Prev
Next
Class of 2019 Celebration
Welcoming the return of our Class of 2019 to celebrate their achievements
On Thursday 7 November 2019 we welcomed over 300 parents and pupils back to Cirencester Deer Park School for the Class of 2019 Celebration of Achievement Evening. As they start the next part of their learning journey, whether at college or school sixth form, whether as an apprentice or at another place of work, we were delighted to see our former pupils again.
After a welcome from Headteacher, Chiquita Henson, it was a lovely surprise to hear, via video, from former Head of School and History Teacher Mr Johnson from his new base in Belgium. He had two main messages for these young people:
- Everyone meets challenges, every single day, and the secret to surviving those challenges is to look for the opportunities, because when you see those opportunities and grab those opportunities, your potential is absolutely limitless.
- Success genuinely is the only option. That only works if you remember that success is defined by the amount of effort you put in to any given task or any given ambition. If you give your best, you will be successful, whatever that may be for you.
This year around 71% of the year group were nominated in the Faculty and Tutor awards, in addition to nominations for pupils' commitment to the wider school life with Extra Curricular PE and Expressive Arts, Games Captains, Presidents and the Tech Team.
It was fantastic to hear from our Faculty Heads about how wonderfully well the Class of 2019 did in their exams this Summer and the Faculty Heads were able to recognise the pupils' successes. Additionally, there were special awards for pupils' Overall Effort and Achievement, Overall Academic Excellence, Powell's Academic Excellence, Outstanding Attendance and Key Stage 4 Award. The evening culminated in the 2019 Headteacher's Achievement Award, won by Esme F and Dan T for outstanding commitment and progress over their time at Deer Park.
A special thank you to our guest speaker, former Deer Park pupil and Archery world record holder Phoebe Pine for her inspirational words. We wish her all the best for Tokyo 2020 and hope that her talk resonated with our pupils regarding achievement and resilience.
We wish our Class of 2019 all the very best for the future and encourage them to keep in touch to let us know what they are up to. As a school we need to collate data on where our pupils go after Deer Park and so Assistant Head Miss Brace would appreciate an email from any of the Class of 2019 to let her know where they are studying or working and what they are doing there - are they studying at college or school sixth form, doing an apprenticeship or other form of work? What subjects are they studying?
It was a privilege to share the stage with our former pupil, Phoebe Pine, who received rapturous applause as she modestly revealed her achievements while reflecting on the daily challenges she faces. She was an inspiration to us all and her resilience resonated with everyone present. We are very proud of our Class of 2019. They commended themselves exceptionally well and it was nice to see them sharing their successes with each other, their parents and members of staff. I wish them every success in their current and future learning and careers.
Chiquita Henson, Headteacher
"Thank you for the Class of 2019 Celebration Evening - it was great to join in celebrating the amazing achievement of all these pupils. They have gained fantastic results through hard work and dedication - not only theirs, but also clearly their teachers. As well as the excellent results overall, it was especially good to hear about those who exceeded their predicted grades and those who took a setback in Mocks head on and achieved the results they deserved in GCSEs. I know the teachers have played a major part in helping them to achieve what they have, so thank you!" Parent
"I really enjoyed returning to Deer Park with my son to celebrate the achievements of his year group and only wish we had arrived earlier so that we both had had more time to catch up with friends! These young people were so supportive of their peers throughout the evening and it was great to hear staff talk about their efforts and achievements. Thank you Deer Park for all you have done for our son over the past 5 years!" Parent
"I would like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to everyone who put together the Celebration of Achievement Evening on Thursday. I thought it was a lovely send off for the Class of 2019." Parent
Following the awards and the conclusion of the event in the Main Hall, the Class of 2019 were invited to the Atrium collect their exam certificates. These are important documents and must be signed for; we are unable to post them or provide duplicates. Any members of the Class of 2019 who did not attend the Celebration of Achievement Evening can collect their exam certificates (and Leavers' Books if they ordered them) from Reception from Monday 11 November 2019 onwards (10.30am to 5pm) during term time. If they cannot collect their certificates in person, they can give written permission to a third party to collect them on their behalf. If the third party is not known to us, however, they will require ID. We suggest that this third party be a parent if possible.