As we approach the deadline for selecting a Secondary School on 31^st October, I have been visiting some of our local primary schools this week to meet children and parents and carers. I have enjoyed hearing about Black History Month and being asked if I know siblings and all kinds of other questions.  I am honoured to be part of this community and serve the young people and their families.  I was also humbled by the response from everyone who came to our school last week for our Y5/6 Open Evening and have received so many complimentary comments about our staff and students and the welcoming nature of our school. I am very proud of our school community.

A reminder that LEAD day has been postponed, so Monday 18^th October will be a normal school day following usual timetables. We will share the new date with you as soon as possible. The Y8/9 Information Evening has been rescheduled for Tuesday 1^st November from 4.30 – 6.30pm – we will soon be sending an email with more information about this evening.

What’s going on in school?

• This week we held our first full cast rehearsal for School of Rock. It was amazing to see nearly all of our 75 cast members! With even more students signed up for backstage and the pit band, we are so proud to have over 1/5^th of the school involved in this production. The full rehearsal timetable will be shared with parents and carers of all involved after half term. Any questions in the meantime please email astarbuck@chorustrust.org (drama) or jmachan@chorustrust.org (music). 

• Y8 and KS4 football teams travelled to Buxton on Tuesday to play against St. Thomas More school. Both teams delivered strong performances and won their matches, with lots of goals scored – KS4 won 5-1, Y8 won 7-5! Well done to all in involved!

• Y10 GCSE catering class have been taking part in an Employability Academy looking into the catering and hospitality industry. This course has been provided by The Work-wise Foundation and funded by D2N2 careers hub. The course has involved 2 days in house, exploring different careers, CV and presentation skills and even mock interviews. On top of this, students involved have also been to Losehill Hotel and Spa and Gulliver's Valley to explore the careers in these venues and interview the staff. This has been a fabulous opportunity and we are proud our students thoroughly enjoyed this hands-on experience. We look forward to working alongside The Work-wise Foundation in the future to ensure all students have access to employer encounters during their time at HVC. 

• Chapel High School came to HVC on Thursday evening to play netball, with 2 teams competing in years 8 and 9 and 10. Years 8s were unlucky to lose both their matches, whilst Y9 successfully won 9-3 and 10-1. Y10 were also victorious! It was a lovely autumnal evening for thoroughly enjoyable games. Well done to all who took part. Our Year 7 and 11 teams will head over to Chapel next Thursday for their matches. Wish them luck!

• Last week we had our first Weaselling session at Higger Tor. The students did really well and enjoyed themselves regardless of the rain! Y10 had a go at orienteering on site and did brilliantly!

• Some of our new Sports Leaders helped run the Primary Tag Rugby event on Thursday 6^th. Feedback from the primary schools has been fantastic. They all mentioned how encouraging and helpful our Leaders were. 

Y11 Mock Exams

The timetable for the forthcoming Y11 mock exams has now been shared with students and is available on our website: Exams

School of Rock Rehearsals

Here is a list of the next few music rehearsals for all cast members of School of Rock:

Thursday 20^th October 12:40pm-1:05pm (come straight to music after tutor)

Thursday 3^rd November 12:40pm-1:05pm

Friday 4^th November 3:30pm-4:30pm

Thursday 10th November 12:40pm-1:05pm

Friday 11^th November 3:30pm-4:30pm

Thursday 17th November 12:40pm-1:05pm

 

Volunteers needed for Outdoor Ed

Our Outdoor Education programme for Y9 and Y10 students offers fantastic opportunities to try out new activities and experience the great outdoors. We would really appreciate some volunteer support with this programme, so if any parents or carers are able to give up a few hours of their time on a Friday to help out with off-site activities, please get in touch by emailing Lisa Critchlow  - lcritchlow@chorustrust.org

Cardiac Risk in the Young CRY Heart Screening

We have made a commitment as a school community to ensure that all of our students have access to cardiac screening with an ECG, which is a simple way to diagnose most cardiac abnormalities. We have booked a screening event on Tuesday 1^st November at the College for our current Y11 cohort. Further information has been sent to Y11 parents and carers. Y11 students will have priority booking for this screening, but we will make any additional places available to Y10 students once Y11 have had an opportunity to book.

Headphones

Sometimes students may need to use headphones / earphones during lessons, for example when working in computer rooms. We would be grateful if students could come to school with a set in their bag. We do have some pairs available to buy at reception, as well as a few pairs for loan.

The VOICE kids

The Voice Kids will be returning to our screens on ITV in 2023 and the producers are looking for super talented singers and duos aged 7-14*

Application forms can be submitted via this link; itv.com/beontv/articles/thevoicekids.  Please note that the producers cannot consider any child for participation unless they receive an application form from a parent or duly authorised legal guardian – please do not include any details of any child in any response you send. Applications must be submitted by a parent/legal guardian and auditions are taking place in October and November 2022.

Laptops supplied by DfE

The laptops supplied and configured during the Covid 19 lockdown were provided directly by the DfE. Unfortunately, from September 2022 the DfE are no longer supporting any of these laptops (hence the message you will receive on the screen). To remove the DfE configuration, we will need the laptop to be returned to HVC and re-installed with a fresh operating system.  The laptop will then be returned back to you.  

Thank you for reading our communication. Here are some helpful email addresses, should you need to contact us: attendance@hopevalley.chorustrust.org to report a child’s absence enquiries@hopevalley.chorustrust.org for general enquiries pastoral@hopevalley.chorustrust.org for any issue with a child’s wellbeing principal@hopevalley.chorustrust.org to contact the Principal safeguarding@hopevalley.chorustrust.org to report safeguarding concerns. If a child or any young person is in imminent danger, then please report this to the police. Kind regards

Mrs G Jones

Principal
Hope Valley College
T: 01433 620555