Parent Bulletin 3 2 17

.It has been yet another busy week in School.

Thank you to all the parents who attended the Esafety training on Monday night. It was very informative and was well received by the parents who attended. Information was shared to improve parental awareness of keeping children safe online. The presentation will be made available on the website. Please review the Parents / Be Safe tab for more information.

The Year 11 Pre Public Examinations are now complete and next week is the Year 8 Assessment week. Please support the students by checking their exams timetables and ensuring adequate revision is completed. The Year 8s have already sat their Maths assessment so there will not be a requirement to sit a further exam next week.

On Wednesday we held an incredibly successful Year 12 and Year 13 Study Skills Day. We had eight staff each delivering 30 minutes carousel sessions to each Sixth Form tutor group, which included sessions on:  Thinking like an examiner  The language of exams  The stamina of a long distance runner  Prep Pies  Student Voice and well being  Revision Techniques and a guest motivational speaker, Mr Beezy.

In his message Mr Beezy had students engaged, re-energized and empowered to achieve success. He used humorous stories and real life experiences of success and failure to share tools and techniques to help his audience achieve success.

Last night Roding Valley was transformed into Hogwarts. Our Science labs hosted a ‘potions lesson in the dungeon’, students took part in a great Wand Duelling Contest, there was a lovely Harry Potter cake (baked by our own Mrs Abbott) and a grand finale to the evening was fireworks in the playground. The students who participated had an amazing time and I thank all my staff for these wonderful extra opportunities that they offer the students.

A reminder for Year 9 parents - next Thursday is the Options Evening. The evening starts at 5.30pm but please refer to your individual letter for the presentation times.

Please note that the school will close to students at 12.20 pm on Friday the 10th February due to essential staff training. This day is also the Funky Footware Friday where we will be raising funds for our sister school in Zamia. Please note that it is NOT a non-uniform day – only footware changes can be made.

Have a lovely weekend.

Sharon Jenner Acting Headteacher

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

Following the recent election for a Parent Governor, we welcomed Sarah Jones at our Full Governing Body meeting last week. We hope that she will find her term within the Governing Body both rewarding and enjoyable.

The Governing Body would also like to forward our congratulations to Matthew Tinker for being awarded the Best Backbench Speaker Award for his speech regarding the NHS during his recent visit to the Houses of Parliament . His speech was both thought-provoking and engaging and he delivered it with maturity and eloquence. Well done Matthew, we are very proud of you.

Paul Wershof Chair of Governors Sena Demiryaban and Giedre Sulcaite in Year 12 led an emotional assembly about Innocent Suffering, and War. Their aim was to raise awareness of conflict.

Led and presented articulately, the girls explained to their peers that we can all help children that are affected by war. They delivered a message that together we can make this world a better place for vulnerable individuals.

In support of War Child, a charity lunch was held on Wednesday 1st February. War Child is a charity that works towards helping children in war torn countries by providing them with access to education, basic necessities and a safe place to play, learn and grow. The pizza lunch was a success with over ÂŁ100 raised, special thanks to Sena Demiryaban and Giedre Sulcaite who organised the event, Morrisons who provided the food and to all students and staff who supported War Child.

Article written by: Natalie Walker (Year 12)

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.

Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10 Year 11

Highest Attendance

7W

Form with the highest Honours

7Q

Student with the highest Honours

Sydney Campbell 7Q

Highest Attendance

8R

Form with the highest Honours

8X

Student with the highest Honours

Thomas Allsop 8R

Student of the week

Jayden Patel 8U nominated by Miss Stockings for showing fantastic evidence of revision for the forthcoming year 8 exams.

Highest Attendance

9U

Form with the highest Honours

9W

Student with the highest Honours

Joshua Worrall 9W

Student of the week

Greg Mansfield 9W nominated by Ms Langlet for hard work and performance when working on a French song.

Highest Attendance

10X

Form with the highest Honours

10X

Student with the highest Honours

Layla Newland 10R

Highest Attendance

11Maths

Form with the highest Honours

11Q

GENTLE REMINDER Firstly, we would like to thank all parents/carers for their continued support of Food & Nutrition.

Could we just kindly remind you of a few pointers for this subject.

Can we ask that you label your child's container with their name and form clearly on the lid. We are having many issues with 20+ containers per lesson that all look the same and are un-named. As you can appreciate space/storage is limited given the amount of practical lessons we teach each day/week.

From now on, food and containers that are not collected the very next day after the product has been made will be disposed of.

After each practical lesson the food is chilled and then stored in our fridges, which is where it remains until the student remembers to collect it. After 3/4 days we throw it away as it has been forgotten by it’s maker!

However space is tight as we have many more practical lessons this year, together with group work lessons for which the school provides ingredients which would need to be stored in the fridges. Due to increase in individual products, they will now be thrown out the next day if not collected.

Thank you again for all your support. We are really proud of the products our pupils produce within a limited lesson time.

More to follow next week‌...

Please find below a copy of the forthcoming Year 8 Assessment Timetable..

All students have received their individual timetables from printed on BRIGHT YELLOW paper which contain all information regarding examinations including conduct, expectations and equipment requirements.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Jenny Draper, Examinations Officer

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!

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

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.

Friday after school 3:05 - 4:05pm

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.

Mr Hudgell 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

You can follow us at www.rodingvalley.net and on Facebook at the ‘Roding Valley High School Official’ page.

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

You can also sign up to our free electronic media release service at rodingvalleymedia@gmail.com

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT CHANGES TO LOCAL BUS ROUTES Debden and Loughton in Essex are currently linked to North East London by TfL bus routes 20, 167, 397 and 549. Essex County Council provided funding towards the operation of routes 20 and 167, however this stopped in April 2016. During June and July 2016 we consulted on proposed changes to bus route 167 in response to this loss of funding.

We have now analysed these responses. We received 743 responses from members of the public and 15 responses from stakeholders. We also received a petition opposing the proposals which was signed by 2,547 people.

From 11 March 2017, we will introduce the following changes: 

Route 167 will no longer run between Loughton station and Debden station



A new route 677 will be introduced providing a limited stop service between Ilford and schools in Debden using double deck buses. On school day mornings this will stop at all existing bus stops from Ilford to Buckhurst Hill station. After Buckhurst Hill station it will operate on an express basis, stopping only at Loughton station (for Roding Valley High School), Davenant Foundation School, Debden Park High School and Debden station. There will be one journey from Ilford to Debden on schoolday mornings and a return journey in the afternoon to Ilford making the same stops.

No changes are proposed to route 20, which will continue to serve the section of route between Loughton station and Debden station.

Further information For further details of the above changes, a summary of the consultation responses, and our responses to issues raised, please go to https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/buses/167/ Liaison with schools We do appreciate your concerns about the changes which were included in the consultation summary. We considered these in our response to issues raised report. We will liaise with the three main schools affected on the most appropriate timings for the new 677 service which works best for all. We will also liaise with them to provide advance notice and publicity of the changes.

Yours sincerely

Darek Podwiazka, Senior Consultation Manager, Transport for London

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.

Piano Lessons: To book piano lessons please contact rosswall@gmail.com Singing Lessons: Private singing lessons are now available. Please contact Alex Larke for more details and to book your slot. email: alex@thevocaltutor.com Drum Lessons: One to One, Two to One and Small Group lessons available. Learn with your friends! Contact: marksevel@hotmail.com Guitar Lessons: Lessons slots are available on Mondays with lessons priced at ÂŁ12 per half hour. Please contact Rachel Espeute on racheleds@hotmail.co.uk if you are interested.