Secondary School - 18th November 2019

Dear Parents,

The rain brought some additional excitement to school last week! As we are expecting more rain this week, we are also getting ready to take part in a wonderful worldwide celebration on Wednesday as we encourage our students to take action on World Children’s Day. Our younger students will have the pleasure to spend some more time at school Wednesday afternoon and watch a movie together. Please read below an article about the opportunities for our Secondary students to get involved. Celebrating our children also means offering them the support and guidance needed to define what success looks like for each of them and how to reach it. Please keep reading below to understand how to maximise a revision week and feel fully prepared to tackle the challenges of an assessment week. Tips are useful for students and parents alike!

On that note, we are holding Parent-Teacher Meetings for Year 9 students on Wednesday 27 November, from 14:30 to 17:00. An email will be sent on Wednesday to the parents of Year 9 students with the steps to follow to book appointments online. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you need support.
 

Lydie Gonzalès
Head of Secondary School

NAISAK is celebrating World Children’s Day!

We are happy to announce that NAISAK will be celebrating World Children’s Day on Wednesday 20 November. We want to celebrate our students throughout the day and promote leadership and involvement within school activities.

In order to get everyone on board, both staff and students will come to school wearing their house tee-shirts. This will also kick off NAISAK’s very first ‘double house points’ day for the year! Staff can also celebrate student success whenever they demonstrate the High-5 attributes in their lessons.

Our students will be given the chance to ‘take over’ part of some of their lessons. During the afternoon on Wednesday, there will be a task that is taught to the class by the students themselves! If your child has an idea for an activity that they want to teach the others, then please encourage them to get involved and speak to their class teacher about how we can help them make it happen.

The intention of World Children’s Day is to raise awareness of children’s wellbeing around the world and promote the wellbeing of children. Let’s make the most of this opportunity and support the children under our care to have the power to oversee their learning and that of others! There will be plenty of photos taken during the day to show how we celebrate and value our children at NAISAK so we will keep you updated on our Facebook and Instagram pages. Please make sure to check and congratulate those of our students who will display leadership and willingness to have an impact!

Ian Coppenhall and Leah Murray
Leaders of the NAISAK World Children’s Day celebrations

Revision and Assessment Weeks at KS3

The Key Stage Three assessment week starts on 1 December 2019. During this week, each student will complete a written assessment in all their subjects, except Physical Education and Drama. The assessments will be completed in their subject lesson times and a timetable will be made available to the students tomorrow. The parents will receive an email with the assessment schedule on Wednesday. The students will have assessments every day, and attendance and punctuality should reflect the importance of the week. Students will not be allowed to leave school after their final assessment each day and they should be present until the end of the school day on Thursday 5 December.

Assessments will cover all the knowledge and skills they have learned in each subject for the whole term. Students will need to revise each subject thoroughly and their teachers will advise them of the best techniques to do this. Revision week will begin Sunday 24 November and the revision packs will be made available this week. The idea of the revision packs is to help students revise the entire content of the term through tests and quizzes. They are not focused on the questions that will appear in the assessments, therefore, students must use them as a tool and not focus their entire revision on them.

The most successful students will use a range of techniques to revise and recall the content they have completed. They can produce mind maps or flashcards as a visual stimulus. They can create recall/retrieval tests or use knowledge organisers to help them actively improve their recall of facts. Revision periods are important and students should be strict with themselves. It is not good enough to prepare the night before an assessment as they will not be ready. It is a good idea for students to create a timetable for their free time. This can help them plan ahead and choose times to work, eat, have downtime and sleep. It is important for all the students to get enough sleep during their assessment period so that they can focus. Revising until late at night is not going to help them achieve good grades.

The good habits the students must accustom themselves to in Key Stage Three will greatly help them acquire the skills they need to be successful in later Key Stages.

Russell Burton
Head of Key Stage 3