Denstone College Newsletter 16-12-2022

December 16th 2022

16 December 2022

Newsletter from the Head – Week 15

Dear Parents and Guardians

The Michaelmas Term draws to a close and I am indebted to you all for your support of Denstone College. The education of your children is both a privilege and an honour and to have entrusted their progress to us is a role we do not take lightly.

This term has been quite extraordinary on so many levels and the variety, depth and breadth of everything which has happened is too hard to document. To that end, I urge you to look carefully at the various ‘newsletters’ published at this time of the year to see the vibrancy of life at College.

Communication over the Holidays

Denstone College thrives on brilliant staff who work tirelessly for the betterment of your children. I ask that you refrain from contacting teachers over the Christmas break. In an emergency, please do email [email protected] and your email will be dealt with as soon as possible. I am sure you will understand the need to ensure our teachers are well rested to return ready for a busy and inspirational Lent Term.

Ski Trip

I am very much looking forward to accompanying 100 pupils to France at the end of the holidays for a wonderful week of skiing. If your child is attending, please note that the departure time from College is at 00:15 on December 31^st.Please take note of the latest communication regarding the details of the trip.

Introducing ‘myEvolve’ Portal

We would like to introduce you to myEvolve, the portal which allows parents to manage all aspects of school trips and certain co-curricular events. myEvolve is used widely by schools and allows us to communicate all required information with you including:

*          Communications from the school regarding trips and certain co-curricular events
*          Consent forms - you can complete these electronically on myEvolve
*          Payments - make secure payments for your trips and events
*          Bookings - book onto the trips and events you would like your child to attend

Please see full details and instructions in the letter placed on the Parent Portal.

End of Term Grades

End of term grades and comments will be available on the iSAMS Parent Portal site for viewing from Tuesday 20 December. These can be found by logging into your usual Parent Portal account - https://parents.denstonecollege.org - and clicking on your child’s name followed by ‘school reports.’ Any queries over access to Parent Portal can be sent to [email protected].

College Calendar

The College calendar for the Lent Term 2023 has now been published online, as usual. Please note that all fixtures are provisional at this stage and will be confirmed at the start of the Lent term. Do please keep an eye on the online calendar over the course of the term, as alterations and additions will be posted to the online calendar, as and when necessary.

Food For Thought

Dr David Baker runs much of our supra-curricular enrichment work and this term he has been focusing on a particular scheme of work entitled ‘Food for Thought’ which brings together our strands of learning to inspire your children to think broadly, laterally and deeply about different issues through a variety of means. His latest blog Ars Gratia Artis is well worth a read.

Denstone Parent Choir

The Denstone Parent Choir will be starting again on Monday 9 January, from 7.00 – 8.00pm, in the Music School. We will be working on Mozart’s Requiem for the Summer Term Choral Concert.

All abilities are very welcome! If you are interested in attending, please contact the Director of Music at [email protected]

Communications Available on the Parent Portal

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