Information for the Parents of New Students

Dear parents and carers

The move from primary to secondary school can be a daunting experience for young people and their families. But it’s also an exciting time, and one rich with opportunity. For the majority of our students, Year 7 is just the beginning of a seven-year educational journey. In that time, we’ll be privileged to witness them grow into well-rounded young adults ready for the wider world of further education or employment. 

The College has been educating the young people of Lutterworth and its surrounding areas for nearly 150 years now, and our main aim hasn’t changed. We want to enable every young person to learn, flourish and succeed. We do this by providing the best teachers teaching the best lessons for our students, and by having a strong network of non-teaching staff who help to support them pastorally.

In keeping with our Christian ethos, we want to develop learners who demonstrate our six ‘Be CHRIST’ characteristics by being Courageous, Hardworking, Reflective, Inspiring, Supportive and Tenacious. And students will have the opportunity to demonstrate these when they join us in the autumn term.

At Lutterworth College, we hope to make the transition as smooth as we can for all. We’ve put this webpage together to try and answer any burning questions our young people and their families might have. Please set aside some time to read it carefully before returning your admissions form.

All the best,

Stewart Parry-Shovlin

Deputy Headteacher

 

Getting in touch

If you need to get in touch for any reason, your first ports of call are listed below.

• Your child’s mentor. This is the person your child will see every day at mentor time, and who you’ll get to meet early in the autumn term. Students will find out their mentors when they join us in August. If you have concerns about your child’s pastoral welfare, let the mentor know. They may involve the Pastoral Manager for the year group where necessary.
• Your child’s subject teachers. If you have a question about a particular lesson or subject, get in touch with the teacher directly by email.
• Our SENDCo for any urgent SEND needs. Our SEND team can be contacted by emailing sendco@lutterworthcollege.com.

For other issues, you can get in touch with our office by calling 01455 554 101, or by emailing enquiries@lutterworthcollege.com. Our office team will be able to help or direct you to the right person.

(Note that staff email addresses use the format initial.surname@lutterworthcollege.com, and you can find a full list here.)

Communication from the College

The College uses a variety of channels of communication to get in touch with parents/carers:

• The most important communications are emailed, so it’s important that the email address you pop on the admissions form is one you check daily.
• You can also follow our social media channels for various updates: we’re on Facebook here, Twitter/X here and Instagram here.
• Parents will also have access to Go 4 Schools – which can be accessed online or with the app – that details student attendance, behaviour, rewards and progress in real time. This is in addition to Show My Homework (Satchel), an app and web service that acts as a homework planner for students. Login information will be shared for both of these at the start of the autumn term.

Transport

Most of our students walk to and from the College. A significant number, however, use buses. Many make use of the local Arriva and Hinckley Bus services, while others use those provided by Beaver Bus and Ausden Clark.

Click here for the School Transport section of our website, where you’ll be able to access more information.

Uniform and Equipment

Our uniform has been selected to give our students a pride in their appearance and a sense of belonging to Lutterworth College. It has been designed to be formal, comfortable and purposeful.

Go to our Uniform and Equipment page to find out more about the uniform: what students need to wear and when, and where to get things from.

You’ll also find a list of essential equipment.

Lockers

The College has a number of lockers available for students to use should they have a lot to carry on a given day. To use a locker, students should bring their own padlock. Lockers must be emptied daily so that they can be used by other students. At the end of the school day, to allow for cleaning, any lockers not vacated will have their locks removed and their contents placed in lost property.

If a student has a medical need for an accessible locker, please contact their mentor in the first instance, who can request a reserved one for them.

Lost Property

If your child loses an item at school, they should head to Student Reception, where the lost property box can be checked. Please make sure that your child’s belongings are named where possible, as this helps us to reunite items with their owners in the event that they are misplaced!

After 6 weeks, items left in lost property are disposed of.

School Day

Mentor / assembly time	08.40 – 09.00
Period 1	09.00 – 10.00
Period 2	10.00 – 11.00
Break	11.00 – 11.25 (movement bell at 11.20)
Period 3	11.25 – 12.25
Period 4	12.25 – 13.25
Lunch	13.25 – 14.10 (movement bell at 14.05)
Period 5	14.10 – 15.10

Timetables

Students in Years 7 and 8 follow a two-week timetable comprising 25 one-hour lessons a week.

For most students, the following subjects will be studied:

• English
• Maths
• Science
• History
• Geography
• French or Spanish (you can indicate a preference on the admissions form)
• Computing
• Art
• Design and Technology (Food Technology, Textiles and Product Design)
• Performing Arts (Dance, Drama and Music)
• Physical Education
• Religious Studies
• PSHCE (including relationships and sex education)

In some lessons, students will be taught in their mentor groups. In others, there may be some setting involved to ensure that all students are able to access the curriculum content and to achieve.

You can find out more about the College's curriculum here. 

Be CHRIST

As a Church of England school, the College welcomes students of all faiths and none. Our six ‘Be CHRIST’ values are designed to encourage students to demonstrate the best versions of themselves, religious or not.

We have collective worship weekly during assemblies, where our Chaplain Graham Thomas offers time for reflection and a thought for the week.

Pastoral Care

Student welfare is of paramount importance to us at Lutterworth College. To ensure that all of our students are cared for and nurtured, they are allocated a designated mentor who is responsible for each student’s progress and should be the first point of contact with news of achievements, or worries and questions. 

Each mentor meets their group every day during mentor time which gives the opportunity to monitor the academic and social development of every child in the group.

Each year group is led by a full-time Pastoral Manager, who monitors the personal welfare of the students in their year group, and a Progress and Achievement Leader (or PAL).

Students will meet their Pastoral Manager prior to the start of the Autumn Term.

We recognise all students as individuals and understand for a few students that extra support can make all the difference in becoming the best that they can be. We endeavour to have a nurturing and caring ethos where all students belong and feel secure.

You can find out more about our pastoral care on the website here.

SEND

The College will be working closely with our feeder primary schools to identify students who may require extra support. They will tell us the measures that were in place there, and we’ll look at ways in which we might be able to help here.

You can find more information about SEND at the College here.

Catering

At Lutterworth College, we operate a cashless payments system. Students’ ID cards act as contactless payment cards in our various canteens (as well as for other non-food items they might want to buy - e.g. stationery from the Library). The best way for families to use this is for parents to top up their child’s card using ParentPay online. Once a payment has been made, it can take a few hours to update on the system – so please make sure you are topping up well in advance.

Login details will be issued prior to the start of term.

The system allows you to monitor how your child is spending their (your) money. It is also a secure system to pay for other things in school such as equipment and trips.

For their first few days at the College, while students’ ID cards are being printed, they will be issued with a code to use at the canteens to purchase food. They should keep this code safe until they receive their ID card.

Our catering team provide fresh, high-quality and locally-sourced food, with a range of healthier options. They also accommodate for a range of dietary requirements. 

Information on students eligible for free school meals can be found on our website here.

Behaviour and Rewards

Lutterworth College’s central aim is to enable every young person to learn, flourish and succeed. We want students who succeed in doing the right thing to be given recognition and praise. Where students fail to meet our expectations, we want sanctions that are fair and proportionate.

Crucially, we want our systems to be open and transparent so that students and parents know where they stand. It is critical that parents/carers support the College’s behaviour and rewards systems so that they can be effective.

We outline how we reward students who do the right thing, and the steps we take when this isn’t the case, on our website here.

Attendance 

The College expects all students to try to maintain attendance at 97% or above. We will support and intervene when this is not the case, as there’s a direct correlation between a high attendance percentage and success in all areas of school life, and life beyond school. We do, however, appreciate that sometimes, people are ill, and need to take time off to recover.

Please refer to the Attendance section of our website for details on how to report an unavoidable absence.

Homework

At the College, we believe that home learning can be a key to academic success. Home learning should be relevant and stimulating: a positive experience for both students and their parents. Not only should home learning augment student subject-specific development, but also develop them as effective learners. At the same time, it’s important that students have a break. You can find an indication as to the volume of homework to expect on our website here.

Homework is set for all students using Satchel. This is a simple online homework calendar that students can use to track all of the tasks they’ve been set, with details, deadlines and reminders. 

One of the big advantages of the system is that parents/carers can also log in to view what homework has been set for their children.

Students will be shown how to log in during their first Computing lessons.

Parents/carers will be issued with PINs to log in at the start of the autumn term.

You can find out more information about Satchel here.

Tracking Student Progress

At the College, we work closely with our students and their parents/carers to track their progress. In doing so, our students know how well they are doing and, more importantly, what they need to do to make further progress in each of their subjects.

You can find out about how the College tracks student progress and communicates with parents/carers about it here.

Progress Evenings

In most schools, parents/carers have just one opportunity each year to attend a parents’ evening for a child in a particular year group. This is often less than ideal for many families, particularly where securing time off work is difficult, or for year groups where parents’ evenings have fallen later in the academic year – and perhaps too late for any significant impact.

At the College, we’ve replaced traditional parents’ evenings with Progress Evenings. These happen every few weeks during term time, online, with most of these evenings open to parents/carers of children in all year groups.

There are a number of benefits to this system:

• Parents/carers can see teachers at several points throughout the year, rather than waiting for one designated evening.
• Parents/carers have more flexibility to make appointments when it is convenient for them.
• Parents/carers will be able to see teachers of children in different year groups on one occasion.
• Teachers will be able to request to see parents/carers as the need arises, rather than having to wait for a specific year group evening.

Roughly 2 weeks prior to each evening, teachers meet to identify students whose parents we feel there is a pressing need to see. We will issue letters to the parents/carers of these students, and there will be a short ‘priority window’ in which these parents/carers can make appointments.

Following this, the booking system will open to all, and parents/carers will be able to book in to see the teachers with whom they’d like to meet.

We hope that all parents/carers will attend at least one of these virtual evenings per year, but you are welcome to attend more often should the need arise. However, you will understand that, as some staff teach up to 400 students, it may not always be possible to secure an appointment on a given evening.

As always, if there is an urgent concern, do not feel you have to wait until the next Progress Evening. Contact the school as soon as you can so that we can address the issue immediately.

We will be in touch at the start of the autumn term with the dates of each evening, and to outline the practical arrangements for making appointments.

Agreements

Please read through the agreements below carefully, as by signing the admissions form, you acknowledge that you have read and agree to the College’s policies and procedures.

Off-site Visits and Sports Fixtures Agreement

Parental Lending Agreement

ICT and Internet Provision Agreement

Home/College Agreement

Fair Processing Notice - Data Protection

Withdrawal Consent for Data Processing Form - Adult

Withdrawal Consent for Data Processing Form - Pupil