Dear Parents/Carers,
I would just like to remind you that this Friday (25th November) is a training day and school is closed to students. School reopens as normal on Monday, 28th November.
Rewards at Alder
Students are awarded Alder points for showing the Alder Values of Altruism, Leadership, Diversity, Excellence and Resilience. These points may be awarded during the day in curriculum lessons, through extracurricular activities and during social time. In the final week before Christmas, our termly celebration assemblies will be held. This is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the successes of our students who will be awarded badges for the Alder Values, their Alder points totals and for individual curriculum subjects.
Lateness to lessons
Learning at Alder begins as soon as students enter a lesson through the completion of a ‘do now’ activity. This is an important opportunity to consolidate learning or for a new concept to be introduced. Unfortunately, a small number of students are arriving to lessons after the ‘do now’ and are therefore missing vital learning opportunities.
Teachers will continue to promote the importance of punctuality but punctuality to lessons will now be monitored centrally. Every time a student is late to lesson, their teacher will record it in SIMs. If a student is late to lesson on 3 occasions within one week, they will complete a 1 hour detention on Friday after school with a member of the Senior Leadership Team. Please discuss the importance of punctuality with your child and remind them that every minute of learning counts!
Car park
The car park is very busy at the beginning and end of each day and obviously the safety of our students is paramount. Also, we need to make sure the school buses can enter and exit the school site without hinderance. Please do not park on double yellow lines or in the bus lane or anywhere that will impede the buses’ free movement. High visibility traffic cones have been placed at strategic points to ensure our students’ safety, particularly near the zebra crossings. Unfortunately, two of our recently purchased heavy duty cones have been driven over and destroyed by inconsiderate drivers.
Ofsted
Following our recent inspection, you can read the letter from Ofsted here. It was an ungraded inspection and we remain a ‘Good’ school.
Christmas lunch and Christmas jumper day
This year Christmas lunch and Christmas jumper day will be on Wednesday 14th December. To allow the kitchen staff to plan for possible numbers and to reduce any waste we are asking students to indicate if they are likely to want a Christmas lunch or a grab a bag on that day.
The only food available on the day will be:
- a traditional Christmas lunch option
- a vegetarian option
- pre-ordered sandwich grab bags
Form tutors will be gathering numbers over the next few days.
Year 11 Mock Exams
During week commencing 28th November there will be mock exams for the following subjects:
- GCSE Spanish – speaking element
- GCSE Art and Design – one full day followed by 5 x 1 hour in lesson time
- GCSE Photography - one full day followed by 5 x 1 hour in lesson time
- GCSE Textiles - one full day followed by 5 x 1 hour in lesson time
Class teachers will have informed students which date their mock exam will take place on during that week. All other mock exams will take place over 2 weeks, starting on Monday 9th January 2023. The timetable will be shared with students and parents on Thursday 1st December.
The Year 11 Exam and Revision Information Evening is taking place on Thursday 1st December between 5pm and 6pm. Students who are attending with their parents should attend in full school uniform. Parents should register their intention to attend through ParentPay.
Year 10 Work Experience
As part of our Careers Education Advice Information and Guidance at Alder we are pleased to be able to offer the opportunity for all year 10 students to take part in a week of work experience during 12th – 16th June 2023. All students in Year 10 will need to download the Connect app
Diary Dates
- Tuesday, 29th November – Year 7 trip to Oldham Colosseum (Pantomime)
- Thursday, 1st December at 5pm – Year 11 Exam and Revision Information Evening
- Tuesday, 6th December – Tameside Cross Country
- Wednesday, 7th – Friday, 9th December – School Trip to CERN
- Monday, 12th December – Carol Service at Hyde Chapel
- Tuesday, 13th December – Year 11 photographs
- Tuesday, 13th December – Class of 2022 GCSE Certificate Collection 3-4.30pm
- Wednesday, 14th December – Christmas Jumper day and school Christmas Dinner
- Friday, 16th December – break up for the Christmas holiday
- Tuesday, 3rd January 2023 – School re-opens to all staff and students at 8.20am
- Monday, 30th January 2023 – Training Day, school closed for students
Term dates for the remainder of the academic year can be found on the document below.
Kind regards,
Mr R O'Regan
Headteacher
