Principal’s Message for Week B, wb 14th October
The first half of the Autumn Term has flown by! The last week of every half term at MEA Central is Gratitude Week when we take time to reflect on our progress and achievements as student and staff and to thank the people who have supported or inspired us on the journey.
As a school we are proud of:
Excellent attendance rates so far this year – thank you for your support.
Our reputation as an inclusive school – we were recently asked to present at a webinar for the Department of Education on our Pupil Premium Strategy, due to our excellent results, which was attended by over a thousand schools nationally.
Our Silver Reading Award from One Education, recognising our work on promoting a reading culture – we are now hurtling towards the Gold with over 500 books borrowed from our library this half term!
Our Gold Award from The Teacher Development Trust which recognised our exceptional professional development offer for staff and open and reflective staff culture.
Our status as a GCSE Pod Champion School due to the number of revision Pods completed by our Key Stage 4 students
And we are grateful to serve our communities and work with such diverse and brilliant families. Thank you!
House Poetry Competition
We are excited to invite parents, students, and staff to our House Poetry Competition next Thursday 17th of October which will take place in our Theatre. The event will run from 3.30-4.00. This is a brilliant opportunity to support our young scholars as they reimagine the works of Simon Armitage, Ann Duffy, and T.S Eliot to name a few!
The Year 10 Work Experience Coffee Morning
Tuesday 15th October 2024 between 9.30am - 10.30am in the Activity Studio, a presentation will be given detailing the work experience process and how to action self-placement requests. To confirm your attendance please complete the form Link: https://forms.office.com/e/ji2ZTv2kGD by Monday 14th October 2024.
Attendance Update
Our attendance remains strong and above national average, thank you for continuing to support your child by sending them into school every day.
We are aware attendance can start to drop as we get into the darker and colder months and we would like to avoid that as much as possible. When your child is feeling slightly unwell, send them in and we will monitor them throughout the day, illnesses tend to improve as the day goes, but we will contact you if we feel a student is better off at home. You can also inform your child's year team if they are unwell so they be extra vigilant and supportive.
Attendance is one of the most important factors in a young person's development academically and socially, and that is why colleges are interested in applicants' attendance, and why we will do whatever it takes to ensure our students have fantastic attendance, to secure their fantastic future.
As always, if you have any questions, or seek any support, just let us know.
Mr. McCullough
Assistant Vice-Principal
Extra-Curricular Clubs
Please note- due to next week being Gratitude Week, extra-curricular clubs and period 6 sessions will not be running.
FSM Vouchers for October Half Term 2024
Parents of students eligible for Free School Meals (FSM) will receive a Asda voucher for one week per eligible child via email. Please check your inbox to access the voucher(s). If you encounter any issues accessing the voucher(s), contact the school office at 0161 499 2736 by Friday, 18th October 2024
Year 8 HPV Vaccines
The School Health Immunisation Team will be visiting MEA Central on the 16th of October to offer HPV (Human Papillomavirus) vaccination.
The HPV vaccine is offered to all young people in year 8. Evidence shows the HPV vaccine protects boys and girls from HPV related cancers. The vaccine protects against cervical cancer, mouth and throat cancers and cancers of the anus and genital areas.
Please click on the link below to complete the consent form
Please make sure that you submit the consent form ASAP to ensure your child receives their vaccine. It is important that you complete the form, even if you do not want your child to receive the vaccine.
If unable to complete the form online or you have any questions, please contact the School Health Immunisation Team on 07973 698 166.
World Mental Health Day is celebrated every year on 10th October
Support for young people
Shore was launched in 2023 to provide a safe and anonymous place for young people to get help and support. The aim of this website is to prevent harmful sexual behaviours among young people.
It’s for anyone who:
has questions about healthy sexual relationships
wants to change their own behaviour
is looking for reliable information to help them respond to someone else’s behaviour.
Support for Parents
Please find some information on vaping amongst young people.
School can support by submitting referrals to agencies such as Eclypse, who are able to offer advice to young people wanting to quit vaping.
https://www.changegrowlive.org/eclypse/info
Please find a weblink to a guide on need to knows all about vaping.
https://www.theparentsguideto.co.uk/post/vaping-what-uk-parents-need-to-know
Please find a link to a parents/carers Padlet has been developed which includes vaping and other drugs, alcohol, and safety topics.
https://padlet.com/healthyschools/drugs-alcohol-and-safety-for-parents-and-carers-1tl7cnj22uyi3ucg
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Head of Year Messages |
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Year 7 – Ms. Charis Gates
We have had a great week in Year 7 with lots of exciting opportunities to show the value of participation. Our scholars have been working hard to get their House Poetry entries ready. All forms have practiced and now recorded their poem, ready to be entered into the House Poetry Competition next week. Year 7 have also been continuing their form sessions on Black History Month with this year’s theme of Reclaiming Narratives. I want to say a massive congratulations to Salma Youssef in 7Sissay who won the library competition to create a MEA Central postcard. Well done to Umarah Asif (7Morrison) and Samarah Iqbal (7Eliot) as runners up. Well done to 7Sissay with 75 CAPs this week! Please help our scholars finish strong by encouraging them to have perfect uniforms and all equipment. This includes black pens, red pens, planner, knowledge organiser and their red book.
Ms Gates and Ms Thompson |
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Year 8 – Ms. Bryan
Year 8 continue to excel with their attendance, with a huge 3% above the National Average. Despite many changes due to transitioning from year 7 to year 8, the cohort have flourished in their new environments and acted like scholarly role models to the new year 7 students.
We look forward to our half termly celebration assembly to highlight all the wonderful things the year group have achieved so far; however I would like to highlight our Top 5 students with the most CAPs awarded:
Moeez, Alia, Chase, Millie, and Kuljeet
Well done, keep it up! History have launched their first Historical Homework Task. Each pupil has received information explaining that broadening their reading age and historical knowledge will mean better results in History (as well as great prizes of course).
As part of the "Take Part" value, we want to see as many as possible taking part.
S.Bryan and Mx Umpierrez |
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Year 9– Mr J Anatsui
Week 6 of 7 and the official revision week before Big test week begins. The commitment year 9 have shown to improving learning by regularly reviewing work outside the classroom will pay dividends next week and provide a good base in the build-up to GCSE option choices. It has been brilliant to see the self-motivation to achieve and the levels of maturity shown in the diligence taken to prepare for the tests. A reminder that the testing week will begin 14/10/2024 and tests in all subjects will take place through out the week.
As we come to an end to the first half term we eagerly await our opportunity to celebrate the fantastic start year 9 have made in our End of term Celebration assembly. Year 9 have been showered with praise by their teachers and we have much to celebrate. Our interhouse poetry competition has also been heating up with form groups performing their own rendition of poems from their respective forms, we look forward to results next week. Lastly we look forward to our Black History Month Celebration happening today 11/10/2024, last years was a success with many of our scholars involved, we have no doubts this year will be the same and an opportunity to celebrate the diversity community that is part of the DNA of MEA central.
All in all a fantastic week and a spring board into the last week of term!
Mr Anatsui and Mr Roberts |
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Year 10 – Mr J Roper
It was so good to see so many pupils and parents this week at Parents Evening. It was fantastic to meet so many parents and look at their child's report and be able to celebrate all the hard work they have already completed in their start to the academic year. I have previously mentioned in my newsletter entries how pleased I am with the way in which the year group have returned this year and I hope this was reflected through the feedback that you all received from class/option teachers.
The pupils have been spending some time this week completing some 'reflection' activities looking in detail at their report and aspects that they wish to improve on. This is an essential tool in Year 10 (and going forward into Year 11) as it enables all the pupils to identify areas of strength and also ways they can improve.
As we approach a change in the season, with the weather and daylight hours changing, please can you ensure that your child is suitably dressed for school (with coat) and leave sufficient time to travel to school in the colder and darker weather the morning will bring. Form time is an essential session of the pupils day and a punctual start ensures the pupils receive all key messages and relevant information (Work Experience, assemblies, reflection sessions).
Have a great weekend
Mr Roper & Ms Renshaw
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Year 11 – Mr J Rooza
This week, Year 11 students have begun Revision Month in preparation for their progress exams in November. It is essential that students are staying on top of their revision by completing at least 5 pages of knowledge retrieval in their red books each week. In addition, we strongly encourage all students to log onto GCSE Pod to further support their learning and maximise their potential as the exams approach. Year 11 students should be completing revision every day to maximise their potential.
A reminder that attendance is still critically important. Many top colleges require 97% attendance or higher, along with excellent punctuality. Please note that students arriving late to school could see their attendance percentage drop, which will impact their future college applications.
Let’s keep the momentum going as we race closer to progress exams and the end of term!
Mr Rooza & Ms Costello
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