Parent Bulletin Week ending 28th September 2018 by Roding Valley High School

RVHS Parent Bulletin Aspiration

Respect

Endeavour

Week ending: Friday 28th September 2018 “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.”

Message from the Head of School I am delighted to announce that we will finally be moving into the new Brook Building during the next week. This is really exciting for the whole school community, especially our Sixth Formers who can’t wait to get into their new study centre. Please do come along to our Open Morning on Saturday 6th October to have a tour of this amazing state of the art building and see your school in action. To confirm school arrangements for Open Morning: Friday 5th October

School closes to students at 12.20pm (end of period 4) Break time will offer normal food arrangements

Saturday 6 October

Open Morning - 9am to 12pm Student guides and helpers should be on site for 8.30am Thank you for supporting the school

Monday 8 October

Normal School Day start at 8.40am

Parents should note that the school will be closed for an additional day but this is on Monday 29th October extending the half term. Please note overview of term dates 2018-19 for your perusal. The students have just published their latest version of “EXPOSED”, electronic copy has been emailed alongside this bulletin. Please note that it is the Year 8 (at 6pm) and Year 9 (at 7pm) Parent Information Evening this Thursday 4th October. The event will be held in the main hall, please can parents arrive by the Brook Road entrance.

I trust that you will enjoy the rest of the bulletin, our Year 10s thoroughly enjoyed their Silver Duke of Edinburgh Award Expedition and the school celebrates further sporting success. The Year 7 Disco is tonight, many thanks to our fabulous PTA for organising this great event, it is much appreciated. Please do follow the school on twitter, this is a great way to keep up with all the school events; follow us on @rodingvalleyHS Unfortunately, we did have to send out the following safety message to all parents today: â&#x20AC;&#x153;We continue to receive complaints about a group of youths that appear to be from out of the area behaving in a very anti-social way in the station area opposite the school. Please ensure your child makes their way straight home. We will encourage them to stay in groups and stick to their usual routes keeping valuable items out of sight.â&#x20AC;? Please do note this very important message; as local residents you would be aware of the recent surge of anti-social and threatening behaviour in the Loughton area by these out of area youths. This is obviously a very worrying trend but if students are sensible and follow the safety notices then serious incidents involving our students remain rare. Please can all parents remember that we are a Nut Free School, please can you remind your child not to bring any food substance into the school containing nuts. Have a lovely weekend and enjoy the autumn sunshine Sharon Jenner Head of School

Year 7 Science Here are some of our Yr7s with their specialised cell models in Science They made and presented them all in class with Miss Wybrant!

This Wednesday the Food & Nutrition department was busy after school with the second Year 7 Cookery Club - the school provided ingredients and students brought in cake decorations to prepare, bake and decorate fairy cakes. The finished cakes will be sold at the Macmillan Coffee Morning.

Ms. Barclay and all the students had a great deal of fun in the kitchen and are looking forward to next week's shortbread.

Silver Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme It was a busy week for our Year 10 students taking part in their Silver D of E. On Wednesday, the girls continued in their journey to achieve their Silver D of E Award by learning vital lifesaving skills.

Then on Thursday, our Year 10â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s went on their Silver Expedition, this took a lot of planning. All students completed their expeditions and had a fantastic time, welldone girls

Sports News Football Congratulation to our Year 9 Football Team, who commanded a 14-0 victory this week on the 3G Astro to kick off their league campaign.

Our Year 10 Football Team won a competitive 4-1 victory to kick off their league campaign against The Ongar Academy, Fantastic!

Netball Well done to our Year 7, 8 & 9 Netball teams for winning their matches against King Harold this week.

Message from Miss Williams As Assessment Week begins on Monday, here are a few top tips for successful revision:  Find a good place to work where you cannot be disturbed or distracted.  Draw up a plan of what you are going to revise and when.  Give yourself targets to achieve when revising.  Don’t work for too long at any one time and take regular breaks of 5-10 minutes during revision.  Eat, sleep and live healthily during revision time and during the assessment. Try to vary the ways you revise;  Revise with a friend, talking to someone about a topic/problem often helps your memory.  Test yourself (or get someone to test you) regularly without looking at your notes.

My PixlEdge Experience All students at Roding Valley can do a range of activities and build their confidence outside of lessons through PixlEdge, but what is PixlEdge and what kind of things can you do? PixlEdge is a way to develop core skills that are required throughout life, and to have some fun while you do it. There are five skills you can develop, Leadership, Organisation, Resilience, Initiative and Communication, or LORIC for short. By completing two activities on a certain skill, you get a badge; complete two each for all five skills and you get a certificate. Some of the things you can do include: 

Auditioning for a school production.



Making a list of school uniform.



Going to a sports event within your school.



Joining an extra – curricular club.

There may be some activities you have already done, so have a look. You can put PixlEdge on your applications for sixth form, university or even for a job! I would encourage everyone to get involved and learn something new. Written by Joseph James

Year 7 Disco. Friday 28th September 2018 6.30pm—8.30pm £5.00 per ticket, ENTRY only.

The lucky student to buy the GOLDEN Ticket will get a free pizza and a treat pack on the night! Refreshments on sale on the night. Buy your own fresh personal Domino Pizza for £2.50 on the night. Tickets on sale now from the wooden foyer area at lunchtimes ONLY

No tickets will be available on the evening. Follow us on: @rodingvalleyHS, @rodingvalleyPE RODING VALLEY DRAMA@rodingdrama

      Dear Parent / Carers, We are delighted to share our exciting plans with you - all of which can be found on our dedicated website: https://toolkit.edwindoran.com/tour/view/rdv15812-2 Our aim is to travel with girls from 2019/2020 Year 9-11 (current year 7-9) cohort on a 9-day tour departing on 17/10/2019. Full details of the planned itinerary, as it currently stands, can be found by clicking on the corresponding tab above. The trip aims to strike a balance between offering first class training opportunities, competitive fixtures and a truly fantastic cultural experience - a once in a lifetime opportunity that students will never forget! If you would be interested in this trip, please contact Miss C Edwards: cedwards@rodingvalley.net

Departing: 17 Oct 2019 Duration: 8 Nights Returning: 25 Oct 2019 Transport: Flight Price per person: £1860 Tour valid until 30 Sep 2018

At RVHS, we offer lessons in Piano, Drums, Guitar and singing. If you are interested; please email the below contacts and full details will be sent to you:

Piano: To book piano lessons or find out more please contact rosswall@gmail.com

Singing: Private singing lessons are now available. Please contact Alex Larke for more details at alex@thevocaltutor.com

Drumming: The following lessons are available: One to One, Two to One and Small Group lessons. Contact: marksevel@hotmail.com

Guitar: To book lessons or find out more, please contact Rachel Espeute on racheleds@hotmail.co.uk if you are interested.

At RVHS, we use Show My Homework; an account has been created for you to keep up to date with your child’s homework progress from home.

What is ‘Show My Homework’? Show my Homework is a simple online solution for students and parents to view homework details and upcoming deadlines. Mobile apps and notifications ensure you always know what homework your child has and when it’s due. How to Log In?  Go to www.showmyhomework.co.uk/pin What are PINs? PINs are unique codes that ‘Show My Homework’ has assigned to each parent that allow us to confirm their identity on initial login. After logging in for the first time users will be asked to provide more memorable login details for future use. PINs are then only be used as a backup in case you forget these logins.

 Or you can download the app.  Enter your PIN details that you have been given in the letter provided by your school.  Click ‘Log in’  Create a memorable password and enter your email address then click ‘Update you details’.

Students do not need a pin to be able to access their homework. They can gain access to their Show My Homework account though their Gmail account.

You are now able to access your account and view all the homework that has been set for your child. If yourself or your child experience any difficulties with using ‘Show my Homework’ or you no longer have your pin, please contact Mrs. Hodges: jhodges@rodingvalley.net

What is DODDLE? Doddle provides students with access to thousands of engaging, formative resources and guides students through the curriculum. Doddle Progress automatically tracks student attainment in key curriculum skills. Parents can see student attainment and progress through our easy-to-use Doddle Parent feature. Skills within Doddle are rated as red, amber or green. These ratings give a clear indication of how much progress a child has made and highlight the weaker areas to be targeted with revision. Each student has a personal Doddle account where they can access their homework to-do lists and families can view the work their child has been assigned. These accounts enable parents to view their child's results and encourage them to better their scores by using Doddle's revision resources.

Find out how to create a Doddle Parent account and then link that account to your child with this short video:

We have also included a link to a very useful guide on how to view your child's due and submitted homework:

Find out how our school uses Doddle Progress by watching our short video to find out how Progress works.

We have also included a link to a very useful guide on how Progress works and how you can use it to help your child's learning.

This is a valuable resource that will assist parents in supporting their childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s progression. Please use the following link to the log in: Follow us on: @rodingvalleyHS, @rodingvalleyPE RODING VALLEY DRAMA@rodingdrama

Find out how to view and track your child's homework with this short video. .

We have also included a link to a very useful guide on Troubleshooting.

School Communications: We have been communicating by email for over a year now in a bid to get information to you quicker and more cost effectively. We found, however, our previous parental communication system did not give the functionality that people expect from smart phone apps today. So the school has invested in a new communication system call RS Connect Ed and with this comes a shiny new App.

MyEd is the free parent app that gives you a multitude of communication and information features to stay in touch with what is going on at school. The app gives you direct access to your child's attendance, timetable, absence records, achievements, behaviour and much, much more. You will also see that we update and change the information in the app as the school year moves along. Click here to see a short video about the app We are able to send you messages directly to the MyEd app relating to important information about your child's education and to remind you of events that are taking place at school. We can also embed links to regularly used systems, for example ParentPay & Doddle so you can keep everything in one place. You will receive a notification if we send you a message and there is no charge for the messages you send to us. The App can be downloaded by anyone and they will have access to information also available on our website. Only parents will be able to access their own studentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s information as long as we have the email address and mobile number you are using to access the App. Everyone will be able to see image to the left. But only parents of students in the school will be able to access this when clicking on the My Students tab. The MyEd app is available for both Apple iOS and Android devices and can be found using the links below: Step 1 - Go to your App Store Step 2 - Search for My Ed Step 3 - Download the Free app Apple iOS App Google Android App

Once you have installed and opened MyEd, search for Roding Valley High School and follow the simple instructions to identify yourself.

Please do not hesitate to contact the school if you are having any @rodingvalleyHS, problems and we will help you get set up. @rodingvalleyPE

RODING VALLEY DRAMA@rodingdrama

Student Absence If your child is unable to attend School for any reason please report their absence by phoning the school number by 9.30am at the latest, you must also ring in each day of your child’s absence. 0208-508-1173 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 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. A ‘Leave of Absence’ form must be completed (these are available at Student Reception) should you require leave for your child, a letter detailing your exceptional circumstances should accompany it. 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 on our website or contact Mrs Jeanette Low, our Attendance and Welfare Manager 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 on 0208-508-1173