Dear Parents and Carers

I hope your children relayed the events of the final moments of the spring term. In the style of ‘Challenge Anneka’, we meandered our way through the corridors towards the winner of the Attendance Eggstravaganza draw and awarded them with their brand-new X Box.  A worthy winner and a lovely way to end the term!

Since then, Mr James and his intrepid team of volunteer staff (Mrs Du Crôs, Miss Miles, Miss Smith, Mr Thomas and Mr Newton) successfully led an exciting ski trip to Zell am See, in Austria. Once there, all of the planning and organising was worth it and I wish to thank my colleagues for putting together a wonderful experience for our students and giving up half of their Easter break to give children an unforgettable experience and alpine adventure.

Ready, Safe and Respectful – The CNS Way

As with each new major term, I began the week with a series of standards and values assemblies across years 7 to 11. I wish to share some of the contents with you this afternoon.

I began by reiterating our basic expectations (see right) and talked about how little time we actually have together in school (just 13%). Our expectations are simple and our ‘rules’ somewhat slim in comparison to many other schools. We seek your support in several areas so that we make every moment count.

• If you know that your child has difficulties with personal organisation, please check that they have the basics for the day (pen, pencil, ruler, reading book and exercise books) or their PE kit on those days.
• If your child is not wearing the full school uniform, please ring or email the form tutor beforehand so that we can arrange for an ‘orange slip’ to be provided. Please help us encourage your child to take responsibility when there are problems with uniform and appearance that we can solve together.
• We wish to make huge strides in pushing down the number of detentions set at CNS. The vast majority of detentions are set for incomplete homework or unexplained lateness to lessons. Starting next Monday, all thirty and sixty-minute detentions will take place after We rely on your support to encourage your children to avoid these detentions in the first place, but also support us when they fail to attend. We hope parents and carers know that if there is a problem picking up your child from an after-school detention then we can work with you and find a solution – please approach the relevant pastoral leader immediately when you receive a notification so that alternate arrangements may be made together.
• Regarding the use of toilets during lessons, students with temporary or long-term health conditions are provided with special cards that continue to allow them to leave lessons without a fuss. Meanwhile, the opportunity to use the toilets at breaktime, lunchtime and the movement breaks between lessons, means that for all other students the use of toilets during lessons is now very strongly discouraged. We hope families understand the importance of being in lessons at all times and why a student may have to catch-up on missed work at break or lunchtime if they leave lessons. I wish to re-emphasise… those with medical or personal needs are of course exempt and so do approach the relevant pastoral leader if you wish to discuss access to a special pass, or urge your child to do so.

We seek to be a school with very high expectations but also wish to emphasise that in all regards we inject reasonable adjustments to ensure we retain widespread support and agreement.

We Are Very Lucky

The bulk of my assembly to your children was based on a series of stories about coincidences. Perhaps ask your children to tell you the amazing story of Mr Tsutomu Yamaguchi, the Tierney family and the Hoover Dam brothers, Jim and Jim, or the nurse called Vicky Jessop.

Most of all, I hope your children were left thinking about the biggest questions of all – what if our parents had never met? What if our two sets of grandparents had never met? What if any one of our ten thousand pairs of ancestors had never met – ‘dating’ back 200,000 years? How lucky are we that all our ancestors managed to dodge every meteorite, earthquake, flash flood, plague, snake bite and arrow to make ‘us’ possible?

It is easy and simple to think that teachers are just interested in rules and expectations, but they are merely a means to an end… Time in school is indeed extremely precious and limited and this is why every moment does count: why we need to be ready to teach and learn on time; why interruptions are unhelpful; and why we cannot waste the lifelong gift that education provides.

All heavy stuff I guess for week one – but this ‘stuff’ is our bread and butter at CNS and in every school I know. It is worth remembering that education is our society’s main way to ensure that every child has a more equal opportunity to lead the life they seek. Please support us in the highest standards of personal organisation and appearance, being ready for school and for learning, and a commitment to be one’s best self at all times.

And finally…

Thanks to those who have expressed an interest in joining one of our focus groups to explore attendance; behaviour and attitudes; homework; reporting to parents and carers; and uniform and appearance. You can still join up by following this link (including those parents and carers whose children are due to start with us in September).

Yours faithfully
Barry Doherty
Headteacher