We have had a wonderful 2 Days celebrating Christmas and I know that students have enjoyed taking part in the Bazaar this afternoon. It is nice to come together with students in this way and allow the opportunity to show leadership in the activities that they have undertaken. This week we also gave out our new award - The Golden Duck. Anyone could nominate anyone, and it was an opportunity to say thank you to people. We have given out over 150 awards across the week, and it has been a privilege to read the reasons people have given for nominating others.

I would like to say thank you to you for your on-going support of the school and the work we are doing with your young people. 

Finally, on behalf of Hope Valley College I would like to wish you a Merry Christmas.

What’s going on in school?

• Thank you to our wonderful catering team who served a wonderful Christmas Dinner on Thursday. Festive tunes were provided by DJ Zach from Y9. The catering team also served a party buffet as a final end of term celebration today.

• Our Y11 band performed Christmas tunes at Poppin’ Club for the residents of Caroline Court earlier this week.

• Now a firmly established Christmas tradition, Y11 German GCSE students have once again enjoyed performing Aschenputtel (Cinderella) Costumes, props, some strong character-driven performances and accurate German pronunciation was celebrated with Lebkuchen (gingerbread). Frohe Weihnachten!

• Our annual Christmas bazaar took place this afternoon and great fun was had by all! This has become an HVC institution – each tutor group runs a stall, and students pay a small amount to have a go at lots of different games, including the Human Fruit Machine, Beat the Goalie, Mini Golf and Save the Elf! We are stilling waiting to find out the total amount raised, which will be donated to Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice, as chosen by our Student Council: Bluebell Wood Children's Hospice

• Celebration assemblies took place for all year groups this morning, acknowledging and rewarding hard work and exceptional effort this term.

 

PE Activities after Christmas

KS3 (Y7, 8 and 9)

• Boys: 1^st lesson of the week = fitness / 2^nd lesson of the week = gymnastics 
• Girls: 1^st lesson of the week = gymnastics / 2^nd lesson of the week = fitness 

KS4 (Y10 and 11)

• Boys and girls: fitness 

*some fitness lessons will take place outside so appropriate clothing should be worn. Students should now be in full HVC PE kit as rugby is finished. Students will be expected to be bare foot for gymnastics. If there are exceptional circumstances why a student cannot go bare foot, they will need to bring a note and also purchase some gymnastics shoes. 

Y9 Subject Evening – Tuesday 13 January

The Year 9 Subject Evening will take place in school on Tuesday 13 January. This is an opportunity to talk to teachers about progress, attainment and attitudes to learning. Details about how to book appointments have been sent to parents and carers of students in Year 9.

Year 9 Options Process

In the first week back after Christmas, Year 9 students will begin the process of thinking about what courses they might prefer to study in Year 10 and 11. Our launch assembly for the GCSE preference process is on Wednesday January 7th. Parents and carers are invited in school on Thursday January 29 for our Options evening. We will share more details in the new year. 

Lost Property

We have lots of lost property, including coats, school uniform and equipment in school that has not been labelled with student names. All of this will be displayed in the hall next week for students to come and claim, so please remind them to come and have a look if you know that they are missing anything. Anything not claimed will be either added to the spare uniform store or donated to charity.

Dates for Your Diary

Monday 5^th January – New term starts

Tuesday 13^th January – Y9 and Y12 Subject Evenings

Thursday 29^th January – Y9 GCSE Options Evening

Monday 9^th February – Y10 Subject Evening

Wednesday 11^th February – Y11 Geography Fieldtrip

Thursday 12^th February – Y9 Preferences form deadline

Friday 13^th February – Break for Half term

Monday 23^rd February – INSET day – school closed to students

Wednesday 11^th March – CRY screening for Y10 and Y11 students

Monday 23^rd March – Y7 Subject Evening

Friday 27^th March – Break for Easter

 

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
• headteacher@hopevalley.chorustrust.org to contact the Headteacher
• 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.
• ptfahv@hopevalley.chorustrust.org to contact the PTFA

Kind regards

Debbie Petts Headteacher   T: 01433 620555 E: headteacher@hopevalley.chorustrust.org W: www.hopevalley.chorustrust.org