Weekly Update – 21 November 2025
Bike Safety: We have had several calls from members of the public who are concerned at the number of students riding bikes to and from school with no lights. Please could you check that your child’s bike has lights that work if they cycle to school.
Online Safety: We’ve been made aware of a pop-up on Roblox promoting an app called Pollybuzz (or Pollyfuzz). While it starts off as a simple Q&A game, it has been reported to later show extreme and harmful content, including references to suicide, self-harm, and pornography.
✅ Remind children not to click pop-ups in games.
✅ Encourage them to report anything worrying to a trusted adult.
✅ Set up Roblox parental controls here
Please note: parental controls help, but supervision is still essential.
Step inside the classroom of 2026! We all know that school isn’t the same as when we were there all those years ago. New teaching methods, based on years of educational research, and a wealth of technological changes have meant that the education your children experience is very different from the education you experienced.
We would like to invite you to join us, ‘Inside the Classroom’, where parents will get to experience education as it is taught today. From up-to-date teaching methods to interactive technology, you’ll experience first-hand what it’s like to be a student at CPS now and maybe learn a thing or two along the way.
Save the date: Thursday 29 January 2026, 6pm – 8pm
Further details on how to book your place will be released early in the New Year. Don’t miss your chance to join us.
Year 7 Christmas Disco: To celebrate their first term here, Year 7 students are invited to a Disco on Thursday 11 December from 6.30 – 8.30pm. Christmas Jumpers/festive outfits are encouraged! To book a place, please sign up and pay via Scopay by 5th December. The Ocean Stars fundraising team will also have a stall with drinks/snacks/other items – students should bring cash on the night.
After weeks of preparation, our team of legal eagles will be competing in the @YoungCitizensUK National Bar Mock Trial Competition at Southampton Crown Court this weekend. The competition aims to give young people the ultimate insight into the judicial system, its venues and the work of senior legal professionals. Best of luck to them at what will be an exciting and inspiring event!
Important Information for Parents and Students from the Trips Team
If you have recently applied for a place on a trip and submitted the required payment by the deadline, you will receive an email confirming the outcome of your application next week. Please look out for an email from EVOLVE/Hampshire County Council (not EduLink or ScoPay) on Tuesday, 25 November.
Emails will be issued as follows:
- Successful application – Parents and students will receive an email along with the Place Confirmation Letter.
- Waiting list – Parents only email.
- Unsuccessful application – Parents only email.
- Application submitted without payment by the deadline – No email will be sent, as this will be interpreted as an indication that you no longer wish to participate.
Since EVOLVE is a relatively new system for communicating trip information, please contact the Trips Team promptly if you do not receive an email on Tuesday, 25 November, so that any issues can be resolved without delay.
Please note that the Place Confirmation Letters and other relevant information will also be accessible via myEvolve app should you choose to register. Registration is optional and it is provided as an additional tool to help parents track all trips their child has signed up for.
Library: We will be welcoming back the Scholastic Book Fair next week, and it will run from Monday 24th November to Thursday 4th December. It will be with us for almost two weeks to ensure that there are still plenty of browsing and buying opportunities despite the two INSET days.
The Fair will be open to students to come along and have a look/ shop during break and lunchtimes, and both Years 7 and 8 will be visiting during English lessons. This could be the perfect opportunity for some early Christmas shopping, alongside encouraging reading for pleasure! Last year, our Calthorpe students and parents were fantastic at supporting the Fair, and we hope it will be as popular this year.
Payments for books will need to be online, with students bringing home the details of the cost and a QR code to scan. Payment can also be made directly via the link. www.bookfairs.scholastic.co.uk/pay
Parents/ carers may wish to purchase vouchers ahead of the fair, print them out at home and students use them as if they are cash. Book Fair Gift Vouchers – Scholastic Book Fairs
We will also have a few bits of fun stationery for the students, and this can be paid for with cash. The range of prices are usually from approximately fifty pence to £5.00.
The wonderful thing about ordering from the Book Fair is that, due to Scholastic’s Reward scheme, a percentage of the money made can go back into our school – so that means lots of fantastic new books for the library that will be chosen by the students.
We are delighted to reveal our new lower school Girls football kit, sponsored by Vigil Fire & Security who we thank for generously supporting us in purchasing the kit. If you have a company which may be interested in supporting one of our sports teams, please contact s.frizzell@cps.hants.sch.uk
A small group of selected students were taken to have tours at FCOT and Farnborough Sixth Form College to broaden their further education knowledge and aspirations.
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