We know that in order for a child to achieve, they must feel that they belong. A sense of belonging at school depends on close relationships with staff, friends and the hustle and bustle of school life and all of its opportunities. When a child is in and out of school, their sense of belonging erodes and their life chances are placed at risk.

Every form of bullying is intolerable. We do not pretend it cannot or does not happen and therefore we enjoy a growing referral culture from victims and from bystanders – who are the key to a culture of safety. Our Character Education programme encourages great conduct because it is the right thing to go. Whilst we are tough on bullying, we are also tough on the causes of bullying and ask what is making that child feel so little empathy for others, or why they do not seek to do the right thing.

Mrs Bovington, our super School Librarian, publishes the ‘CNS Newsletter’ at the end of each term. This celebrates: our students’ personal and academic successes; the work our students do in the wider community, particularly with our local charities; and shares the array of fantastic trips and opportunities our students enjoy as part of the wider extra-curricular life at CNS school.

We have robust processes in place to ensure the online safety of pupils. Through the curriculum, we deliver an effective approach to online safety, which empowers us to protect and educate the whole school community in its use of technology, including the use of phones. We ask that all students and parents sign and return the Acceptable Use Agreement to establish a relationship of trust and to enable us to support your child/ren and keep them safe.

We have a very wide range of extra-curricular activities that students can participate in, from afternoon clubs in sport, music and drama, to school trips, that range from the War Memorial Museum in London, to sports tours to South Africa. We have strong primary partnership links, which allows us to offer our Family Focus events. Mrs Fisher, our School Community and Community Partnership Coordinator, also provides a comprehensive “Extra-Time” package utilising local coaches and expertise within our community.

In year 7, we encourage students be get actively involved in as many clubs as possible, as this presents the perfect opportunity to meet people who have shared interests and to make new friends. We run a wide range of clubs from Book Club and Choir, to LAMDA and Pilates. Some of the most popular clubs include healthy cookery and trampolining. In addition, we offer a full calendar of sporting clubs and students have the opportunity to represent the school in games against other local secondary schools.

The Home-School Agreement represents the trust and bond between students, their family, and the school, to ensure every child is successful. The content sets out what we commit to as a school and then the student’s commitments; centering around being ready, safe and respectful. Parent and carer commitments relate to attendance, home life, sanctions, uniform , healthy living and communication.

The headteacher writes to families every Friday. Letters are received via email and also appear on the website at the same time.

ParentPay is an online payment system for schools and is Chipping Norton School’s preferred method of payment. It allows parents to pay quickly and securely for items such as school meals, trips and activities.

In October we host a “Meet the Tutor” Evening – which is a perfect opportunity to meet your child’s tutor to check how well they have settled into CNS and secondary school life. There is also an annual Parent-Teacher Consultation (PTC) evening for each year group. The year 7 PTC is in term 5 and it is your chance to speak to each one of your child’s teachers.

Chipping Norton School now uses a cashless payment system for trips, catering and lockers.  When your child arrives at the school, they will be given payment card and parental log-in details.  Parents will then be able to access payment information regarding forthcoming trips, provision of lockers and catering.

Lost and stolen cards can be cancelled with immediate effect making card unusable. A new card will be issued with last card balance recorded on the system. (User required to pay cost for card replacement of £2.00 per card)

Spend limits can be set for both funds loaded at payment machine or at the Finance Office. Parent notifies the Finance Office and a daily spend is set for the individual card, e.g., limit of £2.50 per day

Students who are entitled to have free school meals use the same card as other paying customers. Thus, eliminating the need for canteen staff to log each free school meal transaction, thereby reducing queuing time and removing any stigma for free school meal users. Daily spend limits on the card are pre-set by the Finance Office according to user entitlement.

At Chipping Norton School, we sometimes take photographs of students. We use these photographs in the school’s prospectus, school’s website, display boards around school and on other social media platforms.

We always seek your consent to take photographs of your child, and use them in the ways described above. If you are not happy for us to do this, that is not a problem – we will accommodate your preferences.  In the separate ‘Agreement Form’ you will be able to selected when you are or not happy for images to be taken.

If you have any other questions, please get in touch.

Every year you will meet your child’s tutor in October, and then, later in the year, a traditional parents’ evening with each teacher.

At the end of each term (i.e., before Christmas, Easter and the summer holidays), you will also receive a ‘Personal Scorecard’ and a ‘Standards Report’ that will flag up any classwork or homework concerns from each teacher.

In addition, twice per year, you will receive an ‘Academic Report’ that indicates the standard of work your child is producing in each subject. That’s two meetings per year, plus eight different reports per year.

Our preferred means to resolve difficulties is to use a restorative approach that helps young people learn from their mistakes. Nevertheless, when things go wrong we have lunchtime detentions (for more minor issues), or after school detentions (for more serious misbehaviours).

Our school canteen offers a wide range of healthy snacks and meals at both break time (1105-1130) and lunchtime (1335-1415).

Items on our menu include fresh fruit pots, pasta with a choice of toppings, homemade soups, a main meal, sweet treats and yoghurt with a granola topping. Drinks are also available. Students have a cashless catering system using a lunch card. Please note that there is a maximum daily limit of £5.00.

Parents can use their Parent Pay account to add money to their child’s lunch card. Free School Meals students have £2.50 added to their lunch card automatically each day to enable them to purchase either snacks or the main hot meal of the day.

The PE department at CNS has successfully run sports fixtures over many years and have had a great deal of success. We actively participate in sports such as rugby, football, netball, hockey, badminton, athletics and cricket.  On top of friendly matches, we enter district, county and national competitions.

Most competitions, whether at home or away, take place after school and may require special travel arrangements. Transport is usually to and from the school site and we ask you to be prepared, if necessary, to collect students from school following matches. Transport to “away” matches is usually by minibus, hired coach or staff car in compliance with Oxfordshire County Council Safety Policy. You will be notified of any changes to this arrangement.

Students who express an interest in representing the school will be issued with a fixture list which you should retain at home for reference. Team lists are published at school in advance of matches and competitions and students selected for teams are asked to note this in their diary, together with pick up and return times, and present this information to you before the day of the fixture.

A reliable range of exclusive bus services collects and returns students to and from CNS every day by Oxfordshire County Council (OCC). Buses arrive at a range of times, but all buses leave the front of schools between 3:25pm and 3:30pm each day. The school transport is booked directly through OCC. We have routes that cover all the surrounding villages as well as some taxis available for smaller villages. Students receive their OCC bus pass in mid-August and should carry this with them at all times, as per the county policy.

Our school uniform celebrates our belonging to a like-minded community that is bonded by common values, aspirations, and goals – to be the best we can be. We seek the highest possible standards in all aspects of our life at this school and seek to work closely with parents, carers, and students to make this a reality.

There are no planned changes to our school uniform for September 2022 or 2023.