You should have received a letter from school with your child’s username, password and parent access code.

Please log-in before 2^nd November.

If you have any issues, please contact Mrs Sullivan: l.Sullivan@decschool.co.uk

Dear Parents, Carers, Children, Young people, SENCOs / Teachers and Practitioners,

As you may be aware we are currently developing our new BCC Local Offer website which is due to be launched on 30th November 2020.

We have been working with parents along the way to get invaluable input. Now we would like other stakeholders to visit the new site and offer feedback.  The Local Offer website is designed to be that ‘one-stop-shop’ that families can visit to find out what provision is available in their local area, how to get advice, support, things explained and a lot more!   The website is still very much under construction so you will find that some sections will not have any content.  We want Birmingham’s Local Offer website to be the best that it can be for all who use it and we understand that to achieve this goal we will need your help! All feedback is welcome.

Please visit the website at www.localofferbirmingham.co.uk and email Alice Okuyiga at Alice.Okuyiga@Birmingham.gov.ukwith your feedback/comments.

We are excited to launch our brand new Careers Guidance Pupil Hub.

Pupils need to be prepared for the evolving working world and so, at the heart of our Careers Programme, is a focus on building up essential lifelong employability skills.

Visit our new website to access a wealth of careers guidance, designed to support both pupils and parents.

With our brand new resources, you can…

• Choose a subject you love and see where it might lead
• Explore your options for when you leave school
• Gain valuable advice on applying to university, apprenticeships and jobs
• Practice your interview skills
• Discover alternative options like gap years or starting your own business

www.matrixacademytrust.co.uk/careers

Educational Psychologist Telephone Helpline for Parents and Carers 

Running until October half-term 

Do you as a parent or carer feel that you need someone to talk to about your child during the return to school phase? 

Birmingham Educational Psychology Service is providing a telephone helpline for any parents or carers of children in Birmingham, who feel they would benefit from a consultation with a psychologist to support them with any concerns arising at this time, for them or their families. 

Areas of concern you may wish to discuss could include: 

• Supporting you to support your child as they return to school. 

• Concerns around the impact of the school shut down, and the return to school, on your children and family. 

• How best to look after yourself so you can support your children. 

The concerns can be related to school or family life. 

You will be offered an initial telephone consultation of 30 minutes with a psychologist and a potential follow up session of another 30-minute consultation at a later date. These will be Monday-Friday, within standard working hours. The helpline will be running until Friday 23rd October 2020. 

If you would like to access this service please email Kathryn.Brown@birmingham.gov.uk 

Surname Initial     Time Slot

A to F                       9:00 – 10:00

G to N                    10:00 – 11:00

O to Z                     11:00 – 12:00

Year 11 Results Day – Thursday 20th August

You will have received a letter with a time-slot for the collection of your results. In line with government safety guidelines, please only arrive during your allocated time. For more information please refer to the ‘Year 11 Results Day’ letter.

Here is a video from Ofqual with more details about how they are making grades consistent with previous years:

 To say 2020 has been an unusual year, would be an understatement. As we draw toward the end of this school year, we would like to express our thanks to all our pupils and parents for their support during this difficult period of time. We are extremely grateful of your support and kind expressions of thanks, whilst we have worked to support your learning at home. We hope you enjoy our final Home Learning Newsletter, as we celebrate some of the fantastic work our pupils have completed at whilst at home, and also share some great ideas to keep you entertained during the Summer Holiday. 

We look forward to being able to welcome all our pupils back in September. Further information will follow as soon as we have clear guidance from the government. 

We would like to share a fantastic feature that is available on Microsoft devices to support your child with reading and understanding Word, PowerPoint and PDF documents. We hope that it will further support home learning.  

Word 2010 and upwards has built in text to speech. You can add the Speech button to the Quick Access Toolbar so you can easily select text to read and click the speech button.

Text to speech can be used to support learners who struggle with print-based information. This might include learners with specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, though it helps all learners. 

Text to Speech can be used to improve reading accuracy and understanding. Improve your child’s concentration by switching from reading to smaller manageable chunks of spoken text. 

This text to speech solution takes less than 5 minutes to install and learn to use. Once installed it will remain on the Quick Access toolbar. Just select some text and then click the button to activate. We hope that you will find the enclosed installation instructions relatively easy to follow.

Alternatively, use the following short YouTube clip to guide you through: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFznemOKQ44  

We hope that this helps your child whilst using Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and PDF documents.

 We hope everyone is still well and able to enjoy the slightly relaxed lockdown measures, whilst keeping safe. We understand that working at home is going quite well for many of our pupils, but that some days are hard. Do not worry, you’re not alone. As long as our pupils are trying their best, getting in touch with teachers if they are stuck, then that is more than fine in the current climate. 

In this edition, we have tried to include lots of helpful tips to support pupils with their studies, but also to help you find interesting things to do when your children need a break from their work. 

Whilst May half term is usually an opportunity for students to rest, during these unprecedented times our students may require additional projects to keep them occupied. With this in mind, please find below the link for our PSHE half term challenges. The students do not have to complete these activities however should they wish to do so they will be rewarded with DEC points and recognition.

• Home Learning PSHE Overview
• Year 7 Food Evaluation Sheet 1
• Year 7 Food Evaluation Sheet 2
• Year 7 Friendship Scenario
• Year 7 How to write a letter of thanks
• Year 8 Fundraising Worksheet
• Year 8 How to write a letter to a friend
• Year 8 Language Devices

I hope you are all well and managing as best as possible during these unprecedented times.

All DECS staff are carrying out their safeguarding duties daily and with this in mind I wanted to bring your attention again to Online Safety and the checking of your son/daughters phone, IT equipment and social media accounts. This is now more important than ever as so many young people may be spending additional time within the online world. As you are aware this itself can lead to additional risk. Sadly we are aware of at least one DECs pupil who has been targeted online by a person who is dangerous to young people.

Here at DECS our pupils and staff have worked alongside a charity called the Breck Foundation. They have created in my opinion, a fantastic resource that was made in conjunction with the police. The video link below is something you as parents can watch and then maybe spark conversation with your children if you feel that’s appropriate. It’s a true story, hard hitting and if shown in a cinema would carry a 15 certificate and a great resource to help initiate conversation around online safety, gaming concerns, screen time concerns and social media activity.

I have also attached some information and resources HERE regarding parent and family wellbeing which I feel are of use currently. If you wish to discuss any concerns regarding online safety please contact me on c.walton@decschool.co.uk

Stay safe and kind regards,

Mr C Walton

Assistant Head Teacher & Designated Safeguarding Lead