Parent Bulletin Weekending 6th Sept 2019 by 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 Parent Bulletin Aspiration Respect Endeavour Weekending: Friday 6th September 2019 Message from the Headteacher Looking ahead to a new academic year is an exciting prospect for both students and teachers, especially following the success of the 2018/2019 academic year across the school – we celebrated the best GCSE results ever achieved at Roding Valley High school, with a record breaking 5% of our Year 11s achieving a grade 9 – more than double the national average. We achieved English, Maths and Science results significantly above both the national and Essex averages. We also waved off one of our Year 13s as they head to the University of Cambridge. Igor, who will be studying Natural Sciences at Girton College, was amongst a huge number of our A Level students who secured places at first-choice Russell Group Universities, such as Kings College London and Newcastle University. It wasn’t just inside the classroom that our students proved their talent; our debate club revealed future politicians, as our students won the national Up for Debate Championship competition and then went on to debate climate change on BBC Essex radio station. Our artists also scooped a range of awards at the local Youth Makes Art competition, and our rising drama stars performed a piece at the Shaw Theatre in London. We had the pleasure of watching our students perform and excel in Jack Petchey’s ‘Speak out Challenge’, a competition aimed at instilling confidence and public speaking skills in young people, for which we both hosted and won the Regional Final. Similarly, our Challenge and Enrichment programme highlighted a range of diverse talents at the showcase at the end of the last term – with the winner creating a stunning display about the importance of bees. It has been such a pleasure to watch the artistic and creative talents at Roding Valley High School flourish and be recognised in the local community and beyond.

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Looking ahead to the new academic year, I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t wait to see what we will achieve as a school as we continue to grow and develop our huge range of talents; we have so much to look forward to together. You should have received this week a number of communications from me, one of which was a letter about our success over the last year, including our fantastic exam results. A copy of this letter is available on our school Website. I would like to draw your attention to our new Student Behaviour and Expectations Policy, this has been emailed to all parents this week and a copy of this is available on our website. We have also included within this bulletin, details of out Term Dates and out School Calendar. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome our Year 7 students and their parents to Roding Valley High school and I hope you enjoy our Parent Bulletin. Please be aware that the Parent Bulletin will now be emailed to all parents fortnightly. I hope you have a lovely weekend Mrs Sharon Jenner Headteacher

Welcome to Year 7 I would like to welcome all Year 7 parents and carers to your first parent bulletin! Year 7 have had an excellent start and I have been so impressed with how quick they have settled in to life at RVHS. Tuesday saw our new cohort have their first assembly, spend time with their form groups, receive their first timetable, experience their first actual lessons, attend the highly popular ‘Fresher’s Fayre’ and create a form group ‘Time Capsule’. The rest of the week has seen the students experience a ‘normal’ school day and get a chance to experience all different subjects that RVHS has to offer. All Year 7 students have received their first piece of homework (set via Show My Homework) and parents/guardians will have received information about how this system works. There will be information going out next week regarding lockers and the Extra-Curricular Timetable, which I know is highly anticipated and I encourage all year 7 pupils to get involved in as much as possible. I hope your children have had a great first week of their seven year journey and are looking forward to their second week as Roding Valley students. If you have any concerns, issues or questions then please feel free to contact me at tprice@rodingvalley.net Thank you

Welcome Back from Mr Dobson It is always great to welcome the students back after what has hopefully been an enjoyable and restful summer break. It has been a busy - but exciting - first week back at Roding Valley High School. It’s amazing to see how much the children have grown over the summer and now as they start Year 8 are no longer the 'little ones'. Uniform and attitude has been very good with many teachers informing me that the Year 8 started the new Year ready for learning. I look forward to seeing parents and careers in the next few months for the parents evening and know that we will build on the success of Year 7 to make Year 8 an even better year of progress, attainment and enjoyment. Follow us on: @rodingvalleyHS @humsrvhs @rodingvalleyPE RODING VALLEY DRAMA@rodingdrama

Welcome Back from Miss Williams I am delighted to officially welcome everyone back to school. I hope everyone had a lovely and restful summer break. The atmosphere has been very positive and enthusiastic this week and students have settled back in to school life. This is an extremely important year with students choosing and starting to study their GCSE options. For students to be successful this year, they should strive to:  Attend school every day and arrive on time.  Wear full school uniform and have correct equipment.  Concentrate, get involve and try their best in every lesson, every day.  Complete all homework.  Revise thoroughly for all assessments and examinations.  Take pride in their work and see school for what it is – ‘an opportunity to reach their full potential to be whatever they want to be’. This year will be busy and exciting and I look forward to all the success that it will bring for our Year 9 students; I have included some key dates for the upcoming year below:  Parents' Evening: Thursday 23rd January  Options Evening: Thursday 13th February  Options Choice Form Deadline: 1st March  Assessment Week: Internal assessments in April  Exam Week: Week beginning 2nd December and 22nd June I thank you in advance for all of your support.

Welcome Back from Mr Ryan Welcome back to Year 10, after what I hope has been a relaxing and enjoyable summer break. The year has started properly with the whole year group being focused and ready to learn. Year 10 is a very busy year and your children may feel that there is a lot of pressure on them. We are always happy to support in any way we can, so please don't hesitate to contact your child's form tutor or me. We have the Year 10 Transition Evening on Thursday 12th September at 6pm, where I hope to see as many of you as possible. We also have our first assessments on the week beginning the 18th November. I look forward to a positive and excellent new year. Follow us on: @rodingvalleyHS @humsrvhs @rodingvalleyPE RODING VALLEY DRAMA@rodingdrama

Welcome Back from Miss Reed Welcome back to our Year 11 students who enter their final year of KS4. I hope they have had a restful break and are ready to concentrate on the next 8 months ahead of them in preparation for GCSE examinations starting in May 2020. I have very high expectations of the year group and I am excited to work with them throughout the year to achieve the best they possibly can. There will be lots of support on offer for pupils, with interventions running after school for all subject areas. A letter should have been received today with a compulsory subject intervention as well as optional sessions too. A huge well done to our Year 11 YES Prefects, who came into school on Tuesday and helped with integrating our new Year 7 students on their first day. Our Yes Prefects will continue to work alongside our Year 7 Form groups on a weekly basis.

This year will be busy for our Year 11 students; I have included some key dates for the upcoming year below:  Thursday 12th September: Year 11 Information Evening at 7pm  Monday 5th November: Year 11 PPE’s begin

Welcome Back from Miss Wheaton I would like to extend a warm welcome to our new Year 12 cohort who joined us on Tuesday. Following their fantastic GCSE results, they have entered the sixth form with a mature and dedicated approach. I am excited to be working with such a brilliant group of young people and I am also particularly looking forward sharing our team building day at Lambourne End on 17th September. In addition, it has also been great to have year 13 return this week. They have been working hard over the summer. All students attended work experience placements at the end of last academic year. We received some fantastic feedback from employers and I would like to extend my thanks to the generosity of the Roding Valley parents who took in a sixth former for a week. Furthermore many have been working on UCAS applications over the summer. This is a really exciting time for them as they choose to make their applications to some of the most prestigious universities in the country.

At RVHS, we communicate by 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 problems and we will help you get set up. Follow us on: @rodingvalleyHS @humsrvhs @rodingvalleyPE RODING VALLEY DRAMA@rodingdrama

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  Or you can download the app.  Enter your PIN details that you have been given in the letter provided by your school.

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.

 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 Miss Larkin: plarkin@rodingvalley.net

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We would like to ask Parents to remind our students that all Mobile Phones should be switched off at all times throughout the school day. If they are seen or heard by a member of school staff, they will be confiscated. Follow us on: @rodingvalleyHS @humsrvhs @rodingvalleyPE RODING VALLEY DRAMA@rodingdrama

Before School: 8:15am to 8:40am Break: 11:00am to 11:20am Have Fun and Raise

Lunch: 1:20pm to 2:05pm After School: 3:05pm to 3:30pm

Please be aware that from Monday 12th November, students will not be served outside of these times.

HB Pencil Non-stop Pencil Biro (Black, Blue or Green) Handwriting Pen (Black or Blue) Gel Pen (Black or Blue) Gel Clear Pen (Black or Blue) Felt Tip Pens (pack) Coloured pencils (pack) Highlighter Pen Multi - Pen Rollerball Pen (Black, Blue or Red) RVHS Pen 15cm Ruler 30cm Ruler Eraser Sharpener Protractor Set Square Compass Calculator Scientific Calculator Small Pencil Case Large Pencil Case

10p 30p 10p 10p 40p 50p £2.10 £1.00 20p 60p 30p 50p 10p 20p 5p 10p 15p 15p 30p £1.70 £8.40 80p £1.00

Maths Set Maths Set with small pencil case Revision set Glue - Small Glue - Medium Glue - Large Post Its Card Document wallet Popper Folder – coloured Popper Folder - clear Display file - 20 Pockets Clip File Ring Binder Zip wallets (A5) Zip wallets (A4) Zip wallets (A3) 10 stage dividers A4 clear pockets Lever arch file Box File Data File Small Note Pad- Lined

90p £1.60 £1.80 30p 80p £1.00 20p 10p 40p 70p £2.00 60p 50p 20p 25p 30p 40p 5p £1.50 £2.20 20p 30p

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