1 July 2010

Dear Parent/Guardian

I am writing to provide you with details of our arrangements for the last day of term.  We shall be closing early on Friday 23 July at 12.50pm.  The plan for the day will be normal lessons and timings of the day until 12.40pm where students will return to their home groups for a tidy up and dismissal by senior college staff.

Students who are eligible for free school meals will be able to collect their meals at break time. There will be a shuttle bus available to transfer students who wish (priority given to younger students) to the bus station for their onward journey on this day.  Please note there will be no buses at 3.20pm, but if you require your child to stay until this time, please contact their Pastoral Support Manager who will guarantee their supervision.

Beginning of the new academic year
We re-open on Thursday 2 September 2010. 

New Year 7 students should report to the Main Hall at 8.40am, where they will meet their Home Group Tutor and be taken to their room.

Students in Years 8-11 need to be in their Home Group at 9.30am promptly for registration.  If they have arrived on the site earlier than this, they may go to the Dining Hall where breakfast snacks may be bought.

Students in Years 12 should report to Fuller College at 8.50am and Year 13 at 11.10am.

Collection of Public Examination Results
Year 11 students have already received letters with information about arrangements for collecting exam results.

Year 9 and 10 students who have public examination results to collect may do so on Tuesday 24 August at 11am in the Main Hall.  Please note that if someone other than the student comes to collect the results, they need written permission signed by the student and bring some form of ID.

Uniform
Many thanks for your support this year with enforcing uniform.  If, over the summer holidays, you are purchasing any new uniform items for your child, please refer to the uniform policy (copy on our website).  As you are aware we have been working to improve the standard of dress code which has improved dramatically and in preparation for the new term in September can we remind you that students must not wear non uniform items of clothing in the school building and, when purchasing girls skirts, please check that skirts are not of lycra or clingy material and are identical to the skirts available from both our uniform suppliers (Newsons and Barnums). These should be no more than 5cms above the middle of the knee.  Please also be aware that piercings, other than one hole in each ear lobe, are not permitted and students will be required to remove them even if the holes have not yet healed.  Hair colour must be a natural colour if dyed.

Future Prospects
The school are looking to implement a laptop scheme for Year 7 in September.  If successful we will roll the scheme out to the rest of the school in November. 

Many schools operate a parent contribution scheme. We are investigating several possibilities but intend the scheme to fund specific projects, and not just support the school budget.  For example, a new computer room costs approximately £25,000. If 500 parents agreed to a contribution of £5 a month, it would only take us 10 months to have a new room.  We are seeking your thoughts on this idea, please contact Mr Sauntry at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it   (or by telephone) to express your opinion.

Assessment & Reporting Next Year
We are modifying our reporting system so that parents/carers will receive a summary report on your child’s progress six times over the course of the year.  This will include ‘working at’ grades or levels for every subject plus explanatory notes.  This means there will not be an annual written report, but you will be able to check progress more frequently.  There will continue to be Parent Consultation Evenings for each Year Group (the dates will be in the School Calendar on the website) and parents are encouraged to contact the appropriate staff of each subject to discuss their child’s progress.

Review of Year to Date
We are reaching the end of a busy summer term and have enjoyed many events and achievements.  These include:

• Work Experience for Year 11 (including a student in Egypt!)
• Enrichment Week – including residentials to Germany, Cornwall, Wales and Paris, as well as in-school activities such as fencing, building environmentally friendly go-carts and playing in a samba band, creating the ‘Lost’ islands shelter.
• Sports Day (Da Vinci won!)
• Curriculum days at the University of Kent, including the Modern Languages European Day
• Healthy Schools Award
• Art, Drama and Dance Exhibitions
• An enormous number of public examinations  … and so the list goes on!

We look forward to another action packed school year. In the meantime, we hope that you have an enjoyable summer break and that the weather is good for us all.

Yours sincerely