Dear parents and carers

Last night we hosted our annual open evening which was a huge success. Over 300 families visited us and I have been inundated with positive emails praising our students and staff today. Over 100 UCC students stayed back until 8pm to act as ambassadors for our school and they were truly magnificent. Some students acted as tour guides, others helped out in subjects and we even had some live actors and busking musicians around the school site. We were treated to live musical performances before I delivered my speech to prospective families and I was incredibly impressed with Stevie, Summer, Florence, Sam and Edward from Year 7 who were brave enough to talk in front an audience of 250 people about their experiences so far at UCC. I was so proud of them, and along with all our students who stayed to showcase our school, they represented UCC superbly.

One of the key themes of my talk was about how our school provides a wide range of extra-curricular activities. I would like to remind parents that we publish our extra-curricular activities on a weekly basis (link here) and several other clubs are advertised to students internally via our daily notices.

You may remember at the end of the summer term I wrote to you explaining that Mrs Thomas would be unable to continue with her Duke of Edinburgh commitments and that I was seeking alternative solutions to ensure this remained an important part of our extra-curricular provision. I am delighted to inform you that, following a meeting with Mrs Thomas and our regional DofE manager Tina Smith, we have been able to establish a sustainable model for the delivery of DofE at UCC. Mrs Thomas will continue to have oversight of the DofE provision and she will mentor and supervise a number of UCC staff who will deliver the DofE course to groups of students. More details of how this will be organised will follow later in the term.

Next week on Tuesday we have our first ACE day of the year which involves the following exciting opportunities:

• Year 7 have the Art of Brilliance
• Year 8 have The Real Game
• Year 9 have an Enterprise Day
• Year 10 have University Visits
• Year 11 have a post-16 education focus

Can I remind all Year 11 parents that we are hosting our annual Post-16 evening on Tuesday next week; all of the local colleges and sixth forms will be represented and it is a very important event to attend with your son/daughter.

Finally, can I issue a polite reminder to students who walk to school from Uppingham that Knoll Lane, off London Road is not to be used as a cut-through as it is a private road and is clearly marked as such. Students have been reminded of this but I would appreciate parents reinforcing this message as appropriate.

Have a great weekend.

Mr Solly