Dear Parents and Carers,

Many congratulations to our team of Year 9 students - Wissal El Amrouchi, Sabrina Choudhury and Leah Salhan - who represented us at the Rotary Youth Speaks Competition and have progressed to District Finals. Many thanks to Year 12s Molly Smith and Lottie Tyers and to Mrs Sharp for coaching the team so admirably. Our students continue to excel at Sports, and last week, six students represented us at the ESAA Cross Country Cup Final in Suffolk and came an amazing 18th in the country. Congratulations to Miss Rose's team of Cross County Runners - Antonia Jubb, Orla Foley, Sara Laitner, Emma Nicholls, Eve Gamsby and Eva Lau-Johnston. We continue to be immensely proud at the continuing variety of successes achieved by our students.

On Thursday, we hosted our first of three operating theatres in school for Year 10 students. Organised by Miss Fotheringham and the Science Department, 64 students participated and it was fantastic to see them embracing the morning, dressed in scrubs and so enthused by the whole experience. Opportunities to complement classroom learning like these are invaluable.

Our charity work continues with staff and students donating the equivalent of 836 meals to the St Albans and District Food Bank this year as well as students taking part in this year's Amnesty International global letter writing campaign, 'Write for Rights'. The Sixth Form student leadership team are busy organising the Senior Citizens’ Christmas Party, which is always such an enjoyable event.

Over the last two weeks, senior staff have been meeting with Year 11 students to discuss Post 16 opportunities at STAGS and provide application forms for our Sixth Form. We have also welcomed the first wave of external candidates who are applying to join us following the very successful Post 16 Opening Evening. If there are any queries about Post 16 options, please contact Mrs Pipes. 

We will be delighted to welcome parents to both our E-safety Evening on Monday and Year 8 Parents' Evening on the 11th of December. As we move into the festive season, we also invite you to join us for the annual Winter Fair on 9th December from midday. Programmes and raffle tickets have been          distributed to all students and we look forward to welcoming you for a superb day.

Rehearsals are well under way for the Christmas Concert on Tuesday the 18th   of December and the whole school community are looking forward to our Christmas Carol Service at St Albans Cathedral - details of which are included in this issue of STAGSlink.

Your continued support of these and all school events is much appreciated.

With all good wishes,
Margaret Chapman