Dear Parents and Carers
You win some, you lose some…
Firstly, congratulations to our Year 12 team who took part in the Rotary Club’s Youth Speaks competition at The Cooper School in Bicester earlier this week. Florence Pearce, Ellie Knobel and Toby Ball debated the motion, ‘It is unethical for healthcare workers to strike’, and beat Bloxham and The Cooper Schools with their fantastic speeches to bring home the cup. Next stop – regional finals in Reading!
The Year 10 team (Bella Wolfe, Lucille Blake and Kenda Daymond) also took to the floor for their first ever debate and argued that, ‘All PE lessons in school should be mixed gender’. According to Mrs Duffy (Assistant Head of English who accompanied the teams), they were also superb and not in the slightest intimidated! Up against sixth form teams they completely “smashed it” in front of an audience.
Students of every age are welcome to join the CNS Debating Society, who meet every Wednesday lunchtime in A2.
Meanwhile, two sports teams reached the finals of their respective competitions but missed out against equally impressive opponents.
Yesterday, our Year 8 football team played in the final of the County Cup Final against St. Birinus. It was an extremely tight game that looked to be swinging back our way when Izzy Hunt secured an equaliser with fifteen minutes to go. However, despite hitting their post, St Birinus scored a second goal with two minutes to go and secured the Cup. Congratulations to St. Birinus Boys, particularly after being beaten finalists against Cherwell this time last year. Mr Thomas (Head of PE) remains upbeat and is continually impressed by the talent and energy of his team – and is confident that this group will go from strength to strength in the coming years.
This evening, our rugby seniors sought to top-off an amazing season with a tournament at Stow Rugby Club. Unfortunately, we were the unlucky runners up in a game that could have gone either way, but their coach, Mr Robinson, wishes to publicly express his pride in the boys, describing their ‘band of brothers’ team spirit. Mr Robinson would like to praise the ‘truly inspiring leadership’ of several boys in particular: Tom Wilson, David Jenkins, Thomas Platt and Max Mallalieu-Needle – who have been, “…nothing short of fantastic’’. The disappointment was in some ways offset by this personal “Up the Chip” message from a certain Mr Mike Tindall (MBE) – which you can view by following this link…
Oxfordshire Parents and Carers Forum Survey
The Oxfordshire Parent Carers Forum (OxPCF) is running its first comprehensive survey regarding schools to gather the experiences of families of children and young people in the county with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND). OxPCF is a wholly independent and formally recognised organisation, funded by the Department of Education. It is made up of a dedicated team of volunteer parents and carers of children and young people with SEND, with a wide and varied range of lived and professional experience.
All schools in Oxfordshire have been asked to support awareness and distribution of the survey and it is aimed at all families – including those whose children may have additional needs, but are not yet currently in receipt of more formal levels of SEND support. Just follow this link to the survey.
Attendance Matters
| Mon 15 to Fri 19 Jan 2024 | |
| Whole school | 91.5% |
| Year 7 | 94.0% |
| Year 8 | 89.2% |
| Year 9 | 89.6% |
| Year 10 | 87.6% |
| Year 11 | 90.5% |
| Year 12 | 96.3% |
| Year 13 | 94.1% |
| No. still on 100% | 155 |
Congratulations again to year 7, 12 and 13 with really great levels of attendance last week. We hope those who have been ill are feeling much better and that they have also caught up on their lost learning. If in doubt, parents and carers are encouraged to make direct contact with teachers to check what has been missed and ensure that work has been caught-up and your child does not fall behind.
Since September, our attendance stands at 91.5%; which is broadly in line with last year and only very marginally above the national average. It is going to take time and patience to get back to those pre-COVID levels of 95% and we know this will only occur when parents, carers, students and schools are aligned in their goal to do so.
In the message we try to repeat as much as possible, your children belong here at CNS every day and whilst we know that illness is unavoidable, we also know that every day of learning in school brings each child one step closer to their chosen future.
Yours faithfully
Barry Doherty
Headteacher
