News from MCS

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I hope that you have enjoyed a lovely summer, and that everyone is feeling re-energised and ready for the new school year - equipment purchased, bags packed, shoes shined! 

We enjoyed welcoming Year 11 and Year 13 into school on the examination results days, and we are very proud of the superb results that they achieved. It was the consequence of a lot of hard work and perseverance. Our results were once again significantly above the national results at GCSE/BTEC level and at A Level. We wish students departing us all the very best for the future in their chosen pathway.

Students and visitors arriving through the front entrance will note a new set of doors that have been installed, as part of our regular safeguarding site reviews. Students simply enter and exit through the usual way at the start and end of the day. Any visitors, including parents and carers, will sign in via the reception desk to the left of the new doors, and will then wait in the secure reception area to be collected by staff.

A reminder regarding uniform: we updated our policy and changed supplier in order to make uniform more affordable for families. The policy is available here - please note that the only skirt type permitted from now on is the pleated style that reaches on or just above the knee. Support will be available from the Ready To Learn room if required. 

Please do read through the other notices in the newsletter to remind yourself about other aspects of school life that may have slipped your mind over the summer break. We look forward to welcoming Year 7 and Year 12 back on Tuesday 3rd September, and all other year groups back on Wednesday 4th September for a prompt 8.45am start to the school day. 

All the best for the rest of the summer break to you all.

Cofion cynnes

Hugo Hutchison
Headteacher

As parents/carers you will receive a text message if your child does not register with their tutor and does not arrive at session 1 and you have not already reported their absence to school (Absentee Line 01600 775284 - mon.attendance@monmouth.schoolsedu.org.uk). Please respond to this text message, with the reason for absence. We will aim to send this text message by 10am. 

This should speed up the process of recording absences and staff will have more time to support students.

Your voicemail/email should provide concise details regarding the reason for absence, which ensures the absence is an authorised one. Please be aware that for repeated absences or patterns, you may well be asked for medical evidence.

If your child has an appointment outside school during the day, could you please let the school know in advance (01600 775177) and provide physical evidence of the appointment - a screenshot of a text confirmation or a copy of an appointment card/letter no later than the day of the appointment.  This means that it is recorded at Reception and they can be signed out quickly, avoiding unnecessary delays. You may also wish to give your child a note to show their teacher, who will release them from class. 

If we are not aware of a request to leave school, either via a message or a note, we are obliged to call parents/carers to confirm a child is leaving/being met at Reception.  If we are unable to make contact with a parent/carer registered on SIMS as a contact, we cannot allow a student to leave the school.

If your child feels unwell during the day, they should speak to the teacher taking their lesson who will call someone from the Wellbeing Team. After liaison with Healthcare support, we will if necessary call home to request that a student is collected.

Please remind your child of this process – students should not be calling/messaging home directly, either during lesson time or during break.  Our system means that we are quickly aware that a student is unwell, that we know where to locate them and that we can then ensure they are somewhere comfortable and supported whilst awaiting collection.

If, however, your child contacts you, please contact the school (01600 775177), explain the situation, and we will then locate and speak to your child.  As mentioned above, the Wellbeing Team will contact you if your child needs to be collected.

Please remember that an automatic maximum daily spend of £5 is allocated to each student's account but individual limits can be set by contacting Mrs Jenkins in the Finance Department at the school:

jennifer.jenkins@monmouth.schoolsedu.org.uk 

who will be happy to set the limit you require.  Please remind your child of their daily limit, which includes purchases of food and drink.

We know that the range of food on offer in our Food Hall can be a little overwhelming when students first start in Year 7 – especially as students are used to a limited offer in primary school and, more importantly, they didn’t have to budget to pay for their lunch.  It becomes a little more difficult for them when they are faced with such huge a choice but with a specific budget and they are often tempted to 'overspend'.

Please discuss this daily limit with your child, perhaps using the link above to go through to the menu/food list to work out the best value for their allowance.  You may also wish them to only access the Food Hall at lunch break, to ensure they have enough money on their account to purchase a nourishing and filling lunch and not spend it all on snacks at breaktime.  If this is the case, please contact us on the email address above and we can arrange for a note to be put on their ParentPay profile which will ensure the till operator is aware of this.  Ample water fountains are situated around the school, allowing students to fill up their bottles for free.

During the first few days of term, each Year 7 Form will go to the Food Hall to get their finger scanned.  Don't worry if, for some reason, your child misses the scanning session, they will be able to give their name at the till until they get their finger scanned so they will be able to access food.

Full details of the menus may be found on our website, by clicking HERE.  At the bottom of the menus you will see the specials on offer every day in the Food Hall.  On this page you will also find a price list.

Please ensure you have activated your Parentpay account to ensure your child can use the Food Hall.  If you have any queries about activation, please email Mrs Jenkins on the email address above.

If your child receives free school meals, we thought we would take this opportunity to run through what is on offer.

We know that the range of food on offer in our Food Hall can be a little overwhelming when students first start in Year 7 – especially as students are used to a limited offer in primary school and, more importantly, they didn’t have to budget to pay for their lunch.  It becomes a little more difficult for them when they are faced with such huge a choice but with a specific budget.  We rely on you (please see below) to discuss and explain the FSM allowance to them to ensure they don’t overspend and we have to contact you to top up the allowance.

Full details of the menus may be found on our website, by clicking HERE.  On this page you will also find a price list.

The free school meal allowance is £1.95 per day – this allows a student to purchase food (not drinks) during the day.  However, please note that some of the meal deals do include a drink and this may be the best option for your child.  The meal deal options may be found at the bottom of the weekly menus on the website.  Please note that once this limit is reached at any time during the day, students will not be able to go over £1.95 unless parents have decided to top up the account themselves to allow their child to purchase other items. If you have added funds to allow them to purchase over the FSM allowance of £1.95 per day, please bear in mind that unless you set a limit, the automatic £5 daily limit kicks in, allowing them to spend a further £3.05 of the added funds, per day.  To set a limit, please contact Mrs Jenkins – jennifer.jenkins@monmouth.schoolsedu.org.uk

Please discuss this daily limit with your child, perhaps using the link above to go through to the menu/food list to work out the best value for their allowance.  You may also wish them to only access the Food Hall at lunch break, to ensure they have enough money on their account to purchase a nourishing and filling lunch and not spend it all on snacks at breaktime.  If this is the case, please contact us on the email address above and we can arrange for a note to be put on their ParentPay profile which will ensure the till operator is aware of this.  Ample water fountains are situated around the school, allowing students to fill up their bottles for free.

We hope this gives you more of an idea of what is available in our Food Hall but if you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

For more information about free school meals, including the qualifying criteria, please click  HERE to visit the MCC website.