This page is especially for families with children joining Thorpe Hall School’s Year 7 in September 2023.
Welcome to all our new families! On this page, you will find the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions, along with some useful links to other information on the website.
We also recommend you have a look at this useful page from the BBC, and perhaps have a look through some of the videos and other content with your child.
www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/starting-secondary-school
The first day of term is Wednesday 6th September 2023. This will be the first day of our induction activity programme, after which the normal timetabled days will commence.
We are operating a staggered start for some year groups in September, so please note:
Reception / Year 1 / Year 7 students are to arrive at 9am on Wednesday 6th
All students should arrive to school on the 6th of September in full THS school uniform. Please bring a PE Kit and your pencil case. Students should also bring a water bottle and a snack with them. If you are not having a school lunch, you will need to bring a packed lunch. We are a nut-free school and snacks/lunch should not contain nuts.
Students can arrive from 8.30am. School starts at 8:40am every day, and finishes at 3:45pm Monday – Thursdays, 2.40pm Fridays
Students walk into school by themselves. For those travelling to school by car, there is a one-way traffic flow system in operation at drop off and pick up times. Cars enter the site at the South Entrance near TruGym, and should drive slowly to the drop-off point at the crossing near the Exit Gate.
Students should alight cars at the crossing as quickly as possible. Drop-off and pick-up times can be very busy and so extra caution should be taken.
The Drop Off Zone is there to help ease congestion, and as such no cars can be parked and left unattended in the Drop Off Zone. Please be considerate to other parents and keep the traffic flow moving in this area.
Alternatively, parents may prefer to park in the Parents and Visitors car park – at the South Entrance as you come in – leaving students to walk up to school. Students should enter the school by going through the ‘Green Gate’. These areas are marked on this map.
If you are collecting your child from School, please park in the Parents and Visitors Car Park to wait for your child. We ask that you do not arrive any sooner than 3.40pm Mon-Thu and 2.35pm on Fri, to allow for Nursery and Preparatory School collections.
If you do not arrive by 8.40am, the Green Gate will be closed. Students must go to the main school office.
If your child is unwell or has a medical reason, such as an appointment, for not attending school, please report this via email to absence@thorpehallschool.co.uk. Please do so as early as possible (you can email this address at any time, 24 hours a day) and no later than 8:30am on the day of absence. The main school office is always busy at the start of the day, so please do email rather than phone where possible. If your child is unwell at school, we will contact you on the number/s we have on record.
If you would like to request authorisation to take your child out of school for a non-medical reason, please use the Advance Request For Absence form. This can be found in the Forms Zone of the Parent Portal. A minimum of 48 hours’ notice is required.
We hit the ground running at the start of term, and plan for students to be following their regular timetable from day 1.
All students will have an extended form period on the first day to help settle any first day nerves and get to know their form groups and tutors. They then start their timetabled lessons from period 2.
Our Year 9 prefects act as buddies for our incoming Year 7s, and are on hand to support and guide them. All students will be orientated with all the school buildings and facilities and will very soon get to know their way around.
During the course of their first days at THS, students will be assigned their school iPad and shown how to log in and use all the key functions. They will also be logged into Satchel:One for homework and timetabling.
Every year, we take our new Year 7 cohort out on a teambuilding day to the Mersea Outdoor Education Centre. We plan this trip early in the term, and students spend the day working in different teams to complete fun challenges. It’s a fantastic way for the children to get to know each other, make new friends, and bond as a group.
This year’s trip will take place on Wednesday 28th September. Please note, students will been to be dropped off at school at around 7am on this day, and collected at 7pm. All information, plus a link for payment, will be shared with parents at the start of term.
Please see our Communications Page for more information.
Who do I direct my concerns to?
If you have a concern to raise, please follow the protocol outlined below. Queries or concerns that are not raised following the below protocol cannot be prioritised, so this may cause delays in our ability to respond:
Pastoral/Behavioural/Wellbeing Type Issues
The first point of contact is always the form teacher.
If the query needs to be escalated after that, the school will escalate it to:
o Year 7: Josh Hill – Head of Year 7
If the query has still not been resolved, only then will the school escalate it to:
Senior Year 7 to Upper G (Year 11): Mrs R Sheern, Deputy Head – Pastoral Care, and thereafter to Mr S Duckitt, Headteacher.
Academic/Assessment Related Issues
The first point of contact is always the subject and class teacher.
If the query needs to be escalated after that, the school will escalate to the following persons:
o Senior School: Subject Leaders or Heads of Department
If the query has still not been resolved, only then will the school escalate it to:
Senior Year 7 to Upper G (Year 11): Mr R Turner, Deputy Head – Academic, and thereafter to Mr S Duckitt, Headteacher
There are lots of different extra-curricular clubs to appeal to everyone, and taking part is a great way to make new friends and try new things. We will provide you with a full list of before-school, after-school and lunchtime clubs at the beginning of each term. Senior school students are responsible for managing their own registration and attendance.
At Thorpe Hall, we provide individual music tuition in the following disciplines:
Details of how to register for individual music tuition and confirmation of the costs for 2023 has been sent via email to all parents.
Personal mobile devices, whether smart phones or tablets or similar (other than iPads issued to students by the school) are not allowed to be used in school. The school operates a gate to gate policy on the use of personal mobile phones and other devices. No mobile devices may be used by a student from the time they enter through the gate in the morning until the time they leave through the gate to go home. If a student needs to make a phone call home for some reason, they should ask a member of staff in the school office for permission to use the school phone, and will not be charged for this. If a student uses their mobile phone or any other device after entering the site then it will be confiscated, without the need for warning. The device will be kept by the school for 24 hours and if it is confiscated on a Friday then for the entire weekend. Confiscated devices will not be returned directly to students but will only be returned to their parents/guardians who will need to come in to school to retrieve the confiscated devices.
If parents need to contact their child urgently, they can leave a message at the office to be relayed to the student.
The costs for lunch can be found on our Fees page.
You can bring a packed lunch from home or choose to have a cooked school lunch. We are an Enhanced Healthy School and our catering team provides a nutritious menu that changes every week offering lots of variety and choice.
For those having a cooked school lunch, you can pay in advance for a term, or you can be billed per day. We are in the process of moving lunch payments to our online payment platform, ParentPay. More information will follow.
The school gates are open from 7:30 am. Our #BestStart Breakfast Club is open from 8:15am in the Dining Hall. Please be aware that staff are not on duty until 8:30am.
Several sports and activity clubs take place before school and we will supply details of our extracurricular choices at the start of term.
The iPads issued by the school to Year 7 are for students to use throughout their time at THS, but remain the property of the school. Each iPad is provided with a screen protector.
The school will order each student an iPad case, subject to the choice parents made in July from the 4 options available. The charge for the selected case option will be payable via ParentPay in September.
Students must look after their iPads very carefully. The cost of a new screen is now almost as much as the cost of a new device, so we ask that iPads are well-protected at all times – in and around the school and at home. Any damage must be reported – students must never attempt to fix a device themselves.
Students must provide their own headphones, and (optional) stylus.
The first term’s invoice will be mailed out to parents during August, for payment by the 31st August.
Here are some other useful links to information on our website that you may need.