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Ibstock Community College Newsletter - July 2021

Welcome

Dear Parents, Carers, Students and Friends,

We find ourselves at the end of the summer term after a truly challenging year for everyone.

On reflection I am in awe of the resilient students we have here at Ibstock. Throughout the lockdown and since the return to school in early March, we have seen fantastic engagement, enthusiasm and hard work from the large majority of our students. I speak on behalf of all staff in saying that we are extremely proud of how they have coped, rising to the challenge of staying in their “bubbles”, separated from the rest of the college community.

Despite the challenges college life has been busy and thankfully we have been successful in staying as Covid safe as possible. I would like to thank you for the role you have played in this success particular through the regular lateral flow testing programme. This has meant that college life has continued without any closures.

We continue to follow DFE guidance and whilst we are planning a full timetable taught without restrictions. I ask you to check the website weekly for any updates.

We are already looking forward to the Autumn/Winter term and are excited to welcome new members of staff including; Rob Yates – Faculty Leader for DT & Art and Y8 tutor. Charlie Stafford – History and Y7 tutor, Scarlet Crook – Drama and Y7 tutor and Adam Flavell – Geography and Y7 tutor.

We also have some new additions to our student support team with Rochelle Belnavis joining us as Pastoral Manager for Y7 and Charlie Hulme, Rhiannon Leake and Andie Baker as teaching assistants. They will all be great assets to the team here at Ibstock.

I would like to give special thanks to Ruth Cobley who has completed her final year as Pastoral Manager for Y9. Ruth is an integral part of the pastoral team and will be concentrating on her Attendance Improvement Officer role. Ruth will continue to have a positive impact on all students as she has done for so many years already.

Our Y9 students who leave us to go to Ashby School in August enjoyed their induction day last week and we received such positive feedback about their engagement and enthusiasm in lessons and importantly their polite and positive attitude. Most embody our RESPECT standards and are great ambassadors for the college. We wish them all the very best for the future wherever it takes them and whatever path they take.

Year 9 it has been a pleasure to teach you, to support you and to watch you grow into brilliant young people. Seize every opportunity, try new things and work as hard as you can. Most importantly, be kind to yourself and to each other. Take care and have a wonderful summer.

I hope that you enjoy this final newsletter of the academic year. It is truly a celebration of our wonderful, talented, creative young people who I am so proud of calling Ibstock Community College students. Which leads me to thank all teachers, support staff and wider college staff who have supported and cared for our students this year. Their focus on our student’s wellbeing has been unwavering and it continues to be a privilege to work alongside them.

Wishing you a wonderful, restful summer break.

With best wishes

Mrs Williams

Head of school

Transfer into LiFE Multi Academy Trust

Dear all

I am writing to you as we have taken the significant step into the future in joining LiFE Multi Academy Trust, effective from 1st July, and this move brings with it the certainty of age range change at Ibstock Community College from August 2022. There will be exciting changes to come, as the college and the Trust continuously develop and strive to be the best that we can be for our students and our community. Whatever the age of your child(ren), this is good news for the quality of education in this area, with the secondary schools committed to working and improving together. I hope you and your child(ren) are feeling excited about the future and looking forward to continuing their learning, growing and thriving at school, and of course achieving excellent results.

I also want to let you know about how the senior leadership team will change for next term.

Headteacher role

As many of you will know, I am leaving my position as Executive Headteacher at the end of August, and retiring from my work at Ibstock and Ivanhoe. It has been wonderful to have worked with the governors and staff at ICC, keeping strong collaborative links with our other partner schools, as we planned a route to age range change. I am grateful for everyone’s support, particularly the governors, heads and senior leaders at the schools, especially in the times when it looked unlikely that changes would be approved!

The ICC governing board have recently approved a permanent change to the Head of School role and Sophie Williams will become Headteacher from 23rd August 2021. This is an enhanced role and comes with significant additional responsibilities and I, governors, and the CEO, are confident that Sophie will continue to lead the college successfully forward into the next phase as we prepare for age range change. This change also ensures continuity in leadership for the whole community at a time of so much change and challenge when confidence in the effectiveness of schools is so important. I am confident that Ibstock Community College is in safe hands with Sophie at the helm, and congratulations to her on this well-deserved promotion.

Changes to SLT job titles

In line with the job title change from the former role of Principal at ICC to Headteacher, and to be more consistent, the other SLT role titles will change from August to Assistant Headteacher, rather than Assistant Principal. The roles and levels of responsibility for these roles will remain the same, although there will be some changes to the details of each person’s responsibility areas as we welcome Sarah Nelson as the new Assistant Headteacher to the senior team for next year.

Into the future

I am very proud of the work done by the whole staff team at Ibstock Community College – not just in this very challenging Covid year, but all the time. This is a vibrant school, providing a high quality of education for the community we serve. That is not because of the buildings and facilities, great as they are, but because of the commitment and dedication of the people who work here.

It has been an honour and a privilege to work at Ibstock Community College and I look forward to seeing its continued success into the future and maintaining its reputation for the highest quality of education for young people in the area.

Anne-Marie Blewitt

Mr Mason - Assistant Principal, Teaching and Learning

We have spent a lot of time over this school year working on a new way of reporting home about student progress. There were many reasons we decided to change our reports, but one thing we wanted to do was to tell you your current progress. We based this on several factors that include assessments that you sit in each subjects, your performance in lesson and the GCSE target data and reading age information that use to plan and teach lessons on a daily basis that are appropriate for the students in the class. When you get to Year 9, you will see the addition of GCSE target grades for all of your subjects. We include this information in Year 9 because that is when you will begin to have serious conversations with parents/carers and teachers about what options you might be interested in taking for your GCSE studies. With your GCSE target information, it is important to remember that this is a target you are capable of meeting, with hard work and dedication. You have to do your bit as well! Following the RESPECT standards will make sure you are able to do this.

In each subject you will either be Above, On or Below. If your teacher judges, you to be Above or On then this is something to be proud of! This means that you are either performing above or are where you should be at that point in your studies. For example, if you are On in English, and your GCSE target is a grade 7-9, this is something to be really proud of. It shows you are on track to do really well at GCSE. If you are Below, then this means that you need to work harder to get back to where you should be.

This links to the Preparation for Learning judgement your form tutor will give you. This is about how prepared you are for successful learning at school each day. From your attendance, uniform, planner, knowledge organiser book and participation in activities like Number Up and form time reading. These are all things that help you do your very best each day and contribute to your development as a student who wants to do their very best. Preparation is such an important life skill and we want to develop students as academic achievers, but also as young people who are prepared for the world of work.

Finally, you will receive an Attitude to Learning judgement. At Ibstock Community College we believe that attitude is everything. It doesn’t matter if you feel confident in a particular subject, the most important thing you can do is to show a positive attitude, in line with the RESPECT standards. This will mean that you are working hard and doing everything you can to ensure success.

Hopefully, this helps to clarify your new report. If you have any other questions about your report, then email me at j.mason@ibstockcollege.co.uk, or want to find out any information from your teachers, then use the email address provided on the report.

Have a fantastic summer holiday, have lots of rest recharge your batteries, ready for the new school year, where we hope lots of things will be going back to normal again. Stay safe and take care.

Mr Mason

Ms Scott - Assistant Principal, Behaviour and Attendance and English Teacher

As we come to the end of another school year, we look back on what has to be a year for the record books. Again.

Not only have our staff and students had to face the unknown with Covid related disruption, everyone has had to dig even deeper into the depths of our resilience in terms of maintaining our excellent levels of engagement during the January-March Lockdown. We have you, our Parents and Guardians, to thank in so many respects. Your support and understanding during times of unsettled life, meant that as a school, we could work together for the best of our students wellbeing and their learning.

Things have not slowed down across this final term. Instead of Trip Day, our staff have worked tirelessly to organise various activities to recognise the hard work and excellent attitudes of our students. We have held three Sports Days and as everyone in the school can attest, these have been the best Sports Days at ICC to date! We look forward to the various Achievement Assemblies planned for our final week and the chance to recognise the outstanding achievements in each year group.

As we look ahead to our new academic year, planning around transition for our current Year 7s has already taken place in the form of school tours to help our students find their way for next year. We are so disappointed to have had to cancel the Yr6 Induction sessions in school this year but we look forward to having our new Yr7 cohort in school for their very own Yr7 Induction Day on Wednesday, 25th August 2021.

During this day, our new Yr7s will be taking part in a range of Learning Camps, based around our school’s RESPECT standards, routines and expectations. Our Yr8 and 9 cohorts will be joining us on Thursday, 26th August and will also spend their first day back with Learning Camps around routines, expectations, target setting and wellbeing. We want our students to start well and know what to expect so everyone can be their best right from the outset.

We wish everyone a safe and restful summer and we look forward to seeing everyone in the new term.

Ms Scott

Sports Day

For the first time sports day was run as an inter form competition in bubbles with fun being the focus of the day.

There were fun and games for all with the egg and spoon race, 3 legged race, wellie wanging, relays and the highlight of the event the tug of War.

Students were also tasked with coming up with their own class tic tok competition which were judged by the form tutors which showed off their hidden talents.

The weather was glorious and we had had the highest level of participation for years with everybody having go at an event whether it was the limbo or the 60m sprint.

Thanks to Mr Ball for keeping us entertained with the music and verses of sweet Caroline and to the form tutors for supporting the students.

Congratulations to our winners:

  • 7JM
  • 8RS
  • 9RR

Year 9 Portraits

Year 9 have been completing their final Art assessment over the past few weeks. Their task has been to produce a portrait of either a family member, friend or celebrity. Miss Moore has been amazed by these outcomes, aren’t they just brilliant! The whole of Year 9 have worked so hard during this task and we are so proud. Here are just a small sample of the work that’s been taking place in Art.

The Hive

It has been a funny old year but I hope that The Hive has managed to stay a place for students to feel supported in their learning; they’ve certainly been busy when they have been here working on extra maths, reading and literacy with our Teaching Assistants.

Interventions will still take place in The Hive next year, but will be run slightly differently – teaching staff will be leading them so that the Assistant SENDCO will be able to focus on assessments and applications with me as the SENDCO. We are now in the position where we can screen for Dyslexia and ADHD in school so if there are any concerns we will be able to identify them much more quickly and put plans in place whilst waiting for an official diagnosis.

And of course, The Hive garden project continues to blossom! The ground is filling up with bird baths, a Belfast Sink ‘pond’, flowers, fruit and vegetables – some of the tomatoes are just waiting for a little bit of sun to help them go red! We are now the proud owners of four new planters, a tool shed and two smashing benches courtesy of Mick Cunningham and Eddie Stobarts. We are incredibly grateful for everything they have provided for us in The Hive, including new lights inside the building and an exterior electricity supply. Mili Cunningham supervised the installation of everything and even brought a cat (called Zee) for us! We are very much looking forward to inviting all of those involved into school for the Grand Opening – hopefully our planters will be filled by then, we just need to find top soil and compost to fill them! Eventually we hope to have a Remembrance Planter (filled with poppies and decorated appropriately), Scent Boxes (filled with lavenders, mint, rosemary and any other gorgeous smelling plants we can find) and a ‘nursery’ box for helping next year’s seedlings to grow big and strong. It’s lovely to hear the local residents talk about the garden when they pass, their engagement with staff and students has been amazing. We would like to say a huge thank you to local residents Mr & Mrs Burns, who are kindly donating us some gardening equipment.

We will be sure to update you over the coming months about the progress inside and outside of The Hive.

Tracey Roden

Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator

The Library

Despite the challenges of this year, we are very proud to have successfully implemented a brand new library system which allows much better access to our library books for all of our students.

As a parent of three older children, it is a wonderful journey to observe and support as our young people grow up and start to develop interests in particular subjects and plan for their future. Whichever pathway your child chooses, reading is a skill that underpins all subjects and supports progress in any career. As Barack Obama puts it ‘reading is the gateway skill that makes all other learning possible.’

A report hit the news last year showing that weak literacy affects GCSE performance across all subjects, even subjects you may not necessarily expect such as maths.

This is why it’s so important that our students complete their 20 minutes of reading as part of their 20:20:20 homework, building that foundation ready for their Year 11 exams. In order to support them in this, we have been working with students to ask them what books they would like to see in the library. The whole of Year 7 and Year 8 were asked what books we should buy and we had a wonderful 200 responses!

It has been great to see the students’ enthusiasm for new books (see below for a selection) and we can’t wait until some of these start flying off the shelves! Although Mrs Barber is still trying to get her head around the Manga passion!

Have a wonderful summer and make sure you find a good book or two to relax with after a challenging year!

Library Books

Please, please ask your child to look for any outstanding library books – especially with lockdowns and limited access to the library, it’s been easy to forget to bring them back. No questions asked, absolutely no late fines just huge gratitude at getting lost books back in! (Even if they resurface during the summer after a room tidy, we would be delighted to get them back.)

Thank you!

Dance and Musical Theatre Celebration

One of our Year 7 students, Caitlin Cole (7CS) auditioned on Saturday 5th June for the Urdang Associate Course at the prestigious Urdang College in London.

Urdang Associates offers training in Dance and Musical Theatre for talented young students who wish to enhance and develop their pre-vocational skills.

This programme is a unique opportunity to work alongside other like-minded, passionate and highly motivated students and to experience a professional level of training. The faculty consists of mainly Urdang Academy teachers, many of whom have performed in West End shows as well as being highly respected teachers, choreographers, musical directors.

Whilst open to everyone, Urdang Associates is a selective course with only a limited number of places available to the most talented applicants.

Caitlin has been accepted onto the Mid Musical Theatre Course for students aged 10-13 and will be starting in September 2021. They only take a small number of students each year so it is a huge achievement to have been accepted and Caitlin can’t wait to start. Good luck Caitlin!

Year 7 & 8 Achievement Afternoon

Some of our Year 7 & 8 students were invited to attend an Afternoon Tea with Mrs Williams on Tuesday 6 July to recognise their outstanding attitude to learning. A great time was had by all despite the Great British weather forcing us to hold the event indoors.

Year 8 Lottery Winners

Outstanding attitude to learning - Finley Whinkless 8JLP & Grace Dobrowolska 8BH

Most achievement points awarded for the last half term - Morgan Ward 8RM & Chris Allen 8RM

Year 9 Fair on the Field Celebration Event

Due to Covid restrictions we could not hold a Year 9 prom so decided to hold a Fair on the Field instead. The students enjoyed an afternoon of inflatables, traditional Fair stalls, candy floss, toffee apples, cakes and sweets. We even had the Ice-cream man on the field. This would not have been possible without the generosity of the local community and parents. We would like to thank:

Mr & Mrs Graham, Mr & Mrs Thornley, Mrs Barwick, Mrs Gardner, Cattows for providing the Hay bales and Sunshine Take-away in Ibstock for providing the food which the students loved. Also Ibstock Country Fair for providing the Marquees and putting them up.

Yesterday showed we truly are a Community School.

Year 9 Awards

Graham Harbot - Josie May

Awarded to the student in year 9 who stands out the most for achievement, behaviour, overall effort and attainment during their time in KS3. It is awarded to a student who is polite, well presented and a credit to the school.

Josie, you have worked consistently well, your efforts, attendance and grades have been outstanding during your time at ICC. You are also always ready to help others and I really respect your caring side.

Students' Student - Daniel Louca Weston

This is a student who may have helped and supported other, is a role model, popular amongst their peers.

Daniel is always cheerful and is first to say hello in the mornings. He is a sporty member of the tutor group who has captained the football team along with representing the school for dodgeball and rugby throughout his time at Ibstock.

Daniel always puts himself forward to help me or other members of the group and makes me smile every morning with his random questions and topics of conversation. More recently he has shown leadership qualities and helped with year 7 and 8 sports days where he proved himself to be an excellent role model to our younger students.

Don’t forget you still owe me a bar of chocolate for bribing me to help with your home learning!

Most Improved - Ben Eborall

This nomination could be down to simple progress or a student who has made a marked improvement in attainment, behaviour, effort or a combination of all of these over their time at ICC.

Ben, from a wobbly start in year 7, you have constantly progressed during your time at ICC and gained confidence. Your work during lockdown has been amazing and I am very proud of your achievements.

J V Measures - Cara Lingard

Awarded to a student who has helped and contributed to the life of the college. A student who has put themselves out to help staff or the school on different events, or who has shown brilliant student responsibility inside and or outside of school. This student could also have done something that is also supportive of the local community or cause.

Cara is a really friendly and helpful student who always has a smile on her face. She has played a large part in the wider life of the school by being a very talented musician. Cara has been in vocal harmony as well as school bands.

In school Cara is an incredibly hard worker and gets involved in all aspects of school life including raising money for Sport Relief and the remembrance service and Christmas Carol Concert.

In the wider community Cara attends Guides and lifesaving and more recently helped out with year 7 sports day as a leader and role model.

Rachel Graveson Triumph Through Adversity - Lily Chester

Awarded to the student who has overcome or continued to achieve regardless of personal adversity or problems. A student who might not necessarily be the highest achieving student, but one that has been a massive success.

Lily, you always come in with a smile on your face and a positive attitude. I do not think I have ever heard you complain. You never let anything bring you down and I have the utmost respect for your courage.

Uniform Donations

Any donations of good quality uniform that is longer required would gratefully received. Please hand any donations to Reception.

Farewell to Year 9 from your Tutor

9KT

We’ve only been together for your final year at ICC and although we’ve had our ups and downs, overall, I can honestly say it’s been a pleasure getting to know you all better. Despite the challenges you’ve experienced, I hope you leave with fond memories and have learnt how resilient you are. I wish you all every success for the future.

Work hard and be good.

Mrs Tang

9LH

To my favourite Y9s. I feel like we were shoved together after I returned from maternity leave and Mrs H left. I was a little lost coming back to school after so long off and you all had so much uncertainty in your last year at ICC, but we pulled together and made the most of the last few months. I have enjoyed having you as a form. You’ve made me laugh every day and have also given me many challenges! You made me feel welcome coming back and just in this short time I have seen you grow into unique, independent individuals. I think you are all incredible and I will miss you next year. Good luck with all you do. Be kind, try your best and continue to take on challenges with enthusiasm and positivity.

Lots of love, Mrs Millwards x

9SI

It has been a pleasure to be your form tutor in the last two years and accompany you on your journey. You all have many different talents, some of you are musician or good at sport, we also have some amazing artists in our form!

You have grown and matured so much, in very difficult circumstances and I am so proud of each one of you. You have remained positive, resilient and kind to one another.

I am confident you will do very well at Ashby and continue to thrive in the future with your positive attitude. I wish you all the best for the future, whatever you may choose to do, I am sure you will be successful.

Miss Imzi

It's been a pleasure to be part of 9SI this year. Thank you for making me feel so welcome and being part of the form group.

I am really proud of everything that you have achieved at Ibstock - whether it's personal or academic goals - or even both...you've tried your hardest and succeeded. I hope you feel proud of yourselves.

I wish you the best of luck at your chosen upper school, and in the future -- with whatever you choose to pursue - do your best and always aim high!!!

You are your own destiny - make the journey exciting and do not give up ... keep going and when you feel that dip, or things get difficult which you will find at some point ... pick yourself up, hold your head high and carry on!

Take care 9SI.

Miss Grimadell

9SMc

Good luck to the whole of 9SMc as they move on to the next part of their journey. It has been a real privilege to be your tutor during this uncertain year, and although there have been ups and downs, I have looked forward to seeing you all in form and have really enjoyed getting to know you all. I am really sad to see you all go, but I am also so excited for your futures! Ms M.

9TL

Wow, what a year we have just had. You have been a joy to have as a tutor group, yes there have been some tough days but you have always responded positively. I’ve never had a tutor group that has been so supportive, always helping each other through thick and thin. You have always welcomed new students with open arms and made them feel part of the group. I am so proud of how much you have grown during this year and wish you all the best in your future endeavours, you will all do amazing in what ever you choose to do. It’s been a pleasure to have been your tutor for year 9, thank you and farewell.

Mr Lane

9RR

I have been lucky enough to be your form tutor for 2 years and unluckily some of you have even had me for 3!

You are a sporty and competitive team who have done me proud by winning sports day this year and your achievements out of school mirror this with Elliott and Jack playing basketball for Leicester Riders and Josh playing football for Burton Albion as well as Tyler playing rugby, Travis playing cricket and Katie with her horse riding.

You are hard workers and it always makes me proud to hear the other year 9 bubble teachers saying how successful you are.

All that is left to say is Good Luck for the future and I expect to see some of your names in lights!

Miss Rhodes

Covid Home Testing

Thank you for all of your support in completing the lateral flow tests at home with your child(ren).

Regular testing will pause in education settings over the summer however, testing is still widely available and kits can be collected either from your local pharmacy or ordered online. The plans for testing on our return to school in August are yet to be confirmed and we will keep you updated.

Reporting a positive Covid case during the summer break.

Please be aware that Ibstock Community College leaders will continue contact tracing in the event of positive Covid cases during the first weekend of the summer break.

If your child has attended school this week and they receive a positive Covid result on Saturday 10th July or Sunday 11th July please contact icc.admin@ibstockcollege.co.uk as soon as possible. If your child receives a positive Covid result after these dates please inform NHS Track and Trace.

Please include the following details in your email:

  • Childs names and year group
  • Your telephone number
  • The date that your child was last in school
  • The date that your child started with COVID symptoms

Social contacts: Please inform NHS Track and Trace with the following information for social contacts 48 hours prior to the onset of symptoms. https://contact-tracing.phe.gov.uk/

When you contact us, a member of the school leadership team will be in touch ASAP to complete the remaining in school track and trace. In the meantime, we would strongly discourage test results (regardless of the outcome) being published on personal social media.

Covid-19

Parent Lite

Please ensure you have activated your Parent Lite account and keep your child's information upto date. If you have not received an activation email please contact icc.admin@ibstockcollege.co.uk

Please take time to look through each tab and update information as required. It is especially important to ensure contact details are up to date, consent information is correct and any medical details or dietary needs are recorded accurately.

Contacting the college

Email: icc.admin@ibstockcollege.co.uk

Website: www.ibstockcollege.co.uk

Upcoming Dates

Monday 23 and Tuesday 24 August 2021 - Teacher Training Day

Wednesday 25 August 2021 - School reopens for Year 7 only

Thursday 26 August 2021 - School reopens for all students