Dear Parents/Carers
During this term, our students have been awarded 226,242 positive ATL points reflecting the fantastic efforts of the vast majority of students. More recently however, some of our teachers and non-teaching staff have experienced behaviour which falls short of our high expectations, needless to say we will not accept this at UCC.
We expect students to arrive at school prepared to learn and to be respectful to all members of our school community. During the last two weeks of term, all staff and students will be working hard on ensuring the highest standards of behaviour and attitude to learning.
Students should come to school in proper uniform, and if there are any issues with uniform they should rectify this by borrowing items from the Health Hub. They should have equipment – pens, pencils and a ruler and a reading book every day.
There should be no jewellery in school – rings, earrings and necklaces will be removed from students and should be collected at the end of the day. As with other valuable and personal items our strong recommendation is that they are not brought into school. This will avoid any unnecessary conflict or risk any personal items being lost or damaged.
Every lesson at UCC begins with a five minute silent starter activity which helps students settle and sets the learning environment for the rest of the lesson. All students are expected to complete this without issue. Similarly, they will be expected to leave the classroom in a calm, orderly manner as directed by the teacher.
Students who are disruptive in lessons and impact upon the learning of others will be given an ATL 4 and a reminder about expected behaviour. If disruption persists, students may be given an ATL 5 and may be required to work in another classroom as a good neighbour. This is intended to offer an opportunity to avoid consequences for the student and to allow the lesson to continue without any further disruption.
If a student continues to disrupt learning or refuses to go to good neighbour they may be removed from the lesson by active patrol – AP. If a student is collected by AP, they will be placed in the ISU (internal isolation) and will spend a full day there – for example, a student removed from a lesson during p2 will spend lessons 3-5 on that day in the ISU and lesson 1 and 2 on the following day. Breaks and lunchtimes will also be spent in the ISU, students will be escorted to the dining hall to purchase lunch in this instance.
The consequences outlined above may also be applied for the very small number of students who refuse to attend lessons and for students who truant within school.
We witness every day that the behaviour of the vast majority of our students is excellent. I am sure you agree that all students should be entitled to learn in an environment which is free from disruption, calm and safe. By focusing our joint efforts on ensuring the highest standards of behaviour during the last two weeks of term, we will be in the best position to make a successful return to school in January.
Thank you for your continued support, if you have any questions or concerns please get in touch with me or another member of the pastoral team.
Yours faithfully
Felicity Shaw
Assistant Headteacher