pectusMonmouth Comprehensive School 2015-2016

Learning to Lead our Lives

In our school we encourage everyone to have the highest expectations of themselves and each other as together we Learn to Lead our Lives.

We are proud of our students’ academic achievements. Just as importantly, we are a school that cares. We believe that students need to feel comfortable and secure in order to learn and, as a school, we put as much emphasis on creating a supportive and happy environment as we do on academic success. We achieve both.

I look forward to working with you to ensure the very best learning and life for the young people in our care.

Vaughan Davies Headteacher

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Welcome to Monmouth Comprehensive School

Dear Parents and Students

Our goals We want our students to:

• achieve and develop the skills they need for the future

• show respect for themselves and others

• be emotionally and physically healthy with a strong sense of self-worth

• be responsible, caring and ready to make a positive contribution to their communities

• be intellectually curious lifelong learners

• be able to adapt to different circumstances, being independent or collaborative as the situation requires.

“Monmouth Comprehensive is a very good school with outstanding features”Estyn Inspection Report 2010

Vaughan Davies, Headteacher

Summer Showcase

Vaughan Davies, Headteacher

Sixth Form Open Evening

A member of our Wellbeing Support Team is on site throughout the school day to provide first aid and to support all to learn in a safe environment.

...with unhappinessAll staff, particularly Form Tutors, support students if they are feeling unhappy and through periods of stress. We also have a school counsellor and can arrange for meetings and help from agencies outside the school.

The move from primary to secondary education can often be daunting and we strive to make the transition as smooth and successful as possible.

There are two elements at the heart of that transition: students’ welfare and students’ learning. We meet, and get to know, our young people when they are in Year 6. By the time they join us at Monmouth Comprehensive School we can ensure that students are comfortable in their new environment,

and learning can continue to advance. Students in each Year are organised into Form Groups with a Progress Leader and a team of committed Form Tutors. The Y7 curriculum is built around 5 projects and has a focus on learning skills. The Form Tutor oversees the learning of each student and is also responsible for such matters as progress in learning, attendance, behaviour,

punctuality, appearance and health. The Form Tutor or Progress Leader is generally the best person to contact to discuss your child, either by telephone or by appointment.

...with learningWe look closely at every child’s potential and set expectations high.

Year 7 students are taught in mixed ability groups in all subjects. Beyond Year 7, groupings are devised to maximise learning.

Our team of Additional Educational Needs specialists co-ordinate in-class support through individual and group coaching and mentoring. Work with Primary School colleagues and parents ensures that needs are assessed prior to Year 7 and met as soon as students enter our school.

Our ‘Better Learning Partnership’ offers intensive one-to-one help for younger

challenging.

This is led by our Literacy and Numeracy Co-ordinators.

...with illness

Knowing and supporting every student...Adnabod a chefnogi pob myfyriwr

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Monmouth Comprehensive is a large school, allowing us to offer our students a wide range of opportunities in a rich curricular

.emmargorp ralucirruc-artxe dnaWithin this framework, we are proud that every student in the School is known individually by staff, and known well.

Headteacher's Lunch

“Teachers know pupils very well. They establish excellent working relationships with them and give very generously of their time to support them” Estyn Inspection Report 2010

04 “The curriculum meets the needs of all learners”Estyn Inspection Report 2010

Learning to Lead our LivesDysgu Trwy Arwain

Our school community is strengthened through shared values and a commitment to ensuring high standards. Our restorative approach to building, maintaining and repairing relationships supports the development of our school community.

We encourage parents to become fully involved in the education of their children. Students and parents enter into a partnership when joining our school. This partnership symbolises our joint approach in working together for the benefit of the young people in our care. Contact between parents and teachers is very important and there will be regular opportunities to meet teachers and discuss your child’s work, attitude to learning and progress.

Throughout the year there are occasions when teachers, parents and students can come together informally, such as concerts, drama productions, sporting and social events.

Links and relationships between parents and school are also strengthened through informative guidance and presentation evenings, regular newsletters and individual reports.

Students are encouraged to take an interest and become involved in the way the school is run. We have a thriving School Council made up from representa-tives from each Year Council. Each Form sends two representatives to their Year Council. Recently, students have been consulted on issues such as wellbeing and learning relationships.

Students are regularly engaged in projects that take them into the wider community.

Brunch with the School Council and Owen Evans, the Director General for Education and Skills, Welsh Government.

Year 7

Learning What? When? How?Dysgu Beth? Pryd? Sut?

Subjects Studied In Year 8 and Year 9, students are encouraged to use the skills they developed in Year 7 across a wide range of subject disciplines:

• Art and Design

• Design and Technology

• English

• Food Technology

• Geography

• History

• Information and Communications Technology

• Mathematics

• Modern Languages

• Music

• Physical Education – activities include gymnastics, dance, soccer, rugby, hockey, netball, athletics, tennis, badminton, cricket, cross-country, squash, rounders and swimming

• Religious Studies

• Science

•

Welsh

•

Year 8 and Year 9New students at Monmouth

Comprehensive School will experience a rich and varied curriculum and will be expertly supported in their learning.

The 5 learning projects around which the Y7 curriculum is based, support our newest students in getting to know themselves as learners and in challenging themselves to take on new experiences and to learn in different ways. We emphasise the connections between different subject disciplines by focusing on skills – skills which are transferable between different areas of the school, and throughout life. Literacy, numeracy and ICT are developed across the school.

Personal and Social Education is an integral part of our Y7 programme and includes issues of personal and social development such as sex education, citizenship, environmental and economic awareness and work-related education.

05“The Integrated Curriculum in Y7 and Y8…. has generated a joy for learning”

Estyn Inspection Report 2010

Integrated Curriculum - extended projects and a wide ranging personal and social development programme.

• Drama

German lesson with Miss Snook

Monmouth Literary Festival – Year 7 students

with author Cathy Farr and Mojo

Interform Games

In Years 10 and 11, students begin to specialise.

All students study:

• English with the majority also studying and taking an examination in English Literature or Media

• Mathematics

• Physical Education

• Religious Studies

• Science

• Welsh

• Welsh Baccalaureate Diploma - This qualification recognises achievement in a areas of learning both in and out of the classroom and is equivalent to a GCSE.

•

Integrated Curriculum(Personal and Social Education)

Years 10 to 11

GCSE• Art and Design

• Business Studies

• Catering

• Child Development

• Health & Social Care

•

• D & T – Graphic Products

• D & T Resistant Materials Technology

• D & T Textiles

• French

• Geography

• German

•

History

• Information & Communications Technology

• Media Studies

• Music

• Physical Education

• Religious Studies

• Spanish

• Study Support

• Welsh

BTEC• Engineering

•

•

•

Level 1 Introductory Award

Performing Arts (Dance, Musical Theatre, Production Skills)

Sports Science

College or work experience based NVQs• Animal Care

•

Construction

•

Salon Services

Year 10 Outward Bound Day

06“A particular strength is in the innovative approach adopted in all areas but especially in devising stimulating and effective learning experiences” Estyn Inspection Report 2010

The majority of students also select six or seven other areas of study which usually include:

GCSE results day

Hospitality & Catering

Monmouth Comprehensive has an ‘open’ Sixth Form.

Entry is based upon a student’s work ethic, the desire

and the availability of an appropriate programme of study. Target setting, based on prior performance, is a focal aspect of student monitoring.

Years 12 and 13 – The Sixth Form

“In the Sixth Form, teaching and assessment are of exceptionally high quality”Estyn Inspection Report 2010

A Level Results Day

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Sixth Form Volunteers

Lessons are crucial but at Monmouth Comprehensive School we believe that our students’ experience of school should extend beyond the classroom.

In-class study is frequently supplemented by visits to theatres, galleries, museums, lectures, places of worship, places of historical interest and

abroad – to enhance language skills, to support historical, geographical, artistic or cultural understanding, on a challenging expedition or as a holiday.

All parents are encouraged to be active members of our Friends Association and to support the school in doing the very best for every student.

Beyond the ClassroomTu Allan i’r Dosbarth

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“The wide range of extra-curricular activities is exceptional and supported extremely well”Estyn Inspection Report 2010

Charity Non Uniform Day

Sweeny Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Year 8 students Erin Beach, Ben Hopkins and Emma Lockyer - part of the winning team heading to the Horse of the Year Show

specialised activities run by well qualified coaches from across the local community. Parents are required to pay for Academy courses in advance, to ensure each course is viable. Full details of the academies can be found in the ‘Academies of Excellence’ brochure. Our current range of activities is detailed on the CD Rom in the back of this prospectus. These activities supplement our curriculum and introduce a range of leisure pursuits to our young people. Our aim is that all students should learn to lead their lives through exploring what motivates them and what they enjoy.

We encourage all students to take part in the activities that take place in our extended learning day. These may be extra-curricular clubs and courses run by school staff, or academies run by outside coachesand trainers. Academies are highly

The annual ski/snowboarding trip visits Austria and our sporting tours have visited Greece, Spain and Italy. Faculty trips have included Iceland, Italy, Germany, Belgium, France and Switzerland. As part of World Challenge, our students have helped in Bolivia and Northern Morocco and will travel to Mongolia in 2016.

Our students take part in regular musical performances in concerts and in our annual Carol Service and Summer Showcase. Dramatic presentations have included Annie, The Crucible, Fiddler on the Roof, Guys and Dolls, The Royal Hunt of the Sun, Oh! What a Lovely War, Toad of Toad Hall, Schools will Rock You and Sweeney Todd.

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INDEPENDENTSTUDY ANDWORK AT HOME

THERELATIONSHIPSPOLICY

They are:RespectFreedom with ResponsibilityIndependenceSecuritySuccess

We encourage all our young people to look out for each other

.sseccus gnidliub ni rehto hcae troppus dnaBullying is not acceptable at Monmouth Comprehensive School.

Our ExpectationsEin Disgwyliadau

“The school is an orderly community where pupils are welcoming and polite”Estyn Inspection Report 2010

All students will be asked to work independently and to complete work at home. This is to ensure that students develop good habits and to practise and develop areas covered in class. Tasks will sometimes be negotiated and individual; on other occasions a task will be set via iLearnWales (VLE). Work may range from private reading, research or preparation to oral, written or practical tasks of varying length. Some work may consist of a short exercise due in a few days time; other work might be a much longer project due in several weeks, with monitored milestones along the way.

The school provides each student from Year 7 to Year 11 with a personal planner in which details of homework are entered. As well as reminding students of what needs to be done, it also allows parents to monitor homework completion. In Years 7, 8 and 9 parents are asked not only to check but to sign the planner weekly.

We hope parents will welcome this oppor-tunity to be closely involved with their children’s home study and give them their full support. Good practice established in the early years will stand the children in good stead when it comes to meeting course requirements at GCSE …and beyond.

Good relations are essential to Monmouth Comprehensive School because we are a community of people working and living together during the school day. Our Relationships Policy is a statement of good practice that contrib-utes to the positive ethos at the school,in line with the school’s mission statement ‘Learning to Lead our Lives’.

The Relationships Policy is founded upon restorative principles. It is based on our values and led by our needs as a learning community.

In consultation with the whole school community, including Governors and parents, the school decided upon five core values that form the basis of all our relationships.

ATTENDANCE AND PUNCTUALITYIt is the legal responsibility of parents/guardians to make sure that their child attends school regularly and on time. Attendance is recorded at the start of every lesson and absences are recorded as authorised or

from school, a telephone message on our

school informed. We share your concern for the safety of your child. If you do not telephone us then we will telephone you so that we can be certain of the student’s whereabouts. On return to school, a note is required giving details of the reason for absence so that an accurate record may be kept. We use an Electronic Registration System which enables us to monitor your child’s attendance, not only at school but at individual lessons. The school is assisted in its monitoring of attendance by an Education

UNIFORMSchool uniform is compulsory throughout the school and we have made every effort to ensure that our uniform is smart, practical, comfortable and provides safety and security by identifying, at a glance, who should be on our site.

Our uniform for Y7 – Y11 and Sixth Form items bearing the school crest are available direct from our supplier, Trutex, and from Ross Labels in Ross on Wye. The Sixth Form tie is available from Ross Labels.

We ask for support from parents in ensuring that all students come to school in correct school uniform and with appropriate footwear,

.raewretuo dna riah ,yrellewejFull details of our requirements are published in the prospectus supplement.

10“The wellbeing of pupils is high on the school’s agenda” Estyn Inspection Report 2010

The school cannot support term time absence unless in the most exceptional cases.

Eisteddfod 2015

Royal Marines visit

Uniform at MCS

To Ross(M50)

A40 River W

ye

River M

onnow

New Dixton Road

A40

To Newport(M4)

T U N N E L

To Rockfield

To Hereford

MONMOUTHCOMPREHENSIVESCHOOL

Link Road

Wonastow Road

Monnow Street

Priory Street

Glendower Street

Redb

rook

Roa

dN

orth

Par

ade

Roc

kfie

ld R

oad

Old Dixton Rd

St. James St

St. James Sq

Almshouse St

A4136A466

B4233

B4293

A466

WyebridgeSt

Mon

k St

From the M4 motorway, Jnc 24, (Coldra Roundabout)

From the M4 Coldra Roundabout at .htuomnoM ot 944A eht ekat ,tropweN

Continue through tunnels and turn left at the

top of the street turn right at the Queens Head and proceed to St James Square roundabout. Take the 2nd exit signposted

.daor siht nwod no yrrac dna ertneC erusieLPass the Leisure Centre on your left and turn into the School Car Park.

From Ross

Follow the A40 from Ross to Monmouth to the Dixton Roundabout, taking the 3rd exit signposted Monmouth. Continue along road

Follow road to St James Square roundabout .ertneC erusieL detsopngis tixe ts1 ekat dna

Pass the Leisure Centre on your left and turn into the School Car Park.

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Old Dixton RoadMonmouth

www.creatingmedia.co.uk

Monmouthshire NP25 3YT Telephone: 01600 775177Fax: 01600 775151

monmouthcomp@monmouth.schoolsedu.org.uk

www.monmouthcomprehensive.org.uk