Year 8

Welcome!

You have arrived at the Year 8 page!

Here you will find all of the information you need about our team and the year group, along with details of important events and key dates for your diaries.

Firstly, some introductions…

Miss Smalldon – Year Leader

Mr Evans – Progress Leader

Mrs Devine – Year Leader – All Years

Miss Orchard – Strategic Lead

Mrs Oldham – Strategic Lead and Assistant Head

Miss Owen – Deputy Head (Pastoral)

Miss Khan – SSM

Miss Webb – Leadership Link

Mr Morgan – Leadership Link

Our amazing tutor team:

8.1    Mr Kingston8.2    Miss Mountain8.3    Miss Dhodakia
8.4    Miss Walch8.5    Miss Pittaway8.6    Miss Pettipher
8.7    Mrs Duffield8.8    Miss Hussain8.9    Miss Qureshi

The whole team are all here to support your child. Students should talk to their tutor if they are struggling and need help, or to a member of the year team. Please feel free to get in touch with us at any time.  

We are the year team, who oversee all of the students in Year 8. We support with attendance, progress, pastoral issues, and anything else that crops up!

Our goal is to ensure that students feel safe and happy at Caludon

Uniform and Equipment

Please find the link to the Caludon Castle uniform page here.

The uniform consists of a smart pair of black trousers or the approved school logo knee length black skirt, a white shirt with Caludon clip tie, and a black blazer with the Caludon badge. Shoes should be flat and all black, with no logos or decorations. Plain black trainers are allowed. Skirts must be knee length, with the Caludon logo. They should not be bandage style. Trousers must be smart and professional; leggings and jeans are not permitted.

It is important for students to be prepared for the day of learning, and that is why they should carry with them the “Cally 5”. This includes a pen, pencil, ruler, rubber and calculator. These should be in a smart and practical bag for school.

We have high expectations of our students when it comes to uniform. Any students not in correct uniform may be provided with spare uniform, or sanctioned in line with our behaviour policy. You may receive texts or emails to let you know if your child is not in the correct uniform, or does not have the correct equipment. Thank you for your support with this.

Attendance

Regular attendance to school is vital to a student achieves their full potential. We expect all students to achieve at least 96% attendance. Achieving 90 per cent in an exam or test is a fantastic result but if your child is at school for only 90 per cent of the school year then they will have missed 19 days – almost four whole weeks of school. Students who miss school frequently can fall behind with their work and do less well in exams. Good attendance also shows potential employers that a young person is reliable.

The school is committed to learning outside the classroom. Therefore a number of trips and visits are organised throughout the year to extend students’ knowledge and deepen their understanding. We may also organise reward trips, to celebrate achievement from the term or the year.

Please find the school calendar page, with details of all holidays and teacher training days, here.

Curriculum and Options 

Please find the curriculum page, with details of the subjects taught in Year 8, here.

In Year 8, students have the opportunity to choose some of the subjects they want to continue to study in Year 9. Then, during Year 9, students will start the process of selecting their options for their key stage 4 study. In Year 9, all students will study: Maths, English, Science, History, Geography, French/Spanish, IT, Physical Education and Philosophy. However, they will be given the opportunity to steer their studies towards areas they are interested in with further options.

If you have any questions about the curriculum, please get in touch with the year team or Miss McManus (deputy head for curriculum).

Rewards

At Caludon we operate the house rewards system. Each student belongs to one of our three houses; Devonish, Maddison and Smith. All students are able to receive house reward points for everyday success and additional achievements such as entering house competitions and being outstanding house ambassadors. The winning house at the end of each academic year also receives an additional reward.

Success Points

Success points can be awarded by all staff at all times. An unlimited number of success points is available for each student. Points can be awarded for the following categories:

1 Point2 Points
Success – Kindness
Success – Engagement with CODE
Success – Excellent effort
Success – Listening effectively
Success – Speaking clearly
Success – Resilience
Success – Outstanding TIF
Success – Outstanding Home Learning
Success – Improvement
Success – Leadership in lessons
Success – Respect

Behaviour

Students at Caludon follow our school motto, “Respect to all, from all”. We have high standards of behaviour and high expectations of our students, and we want all students to feel safe and happy. We recognise that children will make mistakes and we encourage students to take ownership of their behaviour in school.

Behaviour points will be issued if students are not following the expectations of the class teacher and/or members of staff on duty and around the school. These incidents are reviewed by the year teams and sanctions are issued in line with the behaviour policy. You will be informed of these sanctions via text or on the Arbor app.

If you have any questions about the behaviour of your child or would like to discuss a sanction that has been issued, please get in touch with the year team and we will direct your concern to the relevant members of staff.

Finally…. We would like to thank all parents for their continued support of the year team and the school

Thank you for visiting our Year 8 page!