Weekly Update – 25 September

Parental Support with Home Learning: This week is about trying to create Good Home Learning Routines. It is advisable to establish good home study routines at the very beginning of the year so that it becomes normal and reduces stress and confrontation in the approach to exams or project home learning deadlines.

• Your child’s teacher will enter brief details of the home learning set on Edulink. This is a reminder to your child and also for your information. 
• Look at Edulink together each day and discuss what needs to be done. Encourage your child to share this experience from day one and they will then be more willing for this process to continue as they get older.
• We strongly advise students to get into the habit of doing home learning in advance of the deadline. It helps with improving their long-term memory and recall. An additional benefit is that if your child needs to seek further support to understand a task, they have time to seek help from their teacher, browse the internet or go to the library to access additional learning resources.
• Plan out together when your child will do their home learning, incorporating other activities that take place after school such as visiting friends, meal times, watching television, using devices and participating in clubs. We want our students to be able to organise their time and to have a balanced attitude to work and leisure.
• Ask to see home learning when it has been done and get your child to explain it to you. If you are not satisfied with your child’s effort, it is appropriate for you to make your child redo their home learning or to develop it further.
• Praise your child’s work as much as possible. You could comment on informative, clear or imaginative work, on their ability to get on with home learning independently or maybe their perseverance at something; avoid dwelling on errors. It is better to praise effort rather than ability.
• Encourage your child to reflect on how to continue to make progress in the different subject areas, rather than focusing solely on the grades awarded. We encourage our students to link hard work and perseverance with success not talent or ‘smartness’.
• Encourage your child to ask for feedback from their class teachers and to see making mistakes as a path to success. To reinforce this, parents can ask “What mistakes did you make today? and “What have you learnt from this?”
• Encourage the balanced use of social media so that devices are switched off at bedtime, mealtimes and whilst doing home learning.
• Provide an environment that is conducive to study helps with the home learning routine. Your child should have a desk, chair and somewhere to store their books and other resources in one place so they can be easily found.  A range of stationery helps too, such as coloured pens and plain paper for mind mapping or A6 cards for revision.  Periodic drinks and snacks also reduce the perceived burden of home learning!
• Getting organised is a major issue for many new students. It would be helpful if you could look at the timetable with your child before bedtime and check that everything needed for the next day (books/PE kit/ technology resources etc) is safely packed in their ruck sack – including home learning for the next day. Obviously though, over time your child needs to do this on their own – it often just takes a week of support and then they are much better at doing it on their own.

Our suggestions above demands time and effort but if you can establish clear routines, your child will reap the rewards of this basic groundwork of good study habits.  It will make for your child’s learning to be a meaningful and enjoyable experience and hopefully lead to less stress and anxiety for you!

Year 7 Yellow Mile for YoungMinds: We are delighted to invite our Year 7 students to take part in the Yellow Mile, a fundraising event in support of YoungMinds, a charity dedicated to supporting young people’s mental health. The event will take place during the day on Monday 12 October on the school field. Students will have the opportunity to walk, run, skip, dance or jog around the course while raising awareness of the importance of positive mental health.

To take part, we ask students to:
– Make a voluntary donation of £2 via SCOPAY
– Come to school wearing their normal PE kit
– Add a touch of yellow to their outfit, such as a yellow T-shirt, socks, hair tie, scarf, wristband or other appropriate accessory

The Yellow Mile is a fantastic opportunity for students to support a worthwhile cause while enjoying physical activity with their peers and will also contribute towards our new Year 7 Calthorpe Passport. The Passport has been designed to encourage students to engage fully with the wider life of the school while developing a deeper understanding of our Calthorpe values. Through a variety of challenges linked to our values, students are encouraged to take part in a range of opportunities that help them grow both personally and academically. Participation in the Yellow Mile is an excellent example of students demonstrating these values through community involvement, charity fundraising and supporting the wellbeing of others.

We look forward to seeing our Year 7 students taking part in this fantastic school event. Together, we can make a real difference while celebrating the values that make our Calthorpe community so special.
Mrs Woods and Mr Marshall-James

“Building your child’s confidence and resilience” presentation: Thank you to the parents of Year 7 students who attended the recent Parent Coffee Morning and MHST presentation. It was lovely to meet so many of you. For parents of other year groups, and for those who were unable to attend, please find a recording of the presentation here. We hope you find it helpful and informative. If you have any questions about the support available in school, please do not hesitate to get in touch with the Wellbeing Team. 

Year 11: College open evenings across this term can be found at this link on our website. Colleges with open events next week are as follows:
– Peter Symonds: 30 September and 1 October
– Sparsholt: 3 October

Fundraising events: See details below of two events taking place at school, one for Ocean Stars today and the other for the PTA on 2 October:

Cheese, wine, bingo and laughs. Calthorpe Park School’s PTA is delighted to invite you to our Cheese, Wine & Bingo Night! 🌟

Join us on Friday 2nd October 2026 in the school hall for an evening of laughter, friendly competition and great food. Whether you’re a Bingo whizz or just in it for the cheese & wine, this promises to be a fantastic night out for our school community. Please arrive by 6:45pm for a 7pm start.

Tickets are £20 per person, which includes a delicious cheese platter, with a bar open on the night for refreshments. Tables of 6 receive a complimentary bottle of wine. We hope you’ll join us for what we’re sure will be a brilliant evening, all while helping to raise valuable funds to support our children and school.

See also this letter about their AGM on the same evening: PTA AGM – 2 October

See our Community notices page for other local items of interest: local courses, Farnborough Rugby Club, Hart Youth Achievement Awards and NHS Youth Board applications.