Parents’ Zone

This is a weekly payment for students who have a low household income. To check if you are eligible for this financial support please ask at student services for an application form. This form will explain what evidence will be needed as proof of household income. We would appreciate it if you could complete the form as soon as possible, however decisions on who will receive the financial support may not be made until September at the start of the college term or later depending on when your application was received. If you are eligible your payments will be back dated to the week your course started – this is assessed on a weekly basis in line with the average College rates of participation. Payments are made directly into your bank account.

Who can apply?

• You must be aged 16 or over
• You must be studying a full time or part time course at the college
• Total household income must be approximately £30,500 or less.

Financial Support Furness College Leaflet

Financial Support Application Form

CORE Financial Support Leaflet

CORE Financial Support Application Form

Student Services also deal with queries about exams, timetables, transport, College Counselling and other matters.

For details of our safeguarding policy click here.

We take the Safeguarding of our students very seriously.

Your child should inform Reception or other member of staff of:
• Strangers in college (all students, staff, visitors and adult students will have lD lanyards)
• Any concerns about their or other students’ safety eg – corridors blocked, problems in toilets etc.

They should also:
• Keep to the College IT Policy regarding inappropriate sites
• Keep to the College bullying & harassment policy – including cyber—bullying (Facebook, texting etc.)
• Be careful crossing the Plaza at Channelside and the drive to The Abbey Building at The Sixth Form
• Drive <10mph on college roads Please encourage students to wear their college lanyard ID at all times in College.

The library issues subject text books. It also has a range of books for reading for pleasure and stocks periodicals required for subjects.  These books should be returned in a timely manner, otherwise students run the risk of being invoiced for non-return of college property.

The college usually runs enrichment opportunities for our students. These range from volunteering and Young Enterprise to the Duke of Edinburgh Award, sporting activities and being a part of the Students’ Union.

Your son/daughter had the chance to visit the Freshers’ Fair advertising sign-ups for these opportunities each September. Please ask them if they signed up for anything, as these extra activities mean that your son/ daughter may have something extra to talk about in their applications for university and employment.

Work Experience is not only valuable and rewarding for students, but a course requirement. Students are expected to source their own Work Experience as a true reflection of the job search; however, we have a dedicated Work Experience Team on hand for advice and guidance. As parents/carers, you will be asked for consent via an online education platform called Unifrog before the placement commences.

Inclusion provides services for students with learning difficulties/disabilities. If your child has an EHCP then contact Natasha Kenny (EHCP Lead) for support and advice. Student support in lessons is co-ordinated by Alice Woodward (Student Support Co-ordinator). If a student needs to be assessed for exam considerations such as extra time or a reader then please contact Ruth Niven (College Exams Assessor). Our inclusion team can provide in class support, one to one support outside of class and advice and guidance for parents and students.

In the summer term before joining college we offer transition work to support young people with SEND to access college to ease the change from school to college. Our Inclusion team work with partner schools to make this happen as we recognise this can be a particularly stressful change for young people and their parents. Please contact the college to discuss any SEND needs with a member of the team.

The college provides a comprehensive careers service through Student Services. There is a comprehensive Careers Library with extra resources.

If you are thinking about career options for your child, click here for Parental Guidance, which has useful careers information and advice from the Careers Writers Association.

At our sixth form Rating Lane campus, specialist staff run dedicated sessions and visits for Honours students who will be studying the Extended Project Qualification or a fourth A Level/other qualification. Honours students will be asked to choose a subject, or two in exceptional circumstances, where they want to do a specialised Honours pathway.

Get useful advice from Careermag for Parents.

The College runs Enrichment opportunities for our students. These range from volunteering and Young Enterprise to Duke of Edinburgh, sporting activities and being a part of the Students’ Union.

Your child had the chance to visit the Fresher’s Fair advertising sign ups for these opportunities on September 18th.
Please ask them if they signed up for anything, as these extra activities mean that your son/ daughter may have something extra to talk about in their applications for University/employment.

GCSE subjects/Level 2 subjects: minimum 3 hours per subject per week out of class.

A level subjects/Level 3 subjects: minimum 5 hours per subject per week out of class.

Students have independent learning sessions on their timetables. More information on these can be gained from the Learning Resources Team. These sessions are registered and held in the Learning Hub. These sessions contribute towards your child’s attendance figures and are not optional.

Your young person has come to college primarily to further their learning. They should make the most of trying to study more independently.

There is a high correlation between hard work, attendance, personal organisation and final results.

Students should make good use of ‘private study time’: Study area; learning hub; library; it rooms; unused classrooms; home.

Homework will be set at least weekly in most subjects and work should be done in preparation for the formal recorded assessments to ensure that your young person reaches at least their target level. Reading round each subject, making extra notes, reviewing notes, making revision aids and extra research are all things that can be done out of formal classes and on top of the formal homework set.

These are the minimum grades that we expect your young person to be achieving in their subjects given their prior performance at GCSE.
Remember that these are Minimum Target Grades and the aim is to achieve your TG or better in all assessed pieces of work in all subjects.

At our sixth form Rating Lane campus, new students in A Level, Cambridge Technical Level 3, BTEC Level 3, GCSE and Cambridge Technical Level 2 classes will have their progress formally assessed and recorded for each subject on Pro Portal approximately every four weeks against the level of their Target Grade (TG).

These formal assessments will be on exam board pieces of work marked to exam board criteria. These assessments started on 14/9/20. Poor performance in multiple recorded assessments will be followed up by PPCS.
Please ask your son/daughter about their progress in these assessments.

Proportal is the software that gives parents and carers access to all the relevant information about a learner’s progress and performance on all parts of their Study Programme. We hope that access to ProPortal will provide you with a clear overview of your child’s progress to date.
This Parent-Carer Guide to Proportal will explain how you can access the ProPortal system from your personal computer, tablet or mobile phone.
We encourage all parents to look at ProPortal regularly and would welcome further discussion around any concerns you may have in relation to your young person’s progress or performance.

If you are a young parent and want to return to, or continue with your learning, then C2L can cover the cost of your childcare and transport costs.

You can apply for C2L if you can answer yes to the following questions:

• You will be under 20 years of age on the day your course starts
• You are caring for your own child or children
• You meet residency conditions
• You are undertaking learning that receives some public funding
• Your childcare provider is registered with Ofsted to ensure they meet certain safety and quality standards

Further information can be found on the designated website here or contact the Learner Support Helpline on 0800 121 8989

Download the Care 2 Learn poster here

Due to recent changes brought in by the DFE, we can no longer approve any holidays in term time unless there are exceptional circumstances. You should still inform us of these circumstances by writing a letter of explanation to the Head of area/Head of Sixth Form and ask the student to hand this in.

No holidays at all should be taken in external exam times. Students are unable to sit external exams at any other time than that published by the relevant exam board.

If your young person cannot avoid being absent during the college term, you should contact college by 9am each day they are absent, explaining their reason for absence to the college reception.

If we have not heard from anyone about why a student is absent from college by 11am and they should have been in lessons, their PPC/Student Service staff may send a text to enquire where they are.

Where poor attendance becomes a problem at college, your young person will be placed on the college’s discipline policy and targets for improvement will be set; a system which is initially managed by your young person’s PPC and subject tutors. If the problem becomes a persistent and reoccurring problem, then senior staff members will become involved.

If your young person is placed on the formal levels of the college’s discipline policy you will be notified by their PPC.

Fitness to Study where reoccurring absence is due to illness and/or a learning disability and/or a learning difficulty, the college will endeavour to make reasonable adjustments to accommodate this. However, the bottom line is that non-attendance at college seriously impacts on a student’s progress and the fitness to study policy and processes will be followed.

Appointments medical, dental and opticians appointments should be made outside of college lesson times. Where this is not possible, please make sure your young person lets reception and/or their PPC know of anticipated medical appointment absences. These are treated as sickness absences.

Attendance of 90% means that students are missing the equivalent of one day’s worth of College lessons every fortnight.

Attendance of 80% means that students are missing the equivalent of one day’s worth of College lessons every week.

On arrival at college, your young person will have been allocated a Personal Progress Coach (PPC).  The Personal Progress Coaches at the College are:

Channelside –  Mandy Stevens, Amanda Sneesby, Lorna Claridge, Patsy Donnelly, Aimee Trelore.

Sixth Form – Charlotte Harris

The name of your young person’s PPC will be on their timetable. Please ask your young person who their PPC is.

Our Personal Progress Coaches will look after your young person on their journey through college. They are the first port of call for any problems that our students may experience whilst at college. Your young person will have a one hour’s progress group session each week or every other week which will concentrate on the key areas of individual progress, progression, employability skills and keeping them safe in college and the wider environment.

As well as this, the PPCs can be contacted by students via email/text/phone or by calling in at the PPC room on the second floor at Channelside, behind reception at The Sixth Form.

PPCs have a responsibility to monitor their cohort of students in terms of attendance, progress and progression plans – be it progression from Year 11 to Year 13 or when students leave college and moves onwards to university, a higher apprenticeship or employment.

Should any problems arise regarding attendance or progress, PPCs will contact you. You are welcome to get in touch with the Personal Progress Coaches here at college if you have any concerns or queries.