Dear Families

It is with great pleasure that I share with you the latest updates and happenings from our school. This week, our assemblies have been dedicated to celebrating the diversity and differences that exist amongst us, aligning with our core values of respect and the British Value of tolerance. We firmly believe that diversity should be embraced and celebrated as an opportunity for learning and growth.  It is by celebrating our differences, we can create a more harmonious and enriching learning experience for all.

In response to the positive feedback received regarding these assemblies, we are delighted to announce our plans to organise a Culture Day before the end of the academic year. Coincidentally, the tentative date for this event is July 4th, which also happens to be the US Independence Day and, indeed, an election day this year. Further details regarding this event will be shared as we approach the date.

Additionally, I am thrilled to inform you that our Barcelona trip has been an overwhelming success. As you may have witnessed through our social media channels, our students have had an incredible time exploring the vibrant city and immersing themselves in its rich culture and history. We eagerly await their return this weekend, brimming with newfound experiences and memories.

I remind year 11 parents and students that from today they only need to be in school for scheduled sessions, with the final examination taking place on Tuesday of next week.  I refer you also to the information from last week’s update regarding the Year 11 Prom and the Leavers’ Assembly.  This information is repeated from last week below.

We cordially invite all Year 11 students to our final leavers' assembly, which will take place on Monday, June 24th, at 2 pm. This will be our last farewell to our superb Year 11 cohort, and we eagerly anticipate their presence. It is always an emotional day for all as we bid them goodbye (until results day on 22^nd August!). Students can bring shirts to be signed after their final assembly, which seems to be the tradition these days! The assembly is likely to conclude around 3:30 pm for those arranging transportation for their children.

Mr S Greiff

Friday 21^st June – Careers Fair. This will involve a number of different stations from the world of work. Students will have an opportunity to come in and speak to a range of employers. Some students will be targeted to visit this fair first. During lunchtime all students will have the opportunity to come into the main hall and speak with employers. During session 3 year 10 students will be brought to the hall and given an opportunity to speak to employers. We will share more information with students this week.

Friday 28^th June – Speed networking event. This will be an opportunity for some of our younger students to come in and have a meaningful conversation with a range of different people from different workplaces. The aim is to get out students thinking about different career paths and options. It will be a really exciting event. More information coming soon.

These will be on Monday 8^th and Tuesday 9^th July.

On Tuesday we will have sports day as well. More information is coming out soon!

Students have received their work experience packs. Parents/carers – please support the students so that they can arrange a time to meet their work experience provider to go over their placements and to also get the form at the back signed (this also needs signing by parents/carers and students before returning to school).

Please note that the dates for work experience are Monday 8^th, Thursday 9^th, Wednesday 10^th and Thursday 11^th July. The form does state this but then, in a pre-populated form, it has also added the 12^th July – students are not going to work experience on this date as school is closed for the summer break!

We announced previously that the reward trip was planned for Alton Towers on 3rd July.

Unfortunately, due to circumstances out of our control, we have had to move the date from the 3rd to 2nd July. 

Due to these unforeseen circumstances, we are not going to be able to offer as many places as we had first hoped.  Initially, we will be opening it up to students that have impeccable conduct.  As we stated previously, this is a reward trip, and initially we believe it is right to give students who have been exemplary the first opportunity to buy tickets.  At the start of the year, we did outline to the students that the only way to guarantee access to the reward trip is through achieving no behaviour points. This is over 200 students from years 7,8,9 and 10.  These students will get first refusal on the tickets and will receive an email about the trip and how to pay on School Gateway.

We will then review this on Monday, with the possibility of opening this up to more students.

More information will be out about this early next week. 

Dear SEND parents,

Thank you for your patience as we strive to implement new systems and processes around SEND. Following meetings with both parents of EHCP and SEN support students about the changes ahead, I am pleased to report that SEND team training is now underway.

Over the next few weeks, TA's will be learning about supporting students' emotional regulation, developing students' phonic knowledge, learning about graphic facilitation and storyboarding / Chat cartoons to model situations visually to learners.

SEN interventions have been researched, selected and purchased and selected SEN staff will be trained on the individual specific interventions ahead of the new academic year.

Thank you so much to everyone who sponsored and donated to the amazing Leicester Children’s Holidays Charity for the Colour Dash event. The event was a really positive event and we will be doing it again next year.

The Leicester Childrens Holidays charity collected sponsorship forms as well as any cash that was donated. We handed over to them £498.25 in cash and on the sponsorship forms it said £601 had been donated online. This means at least our year 7 and year 8 students raised a huge £1,099.25

We are so proud of our students and families for reaching this target. Thank you so much

Here are the standings as we approach the end of term:

1. Clarendon
2. Bradgate
3. Knighton
4. Watermead

Keep up the great work everyone!