Denstone College Newsletter 11-11-2022

November 11th 2022

11 November 2022

Newsletter from the Head – Week 10

Dear Parents and Guardians

The first exeat of the term is upon us and peace will soon descend upon the College. What an extraordinarily productive and busy two weeks this has been and I trust all our community are ready for a much needed rest. There have been so many noteworthy events in the last few weeks and so many areas of success; please do keep abreast of our social media channels to see all the wonderful achievements of our pupils.

Traffic Flow

Thank you to all parents for their understanding regarding traffic movement within Denstone village. I am delighted to see progress in this area and hope that you are starting to see change. Although there is no enforced traffic flow in the village, I politely ask that parents try to only use Narrow Lane for exiting from the village (ie. in an ‘uphill’ fashion) and use College Road for the entry to the College. We cannot enforce a one-way system but any further work we can do to keep traffic moving around the village would be very well received by all.

Winter Planning

We are living in uncertain times and the media have rightfully reminded us of the fragility of our existence. Although we hope unnecessary, please do be reassured that the College works hard on contingency planning and disaster response scenarios. This year we have understandably extended that planning to the threat of extended power loss through the winter months. Although we are a remarkable resilient community, an extended period of time without power would result in significant disruption to our operation. To that end, I write to simply inform all parents that we have worked through a number of scenarios. We have reserves in place (food, battery power, water) to sustain our boarding community safely for three full days. If we are presented with a scenario where power is lost locally, regionally or nationally for any longer than this period, we would be forced to close our operation. To that end, we are making sure our necessary arrangements are in place for guardian responsibility for pupils and for safe transfer of care. Should a scenario like this arise where communication may be affected (such as total loss of internet connectivity or phone lines), we ask that you proactively attend College to collect your child or make necessary arrangements with guardians. We do hope that this is never enacted.

Denstone Parents Events Christmas Market

Just a reminder that this year’s Christmas Market will be held on Saturday 19 November in the Drill Hall from 12-4pm. This wonderful event will feature a number of fantastic food, drink, homeware, accessories and gift stalls from local industries and suppliers. It would great to see you all there.

Communications Available on the Parent Portal

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