Year 7 New Starters | Thorpe Hall School

Parents

Year 7 New Starters

This page is especially for families with children joining Thorpe Hall School’s Year 7 in September 2022.

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 links to useful parent resources and calendars.

 

The first day of term is Thursday 8th September 2022. This will be the first day of our induction activity programme, after which the normal timetabled days will commence.

 

All students should arrive to school on the 8th 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 DW Fitness 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 main 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 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. Please 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 Authorised Absence form. This can be found in the Forms Zone of the Parent Portal. A minimum of 48 hours’ notice is required.

Please see our Communications Page for more information.

All issues related to pastoral or behavioural aspects need to be addressed by parents via Form Tutors in the first instance. If required, concerns will be escalated to the Heads of Year. Only once all these avenues have been exhausted would Mrs Sheern, Deputy Headteacher – Pastoral Care / Safeguarding, become involved
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Heads of Year do not deal with academic related aspects e.g. sets, report grades etc. All academic matters need to be addressed to the Form Tutors, and if necessary will be escalated to the Subject Leader or Head of Department for that subject. Only once all these avenues have been exhausted would Mr Turner, Deputy Headteacher – Academic / Curriculum, become involved.

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 term.

At Thorpe Hall, we provide individual music tuition in the following disciplines:

  • Piano/Keyboard
  • Violin
  • Guitar
  • Saxophone
  • Flute
  • Clarinet
  • Trumpet
  • Drums
  • Singing

Details of how to register for individual music tuition and confirmation of the costs for 2022 will follow.

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 use 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.

Here are some other useful links to information or forms on our website that you may need.

The School Calendar

Term Dates

Request for Absence Form

The cost for lunch in for Senior School students is £3.40 per day if paid termly in advance, or £3.65 if paid on a daily basis.

Termly lunch charges for September 2022 through to July 2023 are as follows:

    • Autumn Term: £209
    • Spring Term: £197
    • Summer  Term: £189

(reduced for Year 11)

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.

The school gates are open from 7:30 am. Our #BestStart Breakfast Club is 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 pupils are 10.2 inches.

The school will provide each student with an iPad case and keyboard.

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.

The first term’s invoice will be mailed out to parents during August, for payment by the 31st August. This will include all tuition fees and school lunch charges, if applicable.