Headteacher’s Update
Dear Families
Well, what a week here at Manor High School. We held our open evening last night, and attendance was extremely high, as you would imagine. Our students were the stars of the evening. They spoke so passionately to everyone they saw and were so proud to attend this school. They demonstrated a true sense of belonging. We know that if people feel that they belong they will do more and perform better as well have a more positive mindset. We were very proud of how they all wanted to show prospective parents their school.
In addition we have celebrated the European Day of Languages today, with a themed assembly and languages quiz this morning, where all students were treated to a pain au chocolate! As you all know, we hugely value Languages at Manor High School. We strongly believe that learning a language in school provides many benefits, not just being able to speak the language itself. It boosts brain function, improving critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity. It also develops cultural awareness, empathy, and global citizenship by opening students to different perspectives and traditions. In addition to the fact that it is a skill that increasingly businesses are keen to see employees have. Our lunch menu today is also themed around this and includes Albondigas and Mille Feuille dessert!
We have also been into classrooms this week- I have spent time in almost every classroom looking at student engagement and classroom practice along with OAK trust colleagues and have been impressed with the efforts and enthusiasm shown by all of our students. They are a credit to you and to us.
I mentioned last week the parking situation outside of school, and as I said would happen, the police and enforcement officers were around at the start of school this week, and will continue to drop in. Whilst there has been an improvement this week, they did unfortunately issue tickets to people who were being incredibly dangerous with their parking and showed a blatant disregard for the road markings. There has been a suggestion made by frustrated residents and parents for us to ‘name and shame’ and photograph people parking dangerously and publish this to parents! I do not plan to do this, however the mere suggestion suggests the level of concern and frustration from parents and residents- do please park sensibly, respectfully and safely around the school site. I thank the vast majority of you that do and ask for the small minority to address their behaviours and to set a positive example to their children.
With best wishes
Mr S Greiff
Take Your Teenager to Work Day
Last week, our Year 8 students had the exciting opportunity to take part in Take Your Teenager to Work Day. This special event gave young people a chance to step into the world of work, gaining first-hand experience of different careers.
The day provided a hugely valuable educational experience outside the classroom, encouraging students to think about their futures and explore the possibilities ahead.
Hafsa thoroughly enjoyed her day shadowing a Teacher at Luton Sixth Form College, gaining an insight into the role and the day-to-day responsibilities involved.
We would love to hear about other students’ experiences too! Please share your stories and any photos from the day with us—we look forward to celebrating the many different career journeys our Year 8s had the chance to explore.
Sparx Maths
As you may be aware, we will be using the Sparx platform to issue homework to students throughout this academic year. All students in Years 8 to 10 have been given the opportunity to review the process of accessing this homework during their Maths lessons and will have been issued their first homework. The Sparx platform has shown to bring about significant benefits to all learners who engage with the process and research undertaken by RAND Europe and Cambridge University found that using Sparx Maths for one hour a week significantly improves grades. It is a personalised programme that allows students to revisit topics previously studied whilst securing knowledge of more recent class room learning.
As a department, we ask for your support in ensuring that your child can benefit from this and engage with the tasks which can be viewed using Class Charts. Students using Sparx Maths Homework made 83% more progress with just 15 minutes of practice (in comparison to those who did no homework). To support this or any further independent learning that your child wishes to undertake, we have a Maths club staffed by a member of the department, which would provide an opportunity to complete any outstanding tasks. Alternatively please seek the support of any Maths teacher who would be more than happy to facilitate this.
Thank you for your support and please do not hesitate to contact your child’s Maths teacher should you have any further questions.
Sparx Maths Student of the Week
We’re delighted to celebrate this week’s Sparx Maths Student of the Week! This recognition is awarded to Mikel of 9.2 who has shown outstanding effort, determination, and commitment to their independent learning on Sparx. Their hard work not only strengthens their mathematical skills but also sets a fantastic example for their peers. Well done – we are very proud of their achievement!
Announcing our Study Centre Ambassadors
I am excited and proud to announce our new Study Centre Ambassadors for this academic Year
CONGRATULATIONS
Boris, Lucy, Orhan, Ahmad, Valentino, Saira, Muhammad (Year 7), Matilda, Hooria, Noah (Year 8), Maryam, Azfareen (Year 9), Ishan, Taran, and Samin (Year 10)
Our ambassadors were selected following an application process in which they confidently expressed their qualities, skills and enthusiasm for the Study Centre.
They will be assisting me during break, lunch, important events and support the reading challenge – Reading Around the World Challenge.
Word of the Week
‘QUIZ’
A story about ‘quiz’ tells how a man in the 18th century Ireland bet that he could introduce a new word in 48 hours. He hired people to write ‘quiz’ on walls, so that everyone was talking about it. There is no evidence for this tale; instead, it is likely that ‘quiz’ came from ‘inquisitive’ which means ‘curious.’
Have a restful weekend!
Mrs Osman
Study Centre Achievement Leader
Year 7
You have made a great start to life at Manor High School.
We will continue our adapted Year 7 timings for one more week as it will be beneficial to our students.
- Year 7 break time will start at 10:35am (5 minutes earlier than everyone else)
- Year 7 lunchtime will start at 12:30pm (10 minutes earlier than everyone else)
- Year 7 will finish the school day at 3pm (5 minutes earlier than everyone else)
At all points teaching staff will walk out with Year 7 and stay with them until duty staff arrive for break / lunch. At the end of the school day, teaching staff will walk Year 7 to the front of school.
Open Evening Thursday 25th September
Thank you so much to all of our student ambassadors on the evening. Thank you too to the many students who could not be involved – we could not have everyone and we were overwhelmed with requests to help. It is so nice to see so many students show so much care and pride for our school.
To the students that helped on the evening, you were amazing. So many of our visitors were complimentary about how well you behaved.
Lunch queues
We are asking all students to ensure their QR codes are ready before they get to the till as this will help to speed up our queues. Please could you reinforce this with all students at home.
Please also reinforce that students must queue in the following way:
- Queue calmly and respectfully
- Queue in pairs (no more than two across)
- Ensure we are not pushing up to the pair in front of us
- Ensure we do not push and ensure we do not try to pass someone who is in front of us
- Listen to staff instructions
- Step into the serving area only when a member of staff asks us to do so
Students should only queue once – they should not queue, buy some food and then return later to get something else. Please get everything in one go – this will help others get their food more quickly. Please also note that the queues are only for people purchasing food or drink. Please do not wait in the queue just to stand with a friend who is buying food.
Our queuing order is below. We just wanted to share this with parents.
This week it is week A
Main outdoor hatches (by Viking Building)
Week A:
12:40 to 12:50 – Years 7 and 8
12:50 to 13:00 – Years 9 and 10
13:00 onwards – Year 11 if needed
Week B:
12:40 to 12:50 – Years 9 and 10
12:50 to 13:00 – Years 7 and 8
13:00 onwards – Year 11 if needed
Humanities hatches
Week A and Week B – Year 11 only
Indoor hatches
Week A:
12:40 to 12:50 – Years 7 and 8
12:50 onwards – Years 9 and 10
1pm onwards – Year 11
Week B:
12:40 to 12:50 – Years 9 and 10
12:50 onwards – Years 7 and 8
1pm onwards – Year 11
We ask that all students follow the expectations below for queuing – these have been communicated with all students regularly during tutor time.
