The Felpham Community College Year 5 primary events have continued this term with great success. In March, FCC welcomed over 80 students from Edward Bryant primary school, who joined the Textiles department to ‘Explore the Magical Powers of Colour’. Then, at the beginning of April, over 80 Year 5 students from Nyewood Junior school ‘Created a Magical Forest’ with our Art department.
The events are a great chance for students to see how a secondary school is different to primary. As well as taking part in the department activity, students are given a tour of FCC by Year 9 students, with plenty of opportunities to ask questions about secondary school life.
Mr Whiffin, Deputy Headteacher commented: “Most Year 5 students have not ever been in a secondary school. We run these events to give students an opportunity to see a school in action before they have to make some important decisions in Year 6. It has been great to see the Year 5s interacting with our students and their enthusiasm with the activities.”
Following on from my letter last week, I am writing to confirm that the second scheduled day of industrial action in schools across England is still due to take place next week.
Again, whilst the decision has not been taken lightly, I am sorry to have to inform you that Felpham Community College will again be closed on Tuesday 2nd May for the majority of students. We are thus asking you not to send your child into school on this day.
On the day of the strike, students may wish to work at home on their set homework tasks, or alternatively work on education platforms such as The Oak National Academy or BBC Bitesize.
With the very limited staff we will have available, we will again prioritise on-site provision for those groups taking their examinations this summer, following a similar timetable to this week:
Year 11 – activities to support learning will include a Walking Talking English language paper, some targeted Maths support and a workshop for the triple scientists.
Year 12 – the Sixth Form Hub will be open for private study. Students in Year 12 who are wishing to read around their studies, or to explore an area to enrich their current knowledge base, may wish to enrol in one of the many free online Open University Courses which can be completed independently https://www.open.edu/openlearn/free-courses/full-catalogue. With a wealth of topics available, you may even find something that you would like to enrol on yourself.
Year 13 – the Sixth Form Hub will be open for private study, and some workshops will be available for identified groups.
Children of critical workers and our most vulnerable children – if you have not yet, but do wish to book a place, please complete the form here.
In a term which also holds bank holidays, I remain sorry that you will have to make alternative arrangements for your child next Tuesday, and that they will experience disruption to their education. Should the industrial action be called off, we will, of course, swiftly contact parents to confirm that the school will be open.
If you have any questions, please contact the school and I will do my best to respond.
As you will have seen in the media, the National Education Union (NEU) are due to hold another day of industrial action in schools across England on Thursday 27th April 2023.
As Mark Anstiss commented last term, a very large proportion of our teachers, at FCC, are members of the NEU, (currently over 80%). Again, we remain committed to providing a safe and secure environment for all our students, and feel that we would be unable to provide this with the very limited staff we will have available. I am therefore sorry to have to inform you that Felpham Community College will be closed on Thursday 27th April for the majority of students, and we are asking you not to send your child into school on this day.
On the day of the strike, students may wish to work at home on their set homework tasks, or alternatively work on education platforms such as The Oak National Academy or BBC Bitesize.
With examinations taking place this summer for students in Year 13 and Year 11, we will again prioritise on-site provision for those groups:
Year 11 – we will be distributing a timetable of activities to include a Walking Talking English language paper, some targeted Maths support and a workshop for the triple scientists.
Year 12 – the Sixth Form Hub will be open for private study.
Year 13 – the Sixth Form Hub will be open for private study, and some workshops will be available for identified groups.
Children of critical workers and our most vulnerable children – if you wish to book a place, please complete the form here.
I am sorry that you will have to make alternative arrangements for your child next Thursday, and that they will experience disruption to their education. Should the industrial action be called off, we will, of course, swiftly contact parents to confirm that the school will be open.
There is currently a further national strike day planned which may affect FCC this term. The proposed date is Tuesday 2nd May, and details of the arrangements for this day will be provided nearer the time.
If you have any questions, please contact the school and I will do my best to respond.
A huge congratulations to Adam Hughes in year 13 at Felpham Community College, who has been given a special invitation to the Kings Coronation!
Adam has been invited for the work he does with the Scouts. He has been volunteering with the Bognor Beavers and Scouts since he was 13 and is now the District Youth Commissioner for Bognor Regis and District Scouts.
Adam commented: “I have been volunteering with the scouts for the past 4 years, mainly focusing on 11th Bognor Beaver Colony for the first 2 years. I then started with 11th Bognor Scouts along with the Beavers just after we all came out of lockdown and being able to meet face to face again, which was great. 5 months ago, I dropped attending the scouts meetings every week and became the District Youth Commissioner for Bognor Regis and District Scouts, this means that I now go to different events and meetings in Bognor and the surrounding area which is a great experience. I was really excited to get the invitation – it will definitely be an event to remember!”
Mr Summers, Assistant Headteacher, commented: “Adam is part of our Sixth Form Student Leadership Team at FCC and has been an amazing link with our year 7 students. He has also led the school Eco Team for a number of years, progressing a number of environmental initiatives, and is part of our Charity Committee and Whole School Council. When he leaves FCC after his exams we will miss him a great deal – he is a firm Face of Felpham!
Alan and Sophia, year 8 students at Felpham Community College, are celebrating winning a ‘Screen Your Story’ national competition.
‘Screen Your Story’ is a UK wide creative writing competition that gets thousands of entries each year. Alan and Sophia were selected as winners in their age bracket and will receive a winner’s pack and an invite to the Celebration gala in London later this year. More information on the competition is available through the link below.
Alan commented: “We had to write a shorty story based around family. I wrote about divorce and how it can impact on the children in a family, and how some kids had a plan to stop their parents getting divorced. I was not expecting to win anything, we did the work in our English lessons and for homework and it was great to get the news that I have won – my family are really proud of me.”
Sophia commented: “I redrafted my story quite a few times until I was sure it was perfect for the message I wanted to get across. I wrote about grandparents and communication with family, and how it is important to not take people for granted. I am going to go to the gala with my family as I think it will be a fun experience to attend.”
Mrs Chick, Assistant Curriculum Leader for English commented: “Lots of our students submitted entries for this competition, they worked really hard and had some excellent ideas. It was amazing to read so many creative stories from all students but for two FCC students to win is brilliant and shows the level of what they are achieving – we are very proud of them.”
Congratulations to Miss A Jarvis, Teaching Assistant at FCC and Rights Respecting Schools Award Coordinator, who is 2nd on the agenda for the RRSA spring newsletter that goes out to all RRSA schools across the UK. The article also features on the RRSA website.
Click here to read her account of being involved with the Rights Respecting Schools Award at FCC.
Now we have started the summer term, Miss Jarvis has a number of projects she is currently working on, including organising new starter events for our year 7 September cohort of students, creating the RRSA staff steering group and organising our RRSA Students Ambassadors.
Miss Jarvis commented: “It has been a pleasure to return to Felpham and support our students in developing the passion, awareness and confidence needed to protect their own rights and the rights of others that will continue beyond their time at Felpham. I am excited to see how our upcoming projects will enable our students to develop personally and have a positive impact on the school and wider community”
It is with great delight that I welcome you to the summer term.
As you are aware, we waved a fond farewell to Mark Anstiss at the end of last term, and we look forward to welcoming Suzanne Pike, as our new Headteacher, in September. In the meantime, I will be undertaking the Acting Headteacher role, to ensure a smooth transition.
The summer term is always a busy one – none more so than for our Year 13 and Year 11 students who will be starting the final push towards their examinations. In supporting them, we look to secure a calm and purposeful atmosphere from the outset, and will be having a drive on expectations to ensure we settle quickly after the spring holiday. Please do remind your child of the need to be punctual, both to school and to all lessons, and to turn off their phones on arrival to school.
I look forward to working with you again this term, and hope to see many of you at the Awards Evenings, Summer arts festival and other activities we have planned for the coming term.
