Principal’s Blog – 12th April 2019

We have finally reached the end of a very busy term, students and staff are looking exhausted. The Year 11 and Year 13 students have worked tirelessly throughout the term with final preparations for their exams. There are a large number of revision classes available for students to attend for both GCSE and A level preparation throughout the holidays and I would like to thank the staff for giving up their holidays to support the students at this time.

Attendance for all year groups is looking fantastic and I would like to thank parents for supporting us in encouraging students to attend. Year 11 have been particularly good which will clearly help when they reach their examinations.

Parent’s evenings this term have been very well attended and again I thank you for your support on these evenings. Feedback was very positive and areas for improvement are being looked at and addressed.

In Science Mrs Peers entered two teams from the sixth form into the regional heat of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s National Schools’ Analyst Competition being held at Keele University. It was a very successful day. Both teams did well but Charlotte, Luke and Ewan came second winning £20 gift card each and £75 for the school. The theme was “The science of breakfast” which involved them using UV-vis to determine the concentration of lycopene in tomato ketchup and HPLC to determine the amount of caffeine in tea and the amount of vitamin C in orange juice.

I have been visiting Food Technology again this week and was really impressed with the Year 9 cake decoration and have include a few photos to show the standard of their work.

Football
The Year 7 and Year 8 teams have been very successful this term. The Year 7 and Year 8 football teams were both successful in their county cup semi-finals yesterday The Year 7 county cup final will be against Ecclesbourne at Belper Leisure Centre 3G pitch on Tuesday 7th May (5.45pm KO). . The Year 8 county cup final will take place on Thursday 2nd May at South Normanton Athletic FC (5pm KO)Well done to all students who have taken part.

Colour Run
There was a great effort shown by students and staff for the First John Port Colour Run. The event was held on Friday 12th April on the school field and students ran a distance of 3k through a haze of colour! It was great to see so many students involved and we hope to see more in future years. All profits raised from the event will be equally shared between the PTA and the Douglas MacMillan Foundation. A huge thank you to Mr Roberts and the PTA for organising the event.

Skirt reminder
I would just like to remind all that only the pleated school skirt will be acceptable from September 2019 for students. Students will no longer have the option of wearing a straight skirt. School trousers are still acceptable.

London Marathon
I would like to wish Mr Roberts and Miss De Hamel the best of luck in the London marathon we will be looking out for you!

I hope you all have a restful and enjoyable Easter break.

Mrs Squire

Principal