D-Day

Welcome back! I hope that you all had a very good half-term break and are ready for the upcoming half-term. As you know, we sent work home for you to complete over the break. We will continue to do this every holiday and while we know that school holidays are a time to relax and be with friends and family, it is also important that you keep up to date with learning and work for part (not all) of the time. There are exams coming up soon and the tasks we set you will help you to prepare for these and there will be some set changes in response to these test –they are important. Please make sure you revise!

This week sees the 75^th anniversary of D-Day and it is right that we remember this; it is an important day in recent history and marked a significant turning point in World War 2. D-Day took place on 6^th June 1944. A total of 75,215 British and Canadian troops, alongside 57,500 US troops landed on the beaches in Normandy. They landed in order to liberate mainland Europe from Nazi occupation. Allied airborne forces parachuted into drop zones across nothern France, whilst soldiers landed on five beaches. D-Day was the start of ‘Operation Overlord’ and the landings were codenamed ‘operation Neptune’.

The planning for D-Day started late in 1943 and was an international effort. It was the largest naval, air and land operation in history. It was arguably the most significant campaign fought by western allies. By the end of D-Day, over 150,00 troops has landed in France. This figure rose to over half a million by 17^th June. Many thousands of soldiers lost their lives during this period and helped to give us the freedom we enjoy today.

Notices for this week:

• GCSE and A-Level exams continue this week – good luck to all!
• Advance notice of our Awards evening next week

Sports results:

Thank you to everyone who represents our College

• The year 7 athletics team came 2^nd in an area event. They lost by two points in the end to St Phillip Howard but beat six other teams.
• U13 girls’ cricket team beat Durrington 117-97 – well done!

Have a good week