End of Term

Although the heavy frosts at the end of November and at the beginning of December transformed our school site into a winter wonderland, we officially opened the festive season with our annual Carol Concert in the Parish Church on Monday 13 December. Again members of our Expressive Arts team excelled themselves and the school’s choir and ensembles set the tone beautifully. Following the appreciation shown by Fr. Leonard and his parishioners for the willow and paper angels we donated to the Church last year, our Art Club has again created 4 more colourful sculptures to decorate the church. Similarly pupils in Year 8 made paper lanterns and participated in the procession to open Cirencester’s Christmas Markets on Saturday 4 December.

Our pupils are to be commended on their behaviour during the exceptionally cold weather, but we have been asked to remind them not to play on the ice as it is dangerous and puts them and other members of the public at risk of serious harm. Please reinforce this message at home.

When there is snow on the ground we still expect our pupils to wear their school uniform correctly. However, in these wintery conditions, we would encourage them to wear proper outside clothing and we will tolerate stouter footwear, including walking boots and wellies, however, we may ask them to change into more appropriate indoor footwear once they are in the building. In the extreme cold, pupils can wear layers underneath their school polo shirts and sweatshirts, but these should not be visible above the collar, below the sleeves or waist. The polo shirt itself is considered an item of ‘underclothing’ and should in the cold weather be worn under the school sweatshirt. The Deer Park base layer is an item of PE kit only.

2010 has been a very special year in our school’s recent history. We achieved an outstanding outcome in our Ofsted Inspection and our ‘Class of 2010’ achieved our ‘best ever’ GCSE results. Following the changes in government and the way schools are funded, especially with regard to our specialist schools’ status, we are now seriously considering our future direction and following our initial research and consultation, governors are now actively looking at Academy status and will be meeting with other local headteachers and representatives from their governing bodies in January to explore the potential in working together. Furthermore, I advise you that should we decide to proceed there will be an opportunity to find out more about Academy status at a specific parents meeting in the new year. Further details of this will be sent out in the new year.

I am proud of our pupils’ generosity of spirit as they have made a significant contribution to improving the care of others. They are resourceful and work together exceptionally well. Since September, pupils at Deer Park have raised over £1,600 for charity as a result of their participation in our new Charities’ Week introduced by James Johnson, our Citizenship and PSHEe Co-ordinator, and David Clarke, our Head of Key Stage 4. This is in addition to the fantastic £2,742 raised for the BBC’s Children in Need programme through our Talent Show in November. Congratulations go to all who took part, but especially to our winners, Joshua Thomas, Year 11, Katrina Cook, Year 11, Rob and Katie Pearson Year 10 and Lizzie Finney, Year 8.

This Christmas we say goodbye to four colleagues, Toby Clapton, Cover Supervisor, Chris Cooper, ICT Key Stage Co-ordinator, Jenny Cummins, Inclusion Support Worker, and Roger Martin, Design Teacher. Both Jenny Cummins and Roger Martin have long associations with the school and we will be especially sorry to see them both retire. We look forward to welcoming John Armshaw, Design, and Adam Stradling, PE, who join us in January. We are also welcoming back two staff who left Deer Park within the last few years. Charlotte Rubringer returns to Deer Park as our KS3 ICT Coordinator after gaining further experience in another Gloucestershire school and Jenny Jones, Geography, returns for a while after a short break.

I wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and remind you that our new term for pupils starts on Wednesday 5 January 2011 (Week 2). Pupils in Year 11 are reminded that they will receive the outcomes of their recent tests on our Mock Exam Results Day on Friday 7 January which will provide them with a very strong indication of the progress they are making towards meeting their target grades in their GCSEs next summer!

Chiquita Henson

Newsletter - December 2010