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Festive Greetings
Festive greetings from Mr Clutterbuck, Headteacher
Friday 22 December 2023 and we have finally made it to the end of another long term. Having completed the marathon aka the Autumn term, we are now a third of the way through the school year.
It is strange to think that Christmas Day is just 3 days away - finishing a school term on 22 December is the latest I can remember for a long time. Despite this late finish, our pupils have been brilliant this term - from our Year 7s joining the school choir during our Christmas Carol Service, and helping to fill the Parish Church of St John Baptist with festive cheer, all the way through to our Year 11s who have battled through three weeks of mock exams finishing this intense period on Friday 15 December.
On Thursday 21 December, the penultimate day of term, pupils and staff joined their friends in the Main Hall for Christmas Lunch created by our wonderful Kitchen team - turkey with all the trimmings or the vegan alternative, Moroccan-style cauliflower roulade. The day was also an opportunity for us to help others less fortunate than ourselves by donating food items or money to Cirencester Foodbank in return for the opportunity to take part in Christmas Jumper Day. We delivered 19 crates of food to the foodbank this month and raised over £272 in cash donations. Kindness is one of our school values and showing kindness to others, whether friends and family or within a much wider circle, can make a huge difference and we encourage everyone to think of others, particularly during this time of festivities, reflection and thanks.
Our thanks to the Friends of Deer Park who organised a festive online auction and raffle this month to raise funds which will benefit pupils across the school and the Ghana 2024 team who held a Christmas Bazaar on Sunday 17 December to fundraise for their volunteer trip to West Africa next summer. If you supported these events, we thank you too - we could not do this without you.
On this last day of this term, we bid farewell to Mrs Hacker, Head of Physical Education, who retires after 24 years of dedicated service to Deer Park and our young people. We gave Mrs Hacker a formal send-off on Wednesday 20 December and in doing so dedicated the Sports Hall to her - it is now formally known as ‘Hacker’s Hall’. It is only fitting that I thank Mrs Hacker on behalf of the school for all that she has done for Deer Park and for education over the years.
In the spirit of Christmas, Dickens, grammar, and wanting to share a poignant message as we enter the festive holiday, I have taken the liberty of borrowing a Yuletide message from one of my favourite poets, Brian Bilston. The poem below is called 'Tense Christmas' and is about Brian Bilston being visited by three grammatically exact ghosts.
Merry Christmas one and all!
