In The Loop

Dear families,

As you will be aware, there have been posts on social media encouraging violence between school pupils locally and in other areas of the country. I would like to reassure parents and carers that we are working closely with the police and other local schools to ensure that our pupils are safe, and the police are monitoring social media to identify accounts promoting violence. This afternoon Mr Hodges, Deputy Headteacher/Designated Safeguarding Lead, spoke to all pupils during a virtual assembly and this afternoon there was an increased presence of school staff outside the school and in the surrounding areas of the school. There are always members of the senior team outside school at the start and end of the school day but there will be additional members over the course of next week. Please reinforce the messages your child heard in assembly today about the importance of making safe choices and encourage them to report any concerns to a member of staff or via safe@ccfplus.com. Should parents/carers have any questions or concerns, please either email safe@ccfplus.com or info@ccfplus.com and I will of course update parents/carers.

Mobile phones

We have been working on updating our mobile phone policy and I had planned to share the update with parents/carers this week, and the encouragement of violence on posts over the past few days is a stark reminder of the impact of social media on our young people. Whilst our current policy of ‘see it/hear it - take it’ means we have limited issues with phone use on school site, we are aware that many of our pupils have a smartphone and the Department for Education (DfE) is clear that mobile phones have no place in schools. 

With this in mind, I intend to make smartphones banned items for our incoming Year 7 pupils in September 2026 and potentially extend that to other year groups going forward, particularly should the guidance from the DfE change. Please click here to read the new mobile phone policy which will come into effect from September (changes are highlighted in yellow) and please share any feedback via info@ccfplus.com. 

Updates from the Department for Education (DfE)

I am sure parents and carers have seen in the news that the Department for Education (DfE) has published a white paper this week: Every Child Achieving and Thriving which outlines their proposals for reforming the provision for pupils with special educational needs. The DfE has also published a consultation on SEND reform, which closes on 18 May 2026 and published several documents including information on specialist provision packages and several documents setting out the key information and proposed reforms in the school’s white paper and SEND consultation document for parents. I would encourage parents and carers to respond to the consultation to share your voice before it is finalised and made statutory. Please contact Ms Pullan, Assistant Headteacher (Inclusion), or Ms Varsani, SENCO, via info@ccfplus.com if you have any questions about this or the provision for pupils with SEND at CCF. Alongside this, the DfE has also published a consultation on key stage 4 academic performance measures and targeted RISE extension, which will close at 11:59pm on 4 May 2026. 

Finally, it has been lovely to welcome pupils back after the break and to see the weather feel more spring-like. Thank you to the parents of Year 9 pupils for attending Year 9 parents’ evening on Wednesday, helping pupils in Year 9 to make informed choices for their options. This week we have also held our Year 12 careers week and I would particularly like to thank all of the volunteers who presented to Year 12 students over the course of the week and inspired and supported our students.  Next week is an exciting week including World Book Day and International Women’s Day and, closer to home, Monday is the day when our incoming Year 7 pupils receive their offers to join us at CCF in September and we look forward to welcoming them at our transition events over the coming weeks. 

I would like to wish you all a lovely weekend.

Kind regards,

Dr Ruth Hill

Headteacher