Dear Parents and Carers
It has been a very busy few days with a wide number of sporting events and activities taking place as normal. Before I get into all of that may I ask if you have completed the annual parent survey? If not please follow this link and I can assure you it will take no more than three or four minutes.
PTA Fire Walk
Ever fancied walking bare foot across red hot coals for charity? Well, next Friday 28th March, that is exactly what is happening on behalf of the children who attend CNS. You can follow this link to the fundraising page (over £1000 already raised) or use the QR code opposite.
Our thanks to local dads (Steve Palmer, Dan Houlton, Chris Gascoigne, and Dom Rickard) who are daft courageous enough to risk blisters and worse to create even better facilities for your children. I did offer to participate but apparently one is not allowed to wear asbestos soled boots anymore.
If you can spare a few pounds or more, then please follow that link and good luck to Steve, Dan, Chris and Dom!
Comic Relief Bake Sale and Non-Uniform Day
The annual fundraiser is in full swing right now and we are pleased to report that this week’s bake sale alone has raised well over £1000 – who’d have thought sugar and chocolate was so popular? Coordinated by Mrs Tandy and run by our Student Leaders, the queues have been huge but the wait has been worth every minute in those lines. Donations for non-uniform are on an ‘honesty box basis’, and so you can make your donation on MCAS all over the weekend, and every penny will go to Comic Relief.
The Scottish Play in London
Last night the English Department took sixty Year 11s with them to see Macbeth’ at The Globe in London. Naturally, they were immaculately behaved but it was just perfect for them to have a much deserved mini-break after recent mock examinations.
Sixth Form Applications
We have received a record number of applications for our Outstanding sixth form, both internally and externally. External interest is now so high that we had to modify our annual event and welcomed close to sixty students from ten schools on Wednesday. They were given tours and were able to meet other students and many staff in what was a very relaxed and enjoyable environment. We hope to see many of them in September and join those in year 11 who have also applied and are looking forward to post-16 life here at CNS.
Mobile Phone Usage at CNS
You will be aware that years 8 to 11 have a ‘not seen or heard between 08:40 and 15:15’ mobile phone policy. From September our intention is to extend that full ban on all smartphones to the current and then the new year 7s. Over time there will be a complete ban on smartphones at CNS.
You will be aware that this topic is very much in the news and I know that many families have welcomed our gradual introduction and movement towards a complete ban. That said, we strongly encourage all parents to considers the significant risks associated with smartphone ownership and unmonitored or excessive usage by children.
We have certainly seen a dramatic fall in the number of social media related problems amongst our Year 7s and, to a lesser extent, amongst older year groups. We can see that parents and carers are taking more and more assertive steps to monitor and intervene. We are aware that many parents and carers approve of their children using social media at a young age and whilst we do not criticise those decisions, we also urge reconsideration given the effects and the risks.
We continue to create personal development resources that we hope will enable our students to create ‘digital safe spaces’ and we regularly update our resources and programmes to ensure they stay up-to-date. Recent and much-admired television dramas can often act as a spur or impetus for reflection and change at family, school and national levels. We always look to refine and evolve what is taught and what is learned.
If you have any comments on our mobile phone policy, for any year group, then please do email me directly with your comments and feedback. This will help inform our annual review of the policy itself after Easter.
And finally…
Please look out for a letter from our School Business Manager, Louise Trimmer, in the coming days. We plan to introduce biometric fingerprint recognition to order food and move away from lunch cards. The letter will explain everything and explores the questions that we anticipate parents, carers and students might ask.
Have a lovely weekend!
Very best wishes,
Barry Doherty
Headteacher
