We are looking forward to welcoming current Year 6 pupils and their parents to Cirencester Deer Park School in September 2020. However, owing to the present situation we have had to think about what we can do differently this year to help everyone achieve a smooth transition.

Mrs Hannis, our Year 7 Year Leader, is currently contacting each of our new pupils personally by telephone to help pupils and parents prepare for their move to secondary school.  She has been able to offer reassurance, relay any concerns and respond to questions.  Mrs Hannis has commended those she has spoken to on their excitement and resilience.  She has also been in touch with the children’s primary schools.

While we are now planning, in principle, for September, we are still awaiting guidance from the government on what schools will actually be allowed to offer to pupils and parents in the new academic year.  We understand that this uncertainty can be a cause of additional anxiety.
 

Welcome Evenings

To prepare our new pupils and alleviate any concerns parents may have, we invite parents and pupils to one of our three VIRTUAL NEW YEAR 7 WELCOME EVENINGS.  These will take place online in Microsoft Teams as live events. We are planning to share key information and to incorporate some activity for parents and children.  There is no need to book, and you only need to attend one of the virtual meetings, but you are welcome to drop in to more than one if you want to. 

To aid our planning, please email any specific questions to Simon Bellamy, Associate Assistant Head, in advance by Friday 26 June.  This will enable us  to make sure we can answer them in our presentation, as you will not be able to ask questions during the meetings.

Induction

As you will appreciate, owing to the social distancing measures that are currently in place, it is not possible for us to bring all of our new pupils into school together for two induction days this year as originally planned.  However, we do recognise the importance of introducing them to their Tutors and others in their Tutor Group and of giving them the opportunity to re-familiarise themselves with our school site. 

To this end, we will be inviting pupils to spend either a morning or afternoon INDUCTION SESSION with their Tutors and Tutor Group and other staff in small groups on either Monday 13 or Tuesday 14 July 2020 and we hope that these short visits to Deer Park will not prevent them from being able to complete their last week at their primary schools.

Parents will receive a letter with more information about these Induction mornings or afternoons nearer the time, which will also confirm the Tutor Group and Tutor.  We understand that parents may choose not to send their child to this Induction event and wish to reassure them that in September, if and when pupils can return to school, we will start the year with some induction activities.

We are looking forward to meeting parents and welcoming our new pupils to the school.

Chiquita Henson, Headteacher