In October 2016 we celebrated the 50th anniversary of comprehensive education in Cirencester.
Cirencester Deer Park School and Cirencester College marked significant milestones in September this year: their 25th year as an 11-16 school and sixth form college respectively.
On Wednesday 12 October 2016 we were proud to mark Cirencester Deer Park’s 50th anniversary as a comprehensive school and to celebrate our achievements and those of our pupils over time. What better way to celebrate 50 years of comprehensive education in Cirencester than by offering our pupils a taste of learning across the last five decades during the day and opening our doors in the evening to the wider community, giving former pupils, parents, staff and governors the opportunity to relive their memories of the school.
Deer Park through the decades
It was a fantastic day and the staff looked incredible in their outfits from different decades. It was wonderful in the evening to welcome back so many former pupils and staff and hear them reminisce about their time at Deer Park.
As a fully inclusive school, we are, and always have been, committed to serving the diverse educational needs of our children. We were delighted to see that our exam results from 2016 put us in the top 15 % of schools nationally based on our ‘Progress 8’ measure, which is the Government’s preferred measure of school performance. This makes us the leading school in the South Cotswolds for results in 2016.
At Deer Park, we are committed to being the best we can be every day. We are ambitious for ourselves and our pupils. With further government-led changes in education scheduled, we face a number of challenges. However, we are a resilient and outward facing school and we look forward to working in partnership with others to ensure all of our pupils can successfully progress onto the next stage in their lives and learning.
To support staff we use our in-service training days productively to help us develop our practice, meet our pupils' needs and enrich our curriculum. This year, we have focused on preparing our programmes of study in response to the new GCSE specifications, refining our strategies for working with pupils with special education needs and participating in training related to safeguarding all of our pupils. Furthermore, teachers are actively engaged in using current research related to a number of key themes to inform their teaching and Mrs Lang, Deputy Head, is continuing her work within the RISE project with Huntington School in York, funded by the Education Endowment Foundation.
