For the last two days our Year 7 students have been off timetable with the English Faculty studying William Shakespeare. The days also included a visit by a theatre company who introduced our students to some of the finer points of Shakespeare’s work in a very interactive way. Our Year 10 students prepare to head off into the world of work next week as they undertake their Work Experience. We are one of the very few schools in Essex who still operate a Work Experience scheme and we will continue to do so as we believe the benefits to our students are immense. All students in Year 10 have placements and we look forward to welcoming them back after next week to hear how they got on. Finally, 11 of our Year 11 students head off to Zambia with staff next Wednesday. This is our second visit to support The Greater Joy School in Kitwe, Zambia and I am sure everyone involved will have the experience of a lifetime. You can follow the progress of the group as they will be blogging regularly about their experiences at: http://beyondrodingvalley.blogspot.co.uk/ Parents will be aware that the school undertook a full review of our uniform and, as well as the introduction of the new skirts and the new PE kit (compulsory for Year 7 students this year and then compulsory for all other students from September 2015), we have also redesigned the school badge. The main design stays the same, however, we have made changes to the background and border of the badge. All students will be given a new badge to be put on their blazer from September 2015 and these should arrive in the post before the end of term. One of our Year 11 students, Deana Levy (11R), is raising money for Motor Neurone Disease. Deana is an outstanding swimmer and has so far completed three large open water swims this year finishing 1st in one of the events in the River Thames at Windsor. You can support Deana’s bid to raise money for the charity through: https://www.justgiving.com/Deana-Levy1/ As we approach the end of the school year it remains very important that all pupils are equipped and organised for school every day. An essential part of the equipment students need to bring to school is a school planner and until the end of term we will be focusing on ensuring that every student has their planner every day. If a student has lost their planner they will be issued with a photocopied planner for the final weeks of the term by their form tutor. Please ensure that you continue to sign the planner each week to monitor your child's homework and acknowledge any detentions or correspondence from the form tutor or subject teachers. Should anyone fail to bring their planner to school each day after the allocation of replacements, they will be given a detention. Students who repeatedly fail to bring their planner to school will face more significant sanctions. Finally, a reminder to all Year 11 students and parents that tickets for the RVHS social event of the year - the Year 11 prom - are on sale now. Tickets are priced at £22 and can be purchased from student reception. I look forward to seeing all our Year 11 students at the prom to celebrate their five years with us in what is always an extremely enjoyable evening. I wish you all a good weekend. Paul Banks Headteacher
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