Thank you to all parents and carers who attended the ‘prepare to perform’ event, yesterday. It was really well attended, and we have had lots of positive feedback. We had a session delivered by Ruff and Ruby, a company we have used for the past 5 months to deliver workshops about empowering young people, with the message of being the best version of you. They have just been awarded The King’s Award for Voluntary Service and we are looking forward to working with them to deliver sessions in the new year. I particularly liked their message of ‘work with the school not Facebook’. As adults we all have a responsibility of role modelling how we use social media. We will never respond to social media posts. If you have an issue, please raise it with us in a measured and respectful way.
Our open morning was also really well attended. We had a lot of pupils who came and were either helpers or subject ambassadors, and they were absolutely amazing. We had so many positive comments about our students so a huge thank you to all of our helpers. They made us all feel so proud.
All of our Y7 have had a team building experience based in our forest school; fortunately, the weather was in our favour. The work they have created in the forest school is fantastic. We will get photos uploaded so that you can all see what they have done.
Rehearsals are well underway for our school production of Shrek. Performances will be in December. Our productions are always fabulous so please look out for the ticket release date. Not quite on the scale of getting Oasis tickets, but still very much in demand!
On Thursday 10th October we will hold our sixth form open evening. A level results this year were outstanding and there are so many benefits to continuing with studies at our school: outstanding teaching and excellent pastoral support with staff who know the students really well. If your child is in Y11, I strongly urge you to come along so that you can hear from Mr Rayner, our Director of Sixth Form, and speak to all subject specialists.
Sporting fixtures are well underway. It is great to see so many pupils getting involved in enrichment activities. Many of the sporting events are against Brine Leas as part of the Cornovii Cup competition. We are current holders and aim to retain it for this academic year. You cannot beat some healthy competition!
I have attached the link to our Parents in Partnership page on the website. We welcome all contributions. Budgets remain tight again this year, so we do rely on this to fund additional resources.
We have been made aware of a craze on TikTok called ‘Winter Buff’. It encourages healthy eating and exercising which in essence is a good thing. It also encourages boys to shave their heads. We sent out a reminder yesterday about our uniform policy, including hairstyles. We have made concessions to our policy this year, but a shaved head is not one of them! Parents choose our school because of the high standards we set, and uniform is part of that. There may be parts of our policies that you do not like but pupils cannot cherry pick the parts they will follow. We do put sanctions in place when breaches are made. If your child is taking part in something like this, it would be prudent to make yourself fully aware of what it entails and to keep a close eye on it. If you have any concerns, please contact your child’s form tutor or head of college.
Our attendance figure is slightly up on where we were this time last year so thank you for supporting our attendance drive. As well as the academic benefits, school provides routine, helps to build and develop relationships and learn social skills. We will not authorise holidays during term time. If you are struggling to get your child into school, please get in touch so that we can support you.
As I mentioned last week, today is Mr Woods’ last day with us as Head of Dod College. Miss Appleyard will be acting Head of College, until we make a permanent appointment.
As always, thank you for your continued support and whatever your plans, have a lovely weekend.
“For me, education was power.” (Michelle Obama)
