Dear Parents and Carers

Approaching the Final Straight
Traditionally, students in Year 11 and Year 13 tended to begin their revision in earnest in April and devote most of their Easter holidays to that end. Things have changed in this school and most others as we have aimed to better prepare all students by commencing an early and thorough revision programme – known as The GAP for our Year 11s. We hope that for the majority of students they are nearer the end of their revision than the beginning. This will allow them to feel less anxious and more confident that they will maximise their potential in just a few weeks’ time.
Over the Easter break we are again hosting a series of publicised revision booster events in many subject areas. If you wish to learn more then please contact either Mr Parker or Mrs De Bruyn on [email protected] or [email protected].

Our advice would be that the holiday is a mixture of hard work and genuine relaxation so that they return both refreshed and confidently focussed on the two months that lie ahead. In terms of time commitment, a basic working day starts with about eight hours and this is a useful rule of thumb when working out what could, should or must be done in the weeks ahead.

Spring Concert
Last Thursday evening we were again fortunate to host another major music event featuring students from all year groups. I was so proud to receive so many compliments from the audience throughout and afterwards who remarked on both the skill and the enthusiasm of so many students for the performing arts. However, it is the dedicated colleagues who ought to feel that pride, not me, and therefore I wish to publically thank Mr Brown and Mrs Johnston for putting the concert together and making it such a success.

MUGA Development
Students have been noticing the work that has commenced on the MUGA. Its degrading surface will be completely removed over the coming few weeks and a bright green astro-turf will be put in its place for your children to access. The surface is owned and maintained by OCC and we are really grateful to them for prioritising this new surface for the benefit of the community and of course our students as well.

Finally, on behalf of all the staff I wish you a restful and enjoyable holiday this Easter. The summer term begins on Tuesday 23 April.

Yours sincerely

Barry Doherty, Headteacher