Felpham Community College held their annual Youth Action Week this year from the 11^th – 15^th July. This was a brilliant week full of activities – with the aim to fund raise and have fun at the end of the school year. Year events took place on the Monday and Tuesday afternoons, including literature hunts, football tournaments, a summer fair, rounders, badminton, gaming rooms, films and even a colour run!

On the Wednesday was the sponsored swim at the Arun Leisure Centre, which was as usual a popular event, especially with the recent heat wave. Over 70 students and staff and their dogs were due to walk 10 miles on the Thursday, this has been postponed to next term due to the heat. Other activities included sponge a teacher – with Mrs Marques-Darling,  Mr Summers and Mr Davies kindly volunteering to be soaked by sponges and even buckets of water. A tuck shop, run by the year 12 Charity Committee, ran every day selling a wide variety of refreshments – including selling out of 500 pick and mix bags and 300 ice pops!

Year 12 students are getting involved and are hosting their own year event on Wednesday 20^th July – a primary school sports day which will see teams battling it out to win the trophy in the egg and spoon race, bean bag throwing and the muchly anticipated tug of war. The final event of Youth Action 2022 will be the non-school uniform day held on the 21^st July, where students and staff will be encouraged to pay a £1 donation to wear what they want for the day.

Mr Anstiss, Headteacher commented:

“We have had a really busy and productive school year and the Youth Action week has been a great chance to let off some steam, have fun and fundraise for some excellent charities. It has been great to see students out enjoying themselves in the glorious sunshine. This year the school community voted to support Chestnut Tree House, Macmillan Cancer Support, Blue Cross for Pets and improving outdoor facilities for students at FCC. Money is still being collected and counted, but the aim is to raise over £3000. A massive thank you to all the students, parents / carers and staff for their support with our charity programme for this academic year – we have done so much and we couldn’t do it without everyone’s support”

Thankyou to Cheeky Panda for sponsoring the pick and mix and to The Lobster Pot Café for donating ice creams as prizes! Bamboo Toilet Paper, Straws & Bamboo Products · Cheeky Panda   The Lobster pot

As we approach the end of the summer term, and school year, I thought it timely to give details of the end of term, and start of term, arrangements.

Warm weather

Our students have been very sensible managing the warm weather this week. As you know, we have temporarily relaxed our uniform requirements with blazers and ties not required, and top buttons undone.

The start of next week is currently forecast to be even hotter, with Monday and Tuesday potentially 30°C. As a further measure to keep students comfortable, should they wish, in addition to no blazers and ties, they can wear their FCC PE shorts in school in place of skirts or long trousers.

So, from Monday to Wednesday next week students have the option to wear: normal white school shirt, FCC PE shorts, normal school black shoes and black socks. (For PE lessons, students will need their normal full PE kit.)

End of term – Thursday 21^st July 2022

We finish at 12:30pm next Thursday with students having normal lessons periods 1 – 4. Period 4 will finish at 12:20pm when all students will return to their form rooms for a final registration and to be dismissed at 12:30pm.

The last day of term will also be a non-school uniform day, raising money for Youth Action week. Students can bring in £1 on the day or ParentPay is open to pay in advance.

Return to school – September 2022

Friday 2^nd September – new Year 7 and new Year 12 only

• Year 7 spend tutor time and period 1 with their tutors
• Lesson 2 – 6 follow a Friday week B timetable
• Normal school times: 8:30am – 2:50pm
• Year 12 students will attend for a bespoke Induction Day. This will be published separately.

Monday 5^th September – all students return

• All students will spend tutor time and period 1 with their form tutors
• Normal lessons begin for a Week A timetable
• Normal school times: 8:30am – 2:50pm

And finally…

After all the disruption over the last couple of years with the pandemic, it has been very good to return to normal operation in school this year. Although we are still living with COVID we have been able to return to normality in most respects and have had a very successful year. Year 11 and year 13 coped brilliantly with the inevitable stress of exams, other year groups have been making very good progress and we are delighted to be over-subscribed and to welcome 300 students into Year 7 in September.

Successful schools do not run without trust and collaboration between parents and school. I would like to thank parents / carers for your support over the last 12 months and wish you, and your families, a peaceful and relaxing summer break.

Mark Anstiss
Headteacher

After 2 years absence, FCC were delighted to host the year 11 prom on Friday 1^st July.

Students arrived in style, cheered on by family, friends and staff.  It was a lovely evening full of glitz and glamour, karaoke, awards and dancing.

All of the students looked amazing and the event was a fabulous way to finish year 11, after all their hard work with their exams. We are now looking forward to seeing them back for results day in August, and welcoming them back to the sixth form in September!

Felpham Community College are celebrating after hosting 6 hugely popular ‘Magic Days’ for year 5 primary school students. Held over 2 weeks in June, it was great to get back to the events after 2 years of restrictions and proved hugely popular this year with a record number of students and staff attending – over 560 students and 36 visiting staff in total over the 6 days!.

This year we welcomed year 5 primary school students from Nyewood, Bersted Green, South Bersted, Edward Bryant, Downview, Rosegreen and Bishop Tufnell. The visiting students took part in a number of cross curricular activities led by the maths, science, computer science and drama departments.

Supported by our year 9 students, the year 5’s thoroughly enjoyed conjuring dragons in the science, solving mythical puzzles in maths, developing bloodcurdling spells in drama and creating their own computer games and animated creatures. The year 9 students were a big hit with all the visitors this year. As well as supporting the younger students in the activities, they were on hand throughout the events to answer questions about the school and the differences between primary and secondary education.

The days were a fantastic opportunity for students to experience a secondary school environment, meet Felpham teachers and students and try out some new equipment, activities and skills.

It is a busy term for younger students visiting Felpham, as well as the year 5 magic days, the year 6 students who are joining in September attend a welcome day, transition day and new intake evening. On welcome day they get to take part in taster lessons and learn about the schools Rights Respecting Schools ethos, visit the library and complete some curriculum activities. On transition day students find out their class for September and meet with their form tutor as well as getting familiar with the school campus. New intake evening is a chance for parents to meet Form Tutors and ask any questions, as well as sampling some canteen delights and having the opportunity to meet with the uniform suppliers and visit the school shop.

Mr Anstiss, Headteacher commented: “We have really enjoyed hosting the primary events this year and getting back to meeting the younger students face to face instead of virtual events. The students who have joined us for the day, both from year 5 and year 6, have been fantastic – it is great to see their enthusiasm with the activities and learning about secondary school life. Our FCC students helpers who have been on hand throughout to support the younger students have been brilliant and a real credit to FCC. We are now looking forward to welcoming our new year 7’s in September and we hope the magic day students come for another look round on our open evening on the 27^th September.”

The writing in this booklet has been undertaken by students from across every year group; some has been completed as part of their English work, some for fun and some as part of our very own creative writing club. You will find poetry and short stories. Some of the writing is wholly original and others have been created in response to the reading of a published text, using a similar style or developing a character to present a new idea.

This is just a small sample of the writing that we undertake in English at FCC and we hope you enjoy reading it as much as we have.

Drama students from years 9 and 11 at Felpham Community College took to the stage at the Mayflower Theatre Studios, Southampton, on the 27^th April.

Performing their adaption of the National Theatre scripted play, ‘Find a Partner’, the drama group have been working on their performance since October as an extra-curricular activity. At the end of March, they performed to a mentor director from the National Theatre, who gave them feedback and ideas to work on before their final performance at the Mayflower Studios. The students then took part in a puppetry and ensemble workshop at the Southampton Studios with an industry professional, before running their technical and dress rehearsal in April.

Miss Coney, Curriculum Leader for drama commented: “Our group have put in so much time and effort and have worked really hard on their performance. After 2 years of no theatre, it was amazing to get students back on a ‘real’ stage and performing to a packed audience. Well done to everyone who took part – you were a credit to FCC and the skills you have developed have been phenomenal.”

Ruby Hobbs, year 12 student commented: “It was so much fun to finally perform what we had been working on for months, and to perform to an audience after nearly 2 years of restrictions. I am looking forward to studying performing arts in the sixth form now!”

On Friday 27^th May, Felpham Community College celebrated the end of a busy half term by holding a non-school uniform day, raising money for The British Red Cross and improving outdoor facilities for students at FCC.

Sixth formers got involved and wore their PJs!

Georgia Robson, Student Leadership in charge of Charity at FCC commented: “Students enjoy non-school uniform days as it is a chance for them to express their individuality, and raise some money for some excellent charities. Sixth form students don’t wear uniform but we still wanted to get involved, so we decided to wear our PJs for the day! We have a really busy charity programme throughout the year, supporting charities chosen by our students. Next half term we are holding our biggest event – Youth Action Week – and we are busy now preparing everything for it, to make it a great week for students and fundraise as much as possible!”

On Thursday 5^th May, the FCC extra-curricular drama club performed their finished ‘Bombs and Blackberries’ production to a packed audience of family, friends and staff of FCC.

Students started work on their adaptation of the Julia Donaldson book back in September 2021 within their after-school drama club, which is open to all students from years 7,8 and 9. The group used some of the original text of the book and also incorporated their own devised work that they had scripted themselves.

Miss Coney, Curriculum Leader for drama, commented: “The students have worked really hard on the performance and their enthusiasm and effort has been outstanding. They were originally due to perform at the end of the winter term but the production was postponed due to covid restrictions. They used the extra term of rehearsal time to perfect their performance and the evening was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone who attended. Well done to all the students who took part.”

Rory Lyn, year 8 student commented: “I played Farmer Greg and Kenny and it was great fun! I made friends with students who I do not have lessons with and also some who aren’t in my year group. It was all a really good experience to be involved with – I would definitely recommend it  to any other students who are thinking about joining the club. We are busy planning our next production now!”

Felpham Community College have ended a jammed packed  term by holding a non-school uniform day, raising money for The Sussex Snowdrop Trust.

FCC host a number of charity events throughout the academic year, organised by the sixth form charity committee. Students and staff nominate in the Autumn Term what charities they would like to support over the year, with a variety of local, national and international charities being shortlisted and then voted for. The non-school uniform day on the 8^th April was raising money for The Sussex Snowdrop Trust and also school funds to improve outdoor facilities for students at FCC. Sixth form students got involved on the day and were encouraged to wear pastel colours in support of Spring!

As well as the non-school uniform day collection, FCC has also held donation drives this term for St Wilfrid’s Hospice and Ukraine. The Ukraine collection was a collaborative effort with the local community, organised through JW Sports in Bognor Regis.

Phebe Allies, year 13 student and Student Leadership i/c of Charity commented: “Non-school uniform days are a good way to raise money and promote some excellent charities. Student voice has indicated that students would like more facilities at break and lunch around the school site – for example benches and seating areas – so we are raising money for the school community as well as The Snowdrop Trust, to go towards what our students have requested.”

Photo – Some of the sixth form charity committee who collect in the donations

For more information on The Sussex Snowdrop Trust, please visit The Sussex Snowdrop Trust – Care at Home for Children

30 students, across year groups at Felpham Community College, are celebrating having their art work selected for a public exhibition at Pallant House Gallery in Chichester.

The students, from years 7 through to 12, are having their work showcased as part of an exhibition entitled ‘Model Gallery of the Future.’ They were tasked with making a small artwork on only a 10x10cm canvas. From the successful 30 FCC entries, five students will have their work selected to be exhibited in a central part of the gallery – the Maquette.

Mrs Tompkins, Curriculum Leader for Art and Photography commented: “Congratulations to everyone who has had their work selected, and in particular the five students chosen for the Maquette – Matvejus Fjodorovas (year 7), Dulcie Middleton (year 8), and Darcie Windsor, Elliot Gettings and Kurtis Allies (all from year 10). On the 5^th and 6^th April we presented everyone who has been selected with a certificate at a celebration event as we are really proud of what they have achieved. Having your work shown in a gallery is something so many people can only aspire to, and at FCC we have 30 students achieving this success this year! Well done to everyone who took part. We are all hoping to go and see the exhibition when it opens.”

Willow-Rose Hite, year 12 student commented: ”It was fun to come up with my design as it had to be really small! I am looking forward to going to the exhibition myself and showing my family.”

The exhibition runs from the 8th to 24th April at Pallant House Gallery, Chichester and is open to the public, please click on the link for more information  Pallant House Gallery | Home