Dear Parent / Carer, As we look forward to the Easter break, I would like to share some successes and developments in school with you, as well as celebrate staff and student achievement and commitment. The second of our two Assessment For Learning Days (AFL) took place on Friday February 13th. Every single student was given a personalised timetable dependent on their level of performance: a most pro-ductive day. The development of our new careers and advice structure continues to strengthen and develop. The Year 9 careers event took place on February 25th and was very well received by our students . Extended assemblies have taken place and our options evening on March 3rd was very well attended. Students will now have an individual meeting with a member of the senior leadership team prior to their option choice being confirmed. Prestwich made its contribution to Comic Relief on 13th March raising over £1200 for this event. Our citizenship pupils are also currently raising money for numerous charities such Mencap, Kick Racism out of Football, Gender Equality and Stop Racism. New appointments. We welcome Mrs K. Sibbitt who will be joining us after Easter in the English Department and Mr S. Mann who will return to Performing Arts in September. I wish to inform you that after nearly 25 years dedicated service, the lady on the Puffin Crossing Patrol located on Bury New Road / Poppythorn Road retired in March. Eileen, who was well known to a number of pedestrians over the years, tells me it’s with regret that she has to hand in her lollipop but she feels it’s getting too much for her now. Unfortunately at present, as you may be aware, the service is struggling to provide cover due to staffing levels. So if anyone is interested in a position, Bury Council are currently recruiting school crossing patrols throughout the Borough. If you wish to apply for one of these vacancies, please visit Jobs at www.bury.gov.uk or email your details to schoolcrossngpatrol@bury.gov.uk. Your children’s safety is of paramount importance to us and it is important, therefore that all key details we receive from you are up to date. I would, therefore, ask you to ensure the phone details are up to date, as at times as we are finding it increasingly difficult to make direct contact on some occasions. Equally, we need to be alerted to any changes regarding your child’s medical conditions. Can I also take the opportunity to thank you for your support regarding attendance. This currently stands at this year’s target figure of 96%, evidencing a four year upward trend. Punctuality does at times remain a concern for some of our pupils, so a reminder that all pupils need to be on site by 8.35am, at the latest. Registration during tutorial time is 8.40am, after which a pupil will be marked as late. I will be writing to parents / carers of Year 11 pupils after the Easter break, giving details of when their children will have their final assembly and providing information about examinations and revision sessions. Preparation for the forthcoming GCSEs should, of course, already be taking place, especially over the Easter period. I am very proud to note that Prestwich Arts College has some of the highest Em-ployment, Education & Training ( post-16 destination) figures in Bury and this is a very good indicator of our effort to ensure our students do not miss opportunities after leaving school. I note with great pride and satisfaction that the number of lunchtime clubs and activities remains at over forty! Please take the time to have a look at the range on offer, a list is displayed on our website.

 

We are a busy school, we very much pride ourselves on providing as much enrichment to our students as we can, as learning can be every bit effective outside the classroom. I thought parents might be interested on seeing just how much on goes on in a comparatively short twelve week term!

Wed 7th January Year 8 Design Technology Careers Day Thu 8th January 25 x Year 8 to Manchester Metropolitan University for language enrichment Tue 27th January 13 x Year 11 involved in English moderation Tue 27th January Young Kato concert in Paragon for students in Arts lessons Wed 4th February 50 x Year 7 students to Tate Liverpool Thu 5th February Year 11 Business trip UK Maths challenge for 10 x Year 9 and Year 10 Wed 25th February GCSE Art & Design exam Thu 26th February GCSE Art & Design exam Wed 25th February Connexions event for Year 9 Tues 3rd March 12 x Year 9 students to Manchester University 15 x Year 11 students to Spanish festival L1-3 Wed 4th March 15 x Year 10 students to Jodrell Bank (Telescope Day) 47 x Year 10 students to Bury Met lessons 2,3,4. Thu 5th March 32 x Year 10 Art & Design students to Blue Planet Tue 10th March Year 11 Food trip to Krispy Kreme Tue 10th March GCSE Dance classes to Lowry Theatre Wed 11th March GCSE Dance classes to Lowry Theatre Thu 12th March Year 11 Performing Arts students involved in final performances Fri 13th March Year 11 Performing Arts external moderation Wed 18th March 4 x Year 7 involved in a Spelling Bee competition Fri 20th March Year 10 and Year 11 GCSE astronomy students observing the solar eclipse Fri 20th March Year 11 GCSE PE moderation Wed 25th March Devlin concert in Paragon for students in Arts lessons Year 10 GCSE Dance to Pendleton College 17 x Year 10 Food students to the Manchester Arndale (food tasting). Fri 27th March 20 x Year 9 to Bury College (challenging stereotypes) Sat 28th March Rhythm Music competition for 12 x Year 9 and Year 10 students

To celebrate World Book Day on 5th March, highly acclaimed performance poet Mike Garry came to our school. He showcased a selection of poetry and led a creative writing workshop for many Year 7 to Year 11 classes, which was evidently enjoyed by many students. Mrs Rawcliffe (Assistant Head of English)

led a variety of reading activities which were particularly aimed at KS3 students and staff were invited to dress as a character from a book to inspire or possibly bemuse our students There was also a

designated half an hour of reading for Year 7 to 9 students, at the end of the school day.’

 

What a busy year the Modern Languages Department have had so far…! At the moment we are running extra-curricular classes in Arabic and Sign Language which pupils are attending voluntarily. Our lunchtime club, Polyglots, run by Mr Warburton is very popular and is well attended each week. In

February, we arranged for a speaker from MMU to come and talk to all our Year 9 pupils about the value of language learning before they made their option choices. As a result, we anticipate that many pupils will choose to continue with French and Spanish at GCSE level which we are delighted about! This term also saw Year 8 visit MMU to take part in belly dancing and origami classes as part of their Routes into Languages programme and Year 11 pupils take part in a study session at the Spanish and Latin American Film festival in Manchester. We have launched our next residential visit to Andalucia in Spain

which will take place in April 2016. Lastly, all our Year 7 pupils have taken part in the Foreign Language Spelling Bee for the 4th consecutive year and our four winners are due to represent school at the regional final next week. Fingers crossed! On Tuesday 10th March, nine students from Years 10 and 11 performed 'Uptown Funk' at The Lowry theatre as part of Salford Dance Explosion. The dance festival was organised by our very own Dance teacher, Mrs Acton. Now in its 7th Year, Salford Dance Explosion has expanded to a three day dance festival involving over 500 children from schools and community dance groups from across the region. The shows celebrate the talents and diversity of the young people in Salford. Our dance students performed fantastically on the night. We were also delighted that two Year 11 students, Josh Nadler and Yousif Baluch were able to gain technical theatre experience when they took control of the tech box for Wednesday's performance. For British Science Week, our Year 7 pupils were set the challenge of scientifically investigating a question that interested them and presenting their findings to the rest of the year group. Questions included, ‘which metals make the best conductors?’, ‘which type of water contains the most bacteria?’, ’how does smoking affect your health?’ and ‘can you taste the difference between different brands of cola?’. The standard was very high and Mr Newman had a tough time in deciding the winners. The winners have been decided though and prizes will be received during assembly on our last day of term.

On the 20th March, our

GCSE Astronomy students enjoyed

observing the solar eclipse

Have a lovely Easter break ! Mr C. C. Hornby Head Teacher

Dates for your D iary

Primary Links Year 5 Taster Days - Tuesday, 30th June and Wednesday, 1st July and Thursday, 2nd July - Primary Schools will pass on further details.

Year 6 Induction Day - Wednesday 8th July 2015 Year 6 Transition / New Intake Evening - Thursday 9th July 2015

Transition information is available on the school Web Site - www.prestwich.bury.sch.uk

Being ready for Learning Now that Easter is almost upon please take the opportunity to restock your child’s pencil case with basic equipment. The school also runs a Resource Shop in the Gateway Suite everyday from 1.30pm to 1.50pm where pupils can buy a range of stationery. Parents of Year 11 students in particular it is important that pupils are ready for examinations are have all necessary equipment for the forthcoming exam. Please note that revision guides for most subjects are available at cost from the Gateway Suite

Helping Concentration Can I also ask for your continuing support and understanding as a number of students are still arriving in school with Lucozade or similar energy drinks. These tend to be high in sugars and / or caffeine, they are not helpful to concentration or a healthy lifestyle and consequently they are not allowed in school and will be confiscated.

Please be aware that the use of all mobile phones on the school site is forbidden. Mobile phones should not be seen in school.

Mobile phones are not necessary for school, since any emergency message should be conveyed to students via the school office. Similarly students can go to the office to use the office phone to make emergency calls from school if necessary.

Chat rooms and protecting your child. Like all schools we unfortunately have on occasion have to deal with unpleasantness caused by students’ misuse of the chat rooms available through the internet. Please be aware that although Chat sites for teenagers are usually free to join and sites such as Facebook and Bebo have a minimum age limit of 13 for registered users; (MySpace's age restriction is 14). Please take the opportunity to visit your child’s details to ensure identifying information is restricted. Also we do encourage students not to share their personal passwords given in school as this can cause problems with others students hacking in to students’ communications. Please ensure that concerns are reported to school .

School closes - Thursday, 2nd April 2015 at 2.15pm School re-opens - Tuesday 21st April 2015 School closes - Monday, 4th May 2015 only (Bank Holiday) School re-opens - Tuesday, 5th May 2015 Year 7, 8, 9 & 10 exams - Friday, 8th May to Friday, 22nd May 2015 GCSE Exams - Monday, 11th May to Tuesday, 19th June 2015 School closes (Staff Training/Polling Day) - Thursday, 7th May 2015 only School re-opens on the morning of Friday, 8th May 2015 School closes on Friday, 22nd May 2015 School re-opens - Monday, 1st June 2015 Prestwich Carnival - Sunday, 14th June 2015 Prestwich Has Talent Evening - Wednesday, 15th July 2015 School closes for Summer Holidays - Tuesday 21st July 2015 at 2.15pm

Preparing for Exams Please note that very useful

revision materials are available on the school website under the

section on ‘Examinations’. Year 11 students, in particular should be

accessing the site over the Easter period.

EXAMS Please note that the GCSE Timetable is available on the school Web Site

Careers, Education & Advice and Guidance: CEIAG There has been considerable focus

and development in the way we deliver careers this year. We wish to be at the forefront of good practice and a parent questionnaire will be sent out soon to determine your views of how we are

doing and give an insight into changes we are making. Can I encourage you to

return this short survey.

Uniform Please take the opportunity over Easter to ensure that your child has the correct uniform. It is worth re-visiting the uniform checklist in the Pupil organiser before buying items such as shoes. Also a

reminder that hoodies are not suitable and are not allowed. A reminder that piercings are not allowed.