Supporting Your Daughter

Once you are a Northfield School for Girls pupil you are always a Northfield School for Girls! Support is there from the first day pupils are allocated a place in Yr6 until (and occasionally after) pupils have left us in Yr11.

Before your daughter has even started we begin our support programmes. All of our Primary Feeder Schools are visited by the Head of Year 7 to find out more about your daughter from her Year 6 Tutor and how best we can build upon her progress at KS2. Should your daughter have any special needs then our SENCO and highly trained team of teaching assistants will work with you and her Primary School to ensure that the transition to secondary school is as seamless as possible.

All parents are invited in for a Year 6 Information Evening and this is then followed up in Year7 at the end of her first half-term with a Support Your Daughter Evening. This gives you a change to catch-up with her Form Tutor, Head of Year and other crucial staff.

Our vast array of intervention programmes are a significant strength. Comprehensive screening on arrival in Year 7 means reasons for underachievement are quickly addressed and support is put into place so that pupils can move forward with confidence. All pupils entering below national expectations in English and Maths undertake additional boosters with specialist staff to accelerate their progress; expert SEND support tailors literacy and language programmes for individuals in class and separately and Family Literacy and Numeracy and parent Reading Groups brings school and home together. The English and Maths Departments run dedicated booster programmes for all years and abilities from struggling Year 7s entering at L3 or below up to A/A* at GCSE.

Many subjects around school make excellent use of the VLE to provide additional guidance for pupils in undertaking homework and run subject specific lunchtime drop-in sessions where pupils can come along and chat to a teacher about their work. For pupils struggling organisationally with Homework we provide lunchtime facilities with trained staff on hand to help and our Learning Mentor can run bespoke programmes on managing workloads and organising time. The Library is open each lunchtime and provides another home to study support with help and ICT facilities on hand as well as access to a wide range of non-fiction material linked to our curriculum.

When it comes to preparing for tests and exams all pupils undertake lessons in how to revise in their PSHE lessons and this advice is supported in Pupil Planners, Assemblies and the Pupil pages on the VLE, Mock Exam Booklets and individual mentoring.

Having an independent careers professional on site means that all our pupils have access to impartial and personal guidance at crucial times in their academic lives. This marries with a strong PSHE and Form Time Programme exploring individual pathways and ambitions enables out pupils to make informed choices for KS4 Options and post-16 next steps. No matter what path a pupil wishes to take, whether it’s straight into the world of work, Level 2 and 3 courses at and FE College or A Levels and university we provide the knowledge, resources and expertise to help. We host an annual Careers Fair with local colleges, sixth forms as well as employers and the services and participate in college taster days, visits to universities, mock interview practice and work experience placements. We believe that this approach promotes independence and nurtures confidence, at the same as creating excitement about the future.

For help and advice on how you can best support your daughter’s learning please have a look at the following documents or if you have any queries please contact your daughter’s head of year. We are happy to be of help.