Year 11 Welcome Back Letter 2024

April 2024

Dear Parent,

I extend a warm welcome back to all our Year 11 students for their final term at Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College. We are now very much into the ‘countdown’ towards the full GCSE exams and, indeed, practical GCSEs and oral MFL exams are already taking place. I wish every success to our students who are about to undertake these exams. As we will be reiterating to students, there is still time to ‘make a change’ in terms of their final GCSE preparations. Students should be looking carefully at feedback from teachers from the recent Spring mock exams, and factoring this into their revision plans.

I hope that you found the recent Exam Preparation evening useful, and a reminder that there are a wealth of resources relating to exam preparation and revision available on our college website. Lunchtime and after-school revision sessions will continue this term, and it is crucial that students make use of these, especially when they have been individually invited to these sessions for a particular focus.

I’m sure you will agree that it is vitally important that our Year 11 students maximise every learning opportunity, and excellent attendance over the final few weeks of Year 11 is an important aspect of this. If your child is unable to attend College for any reason, please use the Synergy Parent app to notify us.

Please continue to contact form tutors initially regarding queries or concerns about your son or daughter during their final few weeks at college, as they play a vital day to day role in the pastoral care of your child.

Year 11 Form Tutors and email addresses are as follows:
Mr Xia – 11 Ashley – cxia@blessededward.co.uk
Mrs. Apps – 11 Clitherow – gapps@blessededward.co.uk
Mr Coward – 11 Jones – pc@blessededward.co.uk
Mrs Taylor – 11 Line – hpt2@blessededward.co.uk
Mr Gittens – 11 Pritchard – zgittens@blessededward.co.uk
Mrs Deane/Mrs Thomas – 11 Sutton – kdeane@blessededward.co.uk/kthomas@blessededward.co.uk
Mrs Sparey – 11 Wall – nsparey@blessededward.co.uk

It is very pleasing to see the Year 11 students looking smart and enthusiastic in their uniform. Just a polite reminder that students need to be in the correct college uniform right up until they leave us in the Summer, including during the GCSE exam period. The College uniform policy is accessible via the parents’ section on the college website, if you are unsure about any aspect of the college uniform policy. A reminder also that if
your child brings a mobile phone to college for use before or after school, it is their responsibility to ensure
that it is switched off and out of sight on school grounds during the school day.
There are a few important dates for your diary this term:

Thursday 2 May – Planning afternoon – 1.35pm finish for students
Friday 3 – Sun 5 May – Year 11 Maths/Science PGL tripMonday 6 May – Mayday Bank Holiday – college closed
Wednesday 8 May – Year 11 Leavers Mass and final GCSE exam preparation briefing
Thursday 9 May – GCSE written exams begin
Friday 24 May – Year 11 ‘Leavers morning’ (further details to follow)
Monday 3 June – Study leave begins
Wednesday 26 June – Final scheduled GCSE exam (contingency day)
Wednesday 17 July – Year 11 Prom (further details to follow)

Finally, we believe communication is the key to building good relationships between school and home and are always keen to meet with parents to resolve matters face to face. We fully understand that urgent issues can arise, but please bear in mind that we often cannot see parents who arrive without notice during the school day as staff are often already teaching or in meetings that have already been arranged. We respectfully ask that you please call ahead to arrange a mutually convenient time to meet, rather than arrive at school unannounced and risk disappointment if no one is available. Many thanks for your understanding on this matter.

If you do have any concerns, please do not hesitate to contact tutors, subject teachers, or myself so that we can work together to support your children. I thank you again for your continued support over the last five years; it has been a pleasure seeing our Year 11 students mature into the diligent and respectful young people that they are today.
Yours sincerely,

Mr K Dobson
Head of Year 11