A News
SPRING TERM 2015
MARCH 2015
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
Introduction from
the Headteacher
2
Every School Day
Counts
3
World Book Day
4
Y10 Cambridge
University Day
5
UKMT Maths
Challenge
5
Journey’s End Trip
6
Ashcroft take on
London
6
PE Success
7
Finance
8
Dates for your diary
9
Term Dates
10
“A learning community driven by high expectations and respect for all’.
Crawley Green Road, Luton, LU2 9AG.
Tel: (01582) 436100, Fax: (01582) 436118
www.ashcrofthighschool.co.uk
PAGE
2
Introduction from the
Headteacher
D
ear Parent,
We are already two thirds of
the way through the school
year. The year 11 students are
feeling the pressure of the GCSE final
exams, which have already started. At this
time of the year it is difficult to achieve that
fine balance between maintaining a sense
of urgency, and keeping the students calm,
determined and HOPEFUL. Too much
exam stress leads to many students
feeling overwhelmed and giving up
completely. Our year 11s need to believe
that it is never too late to improve their final
grades.
The key to students achieving this positive,
hopeful outlook is as follows:






regular attendance at school and at all
intervention sessions. Teachers provide
support with exam preparation during
intervention sessions.
regular study at home. 2 hours per
evening is the minimum.
planning a home study timetable. The
blank timetable on page 3 in the school
planner is there to help.
buying and using the revision guides
that are available from each subject.
using SAM LEARNING on a daily
basis for revision & exam practice.
Using the LRC after school 2.45-5pm.
Staff are available to help with GCSE
work.
No year 11 student should feel that they
are on their own. Ashcroft offers more
support than many other schools.
If your child is in year 7 - 10, please
encourage them to develop the above
good habits from now. They mustn't wait
until year 11. Remind your child that every
lesson from year 7 onwards counts
towards their final GCSE grades. Even
subjects that they won’t be taking to GCSE
will be developing important skills that will
improve their final GCSE grades.
I am aware that many parents welcome
new ideas for helping their child to be more
successful in their learning. I have run a
short session for parents during the recent
spring term parents evenings on this very
topic. I will be repeating the session during
the summer term for parents who were
unable to attend. Please look out for a
letter and a text message giving more
details.
I wish you a relaxing Easter break with
your child, and some important family time
together. I look forward to us working
together during the final term of the school
year.
Ms Austin
PAGE 3
PAGE 3
Every School Day Counts

If your child attends school every day, they will have 100% attendance.

An attendance of 90% means that your child will miss 4 weeks of learning in a school
year.

An attendance of 80% means your child will miss more than half a term of learning in
a school year. Over the course of their school career, they will miss 2 full years.
Every child at Ashcroft is expected to achieve 97% or above attendance.
Research proves that 90% of children with an attendance of 95% and above, will achieve 5
or more GCSEs at A*- C. However, this number reduces to 60%, for those children with an
attendance of 85% and below.
Every Minute Counts

Being late for school reduces learning time.

If your child is 5 minutes late for school every day, they will miss 3 days of learning in a
school year.

If your child is 15 minutes late for school every day, they will miss 2 weeks of learning in
a school year.
Every child at Ashcroft is expected to be at their classroom and ready to learn by
8.30am every day.
PAGE
World Book Day
4
To celebrate World Book Day 2015 a book fair
was held in the Learning Resource Centre for 5
days. New books supplied by Scholastic were
available for purchase by students, parents and
staff.
The book fair created a great buzz in the LRC
and a record number of students attended; it
was also great to welcome some parents after
school too. Students were able to spend their
£1 World Book Day vouchers and enter some
amazing competitions.
Another chance to buy books
On Thursday April 23rd to celebrate World
Book Night we are selling some of our old
books at 50p each with the money going
to charity. The books will be on sale to
students during the day and parents are
invited to the sale between
2.45pm and 5.00 p.m.
5 lucky students won £5 each to spend at the
fair by completing a word search about World
Book Day, those students were: Rhian
Thelwell, Molly Hills, Kacey Collins, Reece
Dean and Emmanuel Akano .
We set ourselves a target of £700 worth of
sales (last year we took £667.93) and I am
delighted that we beat our target - an amazing
£707.54 was spent. We will receive new books
for our LRC worth £353.77 which is a very
generous commission of 50%. This is proof, if
proof were needed that our students love to
read and print books are still hugely popular.
Thanks to everyone who supported the book
fair.
Happy reading.
Mrs S Yates
LRC Manager
PA
Year 10 Cambridge University Challenge Day—Monday 2nd March
We were very honoured to
be able to take 9 students
to Emmanuel College in
Cambridge for the whole
day. The students started
the day with an introductory
session
on
Higher
Education and studying in
Cambridge and away from
home.
The
afternoon
session
students
were
competing with the others
schools across the country
by taking part in a school
debating challenge.
This
was
a
fantastic
opportunity for our students
to develop and demonstrate
points of views in a
professional manner justify
clearly
their
thought
process.
Mr Bishop and Mrs Shah
supervised the trip and
were
really proud of the
students on the trip for their
contribution
and
impeccable behaviour.
The UKMT Maths Challenge: 2015
The Maths department entered 120
year 7 and 8 students to take part in
the 2015 UKMT Maths Intermediate
Challenge
while
another
60
students were entered for the
Intermediate Challenge. The UKMT
Individual
Maths
Challenges
contain lively, intriguing
multiple
choice
questions
which
are
designed to stimulate interest in
Maths in a large numbers of pupils.
The three levels cover the
secondary school range 11-18 and
together they attract over 600,000
entries from over 4000 schools and
colleges.
are invited to enter follow-on rounds
which require full written answers.
The 2015 UK Maths Intermediate
Challenge was held on 6th February
while the Junior Challenge will be
held on 30th April.
The Maths Challenge contain 25
multiple choice questions and of
these, the first 15 are more
accessible whilst the final 10
provide a far more stern challenge
to students. Gold, silver and bronze
certificates are awarded to 40% of
participants nationally in the Junior
and Intermediate Challenges and
60% of participants nationally in the
Senior Challenge. The most
successful participants at each level
Silver Medal
Daniel Hunt (best in year)
Tyreece Ellis
Out of the 60 year 9 students who
sat for the Intermediate Challenge
on the 6th February, 9 were
awarded silver and bronze medals.
All the medal recipients are listed
below.
The 2015 UK Intermediate Maths
Challenge medal winners
Bronze Medal
Tomiwa Sanniowo
Enrique Khan
Mariam Saee
Yathavan Srikurmaran
Zoe Francis
Tia Sinfield
Demi Lee
PAGE
6
‘Journey’s End’ Theatre Trip
It was a dark, gloomy evening in November.’
Over in the Boche country, transport had
been rattling over the pave’ all night; trains
were puffing up and going away again, one
after the other, bringing up loads and loads
of men….’
There, before a group of year 11 literature
students from Ashcroft, the British Officers
of the Infantry Company laughed, joked,
cried and died, as the Germans were
finalising their build up to the Spring
Offensive.
The performance of ‘Journey’s End’, at the
Queen Mother Theatre, Hitchin, showed us
how life was in a dug-out in the British
trenches near St. Quentin in March 1918.
It was professionally performed and a fun
night out for all. The students also found it
beneficial to see the play as it is studied as
part of the literature GCSE; watching it
cemented what they learnt in class. The
production stayed loyal to the text and
culminated in a shock of booms and bangs,
causing the dug out to cave in, as the battle
of the Somme commenced…
Ashcroft Students take on London
This term, seventy Year 7 students headed to London for a visit to Southbank. First,
we headed to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre and entered the realm of Shakespearian work.
After a comprehensive tour of the premises, students participated in an interactive workshop
that focused on Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth, the play that students are currently
studying in lessons. Following the theatre visit, continued on to the Tate Modern, Britain's
finest and largest art gallery. Here, students were able to view, analyse and enjoy a plethora
of different forms of art. Finally, students were given an enthusiastic walking tour of
Southbank! Highlights of this tour included London Bridge, HMS Belfast, Tower Bridge and
the Tower of London. Both students and staff had a great day and look forward the next
English Department trip!
PAGE
7
PE Success
Year 7 Boys Luton Schools Indoor
Athletics Champions
*****************
Year 8 Boys Luton Schools Indoor
Athletics Champions
*****************
Year 11 Boys have reached the
Luton Schools Football U16 Cup
final to be played later in the year
*****************
Year 7 Boys Luton Schools
Basketball Champions
*****************
Year 11 Boys have reached the
County Cup semi-final for the first
time in their 5 years at the School
PAGE
ParentPay
We are trying to encourage all parents to now use ParentPay. ParentPay is a convenient
method to pay for items such as the following;





Dinner Money
School Trips
Revision Guides
School Ties
Other items available from the school shop
This method of payment is extremely beneficial for parents as it enables you to pay by debit or
credit card and also ensures a sense of security for your child with cashless payments.
ParentPay eliminates the following concerns that parents have when sending their child to
school with money/cheques:
 Your child cannot lose the money/cheque
 Your child cannot spend their dinner money on sweets
 No more forgetting to pay the cash/cheque in to finance
 The cash/cheque cannot be stolen from your child in the street or at school
 Your child will not have to queue at the school shop
If you would like your log on details please email [email protected]
Student Lockers
School Ties
We have found that some students are
encountering problems with their lockers;
however, they are not reporting the issues.
Please ensure your child reports any
problems to the finance office during the
school shop time of 10:30am to 10:45am
daily.
Please note that we are not able to swap
ties. Students are visiting the finance office
with the assumption that they are able to
trade an older or a previous year tie for a
new one—this is not the case. Ties are sold
at the cost of £5.00 and payment may be
made using ParentPay.
Locker codes should not be changed by
any student whatsoever nor should any
lockers be shared. Any students who are
found to be tampering with the lockers may
incur a fine to cover any damage and will
be issued with a suitable behaviour
consequence.
8
Dates For Your Diary
March 2015 to September 2015
Friday 27 March
Term ends for students at 1 p.m.
Monday 30 March – Friday 10 April
Easter holiday
Monday 13 April
Students return to school 8.25 a.m.
Thursday 23 April
World Book Night 2.45 – 5 p.m.
Monday 27 April
Parents Focus Group Meeting 5.30 – 7 p.m.
Monday 4 May
May Day Bank Holiday
Monday 25 May – Friday 29 May
Half term holiday
Monday 1 June
Students return to school 8.25 a.m.
Monday 22 June
Yr 11 Clearance Day
Thursday 25 June
Yr 11 Leavers assembly 2.45 – 3.45 p.m.
Friday 26 June
Yr 11 Prom
Tuesday 2 July
Yr 6 Induction Day
Tuesday 2 July
Yr 6 tutor evening
Wednesday 15 July
Rewards trips
Thursday 16 July
Sports Day
Monday 20 July
Enterprise Day
Wednesday 22 July
Term ends for students at 1 p.m.
Wednesday 2, Thursday 3 and
Friday 4 September
Staff Training Days (students not in school)
Monday 7 September
Yr 7 students begin school at 8.25 a.m.
Yrs 8 –11 students return to school at 11.00 a.m.
PAGE
Term Dates
2015—2016
Term Dates
2015—2016
Autumn Term 2015
Staff Training Days: Wednesday 2nd September,
Thursday 3rd September & Friday 4th September 2015
(school closed to students)
Term Dates:
Half Term:
Date
s for
your
diary
January
2015
Monday 7th September – Friday 18th December 2015
Friday 23rd October – Friday 30th October 2015
Spring Term 2016
Staff Training Day: Monday 4th January 2016
(school closed to students)
Term Dates: Tuesday 5th January – Thursday 24th March 2016
Half Term: Monday 15th February – Friday 19th February 2016
Summer Term 2016
Term Dates: Monday 11th April – Thursday 21st July 2016
Half Term:
Monday 30th May – Friday 3rd June 2016
May Day bank holiday: Monday 2nd May 2016
10