Our open evening is a great opportunity for us to show off our school to children in primary school who are thinking about their choices for secondary education – and their families! We strongly believe that our students are our greatest ambassadors, and this year we had over 300 of them on site acting as tour guides, ambassadors for faculties, or taking part in rehearsals for our upcoming production of High School Musical – on stage. As ever, our students were amazing, and I want to thank them all for their brilliant contribution.

There was a real buzz around the Academy site as families came to visit us. Thankfully Storm Agnes, which was forecast to hit on Wednesday evening, only provided a strong breeze on what was otherwise a lovely autumn evening. Visitors got to sample all of our subject areas and a range of our extra-curricular activities across the site, as our future students collected stickers in their passport books with the promise of a “future student” badge from the Sixth Form if they collected them all!

My part in the proceedings was to present our vision, values and purpose to assembled visitors in the hall. I was delighted we had full houses for both presentations! As ever, I wanted the students’ voices to come through strongly, as they are able to “tell it like it is” from their perspectives. I have to say, I was bursting with pride a I listened to Bruce and Oliviya in Year 13, and Katie and Erin from Year 11, describe their experiences at Churchill and how it has shaped them into the wonderful young adults they have become. But it was Lola, Henry, Grace and Edward from Year 7 who stole the show: only at Churchill for three weeks, and already with the confidence to stand up and speak to an audience of nearly 400 people about their experience of transition from primary to secondary, and starting at Churchill. It was wonderful!

Next week we have two open mornings, on Tuesday 3rd and Wednesday 4th October, for parents and children to come and see the school in action on a normal day and to see what it’s really like at Churchill. Tickets can be booked on Eventbrite via our website.

The deadline for submitting applications to join Churchill Academy & Sixth Form in Year 7 is 31st October. All the links you need can be found on our admissions page. We look forward to seeing you soon!