March 2012

 

Easter Newsletter

 

Dear Parents/Guardians,

 

As we move towards the end of term I would like to update you on the following matters:

 

New Building: Good News

 

A letter was sent out earlier this term advising that the new building would not be available from the start of this Autumn Term as planned. However, I am delighted to inform you that it is now intended to open the new school, as originally planned, at the beginning of the Autumn Term 2012, rather than after the October Half -Term holiday.

 

This follows excellent progress being made by the main contractor, RG Falla, on the construction of the buildings for the new school in order to catch up on the delay caused by the removal of all the pre-cast slabs from the site early last year.

 

An intensive programme of activity is now underway, both for the construction team and the school staff and project team, in order to meet the revised deadlines without compromise to the quality of the buildings or to the rigorous planning of the new procedures and routines that will operate from when the new school opens. The school is expected to be completed in early August.

 

The Education Board has confirmed that the term will start as planned on Monday 3^rd September for the staff of the school, as for all the Bailiwick’s States schools. However, pupils will have four days, 4^th to 7^th September inclusive, as additional holiday to allow the staff to be fully trained in the safe functioning of the new school: the fire safety procedures, registration, lunchtime and breaktime supervision procedures, pupil arrival and departure processes, transport arrangements and the operation of the building management systems as well as ensuring that all teaching resources are available in classrooms and other areas.

 

It will allow a calm and orderly start for the pupils when they start the term on Monday 10^th September and follows previous practice in the opening of new schools in the Island.

 

 

New Uniform & Logo

 

Letters regarding the new more formal uniform were given to students to take home just before half-term. The new uniform should soon be available from the suppliers: Fletcher Sports, Podgers and Shoestring. All students will be expected to wear the new uniform with effect from the first day of the Autumn Term. (As explained in the letter, Year 11 students have the option of wearing a blazer, for this transition year only, as feedback from parents queried the value of buying a blazer which would be in use for, in effect, just two terms).

 

After a long search, we have adopted a new logo (uniform page of this website) from September. Lots of

different designs were submitted but no one design seemed to capture everyone’s support until, at the last moment, we received the design above from professional designer, Ben Adkins, Creative Director at a local advertising agency. Ben’s wife works as a Teaching Assistant at the school. This stylish and modern representation of the letters ‘LBH’ will look good on blazers, letterheads and in other areas of the new school. We are very grateful to Mr Adkins for offering us this design which, we hope, will be associated with the school for years to come.

 

 

Lunch Hour Changes during main Summer Examination Period only

 

From Monday May 21^st until Friday June 22^nd we are changing the time of our lunch hour from a 1300 start to an earlier time at 12.05.This will mean that students will have their first three lessons in the morning session, followed by a lunch break at 12.05 until 13.05, with lessons 4 and 5 scheduled in the afternoon session.

 

We have made this change in order to accommodate better the arrangements for students who sit public examinations during the afternoon in the main Summer GCSE exam period. I hope this will not cause any inconvenience to parents/guardians whose children come home for lunch.

 

Staffing

 

As mentioned in my Christmas newsletter, we have further staff changes. At the beginning of the term Mr K Wilson joined us in a new post as Premises manager and Mrs K Tostevin joined our team in the School Office as an administrative assistant. Covering maternity leaves, Mr R Gorton has joined the Maths Department and Mr D Beukes the English Department. Miss E Andrews has also replaced Miss Taylor in the English department. We are also pleased to have appointed a local teacher, Miss Watson, to teach Psychology, Health and Social Care and to work in our L@B and PSHE courses.

 

I would like to advise parents of Year 7 students that Mrs J Haimes has taken over as Head of Year from Mr Nicolle. Mr Nicolle has been a Year Head for almost 20 years and he has played a key role in seeing through four generations of year groups during his term of office. Mrs Haimes has experience of working in Primary schools and she will remain as the Head of Year 7 each year in order to promote even more effective transition arrangements between primary and secondary education.

 

We are also sorry to be losing Mr C Williams at the end of this term as he is returning to Wales to take up a position there. Mr Williams has made a significant contribution to behaviour management in the school in his role as Behaviour Co-ordinator as well as conveying the Welsh passion for rugby to our students.

 

Groupcall Texting Service

 

Thank you to all parents who have returned updated contact information for mobile phones. We have now started to use our texting service with some groups of parents and this will be extended as the year progresses as already it is proving an efficient way to make contact with parents.

 

 

Smoking

 

We are pleased to be working with Health and Social Services and GASP as part of a campaign to reduce the number of young people who start smoking. The campaign will shortly be releasing information on the illegality of supplying tobacco and tobacco products to under-18’s as it is an offence to sell or supply (including proxy purchasing) cigarettes, cigars, cigarette paper or tobacco to anyone under the ager of 18 years. Anyone breaking this law could be fined up to £500 for a first offence. This legislation is particularly welcome as I have become concerned about a small number of students who are smoking on the way to and from school and who are bringing cigarettes into school. Unfortunately, these are mainly female students and some of them have told me that their cigarettes are provided by their parents for them. The school is working hard to stop this happening as smoking on school grounds, or, on the way to and from school, creates a bad impression, as well as being unhealthy, and possibly encourages other youngsters to take up the habit. If there are parents buying cigarettes for their children, hopefully they will think twice as a result of the campaign and the possibility of being fined for breaking the law. I would appreciate the support of any parent/guardian who allows their child to smoke at home to check that they are not bringing cigarettes/lighters etc into school when leaving home in the morning or returning to school after the lunch hour.

 

Hair

 

A reminder that students are expected to have conventional hairstyles and that brightly coloured hair (green dyes, for example) and tramlines in hair are not permitted. We also do not allow students to have Mohican hairstyles or to adopt any hairstyle which might be associated with aggressive or anti-social behaviour. While we appreciate that young people will often wish to experiment with aspects of their appearance it is rarely in the interests of students to come to school with outlandish hairstyles. We have therefore adopted a common sense approach to hairstyles which, we believe, has the support of the vast majority of our parents and which maintains important standards of dress and appearance in school. Please contact us if you need further clarification of this policy.

 

 

The Mulkerrin Review

 

Some thoughts, now that the dust has settled a little:

 

We are pleased that the Review is complimentary about the work we do here at Les Beaucamps and that our teaching in the key areas of English and Maths has been recognized as strength of the school along with high staff morale. Mr Mulkerrin’s findings reflect the tone of the Validation Reports we have had over the years. We are not complacent and know we can go on to raise standards further.

 

The success of Les Beaucamps School over the past decade under review would not have been possible without the support of Education Board members, latterly the much valued support of ex-Minister Carol Steere as well as the tireless and sensitive support of ex-Director Derek Neale and his colleagues, past and present, at the Education Department.

 

Derek Neale was my predecessor when I took up the headship of Les Beaucamps in 1992 and I am pleased to continue working closely with him again on the educational aspects of planning the new building and the big move into the new school. I have always found Derek Neale to be a man of great integrity, purpose and kindness.

 

We are confident that the key recommendations identified in the Review would assist greatly in moving the school forward and raising standards further.LMS (Local Management of Schools) is central to that happening and most of the recommendations are linked to this. No one should underestimate the quite radical (for Guernsey) implications of introducing LMS (Local Management of Schools) into our schools. In our case it means the delegation of around three million pounds a year (the cost of running this school) without undue interference from any States’ departments giving us significant powers to be masters of our own destiny. A strong School Governing Body of elected representatives, including teachers and parents, would be a prerequisite.

One other observation:

 

Mr Mulkerrin has identified the 11+ as one of the obstacles to the improvement of the islands’ education system. This is something I and other colleagues have said on many occasions in the past. It is not tenable that we should be maintaining a system which can create a culture of what Mulkerrin calls “winners and losers.” If even one child begins his secondary education with his head down thinking he has not been successful it is one child too many. We spend a lot of time trying to raise the self-esteem of some young people owing to the maintenance of such an archaic educational system. That is why one of our key school aims is for every student to leave here with a sense of achievement (and not only academic achievement).

 

Had the States made the decision to scrap the 11+ in the big debate of several years ago I wonder whether there would have been a need for Mr Mulkerrin’s Review!?

 

 

Retirement of Mr N Dorey

 

Mr Dorey, our Caretaker, retires at the end of this term after 32 years of service to the school. He joined the school when the tomato industry declined and he has never looked back. I am sure all parents who know Mr Dorey will want to wish him well for his retirement.

 

Arrangements for the end of Term

 

Term ends at 1.25 p.m. on Friday, 30^th March. Lunch will be from 12.15 until 1.00 p.m. Once again, no buses are available to take students home at 1.25 and, therefore the following arrangements will apply. Students are asked to make their own arrangements to make their way home. We will use the lower playground (through the Staff Car Park) for anticipated additional parking.   Car sharing would be helpful. A ‘one-way’ traffic system going around the back of the school with entrance through the Staff Car Park will be operated again. If everyone is patient the system usually works well!

 

As usual, the last day of term is a mufti-day and students are asked to bring in a 50p donation which will go to Action for Children in Guernsey.

 

Summer Term starts on Tuesday, 17^th April 2012 at 8.40 a.m.

 

May I take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy Easter.

 

                                                            Yours sincerely,

 

                                   

                                                            Peter Le Cheminant

                                                            Headteacher