Parent bulletin 17 7 17

This morning you should have received a letter from our Chair of Governors, Mr Paul Weshof, via email. The current leadership structure is proving very successful and I am delighted that this model will continue through the next academic year. Mr Banks will remain as Executive Headteacher and I will continue as the Head of School. Staffing this term has been very stable and continues to be so as we look forward to a very exciting time for the school. We are fully staffed for September and have two new members of the Leadership team joining us: Mr Cheema joining as Deputy Headteacher (seconded from Boswells); and, as previously mentioned, we will have Mr Kahil joining us as Assistant Headteacher. I hope to see many of you at the Parents’ Forum at 6pm tonight.

Last week saw some of our Y8 students off on their residential trip and the students and staff departed for Zambia and their visit to our sister school over there. They have had an amazing time, more information can be found at http://beyondrodingvalley.blogspot.co.uk/ Please do have a read as their experience has been quite an adventure.

Our Year 10 geographers went out for fieldwork trips and some Year 8s headed off to Queen Mary University on Wednesday. Also on Wednesday the District Athletics events went ahead in Chelmsford and the final Year 6 testing day was held.

The Maths and Science Drop Down Day for Year 7 students on Monday was a great success. When walking around the departments there was a real buzz in the air with all the Year 7 students fully engaged throughout the morning. Also on Monday some students went on their rewards trip to the Science Museum.

Also on Monday Natalie Bennett (former head of the Green Party) came to speak to some Year 10s, she was most inspirational.

Year 10 students also had their mock interviews all day on Thursday, a fantastic opportunity to engage with the business community. On the same evening we had our Independent Research Project Celebration event in the hall where students’ work was displayed. The work was quite outstanding and a list of the winners can be found later in the bulletin. The Challenge and Enrichment team also took a group of students to The Globe on the South Bank to see a production of Twelfth Night.

It has been a very busy few weeks. The events mentioned above represent some, but not all, of the opportunities offered to our students.

Please can I remind you that the Wonderland production is taking place this week, on Tuesday and Thursday. Tickets are available at Student Reception now.

Important information for parents of Year 11-13 about the results days is further on in the bulletin.

Please make sure you read it along with the explanation of the new marking of GCSEs for the Y11s.

Can I remind parents that it is non-uniform day on Friday (more details on the next page) and it is an early finish for the students who will go home at the end of Period 3 at 12.20pm. There will be no lunch served at school but food will be available at break time.

Students return to school on the 5th September (Year 7 and Year 12 only) and all other year groups on Wednesday 6th September.

Finally, can I take the opportunity to thank all parents for their continued support of the school and wish you all wonderful summer holidays.

Mrs Jenner Head of School

Friday 21st July 2017 ÂŁ2.00 minimum payment Students may wear Green, Red, Black or Yellow or a mix of all!

Students are requested to join in and support Team Zambia by wearing the colours of the Zambian Flag.

Many thanks to those tutors and staff that came over to the field to support the Second Annual Sixth Form Sports Day. A massive thanks to Mr Jones and Miss Edwards for leading events periods 1-4, ably supported by Jack Stone, Nancy Callagher and Matthew Tinker who developed their student leadership further by coordinating the timings of the day and the order of events.

A massive thanks also, to Mr Naidoo and Mr Vermaak for the Sixth Form BBQ period 5, it was much appreciated.

Next year - we will be challenging Debden Park Sixth Form and Epping Saint Johns!

TERM ENDS ON FRIDAY 21ST JULY 2017 AT 12.20PM (END OF PERIOD 3)

MONDAY 4TH SEPTEMBER 2017 SCHOOL IS CLOSED FOR INSET DAY TUESDAY 5TH SEPTEMBER 2017 TERM STARTS FOR: YEAR 7 AND YEAR 12 STUDENTS ONLY WEDNESDAY 6TH SEPTEMBER 2017 TERM STARTS FOR ALL OTHER YEAR GROUPS PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT STUDENTS ARRIVE AT SCHOOL BY 8.30AM FOR REGISTRATION

It was a fantastic day and one I think all the students in the school really enjoyed whether competing or watching on during period 5. Lots of new school records were set and will now be a benchmark for students in future years to aspire to beat.

There are too many people to individually thank for supporting me with organising sports day and allowing it to be the success it was but one huge thank you I would like to give is to the PE department for working tirelessly on Friday outside in the heat all day to make sure every event run on time.

Mr Allen PE

Department

You can follow us at www.rodingvalley.net , on Facebook at the ‘Roding Valley High School Official’ page or on Twitter (@RodingValleyHS). You can also sign up to our free electronic media release service at rodingvalleymedia@gmail.com

Y7 Maths and Science Drop Down Day Feedback from students was unanimously positive. All the sessions had an 'espionage theme' to complement the Maths activities on coding. From budding Morse code operators, through invisible ink scribes, to periscope and spectroscope builders, we have a lot of potential MI5 recruits in RVHS! The whole event was a great success.

Former Green Party leader Natalie Bennett visited Roding Valley High School's Sixth Form.

The visit was arranged by Lee Harris, Raising Standards Leader for Post-16 and a member of the school's Senior Leadership Team.

Ms Bennett spent 45 minutes talking frankly on a range of issues before inviting Year 12 and Year 10 students to ask unscripted questions for about 25 minutes.

Head Boy Matthew Tinker (Year 12) said: "Natalie Bennett's visit to Roding Valley High School was truly fantastic."

He said she delivered an excellent speech that scrutinised the "strong and stable" nature of the electoral system and explored how we need to do our bit to help our environment.

Matthew added: "As a student, I asked Ms Bennett what she thought of the use of petrol and diesel cars and the fact that France will ban them completely by 2040.

"Her response suggested that it is inevitable that soon we will all be using 'green vehicles'.

"What struck me most was that Ms Bennett spoke of how China is actually investing in renewable energies.

It was our privilege to welcome Ms Bennett to our school.

Mr Harris said: "I thank Natalie Bennett for taking the time to visit Roding Valley and give such an inspirational and thought provoking speech to our students."

Beyond Roding Valley At Roding Valley we believe that we should strive to look beyond our immediate environment and local area and consider how we can contribute to being global citizens.

RVHS has been supporting the charity Beyond Ourselves for several years now.

Each year we fundraise to sponsor 10 children at Greater Joy School in Kitwe, Zambia. This funds their education, daily meal, uniform and health checks. We have been privileged to visit this school previously and our third visit started on Monday 10th July.

Do look at our blog to follow our progress: http://beyondrodingvalley.blogspot.co.uk/

Form with the highest Honours Year 7

Student with the highest Honours Student of the week

Year 8

Form with the highest Honours Student with the highest Honours Form with the highest Honours

Year 9

Student with the highest Honours Class of the week

Year 10

Form with the highest Honours Student with the highest Honours

Thanks to all who supported, judged, came along or helped out in any way with our celebration. It was a brilliant night and the winners are as follows: People's Choice award: Joint Winner:

Nathan Vorster with his fascinating

People's Choice award: Joint Winner:

ants project (complete with live ants)

Felix Swindell with 'Ancient Rome'

Winner of the Imaginative award:

Winner of the Informative award:

Chloe Norwood with 'Fantastic

William Whitehall with his project on

Beasts - Fact or Fiction?'

Winner of the Innovative award:

Type 1 Diabetes

Zak Smith with 'The Evolution of film'

On Tuesday 11th July and Wednesday 12th July, our Year 10 Geographers visited Stratford as part of their GCSE Geography studies. They have studied the area previously and spent a day investigating the contrasting quality of life within the town.

We started off in the Carpenters Estate, questioning how the area had been affected as a result of the Olympic Regeneration. Students completed a range of different data collection methods before coming to the unanimous decision that this area was yet to be regenerated as a result of the recent change in Stratford.

Lunchtime saw us crossing over into the Olympic Park before we repeated the same data collection in this newly created public space. We explored the East Village housing (the old athletes village) and witnessed the contrasting quality of the environment for ourselves.

All in all, fun days were had by all where the students demonstrated maturity and enjoyment of their studies. Back in the classroom, the analysis and evaluation of our investigation continues!

Miss Stockings

GET CAUGHT READING THIS SUMMER! I am challenging all Roding Valley High School students, particularly those in Years 7 & 8, to get photos of themselves reading a book in a strange, exotic or fun location during the summer holidays.

The photos will be shared via the school library Twitter feed with the following links: @RVgetcaughtreading or @RVsummerreads These accounts can be accessed via the main RVHS Twitter account: @RodingValleyHS All photos should be emailed to me at the following email address: jmartin@rodingvalley.net Other family members are welcome to appear in the photos if they wish!

There will be prizes awarded for the best photos received. So grab your cameras and your selfie sticks and let us see where you get caught reading.

Wishing you all a relaxing summer break.

Mrs Martin, School Librarian

Follow us on Twitter @Roding ValleyHS With so many exciting things going on within the Roding Valley Community why wouldn't you want to retweet and share the likes in twitter.

Our Twitter (@RodingValleyHS) account is a great place to keep up to date with some of the latest news and activities in school.

The Humanities Faculty has a Twitter account designed to promote sites of interest, pre-reading, revision, humanities information, news and general humanities support.

It is aimed at all KS3, KS4 and A-level Humanities Students and can be followed @humsrvhs

The code breaking was very difficult but lots of students persevered through it and became masters of using the Caesar cipher "I really enjoyed the coding...I liked it because it was hard but we eventually solved it."

Just one of many positive quotes from the students during the day.

The PTA were out in force again last week hosting a BBQ for visiting Y6 parents on the Transition Evening. A little spot of rain didn’t put us off cooking the burgers and selling the drinks. We raised £260.00 on the evening.

Our first meeting for the new 2017-2018 academic year is on Monday 2nd October at 7.00pm We meet in Main reception. All are welcome.

The Summer Concert was a great success. There was a range of music performed by Year 9 and Year 10 GCSE music students.

Head of Creative Arts Jon Savage said: "The summer music concert was a great success.

"Some of the students were already seasoned performers and for a few it was their school concert debut. All the students performed with maturity and real musicality."

Mr Savage added: "The instruments ranged from guitar, piano and voice with a mixture of duets and solos; all with an eclectic mix of genres. Well done to all involved."

Year 7 Science Rewards trip to the Science Museum On Monday 12th July, a group of Year 7 students visited the Science Museum as part of a Science reward. The activities ranged from exploring waves, making various streamlined shapes, using water photography experiencing how pulleys work, and how the future can be engineered!! The students all enjoyed themselves and was a pleasure to spend the say with them!

“My experience at the Science Museum was very interesting as I learnt many new things. I now know which shape travels fastest (the triangle) due to it's thin structure and how the power of the magnetic pull from a magnet can keep a metal stuck, unable to move, above the ground. A magnet can also pull a metal along a tube even with a wall in between.

This trip was very useful and I know much more about science.”

WHAT DID I LEARN? : “I learnt about how your mind can trick you.

For example there was a 3D mirror and when you put your hand through to touch it, your hand goes through nothing. I also learnt about the planets orbiting the sun. I learnt dry ice and if you push the air around it or blow on it, the cold smoke increases. There was a part in the science lab where you would put your head into a large bowl and change the colour to make it brighter or darker and when you took of the bowl you could see slightly see the colours in the corners of your eyes!”

From William Cratchley 7U

From Sumaiyah Khan 7X

Mrs Patel Science Teacher

Bringing chemistry alive at Queen Mary University On the 12th July 2017, we visited Queen Mary University in Mile End with our amazing teachers Ms Patel and Ms Collister. We got to experience many scientific experiments such as making potions, lotions, ointments and creams.

Bobbi Tucker- At the University we experienced practical lessons with the lecturers in professional science labs. Firstly, we made a hand cream and an ointment. Next we went on to making slime. After that we had lunch in Nandos. Then we started the murder mystery which carried on until it was time to head back to school, so we got back on the train to get back to school.

Amy Wright- The first session we did was making ointments and hand creams.

We used an emulsifier and melted it in a warm bath. Once this was melted we added water and stirred it until it formed a lotion. We then added rose scented drops and continued to stir. Once the cream was made we transferred them into a container and labelled them, we got to take these home.

Olympia Barnett- The second lesson we participated in was the slime activity.

First we mixed 40 ml of pva with 10 ml borax together to form a slime. Then we added our choice of colouring to the slime and mixed again with a lolly stick. After we had made 3 different coloured slimes we took part in an acid test. This made our slime into a runny consistency before adding another acid to make it back to the original slime.

Olivia Offer- We did a murder mystery session and used chromatography to work out who had blackmailed the victim before killing him. First we took the inks and plotted them along a line 1cm above the bottom of the filter paper. We also drew a line at the top 0.5cm from the top. After, we put them in water and watched them separate into different colours. By doing this we could figure out the murderers pen and match it to the suspects. This was very interesting and fun.

Kaitlin Agius- After lunch we went into the laboratory to start the second part of the day. We did a murder mystery case where we had to do chromatography, flame testing and qualitative testing. For the flame testing we had to put 2 wires into different substances and then burn them in a blue flame causing a different colour to burn for each chemical substance. The qualitative test involved acid and the same substances . After that we came to the conclusion that suspect E committed the crime. The correct answer was suspect B and Amy and Olivia won 3rd place getting a prize of celebrations chocolates!

We all really enjoyed this trip and look forward to going on many more trips in the future with Ms Patel and Ms Collister. Thank you Ms Patel and Ms Collister!

Twelfth Night at The Globe A group of year 7-9 students attended a Challenge and Enrichment trip to The Globe last week. Students watched an eccentric and electrifying performance of Twelfth Night as well as taking part in a tour and workshop conducted by some of the actors themselves.

Students and had a fantastic time and this experience was built on with a critical writing session the following day.

Parents/Students of Year 11 Apprenticeship Opportunity I have been contacted by a local employer who is seeking to recruit an apprentice this summer. The apprenticeship is in a local recruitment agency with full training offered leading to a permanent position. If your son/daughter is interested please contact tracey@reddorecruitment.co.uk for application details.

Toni & Guy Hairdressing Apprenticeships I have been contacted by the Manager of the Soho branch in London. He is looking to employ two apprentices. He has been so impressed with current Roding Valley students he is seeking two more. If you are interested in applying for this please contact martin.coles@toniandguy.co.uk

Parents of Year 10 Mock Interview Day Thursday 13th July 2017 Students have now received details of where their interview will be.

As a reminder, on the day students are not required to wear school uniform, they should dress as they would for an interview, however please do not buy anything special for the interview as their uniform is very smart and will be ideal to wear. It is a normal school day, students will attend their interview at the specified time and return to their lesson afterwards. If they are going out for an interview they will need to sign in and out at student reception.

We have a huge variety of employers attending this year and this is a great opportunity for students to learn interview techniques and to develop their networking and communication skills in preparation for their future careers.

If you require any further information or advice please contact me.

Kind regards Mrs Mason Careers Development Manager dmason@rodingvalley.net Twitter: Follow @RVHS_Careers to keep up to date with our department.

University Open Days—A students perspective University open days are a great way to have a look around uni’s before our UCAS application process starts. I’ve been looking around a couple of universities over the past few weeks; I’ve been inspired by the vision of my end goal of going to University in 2018. ******************************** DATES FOR YOUR DIARY Y12 Thursday 17th August, 10am - A-level results

Y13 June-August - Email Mr Harris any Uni questions Thursday 17th August, 7:30am A-level results & clearing

YEAR 13 RESULTS DAY – THURSDAY 17TH AUGUST 2017 COLLECTION 7.30AM – 12.00pm YEAR 12 RESULTS DAY – THURSDAY 17TH AUGUST 2017 COLLECTION 10.00AM – 12.00pm YEAR 11 RESULTS DAY – THURSDAY 24TH AUGUST 2017 COLLECTION 10.00AM 12.00pm Please be aware of the following information provided for both yourself and your son/daughter regarding results day/s: 

Students can collect their results from the Canteen between the times listed as above.

Students must use the student gate at the front of the school and enter the Canteen via the entrance by the wooden bridge.

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All results must be signed for. A delegated person can collect the results, but they must have a signed letter from the student stating that the person has permission to collect the results on their behalf. Parents/Guardians collecting on their child’s behalf also require a letter. Please ensure the note bears the name of the person delegated to collect the results. Results will not be given out over the telephone or via email.

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If a stamped addressed envelope is provided, the results will be posted but please be aware that Roding Valley High School cannot be held responsible for delays or lost or missing mail.

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If arrangements have not been made for any of the above, results will be held in Reception for collection once the new term starts in September.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish the students good luck with their examination results and every success for the future.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me before the end of term.

Jenny Draper

U.First Care Limited - Putting You First!

Our clubs, activities and events are open to everyone and offer a safe, accessible and welcoming environment.  Mondays: Out & About in the afternoon with Film Club in the evening (booking required)  Wednesdays: Out & About in the afternoon, 10 pin bowling every other week  Fridays: Film Club with a choice of films  Sundays: Occasional lunches and trips Sensory/screening room available for private hire from £15

Tel: 01279 27 60 27

Tel: 01279 27 60 27

Come up to Homework Club Monday after school to become a times tables expert.

Time: 3.05pm - 3.40pm Place: Learning Zone ACHIEVEMENT CERTIFICATE GIVEN EVERY TIME!

Access to Water in School Parents, please be aware that the canteen has jugs of water available both during lunchtime and break time for all students to access.

Bottled water is sold at all outlets Large bottle 50p Small bottle 25p If a student is overdrawn or has no money on their lunch account, they will always be sold water.

After school sessions mainly targeted at Year 11s (but any student from all key stages KS3, KS4 and KS5 are welcome) in order to help support students to close the gap in either coursework or homework/classwork.

KS4 Computer Science revision/ intervention sessions are running in IT4 on Thursday lunchtimes

PE Twitter Account The PE department have activated a Twitter account where regular PE updates, extra-curricular news and curriculum information will be regularly published.

Follow @RodingValleyPE to keep up to date with our department.

ATTENDANCE MATTERS…..

Student Absence If your child is unable to attend School for any reason then please report their absence by phoning the school number by 9.30am, you must also ring in each day of your child’s absence.

020 8508 1173 On their return to School please ensure your child brings with them a letter or medical evidence if requested explaining the reason for the absence for our records.

Medical Appointments When possible please make sure you make any medical or dental appointments outside of school time. If this is not possible then please try to ensure that your child attends before and/or after their appointment Holidays in Term Time It is not school policy to authorise any holidays during term time except in exceptional circumstances. If you put in a holiday request a ‘Leave of Absence’ form must be completed (these are available at Student Reception). Please be aware if the absence is not authorised and the holiday is taken, the case may be referred to the Education Welfare Service who may issue a Penalty Notice for £120 (or £60 if paid within 21 days) to each parent for each child taken out of school.

For full details regarding attendance please see our Attendance Policy which can be found in the ‘Parents’ section on our website or contact Mrs Jeanette Low our Attendance Officer on the school number.

Guidance for Common Ailments Please see, on the following page, guidance from the NHS of common childhood illnesses; this advises what type of illness requires time off from school and what does not. Should you require further guidance please contact the school.