Be brave try new things make mistakes enjoy

Be brave; try new things; make mistakes; enjoy new challenges; deliberately work with others; be ambitious Passmores Academy YEAR 7 – YEAR TO EXPLORE

• • • 27 th September – Trip: Midsummer Night’s Dream 6 th November– Year 7 Social Evening 13 th November – KS 3 Disco 6 th December – Christmas Lunch 19 th December– Reports issued 29 th January – KS 3 Celebration Evening 2 nd April – Reports issued 28 th April – Maths Junior Challenge 15 th -19 th June – Year 7 Core exams 21 st-24 th June – East Mersea residential 1 st-10 th July – Academic tutorials Passmores Academy Key Dates

Our Passmores Student Leadership Network is made Prefects up of seven student leaders Year 11 students with a focus on Community, teams that give you the Charity, Rewards, opportunity to get more Curriculum & Environment. Focus on & monitor specific involved in school life & to areas that support students to give back to your Passmores engage in school life. Community. Junior Student Council Pedagogy Team Passmores Student Leadership POPstars Network Peer Mentors All years, including SEN Ambassadors & Anti-bullying Committee. Improving student learning by working alongside teachers (incl. Memory Ambassadors). Focus on issues concerning students’ daily lives at school in general (e. g. safety, facilities etc. ) Focus on how learning is affected by different aspects of school. Leaders from our G&T cohort who act as peer teachers & mentors or organise enrichment activities. Academic & Positive Psychology coaching for younger students. Focus on coaching younger students to improve their academic & wider school lives. Focus on mentoring other students & inspiring ventures. 1 -2 nominated representatives from each student leaders team make up the Passmores Student Leadership Team (St. LT). The St. LT meet every fortnight to provide updates on their team, to feed-forward issues & ideas to SLT and feedback on questions & focus areas provided by SLT. Bea. Hive Coaches Sport Rep Leaders representing different sporting fields. Focus on issues surrounding the physical health & wellbeing of students. Pastoral Leaders House Captains, House Panel & Fundraising Committee. Focus on maintaining high standards within your House, organising sports teams & raising money for charity. Passmores Academy Leadership Opportunities

MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY Before School (7: 45 – 8: 15 am) • Fitness • Table Tennis • Fitness • Netball • Fitness Break (11: 10 – 11: 30 am) • Quiet Room • Basketball Shooting • Netball Shooting • Quiet Room Lunch A (12: 301: 10 pm) • Quiet Room • Guitar & Ukulele Group • (Year 7, 10 & 11) • Senior Soul Band • (Year 7, 10 & 11) • Vocal Pop Choir (Year 7, 10& 11) • Quiet Room • African Drumming & Samba Group • Quiet Room • Junior Soul Band (Year 8 & 9) • Vocal Pop Choir (Year 8 &9) • Youth Club • Dancing Divas • English Production • Year 7 & 8 Drama Club • Photography Club • Gardening Club • Fashion & Textiles • Netball Fixtures • Rugby • Fitness • Homework Club • Youth Club • English Production • Technical Theatre Club • Year 7 -9 Performing Arts Club • D&T Club • Music Tech Club • French & Spanish • Homework Club • Passmores Phoenix • Rubgy Fixtures • Fitness • Running Club • Girls Football • Futsal Lunch B (1: 30 -2: 10 pm) After School (3: 30 -5 pm) • Steel Pans Group 1 • Youth Club • Homework Club • Steel Pans Group 2 • Shakespeare Schools Festival Rehearsals • Youth Club • Board Games • Photography Geography Film Boys Football • Netball • Fitness • Homework Club • Passmores Music School FRIDAY • Youth Club • Homework Club • KS 3 & KS 4 Maths Homework Club Passmores Academy Extra-Curricular Clubs

• • • Quality of work Quality of homework Answering questions in detail Positively contributing to school life Being a positive role model Receiving a phone call or post card home Golden Tickets Representing the school Helping out at events Passmores Academy Passmores Points

• • Tuesday 10 th December Friday 27 th March Tuesday 30 th June – Top Achiever Principals’ Lunch Monday 13 th July Students are invited based on: Achievement points Behaviour points Detentions Punctuality Attendance Passmores Academy Principals’ Challenge Trips

Passmores Academy What about learning in the classroom?

Attitude to Learning – A 2 L +2 +1 Your attitude to learning exceeds all expectations. You are consistently focused and attentive and take pride in ensuring your classwork is of the highest quality. You can work through problems when stuck, using a variety of strategies and resources. You often help others with their learning, actively developing your own understanding through explanation. You seek and act upon feedback, always seeing this as a positive step to improve. You embrace homework / independent learning, produce work with excellent detail and you often do more because you want to. You consistently extend your learning outside of the class. Your attitude to learning is positive. You are always focused and attentive and take pride in producing class work of the highest standard. You can work through problems when stuck, using a variety of strategies and resources. You often ask questions and respond well to feedback, grasping the opportunity to improve. Homework / independent learning is always handed in on time and you often put in more effort, going above and beyond expectation. 0 Your attitude to learning is good. You are positive towards your learning, are generally focused and engaged and your work is completed with detail, care and thought. You value your learning and that of others. You ask questions when unsure and respond well to feedback, from staff and other students. Any homework is, for the most part, completed on time and you occasionally do more because you want to. -1 Your attitude to learning is inconsistent, you have to be reminded of basic expectations, often impacting on the learning of others. You complete your classwork, but don’t always put in enough effort or take pride in what you are doing. When you find the work challenging you can give up too easily. When you are asked to respond to feedback, you see this as a negative rather than an opportunity to improve. Your homework is often late with varying levels of effort. -2 Your attitude to learning is having a negative impact on your future and/or that of your peers. Your focus is frequently poor and there is little sustained effort to improve. You give up too easily and respond negatively to feedback, from staff and students. You see little to no value in your education and as such your class work is often left incomplete or rushed with minimal effort. You rarely, if ever, complete homework.

Your attitude to learning is good. You are positive towards your learning, are generally focused and engaged and your work is completed with detail, care and thought. You value your learning and that of others. You ask questions when unsure and respond well to feedback, from staff and other students. Any homework is, for the most part, completed on time and you occasionally do more because you want to. Passmores Academy A 2 L - 0

Passmores Academy Language in the Classroom

UNSECO, the biggest single indicator of a child’s future success at school is whether they read for pleasure. Passmores Academy According to the children’s organisation

• Reading daily is vital. Students at other schools in the country (i. e. your child’s exam competition) are all making this a priority. • The students with the widest vocabulary will get the highest grades. Students need to develop a way of speaking and writing “in an academic way” if they are to secure the top grades. Passmores Academy Support your child • You cannot read Diary of a Wimpy Kid forever and expect to have a strong vocabulary. You should read it if you enjoy it – but not only that!

Passmores Academy

What is Accelerated Reader? Accelerated Reader is a programme that we use to assess students reading ability. Part of the English curriculum is dedicated to AR lessons. Students in year 7 and 8 have one hour every two weeks. As a department, we test students regularly. This gives us their reading age and a book level that they should be reading. Once students have completed a book they are able to take a quiz which measures their understanding of what they have read.

Passmores Academy ZPD Book Levels Each student will be given a colour which links to their ZPD. This shows the level of books they should be reading.

Have a book at home that they want to read? Arbookfinder. co. uk http: //www. arbookfind. co. uk/

Renaissance Home Connect Username- initial and surname (DEdwards) Password- Passmores 1 Home Connect allows you to see what your young person has completed on the AR system. It will allow you to check if they are quizzing regularly and if they are passing the quizzes.

Go to the Passmores website, find Student and select Accelerated Reader. Your child will know their login details. We will get them to write it in their planners. Passmores Academy Finished a book and need to quiz?

Passmores Academy What about homework / home learning?

Parental involvement is a significant factor in both accelerated and sustained student academic performance – Loucks (1992) “School age children spend 70% of their waking hours outside of school” Passmores Academy Family support major factor “Family participation in education is TWICE as likely to impact on students’ academic success compared to how wealthy the family is. ”

Passmores Academy Research Informed Approaches • Over recent years we have been increasingly able to understand the brain and how it acquires new knowledge and stores it in our long term memory. • This has changed how we do certain things and made it clear how parents/carers can help

Stimuli are received from the senses: Passmores Academy How does our memory work? sight; hearing; taste; smell; touch; sensory input By paying attention to these stimuli, they enter sensory memory Sensory memory lasts 0. 25 -2 seconds sensory memory

Short term memory lasts up to 30 seconds It can store 5 -9 items at a time “Chunking” information makes it easier to remember • 313546578889 is hard to remember • 313 546 578 889 is much easier to remember Information must be rehearsed to be remembered. If a distraction stops you from rehearsing, you will forget in just a few seconds short term memory Passmores Academy How does our memory work?

There is no limit to how much you can store in long term memory Memories can be stored there for your whole lifetime Rehearsal and recall make things more likely to be remembered Long term memory can be divided into different aspects such as: • how to do tasks (skills) • facts and information (knowledge) • how things are related to each other (connections) long term memory Passmores Academy How does our memory work?

• Mindset – Dweck and Duckworth ‘Attitude impacts our altitude’ If learning is always simple how much are we really learning? Resilience and the power of YET Passmores Academy Research Informed Approaches

• Prior knowledge – Hoz, Bowman and Kozminsky (2001) Passmores Academy Research Informed Approaches Understanding and making connections with prior learning is vital for ongoing success

Passmores Academy Research Informed Approaches

• ‘The over justification effect’ – Edward Deci Intrinsic versus extrinsic rewards – what works and what doesn’t Passmores Academy Research Informed Approaches

Passmores Academy Assessments/tests and revision • Little and often – low stakes – a chance to remember • Passmores’ support – revision planning • A future P. I. E. on revision techniques and support

A Parent’s Guide to Show My Homework (SMHW)

What is Show My Homework SMHW is an online application allowing you to see all your homework in one place. You can use your computer, phone and tablet to access it. A “to-do list” organises homework for you. SMHW helps you manage your homework from wherever you are. ALL homework from September 2019 will be set on SMHW. WARNING! Parents will also be able to access SMHW too!

How Show My Homework can help…. . Keep homework organised Sends you reminders for when homework is due Helps show much homework you have Keeps you up to date when you’re away from school No need to write homework down before leaving a lesson Allows parents to access homework tasks so that they can support students in managing work

SMHW App Your homework tasks are clearly laid out in Show My Homework with all the information you need You MUST have logged into the to complete them. school system FIRST before accessing the app or SMHW at home! In Settings, you can manage notifications

Logging on…. Passmores Website – Students – Show My Homework Login via “Office 365” ONLY!!

Issues accessing the Homework tasks? Passmores Website

Feedback – Possibly in the future? You can receive feedback from your teachers about your work but this may not be to start with. See comments from your teacher if they ask you to redo your homework and have the ability to reply to them with any questions. Parental Feedback – please email me!

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Ensuring your child thrives at home with their maths…

What is Hegarty. Maths? Hegarty. Maths is the best way for your child to learn maths on their own at home. • Over 900 topics are explained in 10 minute video tutorials • Each video has an assessment with questions – a QUIZ! • Hegarty. Maths records everything your child ever does on the system (their progress, time spent, attempts etc. ) • Hegarty. Maths allows a parent to see everything their child needs to learn and support them. Often parents who may be unsure of the schools methods like to watch the videos along with their child and understand the techniques their child needs to know. • Hegarty. Maths, remembers all the child’s mistakes and gives them practice on their weaknesses (Fix Up 5) The whole curriculum is online for your child to have access to.

What does a homework on Hegarty. Maths look like? Step 1: Step 2: Video teaches your child everything they need to know about that topic & goes through all the examples that will be in the quiz. Quiz that will allow your child to practise all the examples in the video for themself and know whether they understood what was in the video.

Step 1: You child needs to watch the video. We advise that they take notes of all modelled examples. Your child should always produce a set of well-written notes of all the modelled examples in the video as we want your child to be an expert note-takers and to revise before they try the quiz. If your child knows the material, they should still take the notes as it’s a good habit and ensure they are producing revision notes every week.

Step 2: Your child then needs to assess their learning from the video in a quiz. Your child needs to: 1) Write down every Q 2) Always show all their workings 3) Always mark and self-correct their work Your child should always show their workings and mark all questions they ever do. If your child can do the question in their head they still need to show their workings as that is part of being a great mathematician.

What to do if your child is stuck on their homework? 1) Watch the video again really carefully ensuring all examples are copied and see if hearing and writing it down a second time helps. 2) Look at your building blocks. These are the lessons that will help you with your current homework. If these are not at 100% or less than the Hegarty. Maths average then you should redo those them as it will help on your current work. In the picture, the student will struggle with homework 547 as they have only 10% on lesson 546.

What to do if your child is stuck on their homework?

What to do if your child is stuck on their homework? There will always be an example in video that will cover an almost identical question to the one they are stuck on. They can also pull the video up in the quiz and scrub the video to the place that will help them on the one they’re stuck on.

What happens when students decide not to watch the video? “Mr Hegarty, I can’t do these homeworks as they are too hard and too I’m stupid!” (Spencer) Very scores low No video watched. Spent only 2 mins quiz. Spencer is upset and thinks he can’t do maths. He is wrong - HE CAN DO MATHS!!!! He is getting low scores as he is not watching the video or putting in enough effort.

What happens when students use Hegartymaths properly? 1) Students start enjoying maths and understand more in lessons. 2) Students like doing their homework as they feel successful. 3) Students do well in their exams.

What do parents say? 1) They like being able to understand what their child is learning. 2) It allows them to participate and help 3) They have seen their children become more confident and improve.

What if your child has completed all homework – what else could they do? 1) Use their donut to improve their weak areas: Your child can click the red section to find the quizzes they need to improve (quizzes under 70%) and redo them until they are amber (quizzes over 70%) or green (quizzes at 100%). Once they have made everything green or amber go back over the amber and try to get them to green. Click the red section and it will open up any lessons your child is under 70% on for them to redo.

What if your child has completed all homework – what else could they do? 2) Fix up 5: Hegarty. Maths remembers every mistake your child has ever made and generates a quiz with 5 questions from different parts of maths that they are weak on so they can re-do them with the video and Fix Up!

Introduction to CENTURY Tech for parents.

CENTURY Tech – an exciting new independent learning • At Passmores Academy, we are always looking for ways to platform. extend our students’ learning. As a result, we are now using CENTURY Tech, a ground-breaking online learning platform. • It is a fabulous tool for student-driven independent learning at home. • What is CENTURY Tech? • CENTURY Tech provides students with access to a variety of high quality learning materials and assessments in English, maths and science based on the national curriculum. Other areas too. It makes personalised learning recommendations generated from students’ strengths and areas for improvement, so that students always know the best topics to study next.

This is how it could help student • https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=OMw. V learning at home. c. G 95 pk. Q

• Access details • Students are able to access the platform at anytime and anywhere • It is available to them in school and also at home • The login is via the CENTURY Tech website (www. century. tech. com) • Login details were given all students on a sticker to go in their planners by their form tutor. • Century Tech tablet-friendly but it is better used on a larger screen – please note it does not work well on mobile phones • If they have been mislaid, please contact Mrs Moore via the email or ask your young person to come to her classroom, Y 202 in Inclusion. • d. moore@passmoresacademy. com

• Students with no computer access at home • The school offers a wide range of homework clubs in computer rooms: • Every day after school in the ‘Gold Fish Bowl’ (Y 005) with Year 11 prefects available to help. • Every Monday to Thursday 3. 30 to 4. 30 pm in the Access Centre with co-educators available to help. • Every Thursday 3. 30 – 4. 20 pm in Y 101 with teachers available to help and free refreshments.

Passmores Academy So, what about mobile phones. . VS

Passmores Academy Fancy being a Governor? Contact Deb Bartram at d. bartram@passmoresacademy. com