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Open Evening Invitation

Dear Parents, Carers and Children

OPEN EVENING INVITATION 2022: THURSDAY 6 OCTOBER, 5:00PM to 8:00PM

We are delighted to invite you all to our open evening in just three weeks’ time.

Seeing the school

All visitors will join a small touring party and be led around our school by a year 8 student and a member of the sixth form. They will be able to answer many of your questions, but also ensure that you manage to see all parts of our beautiful school. Each tour will take in our science laboratories, design & technology rooms, art studios, gymnasium, AstroTurf, sports hall, music rooms, dance studio, drama suite, lecture theatre and computer rooms – along with most of the classrooms that serve the twenty-one subjects we offer at CNS. We shall also show you our sixth form centre, recently refurbished dining facilities, and social spaces.

No booking necessary

We realise that families have very different schedules and demands and therefore families may arrive without a booking – noting that 5:00pm and 7:00pm tend to be the busiest times. Families are asked to walk to the school, leaving their cars at home or off site, if possible. There will of course be onsite parking (guides will be on hand) but these evenings can become very congested with traffic; particularly from 7:00pm onwards.

Three special gatherings

In addition to the tour and seeing hundreds of students in action, you are strongly encouraged to attend one of three ‘Welcome to Chipping Norton School’ gatherings in the main hall. At 5:00pm, 6:00pm and 7:00pm, Mrs Faulkner (Head of Transition) and I will welcome all visitors and set out the school’s vision, values and outstanding recent academic achievements. We shall of course provide each family with a copy of our prospectus and summary of GCSE and A level results at this presentation, in addition to a curriculum outline and the much-admired booklet of letters from established Chipping Norton students in year 8, to their former classmates back in primary school.

We know that families will appreciate having options to plan their evening and decide to begin or end their tour with our formal welcome.

In addition to the welcome evening, families may choose to attend one or both of two other drop-in sessions:

  • At 5:30pm and again at 6:30pm, Mrs Smart (SENCo) and her learning support team will deliver a short presentation on provision for students with special educational needs at CNS. The presentation will last no more than 5-10 minutes, after which Mrs Smart and her team will be on-hand to meet children and families;
  • At 5:45pm and again at 6:45pm, Ms Hancock (Deputy Head and DSL) and Mrs De Bruyn (Assistant Head Key Stage 3) will deliver a short presentation on personal development and pastoral care at CNS. Again, the presentation will be relatively short but there will be time to chat and get to know one another.

As you arrive we shall help you plan your evening and so all you need to do in advance is decide if you wish to attend just one or all of the special get togethers.

Summary of Gatherings:

5:00pm Welcome to Chipping Norton School (in the main hall) with Mr Doherty and Mrs Faulkner.
5:30pm Provision for students with special educational needs (in A2) with Mrs Smart.
5:45pm Personal development and pastoral care at CNS (in A5) with Ms Hancock and Mrs De Bruyn.
6:00pm Welcome to Chipping Norton School (in the main hall) with Mr Doherty and Mrs Faulkner.
6:30pm Provision for students with special educational needs (in A2) with Mrs Smart.
6:45pm Personal development and pastoral care at CNS (in A5) with Ms Hancock and Mrs De Bruyn.
7:00pm Welcome to Chipping Norton School (in the main hall) with Mr Doherty and Mrs Faulkner.

If you cannot attend on 6 October 2022

We understand that some families may not be able to visit the school on the open evening. If this applies to your family, then you are invited to email Mrs Faulkner (Head of Transition) on [email protected]. It is our intention to create a limited open morning, by appointment, on Thursday 13 October. This will involve a 30-minute tour of the school and a meeting with a member of staff from the pastoral, learning support or leadership teams.

Getting the most out of the evening…

At predefined points along the tour, you will find me and other colleagues ready to take your questions. For instance, Mrs Faulkner and Mrs Cottrell will be able to answer questions on transition, Mrs Smart on special educational needs, Mr Trainer on our curriculum, Mr Gent on our teaching and learning, or Ms Hancock on how we keep children safe at school. In other words, we shall make sure you will get to see, meet and speak to the people we know that you will wish to speak to on the night.

And finally…

We cannot wait to see you. Our students, my colleagues, and our facilities are truly first class and we are looking forward to showing you all the things we have been doing and what we plan to do next! Below are some useful hyperlinks to parts of our website.

 

Yours faithfully
Barry Doherty
Headteacher

* Paper copies of these documents will be provided on the open evening.

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