Now that we are settling into the new term, opportunities and events are beginning to take place.  This week, a number of students visited the Cavendish laboratory in Cambridge and had an opportunity to experience life as a Cambridge University student.  Next week we welcome our Danish partner school as we continue to develop and strengthen those connections beyond the valley with other schools and young people.  Inter-house competitions have also begun in earnest, a really important part of school belonging.  We also successfully launched Year 10 on their academic journey this year as we continue to encourage them to focus on being ambitious and attaining the highest grades possible. And there is much excitement as the rehearsals for our Christmas musical Frozen are well under way.

We hope that as the year continues as many young people as possible take advantage of all the enrichment activities that school has to offer.

Pastoral Support Room 

We have spent the summer re-developing the pastoral support area of school to ensure it provides a calm, safe, purposeful area that is accessible to all students. There are a range of resources in place to help students to regulate, reset and complete work that they may be missing by not being in a lesson. We have set some clear guidelines and expectations for students in terms of how they access the space and what they can do when they are there, but we know that the best place for students to learn is in lessons. We have already noticed the positive impact that the environment and resources are having on our students.   

Attendance update 

Attendance is central to making good progress and achieving potential. This is why we are working with our young people and families to raise attendance and communicate clearly the benefits of attending school regularly. For example, students who attended less than 90% of the time achieved on average more than 1 grade lower at GCSE than those who had good attendance – the evidence is clear, attendance matters. As well as communicating perfect attendance weeks and other positive attendance matters, we will also let parents know when a student's attendance starts to drop below the 97, 93 and 90% benchmarks. We will always approach attendance concerns with kindness and support as we know that to improve attendance requires positive collaboration between home and school.

Holiday Fines 

In line with 2024 Government regulations, Headteachers should not approve requests for term time leave and that this may lead to a Penalty Notice. Parents should be aware that we will apply these regulations.

Attendance Week 

Next week is ‘Attendance Week’ where we have a whole school focus on the importance of attending school and making the most of everything we have to offer – ‘turn up and take part’. We will share attendance certificates with students to review their attendance to date, including any potential barriers to good attendance. Our ‘3 week-streaks’ for students who attend for 3 weeks in a row within a term continues to be successful and well received by students. We will adapt this for students who cannot achieve this due to extenuating circumstances or have alternative timetables. In addition, this year we have rewards for students who make a perfect start to a new term and achieve 5 'perfect weeks'.

 

What’s going on in school?

• We are delighted to announce that Hope Valley College has achieved the School Games Gold Mark Award for the 2025/26 academic year. The School Games Mark is a Government-led award scheme launched in 2012, facilitated by the Youth Sport Trust to reward schools for their commitment to the development of competition across their school and into the community, and we are delighted to have been recognised for our success. With a total of young people competing in local inter-school competitions this year, we are extremely proud of our pupils for their dedication to all aspects of school sport, including those young volunteers, leaders and officials who made our competitions possible.

• Year 11 students travelled to Cambridge University this week for a visit to the Cavendish Laboratory and a taste of life at university. The trip showed students what is available to them and highlighted ambitious routes into higher education. The students were impressed with their tour of the city of Cambridge. They got the chance to work alongside the scientists who are doing the maths to land drones on Mars! Huge thanks to the team who travelled with the students: Mr Taylor, Dr Irvin and Miss Topley. 

• Y9 students started their outdoor activities programme this week, with a mountain bike session. We also had a great start to our Mountain Biking Club, with lots of new Y7 students and some more experienced students too. We are currently oversubscribed, with up to 40 students signing up! If you wish to attend, please make sure you check notices and the signup sheet in PE. We are likely to be full, but please come and talk to me if you haven't managed to get on. Remember we can provide helmets, bikes pads and gloves. You are welcome to bring your own!

• Our Interhouse sports competitions started this week, with Y10 playing football and netball. Kinder were the winning house overall. Well done to all involved.

• We are looking forward to our Y6 Open Evening on Thursday 24 September. Some of our students have been asked to help out in different subject areas on the evening. Our Y7 choir will also perform at the event and students involved in this should practice ‘The Best That You Can Be’ (lyrics have been shared with you). They should also attend a rehearsal during tutor time on Thursday. If your young person is volunteering to help out then we will share more information with you next week.

 

Year 10 Information Evening presentation

Thank you to the Year 10 families who attended our information evening this week. If you were not able to attend, you can find the slides shared on this page of our website: https://www.hopevalley.chorustrust.org/ks4curriculum 

 

Frozen The Musical

Y7 Auditions: We are very excited to invite our wonderful new Y7 students to audition for the chorus/ensemble. The audition will take place on Wednesday 23 September at 12:40pm in Music. Please ask your young person to practise the following:

Chorus/Ensemble

“Let it Go – Reprise”

1st chorus to end (0:45 to end)

Rehearsals for the cast:

Monday lunch - 1:00 - Drama - Elsa/Anna

Wednesday lunch - 12:40 - drama - dancers only

Wednesday afterschool - 3:30-4:30 - hall - all cast

Thursday lunch - 12:40 - music - all cast 

Friday Lunch - 13:00 - drama - Elsa/Anna

Friday afterschool - 3:30-4:30 - hall - all cast

 

 

Dates for Your Diary

Tuesday 22 September – Danish students arrive in school (Y10 buddies)

Wednesday 23 September – Sports fixture with Danish students

Thursday 24 September – Y6 Open Evening

Friday 25 and 26 September – Y10 Duke of Edinburgh final expedition

Wednesday 30 September & Friday 2 October – Y11 Geography field trip

Friday 2 – Sunday 4 October – GCSE Art residential trip to Conway

Thursday 8 October – Information evening for Y7 and Y12

Tuesday 20 October – Subject Evening for Y11 and Y13

Wednesday 21 October – Flu vaccinations

Thursday 22 October – Break for half term

Friday 23 October – INSET day (students not in school)

Monday 2 November – all students back in school

 

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