Parent Bulletin

Summer 2022 Half Term 1

Dear Parents/Carers

I would like to offer a warm welcome back to all our students. I hope they have had a restful break.

In this bulletin, you can find out what is coming up this half term including important dates for your diaries.

I recently wrote to you to give some reminders about the standards and expectations we have for next term and beyond. The letter here was sent to you during the Easter break and gives you further information about the standards and expectations.

We are currently planning a range of exciting end of term reward trips for all students in Years 7-10. In order to qualify for these trips, individual students will need to consistently meet our expectations in terms of uniform, equipment, attendance, punctuality and behaviour. You will have received the letter below from your Head of Year regarding the planned activities:

Year 7 Cinema Reward Trip - Wednesday 6th July
Year 8 and 9 Alton Towers Reward Trip - Friday 8th July
Year 10 Alton Towers Reward Trip - Tuesday 19th July

As always, we appreciate your ongoing support.
Yours faithfully,
Mrs K Grewal-Joy
Headteacher

Dates for your diary

All Students
Monday 2nd May - Bank Holiday - School Closed for all students and staff.
Friday 27th May - Non Uniform Day in support of a cancer charity
Year 7
Monday 9th - Friday 13th May - Y7 Assessment Week
Year 8
Coming up - Parents Evening - Thursday 9th June
Year 9
Tuesday 10th May - Y9 Algebra Exam
Coming up - Monday 6th-Friday 10th June - Assessment Week
Year 10
Tuesday 3rd - Thursday 5th May - Mock Interviews
Wednesday 11th May - Newstead Abbey Trip
Year 11
Monday 9th May - Wednesday 29th June- Exam Period
Year 13
Monday 9th May - Wednesday 29th June- Exam Period

Sports Fixtures and Results
Keep an eye on our website and social media for the latest PE fixtures and results!

Sports News

NEW Menus!
Click below to view the new menus, which were introduced last term.

NEW Menus

NEW Summer Extra Curricular Timetable!
Click below to view the new timetable for this term, which is now up and running.

Extra Curricular Timetable

Homework at Meadowhead

High quality homework is an integral part of your child’s education at Meadowhead and has been shown to have a number of key benefits:

It improves memory: a lot of our homework at Meadowhead is devoted to building long-term memory by asking students to revise what was learnt and quizzing students to help them recall information.
It helps to practice skills learnt in lesson. This might be the skill of writing an essay in English or practicing techniques in Art. Whatever the skill, we improve with practice.
It helps develop positive study skills and habits that will be essential when it comes to revising for GCSE exams. Getting into good habits in Key Stage 3 will help your child be more able to make the transition to revising for GCSE exams.

It is not surprising that, given these benefits, the latest research suggests that completing regular homework at secondary school adds five months to a child’s learning each year.
This term, at Meadowhead, we are making a concerted push to improve the quantity of homework completed by our students. Homework clubs are already in place to support students with homework in a number of subjects. These are now being expanded so that there will be a homework club each night after school where students can complete homework with the support of a member of staff. In addition, students who frequently fail to complete homework will be asked to attend homework club every day for a two week period to improve their study habits.

How to support your child with Homework

Please logon to ClassCharts and discuss any homework that is due with your child.
Ensure your child understands the homework and if there are any problems or difficulties with the homework, please be in touch with your Head of Year to let us know.
Provide a quiet place for your child to complete homework, without distractions from phones, TVs or computer games.
Encourage your child with praise for completing homework.
Promote revision strategies that help recall information from memory, such as brain dumps, ‘Read, Cover, Write, Check’ or flash cards.
Encourage your child to make use of the homework clubs to help develop good learning habits.

Please be in touch with the school if you have any questions or have difficulties accessing ClassCharts or the other online tools we use.

Y9 Options Process
We have completed the options process for choosing Key Stage 4 courses for September. This included an interview with a senior leader and follow-up conversations where appropriate. Students will receive confirmation of the choices this week through a letter. We ask parents to validate choices by completing the Microsoft form by Tuesday 3^rd May. A link will be sent out with the choice confirmation.

Careers Focus Group
We are looking for parent/carer feedback on the careers programme at school. Whether you know lots about our careers provision for students or nothing at all, we are keen to hear your views. We are seeking the opinion of parents/carers across all year groups. If you are interested in joining us for an hour to discuss this during the summer term, please email; careers@meadowhead.sheffield.sch.uk

Career-related information: Unifrog

Whether your child is in Y7 or Y13, you may have questions about the options open to them beyond school. All students at Meadowhead now have access to Unifrog, an impartial careers platform that helps students to make the best choices and strongest applications.

Most students will already have had the chance to use Unifrog at school, but we also encourage students to use it at home with parents/carers.
Students can log-in here Sign In - Unifrog using their school email address. They should select reset password if they can’t remember the original password.

Parents/carers can create their own account here Code - Unifrog using the sign-up code: MSATparents2050

We hope you find the platform useful. If you have any questions, please contact the Careers Team at careers@meadowhead.sheffield.sch.uk.

A Guide to Group Chats for Parents
Group chats are among the most popular ways that young people engage with their peers online.
Messaging apps on social media and in online games, allow users to send messages, images and videos to everyone in one place. While they are useful for helping friends, people with shared interests or members of a club to communicate and coordinate activities, they can also leave young people feeling excluded and bullied – as well as providing opportunities for inappropriate content to be shared and viewed.

Click below to find out more in a new guide produced by National Safety Online.

Find out more

Useful information

Purchase School Uniform

Term Dates 2021/22