Parent Bulletin 20 1 17

It has been a very busy week here at Roding Valley High School.

Thank you to all Year 9 parents who attended the parents’ evening last night. It was a very positive evening and students can now start to make informed decisions about their GCSE choices. Please note that Option Booklets will be given out in the next few weeks and that the Options Evening is on the 9th February.

This week Years 8 and 9 visited Antartica and Borneo! A Google representative, Luke, visited Roding Valley and provided Google cardboard headsets for all students, so that they could enjoy a virtual reality tour. It was a fantastic adventure for all and students were able to identify different aspects of the environment through the Google app ‘expeditions’ which is free to download to your child’s phone. Download it and enjoy going somewhere amazing this weekend.

The Year 12s have today enjoyed a Roadster Event, I look forward to hearing all about it next week.

Please don’t forget that it the Careers Festival next Thursday evening. This is part of our careers programme to ensure students are given a full range of post 16 information that includes Apprenticeships, Further Education Colleges and Universities. We have a huge variety of employers and exhibitors attending the event. For Year 9 it is an opportunity to look at future career pathways to help with option choices. For Years 10 - 13 they can investigate their next steps, there will even be apprenticeship providers there offering support to apply for jobs. Students can network and get contacts for future work experience.

Please encourage all students to attend, this is always a really successful and well attended event organised by our careers advisor, Mrs Mason, in conjunction with other schools.If you have a child in Year 11, then please note that it is their PPE’s next week. The timetable is included in this bulletin. Please ensure that they are revising but also that they are getting adequate sleep and rest at this time.

Next Friday, the 27th January, is the Year 8 Study Skills day, we are preparing them for their upcoming exam week beginning Monday 6th February. On this day we will teach them different methods of revision and ways to prepare.

The governors are reviewing our homework policy, please see the notice from the governors. Your comments are welcome.

Wishing you all a restful weekend.

With kind regards 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

Monday 9th January was a good start to the term for Abigail Ward and Ellie Blundy who represented Roding Valley at the 2nd round of Springboard's Future Chef competition at Havering College. Both girls did extremely well, unfortunately pipped at the post so didn't make it through to the following round, however had an excellent day with the experience of cooking under competition standards and with guidance and advice from 2 top London chefs.

YEAR 11 PRE-PUBLIC EXAMINATIONS (PPEs) Please find below a copy of the forthcoming Year 11 PPE examination Timetable.

All students will receive their individual timetables from their Form Tutor next week. Timetables will be printed on BRIGHT PINK paper and 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

Parents of Year 9 – Year 13 Final Details With only one week to go we are very excited for our forthcoming Careers Fest. We have even more exhibitors this year both new and old attending our consortium event on Thursday 26th January 2017 from 3.00-6.30pm at Epping Forest College.

The careers fest is for parents and students in year 9 through to Year 13. The Careers Fest gives students in year 9 the opportunity to find out about future career pathways and to consider their option choices and subjects they wish to take in year 10. The information and advice available on the evening is very important for students in Years 10, 11, 12 and 13 who are making decisions about careers and further education. It is an opportunity to talk to future sixth forms, colleges, universities and employers.

Apprenticeship providers will also be present.

This will be our seventh consortium careers fair held at Epping Forest College, every year it has been a very professional and successful event and this year there are already over 65 exhibitors attending including lots of new national and local employers as well as local sixth forms, colleges and universities.

Further details will be coming home via students this week. Please make sure you attend it is such a great opportunity to network, get details for future careers and even organise possible work experience placements.

I will be present throughout the event and I look forward to welcoming you there. Please sign in on entry to the college, collect a detailed information booklet of where all the stands will be and find out as much as you can.

If you require any further information or advice please contact me.

Kind regards Mrs Mason Careers Development Manager dmason@rodingvalley.net Twitter: Follow @RVHS_Careers to keep up to date with our department.

Good Luck Wishing all good luck to Connie Novak and Daisy Taylor who are representing Roding Valley in the 2nd round of the RIBI Food Competition on Wednesday... we will be rooting for you both!

Gentle Reminder Please could all boxes/bags brought in for practical lessons in Food & Nutrition be labelled clearly with students names to avoid missing and mislaying ingredients.

Many thanks.

Year 7

Highest Attendance

7T

Form with the highest Honours

7R

Student with the highest Honours

Charlie Lucas 7R

Class of the week

 

7A/En2 nominated by Mrs Lafferty for their superb attitude to learning & being so engaging – An absolutely lovely bunch of students!

7B/Fd2 nominated by Mrs Goosen for enthusiastic and outstanding presentations during a Food & Nutrition lesson.

Year 8

Highest Attendance

8V

Form with the highest Honours

8V & 8T

Student with the highest Honours

Ellie Crookbaine 8Q

Class of the week

 

8A/En3 nominated by Mrs Lafferty for super work – great attitude to learning.

Were able to write critically & clearly in a fixed time . A pleasure to teach 8B/Fr1 nominated by Ms Langlet for working really hard

Year 9 Year 10 Year 11

Highest Attendance

9Q

Form with the highest Honours

9W

Student with the highest Honours

JC Bramble-Elliott 9W

Highest Attendance

10V

Form with the highest Honours

10U

Class of the week



Highest Attendance

11W

Form with the highest Honours

11X

Student with the highest Honours

Harry Johnson 11X

10C/Hi1 nominated by Ms Preston for the most fantastic start on Superpowers & the Cold War – being able to master keywords & grasping tough concepts – being brave enough to share to share their ideas & for their focus & efforts

Governors are reviewing the school homework policy and as part of this review we welcome comments from parents/carers about how you think the current homework practice is working. Do you think the work given supports your child’s learning effectively? What do you think are the strengths and weaknesses of the current system in promoting your child’s progress ? Please forward any comments to Sharon Famiglietti, governor, by letter to student reception or by e mail sfamiglietti@rodingvalley.net before 5th Feb. Please include year group/s of your child/children. Thank you.

On Thursday 19th January we fortunate to host a visit from Laura Henry. The visit arranged by Mr Harris, focussed initially with an inspirational assembly with the Sixth Form, followed by a smaller focus group discussion with year 11 and year 9 students.

Laura Henry is award winning expert in Early Years education, both in the UK and internationally. She has performed a wide range of roles such as managing nurseries, Ofsted inspector and teacher and curriculum manager within a large college, as well as served on a number of national and international forums and working parties. We invited her in in her capacity as a children's author. Very inspirational.

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.

Y11 RE A plea for Year 11 Parents to encourage students to join the classroom!

There is a Google classroom set up for RE revision. All students have had the code (which is 6hppvm2) and they were asked to join the room before Christmas as help will be posted on there regularly.

There are currently powerpoints which will help with the PPE exam and more will be added before the final exams.

Thanks Mrs Marilyn Cain Head of R.S and SMSC

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.