Newsletters

Dear parents,

This last fortnight has seen two changes in the school, very different in nature, but which equally give a window into what makes the school special. The common thread that links them both is the idea of ‘pupil voice’ and the value that we give to the opinions and thoughts of students.

As you may have read previously, we have installed a large number of canvases across desks in the Senior School (alongside others in other schools within the Foundation). This is part of a world-wide art project being run in schools by Oscar Murillo from Columbia called the ‘Frequencies Project’. It gives students the opportunity to record their thoughts, show their creativity and give the world a window into their lives. One of our Year 11 Art Leadership Committee was describing how she drew the outline of a tree in the morning and then returned to the same desk in the afternoon to see how others had added birds, leaves, and an assortment of other more random objects to the drawing. The initial novelty of being able to scrawl whatever you want on the desks has now worn off and we are beginning to see some impressive creativity coming through.

Last Monday, I stood at the front of the staff briefing, took a deep breath and announced that we would be trialling the abolition of the ‘lunch priorities’ system. A collective stunned silence was followed by the words ‘brave’ and courageous’ being uttered, rather euphemistically. On announcing it the next day in assembly there was a spontaneous cheer from the pupils and they have embraced the new ‘system’ (or lack thereof) to great effect. We held an informal vote in assembly this week and the silence was this time reserved for the response to the question about whether we should return to the old ways. The original idea for doing this came from the students who were quickest to recognise that market forces would be much more effective than a centrally imposed system at organising lunchtimes. Pupil voice: this time less exciting or creative, but just as important.

With warm wishes,

David Walker

Head of Senior School

Sports roundup

A busy period in the fixture calendar has seen some cracking fixtures played over the last couple of weeks. For a full set of results please see our sports website www.stephenpersesport.com

An incredible performance from two of our Senior School netball teams last weekend saw the U14s and U16s crowned netball county champions! For a full report please click here.

The Girls’ U14 Hockey team represented the school at the regional hockey tournament in November. The group qualified after finishing 2nd at their county tournament. In a challenging group the team played against Sevenoaks School, Royal Hospital School, Norwich School and Bromley High School. Despite not registering a win the player group learnt a lot to take forward and worked tirelessly throughout.

The Girls U12 Hockey team travelled to Ipswich for a competitive regional tournament. The team recorded 1 victory, 2 draws and 2 loses in their group matches, which saw the team then play a cross over match against Stamford School for 7th and 8th place. The girls put in a great performance and won this game 2-0 to end a successful day.

In terms of individual successes, Millie H in Year 10 claimed gold in the Intermediate category of the East of England Pistol Championships. A full report on the event can be found here.

Year 7 student Abbey H was awarded her black belt in Tang Soo Do after an intense day of grading which included throwing nearly 2,000 punches. Read more about her day here.

Notices

Stephen Perse Christmas cards for sale!

Please support the 6th Form Charity Committee

Artwork by 6th Form student - Rebecca Sheng. All proceeds to benefit British Heart Foundation. Cards are £5 for a pack of 8, 14.8cm square high quality matt card. 

Cards are available for sale on WisePay. To buy in cash directly, please email rponek@gmail.com.

Snow Ball for Years 7 and 8 (external)

Monday 17 December, 19.00 - 21.00

Snow Ball is a Christmas party held every year in Cambridge to help raise valuable funds for local children’s charities. This is a fun evening for Years 7 and 8 in a safe environment, for a worthy cause. The disco is packed with entertainment such as dancing, surf simulator, snacks and candy floss, raffle prizes and face painting and proceeds go to the charity.

This year the charity chosen is Tom's Trust, for children with brain tumours. The Snowball will be attended by boys and girls from schools across Cambridge as well as the edges of Suffolk, Hertfordshire and Essex.

To purchase your tickets, visit the Snow Ball website!

PFA Christmas Fair

Saturday 1 December ***Save the date*** 

Please come and support this popular event. More details will be published on Classlist. Volunteering for the Christmas Fair will be coordinated via Classlist (you can also email pfa@stephenperse.com for further details).

PFA on Classlist

Please remember to accept the Classlist invitation that was sent by email at the start of term, in order to stay up to date with parent and PFA communications, events and notices. Classlist is also a great way to stay connected to other parents in your child’s year group or class, and ask questions to other parents, as it's GDPR compliant. 

CCSS inspection report

As you know, Cambridge Centre for Sixth-form Studies (CCSS) has recently joined our family of schools, and we will now be able to offer boarding places to students across both CCSS and the 6th Form College. We are therefore delighted to share the news that CCSS have just been graded "excellent" in their ISI inspection report across both the achievements and the personal development of students, with inspectors praising both teaching and boarding. You can read more about that inspection on our website.