WELCOMEGroupingLiteracyMindsetsShow My HomeworkAttendance

Year 7 Tutors’ Evening

There is no one right way to organise groups. Some of the ways common in secondary schools are:

• Mixed ability• Sets• Streaming• Gender grouping• Broad grouping based on range of data

Our approach to grouping

We group students in the following ways in Year 7:

Our approach to grouping

By gender

Mixed ability, small groups

Set

Mixed ability (tutor groups)

Grouped by broad range of indicators including literacy

PE =

D&T =

Maths =

Art, drama, music, IT, RS =

English, French, science, history, geography =

Students have been grouped in English, science, French, geography and history using the information the assessments have given us about their learning needs:

4 x main groups2 x extend groups2 x booster groups

Year 7 Grouping

KS2 SATsCATsLiteracy assessments (reading & spelling)Information from primary schoolsHobbies & interestsInformation from parents

What information do we use to group Year 7?

Good teaching (challenge & support)Appropriate groupingEffective intervention

Why do we assess so thoroughly?

Subject assessmentsYear 7 Assessment WeeksProgress ReportsTutor ReportParents’ EveningWorking in partnership

On-going Monitoring of Students’ Progress

Literacy at The Henry Box SchoolLiteracy News lists literacy as being oneof the 20 qualities of successful people.

30 minutes of reading a day can help children improve reading age by two years in less than five months, according to a Government commissioned report.

Book reading not only increases mental capabilities, but also helps fine-tune motor skills in children by turning pages and stimulating the brain. It teaches us about the world and helps us develop empathy.

What is literacy?

AccurateEngaging

Where did it come from?

VoiceRejoice Invoice Soft ‘c’ rule:

When a ‘c’ is followed by…

CowsHaveOrangesInCavesEverywhere

cho

choice

c h o i c e

Morphology

ice

Accelerated Reader

The Termly Literacy Focus, led by Year 12 Literacy Leaders

they’reThey’re is used instead of ‘they are’:

They’re going to the supermarket.

I think they’re lovely cats.

1. ‘They’re’ short for ‘they are’

2. ‘Their’ means it belongs to them

3. ‘There’ is for places

They’re going to an island!

Their island is tiny!

The island is over there!

How can I support my child?

Every hour spent reading is an hour spent learning to write.

…for 20 minutes per day

Five ways to read with your child

1. Ask your child questions to check understanding. What just happened? How does the character feel? What do you think will happen next? Point at the word that tells you that the character is upset.

2. Prioritise accuracy over speed. Your child may think that you are more impressed with fast reading than following what is happening and pronouncing words correctly. Point at any word that your child mispronounces, allowing them to try again slowly.

3. Encourage your child to break down the sounds of new words. Some children have learnt to sight read, this means that they recognise a word rather than work it out based on the letters, which does not become a problem until they run out of memory capacity for new words. Sight readers may also struggle with spelling. With a word such as ‘punctuation’, teach your child to only reveal part of the word slowly with their finger, so that they can work out punc-tu-a-tion in chunks.

4. Let your child choose the reading material. Some children (and adults!) only like reading non-fiction, but have been scolded for not reading ‘real’ literature. However, reading can be practised with magazines about favourite hobbies, or film reviews. Even picture books and comics are full of meaning, not just Jane Austen. I’ve seen the most resistant reader engrossed by the National Geographic on an ipad.

5. Let your child see you read.

You don’t see unmotivated babies!

Avoids

Embraces

Gives up Persistent

Fruitless Path to mastery

Ignores

Threatened

Learns from

Inspired

Challenges

Obstacles

Effort

Criticism

Success of Others

Deterministic Free Will

Growth / Fixed mindsets

Try n

ot to sa

y Try to say

That feeling of English being

hard is your brain growing!

I’m not a Maths person

YET!Grow your

understanding step by step, what can you

try next?

That’s OK, not everybody

is good at Music

That’s OK, maybe Science

isn’t your strong point

Great effort, you tried your

best (when they haven’t)

Growth Mindset for Parents Course

Parents want to know, “What can I do to help my child develop a growth mindset?”

This free course teaches parents what a growth mindset is, why it’s important, and best practices to support their children in developing this learning belief:

https://www.mindsetkit.org/growth-mindset-parents

Show My HomeworkWe have an online homework calendar called Show My Homework (SMHW)where all homework is set. To find their homework students need to go to the website. They will still use planners too.

There is also a link on the school website.

How do I access SMHW?We have our own a unique web address:https://thehenrybox.showmyhomework.co.ukStudents and parents can click this link anytime/ anywhere via the internet. There is also a free smartphone app.

All students have been given a logon and password for Show My Homework in their ICT lessons and have been shown how to use it. Their ICT teacher can help with lost/forgotten log on info.

Parents/carers have also been given a logon and password information which have been issued via

tutors to be brought home by Year 7 students.

If you have not received this information, I can re-issue it today for you if you have time, or you can leave your

name and we will re-issue it later this week.

Good attendance is vital to achieve what you are capable of.

• Below 90% is classed as persistent absence.This is the equivalent to 4 weeks absence, (nearly a whole term)

• Potential impact on GCSE results and may even reduce future earnings.

So what can you do…?

Student Support Team

Attendance OfficerMrs Higgs

KS3 Student ManagersMrs Bradley & Mrs Townsend

School NurseMrs Mel Pratt

Director of Student SupportJulie Britton

…We are here to help and advise you