A Year in the life of Roding Valley High School
“Our vision is to be the school of choice for our local community, developing successful young people with high aspirations, who show respect for all and endeavour to become the very best that they can be.”
RVHS celebrates another year of excellent outcomes at GCSE & A-Level, 2024:
Celebrating excellent A Level results
As always, we always begin a ‘Year in the life of Roding Valley’ with a celebration of this year’s results. We kicked off the celebration with a set of record-breaking A level outcomes!
The entire community at Roding Valley High School is delighted with our 2024 A Level and vocational results and is incredibly proud of every single one of its Year 13 students. The number of A* grades awarded has doubled this year, over 20% of all grades awarded were A*-A and over 60% of grades were A*-B. The hard work and commitment of the year 13 students over the past two years has been reflected in superb grades. Their achievements at A level and in the vocational qualifications were absolutely brilliant and this is testament to the hard work and dedication shown during their seven year journey at Roding Valley.
Here is a celebration of the incredible grades and destinations of some of the highest attaining students:
University
We were proud of every single student, the majority have made exceptional progress with us but we would like to celebrate some particularly exceptional performances below:
● Skye Salek-Haddadi: A* (Art), A* (Maths), A*, (Biology), Physics (A*) University of Cambridge to study Natural Sciences.
● Efe Kurtcebe: A* (Chemistry), A* (Maths), A (Physics), A (Geography) University of Cambridge to study medicine
● Tuna Parlar: A* (Biology), A (Chemistry), A (Maths) University of Cambridge to study Natural Sciences
● Diya Wahiwala: A* (History), A* (Psychology) A* (Spanish) University College London to study Philosophy
● Ruby Coyte: A* (Chemistry), A* (History), A* (Philosophy & Ethics) University of Manchester to study Liberal Arts
● Joseph James: A* (Maths), A* (Further Maths), A* (Politics), A (History) University of Exeter to study Politics & international relations
● Olivia Newland: A* (Geography), A* (Psychology), A (Maths) University of Nottingham to study Liberal Arts
● Keira Swinson: A* (History), A (English Literature), A (Politics) University of Edinburgh to study English Literature
● Anish Amin: A (Biology), A (Chemistry), A (Maths)
● Alice Richards: A (Economics), A (Geography), A (Psychology) University of Nottingham to study Psychology
● Jack Carr: A* (Art), A (English Literature), B (Media) Loughborough University to study Graphic design
● Poppy Tribe: A* (French), A (History), A (Politics) University of Edinburgh to study French & History
● Amy Lewis: A* (English Literature), A (History), B (Philosophy & Ethics) University of Cambridge to study
We also wanted to make a special mention for:
Eda Kurtcebe, Mohammed Mirza, Lucy Luong & Zahra Zazmi who have been highlighted for making exceptional progress between GCSE and A level.
Many students are now choosing Degree Apprenticeships secured with both outstanding attainment and taking full advantage of our excellent careers programme led by Ms Mason. Some notable mentions include:
Lily Holland - Degree apprenticeship at Amazon for multichannel marketing.
Alfrid Nedumparackal - has secured a BGC one year school leavers programme
Isabella Lindsey - has secured an apprenticeship at Brit insurance
James Yeomen - has secured a degree apprenticeship with Loughton flooring contract.
Headteacher, Daniel Charlton, said:
“I am so proud of all our students who have not only achieved academically but have developed into lovely, well-rounded young people, who will be successful in whatever future pathway they take. I am always grateful for the continued hard work and dedication of the teachers here at the school who always go the extra mile to support our students. Both staff and students have worked incredibly hard over the past 12 months despite the disruption to the beginning of the academic year caused by the identified presence of RAAC in one of our buildings which led to its closure. Due to the excellent support we received from our Trust - Chelmsford Learning Partnership and our Local Governing Body we were able to minimise disruption and allow our year 13 students to continue with their academic studies and achieve these wonderful results”.
GCSE EXAM RESULTS
Celebrating excellent GCSE results
Roding Valley High School was also thrilled to announce another successful year of GCSE outcomes. Despite the national pass rate falling for a third year running, we have yet again exceeded this and are delighted that so many of our students have achieved fabulous results which will enable them to access education, training or apprenticeships in September. The excellent progress made by our students is testament to their hardwork and dedication during their journey with us so far.
We were extremely proud of their achievements and look forward to welcoming a large number of both internal and external students into our outstanding and oversubscribed Sixth Form in September. Our 6th form curriculum offer is now bigger than ever and we are looking forward to building on the exceptional results achieved this year.
We are proud of every single student, the majority have made fantastic progress with us but we would like to celebrate some particularly outstanding performances below:
● Archie Savage: 7 grade 9s, 2 grade 8s and 1 grade 7
● Aryan Karalage: 9 grade 9s and 1 grade 8
● Amelia Tomlinson: 6 grade 9s, 1 grade 8 and 2 grade 7s
● Anthony Blackledge: 2 grade 9s, 5 grade 8s and 2 grade 7s
● Harry Dickson: 2 grade 9s, 5 grade 8s and 2 grade 7s
● Bethany Cooper: 2 grade 9s, 5 grade 8s and 2 grade 7s
A number of additional students have also made significant progress since they joined us: Ashlee Bashorun, Penelope Casali, Florence Cooper, Olivia Golding, Aisha Hamidouche, Mustafa Dogun, Oleksander Savkiv, Jessie Tucker, Charlotte Palmer and Billy Muggleton have all achieved excellent results and achieved well above their targets. Well done to each and every one of you for your hard work and dedication to your academic studies.
Headteacher, Daniel Charlton, said:
“We are delighted to share, once again, that our students here at Roding Valley High School have received fantastic GCSE and vocational examination results. On behalf of all the staff at Roding Valley, we would like to congratulate each and every one of them, for their hard work and positive attitude throughout the year. Our year 11 cohort have had to deal with significant change and uncertainty during their time with us due to both covid and the identified presence of RAAC at the beginning of their final year. Despite the loss of a number of specialist classrooms and equipment, they have shown remarkable resilience and maturity in their approach during this time.
Many of the cohort will continue on their 7 year journey with us in our outstanding Sixth Form next year. As well as looking forward to working with those students returning to us in year 12, we wish the very best to all those who are moving to college courses, apprenticeships and other institutions next year.
I would also like to extend a huge thank you to our staff and parents who have supported them unconditionally throughout their time with us.”
TRANSITIONING INTO SECONDARY SCHOOL LIFE AT RVHS
Summer School
Like we do every year, RVHS ended the academic year 2024 with a fantastic summer school for our upcoming Year 7 cohort! All upcoming Year 7 students are invited to attend three full days of transition activities & enrichment events to encourage them to make new friends and more importantly, feel ready for their September start.
Summer school is always one of our favourite events & plenty of our staff, both teaching & support staff, love to get involved. This year, some of the highlights included rocket-making with Miss Hodges, Drama with Mr Wislon & sports day with the PE team! We also start every morning with our muchloved ‘Wake and Shake’ routine, to get our new Year 7s in the perfect mood to start the day.
Summer school also serves a very important purpose. It’s a really good opportunity for new students to meet their Head of Year, subject teachers and learning support staff that will be integral to their transition into secondary school life. Roding Valley is a huge school, but with a strong transition, we can achieve our aim of ‘making a big school seem small!’
JOINING OUR OUTSTANDING SIXTH FORM MAKING A BIG SCHOOL SEEM SMALL
Open Morning
Term 1 is always incredibly busy, but productive, at Roding Valley! It got off to a flying start, with our annual Open Morning - an event aimed at the upcoming Year 7 cohorts of 2024 & 2025! Every year we welcome hundreds of students, parents & carers to this event and this year was no exception - we had a record number of families join us for our Open Morning events!
This year, parents had the opportunity to listen to our new Head Teacher, Mr Dan Charlton, speak about our vision and priorities for the year ahead and go on a tour around our campus. The Head Teacher’s talk included listening to some of our current Year 7 students speak about their transition into our school, plus talks from our fantastic student executive in Year 13. Parents always comment on how great it is to hear from both the youngest and eldest students in the school. The 7 year journey really comes to life after listening to these students speak about their time at RVHS.
Our Head Teacher welcomed parents by highlighting that our vision to be ‘the school of choice’ in the local area is very much achieved, as we are oversubscribed. Our vision for the year ahead was all about providing as many enrichment opportunities for our students, whilst maintaining our excellent standards of teaching and learning in every subject for every year group.
Sixth Form Open Evening
Later on during the Autumn term, we set to work on recruiting the next generation of Sixth Formers into our outstanding Sixth Form. In November, we held our annual Sixth form Open Evening and invited hundreds of prospective students onto our school site. Once again we had a record number of attendees and many exciting conversations between teachers and students took place.
The evening included a fantastic talk by our Director of Sixth form, Laura Curling, Assistant Director of Sixth form, Ben Warry, our Head Teacher, Dan Charlton & of course our excellent Sixth form support staff team. Our Sixth formers very quickly get to know how lucky they are to have such a wonderful team of staff dedicated to supporting them during their post 16 provision. It was a fantastic opportunity for students to speak to subject teachers, meet current sixth formers and take a look at the outstanding facilities on offer. Our sixth formers have their very own study space, equipped with their own computer room; so that they have access to a quiet and conductive learning environment during their time with us.
A Return to ‘Normal’ Learning
As you are probably aware, we encountered our fair share of challenges at the beginning of this new term! A day before we were due back in September 2023, we were told that we faced an issue with RAAC in some of our buildings. Due to this, we sadly lost the use of 18 classrooms, the canteen, office spaces and one block of toilets; all of this happened overnight!
However, we didn’t let that dampen our spirits. After a few weeks of a rotation around learning from home and learning in school, we managed to get back to being FULLY operational before the October half term! With the support of our Trust (Chelmsford Learning Partnership), we were able to construct 20 brand new classrooms for our students; meaning that all students could return to ‘normal’ learning!
A year later we are fully operational which now also includes a brilliant new kitchen and catering facility; meaning that lovely hot food options can now be served at break and lunch time. Our fantastic catering team are now once again able to offer our famous and well loved menu- something to look forward to in those winter months. Our staff were just as excited as our students!
Christmas 2023
And before you knew it, Christmas 2023 rolled around!
Christmas is always a wonderful time at RVHS. It is a time where we celebrate all of our talented musicians by holding our annual Christmas concert. Mr Savage, Head of Music, with the support of his fantastic Music students, puts on a display of musical performances from across all key stages. This year we heard from our very own in-house rock band, individually composed performances & classical pieces. Our PTA (Parent Teacher Association) also provided us with some delicious refreshmentsmince pies and mulled wine! With all proceeds going into our school fund to spend on opportunities for our students.
Christmas was also a time to celebrate the achievements of our students across the school. Our Heads of Year held their termly celebration assemblies; where students receive certificates and prizes based on achievements, progress & contributions to our school community.
Our Head Teacher, Mr Charlton, was particularly proud to hand out the Head Teacher’s award to two students in each year group that made a special contribution to our school community.
Charity is also a big part of our Christmas period. Every year, we organise a charity food bank appeal, set up by our fantastic House Captain 6th form team. Our students donate food and we personally drop these supplies off to local food banks.
We also cannot forget our Pantomime! The excellent drama team, with their GCSE cohort, put on an incredible display of pantomime humour & we even invited our local primary schools to watch the matinee performance!
Mary Poppins JR Production
A school year at Roding Valley wouldn’t be complete without our school production! #TeamDrama (you will get used to calling them this!) get us really excited, every year, with a fantastic build up to the official announcement of the school show!
Mary Poppins JR really was a fantastic show. Highlights included the fantastic Cockney accents and brilliant costumes.
Every year the audience is treated to comic moments, whole-cast choreography & fantastic scenery. What is most impressive, is that the WHOLE production is put together by our fantastic 6th form production team with the support of our fantastic Drama Department.
Be sure to follow our school social media accounts to find out what show will be put on in 2024! @RodingValleyH3 on Instagram & Twitter!
Language & culture events at RVHS
Roding Valley High School is a very, and increasingly, diverse community. We have a wide variety of different languages spoken and cultures within our school. To celebrate this, we have a number of events that we celebrate throughout the year. One that we have celebrated over many years is Home Language and Culture Day, and one that we have successfully introduced this year is our Fusion event.
Home Language and Culture Day
This day, celebrated in the summer term, is an event in which all Year 7s go offtimetable for the day and instead, attend sessions in different languages run by our teachers and pupils who speak another language. The key to this day is that students and teachers get the chance to celebrate their home culture and language in a way that might not happen during a normal school day. They also get the chance to wear traditional costumes from their home culture.
This year the day coincided with a visit to our school by a Chinese school and its pupils, so these pupils also got the chance to get an introduction to different languages. We also invited Year 4 students from a local Primary school, Staples Road to participate in events. This year, we had eighteen languages being taught, including Urdu, Arabic and Lithuanian, and the outfits, along with the songs and dance in the sessions made it a fantastic international event.
RVHS Fusion
RVHS Fusion is a fantastic new event that celebrates the different cultures and languages in our school through dance, spoken word (poetry), and music. The first Fusion event was the idea of a Yr12 pupil, who contacted Mr Melvin, Head of Languages, she wanted to create a concert that celebrated our diversity.
Our pupils put in so much work to prepare for our first Fusion event that took place in March 2024. The event took place during the day for year 7 and 8 pupils and in the evening we had a concert which celebrated Afrikaan poetry, Bollywood dance, and Urdu song, amongst many other things. It was such a success that we decided to run another fusion event in the summer. The summer event was even bigger and better than the first and hopefully the events that we will celebrate in 2024-25 will include even more diverse song and dance.
GETTING EXAM READY!
Revision Workshops
This year we held loads of interactive and informative Revision Workshops!
Year 11s and Year 13s joined us for a Parent Revision forum, where students and their parents learned about the ‘recipe for exam success’, some tips for their core subjects, and all the support available to them. Students then had the opportunity to put into practice Buzan mindmaps, flashcards and Cornell Notes with their intervention tutors during P1 before doing this independently at home for their exams.
Our Sixth Formers had slightly modified Revision Workshops - tailored to aiming towards A* at A-Level, exam skills and finding examiner reports to give them that final push to achieve the highest grades! Students were also shown some really useful apps that were recommended by previous students such as ‘adapt’ and ‘forest’.
Year 10s had a fantastic Revision Workshop! They started with their RVHS Route to Success, and were shown how to plan their revision, find gaps to focus their attention on, and practise memory work and exam skills.
Our Year 9s had an interesting Revision Workshop, where they started with a memory game - which they got very competitive about! They were then shown how to plan their revision schedules and some tried and tested revision strategies such as Revision Clocks - they made beautiful ones on Macbeth!
For our Year 7s and Year 8s - we held a very special Revision Workshop just before their Exams. This was delivered by some of our really helpful Sixth Formers who showed students how to revise and helped them to begin during P1 Form time. Our younger students were left inspired by their new role models!
DEVELOPING A LIFE-LONG LOVE OF READING
World Book Day & Literacy
The fundamentals of Literacy consist of reading, writing, speaking and listening and here at Roding Valley High School we provide a safe space for all our students to experiment, explore and enjoy all these different elements; building their confidence and understanding of the world around them.
We promote these key skills using a huge variety of activities and events throughout the year to engage students in exciting topics and allow them to develop their Literacy abilities.
Here are some examples from last year:
World Book Day – have you ever wished you could meet your favourite fictional character? Well, on this special day in the year you won’t be taught by teachers…they will have been transformed into well-known characters from your favourite books! There will be quizzes and activities linked to World Book Day that students can get involved in with prizes up for grabs. One year, we hosted ‘The Masked Reader’ and students had to work out which teacher was behind the book – do you think you could work it out? To top it off, you receive your book token so you can treat yourself to a new book too!
DEAR Time and DEAW Time – Every day students enjoy a 20 minute session where they can read their chosen reading book and eventually complete their ‘Reading Passport’ which again, gives them access to lots of different prizes. On Fridays, we have a 20 minute writing session where they engage with lots of different topics and situations and explore their own ideas surrounding them. Both of these daily activities promote a love of reading, enhance their imagination and encourage them to share their ideas in a creative way.
Extended Writing and Library Lessons – In Year 7, we have two special hours embedded into the timetable in which students focus on building their writing and reading skills with a huge focus on expanding the students’ knowledge of the world around them, topical events and opening their eyes to different genres that they might not have considered before. There are quizzes, competitions and activities they can get involved in and one of the opportunities based on their performance throughout the year is a school trip during the Summer term – a brilliant way to end Year 7!
Word of the Week – We have a new keyword of the week, every week, to help build our students’ vocabulary and encourage them to have an understanding of word etymology. Do you think you’ll be able to use our word of the week in your written work or within an answer to a question to impress your teachers?
Shakespeare Drop Down Day – What a day to celebrate! Instead of their normal lessons, all Year 7 students came off timetable and spent the day
doing fun, Shakespeare based activities with certificates and prizes handed out at the end of the day. 400 years and we still can’t get enough of his brilliant plays and we want our students to love them too!
Oracy – We promote oracy in our lessons, within assessments and as part of our extracurricular activities such as Debate Club and Jack Petchey Speak Out Challenge. It’s okay if you are a little shy at the beginning – by the end of your time here at Roding Valley you’ll be able to speak clearly, confidently and calmly!
Creative Writing Club – Would you like to be published in our next Creative Writing Club Compilation Booklet? You can attend our lunchtime sessions and get your imagination flowing with freedom to write your own stories and poems and meet other students who love writing too!
With all these exciting opportunities and activities, we hope you can’t wait to get involved in our Literacy initiatives in September 2025!
Overseas Trips & Visits
SUMMER AT RVHS LEARNING OUTSIDE OF THE CLASSROOMS
The Summer Term
The Summer Term is always a time that we look forward to at RVHS!
This Summer was particularly busy- with lots of educational visits and experiences taking place. On top of all of the Duke of Edinburgh expeditions, we also held a number of ‘Drop Down Days’ for students on themes related to their personal development curriculum.
Sports Day was also a massive success for us this year. Every year our ‘Houses’ (Churchill, Pankhurst, Murray, Rendell & Hawking) compete to be the champions. It’s so wonderful to see our whole school cohort out on the field supporting their peers. The teacher’s race is always a fan favourite, too!
The summer term wouldn’t be complete without both Year 11 & Year 13 proms. These occasions are always loved by students & staff. It’s such a great end to the RVHS ‘7 Year Journey’ and every year we look forward to dancing side by side with our students!
This year, during the summer term, we also hosted a series of ‘Super-Curricular’ lectures in our Brook Library. These lectures were led by staff & students for our KS3 cohort. The lectures were based on topics from outside of the curriculum and included topics such as Mount Everest. Fashion marketing and the General election!
