Dear Parents and Carers,
I am writing to inform you about two very important events that will be taking place this half term which will support Year 8 students at All Saints’: the Year 8 Progress Evening and the Year 8 Options – Parent Information Evening.
The Year 8 Progress Evening will be taking place on Wednesday 5th February 2025 from 15:45 until 18:30 pm; this event will take place at All Saints’ Academy across the dining room and drama hall. This event will allow you to speak to your child’s class teachers about the progress your child is making in relation to their target grades and the knowledge and skills required in the different subjects.
Students will be given an appointment slip and they will need to seek appointments from their teachers. Please let your child know which time periods you want them to make appointments with their teachers. We are not using the School Cloud platform to make appointments on this occasion to give parents and students greater freedom in booking appointments.
During the evening, a school bell will sound after each four-minute appointment. You will then need to make your way to the next member of staff. The booking slip will show appointment lengths of five minutes, and this is to include one minute of movement time when the bell is sounded.
The Year 8 Options – Parent Information Evening is an online event which will be taking place on Wednesday 12th February at 6.00pm until 6:45pm. It will be an opportunity to deepen your understanding about the ‘Options’ process at All Saints’ so that you can support your child in their future decision making.
The Options Evening will run as a Microsoft Live Teams event, and this is a wonderful opportunity for all parents and carers to participate in this important process, as you can discover the information from the comfort of your own homes. Last year’s attendance at the event was lower than in previous years and it resulted in instances where guardians were unable to assist their child in completing the form correctly, which led to student and guardian disappointment regarding the options released in July. I am really hoping that we will have our best attendance yet, given the home accessibility of this event. Details regarding how to access this event are at the end of the letter.
On Wednesday 12th February, Year 8 students will have the opportunity to speak to a representative from each curriculum area about the different GCSE courses; instead of their usual Period 5 classes on this day, teachers will be available to represent each GCSE Option subject, and this gives an opportunity for student questions and answers from the staff. Students will be tasked with taking notes on key pieces of information so that they can discuss with their guardians after their school day has finished. Students will receive their options booklet and their options application form on this day so please ask your child to present it when they get home so you can look through it together.
Furthermore, for those students who are absent on Wednesday 12th February, there will be a series of videos about each GCSE option choice from Wednesday 12th February on the All Saints’ Catholic Voluntary Academy website: https://www.allsaints.notts.sch.uk/teaching-and-learning/options-information
The school will be using the Microsoft Live Teams function for the event; we are hoping that all technical issues have been resolved in advance of the event, but we ask for your patience if we do experience some technical issues. I look forward to speaking to you on 12th February.
We are running the two events on consecutive weeks in response to parental feedback from previous years, where parents and carers stated that they would find it beneficial to have the Progress evening before the Options evening so they can support their child’s decision making from a more informed perspective.
Yours Faithfully,
Mrs L Johnson
Deputy Head Teacher
How to access the Microsoft Teams Event:
Click on the link below and you may be given the following options:
