Dear Parent,
The February half-term break marks the midway point for the academic year, presenting a timely opportunity to reset and address one or two important areas of school life, including school uniform and communication between home and school. It also offers the chance to launch something new, including our revamped rewards system.
Keeping our standards high – uniform and equipment
The majority of our pupils arrive at school, smart and correctly equipped for the day ahead. Our robust and clear uniform policy is well established, and we are extremely proud of our pupils and how they wear our uniform to represent our school. Our pupils have weekly equipment checks to make sure they are ready make the most of every lesson.
For our standards to remain high, we ask that all parents help to support us by ensuring that pupils do not attend school with incorrectly worn uniform and have with them an appropriate school bag, stocked with the correct tools to be ready to learn. Our full Uniform and Equipment policy can be found on the school website.
During the last half term, we have noticed an increase in jewellery. St Christopher’s has a clear no jewellery policy which includes earrings. Please do not allow pupils to have their ears pierced over this upcoming one week half-term break as this will not allow sufficient healing time and pupils will be required to remove any jewellery on the first day of return. Jewellery found on a pupil during the school day is confiscated and parental collection is required.
After the half-term, we will be focussing in particular on the issue of female pupils rolling up their skirts at the waistbands and wearing their socks above their knees. Both of these are in contravention of our policy. Please help us with this by talking to your child, reminding them of the rules and, if purchasing a new skirt, ensuring that the length is on the knee, or just above the knee.
Finally, a reminder that hair should be of a ‘natural’ hair colour and that braided hair is not permitted. Boys must ensure that their hair is no shorted than a number 1 cut. Any pupils who violate hair rules will be required to be in break and lunch isolation (and wear long hair tied up) until the issue is rectified.
Incorrect uniform and missing equipment results in unhelpful interactions between pupils and staff and wastes valuable time that would be better spent on focussing on the education of our pupils. Those pupils who break uniform and equipment rules risk a Friday lunchtime detention, through teachers making a record on their ‘CLUE Card’. A further after school detention will then be issued, should any individual be found to be persistently defying our rules.
Thank you to parents for ongoing support of St. Christopher’s strong reputation for high standards of uniform.
Rewarding our pupils for their hard work
As a Church of England High School, our distinctive Christian ethos shapes everything we do, and we have been working to ensure that our rewards framework more clearly reflects this purpose.
There have, therefore, been some changes to our Synergy rewards system.
Going forward, pupils will be able to earn credits under categories aligned with our three key themes:
1. Knowing what it is to be fully alive
2. Learning how to live well together
3. Securing wisdom and understanding
These themes sit at the heart of our vision for each young person, and the revised categories will help us celebrate not only academic success but also personal growth, character development, and positive contribution to our school community.
We want to assure you that, on the surface, the changes you and your child see within Synergy will appear minimal. The way the system is used daily will feel familiar. However, the refinements we have made behind the scenes will help staff reward pupils in ways that better reflect our school’s purpose.
As always, your support plays a vital role in encouraging pupils to engage positively with the rewards process. We would be grateful if you could continue to talk with your child about the importance of taking every opportunity to earn credits under the new categories. At the end of each term, pupils will be rewarded and celebrated in assembly from each of these three distinct areas. This will be presented to pupils as a ‘Spirit of St. Christopher’s’ award.
Should you have any questions on our new and improved rewards system, please direct them to Mrs L Stott, Associate Assistant Headteacher.
Working together to help our pupils to flourish
Communication between home and school is vitally important to allow all pupils to flourish. The Synergy Gateway system, emails and face to face meetings play a key part in ensuring that pupils feel safe and supported in school.
St Christopher’s deeply values the strong, positive relationships we share with you as parents and carers. We try hard to model respectful relationships for our pupils as part of the core virtues that our school promotes. Our staff work with great dedication to support the education and wellbeing of all of our pupils. For this reason, we ask that all communication, both written and verbal, between home and school, mirrors these values and remains respectful, calm and focused on working together.
We understand that situations arise which can be challenging, worrying or upsetting, and we are always happy to have discussions, find solutions and offer support. If concerns arise, we want to know and we are here to help. However, we ask that any discussions or correspondence takes place in an appropriate and respectful manner, with a focus on achieving a resolution.
When an issue comes to our attention, it is important for staff to have time to investigate the situation, to ask questions and build a clear picture. Staff read their emails, respond to voicemails and Synergy messages when they have all the facts and the opportunity to do so. This takes time - particularly when staff are teaching. Therefore, there may be a delay in you receiving a detailed response to a concern. As a guide, you should allow up to 48 hours for a reply, although we always endeavour to respond sooner where we can. There should be no expectation that staff will reply to messages before school begins, in the evenings or at weekends. If parents wish to speak to a member of staff in person, Synergy Gateway should be used in the first instance to request a meeting. Arriving at school without a pre-arranged meeting is likely to mean that there is no member of staff available to meet with you.
Please help us to preserve the valuable relationships we have with the families of all our pupils through positive and patient communication.
I am grateful to Mrs Williamson (Assistant Headteacher) and Mrs Stott (Associate Assistant Head) for overseeing the School's work in these important areas and I commend and support the information in this important update.
R D Jones
Headmaster