Dear Parents and Carers,
It is hard to believe that we are already over half-way into our first half-term! I was proud to speak to over 500 parents at last week’s Open Evening about who we are and what we do at Chipping Norton School. We also had over 200 students volunteering to help out as guides or ambassadors – testimony to the strong sense of belonging within our school family. Allow me to share an email that was sent to school the day after, which perfectly illustrates what we mean when we say “Character is what we do when no-one is looking”:
“I wanted to send a message and let you know how amazing some of your sixth formers were last night! I was driving from Shipton to Chipping Norton and hit a deer on the way. It had caused a lot of damage to my front driver sides. I stopped at the school not knowing it was open evening to check the damage and your students were friendly, welcoming and SUPER helpful! Fin, Alfie and Jacob Year13s went above and beyond to check I was okay and assisted me in patching up my vehicle so I could safely get home.
They really are a credit to Chipping Norton School and as a former student there myself […] I thought it was important to share such a positive experience, please can you pass on my extreme gratitude and thanks to your 3 lovely students!”
We know we’ll have done our job well if all students act like this outside school. This also marks the start of “Our Values in Action” series where we will regularly share examples from members of our community who are an inspiration to all of us through acts of courage, compassion, curiosity and creativity. You will find further examples on our Bluesky channels so please remember to follow us (links at the end). We recommend setting up a Bluesky account to just follow the school accounts and to ‘unfollow’ the main Bluesky account so your feed only contains posts from us.
Community Kitchen (K1) update
We are very near completion of our ‘Community Kitchen’ which will allow our Food Tech department to expand and also provide a space for vulnerable learners to access their education. See below for a before and after comparison:
July 2025
October 2025
Upcoming dates for your diary:
Wed 15 October KS4/5 Solo performances
Mon 20 October Start of Year 11 GCSE Mock exams
Thu 23 October Non-school uniform day
Fri 24 October Disaggregated INSET Day – School closed
Mon 3 November River Learning Trust INSET Day – School closed to students
Tue 4 November Chipping Norton School INSET Day – School closed to students
Thu 13 November Sixth Form Open Evening (5-8pm)
A gentle reminder to consider our residents’ drives and access pathways at pick-up and drop-off times as there have been a few occasions recently when they weren’t able to leave or park near their home.
Enjoy the autumn weekend ahead!
@cnsheadteacher.bsky.social
@cnschool.bsky.social
Yours faithfully
Mr Bertram Richter
Headteacher
