Dear Parents and Carers

This week I need to share some very serious information that all schools have been asked to circulate. Please note that I have placed this content on the second page and will lead on other news and updates first.

Year 12 Interview Challenge – Thursday 2 May 2024

The annual Interview Challenge has been running successfully for many years. It begins with Emma Goodman (a former recruitment consultant) kicking off the morning with an interview skills workshop; covering everything from body language, eye contact and handshakes, to talking positively about oneself. Following this, students then have the opportunity to have two five-minute long ‘speed interviews’ where they are asked general questions about themselves, their interests and their plans for the future. They then receive feedback from our interviewers which they can act upon in their second interview of the morning. Our interviewers are volunteers from local businesses and colleges, many of whom are regular supporters of this event – they thoroughly enjoy meeting our students! This year’s interviewers included representatives from local businesses (Wise Investment, Zurich Insurance, Daylesford, Intake Talent, Therapi, The Bamford Collection and, FarmEd) as well as retired lawyers, business professionals and psychologists.

Students are initially daunted by the prospect of the two speed interviews but they all feel a sense of achievement at the end of the morning – and enjoy putting Emma’s ideas into action straight away. Students and interviewers gather together at the end of the morning for a general feedback session where each interviewer awards a prize for their best second interviewee. Whilst all of our students made an excellent impression on the interviewers, the following were awarded prizes as the best in their group: Isaac Fisher, Riya Hasan, Naomi Coleman, HJ Walkden, Tyra Aitken, Sophie Jones, Eva Darby, Ellie Knobel, Orla McArdle, Deven Trotman, Megan Walker, Morgan Williams, Finlay Jackman, Maddi Hall and Will Gray.

My thanks to Mrs Davison, Assistant Head of Sixth Form, for organising this very special day!

Get Your Skates On…

You will recall the impressive efforts of three of our students (Joe Darlow, Isaac Kedward and Joe Priestly) who led a campaign to bring a skatepark to the town (learn more about this here). The good news is that things are on course for it to be installed within the next twelve months. Meanwhile, the Council has organised another ‘pop-up skate park’ event that will take place on Sunday 12 May 2024. Families are strongly encouraged to visit and learn more about both the sport and the planned skatepark. 

Modern Foreign Languages Festival

Each year the MFL team, led by Mrs Brocklebank, work closely with a team of CNS student language leaders to host a festival on our site for children across our partner primary schools. This took place last week and was a great success: in my regular meeting with local primary headteachers this week, their confidence and enthusiasm were widely praised and we are therefore very proud of them all. Since September, our student language leaders have met each fortnight and created activities to lead a fifteen-minute lesson in a range of different languages. They were able to finesse their mini-lessons by practising in front of one another, and then road-testing with a year 7 class as well. Congratulations and thank you to Jenny Atlas, Isla Fletcher, Fran Raymond-Barker, Molly Jenkins, Bee Baker, Isla Hayes, Hanne Lutman, Vivi Walkden, Honour Nolan, Olivia Walker, Florence Pearce, Cerys Moss, Laura Brown, Frederica Burrough, Henri Knobel and William Harvey.

National Crime Agency (NCA) Alert to schools

I feel sure you will have seen the media coverage of the NCA’s alert to schools on financially motivated sexual extortion. This has been in response to a marked increase in the reporting of children and young people, particular teenage males, being blackmailed by adult offenders who have threatened to release nudes or semi-nudes of these children. This is financially motivated sexual extortion, sometimes colloquially referred to as ‘sextortion’, and is a form of child sexual abuse.

Whilst knowledge of this risk is not new to us, we have taken note of the helpful updated guidance. Ms Hancock (Deputy Headteacher and DSL) and Ms Skill (Head of Character Education) will review our curriculum and consider age-appropriate reminders and updates for our students. One of the key messages that is worth sharing is that it does not simply happen to other people’s children – it is a risk to all children and so there is no room for any complacency. More information can be found here.

All schools have been asked to raise awareness of this risk with parents and carers. In addition, we have used the NCA’s guidance to create two one sided leaflets for you that are attached with this email. One provides ideas on how to raise this topic with your children. The other sets out what to do if it were to occur.

If you are reading this on our website then please get in touch with my PA, Morag, who can send you the two leaflets.

And finally…

Thank you to those parents and carers who have volunteered to join our mini-consultations. I hope you have received your link and we look forward to reading your thoughts in the coming weeks.

I hope you have some lovely plans for the bank holiday weekend and that we all get a bit of late spring sunshine.

Yours faithfully
Barry Doherty
Headteacher