On Thursday evening we held the annual Key Stage 4 Awards evening where we welcomed back last year's Year 11s. It was a lovely event with a fantastic turn out of former pupils and their parents. Speaking to a number of the leavers at the event was a great opportunity to hear about their experiences beyond Roding Valley. Lots of our ex-students are currently studying A Levels at other local schools but many told me that they wished they had had the chance to stay at Roding Valley for the Sixth Form and they are rather jealous that the current crop of Year 11s will be able to do just that. With this in mind I would like to remind you that the Roding Valley High School Sixth Form Open Evening will take place on Thursday 11th December. This is an excellent opportunity to hear about the plans for next year and speak to the teachers and Heads of Faculty about the subject choices at AS and A Level. I am very excited about the new Sixth Form and see it as the final piece in the jigsaw to make the school complete. I am 100% confident that we have the students, staff and leadership to make it a huge success. I know that our Year 11s are working hard to reach the entry requirements and I expect the competition for places to be intense. Of course we will support the students every step of the way and will do everything we can to help them achieve their best possible grades. Also on Thursday evening the Year 10 Drama students performed the Christmas Pantomime Aladdin to a packed audience. I was lucky enough to see the production that afternoon as it was performed to some Primary School students and I was highly impressed with the quality of the performance. Every actor threw themselves into their role and the comic timing was fantastic. I would also like to thank all of the students who made the performance possible backstage as it really felt like a West End Show. The staff too deserve enormous credit as I fully understand the amount of work that goes into an event of this kind. Next week we have the Winter Concert on Tuesday and I very much hope that as many of you as possible join us for this event. I would also like to mention that the Parent Forum is being held on Monday at 6pm in the Hall. This is an opportunity to speak to me about any issues or ideas that you have regarding the school. I will make a brief presentation and will then take questions from the floor. I enjoyed the last Forum and took some useful points away from it and I see it as an important line of communication between the school and parents. Finally I would like to thank Steven Kay at Linens Direct for the donation of 100 tea towels to the school. These are being used in several departments and donations of this kind are always very welcome. I wish you all a very enjoyable weekend. Mr J Luck Headteacher
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