Shipston High School congratulates its Year 11 students on the fantastic GCSE results achieved this year. Students in Year 11 have had an extremely challenging time since the cancellation of the usual examinations but these grades represent the hard work across the duration of their courses. Their commitment has been rewarded with impressive individual performances and strong results across the school. All students should be very proud.

The school has a strong and consistent record of academic achievement. Our focus on quality education, and our work preparing students for adult life, will enable them to move on to a wide range of fulfilling careers. 2020 results demonstrate the strong academic focus of Shipston High School and the excellent progress our students have made through sustained effort across five years in the school. After such a disrupted year, we are delighted that these results empower students to go on to fulfil their ambitions in education, training and employment.

Results day is also a day to remember the community spirit that has supported our young people through the most unusual of circumstances; students have and are still being encouraged and supported by their families, friends and school staff.

All students should be congratulated. Well done to everyone, and very best wishes for your future endeavours.

Shipston High School has had another active year, with students and staff involved in a varied range of activities.
One event has dominated all of our lives, and 2020 will doubtless be remembered as the year of the coronavirus. However, as the school community enjoys the summer break, it is an ideal opportunity to reflect on the year.

In the Autumn term the school welcomed another full year group of 120 year 7 students. This marked a further growth for the school, and Shipston High School is now regularly oversubscribed; a real mark of its popularity and families’ desire to be part of the school success story.

Alongside a great atmosphere of learning in the school, students were able to enjoy activities offsite, including trips locally and internationally. For example, Year 11 students visited the impressive Oxford University Museum of Natural History and all of our Year 7 students enjoyed a trip to Warwick Castle, learning about the history of the castle and the region’s power. 2020 saw our first school trip to Poland, where students experienced local culture, and visited the site of Auschwitz. This was a powerful and extraordinarily challenging experience for school age young people. It is with pride that we reflect how superbly our students represented the school during all of their out of school activities and the appreciation they have shown to members of staff for making the opportunities available.

In public speaking, Shipston High School won the prestigious Rotary Youth Speaks District competition. Our Year 10 students performed very impressively, beating sixth form teams from the local area to take victory. They were truly magnificent, engaging, articulate, and entertaining, winning plaudits from around the venue.

Thanks to support from the Police Crime Commissioner, we were delighted to welcome into school Loudmouth Theatre in Education company in early 2020 who gave a presentation to Year 11 focussing on Child Exploitation, Sexual Exploitation, County Lines, Grooming and Knife crime.

In March 2020, everything changed, and all schools in England closed to most children. Online learning became the route to education, and everyone had to adapt quickly to this remarkable event. Throughout, students have remained committed, curious and creative.

Finally, we are grateful for all the support the local community gives to our school but we would particularly like to thank Shipston Rotary Club, Pink Connect and Abbey Timms of Frills Cupcakes for their generous support for our young people; this is very much appreciated.

On behalf of our school community I would like to wish all parents, carers and friends of Shipston High School a happy, healthy and restful holiday.

Mr G. Saunders
Headteacher

The final Shipston Spotlight of this school year has now been completed and, as always, there’s lots to find out about what’s been happening in and out of the school during this last phase of the academic year. Take a look below:

In these uncertain times the majority of our students have been working off site, experiencing the challenges and demands of on-line working. Availability of computers, laptops, ipads and other devices to use as a study aid can sometimes be difficult for families who may not have access to any of these or where there are multiple users in one household.

We are, therefore, extremely grateful to Mr James Pink of local company Pink Connect, who has kindly donated six computers, monitors, mice and keyboards to the school for use by our students. We try to put our school at the heart of the local community and this generous gesture by Mr Pink illustrates all that is good about Shipston-on-Stour and its surrounding area. Thank you.

Issue number 3 of the Shipston Spotlight is now available.

Follow the link below to catch up on what’s happening at Shipston High School:

The P.E. Department has been busy devising this year’s Sports Day.

Sports “Day” this year will take place between Monday 22nd June and Monday 6th July and in a first for Shipston High School this will take place virtually.  Students are encouraged to join in the virtual event and gain house points towards the all important House Trophy.  Wear your House colours with pride and enjoy the event!

Enjoying a socially distance break

From Monday 15th June, Shipston High School started delivering lessons on site to Year 10 in line with the government guidance. The safety of everyone in the school and wider community is paramount and, in accordance with the guidance, we are only able to invite 25% of the cohort on site at any one time.

Our Year 10 students are attending for one day a week to receive subject specific support in core subjects initially, English, Mathematics and Science. The remaining four days continue with distance learning.
Students have been allocated a specific day each week for attendance in one specific classroom, in a model that is consistent with the approach taken by other secondary schools.

These arrangements are running separately from those which were successfully put in place at the start of the lockdown period for vulnerable students and those whose parents are keyworkers.

Even with such reduced numbers, it has been inspiring to see the school community coming together again with staff and students re-connecting with the special ethos that is Shipston High School.

The second edition of the Shipston Spotlight is now available. Hope you enjoy it.

Whilst in lockdown, one of our Year 10 students has been keeping herself busy in the kitchen.

Over the May Bank Holiday weekend, Charlie Taylor baked and delivered cakes in Shipston and many surrounding villages – even as far as Leamington Spa – to raise money for Safeline, a charity very close to her heart. As the reputation for her cakes grew, she easily reached her original target of £100 and throughout the weekend she continued baking with her total fundraising now standing in excess of £1,300!

Charlie’s mouthwatering selection of cakes comprised:
5 x Chocolate sponge cakes
8 x Strawberry and cream sponges
1 x Coffee and walnut cake
2 x Birthday cakes
120 x Cupcakes
10 x Rocky Road
9 x Chocolate brownies
9 x Lemon cheesecakes
4 x Lime cheesecakes
4 x Chocolate cheesecakes
1 x Strawberry cheesecake
4 x Millionaire shortbread
36 x Lemon and White chocolate muffins

Everyone here at Shipston High School is very proud of Charlie’s achievement. We would like to congratulate her on her enthusiasm and enterprise in achieving something so positive and worthwhile during this period of lockdown. Well done Charlie.