Dear Parents and Carers,
I hope this letter finds you well. Next week is UK Parliament Week and we have invited MP Sean Woodcock to spend Friday afternoon with us. He will run workshops for students, answer questions from our Sixth Formers and discuss how we can improve transport links in our rural community so that more students can access education more easily. Follow us on BlueSky and Facebook where we will share impressions from MP Sean Woodcock’s visit and where we also regularly share highlights from events in our school community.
School Uniform
The government has announced statutory changes to school uniforms which will take effect from September 2026. Every school is expected to consult about the range of compulsory items containing school branding (e.g. a school logo). The maximum number of compulsory branded items has been set to four for secondary schools – a number we currently exceed. I will send out more information and a link to the online consultation in my next letter. The consultation period will end before Christmas and I will share the outcome with you in January.
Message from our PTA
A big thank you to all parents, carers and supporters of Chipping Norton School’s PTA. The PTA are celebrating the first anniversary launch of the donations portal. Thanks to your incredible support, via regular and one-off donations on the school website. The first year of donations has raised an amazing £2,700. It is an incredible milestone. The funds raised have gone to the community kitchen at school, which will be formally opened in early 2026. The PTA’s target is now set to raise £10,000 this academic year to help fund the building of a covered outdoor recreation area that all students can use rain or shine. Small gestures can have a big impact. Click here to donate as little as a cost of a coffee per month. Many thanks for all your ongoing generosity.
Centre of Excellence (Student Leadership)
What do Dubai British School, Hartpury University and Chipping Norton School have in common? We all hold the official status as “Centre of Excellence” for Student Leadership. Many thanks to all colleagues, particularly the Extra-Time and PE team for their continued efforts over many years which has resulted in this prestigious award.
Remembrance Service
We held a remembrance ceremony in school on Armistice Day and were honoured to be joined by the Chipping Norton Branch of the Royal British Legion. We commemorated our student Sgt Nick Stockford whose story I shared with you in my previous letter. On the same day, at the same hour, wreaths were laid by the French Veterans’ Association at a small village cemetery in Chaintreaux, south of Paris, where Nick and his Lancaster Crew crashed. We have established contact with the local primary school whose students have been looking after the crash site and we are looking forward to strengthening this link.
Celebrating our volunteers: David Marriott
David Marriott has been a familiar and friendly face in the school library every Friday for the past ten years. David was a CNS student from 2007-2011 before transferring to New College Worcester and The Royal National College for the Blind to study AS and A levels.
As well as volunteering at CNS and working part time at CETA Insurance, David also helps out at Remix Youth Club and St. Mary’s Church Youth Group. He recently completed an Open University Certificate of Higher Education in Law and has started studying for a Law degree with the Open University, which he hopes to complete over the next few years.
Our school library was a place that David enjoyed visiting when he was a student at CNS and he was keen to return to the school as a volunteer so that he could give something back to the school community. David likes working with younger people and feels that it is a positive thing for students to see people with disabilities providing a worthwhile service to others. We are very grateful for David giving up his free time to help our students use the school library.
British Champion swimmer
I am delighted to end my letter with announcing the following news: Our Year 11 student Amber competed in the British Downs Syndrome Swimming Championships last weekend in Sussex and won Bronze for 25m backstroke, Silver for 50m breaststroke and Gold for 25m breaststroke. We are incredible proud of our Champion who managed to revise and sit her mocks in between training incredibly hard – a great role model to our community!
Yours faithfully,
Bertram Richter
Headteacher
Key dates:
Thu 27 November Year 8 PTC (online)
Wed 3 December Careers Fair at Witney College (Year 10-13)
Wed 10 December Christmas Concert
Thu 11 December Non-uniform day (for Aspire Oxfordshire, supporting vulnerable people with housing and employment)
Fri 12 December Flu vaccinations
Fri 19 December Early closure (12.35pm)
