Thank you for your cooperation whilst school was closed due to the adverse weather conditions.  We are always guided by the bus companies when making our decisions to close school.  Our communication plan is set out on our website, so we will always communicate this information to you as soon as we can, by email, via our Facebook page and on the school website. We also tell the Derbyshire County Council who should share this as part of their updates.

We anticipate that school will be open as usual on Monday given the forecast for rising temperatures.  As ever, attendance at school is the single most important factor for success at school, given the disruptions we are facing this year, we really appreciate your cooperation to make sure that your young person is at school.

More information about the planned industrial action is later in this email. We are planning to open to Y11 students and would expect them all to attend. We will share the detail of the days with parents and students early next week.

Friday 17^th March will be a non-uniform day for students and staff in aid of Comic Relief. Please remind your young person that clothing should be appropriate for school.

What’s going on in school:

• Students in Y7 have been working hard making models of Motte and Bailey castles, all of which were fantastic!  A selection of these is now on display in the library. Well done to all those students who made models and thank you for the effort you have put into them!

• Despite the interesting spring weather, the hardy young ladies of HVC braved the freezing and wet conditions to train for their upcoming netball fixtures… but alas… the weather decided to thwart our efforts. We are currently negotiating a rearrangement and will let you know when this will be. 

• Well done to Mollie Y10, who recently participated in the Amateur Choral Competition at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. Her choir came joint 2^nd, competing against choirs from all over the UK!

• New Trading Cards Club starts next week in the library on Friday lunchtimes. Come and meet fellow card players for games and swaps. All welcome.

• If any students would be interested in writing to a French penfriend, they should speak to Ms Powis.

• Students in Y9 are really getting into the spirit of their outdoor education lessons. Last Friday, they had a trip to Burbage to scramble and weasel around the crags. Teachers had a fab time too.

Strike Action – Arrangements for Wednesday 15^th and Thursday 16^th March 2023

Students in:

• Year 7, Year 8, Year 9, Year 10 should stay at home and learn remotely*
• Year 11 should come into school – more details to follow about the plans for the days.

*The F1 club trip to the University of Bolton will still go ahead as planned on Wednesday 15^th March.

School buses will run as normal.

When remote learning, students should:

• Check Classcharts or Email for specific tasks that their teachers have set for completion on the day. Please note: teachers involved in strike action are not required to set work on this day. Please use one of the following options.
• Next, check the 'Learning from Home' page of the website Learning from home - Hope Valley College (hopevalley-chorustrust.org) for online work in each year group.
• Finally, check the remote login pages for links to Oak Academy, Seneca and GCSE pod resources - Remote login - Hope Valley College (hopevalley-chorustrust.org)
• These further online resources are available to help students work or revise:
  • BBC Bitesize (Years 7-11)

We have a small availability for supervised access to independent learning in school for Y7 to Y10.  This will be prioritised for those in Y7 who may be unduly disadvantaged by the circumstances, such as:

• my young person has no internet at home and/or
• my young person is eligible for Free School Meals or other hardship

Please complete the following online form by 3.30pm on Monday 13^th March: https://forms.office.com/e/AcjxMp3tNL

We will have to prioritise access to this provision according to need and the availability of supervision. Safeguarding, pastoral and reception staff are working as normal and will be available for any urgent concerns or queries. We will notify parents and carers directly if their young person is able to attend school, however please understand that we may not be able to meet all requests.

Hope Valley Pathways’ staff will be in touch with parents and carers to confirm individual arrangements for their students.

Science revision sessions

The Science department will be running after school revision sessions for Y11, starting on Monday 13^th March. Sessions will finish at 4.30pm and are open to all Y11 students, regardless of which class they are in. No need to sign up!

Monday- Chemistry with Mr Thomas (Science 1)

Thursday- Physics with Ms Davies (Science 2)

Friday- Biology with Ms Bates (Science 3)

Friday- open topic (anything you need help with) - Mr Taylor (Science 5)

Uniform

If your young person has borrowed any uniform from school, we would be grateful if it could be returned as soon as possible. Please ensure that your young person attends school wearing the correct uniform each day. We have a small but increasing number of students who are wearing leggings and jogging bottoms to school, neither of which are part of our uniform.  From next week, we will be contacting parents and carers if students are not wearing the correct uniform, and they will be asked to change into spare uniform. Thank you in advance for your support with this.

Activities week

Information regarding plans for Activities Week in July will soon be sent out to parents and carers of students in Years 7, 8 and 9.

Year 11 Mock Exam and Assessment Information

Parents of students in Year 11 will receive our assessment point (11.2) data and exams information next Friday. This is an important milestone for our Year 11 students, this assessment point will help us adjust our current support or intervention if required. Please contact Mr Beeden if you have any queries in the first instance.

School of Rock – Tickets on Sale!

• Tickets for our musical, School of Rock, are now available to purchase online:  https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/hope-valley-college

School of Rock rehearsals

Due to the adverse weather conditions, our rehearsal on Saturday 11^th March has been cancelled. Further information will be emailed separately to parents and carers of students involved. 

If your young person is in the cast/backstage/sound of School of Rock, please can you ask them to watch this version of the show ASAP and by the end of this weekend.  It is very similar to the version we are performing and it will help them to understand the order of each scene and their role within.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le-2M8glZKI

Hope Valley Adventure Film Festival

Taking place at Hope Valley College on Saturday 25 March 2023, the Hope Valley adventure Film Festival will see the best in adventure films, as well as a range of family-friendly activities. For tickets and more information, go to the website at www.hvaff.co.uk

All the money raised by the Hope Valley Adventure Film Festival goes to Hope Valley College, and the proceeds are spent on facilities and equipment for the students. If you would like to help out, we would love to hear from you - please email PTFAhv@hopevalley.chorustrust.org 

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