Dear families,
We hope that you have had a safe and enjoyable summer break. We are looking forward to welcoming Year 7, 11 and 12 tomorrow and all other years on Thursday.
Attendance Policy & Parental Guidance for the new academic year
As we look forward to seeing all students return this week, we wanted to share the new Attendance Policy and Parental Guide applicable to this academic year. 2024-25.
This is in line with new guidance from the Department for Education and changes to Attendance expectations nationally from 19th August 2024. Please also refer to our updated Attendance website page, Attendance | Thomas Gainsborough School (tgschool.net) that has a variety of new information.
Our attendance contact email remains the same and is below for your reference if you need to contact our attendance administration officer for any reason.
We hope all students and families aspire to attending 100% of the time where able, to continue their academic, personal and social development.
Timetables
Each September we review and revise groups. On the first day in September students receive a printed timetable showing their classes and teachers. Information in online systems such as Go4Schools and students Outlook Calendars then updates in the following days. If you have any questions about your child’s groupings for this year then please contact your child’s tutor initially. They will be able to advise you about any changes, and put you in touch with the most appropriate people (either HEads of House) or subject teams if more information or a further conversation is needed.
All of our contact details are available at https://tgschool.net/staff
Groupings
This year, for students in Year 7, we are building on research and our recent experiences to help best structure groups for students learning.
As we have done in Grammar groups for the past two years, this year we will have more mixed ability groups in the other pathways Arts and STEM.
As well as a single group in each pathway for students with the highest prior attainment, there will then be other groups including students with a range of prior attainment. This, we believe, is the best way to structure learning in the younger years, the same as at GCSE in option subjects. This gives all students the opportunity to achieve the greatest success. This means that apart from the letter in class names, eg A, G or S to show the pathway, class numbers are not an indication of students ability.
We will carefully monitor and review the progress of students throughout the year, with consideration of any necessary changes at Christmas.
Please reassure your child of our support and that tutors are always available to speak to them, and that every class at Thomas Gainsborough School gives excellent challenge and support, without any limits to what they can achieve.
We will have our first Key Stage 3 Family Forum on Thursday 19 September, at 6pm in the Assembly Hall. This is an opportunity for you to come to hear more about our teaching and setting decisions, as well as wider work to support progress for all students.
A full list of dates for other activities will also be shared on Friday.
Rewards Trip
Please remember that this Friday is our annual rewards trip where students who have met the criteria for receiving relevant merits, can attend the reward activity of their choice. For those not on the trip, school lessons are in place as normal and attendance to school is expected.