Dear Parents and Carers

We trust that our most recent foreign adventurers returned safely tonight. My thanks again to colleagues who organise such inspiring trips – in this case an art trip to Amsterdam over a long weekend. Thank you to Mrs James, our (relatively) new Head of Art, for leading this visit. Alongside trips to Twickenham and the Ashmolean, as well as field trips in biology and geography to Swanage and Birmingham now completed, we also look forward to a theatre trip to see Othello, a trip to the Oxfordshire Book Awards, a geography field trip to the Lake District and the PE sports tour of Malta in the coming weeks.

A Tale of Two Taylors

Sixth-form students and talented boxers, Chris and Johnny Taylor, are making a name for themselves both in the classroom and the ring. Balancing their A-level studies with the demanding England Boxing Sporting Excellence Programme in London, these dedicated twins are pursuing their dream of becoming professional boxers.

Both Chris and Johnny recently secured stellar GCSE results that were no surprise given their commitment to all things outside and in the ring…

Already accomplished amateur fighters, both Chris and Johnny secured victories at the Home Counties semi-finals of the England Boxing Development Championships in September. They recently appeared on BBC Radio Oxford, confidently discussing their boxing ambitions.

At the Home Counties Championship in early October, Chris emerged victorious and will now face the Western Counties Champion in the national quarter-finals on 13 October. Although Johnny didn’t secure a win this time, he remains determined and will undoubtedly come back strong in his next bout.

We wish Chris the best of luck in his upcoming bout!

Internet Matters – Guidance for Parents & Carers

I wish to draw your attention to Internet Matters – which contains lots of clear information which might be useful for all adults; especially parents, carers and school staff. In this article, Internet Matters looks at a number of aspects such as balancing concerns with safety and limiting risk. In this article, there is a parents’ and carers’ guide to smart phones versus block phones. Together, these articles and the links within the articles have lots of up-to-date and useful information. 

Student House Council

In recent weeks, the new student leadership body have been appointed and met for the first time with Ms Skill (Head of Character Education) and Mrs Tandy (Student Leadership Coordinator). We look forward to them creating our first student leadership development plan and we hope to secure an inspiring visit for the entire team at the Palace of Westminster in the New Year. This will follow a visit from our new local MP, Sean Woodward, who has agreed to visit us in late November.

Some staffing updates…

Last week we appointed Mrs Abrahams to the position of Head of Key Stage Three, working directly with Mrs Knight, Mrs Cottrell and Mrs Budd. In addition, we also appointed Mrs Eakins to the position of Deputy Head of Sixth Form. These are important moments for the school in that we have now achieved our ambition to expand the pastoral team and services at CNS so that we can meet the wide range of academic, social and emotional needs of our students. A full summary of our teams appears below for reference.

And finally…

I look forward to being in touch with you again before we break up for half term. The final day for students is next Thursday 24 October 2024, with the new term starting for all students at 8:40am on Tuesday 5 November 2024.

Yours faithfully
Barry Doherty
Headteacher