On Thursday 21 May 2020 we hosted our annual Year 9 Key Stage 3 Celebration of Achievement evening virtually. Because of COVID-19 we moved this event online and we are immensely grateful to staff, pupils and parents for joining us.

Adrian Danks, Chair of Deer Park’s Local Governing Body, concluded the evening with his Vote of Thanks:

‘As these are unusual circumstances I feel that there should be a number of elements to the vote of thanks this year…

Firstly to the all the pupils, not just those recognised this evening, for their resilience in coping with the challenges of learning in lockdown.

Secondly, to you the parents for all your endeavours in home-schooling. I for one have an even higher level of admiration for the work teachers do from this experience. Also to the parents who are not home-schooling as they fulfil front line key worker roles, thank you!

Thirdly, thank you to all the staff who have worked so hard to ensure resources and lessons are available to all students at this time and also to those teachers and support staff who have been coming into school to support those pupils still attending school.

Finally thank you to Mr Bellamy and Mrs Lang for making this event happen despite the lockdown.’

Over 80% of pupils in Year 9 were nominated across all subjects in three categories: Attainment, Effort and Improvement. Those who were nominated were congratulated on their achievements as they represented the top 3-4% of the year group in each category. From the nominations one boy and one girl were selected as the winners in each category and these were announced at the event.

‘It was fantastic that we had over 100 pupils login to attend the event and hope that they were sharing the event with their families. We overcame some technical challenges - special thanks to Liz Lang, Head of School, for her behind the scenes juggling. If you were unable to join the event, I will be sharing the winners' slides via SMHW and pupil email.’ Simon Bellamy, Associate Assistant Head.

Pupils were also recognised for their wider contribution to school, including extra-curricular PE and Expressive Arts. Those with excellent attendance were also commended and two pupils with outstanding attendance received a special mention for having 100% attendance during their whole time at Deer Park.

Further academic and progress awards were presented by Chiquita Henson, Headteacher, and Adrian Danks to acknowledge the outstanding achievement of some individual pupils in the Year group. Chiquita Henson was proud to present her Headteacher’s Award to two well deserving individuals, Tamsin and Joe.

Having read the pupils Year 9 reports we all felt it was really important for us to come together for our annual Celebration of Achievement, even if it meant finding a new platform to do so. I am very grateful to my colleagues, including subject leaders and teachers for demonstrating Deer Park’s ‘can do’ spirit and for reflecting on the year group’s collective engagement, resilience and resourcefulness. It was a privilege to be a part of the event and my congratulations go to everyone. Well done!’

Chiquita Henson, Headteacher