Dear families,

I hope everyone’s had a good start this week.  It has been a busy start to this half-term at the College.

Meet the Tutor Evenings: Last week we had our final event and I am grateful to all parents/carers who attended the events.  We listened to our parent voice and following your feedback last year, these meetings were added for all year groups; a brief conversation to update parents about our students’ attendance, attitude to learning and praise their efforts.  It sends a powerful message that when school and families work together, we strengthen the support and opportunities for our young people.  Thank you to all who fed back, what a positive start to this half-term!

Mock Exams: Year 11 students are finishing their first set of mock exams this week.  Thank you for the support and patience that parents have shown to encourage attendance to revision sessions and in managing students’ concerns regarding taking the exams.  We will continue to work with you in removing barriers and to support Year 11 to maintain high standards of expectations.

School Production: A BIG thank you to parents who are supporting the school production ‘The School of Rock’, and dropping/collecting students late evenings and last weekend.
Please do support the school and the students and come to see the show, which will be on Tuesday 10, Wednesday 11 and Thursday 12 December. Further information to follow on how to purchase your tickets.

The preparations are going well and our thanks to Mrs. Cammack and her team for their hard work. I look forward to welcoming you. This leads nicely into some key dates …

Dates for your diaries: Please note that Monday 25 November is an INSET day, and the school will remain closed for students.

Year 9 will be making a decision on subjects they will take in Key Stage 4 (Year 10).  Please note that Wednesday 28 November is the Options Evening at school from 3pm onwards.  All Year 9 students and families are warmly invited and all questions about curriculum choices will be answered.

The last day of term is Friday 20 December; there will be an extended lunch time followed by an end of term Tutor time.  Due to a change in the train timetable this year the students will finish at 12.40pm. The school buses have been advised of the earlier finishing time but please be aware that there will be no Stagecoach bus running to Bosham.  The new term will start on Monday 6 January 2025.

I want to end by sharing how impressive our Year 8 Independent Study Project in RE was.  Students were given a choice of 8 topics to choose from.  Over the half-term the students have shown awesome creativity.  Some students chose a charity of their liking and did a 10K walk around Hayling Island/ cycle ride around the Isle of Wight and presented these in lessons.  Thank you to parents for supporting these.  A special mention to George B, Harrison S, Grace S and Jack H for sharing their homework and being quizzed over their work and answering all questions with aplomb!  We are very proud of all Year 8s for their effort.

If you would like to share your thoughts/ideas/concerns regarding school, please contact office@bourne.org.uk. I am keen to maintain an open dialogue with parents and we will arrange a phone conversation or face-to-face meeting at a mutually convenient time.

Thank you for your continued support and communication.

Kind regards

Mrs A Sharma
Head teacher