Dear Parents and Carers

Year 11 Class of 2024

I am writing this letter to you just a few days after returning from Thorpe Park with 120 Year 11 students and staff. In recent times, Thorpe Park has become the final act or rite of passage in a programme of fun activities that we take as seriously as their examination preparation.

As you can imagine, it’s been a busy and demanding twelve months for our Year 11s. This time last year they embarked on their Year 10 mocks, and this was followed by their full mocks in October / November and the commencement of the Get Ahead (revision) Programme since January.

The examinations appear to have gone smoothly, albeit with several tricky papers along the way, but all the time we have been checking-in with them and ensuring there was plenty to look forward to as well.

Last week, we held our annual Leavers’ Day. Following their final common morning exam, we put on a buffet for them and held our final assembly with plenty of thanks, affection, silly videos and memorable images from their lives at CNS these past five years. We then headed out to the fields for the football tournament and the visit of the ice cream van.

Last Thursday, we held the prom nearby and the weather was in our favour to make it a memorable occasion. Our students looked and conducted themselves superbly and received many compliments from members of the public, the DJ and the venue staff.

After a few days of rest, we then set off to Thorpe Park at the start of this week. The Mediterranean heat was certainly fitting and looking at how many nodding heads we could see down each line of the coach on the way home, we think we did our best to recognise and thank a wonderful year group – who are now entitled to an almighty rest of their own.

I shall end this piece by sharing and referring to a slide we showed them back in September. It was our way of saying that if they simply walk a step or two with us then all would be well. That message remains the same – together, we’ve got this.

We hope you like some of the snapshots (below) of their final few days as Year 11s at CNS.

And finally

Next week we shall be holding a mock election to enable students to cast their vote, having been shown some of the manifesto commitments from the parties seeking to return an MP in our Banbury constituency. An interesting week ahead! Have a lovely weekend when it arrives!

Yours faithfully
Barry Doherty
Headteacher