Contents
Introduction
This pack contains vital information to support the transition from your existing school to CMS. You will have plenty of opportunities to ask questions about the content of this booklet on Monday 26 June at our Offer Holder Day; in the meantime, if you have any urgent questions please do not hesitate to get in touch using .
Results Day, Enrolment and Induction
- Thursday 24th August – GCSE Results Day
As soon as you have received your results, please log onto your Applicaa account and complete the simple enrolment form. Please note you will need to upload a photo of your results slip(s).
You will receive an automatic reply confirming receipt. If you would like to talk to one of us there will be an opportunity to join a MS Teams call.
If you have met our minimum entry criteria, we will reply as soon as we possibly can to confirm your place with us.
If you have not met the minimum entry criteria, and would still like to be considered or would like to change your courses please request a MS Teams call. We will endeavour to speak to you as soon as possible, however please bear with us as this is likely to be a very busy day.
We currently have a waiting list for places. It is important that you let us know your results as soon as possible so that we can let others know whether we have space for them. We therefore ask that you notify us of your results by midday.
First Day of term
The first day of term for students is 7 September. On the first day you will meet your tutor, find out your timetable and take part in at least two lessons. We’ll be including events to help you get to know other students and members of staff.
At the beginning of the week, your picture will be taken for your ID card.
If you are going to borrow equipment such as a laptop as part of the 16-19 bursary support we will contact you separately to arrange this. This is likely to be sometime on the 4-6 September.
Timetable
The school day will run from 9:30am-4:00pm each weekday. The school building will open daily at 8:30am for anyone who wants to use the extra time to keep up with their independent work. Students should always plan to arrive by 9:15am as lessons will start promptly at 9:30am. An example timetable is shown here.
Normal timetable begins on Friday 8 September at 9:30 am.
Curriculum
A summary of CMS course exam syllabuses is given below.
- Mathematics & Further Mathematics OCR MEI
- Biology OCR A
- Chemistry OCR A
- Computer Science OCR
- Physics OCR A
Essential and optional equipment can be found in Annex A.
Inspire
Inspire is a series of stand-alone lectures and workshops designed to broaden your experience of mathematics and its applications. These will occur regularly throughout year 12 and for the first two terms of year 13.
CMS Mathematics Certificate
The CMS Mathematics Certificate is a project-based course designed to develop the independent study skills necessary to thrive at university and in the workplace. The course will finish in February in year 13, after which time you will have additional study periods to support your examination preparation. We will support your overall development and equip you with the skills to complete the CMS Mathematics Certificate.
Sports and Games
Once a week the whole school will take part in a choice of sports and games. This might be badminton, netball, frisbee, rounders or going a local walk but we’ll be talking to you about what you’d like to see on the programme.
Academic and Pastoral Tutorial
You will meet with your tutor regularly to review progress, set targets and receive support with your academic studies. This course will equip you with effective study techniques and will support you as you plan for the future.
Some of these meetings will also focussed on issues beyond the academic, including the importance of sleep, managing on a student budget and considering our community.
Sample Year 12 Timetable
Here is an example timetable for a student studying for 4 A-Levels.
School Bursary Fund
The School Bursary is there to support those of you whose circumstances mean that you will need financial support to be able to attend school and be able to buy the things that you need for your studies. The support available will be in the form of equipment or resources rather than cash payments. For example the fund can help with things like
- Essential equipment, including calculators;
- Compulsory books;
- Essential course trips/residential visits;
- Travel to and from school.
Support from this fund is means tested and the threshold for support starts if your total household income including benefits is below £30,000 (after national insurance and tax). This will include those of you who are in receipt of free school meals, are living in care, are on income support or income support because you are financially supporting yourselves, in receipt of a Disability Allowance alongside Universal Credit or ESA or if you are a caregiver. If you meet these criteria and will be enrolled at Cambridge Mathematics School next year and you wish to apply for support, please complete this form and we will contact you to ask for more information.
After you fill out the form please email Mr Rudin and Mrs Newbury to let them know.
Dress and Appearance
There is no formal uniform at CMS and you may dress casually but you are expected to dress suitably for a learning environment. It is important though that everyone wears closed-toed shoes and these are a requirement for everyone attending the school.
You should be dressed to study and to work comfortably and should ensure you are sufficiently covered for a learning environment. Hats and hoods should be removed before entering lessons and assembly times and headphones should not be worn in the school.
Communication
Upon joining the school, you will be provided with a school email address. You are expected to use this email address and to check it regularly as important communications will be sent using this method. Similarly, school email addresses should be used responsibly and for school business only, not for circular jokes or otherwise. Communication is sent home to parents via email in the first instance so if your parents’ email address changes, do please update us using . We will send parents a termly newsletter and do follow us on Twitter and Facebook to see what we’ve been getting up to on a more regular basis.
Enrichment
We will run a number of activities beyond the core curriculum, from termly student social events to lectures with guest speakers to supporting clubs and societies. These are all free for you to take part in, thereby ensuring no one is excluded. To maintain these activities we are asking for a voluntary contribution from parents of £250* for the academic year.
We request that you do not make a payment for this prior to enrolment but will contact you in September to request a donation. If you are unable to afford to contribute, you will not be excluded from taking part in any event that we organise. We will plan our cycle of activities according to the funding available in any given year.
*Please note this includes £50 to pay for the registration fee for Duke of Edinburgh. If you are already signed up with an alternative provider you can reduce this donation to £200.
Student Council
We intend to have an active student council meeting half termly to discuss arising concerns and to consult on school improvement plans. Up to four students from each form will meet regularly, led by a student chair and vice chair. Student council meetings will take place during tutorial time to enable all members to attend. The student council has a vital role in ensuring students’ views are heard, respectfully considered and acted upon.
Duke of Edinburgh
We want all of you at CMS to have the opportunity to take part in the Duke of Edinburgh programme. The Duke of Edinburgh Award provides an excellent structure for young people to gain experience and get involved in exciting opportunities that include learning new skills, providing service to your communities and planning, training for and completing an adventurous self-sufficient journey as part of a team.
See below from the Duke of Edinburgh website…
Why do the DofE?
For the hundreds of thousands of young people who take part each year, the benefits of achieving a DofE Award at any level are endless. DofE is about helping you along the path to a productive and prosperous future. As many of our participants say, it’s life-changing.
Achieving an Award will give you skills, confidence and an edge over others when you apply for college, university or a job. Beyond your academic achievements, universities want to see evidence of so called ‘soft skills’ that you have developed through extra-curricular activities, such as communication, commitment, leadership and teamwork. Your DofE Award is a fantastic way to demonstrate and evidence these skills in practice.
You’ll also make a difference to other people’s lives and your community, e fitter and healthier, make new friends and have memories to last you a lifetime.
Our participants also tell us that doing their DofE gives them character traits like confidence and resilience, that can boost their mental health and wellbeing and help them face and overcome personal challenges.
Watch our animations to hear the real stories of four Award holders – Lira, Lucy, George and Catherine – whose DofE gave them the space, focus and motivation to achieve things they never thought they would.
Hear about other young people’s DofE experiences and find out why top employers look out for Award holders when recruiting.
Some of you may already be registered for the Duke of Edinburgh award with another provider. If you are then please talk to us at the start of term and we will work out how best we can support you in completing your award.
Staff and Governors
An up-to-date list of teaching staff is available on the website here.
Governors
An up-to-date list of governors will be available on our website. Each year, we plan to have two parent governors, normally one being the parent of a year 12 student and the other a year 13. We will, of course, have a vacancy this year that we hope to fill with a parent from our new intake.
If you are interested in becoming a governor of the school and would like some further information, please contact .
To be considered as a parent governor, we ask that you email a couple of paragraphs about yourself, providing some background information and outlining why you wish to be a governor, by September 18th If more than one parent puts their name forward, we will share this information with other parents prior to holding an election.
Term Dates
| Start of Academic Year | 7th September 2023 | First day of term for students |
| October Half Term | 23rd October 2023 to 27th October 2023 | 30th October 2023 All students in school |
| Training Day Closed to students | 24th November 2023 | 27th November 2023 All students in school |
| Christmas Break | 20th December 2023 to 3rd January 2024 | 19th December 2023 Last day of term for students |
| Start of Spring Term | 4th January 2024 | All students in school |
| February Half Term | 19th February 2024 to 23rd February 2024 | 26th February 2024 All students in school |
| Easter Break | 29th March 2024 to 12th April 2024 | 28th March 2024 Last day of term for students |
| Start of Summer Term | 15th April 2024 | All students in school |
| Early May Bank Holiday Closed to students | 6th May 2024 | 7th May 2024 All students in school |
| May Half Term incl. Late May Bank Holiday | 27th May 2024 to 31st May 2024 | 3rd June 2024 All students in school |
| End of Academic Year | 19th July 2024 | Last day of term for students |
ANNEX A: Details of equipment
Personal device (e.g laptop – suggested spec)
You will need a personal laptop or tablet to make notes and complete work during lessons. For writing maths, we recommend a device with a touchscreen and pen/stylus (or with a USB graphics tablet).
If you are taking computer science, your device should run a desktop operating system (Windows, macOS or Linux but NOT ChromeOS, iOS or Android) with a minimum of 8GB of RAM, 256GB storage and Intel i5 8th-gen (or equivalent) processor.
CASIO FX-CG50 Graphic Calculator
If you already have the model Casio FX-9860GIII there is no need to upgrade
Curriculum specific
- Maths
We will subscribe you to the Integral system. There is no need to buy any additional textbooks but if you’d like to, we recommend this series Maths Education Revision and Resources for KS3 to A-Level
Textbooks will be available for use in school but if you’d like your own copy please see the links below.
- Biology
A Level Biology for OCR A Student Book: Oxford University Press - Chemistry
A Level Chemistry for OCR A Student Book: Oxford University Press - Computer Science
PG Online OCR AS and A Level Computer Science textbook - Physics
A Level Physics for OCR A Student Book: Oxford University Press
General Stationery
As well as your usual pencil case containing pen, pencil, ruler etc. you’ll also really benefit from having some dry wipe whiteboard markers. You will also need a folder to keep your work in, with some dividers, and a pack of A4 lined paper. We recommend one folder per subject. You will not need this in the first few days so you might want to wait until we have discussed how we will use the folders before you buy any.
