Denstone College Newsletter - 23-09-2022 | News

September 23rd 2022

23 September 2022

Newsletter from the Head – Week 3

Dear Parents and Guardians

Thank you for your continued support of the ever-changing landscape here at Denstone College; bank holidays always seem to throw the routine, rigour and schedule of the metronomic stability of school life and this week has been no exception. I do hope you were able to experience much of the pageantry and dignified television coverage of the passing of Her Majesty and have explored all the issues relating to this with your child. Here at school we have worked hard to find just the right balance of respect, mourning, celebration of a life well lived, and normality, to ensure children are continuing to progress and I am grateful for your kind words regarding our response. The pupils have risen beautifully to the occasion and their words and actions have been incredibly moving at times.

As always, it has been an extraordinarily busy time. The Upper Sixth will soon be in receipt of their mock examination results and conversations regarding their future plans are well underway. Please do use our expertise to think creatively and ambitiously to ensure your child is doing what is right for them; our increase in children applying for degree apprenticeships is significant and I am delighted with the way pupils are considering their futures wisely.

Friday Night Lights

We welcome parents to all of our sporting fixtures and I enjoy seeing many of you on the touchlines. I would like to take this opportunity to highlight a couple of extra events at which you may wish to spectate.

Friday 23 September: Rugby 1^st XV v Ipswich School play at Leicester Forest RFC at 7:30pm. If you would like to view this match but are unable to attend, please do enjoy the live stream coverage which can be found by clicking here: https://youtu.be/Bj8HjrBkKXk

Friday 30 September: The Girls 1st XI are playing in the opening of the National Tier 1 hockey competition. We welcome our opponents, Trent College for our opener under lights at 6.15pm on Addies Astro. Refreshments from Bedford & Basil's wood-fired pizza truck will be available for purchase at Addies Pavilion, and we look forward to a fabulous evening supporting Denstone Hockey.

Parent Teacher Meetings

For the academic year 2022-2023, all Parent Teacher meetings will be held here as ‘in person’ events. Although we have received much praise and positive feedback surrounding the online platform we have been using for the last three years, we have also received overwhelming feedback in favour of hosting these events in the College. In a bid to not only respond to feedback, but to also bring our community back together where we can share these opportunities to provide more general updates and advice, to allow parents to socialise and to be more flexible and responsive in our work, we have made this decision. We will operate in person for the remainder of this school year and then review the situation again next Summer. To that end, please may I draw your attention to the following important dates:

Lower Sixth Form: Tuesday 1 November at 6.00pm

Fourth Form: Tuesday 22 November at 6.00pm

First Form: Tuesday 29 November at 6.00pm

Fifth Form: Monday 5 December at 6.00pm

(progressing to Sixth form Evening)

Fifth Form: January 2023 (Date TBC)

Third Form: February 2023 (Date TBC)

Upper Sixth Form: February 2023 (Date TBC)

Second Form: May 2023 (Date TBC)

Lower Sixth (UCAS): June 2023 (Date TBC)

In addition to the above dates, we will be running our reporting schedule throughout the school year. Please note that from this academic year there will be no Summer half term grades and comments for any year group. Instead, we will focus on providing full and informative end of term reports once summer exams and assessments have been sat by our pupils.

Exeat

Please note that our first exeat for the year is this weekend. The day will finish on Friday at 4.30pm and pupils are available for collection from 4.10pm. Boarders should return on Sunday evening or Monday morning as per usual arrangements and all other pupils should return to school for Monday at the normal time.

Christmas Fair

This year our Christmas Fair will be held on Saturday 19 November in the Drill Hall featuring a number of fantastic food, drink, homeware, accessories and gift stalls from local industries and suppliers. The Denstone Parents’ Association would be delighted to hear from any parents who would wish to host a stand at this event. Interested parties should contact [email protected]

Scholars' and Advanced Musicians' Concert

On Monday evening we have the first concert of term, which showcases our Music Scholars, and our other advanced musicians. This will be a 7.00pm, in the Music School. Parents are very welcome to attend.

Communications

Wherever possible, please do drive all communication regarding your son or daughter through their Tutor or their Head of House in the first instance. They will likely be able to direct information to the correct person and can largely solve most issues or escalate if necessary.

Communications Available on the Parent Portal

The following letters can be found on the Parent Portal by visiting https://parents.denstonecollege.org