Felpham Community College have hosted successful taster days for year 5 students from across the locality for over 10 years. This year, for the first time, instead of taking place solely in the Summer Term, the ‘Magic Day’ events will run across the academic year, with the first event taking place in November.

90 year 5 students from Downview visited FCC on Wednesday 23^rd November, with each class taking part in a different activity. Some students developed spells in drama, whilst others reached for the heights and tried trampolining. The final group looked at ancient magic – what will you wish upon a stone?

Supported by FCC students, it was a great opportunity for the year 5’s to see what secondary school is like, how facilities and lessons are different and to ask older students any questions they have.

Mr Whiffin, Deputy Headteacher, commented: “It was great to welcome Downview and see them getting stuck in to the activities – their enthusiasm was brilliant. Thinking about secondary school is often quite daunting for younger students, so these events are a chance to let them see that the next stage of their education shouldn’t be something to worry about, but to be excited about. Our FCC student helpers were a credit to us on the day supporting the younger students. We are now looking forward to running more days next year for other local primary schools.”

Student comments:

“I really enjoyed the drama, the studio we got to use is huge and has loads of special effects”

“ We saw how big FCC is, the students who helped us said it soon becomes easy to find your way around”

“My brother comes to school here so it was nice to come and see what it is like. The FCC students were nice.”

Zalia Ali and Connor Gillam, both year 13 A Level Business Studies students at Felpham Community College, were successfully chosen recently to work with the Senior Management Team at Portsmouth Water, as part of their ‘Future Customer Panel’.

This is the first year the panel has been recruited, to bring in the views of young adults into the decision making the company do to plan their future operations. The initiative is being run by Blue Marble Research –  a specialist research and engagement agency.

Portsmouth Water recruited 20 individuals from a mix of schools and colleges within the Portsmouth Water region. They received a huge number of applications with successful applicants going through a vigorous selection process to be chosen.

Since being successfully appointed as consultants, Zalia and Connor have attended two workshops at Portsmouth Water, seeing first-hand the workings of the business and receiving briefings from senior executives about the company and the challenges it faces to facilitate problem-solving exercises.  They have also had time for networking with the other students who are part of the committee and taking part in workshops to gauge opinion and customer value on decisions Portsmouth Water currently face. On the second event day they also presented their ideas to a panel of judges comprising senior executives from the company.

Zalia Ali, year 13 student commented: “I am part of the Student Leadership Team at Felpham, I am Deputy Head Student, and this gave me the confidence to apply for this position. I wanted the chance to voice opinion for young adults in local issues and initiatives. It has been a great opportunity to see how a large company operates and networks and to meet students from around the area. I am doing my A levels and finishing my university applications so this is a good thing to be able to use as evidence. I was the leader of my group on the second workshop day and had to delegate tasks within my team which was really good for improving my leadership skills.”

Co-ordinated by the Sixth Form Charity Committee and supported by the Student Council, Felpham Community College collected in over 20 crates of donations for UK Harvest.

Students across year groups and staff had 3 weeks to bring in as many donations as they could, with each form group being given a bag to fill. Food and toiletries were donated, with UK Harvest coming in to collect the crates on Monday 28^th November.

Georgia Robson, Student Leadership Team in charge of charity commented: “we do a collection each year for UK Harvest, we start after October half term. Student Council Reps help us promote it with students and our charity committee (some of whom are in the photo above!) helped us pull it all together. It is great to see all the donations going off to a really worthwhile cause – UK Harvest donate out to the local foodbank and homeless charities and to local people in need.”

UK Harvest are a food and education distribution charity based in Chichester – for more information please visit UKHarvest food rescue and education charity

Dance students from Felpham Community College are celebrating a successful performance at ‘Dance House’, held on Wednesday 9^th November at the Alexandra Theatre, Bognor Regis.

The extra-curricular FCC Dance Team, representing students from years 7-10, started work on their performance piece back in September. Under the direction of the drama and dance teachers at Felpham, the team choreographed and produced the piece under the theme of ‘Unity’. They then performed to a sold-out audience on the 9^th November, along with 7 other local schools who also took part on that day.

Miss Crocker, Teacher of Dance and Drama commented: “I am really proud of the group. They showed true commitment; working hard on their performance, attending rehearsals twice a week, and rehearsing at home until they felt it was perfect. It was a great experience for them to perform in a professional theatre to a paying audience and they were very excited about the whole event. We are now busy planning our entry for the next Dance House to be held next term, as well as starting to prepare pieces for our Summer Term FCC Dance Showcase, an event which we are excited to be holding for the first time in 2023.”

The next Brighton and Sussex Medical session is on Wednesday 23rd November at FCC from 3:30pm until 5pm

This is aimed at students in years 10-12 and will be an interactive session where we will explore the skills, attributes and knowledge needed to make a successful application to medicine and provide some pointers on how to go about developing these. We’ll also consider various components of the application process including entry requirements, admissions tests and interviews.

Students in years 10-12 from all local schools are welcome.

If you’re interested in attending – please e-mail sbuckland@felpham.org.uk to confirm attendance.

Students across year groups at Felpham Community College have created a visual memorial for Remembrance Day and The Royal British Legion poppy appeal.

Every student in years 7,8 and 9 within their art classes this half term, created an individual poppy out of recycled egg boxes. Year 10 students and the Creative Club (extra-curricular art club for years 7,8 and 9) also used a variety of mixed media recycled materials to create larger poppies, using wire, wax, fabric, pebbles and plastics.

Mr Anstiss, Headteacher commented: “We are proud of the students for producing such an impressive and moving piece of art, to remember and honour the men and woman who have served their country. Our Student Council Reps have also been working hard these last 2 weeks, giving up their break and lunch times to sell poppies around the school site.”

Mrs Tomkins, Curriculum Leader for Art and Design commented: “You cannot help but say ‘Wow!’ when you see the finished memorial as it is so eye catching. Students worked incredibly hard on their poppies and the level of detail on some of them is inspiring. The display is currently on show at the FCC main reception and then we hope to donate it locally.”

40 FCC students from years 10 to 13 went to Jaen in the south of Spain on Friday 21st October for 4 nights / 5 days over half term.

Organised through the languages department, the trip included a guided tour of Madrid and meeting their student pen pals. They then went on to Granada and visited the city centre and science park.

Within the action-packed trip, they also fitted in a Masterchef competition, shopping, a visit to the local beach, a disco, Spanish cuisine tasting, visiting a UNESCO heritage site, bowling and a hike to a castle.

Arriving home at 2am on Wednesday morning, students and staff were worn out and excited to tell everyone about their adventures!

I am contacting you to let you know that I will be retiring as Headteacher of Felpham Community College after Easter next term, on 16^th April 2023.

Having led FCC since April 2010, I am immensely proud of our school and sixth form.  I have been privileged to work alongside a superb leadership team and wonderful staff body for an extended period of time. I have also been very well supported by our dedicated, effective and highly professional school governors.

Parents, carers and our wider community have also provided consistent support for which I remain extremely grateful.  Most importantly, I have enjoyed seeing a large number of students develop and progress during their time at FCC.  This is a unique privilege for any headteacher and one that has inspired and motivated me over time.

It is now approaching the right stage for me to move on to pastures new.  In particular, I would like to spend more time with my wife and our grown-up children. Hopefully, they will feel the same way too.

For obvious reasons, it is important to note that I shall remain in post and be fully committed to Felpham until my retirement next April.

In recent times, I have been working alongside our Chair of Governors, Ken Lloyd, and my two outstanding Deputy Headteachers, Michelle Kelly and Ed Whiffin, to ensure that everything runs smoothly including the appointment of a new headteacher. The decision to announce my retirement to you, (and my staff colleagues earlier today) is in keeping with my desire to always act with openness and clarity.  I believe that Felpham Community College is on a superb footing.  Our foundations are very secure and we can look to the future with optimism and confidence.

Mark Anstiss
Headteacher

Each academic year, Felpham Community College host a number of events in support of local, national and international charities. Organised and co-ordinated by the sixth form student charity committee, under the direction of the Student Leadership Team, the events are held across year groups to support various charities which are nominated for by FCC students and staff.

On the 21^st October, FCC held one of the first activities of the year, a non-school uniform day in support of My Sister’s House. Celebrating the end of an incredibly busy half term, students and staff were encouraged to pay a £1 donation to ditch the uniform and wear what they want for the day. Sixth formers got involved and were encouraged to come in Halloween fancy dress!

Georgia Robson, Sixth Form Leadership Team in charge of charity commented: “It is great that students and staff at FCC want to support charity and help others and we enjoy sorting out a programme of events which is fun and gets everyone involved. Thank you to parents and carers and families who support our students with the events as we couldn’t do it without them either!”

For more information on My Sister’s House please see My Sisters’ House (mysistershouse.info)