Thinking of others this Christmas – Sutton Foodbank

On Wednesday 20th December we are asking for any family that is able to make a donation to support us. As a school, we are hoping to make a huge contribution to the Sutton Foodbank. We have over 2,000 students and staff in our school, so together we could make a massive difference to the lives of those of us in our community that need support getting food for their families.

On Wednesday 20th December there will be a box at each school gate for students to drop off food donations. These need to be non-perishable and could include canned items (soup, vegetables, fruit, stew, beans) dried pasta, rice, noodles, biscuits, jam, peanut butter or treats.

If you are able to help with our collection, that would be greatly appreciated. If you are able to, please send your child in with any food donations on Wednesday and they will be collected at each school gate by the respective year group. Please do not send them in on other days as we have organised the collection and transport on Wednesday.

The Ten Day Challenge – attendance is getting better and better

Yesterday we racked up our 100th increased school day of attendance since we started the challenge last week. As a dad of two secondary-aged students, I know that being in school is good for their learning and also so positive for their socialisation and personal development.

So thank you to all the families that have supported their young people to be in school, over the last week and the whole term. Please be clear, I am not advocating that students with infectious illnesses (like flu or a vomiting bug) should be in school. Where students are ill they need rest to recover, and that’s why we’ve introduced a briefer ‘Five Day Challenge’ to motivate those that have a brief and genuine illness at the start of the week.

But there are situations when students might, or might not, make it into school. In those cases it has been really heartening to see students make the right decision. As it currently stands, there is a really high number of students in position to be in the draw on the last day of term… good luck to all of them.

Students of the Week

Congratulations to our stars of the last five days who have demonstrated something special in their attitude to their peers, the community or their learning. Well done to each and every one of them.

Year 7	Year 8	Year 9	Year 10	Year 11	Sixth Form
Aleks	Sofia	Alan	Nafissa, Elijah, Sebastian, Ky	Amy

Arrangements for the last day of school 

School continues until Thursday 21st December, when we have a half day. The end of the day varies for different year groups – see below:

• 12:15 pm – Year 12 and 13 (or until last timetabled lesson before this time)
• 12:25 pm – Year 7 and 8
• 12:30 pm – Year 9 and 10
• 12:30 pm – Year 11

Wishing you all restful weekends. 

Mr House, Headteacher

(Photo by Donna Spearman on Unsplash)