• Your guide to current events at Wallingford School

    • Introduction

    At Wallingford we pride ourselves on providing a safe and happy environment where young people can flourish. Childhood can contain the happiest days of our lives but can also be a time of anxiety and uncertainty. We encourage and challenge students when we can but also realise we need to offer care and support if they are to achieve the best possible results during their time with us.

    How We Care:

    The Form Group
    Each student at Wallingford School is a member of a form group. This is one of the most important elements of the school. Tutors ensure the children in the group are safe and happy, get to know their families and act as academic mentors to support the student’s learning. All day to day questions and information can pass between you as the form tutor registers your child every day. The relationship with the form tutor is one of the most important in each child’s time at school

    Year Tutors co-ordinate and support the work of the form tutors and are responsible for the educational development and welfare of the students in their year. Year Tutors are supported by members of the School Leadership Team.

    Working with Families

    Children are only in school for a relatively short part of each week. To get the best out of them we need to work in partnership with families. We provide families with good quality, easy to understand information about the progress students are making. Progress reports are sent home three times a year, (four times in Year 10). These indicate the level or grade your child should be working towards in each subject and whether or not they are on target.

    Our Mentor programme allows families to share in the process of reflecting on learning and setting targets to support and guide future progress. In September students and parents meet with the students’ Learning Mentor to set learning objectives for the year ahead. The Learning Mentor meets with students and, where possible, their families at four points during the year to review progress and set more challenging targets if the initial targets have been met and monitor progress towards these throughout the academic year.

    Each year group has at least one evening when parents can make appointments to discuss student progress with subject teachers.

    Each student also receives a thorough annual review.

    What we ask of families:

    We do not underestimate the contribution families can make to a child’s progress in school. During a child’s time in school we will ask families to give us support in certain key areas so we can do the best possible work with our students.

    • Tutors will be working to support each students learning: please keep up the contact with your child’s tutor.

    • Parents Evenings and mentor sessions are vital in helping students think about ways they can develop their work: please attend as many of these as possible.

    • We give students important information about the school to pass onto their families: please ask your son or daughter for any messages or letters from school. (These are often found in the bottom of the school bag!)

    • We need to be able to get in touch with you when issues arise at school: please supply us with your email contacts where possible and inform us of any changes in contact details.

    • We need children to arrive at all lessons prepared to learn: please do all you can to ensure your child for is equipped for school,

    • Homework underpins the work carried out in class: please monitor homework to ensure it is completed and try to provide a quiet, comfortable place for your child to study.

    • We will expect high standards of behaviour at all times: please reinforce and support these behaviour expectations.

    • We can best support children when we know about any problems that may be troubling them outside school: please inform us of any circumstances at home which may have an impact on how your child performs in school.

    We will make our commitments to give good quality teaching, to have high expectations and to offer support and encouragement to each student. In partnership we will enable each child to have a happy, safe and successful time in school.

    Homework and Independent Study

    Students are only in lessons for 5 hours a day, 40 weeks a year. To the students this may feel like a lot but it is not enough to enable them to achieve the highest possible standards. This is where homework and independent study are vital. We believe that all students will benefit from regular, appropriate homework and guidance towards further independent study.

    From September 2006 we adopted a policy whereby every student in Years 7 –11 are doing homework for the same subjects on the same night. This has made it easier for families to ensure homework is being done and to monitor the work that their children are doing.

    We also prepared guides for students in Years 7-11 that give suggestions of further independent study that students may attempt to develop their knowledge and skills in each subject.