Friday 24th February 2023

Updates

Sixth Form

We are very pleased to share with you some of the first visuals for our new Sixth Form site at St Martin’s. The refurbishment plans are due to start after Easter, once our Year 11 and Year 13 pupils begin their study leave and work is currently under way across all sites for tidying and sorting ready for work to begin. We have been working closely with Taskspace who have created some exciting plans for the Sixth Form space which are attached.

Science Block

At the beginning of February we were granted planning permission for the extension of the existing science block on the St Paul’s site. Preparation work had already begun with planning permission in place to remove an old building and the site prepared where possible. We will continue to work with SKDC and our neighbours to ensure all planning conditions are met as we progress with the work over the spring and summer terms.

Boarding Update

As per our previous updates, our boarding structure, houses and staffing have been under review in order to facilitate our move to co-educational learning from 2023. We know from parent and pupil feedback there was a very strong desire to ensure our pupils were on age appropriate sites and we are pleased with how our re-structure has progressed.

Firstly, the following houses will be home to:

St Michael’s Y3 – Y6 boys and girls

Byard House Y7 to Y10 boys

St Paul’s House Y7 to 10 girls

Welland House Y11 to Y12 girls

St Martin’s House Y11 to Y12 girls

Park House Y13 girls

Browne House Y11 to Y13 boys

(Wothorpe House TBC)

Secondly, you will also be aware that we have been working hard to confirm which boarding houseparent’s will be in charge of which house from September 2023. We can confirm the following new appointments have been made after a rigorous interview process that involved both Headteachers and Mrs Peach (our boarding Governor), an in-tray exercise and a student interview panel.

Miss Anneke Davies will become the new Housemistress of Browne House. Miss Davies already has plenty of experience of boarding, having been HM of Byard House since 2018. She also knows Browne very well, having already worked as a resident tutor recently in Browne. Anyone who has visited Byard House in recent years will know, ‘Miss D’ has developed a warm, inclusive and purposeful culture in Byard and we have no doubt she will do the same in the senior boys house.

Mrs Rae Burns has been appointed Housemistress of St Paul’s House. Mrs Burns in no stranger to Stamford Schools as she is currently the student support manager at SHS; supporting students with their mental health and wellbeing and has previously been the Houseparent at St Michael’s at Stamford Junior school. Mrs Burns has a wealth of pastoral experience, having previously worked as a houseparent in other boarding schools and fulfilled multiple pastoral roles. In addition to this she has had significant involvement with a military bereavement charity. She is thrilled to have the opportunity to be part of your children’s’ exciting and enriched journey at Stamford Schools.

Mr Dion Di Cataldo will become the new Housemaster of Byard House. Mr Di Cataldo has been an outstanding Assistant Housemaster in Byard, working closely alongside Miss Davies, for several years. He is also currently the Acting Head of Boys Sport at Stamford School and will bring with him energy and experience both in pastoral leadership and people management. The boys and tutor team in Byard will already know him very well and we are sure this will help with the transition next year.

This means we are able to confirm all the boarding Houseparent’s at the Stamford Endowed Schools from September 2023 as follows:

St Michael’s House Mr Andy Murphy

Byard House Mr Dion Di Cataldo

St Paul’s House Mrs Rae Burns

Welland House Mrs Franki Hall

St Martin’s House Miss Denise Smith

Park House Mrs Kasia McEnery

Browne House Miss Anneke Davies

(Wothorpe House Miss Amie White)

As we move into the second half of this term, we will now be focussing on ensuring we build the right staff team around each boarding house as well as providing the boarders with opportunities to meet and get to know their new boarding houseparent for September 2023. Parents and guardians will also have the chance to do this, and we will look to provide opportunities for you to get to know your child’s new houseparent during the rest of this academic year.

Houses

We have spent a considerable amount of time with our heads of houses across both schools to establish how we “merge” the current systems whilst keeping our traditions and history alive. We have decided we will have eight houses next year; four junior, who will cater for all students in Year 7-9 and four senior houses catering for all students in Years 10-13.

The houses are named as follows:

• Blue junior house will be Radcliffe and the senior blue house Elliot
• Green junior house will be Exeter and the senior green house Cavell.
• Red junior house will be Beale and red senior house Ancaster
• Yellow junior house will be Anderson and yellow senior house Brazenose

For the purposes of continuity, and to help everyone maintain their loyalty to their existing houses, we are keeping the four SHS house names and the four SS house names. The associated colour with each house will also remain. Students will stay in the same colour of house, as they move from the junior system to the senior system. In addition, two of the senior houses will be named after existing SHS house names and two of the senior houses will be named after existing SS house names. The same is therefore the case with the junior houses.

Keeping you updated

The next update will be issued in March before the Easter break. Should you have any questions between now and the next update, please do email the team via stamfordcoed@ses.lincs.sch.uk

All copies of these updates will be shared online at stamfordcoed.org so that you can refer back to them as necessary as the project progresses.