Letters

Dear Parents, Carers and Families,

I would like to begin my latest letter by thanking you all for an absolutely fantastic response to our appeal for donations for the Ukraine. We received so many donations that the charity who have collected all of the goods, have had to return to the school four times as their vans were so packed! The generosity of the community has been truly overwhelming-thank you!

Here are the pictures of a third of the donations:

                                                    BEFORE                                                                                  AFTER

In addition to the donations made, each year group held a bake sale in school last week to raise money for UNICEF. Some amazing creations were baked and all these tasty treats disappeared within minutes with £ 401.35 being raised. Our Sixth Form, who have been instrumental in galvanising support for the fund raising efforts, raised a further £198.56 for the Disaster Emergency Committee and we know that all of the monies raised, will help to support those affected by the conflict in the Ukraine.

Since I last wrote to you, we have welcomed Year 9 students and their parents/carers to the Options Evening. It was wonderful to be able to meet those of you who attended (nearly 300 in total!) and to give you a chance to meet members of staff talking about the courses that we are offering. Mr George is collating all of the Options Forms and will contact you as soon as this process is complete, to confirm the Option Choices for your child.

As you are aware, the last few weeks have seen the roll out of our new behaviour and rewards system. Mr Brokenshire and I will be speaking to students next week so that they can give us their feedback on how the behaviour system is working and what we can do to improve it. We are delighted to be hosting our first Celebration Event on Thursday 31 March where we are inviting the parents and carers who have children who have been nominated for an award. Mrs Benney will be emailing home later today.

The rise in COVID cases across Cornwall have affected our student and staff attendance over the past two weeks in particular. We have managed to resist any remote learning days for students and have relied on our own staff as well as a team of Supply Teachers who have been able to cover for absent colleagues. Whilst we will always endeavour to recruit subject specialists into school, one can appreciate that other schools are also in the same position as us and the pool of available staff is rapidly diminishing. I would like to thank my dedicated staff team who once again have rallied round to ensure that we remain operational.

There is much to look forward to in the next few weeks and months. Year 11 and 13 are now busy revising for external examinations and have been impressive in the way in which they are preparing for what is to come. The revision sessions after school are really well attended and I would urge students to let their teachers know if there are any additional resources, materials, help or advice that they need. There will be a Year 11 Family Learning Evening on Tuesday 5 April and we look forward to seeing you then. In the meantime, we are hoping to finalise the details for the Year 11 Prom and will send out the details early next week.

The forecast is set to be glorious this weekend. I hope you have the chance to enjoy it and don’t forget that the clocks go forward!

Thank you for your continued support.

Yours faithfully,

Brenda de Sousa                 

Headteacher