July '10 Newsletter.Pub

ST PETER’S RC HIGH SCHOOL & SIXTH FORM CENTRE JULY 2010 NEWSLETTER

Tuesday 15 July 2010

Dear Parents Thank you for the support at the Annual Fete. It was a beautiful day and the atmosphere once again was superb. I would like to place on record my thanks to the following:

• John Jones and the Fete Committee who were ably assisted by Dave Miles and the rest of the PFA Committee. It is fabulous how they work so hard for the school and the work of Jane Ryan, Fiona Gittins and Tina Parsloe, from the staff side, is exemplary. The day fully justified all the work they have put in to organising the occasion.

• To our super musicians who once again provided excellent music under the direction of our Director of Music, Catherine Perfect.

• To all the parents, governors, staff and friends of the school who manned the stalls and helped with refreshments and the bar.

• To our students who did so much to make the day a success. Our brilliant year 10 sports leaders who organised and ran the primary schools sports festival and our dance leaders who did the same for the primary schools dance exhibition. In supporting our students the PE staff, led by Stuart Crabb, were terrific; and not only that, they did a tremendous amount to prepare for the day and help tidy up afterwards. Also, to our BTEC Hospitality and Catering group, under the direction of Becky Kefford, who did so much with the Hot Dogs, Burgers, Chips and Ice Cream! It was just terrific to see so many students involved; and yet again the atmosphere between staff and students as they worked together is a real feature of all the work we do at St Peter’s!

• To our visitors from outside who provided such excellent exhibitions of gymnastics and acrobatics.

• To Barclay’s Bank who sponsored our bottle stall and means that the £750+ on the day will be doubled.

As always the day was marked by former students and parents returning. It is always lovely to see and talk to them. From a financial side it was a great success and my thanks to those of you who sent in donations and/or bought raffle tickets. Altogether the Fete raised in excess of £4,500, which as you know will be used entirely to provide equipment and resources for the ongoing education of your sons and daughters.

We were delighted that MP for Gloucester, Mr Richard Graham, was able to join us during the afternoon. Richard spent a considerable amount of time going around the stalls and talking to the helpers. He then drew the winning tickets for our annual raffle and picked the winning numbers for our 200 Club Draw. I am most grateful to Richard and Councillor Organ for the time they gave in attending the Fete and supporting the excellent work of our PFA Committee.

AWARDS O ur Awards Ceremony took place after our Mass on 29 June. Chair of Governors, Mr Jim Stenson, presented many awards on behalf of the Governors to students who had worked extremely hard and/or achieved excellence within departments. There were also general awards given out for many different aspects of school life.

I will indicate just one or two awards and if you would like to see the full list of winners we will publish it on the school website www.st-petershigh.gloucs.sch.uk .

• As always the Anna McGurk bursaries were presented on this occasion. These bursaries are in memory of former student, Anna Potts, who after her marriage worked for the City Council at Gloucester Docks. Tragically going home from work one evening in the winter in the 1990s she was murdered. To maintain Anna’s memory her family set up a trust fund and over the years many of our students have benefited. This year Anna’s sister, Helen Potts, presented the Junior Award to Elliot Hopson to continue his progress in tennis, whilst the Senior Award went to Julia Puddicombe, who is a super oboist and now needs to find at least £1,000 to upgrade her oboe.

• The Molly Gravells Community Award is given in memory of Councillor Andrew Gravells’ mother. This year the recipients were our Year 12 BTEC Hospitality and Catering students, who organised a variety of functions during the year which they have had to do for their course. These raised over £3,500 for different charities ranging from Cancer Research to Amnesty International and the Royal Lifeboat Institution.

• We were delighted to welcome to the School the former Director of the International Office for the Local Authority, Mrs Penny Krucker. Penny had given the school an award for international work and this year it was awarded to Gemma Colucci who you know has gained a Prime Minister’s Global Fellowship and will be going to India for six weeks to study that country, study the language and teach English to Indian students.

I hope that you will look at all the awards on our Website, as you will see they cover the whole range of school activity and it is particularly pleasing that Ali Sarwari, an EAL student, who came to us only a few years ago without any English, won the Boyce Trophy for Endeavour.

It was pleasing to have Canon Bernard Massey at our Awards Ceremony. Canon Bernard is one of our governors but is also a trustee of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Clifton and one of Bishop Declan’s main advisers. Canon Bernard presented Diocesan Long Service Awards to John Mitchell and Tina Parsloe (more of which later). He also presented a certificate on behalf of the County Council to Mrs Parsloe who has worked for over 25 years in Gloucestershire schools. Both these staff are leaving at the end of this academic year but of all the accolades and presents they may receive, I am sure what they will take with them into retirement is the most magnificent endorsement of their careers in St Peter’s. This was the lengthy applause and support from the student body as they received their certificates. STAFF LEAVING

• John Mitchell —As stated on previous page, John Mitchell, our Director of 16 – 19 Education, is leaving us at the end of this academic year. John came to us in 1986 as Head of Geography. Having led the Geography Department he moved into the sixth form in a pastoral role and subsequently took over as Director of Sixth Form Educa- tion and became a member of the Senior Management Team of the school. When John took over the sixth form it was approximately 200; as he leaves it is approximately 500! There can be no greater endorsement for the work he has done than this incredible increase in popularity of St Peter’s sixth form education. John has the remarkable knack of being able to empathise and support 16 to 19 year olds at the same time as being able to give them “unequivocal advice” when necessary without losing their respect. I am often quoted as stating I think John has the second best job in the school, next to myself, but at the same time it is a job which very few people can do successfully. John has succeeded in not only doing this successfully but also he has played a major role in St Peter’s obtaining the outstanding status it now enjoys nationally. A committed Catholic, John has always contributed to the ethos of St Peter’s. One only has to go into his office to see the number of cards he receives from former students, who are now working all over the world, to realise what an impact he has had on so many young people’s lives over the years. I wish John and his wife Lynne many years of happiness in retirement as they take up their new life on the east coast of their much loved Yorkshire.

• Tina Parsloe – Tina joined St Peter’s from a secondary school that has now closed, Linden Road. From the time she joined us she became known as an outstanding teacher of English. She has had resounding success in teaching English and particularly with young people who do not find the subject particularly easy, Tina has ob- tained outstanding GCSE results. From the classroom teacher Tina progressed to work in the vocational area of our school as Head of Careers. In this capacity she became extremely popular in the county and respected by the county for her knowledge and work in the area of vocational education. She formed very good links with industry and was always an excellent public image for St Peter’s. Due to this she became a member of the Senior Management Team with a responsibility for developing vocational education. The fruits of her work can be seen by the number of vocational courses we now offer in the school. As indicated above, from the reception at the Mass, Tina is immensely respected by the students for her ability to relate to them, but at the same time demand the highest possible standards from them in terms of academic performance, behaviour and appearance. She has been instrumental in leading the School Council over the last two years to a position where now it is truly influential in the life of the school. She has also played a major role in en- suring that the female students have a true advocate and also someone who will not allow the females in the school to diminish the reputation of themselves or our school. Tina has, also, worked unstintingly with the PFA, as I outlined in my Fete re- port, and everything she has done for St Peter’s has contributed to the remarkable success the school enjoys. She will be missed enormously as a very popular member of the Senior Management Team and also missed by external contacts with the school for her knowledge and organisational skills. She is retiring from teaching so that Tony, her husband, and herself, can have more time to travel and enjoy the wonders of our world. I hope that when she is in Gloucester and we require support we may see her back at St Peter’s from time to time. Regardless in thanking Tina for all she has done for the students of our school, I wish her a very long, happy and healthy retirement and trust that she and Tony will really enjoy their travels . STAFF LEAVING

• David Lane – David commenced his teaching career at St Peter’s and has played a significant part in assisting our Science Department to become one of the most successful curriculum areas in the school. A physicist by training David has taught general science to GCSE level and physics to university entrance level. He has also had a major responsibility for data production and target setting in the management of the Science Department. He has developed a data system which ensures that classroom teachers know exactly what is expected of individual students and what the teacher and student should be aiming to achieve. This has in no small way contributed to the success of our Science Department. David has also assisted our Data for Learning Manager, Helen Stenson, with general school data. Not only the Science Department, but the whole school will miss his work. It is right, however, that he now moves to head his own science department and in thanking him for all he has done for science at St Peter’s and, indeed, his contribution to the school in general, we wish him every success in his role as Head of Science at Thomas Keble School.

• Stuart Mays – Stuart is another member of staff who has been with us since the commencement of his teaching career. He has played a significant role in the development of our ICT Department. Latterly he has been responsible for key stage 5 ICT and overseen major developments in this area. Not only has Stuart contributed greatly to the ICT Department, he has also played a major part in the school generally. Always willing to give of his time freely, we have seen him over the years at the School Fete, notably on the Sumo Wrestlers sideshow. Stuart is leaving us to become second in department at another large successful comprehensive in Gloucestershire. In thanking him for all the work he has done for St Peter’s students over his years in teaching, we wish him every success in his future career.

• Carmen Burridge – Carmen is a member of our truly exception Art Department specialising in the ceramics area of art education. Indeed, it is Carmen who has brought the ceramics through at St Peter’s and those of you who visit our Art Exhibition on a regular basis will see the excellence of Carmen’s work and what she has guided our young people to produce. Latterly Carmen has been responsible for the day to day running of the Art Department as Mrs McHale has been seconded to work with the University on a part-time basis. In both her teaching role and the running of the department, Carmen has been exceptional. She and her husband have decided that they would like a change of lifestyle and are thus moving to the south coast. She will be taking up a post in another excellent school on the south coast and we wish her every happiness and success both in her personal and professional life.

• Dr Susannah Moore – Susannah was trained at St Peter’s and then joined our Science Department. With a doctorate in biology she has been a great asset to the development of our science curriculum. She has also taken on responsibility for gifted and talented students in the school and proved to be a real asset to St Peter’s in general. With a commitment to everything St Peter’s stands for, Susannah has made a major contribution not only to the Science Department but to the school in general. I am sorry that she will be leaving St Peter’s but she is returning to her native Germany to be closer to family. In thanking her for all she has done for our students I wish her every happiness and success, both professionally and personally, in the years ahead. Cont/... STAFF LEAVING

• Curtis Cameron – Curtis has been a member of the ever improving ICT Department at St Peter’s. He was particularly gifted with his knowledge of computers and contributed significantly to the development of our A-level computer course. Curtis has been absent for a number of months on medical grounds and has now decided that he will not be returning to St Peter’s. In thanking him for his contribution to the development of ICT at St Peter’s we wish him health and happiness in the years ahead.

• Rachel Taylor —Rachel joined St Peter’s on a one year contract to cover maternity leave in English. As the year comes to an end Rachel will be leaving us and taking up further academic study. It is never easy to work on a one year contract basis but again Rachel has never stinted in giving her best in the English lessons she has taught.

• Juan Carlos Montero – Juan Carlos was another member of staff who came on a one-year contract to cover maternity leave. During this year he has worked extremely hard, particularly assisting students with his native Spanish. He has taught Spanish and French during the year and has helped a highly successful modern languages department through a difficult stage of transition. Now that his contract has ended we wish Juan Carlos every success as he moves to a new school in southeast England.

• Nadeem Siddiqui – known to one and all as Sid! I would like to thank Mr Siddiqui for his contribution to St Peter’s during his time with us. He has helped us through a very difficult time with our photocopying due to the absence of amember of staff in that area, and then, for the last twelve months has been Assistant Exams Secretary. The Exams Secretary and Assistant’s role are absolutely crucial to our school. Exams now go on throughout the year and Sid has been exemplary in his work in this area. Although we are really sorry to lose him we are delighted that he has gained a place on a primary teaching course with the University of Gloucestershire. He will start his training from September and I am sure that as he commences his first appointment in twelve months time, he will be recognised as an asset to any school and eventually become a fine primary school teacher.

SENIOR MANAGEMENT COVER AND EXAM DATES As always, during the summer holidays, the school will be covered by the Senior Manage- ment Team. A member of the team will be responsible for each day. If in an emergency you need to contact someone the best time will be to contact the school between 10.00am and 12.00noon. If the senior member of staff is not on premises they will get back to you. I am really grateful to my colleagues for offering this cover and, of course, the cover provided by our support staff during the holiday. Although the first week of the holidays will run with virtually fulltime cover, as we wind down, the middle weeks will have more limited cover. We will be back to more or less fulltime cover following the publication of the A- level results on 19 August. I take this opportunity of reminding parents of year 11 students that their results will be available on TUESDAY 24 AUGUST . This is different from the normal Thursday and may catch out some parents. If you have friends or relatives with children in year 11 please remind them that it is the Tuesday and not Thursday when results are available in school. CONGRATULATIONS • To our year 8 students who achieved their Silver CREST Awards. This followed on the amazing success of our engineering students in the sixth form. Not only did our year 8 receive their awards but their project was voted the best by other schools competing in the competition. My thanks go to Mr Chris Thorp who gives an enormous amount of his own time to students working on the Crest Award and to our sixth form engineering group.

'The Upstarts' Our current Year 13 have proved to be an exceptionally tal- CONTACT ented group of students, a fact endorsed by the recent visit of DETAILS the external moderator from the examination board, as well as the healthy numbers proceeding to the Art Foundation Can I remind course and direct entry to Art and Design degree pro- parents that if your grammes. This year we have seen an increasing use of fine art contact details photography, film-making and installation. Many of them change during the have very promising futures ahead of them in the Creative summer term that Industries. you let us know the Our show on Thursday 15th July will very much evidence changes as soon as this talent; please do try to come along to support the stu- your child comes back to school in dents. It would be very useful for any younger students to see September . the work, especially GCSE students considering Art at A Level, or Key Stage 3 students wishing to know more about the exciting work completed at the top end of the school.

CHANGE TO BUS TIMETABLE FROM 1 st SEPTEMBER 2010

ROUTE 505

Bus No 505 will no longer service Hardwick Starting Gate and Quedgeley Field Court/Holly Grove.

Bus No 862 will pick up at these stops.

Megarider tickets will be valid on all services (designated boundaries will apply)

If you have any queries please contact Stagecoach direct on 01452 418630. TRAINING SCHOOL UPDATE MAIN PLACEMENT We are pleased to announce that three of Lauren Fearn (History) Pate's this year’s cohort of trainee teachers are Nicola Walker (Art) Balcarras joining St Peter’s in September: Sarah Blake (Science) Mike Bond (Geog) working with referred Maria Taylor (D&T) students, London Ray McCrindle (English) Abi Arnold (D&T) St Ursula's Bristol Marie Palmer (Science) Gabriel Kyne (Maths) Colin O'Toole (Eng) Blessed Edward We would also like to congratulate the Oldcorne School, Worcester following for successful completion of their Maria Taylor (D&T) St Peter's training and thank them for the contribution they have made to the work of the school SECOND PLACEMENT this year, particularly in developing Ben Gibson (D&T) Whitecross resources, assisting with Extra Curricular Mike Pierce (PE) Hereford Academy learning and activities, development days, Ray McCrindle (Eng) St Peter's open evenings and research. Their work Serena Kinder (Drama) The Downs School, destinations are indicated where these are Compton, Berkshire known: Kerri Griffiths (Geography) Marie Palmer (Science) St Peter’s

EXAMINATION FACTS AND FIGURES Now that the examination season has finished we thought it might be interesting to share with you some facts and figures regarding the exams held here at St Peter’s during May/June 2010.

Number of internal students taking exams 1176 Number of external students taking exams 25 TOTAL 1201 Total number of exams taken AQA 2407 Edexcel 1431 OCR 2687 WJEC 24 TOTAL 6549

How much have these exams cost the school? (figures are approximate) AQA £46,276 Edexcel £25,859 OCR £39,585 WJEC £ 418 TOTAL £112,138

Over £4700 was paid into the exams office by students paying for examinations they were re- sitting. 197 students found they had exams scheduled on the same day at the same time; these are called clashes. Most of the students were able to sit their exams one after the other and only a handful needed supervision during the day.

Number of staff in the Exams Office 2 Number of invigilators used 30

It has been a very long few weeks!! Thank you to all the students and staff who have worked with us in making the exam process go so smoothly again this year. Y12 and Y13 Results Day GCE 19 th August 2010

Y11 Results Day GCSE 24 th August

Please note that Y9 and Y10 will receive their results at the start of the academic year in September

FORTHCOMING EVENT Gloucester LIFE are holding an event at the school on September 25th 2010. This event is to fundraise and to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of LIFE, a charity which offers practical and compassionate care to anyone experiencing pregnancy related problems http:// www.lifecharity.org.uk/ .

The event 'LIFE's Got Talent!' will be a nights of music and entertainment and includes performers who are currently at the school, past students, teachers, and other instrumental- ists, singers and comedic acts.

Tickets costing £7 for adults and £5 children, will be available at the beginning of the new school year ( can some tickets be sold via the school ?) or directly from Gloucester LIFE.

Gloucester LIFE are based at Spread Eagle Court in Northgate Street, Gloucester and the office is open on Tuesdays 1 - 3 pm, Wed and Thurs 11 am - 1 pm and Fridays 12 noon - 2 pm. All services, including pregnancy testing and counselling are FREE, and the contact number during office hours is 01452 300938 . At other times the phone diverts to the na- tional helpline 0800 915 4600 for crisis calls.

HOLIDAY I remind parents that the school will close for the summer holiday on Wednesday 21 July at 2.00pm . As always if the early closure is a problem for parents I will be happy to keep your sons or daughters under supervision up to 3.30pm if you contact the appropriate head of year.

The School will re-open as follows:

Thursday 2 September – Year 7 and Year 12 only

Friday 3 September – whole school

On the Thursday our buses will run as normal and for year 7 it will be a normal school day – please remember it is the new year 7 not the present year 7 as, of course, they will be year 8 in September. St Peter’s High School SSCo Newsletter 2009 – 2010

Football Fever Twelve Year 9 girls were selected to take part in a football focused leadership programme this year. This was in direct re- sponse to the development of girl’s football at St Peter’s. The group learnt how to design and deliver specific skill based activities and game play. They then organised a Year 5 and 6 primary festival for St Mary’s and St Peter’s Primaries.

Opportunities Formalising school to club links has been very much a focus this academic year. Four local clubs have all established per- manent links through various initiatives. They include Gloucester Rowing Club, Gloucester Athletics Club, Gloucester Gaelic Club and Gloucester City Hockey Club. Throughout the year, coaches and instructors worked closely with the PE department to enable pupil’s access to new opportunities.

Living for Sport The Living for Sport programme was successfully delivered to a group of Year 9 girls. After ten weeks of Sports Leadership training they organised a Year 1 and 2 Multi Skills Festival. Evaluations from the Year 9 group were extremely positive; they are looking forward to developing their skills further in Year 10.

CPD Project The PE department are mid way through a CPD project in conjunction with Ribston Hall and Barnwood Park Arts College. Over forty staff from all over the County have attended KS4 sports leadership specific courses. St Peters has introduced five new courses. The Year 10 Sports Leaders will then showcase their skills and qualities to 120 Year 5 and 6 pupils at the School Fete in July.

Athletics TOPLINK This year’s TOPLINK festival took on an ‘Athletics’ theme. St Peter’s Primary School, Year 3 pupils thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon. The Year 10 Sports Leaders were a credit to the Level 1 Sports Leaders UK course and to their School.

JAE visit Seven pupils from the Junior Athletic Education programme went to Bath University for an inspirational day in June. They took part in a volleyball practical lead by Phil Smith ranked fourth in Great Britain and a speed class delivered by Bath University’s strength and conditioning coach. After an impressive tour of the training village which included watching the GB pentathelete team training in the 50m Olym- pic pool, the GB women’s beach volleyball pairs training on the sand and the Bath rugby squad working out in the gym the group took part in a nutrition theoretical class with Jessica Hill, GB football U21 coach. Staff and pupils were so impressed with the day they all look forward to arranging another trip next academic year. TEXT MESSAGING SYSTEM

St Peter’s are planning to implement a text messaging service. This service will be used to advice parents of important events, school closures and any other matters of interest.

In order for it to work efficiently, we obviously need to have all current mobile numbers. Whilst we do have a large number of them already on our system we need to make sure that they are updated and any missing numbers are added. Therefore, we will be sending out a test text message to all mobile numbers on our system on Thursday, 15 th July between 10am and 11am. If you do not receive a message on this day, please advise the school so that we can update our information. You can do this either by:

Completing the attached reply slip Telephoning the school admin office on 01452 520594 Emailing the admin office at [email protected]

Engineers Get a Taste For Gold!

St Peter’s bucks the trend when it comes to inspiring the engineers and scientists of tomorrow. In a climate of these subjects being thought of as “old fashioned” and “boring”, not only are students actively involved in pushing the frontiers forward – they have chosen to do it in their own time, and the rewards for this commitment? Success and recognition has been achieved by both year 12 and year 8 students – gold for the year 12s and silver for the year 8s.

The year 12 students have opted to take engineering as an enrichment activity on a Wednesday afternoon. Science teacher Mr Thorp has put a huge amount of effort into these sessions by arranging practical tasks, fostering links with people outside of the school and taking pupils on visits.

The year 8 pupils again have opted to attend engineering sessions in their own time – at lunchtimes and after school. It is also very encouraging to see three girls in the group of five. A number of these students also attended a science camp with Mr Thorp at the end of term.

The year 12 students tasted success following their involvement in a project to develop a Debris Recovery Robot. They worked with, and gained valuable insight from, engineers at power firm British Energy. The project culminated with a celebration and assessment day at Bristol University. This was part of the Engineering Education Scheme, organised by the Engineering Development Trust (EDT).

Cont over/... Engineers Get a Taste For Gold! Cont/...

The group’s work was so impressive that it was entered for a British Science Asso- ciation gold CREST award – and achieved success. This prestigious honour was presented during a special event at GE Aviations in Bishop’s Cleeve.

The group had to give a presentation and take a question-and-answer session. Marks were also given for teamwork.

Going for gold: pictured are students Ben James, Bart Dziamski, Zac Simmonds and Stuart Watson with Mr Thorp.

Quotes from the assessors highlight how impressive their work and their effort was: “Their presentation was well supported by good slides and videos.” “They answered questions well with confidence.” “A good team effort.” “They exhibited lots of good ideas and solutions.”

The year 8s then followed hot on the tail of this success – and took a silver CREST award. They focused on looking at ways a school could reduce its energy use.

The project saw the five-strong team also working with engineers from British En- ergy. The award was given through the Go4SET scheme, which is also organised by the EDT.

Silver stars: pictured are the team of Lydia Southgate, Catherine Weaver, Annie Davies, Sean Norton and Adam Brooks. Engineers Get a Taste For Gold! Cont/...

he team attended the celebration and assessment day as part of the Go4SET scheme. Not content with their silver award, they took the Pupils’ T Choice Award on the day. This means they were judged by their peers, other students, to have been the best team that took part.

All of the pupils have received a certificate. Mr Thorp said: “I am very proud of the work these pupils put into these projects. They have shown commitment and have proved to be a real asset to the school. I was thrilled when the year-12 team was presented with a gold award. The year 8s winning silver and then the Pupils’ Choice Award was just the icing on the cake.”

“It is so encouraging to see more than 50 per cent of the year-8 team being made up of female students. Even in this day and age, engineering is still thought of as a male-dominated sector. I think it is fantastic that female pupils at St Peter’s are proving they can hold their own and play their part in producing award-winning work.”

Head of the science department Ian Starkey said: “This is a great achievement for St Peter’s. The students should feel proud as should Mr Thorp.

“I hope these students have been inspired by their success and will go on to become some of the leading engineers of the next generation.

“Successful societies need engineers and scientists to help industries, healthcare and education to move forward. This shows our school is making a huge contribution towards showing pupils what important roles they could take in the future.”

Lydia Southgate, a member of the year 8 team, described an exciting trip that was taken to Hinkley Point power station, near Bridgwater in Somerset. The trip, which went ahead with students from Chosen Hill School in Churchdown, was ar- ranged as part of St Peter’s Year 8 Engineering and Eco Club. The aim was to find out more about nuclear power.

Lydia said: “When we got to the power plant we had a short talk on how the plant works, what they do to create the energy and the nuclear reactors.

“We had a tour of the plant and went almost everywhere. First we saw the wheels, which are used for removing fish and other sea creatures from the sea- water that is used for cooling the steam to condense it back to water. They have a cover on them like mesh so only the water gets into the machines.

“We saw the turbine hall where the generators are. We then saw the top of the reactors and the simulator where they train the new (and existing) staff, who will become safety people for the reactors. It is an exact replica of the real room.” t our Patron’s Feast Mass on 29 June we were delighted to welcome to our school internationally renowned oncology specialist, Professor Jonathan Waxman. Profes- A sor Waxman is Professor of Oncology at Imperial College Medical School, London and practices clinically at the adjoining Hammersmith Hospital. It was terrific that Profes- sor Waxman gave a day of his incredibly valuable time to visit our school and receive a cheque for £2,500 for Prostate Cancer Research. Professor Waxman subsequently wrote a letter stating, “I was touched by the spirit and warm presence in the school and privileged to experience your Patron’s Mass”. This is a tremendous accolade to the students of the school whose behaviour was fantastic. Not only was their behaviour superb but our singers and musicians (staff and students) and the students who performed the drama, led the community in a simply tremendous manner. Great credit must go to Mandy Baker for organising the Mass and also to Father David Ryan who is the Roman Catholic Dean of Stroud and who celebrated the Mass for us. This Mass is a celebration of everything the school has done over the year and the awards that followed the Mass simply exemplify the performance of our students in all areas of school life.

Professor Waxman spoke to the students about his work. It was an inspirational address and emphasised that the money we have raised will contribute to his team’s work into the causes of and new treatments for prostate cancer. The money will part fund equipment and material for the ongoing work of Professor Waxman and his team. He informed the community that many exciting developments were taking place in this invaluable work and like me he hoped that in the years ahead this disease, that can have such profound effects on the life of both the patient and his family, will gradually be far more manageable due to the quality of the research which is presently being undertaken.

The whole theme of our Mass was positive and delightful. It was great to see so many parents present and, of course, governors and friends of the school. What really made the occasion, were our friends from St Rose’s Special School in Stroud being present. Their bid- ding prayers were super and their whole contribution to the Mass simply adds to this most meaningful of celebrations.

I hope that whether you are staying at home or able to get away for a break that you and your family have a very enjoyable and peaceful summer. I hope you will be able to spend some quality time with your sons and daughters. I keep emphasising that we are so fortunate in our school to have a student body with so many qualities and attributes, not least of which is their willingness to support others who are less fortunate than we are. Enjoy your time together and I look forward to seeing all safe and well in September.

Yours sincerely

Lawrence Montagu Headteacher