Welcome back to school after what was, I hope, a restful week. It has certainly been a busy week for our Sixth Formers as they have had their first formal assessments of the academic year. It is vital that they get into the swing of revising early in the year as they can build up a bank of notes, flash cards and mental maps that they can then refer to when preparing for examinations later in the year. I have been very impressed with the positive mind-set that the Sixth Formers have shown in their private study time as well as in their lessons. I am confident that if they keep this up throughout the year we will be celebrating some tremendous grades next summer. On Tuesday of this week a group of Year 12s went to Westminster to attend the PiXL Conference. PiXL is an organisation that supports schools in working to improve student outcomes and this meeting was an opportunity for our students to get advice, support and guidance on applying for top universities. A high percentage of our Year 12s have expressed the ambition to go to a Russell Group university and we are working hard to ensure that they are provided with every support to be successful. In addition to this, on Thursday a small group of Year 13s went into Central London to attend a meeting to get the inside track on preparing for interviews for Oxford and Cambridge Universities. I am delighted that in our first year of having a Year 13 we already have students who are aiming for the very top and with the preparation and guidance that they are receiving I believe that they have an excellent chance of getting to Oxbridge. An added bonus is that these very students will be working with our current Year 12s to help them prepare their own applications next year. I must mention that next Thursday 10th November is our Sixth Form Open Evening and I look forward to welcoming the majority of our current Year 11s and their parents to the school. The event will take place from 6pm to 8pm and there will be two main facets of the evening. From 6pm I will be speaking in the Hall along with Mr Harris, Head of Sixth Form, Mr Mammen, Deputy Headteacher, and a number of current Sixth Form students. You will then be able to visit departments to talk to the teachers and students to get a flavour of what Sixth Form life is like at Roding Valley High School. We are also expecting a number of external candidates to join us for the evening as a number have already expressed an interest in coming here post 16. Finally, I would like to mention that as the nights draw in and the weather deteriorates I would like to urge all parents to speak to their children about being safe getting to and from school. We have had presentations about Road Safety and often discuss how important it is for students to be aware of their surroundings rather than being plugged into their headphones. I do not want any of our students to put themselves in danger either on the roads or in the community so please ask your sons and daughters to take care. Have a lovely weekend. James Luck 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
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