Dear Parent/Carer
It’s week 2 and I thought our new parents, as well as our longstanding ones, might like an update of the activities of the last few days in school.
In the 6 days since the start of the new year our students have already received over 20,000 +ATL’s and over 700 Golden tickets. (You can track your child’s ATL’s, see their timetable and monitor attendance via the ClassCharts App. You can download this from https://www.classcharts.com/mobile/parent and if you haven’t already got your access codes then please contact school on admin@ullswatercc.co.uk).
Library lessons are underway for our years 7, 8 and 9, over 1000 CAT tests are complete and photographs for year 7, 10 and 12 (approximately 650 students) have been taken.
I also wanted to make an unapologetic plug for our extra-curricular clubs – being part of UCC is far more than just what happens in the classroom and I encourage all our students to try new things during their time at school – it is good to see participation is already high and as soon as PE have finalised their (many) clubs we’ll publish a full list on our website.
We are operating all clubs at the same times of day as we always have. In order to maximise the time for music and PE we are recommending that students who wish to take part buy their lunch at break time.
We try to apply the philosophy of ‘Unconditional Positive Regard’ for our students, colleagues and community. A school is a learning environment and what this really means is that we model what we expect, offer opportunities to make mistakes in a safe environment and learn to interact in a positive way with one another.
With this in mind, one thing to be conscious of is social media – it is without question one of the most complex areas of the modern world. It is a powerful and wonderful tool that is a part of all our lives when used for good! However, I know it is a worry for many of you. Here at UCC we share regular updates on online safety, have guidance for parents on the website; https://ullswatercc.co.uk/online-safety/ and also provide lessons to the students about this throughout their time at school.
So, let’s all model the correct online behaviours and interactions to support the development of the students.
As ever – if you have any concerns or questions then please do not hesitate to get in touch and I look forward to seeing the parents of our year 7 and year 12 students at the settling in event on Thursday 12 October 2023.
Yours faithfully
Mr S Gilby
Headteacher