:00 Period 1 10:00 Period 2 11:00 Break 11:20 Period 3 12:20 Lunch 13:00 Period 4 14:00 Period 5
15:00 End of formal school day Extra-curricular opportunities
Social Time
Break and lunch are classed as social time. There are several options for year 7 pupils including a year 7 only area where Mrs Kinsey will be based for pastoral support.
Fancy something to eat?
Our main canteen serves hot and cold snacks and drinks. Pupils are expected to sit and eat in the canteen and we have ample space, including our theatre. Pupils are also welcome to bring their own food, which we’d encourage to be healthy. Rawlins is a nut free school and we regularly remind our community not to bring any items that contain nuts onto the premises.
Want to be active?
The 3G football pitch is open for ball games at both break time and lunch. The space is supervised and all who want to get involved in active play are welcome. Bring a ball, drop your bag off and away you go. The year 7 only playground outside L Block has a lot of space for anyone who prefers to be with their own year group.
Prefer a quieter time or need to do some work?
There are plenty of quiet places away from the crowds. The learning resource centre is open at both break and lunch for those who wish to read or work quietly.
Many of you will already be used to a cashless system within your current schools. At Rawlins we have recently moved to a new online payment facility called ParentPay which offers a personalised webpage containing all the details you need.
This facility is available for parents to pay money to school via debit or credit card. This allows you to pay for school trips, equipment, materials, tickets and many other items in a secure and convenient way, 24 hours a day.
The facility works in conjunction with our cashless catering system. Through ParentPay you can top up your child’s dinner money account, check the balance and view details of previous purchases. More de-tails about this system will follow at an appropriate time, as it is linked to our bio-metrics system.
The bio-metrics system allows pupils to add additional funds at our cash collection points and to pay for food and drink during social time, through their thumbprint. Staff and our Post 16 students also use bio-metrics to enter and leave through specific entrances and exits. Pupils in Key Stage 3 and 4 don’t have this function during the school day, but can use their thumbprints to enter our site in the morning.
Uniform
Our school uniform can be bought from the following suppliers:
www.exampleschooluniforms.com which is based in Barrow-upon-Soar (01509 813888) www.rosebuddiesonline.co.uk which is based at Loughborough Market (07821077606) Each hyperlink is live on the Rawlins website with any updates added throughout the year.
There are also order forms available online if you’d prefer to print these out and visit in person when the opportunity arises..
Equipment
Being ready to learn, includes having the right equipment.
Please use the following checklist to ensure that your child has what is required at the start of term and to bring to school each day in their school bag:
Pencils (HB)
Pens (black and blue)
Coloured pencils
Eraser
Clear ruler
Good quality glue stick
A pencil case
A maths set (protactor, compasses)
A scientific calculator
Pupils can purchase items from our school shop, based at reprographics.
Tutors and teachers do equipment checks on an hourly basis and sanctions
are applied when equipment is missing.
Map
We have a large school site, but students soon get used to it! Year 7 students can enter the school through 3 entrances;
The main entrance off Sarson Street (12)
The Deep End gates (8)
The front entrance (by limetree nursery) off Loughborough Road
Using the map, you could help your son/daughter
to try and learn their way around before they arrive.
Attendance
90% attendance = Half a day missed every week
1 school year at 90% = 4 whole weeks of missed lessons
90% over 5 years = Half a school year missed
17 missed school days a year = 1 grade drop in achievement
Poor punctuality is not acceptable. If a pupil misses the start of the day, they can miss important information. Pupils who arrive late also disrupt lessons and the learning of others and this can cause embarrassment. If a pupil is late without good reason, they will receive a detention and parents/carers will be informed.
If a pupil is persistently late, parents/carers will be required to meet with relevant staff in an attempt to resolve the problem. However, parents/carers can approach the academy at any time if they are having problems getting their child to school punctually.
Introduction
Curriculum
The year 7 curriculum has been designed to encourage pupils to be curious about learning and the world around them.
We want pupils to feel awe and wonder in discovery. We also aim to embed those all-important literacy and nu-meracy skills that are the fundamental building blocks to later success.
Reading for pleasure forms a significant part of the Rawlins year 7 experience. Just as Roald Dahl famously quoted “[We] have a passion for teaching kids to become readers, to become comfortable with a book, not daunted.
Books shouldn’t be daunting, they should be funny, exciting and wonderful.”
An example of our provision for year 7 can be seen below. Whilst we won’t make wholesale changes, we’re always looking at what we deliver and each year we review our offer to ensure we are getting the best from our pupils.
Extra Curricular Activities
We offer an extensive extra-curricular programme with something for everyone. Once the termly pro-gramme is confirmed, details are shared in tutor time, on the daily message, in faculty areas, via our newsletter and on our website.
Sport, Music and the Arts are all strong features of our school and through our after school clubs, pupils can develop skills, present their work and represent the school in both local and national competitions. Our school productions are of the highest calibre and for the last two academic years, Rawlins has been named as the Team Leicestershire Champion School, having competed in the most county finals following successful navigation of local sport competitions. We have a wealth of current county champions and we hope that the opportunities to continue in such competition are available in 2020/21.
Pupil voice and committees
Pupils are encouraged to get involved with committees in which their voice can be heard. Pupil voice is a driving force for change and we deeply value the contributions of all members of our community.
If any member of the Rawlins community has an idea for a house competition, an after school club or a charity event, we’re all ears.
Wherever possible, we’ll take on such challenges, to provide a truly inclusive and pupils driven offer.
What sort of clubs and activities would you like to get involved with?
Introduction
Extra–Curricular
Music Lessons 2020/21
We are delighted to offer pupils the opportunity to learn to play a musical instrument. We offer individual lessons for a number of instruments.
Tuition has previously been available in: Clarinet
Drums Flute
Guitar – Acoustic, Electric & Bass Piano Saxophone Steel Pans Trombone Trumpet Violin/Viola Voice
All of our visiting teachers work on a self-employed basis and teach during the academy day or at the end of school.
A rotation system ensures that pupils do not miss the same lessons every week. Those who choose to take up this option will be invoiced directly by the teacher. Steel pans will be taught as an ensemble.
How do I sign up?
We’d usually have already sent you a form, but as we aren't quite sure what provision will look like, we ask for your patience. Forms will be provided at the start of the academic year.
Transport
We encourage pupils to make a healthy choice by walking or cycling to school. However, we are aware that this isn’t always possible(there are secure bike racks on site – please provide a robust bike lock)
If getting a lift/being collected, we ask parents to consider the village and encourage picking up away from the school (5/10 mins walk is our suggestion).
There are public bus services offered from surrounding villages and Loughborough throughout the day.
At the end of the school day, Paul Winson provides a public bus service (X26/27) to Mountsorrel and Rothley spe-cifically for Rawlins pupils. This bus leaves from the front of school at the end of the school day.
For further information, please go to https://bustimes.org/services/x27-loughborough-quorn-mountsorrel-rothley
For pupils who have a Local Authority bus pass, the 603 service leaves from the school’s back car park at the end of the school day.
Please note that none of these buses are school buses as such, but we allow them to use our site for health and safety reasons. Any enquiries should go directly to the company providing transport.
