IMPORTANT MESSAGE FOR PARENTS OF YEAR 11 STUDENTS
We have followed the national guidance and have identified that Year 11 students need to self isolate.
Click here to read full letter for further information.
Strengthening Families Autumn offer 2020
Newham’s early help teams have organised the Strengthening Families programme. Follow the links below for more information.
Parents/carers and students can now download the Go4Schools App on their device.
Please use the below guides to download the app for free.
Go 4 School Mobile App guide for parents and carers
Go 4 School Mobile App guide for students
Functions for parents/carers
Using the GO 4 Schools App will enable you to view on your smartphone or tablet the following information on your child:
Timetable
- Summary of current lesson and the next lesson
- More detailed information on your child’s daily timetable including timings and teachers
Homework
- New tasks set
- Tasks due today
- Tasks due tomorrow
- Tasks due within 7 days
- Extended pieces of homework set
- Ability for students to mark homework as done
Additionally, you will be able to tap on homework pieces to access:
- Detailed homework explanations
- Website addresses required to complete the homework
- Downloadable, attached documents
Session Attendance
- Counts of possible sessions and overall percentage attendance
- Authorised and unauthorised absences
- Late marks
Behaviour
- Overview of positive and negative behaviour events and points
- Details of each behaviour event including subject, points and date
Attainment
- Overview of the subject progress and target grades
- View residual progress and colouring, if shared by your school
- Individual subject detail including grades, behaviour and homework
The GO 4 Schools App will also send to your smartphone and/or email address summary
notifications/emails on:
- the homework set in the last 24 hours as well as homework due in the next 7 days
so that you are fully informed on the homework that your child must complete.
- Detentions that have been set for your child to attend.
- Updates of behaviour events.
Additionally, all messages sent to you can be found in your message inbox in the App or in
your online inbox on your child’s page on the GO 4 Schools website.
To login to the GO 4 Schools App, your username and password are the same as the GO 4 Schools site.
To receive information on your child via the App, it is essential that we have your current email address. If you need to update your current email address, please email us via go4schools@lister.newham.sch.uk
The App is a great way to keep in touch with how your child is doing at school. Don’t forget however, you can also login to the main GO 4 Schools site for more detailed information.
Please note that school will be open to all students 5 days a week from September 9th.
Ensuring the safety of our school community
The school has been engaging in detailed planning to ensure that we can open in September for all students, full-time. There are some important changes that will affect the way we use the school, and these will be explained to your children when they return.
Please make sure you have read the below letter from last term – you can also find this in the ‘letters’ section of the Parents section of the website.This gives important information about how we are reopening safely using government guidance.
- We will be managing the school so that there is no mixing of year groups, and minimal movement around the site.Students will arrive and leave through different gates to avoid contact with other year groups. Students will be taught in the same room except for specialist subjects, and all rooms will be arranged with desks facing forward to ensure safety. There will be no assemblies. There will also be fewer extra-curricular activities, and playtime will be very strictly controlled to keep the social bubbles apart.
- Until further notice, our vertical tutor system will change to a year group system. You will receive details of this at the start of term.
- Students may not use lockers until we reopen as usual. This means that on their first day they need to take out any items that they need and keep them with them. All students therefore need to check they have a large and strong school-bag and are properly equipped for the new school year.
- It is very important that students bring their own equipment this year to ensure they do not need to borrow anything. Please therefore ensure you check the equipment list carefully.
- We ask students to behave safely walking on the left, washing their hands frequently, keeping to their year group area and being, at all times, hygienic and thoughtful.
- Our Library will operate a request and delivery service and students will be expected to have books with them at all times. Returned books will be quarantined until safe to lend again.
- We ask students to bring in a permanent plastic bottle that may be refilled during the day.
- If students wish to wear a mask in the corridor or around the school, please use it responsibly and provide your own. We discourage mask use in the classroom but encourage it moving around the school.
- If it is being worn inappropriately, there will be a consequence.
- We advise students to wash their hands regularly rather than wearing gloves.
- Please help us to ensure clean air and safety around our school by not driving your child to school unless there is a real need. Please encourage them to walk or cycle.
- In light of the current situation parents are discouraged from congregating at the school gates, please arrange to meet your child at a separate location in the vicinity.
Start of the New Year, September 2020
Please see below for the details of when your child should be on site. Once term starts for a year group, they will be in school 8.25am – 3pm. Attendance at school is compulsory from September. Please note that the school will not open until 8.10am except for invited students.
Please note that Tuesday 1st September and Wednesday 2nd September are staff training days.
Entrance Route Videos for Year Groups
Each year group has a separate entrance point, walking route and boundary areas within the school. The PMs have created a video of each route to share this communication with all parents/students as much as possible.
Student Year Group Bubble Areas
Term Dates 2020-2021
Autumn 2019
| Autumn Term 1 | Refer to the table above for details |
| Half Term Break | 26th October to 30th October |
| Autumn Term 2 | 2nd November to 18th December |
| Winter Break | 21st December to 1st January |
Spring 2020
| Spring Term 1 | 4th January to 12th February |
| Half Term Break | 15th February to 19th February |
| Spring Term 2 | 22nd February to 1st April |
| Spring Break | 2nd April to 16th April |
Summer 2020
| Summer Term 1 | 19th April to 28th May |
| Half Term Break | 31st May to 4th June |
| Summer Term 2 | 7th June to 16th July |
| Summer Break | Begins 19th July |
Any changes to these dates will be published both in our Lister Community Update emails and on the School Website
Tutor group and House changes
House leadership from September 2020 is as follows:
Head of Da Vinci House – Ms Sophie Talbot – da-vinci@lister.newham.sch.uk
Head of Galileo House – Ms Sarah Sarwar – galileo@lister.newham.sch.uk
Head of Hawking House – Ms Sarah Black – hawking@lister.newham.sch.uk
Head of King House – Ms Natasha Sivadasan – king@lister.newham.sch.uk
Head of Shelley House – Ms Sara Voisey – shelley@lister.newham.sch.uk
There will be some changes to our tutor groups in September, based on the latest DfE guidance. Students will be informed about their tutor group on their first day in September.
School meals
If you are eligible for free school meals, please ensure that you apply immediately. Failure to do this will interrupt your child’s access to free school meals. If your child is not currently in receipt of free meals and you feel you may be eligible, please apply online at https://www.newham.gov.uk/pages/services/free-school-meals.aspx or contact your child’s house office for more information or assistance with your application.
Students will either be able to buy a lunch using the Parent Pay online system or to bring in a packed lunch. We expect all students to have a healthy lunch every day.
Price of School Meals
From September 2020, the price of a school lunch will increase to £2.30. We have been able to keep the price at £2.05 for more than 8 years, but we must now increase the price of meals in order for our providers to be able to provide meals that are more substantial and of better quality.
Ensuring the safety of our school community
The school has been engaging in detailed planning to ensure that we can open in September for all students, full-time. There are some important changes that will affect the way we use the school, and these will be explained to your children when they return.
- We will be managing the school so that there is no mixing of year groups, and minimal movement around the site. Students will be taught in the same room except for specialist subjects, and all rooms will be arranged with desks facing forward to ensure safety. There will be no assemblies. There will also be fewer extra-curricular activities, and playtime will be very strictly controlled to keep the social bubbles apart.
- Students may not use lockers until we reopen as usual. This means that on their first day they need to take out any items that they need and keep them with them. This helps us to maintain the safety of the school community.
- Until further notice, our vertical tutor system will change to a year group system. You will receive details of this at the start of term.
- Students will arrive and leave through different gates to avoid contact with other year groups, and you will receive details about this.
- We will also be helping students to learn habits around safety – walking on the left, washing their hands frequently, keeping to their year group area and being, at all times, hygienic and thoughtful. Please encourage them in this and see our Behaviour section below.
- Our Library will operate a request and delivery service and students will be expected to have books with them at all times. Returned books will be quarantined until safe to lend again.
- It is very important that students bring their own equipment this year to ensure they do not need to borrow anything. Please therefore ensure you check the equipment list carefully.
- Lister will be attempting to go plastic-free next year. There will be more water taps, and we ask students to bring in a permanent plastic bottle that may be refilled during the day. Please support us in keeping students hydrated and reducing plastics.
- Please help us to ensure clean air and safety around our school by not driving your child to school unless there is a real need. Please encourage them to walk or cycle.
We wish you and your family a happy, safe and enjoyable summer holiday and look forward to seeing you in September.
Free School Meals Vouchers
Covid Summer Food Fund – National Voucher Scheme
Parents will receive their final ecodes for vouchers under the National Voucher Scheme by Monday 20th July 2020. The value is £90 which is a payment for the 6 weeks of the summer holiday.
Vouchers have already been sent to parents who receive their vouchers through the post.
The school is not open to deal with any further queries regarding free school meals vouchers and the scheme for the vouchers is now closed. If you have any difficulties accessing your vouchers, please read the guidance here. If you still have difficulties, please contact Edenred directly (contact details are in the guidance).
If your child becomes eligible for free school meals after 14th July, you will not be sent any vouchers because it is too late. Instead, your child will start to receive a free meal in school, when we re-open in September.
Stay safe and have a great summer, from Lister.
Virtual Transition Week
We are very excited to welcome year 6 to our first ever Virtual Transition Week! While we cannot welcome year 6 students into the school building, we still have some great plans for them.
We would like these students to complete some very special challenges. Each faculty has made a range of exciting challenges for year 6 students to choose from, and they should try to complete one from each subject. You can find out more about the challenges that have been set in this booklet. We look forward to seeing evidence of these challenges and sharing them in this Community Update email next week!The booklet linked above also contains welcome messages from all of our Heads of House and useful information about joining our school community.You can also watch this video to show the students how much we are looking forward to meeting them when they join the school. Below are a few other useful resources:
We look forward to meeting year 6 students in person in September, but for now we wish them all the best for Virtual Transition Week.
Watch Our Community Opera Online Now!
Over 18 months in 2017-18, Lister Community School worked in partnership with Newham Music to create an original opera that connected with real people in our community. ‘Full Circle’ is a relevant and modern opera, written entirely by the young people of Newham- their words, their music.
Throughout 2019 we worked with more partners, more schools, and LOTS more talented young people to bring Newham’s community opera to the Royal Albert Hall for the Music for Youth Proms 2019. We took over 800 young musicians to one of the most prestigious performance venues in the world, where they were the headline act! It took months of preparation, but it was all worth it to see how Newham’s young people impressed a huge audience and shared their hometown story. You can now watch the full performance here and learn about the making of this fantastic opera here.
Student Leadership Opportunities
We are very pleased to share details of two leadership opportunities.
1. Current year 9 students are invited to become Senior Students.
Being a Senior Student is a great way to give back to your school, but also to get more out of it.
Senior Students undertake a huge responsibility and honour on behalf of the school, which benefits not only themselves but the wider school.
As such, we are looking for incredibly high standards of discipline, punctuality, commitment and maturity. Above all, a strong Senior Student is highly motivated and ready to give up their time for the whole year, across a range of duties and responsibilities.
We invite you to read carefully the job description to understand what we are looking for.
Submit your application form to your Head of House by Friday 26th June (make a copy of the application document, to save your own completed version)
House teams will then shortlist and commence interviews w.b. 29th June.
2. Current year 10 students are invited to apply for Head Boy and Head Girl roles.
The Head Boy and Head Girl undertake a great deal of responsibility on behalf of the school, which benefits not only themselves but also the wider school. As such, we are looking for incredibly high standards of discipline, punctuality, commitment and maturity.
The most important aspect of your role would involve:
Should your application be successful, you will be provided with a presentation task on the w.b. Monday 6th July and then be invited for an interview with the Headteacher later this term.
The most important aspect of your role would involve:
- Managing the Senior student team.
- Attending regular meetings to discuss issues arising from Senior Student duties and responsibilities.
- Performing public speaking duties at all appropriate whole school events.
We invite you to read carefully the job description to understand what we are looking for.
Submit your application form to jassi.johal@lister.newham.sch.
Should your application be successful, you will be provided with a presentation task on the w.b. Monday 6th July and then be invited for an interview with the Headteacher later this term.
Virtual Sports Day Edition!
Congratulations to all students who took part in Lister’s Virtual Sports Day in May. We are very excited to share with you the Lister News – Virtual Sports Day Edition, full of photos, reflections and of course individual and the final results! We are all so proud of your achievements and we hope you will keep sharing them with us. Don’t forget to follow @pe_lister for fitness inspiration!
Solidarity Against Racism
One of our core values as a school is to be kind, polite and considerate at all times and we feel strongly that racism and discrimination should not be tolerated. Newham has one of the largest ethnic minority communities in the UK, and as a community school in this diverse borough we stand in solidarity with George Floyd’s family and friends, the people of Minneapolis, and everyone who continues to challenge racism, discrimination and inequality. Students will be given the opportunity to discuss these issues in their tutor group sessions week beginning 8th June. We also encourage all our students to engage in making suggestions for how, as a school, we can work towards a society in which there is total equality and tolerance.
If you want to know what you can do to support this, these articles are a good place to start:
