Dear Parents / Guardians

On 21 June Governors considered the results of the Consultation on our proposal to create a Sixth Form and approved the publication of the Statutory Notice. This means that Surrey County Council will take a decision by 24 September whether to allow us to open a Sixth Form in September 2010. I will, of course, keep you informed.

Every school year has its ups and downs, so let me start with two "downs":

• Parking has been even more difficult on site because of the builders who took up a lot of parking space. This is the inevitable result of the creation of new facilities, but I am very aware of the inconvenience caused. We are currently working on plans to improve parking and traffic flow during the next academic year.
• Both the Junior and Secondary Libraries were partially in storage this year because the temporary building which was due to house both Libraries was condemned early last Summer (!) The Junior Library will open in a new dedicated room in September and the Secondary Learning Resource Centre has a new home and will be set up during the first few weeks of next term.

The "ups" are, however, pretty pleasing:

• We now have a new teaching block with two extra Science Laboratories, two more classrooms and a Dance Studio.
• The floodlit astroturf hockey pitch, together with three floodlit netball courts and an Olympic standard sprints and jumps track, will all be operational from September. We are hoping for an Olympic athlete to conduct the formal opening ceremony next term. More details as and when we have them.

I would like to record my grateful thanks to the many generous individuals and charitable trusts that funded these two developments. Of the total cost of £2.5 million, £400k came from the DCSF, £250k came from Surrey County Council and all the rest came from Charitable Trusts, private individuals and two major legacies.

From September we are taking on a new Specialism in Maths and Computing. This will focus extra funding and support on these two subjects both at this School and in a group of local schools where we will be supporting them in raising standards.

We have also been designated as a Lead School for Gifted and Talented. Funding for this Specialism is distinctly limited but we have already been focussing this year on raising our percentage of Grades A and A* at GCSE and this work will be developed across the School as well as to a number of local secondary schools.

The DCSF have awarded us a grant of £2.4 million to build two Boarding House ground floor extensions which will house a 27 PC Computer Room and an extended Common Room - as well as a two-storey extension with 21 study bedrooms with en-suite shower rooms designed for Sixth Form boarders. We already have planning permission for this for Kent House and the application for Alexandra House will be considered later this month. In September 2010 we will thus have 42 purpose-built Sixth Form boarding spaces and we expect them to be significantly oversubscribed.

We have been very fortunate to date as we have not been an incident of Swine Flu. It is unlikely that we shall be as lucky in the Autumn Term. Schools are apparently only being closed if a significant number of staff or pupils are affected. May I remind you that School Fees Insurance is available to cover any such extended closure.

GCSE results are published on Thursday 27 August and I am looking forward to an excellent set of results which, if our latest predictions are correct, will be, yet again, a record set of results.

With my best wishes for the Summer holidays.

Yours faithfully

Paul D Spencer Ellis
Headmaster