Welcome to St Ivo Weekly Newsletter – Week 1

A very warm welcome back to all our students, families and staff as we begin an exciting new term together. We hope you have had a restful and enjoyable break, and we are looking forward to all the opportunities, achievements and memorable moments that lie ahead.

As we start the new academic year, we are delighted to launch our weekly newsletter. This will be your one-stop shop for all the latest school news, community updates, celebrations, key information and important upcoming dates. Whether it’s student successes, events taking place across the school, or reminders about what’s coming up, you’ll find everything you need right here.

To help keep everyone informed, a link to the newsletter will be sent directly to your email every Friday. We encourage all families to take a few moments each week to read through the updates and stay connected with our school community.

We are excited for the term ahead and look forward to sharing our journey with you throughout the year!

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Each week there will be these key links!

• The student achievement button allows you to send an email and tell us about something amazing your child has done outside of school that you want us to know about!
• Clubs and activities will be updated with new clubs shortly and will begin the week of the 14th September.
• Term dates and Key Dates: Between these two tabs you will have an update on all events that are happening across the school until the end of the school year in 2027
• Homework and Revision: We are currently in the process of updating our Knowledge Organisers but homework information is still available here

Message from our Principal

It’s been a great start to the Autumn Term 26-27 over the last couple of days, and lovely to welcome everyone back to the new school term. 

I’d particularly like to welcome our new Year 7 students and their families to the St Ivo Community, alongside any other new families across the school.  

It’s been an incredibly busy summer holiday period at St Ivo, and I’d like to take this opportunity to say a massive thank you to our Site Team who have done such brilliant work this summer.

Mr Coulson and his team have worked so hard over the summer break (as they do each holiday period) to refresh so many of the spaces across the school. The biggest project has been refurbishing our Food Technology kitchens, which I hope you agree look amazing! A local business, HBC Kitchens provided the kitchens and have carried out much of the installation. Cambridge Sign Company have created some wonderful artwork for us which you can see below, which definitely brightens up the school environment.

In addition to the kitchens, Mr Coulson and his team have been painting lots of walls, and making things look fresh and new for our students, as well as setting up lots of new spaces and furniture. I have heard lots of positive comments from students in the lunch line today and yesterday, particularly about the blue ‘St Ivo logo’ wall and the new N block floor; and it is really lovely to hear the positive feedback from young people about the school environment.  While students will have met lots of teachers and support staff over the last couple of days, they probably won’t have met Mr Coulson or other members of the site team, but they are constantly busy – doing a wonderful job – behind the scenes, to make sure students and staff have a positive and safe environment to spend their days.  So a huge thank you from me to them.

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend. 

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A warm welcome to all of our new Year 7 students, parents and carers!

During our transition days, students met their tutors, explored the school, had their photos taken, completed their canteen biometrics, and began making new friends. Supported by our fantastic Year 9 Champions, they have made a brilliant start to life at secondary school.

We have been so impressed with how well everyone has settled in and look forward to seeing Year 7 continue to thrive in the weeks ahead!

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Stranger Sagas Competition Books

Stranger Sagas competition book that have been purchased by parents for delivery to the school are ready to be collected from Mrs Carter in L17 from Tuesday to Friday.

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We are incredibly excited to unveil our brand new Food & Nutrition rooms!

As many of you may know, our food rooms had not been refurbished since the 1970s and were in real need of an update. After months of planning and hard work, the transformation is complete, creating a modern, inspiring learning environment for our students.

There is just one final touch to add. We are currently designing a fun food-themed vinyl feature wall that will bring even more colour and personality to the space and truly complete the rooms.

Each kitchen has been fully equipped with brand new resources and appliances, from forks and utensils to Samsung electric ovens. We have also installed integrated ceiling extraction systems, giving the rooms a sleek, modern and professional finish.

We cannot wait to get started and see our students enjoying these fantastic new facilities.

Special Thanks

A huge thank you to the companies who supported us throughout the project:

• HBC Kitchens and Team for supplying and installing the countertops, cupboards, ovens and hobs.
• Cambridge Sign Company for creating the vinyl wall art and healthy balanced diet wheel displays.
• Octavius for supplying new aprons and pasta machines.

Most importantly, none of this would have been possible without the generous support of Savoy Educational Trust and Astrea Academy Trust, who each contributed £36,000 towards the project.

Thanks to their investment, these facilities will benefit our students and wider community for many years to come, inspiring the next generation of chefs, nutritionists and food enthusiasts.

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Site Improvements

The Food & Nutrition refurbishment is just one of many improvements that have taken place across our site over the summer.

Visitors returning this term will notice a range of new wall vinyl graphics throughout corridors and departments, helping to create vibrant, engaging learning environments across the school. Our Geography department has been transformed with a stunning new world map feature, alongside freshly painted walls and doors to brighten the learning space.

In addition, classrooms across the school have been redecorated, and both the main hall and stage have received a fresh coat of paint, giving these important spaces a new lease of life. You will also notice that our orange N Block floor has gone and replaced with new Herringbone-style flooring!

Celebrating Student Work

Some of you may have noticed that much of the artwork previously displayed around the school has been taken down as part of these improvements.

Please be reassured that celebrating and showcasing student work remains a priority for us. As we continue to refresh our learning environments, student artwork will be displayed throughout the year, with displays regularly updated and rotated to ensure as many students as possible have the opportunity to have their work showcased.

Some pieces had been on display for many years and, as part of our wider site refresh, it was important to update these areas while also ensuring we continue to meet fire safety requirements.

Creating clean, fresh and distraction-free environments is particularly important in spaces such as the main hall, which is used for examinations throughout the year.

We value and celebrate the incredible work produced by our students and look forward to displaying even more of their achievements. Once GCSE and A-level work can be released, we are excited to showcase some of the fantastic pieces created by our talented students.

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Community News