Dear Parents and Carers
Welcome back to the 2026.7 academic year.
I hope that you and your young people have had a good summer break.
The young people have returned well this week and it has been lovely to catch up with them about their summers and hear how excited and positive they are to get into their new classes and lessons (well most of them anyway!).
A massive congratulations to our wonderful Year 11 and Year 13 who achieved some amazing results. I am looking forward to celebrating with them at their Governor Award Ceremonies this term. Year 10 also did very well in their Statistics which bodes well for next summer.
A reminder about the new government rules for mobile phones communicated before the summer and now in force. Please reiterate these with your young person so that we are keeping within the law:
If a mobile phone is in a pocket, seen, heard or used during the school day, it will be confiscated in accordance with our Positive Behaviour Policy, and a sanction will be issued.
- On the first incident, pupils will be able to collect their phone from Reception at the end of the day and parents will be informed.
- From the second incident onwards, a parent or carer will need to arrange to collect the phone from Reception.
- With further incidents, more significant sanctions will be put in place which may include longer confiscation, and potentially suspension.
Whenever a phone is confiscated, an email and text will be sent home. The same applies to headphones and smartwatches (which may be worn but can only be used for timekeeping).
There are exemptions to this, including pupils with diagnosed medical conditions who rely on their device for medical alerts (for example, diabetes), or young carers who may visit Year Offices to make contact with home when required.
The same expectations apply to staff when children are present, unless they are authorised to use a mobile phone for school-related purposes. Parents and carers are also expected to follow this policy when visiting the school.
You may have noticed that our new barriers have not been installed in the summer due to a delay from the supplier. These will now be installed during October half term and we will communicate how this will work in practice nearer the time.
Have a good weekend.
Lisa Percy
Headteacher
News Items
Focus on … School Development Plan for 2026.7
We are in the process of finalising our School Development Plan for 2026.7 but will be focusing our time on the following areas:
- Reading -to ensure that all young people can access their learning
- Inclusion – to ensure that all young people can access the curriculum and we are aware of and support any barriers to their learning or wellbeing
- SEND – further enhancing our universal offer whilst developing knowledge around special educational needs and disabilities and how we can support our young people even more
Alongside these we will also be continuing our work from last year on routines and expectations to support our young people to focus on their learning and continuing to support attendance to ensure that our young people have the best chance of achieving well by them being in school .
As our plans become clearer, we would be grateful of your input as parents to support our work and will be in touch later in the year to set up some Parent Focus Groups.
Y7 2025 26 End of Year Review – Art
Year 10 Vocational students enjoyed a wonderful end of term trip to Dave and Ewe Therapeutic Farm in Calne. Dave and Ewe is a an animal rescue setting and farming community endeavour sustained through a small business run by Dave Buscombe, based around therapeutic farm sessions. While there the Vocational students met many of the animals the staff and students attending the farm care for and learnt some fun animal facts. They also developed their understanding about careers in the sector, watching a farrier at work on one of the Rescue Shetland Ponies. Thank you for hosting the visit, Dave, the students loved the opportunity!
FROM SCHOOLBOY TO SHOWMAN: CHIPPENHAM BOY LUKE COMES HOME AS THE CIRCUS CLOWN
Local boy returns to Chippenham Next Week — This time starring in his family’s Circus!!!
Circus Ginnett will be open at Monkton Park Thursday 10th to Sunday 13th September
A Chippenham schoolboy who once dreamed of life under the Big Top is returning to the town where he grew up, but this time there will be no school uniform, no homework and no school bell. Instead, Luke Austin will be arriving in Chippenham as one of the stars of his family’s travelling show — Luke the Clown, performing with his family’s historic Circus Ginnett.
For Luke, the return is particularly special. Before the bright lights, costumes and laughter of the Big Top, Chippenham was his home. He attended Redlands Primary School before going on to Hardenhuish School, growing up in the town while living with his mum.
Now, years later, he is coming back to perform in front of the people and places he remembers from his childhood. And there is something rather fitting about Luke’s chosen career. He is part of one Britain’s oldest circus dynasty’s Circus Ginnett dating back to early1800s.
As a youngster, Luke was featured in the episode 3 of the Channel 5 television documentary series “Circus Kids: Our Secret World”, when he was just 10 years old. The programme followed the lives of children growing up in Britain’s traditional travelling circuses and gave viewers a glimpse into Luke’s unusual childhood spent weekdays with his mum in Chippenham and weekends with his father touring the country under the circus Big Top. While circus life was always around him, Luke also experienced something many circus children don’t — growing up and going to school in a town community.
He attended Redlands Primary School and later Hardenhuish School here in Chippenham, living with his mum and spending his school days alongside other local children.
At 16, however, Luke left school and made the decision to return to the family business full-time. Since then, he has thrown himself into circus life, learning the skills of the trade, travelling with his family and performing night after night under the Big Top.
Today, he is no longer the little boy viewers saw on television. He is now a professional circus performer and one of the show’s principal comedy acts, Luke the Clown.
His talents don’t stop at clowning. Luke has developed a range of circus and performance skills and has become particularly well known for playing the family’s extraordinary Boozaphone. The unusual instrument has even taken Luke beyond the circus ring and onto national television. In 2025, Luke was featured by BBC News in a story about the unusual musical instrument, demonstrating the Boozaphone and helping to introduce the bizarre but entertaining creation to a much wider audience and is now bringing him back to Chippenham.
For Luke’s dad Patrick, who runs Circus Ginnett along with his Cuban wife Lisandra, bringing the show to the town where his son went to school makes the visit particularly meaningful.
“This is more than just another stop on the circus tour. It’s a special kind of homecoming for Luke.”
Circus Ginnett itself has a remarkable history. The Ginnett name has been associated with circus and variety entertainment for more than 200 years, with each generation helping to keep the family tradition alive.
For Luke, though, the return to Chippenham isn’t about history books. It’s about coming back to the town where he grew up and performing for family and friends and people who may remember him as a schoolboy, showing them just how far that little boy has come.
Some of his former school friends may remember Luke simply as the boy from their class.
Others may remember seeing him on television as a child. Now they have the chance to see what happened next. The boy who left Chippenham at 16 to join his family’s circus has grown into the man in the centre ring.
Luke the Clown is coming home.
And this time, Chippenham is his audience.
CIRCUS GINNETT COMES TO CHIPPENHAM
Monkton Park, Chippenham, SN15 3QF
Thursday 10th September – Sunday 13th September 2026
Show times:
Thursday 6:30pm
Friday 4:30 and 7pm
Saturday 2pm and 5pm
Sunday 12:00
Come and see Luke the Clown and the rest of the Circus Ginnett family as the circus returns to Chippenham.
For Luke, it will be a particularly special performance run — returning to the town where he attended Redlands Primary School and Hardenhuish School, before leaving school at 16 to pursue his career in the family circus.
Information & Bookings
Tel: 07562 450045
20% discount will be offered to all Hardenhuish students, staff and their families – use code school when making the booking. All blue light card holders are free, phone reservation required or this 07562 450045