Dear Parents and Guardians,

A warm welcome to every family across the Foundation as we embark on the new academic year.

With environmental sustainability core to our vision of education, we look forward to building on the summer term's Festival of Learning where every member of our community was focussed on some aspect of sustainability.

 Indeed, Mr Adam Williams, a member of our Geography department, has over the summer become an accredited United Nations Climate Change teacher. The One UN Climate Change Learning Partnership is an initiative that aims to enhance global climate literacy through advice and high-level learning resources. We look forward to having the benefit of this additional understanding of the issues.

 

 

The challenge the Stephen Perse Foundation faces to become carbon neutral has
been in my thoughts over some time, especially as it is an issue so many of our
students are focused on. We take this challenge very seriously. We shall be setting
up a Foundation Sustainability Council including representation from colleagues,
students and governors which will provide sustainability leadership helping to shape
our approach to this critical issue.  

For the benefit of families new to the Foundation here are two videos of the Festival
of Learning, capturing the 3-11 and 11-18 experience of this special day. 

 

Our commitment to sustainability is of course rooted in our global outlook. It is a
source of pride for me that our location as a family of schools in and around
Cambridge translates into a diverse student body. Our sixth form boarding has
enhanced our global reach offering an enriched school experience for all our
students. We are mindful as educators that our young people will live increasingly
global lives. I am therefore delighted that we now offer Year 7s the choice of four
modern languages - French, Spanish, German and Mandarin Chinese. Our
commitment to language learning is not only a critical skill, it also builds a real
understanding of other cultures. As an IB World School this is an integral part of our
identity. 

The leaders across the Foundation share this vision. It is a real pleasure to be
working with our new team: Mrs Louise Graham, Head of Dame Bradbury’s school,
Mr David Hewlett, Head of Rosedale House, Dr Andy Kemp, Head of Senior School
and Mr Spencer Pinkus, Head of Sixth Form. If you want to discover more about the
personalities behind the names please do listen to their podcast interviews with me.  

Leaving the Foundation is Vice Principal Ms Naomi Atkins who is moving overseas
to set up a school. This is an extraordinary opportunity for Ms Atkins and I wish her
every success in this venture. We look forward to announcing Ms Atkin’s successor
in the near future.

As we look forward to the new year we are really excited about extending our learning community to include nurseries. During the course of 2020 we plan to open nurseries for children one years old and over at Dame Bradbury’s,  1 Salisbury Villas, Station Road, Cambridge and Madingley.My thanks to Ms Verity Brownbridge, acting Head of Early Years Foundation Stage, who is working tirelessly with her team to create an exceptional nursery experience for our youngest learners building on the visionary work of Mrs Sarah Holyoake who is currently on maternity leave.

For our older students, we are also really excited about extending the Inspire and
Guide programme from Key Stage 4 and the Sixth Form to our younger Senior
School students. I really appreciate Dr Alison Curry’s leadership in developing this
critical dimension of our Stephen Perse Foundation educational opportunity:
"The workplace facing the students of today requires a new genre of mental
flexibility, skill sets and digital aptitude in order to be competitive. New degree
choices and new post 18 opportunities reflect emerging opportunities. Developing
core skills and competencies alongside strong academic achievement is now
essential for competitive university and career aspirations."  -Dr Curry.

Finally many congratulations to our sixth form leavers who having completed their
educational journey with us are moving on to the next stage of their lives.

All best wishes
Tricia Kelleher