6 of our students nominated themselves for election to the Epping Forest District Youth Council and yesterday the whole school took part in elections, hosted in our hall which acted as a polling station for the day. All of the candidates had to speak to every year group in assemblies about why they should be elected and the prospective students have been campaigning throughout the last few weeks. There are 2 places available on the council and we will be notified by Epping Forest District Council of the results in due course. Regardless of who is successful, I would like to congratulate all of the candidates-Matthew Tinker, Jake Forecast, Amber Wigley, Doncho Atanassov, Drew Lachman and Natalie Walker-for their campaigns in assembly and the way they presented in assemblies. The representatives from the District Council who oversaw the event also commented on the superb behaviour and mature attitudes of our students who voted throughout the day. Congratulations go to Laura Barritt (11U) for winning the Jack Petchey award for the month of March 2014. Laura is a very well deserved winner for her contribution to the life of the school and for being such an amazing role model for our younger students. One of the large national teaching unions, the National Union of Teachers, has confirmed that industrial action will take place on Wednesday 26th March 2014. As a result we will have a significant number of staff taking part in a national strike action on this day. There will obviously be disruption to the normal running of the school, however I am looking at the impact of this action and will let parents know by the start of next week how the strike will affect us. I would anticipate, however, that there will be severe disruption that may affect our ability to open the school to all students. The final timetable for the GCSE examinations has been published and finalised and can be found later on in this bulletin. Parents of Year 11 students should have received a copy of the revision sessions that are running during the week for students and I would ask them to ensure that their child attends as many sessions as possible. We are also running our Easter revision sessions again this year and parents will have these details shortly. Many thanks to the 140+ Year 7 students who attended the Year 7 Disco last Friday night. Organised by the Friends of Roding Valley, the disco was a huge success and the FRVHS raised over £900 from the disco. The Friends are also hosting a Quiz Night on Friday 28th March from 7pm in the school hall. Tickets are £7.50 (including food) and details of how to order tickets can be found later in the bulletin. The quizzes are always a great night and are very enjoyable-they also help raise vital funds that get put back into the school to purchase equipment that will benefit every child in the school in their day to day learning. I wish you all a good weekend. Paul Banks Headteacher
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