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Issue No:

021

10 November 2017 Dear parents and carers, I was very pleased to be invited to attend the Mole Valley Duke of Edinburgh Awards Ceremony a few weeks ago. Not only was it a very proud moment to witness so many of our students receiving their Bronze and Silver Awards, but I was delighted to be asked to present the Gold Awards to students of The Priory School. The Gold Award requires significant effort and dedication over a long period of time, and its value is recognised by universities and employers. I would like to further offer my congratulations to everyone who received an award, especially those who were unable to be there on the night. Your volunteering alone makes a really valuable contribution to our community, so thank you for making that commitment. Andrew Orme, a Y13 student who received the Gold Award, was also honoured recently when he found out he had won the Mole Valley Youth Sports Personality of the Year Award. Andrew is a very keen lawn bowler, and a long standing member of the Dorking Lawn Bowls Club. This is one of many awards he has won, but is a great testament to his ability in this sport. Otis Leon-Peace joined the Dorking Air Cadets a year ago and, at his recent passing-out parade, was awarded Best New Cadet. Congratulations to Otis for this wonderful achievement and to all our cadets who recently passed out. You will also notice regular updates about our pony club within this newsletter - many thanks to Mrs Greenwood who is running the pony club and sends in regular updates. Currently, this is a small team but they compete regularly and perform exceptionally well against tough competition. I would like to extend my thanks to those parents and students who attended the Enough Abuse evening on 18 October, led by Marilyn Hawes. Marilyn gave us a very informative talk about how we can all work to identify on-line grooming and how to students can protect themselves from this when using the internet and smart phones. Her messages were very clear and powerful, and she will be returning to school in the Spring to talk to different year groups in order to raise their awareness. It is very sad that we need to provide this training, but I think all parents and carers would agree that prevention is better than a cure, and so we must talk to our children to help them keep themselves safe. One of the many highlights of the first half-term of school is the sponsored walk to Leith Hill. The anticipation for the walk is built up in advance by our members of Priory6 who traditionally make a video to promote it. The video this year was exceptional and, as ever, had a very strong reference to the magical properties of Marmite, in true Priory School tradition! Many thanks to Miss Bailey and the production team for putting this together, and to the

students and staff who happily volunteered to be in Avajar The Movie. In addition I would like to thank all the parents and carers who turned up on the day of the walk to be at checkpoints or to walk with our students. Priory6 students also did a fantastic job of monitoring checkpoints, and many thanks to Friends Of The Priory School (FOTPS) who kindly provided donuts and apples at Coldharbour Cricket Club. It was a very successful day and I hope it generates lots of sponsorship money which will directly benefit students at the school. Our Harvest theme this year has been about toilets! Many of you will be aware of our contribution to the Toilet Twinning charity in previous years - our ambition is to have every toilet in school twinned with one in an overseas country where the need is highest. We need to raise £60 for each toilet, so students were invited to contribute their loose change so that we can contribute to this very worthwhile organisation. Please send in any additional contributions by the end of next week so that we can commit to improving sanitation elsewhere. Returning to the theme of communication, I am looking at providing a forum via the school website through which parents can let us know which aspects of the school are working well for their children (for example, I have had many positive comments about Show My Home Work which help when we are looking at what is having the most positive impact on learning) and which areas might need improvement. I hope to have this set up before the end of term. In the meantime, I would be very grateful if as many parents as possible could complete the questionnaire on the Ofsted website which can be found at https://parentview.ofsted.gov.uk. This will give us a good starting point from which we can further improve the school. Finally, over the coming weeks I will be Tweeting to show examples of school work our students are proud of. If you do not already follow me, I can be found at @PrioryHead. I would strongly advise that any Twitter users check their privacy settings and make sure they have protected their own Tweets. How to do this is outlined here:

Mrs R Gibb Headteacher

Information regarding attendance can be found in our Policies section on the school website; however, parents should be aware of the following:

The Education (Pupil Registration)(England) (Amendment) Regulations 2013 state that Headteachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances. The Headteacher should determine the number of school days a child can be away from school if leave is granted.

In accordance with the above Regulations, requests for leave of absence are treated sympathetically, but can only be approved in exceptional circumstances. Government policy, to which this school has agreed, states that parents who take their child out of school for five days or more during term time without the authority of the Headteacher will each be liable to receive a penalty notice. Penalty Notices will be issued by the Local Authority.

The penalty is £60 if paid within 21 days of receipt of the notice, rising to £120 if paid after 21 days but within 28 days of receipt of the notice. If the penalty is not paid in full by the end of the 28-day period the Local Authority must prosecute the recipient for failing to ensure regular school attendance under section 444 Education Act 1996.

Please be aware that each parent is liable to receive a Penalty Notice for each child who incurs unauthorised absences; for example, if there are two parents and one child, each parent will receive one Penalty Notice.

If there are two parents and two children incurring unauthorised absences, each parent will receive two Penalty Notices, which in this case would amount to £120 each if paid within 21 days.

Penalty notices may also be used by the Local Authority in the following circumstances:

When a pupil is stopped during school hours by the Truancy Team, and there is a history of unauthorised absence, a warning letter will be sent to the parents informing them that their child’s attendance will be monitored for the following 15 school days. If there are further unauthorised absences, which may include a pupil arriving late after close of registration, a Penalty Notice will be issued.

Where a parent is failing to ensure their child’s regular school attendance, which may include a pupil arriving late after close of registration, and is failing to engage with any supportive measures proposed by the school or Education Welfare. Before a Penalty Notice is issued, the parent will be sent a formal warning of their liability to receive such a notice.

School Attendance Regulations

PE

Football Year 11 - Monday 16th October Year 11 kicked off their season against St Andrew’s. Conceding 2 goals in the first 5 minutes did not help, more frustratingly they were soft goals to give away. As soon as we woke up and started to play we got better results and some persistent running the ball down gave Tom Edwards a chance to get us back in the game. He utilised on a 50:50 ball and stole the ball from the keeper and put it in the back of the net. The opposition however were able to sit back and absorb the pressure and we were unable to pull back any more goals despite consistent hard work. Man of the match was James Irvine, a special mention goes to Ryan who was injured in the last 5 minutes, we wish him a speedy recovery.

Year 8 - Tuesday 17th October The Year 8 football team finished their fixtures for this term with a high quality performance against Ashcombe in the 'Dorking derby.' There were 11 goals and some fantastic attacking play from both teams. Ashcombe were the victors at the final whistle but an end to end match made for good viewing. The Priory continued to develop as a team and despite chasing the game for the duration of the match it was good to see the team work together for the whole of the match. Man of the match in his debut performance - Finley Tarrant.

follow us @prioryPEdept

NSEA Show Jumping On Sunday 5th November The Priory Riding Team competed in the NSEA Show Jumping event held at Coombelands, Pulborough. Lucy Greenwood competed individually in 70cm Show jumping. Lucy and her pony Finn jumped a lovely double clear round a twisty tricky course but finished just out of the placings in a large class. Next up we had Sophie Ludlow, Amy Sanders and Tilley Hutchings Campbell jumping in the 80cm class. All riders rode well around the course, with Amy finishing

8th and Tilley finishing 10th individually, and gaining an overall team 8th place which is a very good result. Amy and Sophie also both jumped the 90cm course. It was Sophie and her horse Emmy's first time competing at 90cm and they did well. Mrs Greenwood

The Priory Riding Team

Gold Award Presentations at St James Palace, October 2017 We congratulate Alex Mason (pictured) and Joe Knowles on the presentation of their Gold Awards. Their Awards were presented by Jay McGuinness in the Queen Anne room. Alex spoke to HRH Earl of Wessex about his residential work with Tearfund as part of his Award. Both Joe and Alex have completed all three levels at The Priory School, their contributions to the community through their volunteering at charity shops and local Churches is commendable. In addition to these Gold Awards, Mrs Foley was presented with a long service certificate for her work in three Schools by HRH Earl of Wessex. A really memorable day for all. Bronze Y10 expeditions September/October 2017

This year, on the INSET day in September, Y10 started their Award. They were led by a wonderful team of new volunteers, who taught them first aid, map reading, camp craft and launched them on the computer programme used for DofE. The practice expedition was in late September and we stayed at Sayers Croft in Ewhurst. The students were supported by volunteers who assisted their navigation on day one. Day two involved them walking via Leith Hill back to School. We were confident that they would recognise where they were from the sponsored walk! However, it did stretch them and many valuable lessons were learnt.

The assessed expedition was in early October. Again, we had super weather and navigation had much improved. 13 groups took part and we stayed at High Ashurst on Boxhill. Our wonderful team of volunteers helped with the clearing up and the vast majority of the kit was returned clean to the store.

Duke Of Edinburgh’s Award

Our assessors were all independent from School and provided super feedback. Following is an example of one of the student reports. “Xxx and members of this group worked successfully to navigate their way around a pre-planned route in the Surrey Hills. They combined their range of skills and experience to great effect, tackling the inevitable challenges (physical - walking on mixed terrain with a full pack; technical - navigation and camp craft; and social – working effectively as part of a team) with great success. The weather was mild for the time of year, and the group had little difficulty with the challenge of walking, navigating, and camping. The effort put into preparing thoroughly for the expedition was clear, with routes and route-cards well organised, roles within the team sorted and kit effectively distributed. Camping skills had obviously been developed during the previous expedition, and the group successfully met the challenge of creating substantial edible meals using the Trangia equipment. A particular attribute of the group was their confidence in their ability; they had an excellent day on Friday and accomplished their planned activity with ease. They then knew that they would have plenty of time on Saturday so managed a relaxed breakfast before departing. Apparently a little bit of karaoke works wonders on expedition! xxxx positive reflections on the progress they have made individually and collectively were an inspirational reminder of the strengths of the expedition section of D of E. I hope that, with further reflection, all members of the group can conclude that this was such a positive experience that they will consider participating in Silver or Gold D of E in the future. All that remains now is for Year 10 to upload their three sections of assessors reports onto their accounts and they will have completed their Bronze. Target date to finish – April 2018.

Our massive thanks go to some amazing volunteers, who helped make this all possible.

Bronze dates – Year 9 Training day Sat 13th Jan 2018 (in School) Practice expedition Sun11th-12th March 2018 (South Downs) Assessed expedition Mon 16th-17th July 2018 (Boiderhurst)

Silver dates Training various winter dates tbc Practice expedition Sun 11th-13th March 2018 (South Downs)

Assessed expedition Mon 16th-18th July 2018 (New Forest)

Duke Of Edinburgh’s Award

Dorking Nursery School and Children’s Centre

VACANCY

EARLY YEARS PRACTITIONER

Dorking Nursery School and Children’s Centre are looking to

recruit an Early Years Practitioner to join their Nursery team in

January 2018.

The position will be full time, term time working in the 3-5s

Nursery as a key worker for approximately 10 children.

The salary is dependent on the applicant’s experience and

qualifications, starting from £20,628 pro rata.

Closing Date : Friday 17th November 2017, 12 noon

Interviews : Monday 27th November 2017

For further details, information and application pack,

Call 01306 882397 or email admin@dorking.surrey.sch.uk

Dorking Nursery School and Children’s Centre is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people families and carers and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Appointment to this post will be subject to an enhanced Criminal Records Bureau disclosure.

VACANCY CLERK TO THE GOVERNING BODY

An exciting opportunity to be part of the future of 3 Dorking Schools.

Dorking Nursery School and Children’s Centre, Powell Corderoy Primary School and St Martin’s VC Primary School are looking to recruit a

Clerk to the Governing Body.

Applicants are invited to consider the opportunity to apply for a post in one, two or across all three schools. Salary is based on Surrey Pay S6

starting from £20,628 FTE pro rata to each individual contract Paid for 38 weeks a year over 12 months.

Please note, successful candidates will be contracted to each individual school, however, training and other professional opportunities will be shared between the schools.

Applicants must have excellent organisational skills, be computer literate and be experienced in taking minutes. Support and appropriate professional development is provided and it is expected all successful candidates will attend at least termly

Clerk Briefings provided by the local authority.

Closing Date : Friday 10th November 2017, 12 noon (all applications regardless of the school applying to; to be returned to Donna Harwood-Duffy, Headteacher, Dorking

Nursery School and Children’s Centre, head@dorking.surrey.sch.uk)

Interviews : Tuesday 21st November 2017

For further details, information and application pack, call 01306 882397 or email admin@dorking.surrey.sch.uk

Dorking Nursery School and Children’s Centre, Powell Corderoy Primary School and St Martin’s VC Primary School are committed to

safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people families and carers and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Appointment to this post will be subject to an enhanced Criminal Records Bureau disclosure

Dorking Nursery and Children’s

Centre Powell Corderoy Primary School St Martin’s VC Primary School

Role based on equivalent of 2 hours per week, term time only.

2 Tuesday evening meetings and 4 x day time meetings in the academic year 2017-2018. From September 2018 all

meetings will be held during the working day.

Role based on 90 hours per year,

term time only.

Meetings take place Monday

evenings 6:30pm-8:30pm.

Dates for 2018 academic year

8th Jan, 19th March, 23rd April,

18th June, 16th July.

Role based on 3.25 hours per

week, term time only. 5 Thursday

full board evening meetings,

7pm-9pm, plus 8 committee

meetings during the working day

per academic year. 3 full board

(evening) and 5 Committee (day)

meetings remaining for 2018

academic year.

LOOKING AHEAD 13th November - 26th November WEEK B - ERIC P4 National Anti-Bullying Week Wednesday 15th November Y11 Food Tech NEA Thursday 16th November GCSE Music Recording Day - Solo Y11 Parents Evening

WEEK A - ERIC P5 Wednesday 22nd November INSET DAY Thursday 23rd November Sixth Form Parents Evening

Dates for your Diary

The Christian Union have been busy making up Christmas Boxes. Bless them they all brought £1 in and other bits and pieces and were able to make up lots of boxes for the Samaritans Purse. Lucy Mason, School Chaplain

Christian Union News