Year 10 Parent Letter 1st April 2022

1st April 2022

Dear Parents and Carers,

With the Easter holiday break approaching, I wanted to take the opportunity to update you on the progress of the year group so far this academic year.

Firstly, I would like to say that there continue to be many positives across the year group. As a year group, we have been engaging in lessons positively and with high effort levels and this has been rewarded with nearly 10,000 house points since Christmas. The students are taking their studies seriously and with maturity that should pay dividends for them next year.

I am really pleased with the feedback I received from Parents’ Evening and how engaged the students were in the process. I hope you feel you received the information and reassurance that  everyone is currently looking for with regards to your child’s progress. If you were unable to attend Parents’ Evening and would like to discuss your child’s report please contact their tutor, using the information below.

The next term marks the first taste of GCSE examinations for our Y10 students and I wanted to make you aware of some key dates in the summer term:

• 12th May 2022 BTEC Digital Information Technology Exam for IT students
• 16th June 2022 Health and Social Care exam
• Summer term 1 – English Spoken Language assessment which is graded as a pass, merit or distinction involving all Y10 students
• Week beginning 6th June practice assessments in all subjects

Revision guides can be purchased via the school Parentpay and class teachers will be uploading revision materials to their Google Classrooms for students to make use of over the Easter holidays.

I am aware that many of you as parents and carers may have concerns around the wellbeing and mental health of your children. We, as a pastoral team share these concerns, and as a school we are ensuring that we will support your child to not only achieve their full potential but also their wellbeing needs as and when they arise.  For some students, meeting wellbeing needs will be a long term intervention but we have a range of support available to students to be able to do this. On a daily basis, we have your child’s tutor, the Year 10 pastoral support team (contact details below), Mrs Speight the schools Mental Health and Wellbeing Coordinator, Mrs Gray, The Sanctuary Manager and Mr Ray our Resilience Centre Co-ordinator.

As a school we also work with a range of external agencies and organisations which include, but are not limited to:

Bedford Borough Early Help Team

Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CHAMs)

CHUMs (Mental Health and Wellbeing support)

Aquarius

Kooth (Online Counselling and Support)

Bedford Open Door

School Nursing Service

We understand the importance of students being prepared to learn within their lessons, but also understand the difficulties that have been presented over the last year. We ask that on our return from the Easter break, students are in full uniform and fully prepared with everything they need for their lessons. This includes their chromebooks, which should always be brought to school fully charged ready for use. Any technical faults can be reported to IT via the helpdesk email, then they can be repaired and returned as soon as possible. For details of the school’s uniform policy and requirements, and suggested equipment lists, please see our website, consult your child’s planner or email their tutor.  In addition to this, here is a reminder of the timings of the school day. Please encourage your child to be on time and to attend school every day unless they are too unwell to be in school.

Finally I wanted to pass on the contact details should you need them for your child’s tutor who will be able to answer many of your queries should you have them.

On behalf of Ms Drake and I, we continue to appreciate your support and engagement and look forward to continuing to work with you and your child over the rest of their time at Biddenham.

Yours faithfully,

Mrs S Cadman

Interim Head of Year 10