Dear Parents and Carers,
End of term arrangements: term will finish on Tuesday 22nd July when students will be dismissed at approximately midday. School lunch will be available for those students who may wish to use this service. It will be a voluntary non uniform day at a cost of 50p.
Start of Term: the Autumn term starts for students on Thursday 4th September, for Year 7 students at 8.40am. Year 10 students should arrive at school for 9.50am. Years 8, 9 and 11 students are expected in school at 11.00am. This is a change to our recent practice but we only have two teaching days in the first week so we want everyone in school on the Thursday but at staggered times. Students need to come equipped for all lessons as normal except for PE.
Lunch time arrangements: the lunchtime break will be from 1.15pm to 2.05pm. Parents are reminded that only Year 11 students are allowed to leave the premises at lunchtime. Any student wishing to go home for lunch must fill in a new form for 2008 – 2009.
No students are allowed out of school at break time.
Early closures next term: As usual there will be some early closures at the beginning of term to assist in the organisation of Open Evening on Thursday 18th September. School will close at lunch time (1.15pm) on Wednesday 17th and Thursday 18th September. On Friday 19th September school will start for students with registration at 9.45 am, followed by period 2.
Change of category to foundation
Thank you to everyone who responded to the informal consultation on the proposal to change the school’s category to foundation. The responses we received were mostly positive so the governing body has now decided to move to the next stage which is formal consultation. We plan to start this part of the process at the start of next term and we’ll let you know what this involves in September.
Uniform
Thank you to parents for your continued support in maintaining our high standards of uniform. If you are purchasing new items of uniform during the summer break please be aware of the rules applying to skirt length, in particular, which should be ‘approximately knee length’ and ideally should be ‘on the knee’. If you need to purchase new shoes please avoid ‘canvas’ type shoes and boots as these do not meet the uniform requirements. Please see the Planner for further details.
Reminder to the current Year 9 moving into Year 10 in September that they will need to purchase an Upper School Tie.
70th Anniversary celebrations
On Saturday 21st June, we celebrated the school’s 70th anniversary. Many ex-students and staff returned to join us in our celebrations, some of whom were at the school when wartime pilot Sanders Draper wrestled with his spitfire to avoid hitting the school. Our students enjoyed a week off normal lessons learning about the 7 decades of the school's existence (as part of our Communities Week).
School Sports Day
A very successful Sports Day was held at school on Friday 27th June. The rain came right at the end but did not spoil a great event. Thank you to all staff who made the event so successful. Congratulations to all students who competed and to the Year 10 GCSE students who helped the PE Department stage such a well organized event.
School Gates
A reminder that the gates at the entrance to the site are closed at the following times, with the agreement of Suttons Governing Body and the Growing Pains Nursery: 8.45 – 9.00am and 2.55 – 3.20pm.
Staffing
We are saying goodbye to the following staff:
Mrs Gill Power (Head of Year)
Mrs Leah McGee (English)
Ms Amy Taylor (Head of Year)
Ms Mary George (Science)
Ms Claire Noah (Head of Technology)
All of these staff have done a wonderful job with students at Sanders Draper over the years. We thank them for their hard work and wish them all the best for the future. We look forward to a number of staff joining the team in September and we welcome back Mrs Lee and Mrs Walford-Fitzgerald.
Mrs Lorraine Banks is leaving for maternity leave and will return next year.
Friends of Sanders Draper
The 200 Club is simply a lottery of up to 200 people who contribute £10.40 annually. The cost is £.10.40 per annum for which you receive a lottery number. There is no restriction on the quantity of ‘numbers’ any one person may have.
The proceeds from the 200 Club go to the Friends of Sanders Draper fund, which is used to provide a variety of items for the school that may not otherwise be available through normal funding.
There are monthly draws with prizes of 3 x £10.00, 3 x £5.00 and two six monthly draws with prizes of £100.00, £50.00, £25.00 which take place at the FOSDA meetings in June and January.
It remains only for us to wish you all a pleasant summer break and we look forward to seeing our students back in school in September.
Yours sincerely,
Tess Blight
Head Teacher