I would like to thank students, staff and parents for what has been an excellent start to our first term together. We have been delighted by how well and how quickly students have settled and I’m receiving great feedback from them about their experiences in the college. As I move around the college and call into lessons it is with a great sense of pride that I see how motivated, focused and committed our students and staff are.
We enrolled over 470 Year 12 students this year – a record first year intake for schools and colleges that have opened under the government’s free schools programme, and this makes us the largest provider of A-Levels and BTECs in the area. I know that our culture, our facilities and our wide range of subjects makes us very different to other schools and colleges, and we are really pleased that so many students and parents have such confidence in us.
Our progress tutors are already starting to share with students details about a range of university opportunities that may be of interest to them and students are encouraged to keep a close eye on their emails to find out more. I’m also hugely grateful to our teaching team who are putting on a really wide range of different clubs, societies and sports for students to get involved in. This is helping students to meet new people and to develop new skills and interests, and it helps to build fantastic relationships with our staff and students.
We’re already starting to think about September 2018. We’re looking forward to our Open Evening on Thursday 19th October for prospective applicants and parents, and to our Open Saturday event in January. We’ve also got some events for local schools in the planning for the autumn and spring terms. We’ll be advertising a number of teaching, non-teaching and leadership posts in the early spring term, as the college grows into its second year and individuals interested in future posts are encouraged to register interest via our website. We’re already working on our transport plans for September 2018 and we’re aiming to significantly expand our coverage of the area.
Our first parents evening of the year takes place on Thursday 23rd November and we’ll be writing to parents around half term with details of how to make appointments. Our first formal assessment window will have been completed just before we break up for half term and students and parents will be able to see those results on Cedar by the end of the half term break. These assessments, which take place throughout the year, are really important and students need to work hard for them. They help us to identify concerns quickly, to put support in place where it’s needed, and helps to make sure that students are confident and ready for the progression examinations at the end of Year 12, and the full external examinations at the end of Year 13.
Brendon Fletcher
Principal
