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HAIL TO THE CHIEF

HAIL TO THE CHIEF

Visit of the Director of Children’s Services to Farringdon

The Director of Children’s Services, Dr Helen Paterson, paid a visit to our school on Wednesday 19th November and made a great impression on all who met her. This was the first visit by a Director for almost ten years. She was welcomed by the Chairman of the Governors, Cllr Peter Gibson and Mr Thornton, the Headteacher. Head Boy, Ben Gunn, Head Girl, Abbie Trotter, Deputy Head Girl, Ellie Sampson and Clarke Lawson of Year 11 showed her around. The Director saw a wide variety of the opportunities on offer at Farringdon. She went along to a Primary School Sports Tournament organised and run by our Young Apprentices in Sport, moving on to the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Unit where Shannon Dixon brilliantly described its provision. She then visited the wide variety of therapeutic learning experiences on offer in the Inclusion Support Centre. The Library was her next stop with time for a brief detour into the Luke Noble Bike Shed and the Jubilee Centre before finishing with the Chill House experience. Finally she met with representatives of the School Council in the Learning Zone for a question and answer session the results of which will soon appear in our school newspaper. .

Helen proved to be a real hit with students and staff alike. Everyone felt she was approachable and enthusiastic about making Sunderland an even better place for all its young people.

Watch out for the upcoming edition of Farra News which may disclose what Helen gets up to at 6 a.m. each day, what her favourite subject at school was and what she does in her leisure time at weekends.

So what did she think of us?

Well, she told us on the day that she liked what she saw and loved the atmosphere and welcoming, friendly feel of the school. She has subsequently written to us, saying, “It was a fabulous opportunity to have a tour of the school and to see everyone so focused upon learning and self improvement. The stars of my visit were the students I saw. They were highly motivated and confident about themselves. They were a credit to themselves and their school.”

We hope she can visit us again soon.


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