I would like to start by saying a very big thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make the School's annual Open Evening such a tremendous success last night. I thought that the school looked fantastic and the work that has been carried out by the premises team over the summer has really paid off. The staff as a whole worked incredibly hard in the lead up to the evening ensuring that the faculty areas looked superb and they dreamt up lots of entertaining activities for our visitors to enjoy. Whether it was taking part in the Mad Hatter's Tea Party in English or having a hair-raising experience with the Van de Graaf Generator in Science, it really was an all action event. Most of all though I would like to thank the students who gave up their evening willingly to help showcase the school. I was ably supported on the stage by our Head Girl, Olivia Tinker, and our Head Boy, William Cain, who shared their experiences of life at Roding Valley High School from Year 7 to Year 12. I then called on Lauren Atkinson from Year 8 who made a wonderful speech about her first year at the school. Olivia Offer from Year 7 then stood up and informed the packed audience that she was already settling in well after just a few weeks and was thoroughly enjoying life at Secondary School. I spoke to many prospective parents last night and without exception they all told me how impressed they were with the students at Roding Valley High School. We had hundreds of students working as guides, taking part in activities in the Faculty areas and acting as ambassadors. It was lovely to see how proud our students are of their school and their enthusiasm to share this with the Primary School children and their parents. In short, the evening was a great success and I am confident that we will be heavily oversubscribed again next year which is another boost for the school. Finally I would like to mention that the first Parents' Forum of the academic year is due to be held on Monday the 19th October. It would be great to see as many of you there as possible. The focus of the meeting is rather topical as we will be highlighting the work that we are doing as a school to tackle Radicalisation and Child Sexual Exploitation. These are topics that the Government is very keen for schools to address effectively so this will be a good opportunity for us to share this work with you as parents and to raise your awareness of how students are being educated about these potential threats. J Luck Headteacher
Week ending 2nd October 2015 Year 7 Highest Attendance
7U & 7V
Form with the Highest Honours
7Q
Student with the Highest Honours
Megan Allgood 7Q
Class of the week
7qt/En2 nominated by Ms Hanlon for always being focussed and enthusiastic, a joy to teach
Year 8 Highest Attendance
8U
Form with the Highest Honours
8Q
Student of the week
Alexander Stanfield 8U, Daniel Parrett 8U, Jack Kenealy 8U & Jamie Levy 8U nominated by Mr Cocker for helping at the Open Evening
Class of the week
8x/Gg1 nominated by Ms Williams for being consistently well behaved, focussed and make very intelligent and interesting positive contributions to class discussions 8uv/Cs1 nominated by Ms Wilson for excellent behaviour and focussed work completed by supporting each other
Year 9 Highest Attendance
9X
Form with the Highest Honours
9R
Student with the Highest Honours
Christopher Hunt 9R
Student of the week
Harvey Wedge 9S nominated by Ms Childs in English class for helping support another pupil
Class of the week
9ux/En2 nominated by Mrs Lafferty for being hard-working, focused and determined in their learning
Year 10 Highest Attendance
10T
Form with the Highest Honours
10X
Student with the Highest Honours
Louise Gilbert 10R
Student of the week
Bethany Hanshaw 10W nominated by Mrs Barrett for her excellent effort in Health & Social Care
Year 11 Highest Attendance
11U
Form with the Highest Honours
11X
Student with the Highest Honours
Alanya Lewin 11X
Student of the week
Chibudo Ike 11R nominated by Mrs Sargent for being incredibly helpful during a music lesson for year 7 and helped a lot of the students to be able to carry on with their work
FUTURE CHEF 2016 - SCHOOL HEATS - YEARS 8-10 THURSDAY 22nd OCTOBER 3.30PM - 5.15PM IN T1 & T2 Please see Mrs Collings for info and entry form.
Needed any unwanted good quality badged uniform, skirts especially, for the PTA to sell on at a huge reduction. Good quality used uniform is always available from the school from 3.15pm 4.15pm daily. POLITE NOTICE FROM FOOD TECHNOLOGY Could parents/guardians please return the slip attached to the contributions letter. Whether paying by cash or via ParentPay it helps keep our records up to date. Many thanks for your continued support.
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
Students are regularly coming into school with cheques with the payee being left blank Can you please ensure that all cheques are made payable to
Roding Valley High School The school cannot be held responsible for any cheques which go missing and are then cashed elsewhere
School Shop Opening Times Before School: 8.30am - 9.00am Break: 11.00am - 11.20am Lunch: 1.20pm - 2.05pm After School: 3.05pm - 4.00pm STUDENTS WILL NOT BE SERVED OUTSIDE THESE HOURS
Message from the PE Department
Attention all RVHS students Send photos of yourself reading a book or Kindle to Mrs Martin at: jmartin@rodingvalley.net and see your picture(s) on our @RVgetcaughtreading Twitter feed. The more weird & wacky the better! Mrs Martin, School Librarian
Please remember that the PE department has a no jewellery policy. Students are not allowed to wear earrings for PE lessons and will be asked to remove them so if your child is going to have their ears pierced this should be done at a time when they are not in school for enough time to allow the ears to heal, e.g. at the beginning of the summer holidays.
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 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 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 020 8508 1173.
School Website Please visit our school website to find details of any recent letters home, the Student Bulletin and previous copies of the Parent Bulletin - www.rodingvalley.net
* Summer Term only
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
6th Form Open Evening Calling all parents of Year 11 students—our Sixth Form Open Evening will be held on Tuesday 20th October 2015 at 6.30pm in the Hall. Please come along and have a look at what we have to offer.
MACMILLAN COFFEE MORNING Many thanks to everyone who came and supported this fantastic cause. We raised over ÂŁ230; well done and thank you to all the students who made and baked cakes, who help set up & sell them and those who served the drinks. Also thank you to all parents/guardians for your continued support. Well Done Everyone!!
The next meeting for the PTA will be on Monday 2nd November and will be an EGM (Extraordinary General Meeting) where we will vote in a new constitution. The meeting is open to all parents/guardians and anyone wishing to be involved with Roding Valley High School PTA. The meeting will start at 19:00, please see the website for more details (www.rodingvalleypta.net). Many Thanks David PTA Chair
Roding Valley High School PTA UPCOMING EVENTS For up to date information on all events please check the weekly Parent Bulletin and/ or go to our website:www.rodingvalleypta.co.uk Our email address is:admin@rodingvalleypta.net if you have any questions or would like to offer help at an event. Halloween Disco, Friday 23rd October 2015 (Yr8+9) Yr7 Christmas Disco, Friday 11th December 2015
Drop in times for Students with Special Educational Needs Drop in times for parents of SEN students are to enable you to discuss your son/ daughter's progress in detail. We will be available at the following times: Mondays 11.20am—12.20pm Wednesdays 12.20pm—1.20pm Thursdays 10.00am—11.00am
Supported Homework Club Learning Zone Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday 3.05pm - 3.40pm Everyone welcome A drink and biscuit are provided
Please email me to book one of these times, or an alternative time if these are inconvenient, at asmith@rodingvalley.net
ICT Coursework Sessions Every Tuesday Lunchtime With Miss Wilson in ICT4
The deadline for students to submit any coursework for the English Language IGCSE course is Friday 23rd October 2015. Students have spent a large proportion of the course working on coursework and, in order to prepare adequately for the exam, we have decided to make the end of this half term the cut off date. Students have been aware of this date for some time and many of them have been working towards this deadline.
Maths Support Monday & Friday After school M5 Maths Club Tuesday & Thursday Lunchtime M3
LIBRARY OPENING TIMES The library is open to all students for homework , G.C.S.E. work and private study / reading at the following times : Monday - Friday (excluding Tuesday): Before school 7.15 am – 8.30 am , break time , lunch times and after school for homework club 3.15 pm – 4.15 pm. Tuesday: Before school 7.15 am - 8.10 am , break time and lunch times. Access for early opening is via the door by resources.
Please find below a copy of the Year 11 Exam Week Timetable. These exams will be conducted under full exam conditions and will start to prepare the students for the rigour and preparation to sit their actual GCSE's in the summer of 2016. Where possible the examinations will be sat in the Hall, any subject not shown on this timetable will be classroom based during lesson time. This is a generic timetable and students must refer to their individual timetables for precise timings of examinations relevant to them. Students will receive their individual timetables shortly.
From the School Governors Following our very informative and enjoyable day in school on 25th September, we held our planning meeting during the following week, during which we finalised our visits programme for the academic year. Visits are arranged in addition to our regular formal governors’ meetings. They enable individual governors to speak with staff and students in the various faculties and to review aspects of school life such as health and safety, attendance, catering etc. to enable us to support and challenge the leadership team to ensure the best possible opportunities are available to our students in a safe and pleasant environment. We also arranged governor presence at the Parents’ Forum and PTA meetings during the year, so that we can speak with you and gain your views. In addition, we considered a review of our own performance, as a governing body, which we have undertaken, with the assistance of the Standards and Excellence Co-ordinator from Essex, to identify any additional training which would assist us to improve our work in the school. We look forward to talking with you at meetings during the year. Paul Wershof Chair of Governors
SKILLS LONDON - 13-14 November 2015 Skills London 2015 is London’s biggest jobs and careers event for young people. Two days of interactive activities and inspiring jobs and careers, held at ExCeL London, for 15-24 year olds and their families. The 2015 event takes place on Friday 13th and Saturday 14th November. For more details about the event please visit. http://www.skillslondon2015.co.uk/ Kind regards Mrs Mason Careers Development Manager dmason@rodingvalley.net
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.
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
Drum Lessons One to One, Two to One and Small Group lessons available. Learn with your friends! Contact: marksevel@hotmail.com Piano Lessons
Guitar Lessons Lessons slots are available on Mondays with lessons priced at £12 per half hour.
To book piano lessons please contact
Please contact Steve van Niekerk on vn.steve.vn@gmail.com
rosswall@gmail.com
if you are interested.
Singing Lessons Private singing lessons are now available. Please contact Alex Larke for more details and to book your slot. email: alex@thevocaltutor.com
at Roding Valley High School, Loughton Tuesdays 6.30pm (please use Brook Road entrance) Our successful ProPoints Plan makes weight loss as effortless as possible. Whatever you like to eat, you can lose weight; no food is off limits with WeightWatchers —Your Way. You’re guaranteed a warm, friendly welcome, motivating activity, advice and support, inspiration, a confidential weigh-in and successful weight loss. I look forward to meeting you! Contact Julie Faulkner 07981 744746 jfaulkner@weight-watchers.co.uk See our website for current offers www.weightwatchers.co.uk