Tuesday evening saw us host a wonderful celebration of talent at Key Stage 3 (Years 7, 8 and 9) in our Creative Arts Faculty. As well as some outstanding musical, dramatic, comedy and dance performances, there was also a huge display of student art work and pottery work. Over 175 people were in the audience to watch the show and I can genuinely say it was such an impressive evening. Many thanks to all the Creative Arts Faculty staff who organised and contributed to the event and a huge ‘well done’ to everyone who performed or contributed work for the display-you were all amazing! Photographs from the evening can be found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/everythingeppingforest/sets/72157640850343944/ Thank you to all the Year 9 parents who attended our Curriculum Pathways talks last night. The hall was packed for both talks and I hope parents found the evening helpful and constructive. Please remember that the deadline for all forms is Thursday 6th March. Parents who have queries about any subject/ course information should contact the Head of Faculty or subject leader. Our students will once again be taking part in the BBC’s ‘School Report’ this year where students get an opportunity to act as reporters for the day and have their work published. Examples of last year’s reports can be found at: http://rodingenglish.wordpress.com/ The 6th Form bid draws to a conclusion and we have, this week, published our formal ‘Statutory Notice’ to expand our age range from 11-16 to 11-18. This is published for 4 weeks and then Essex County Council will agree to the age expansion. Once this has been done the bid will be sent to the School’s Minister at the Department of Education for approval. It has been a very long process but we are almost there and I am confident that we will see approval of the bid after the Easter holiday. Parents will have received a letter today (by email and all students have been given a paper copy) from our Chair of Governors informing them of my appointment to my second Headteacher position from 1st September 2014. I would like to thank parents for their continued support since January 2010 as this has been one of the major factors in helping the school improve. It will be very difficult to leave Roding Valley when the time comes, however I know that the school is in an exceptionally strong position and the new Headteacher will have an extremely strong foundation to take the school to its next phase. The Governors will be recruiting my replacement in the next few weeks and whoever takes over in September will be very lucky to work with such amazing students and dedicated staff. I will write to all parents after the half term but wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for your support over the years. Please remember that school restarts after the half term holiday on Monday 24th February 2014. I wish you all a good weekend and a safe and restful holiday. Paul Banks Headteacher
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