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Hope Valley College

Headteacher's update 20 December 2024

Published on 20/12/24

Dear Parents and Carers

So, we come to the end of the first term of the year. A third of the academic year is done and there has been much to celebrate in this time and our young people have had the opportunity to take part in so much. This week's festive showcase highlighted how talented our young people are, and it was the perfect way to celebrate Christmas with the wider school community. Today is our annual Christmas bazaar and the generosity of school community really shines through in this moment.

As I come to the end of my first term as headteacher I want to say there have been so many moments where I have been genuinely proud to lead this school, and I would like to thank you for your support over the last term.  Schools are only as strong as their partnerships and your support has strengthened this partnership.

In the New Year our hard work continues as we enter the final stage of school for Year 11 and continue to develop the school curriculum so that our young people can aspire to achieve highly.

Until then I would like to wish everyone in our school community a peaceful Christmas and a Happy New Year. We look forward to welcoming all students back to school on Monday 6th January 2025.

What’s going on in school:

  • School was alive with music on Tuesday evening with our Festive Showcase. It was wonderful to see such a wide variety of talent on stage and great support backstage. Huge thanks to Mrs Machan and Miss Starbuck for organising this wonderful event and thank you to our PTFA for providing refreshments.

 

  • This term HVC students participated in the High Peak Cross country competition. We took over 30 students to this event which was held on a very cold day in Buxton. Our students did brilliantly, with 13 students across all year groups qualifying for the Derbyshire Cross-country Championships on 18 January in Moorways Stadium, Derby. Well done to everyone who took part!

  • Thanks to everybody's support, the Scholastic Book Fair in the library has earned us £260 to spend on books for our shelves. We've already scooped some shiny new titles based on student recommendations. Congratulations and thanks to our team of booksellers who worked so enthusiastically every lunchtime in our pop-up bookshop.
  • Today, each Year group enjoyed celebration assemblies, looking back at their achievements over the term and celebrating their successes. Our attendance prize draw also took place in each assembly – students were entered into a draw for every day they were in school. Well done to Daisy (Y7), Sam (Y8), Noah (Y10) and Summer (Y11) who all won a gift voucher.
  • Our annual Christmas Staff v. students table tennis competition took place at lunchtime on Thursday. This event has been running for 5 years now and the students have claimed victory every year……until now!!! Winning by just one game, the staff were the champions this year!! Well done to all who took part. 

  • Last week our Sports Leaders worked closely with Sarah from Sunflower Dance, a local company that run amazing educational dance sessions within and outside school. KS1 primary students came to HVC to learn some Christmas dances! It was a lovely session, and our sports leaders enjoyed taking the lead with some of the choreography, dancing like fairies, stomping around like Santa, and driving a Christmas train! Well done to all involved and thank you to Sunflower Dance! 

  • Y7 students are this week receiving their BookBuzz books which they chose from a selection of samples supplied by the charity BookTrust back in September. BookTrust's remit is to encourage children and families to read for pleasure. We have taken part in the BookBuzz scheme for a number of years and with the generous help of the PTFA, have overseen the distribution of many hundreds of books to young readers. If your young person arrives home with a brand-new book, look inside it for the letter which explains the scheme in more detail, then please support them as they read. We will be doing follow-up activities based on the chosen books in our library lessons in the New Year, and the books will count towards students' Silver Reading Award in the spring term. 
  • Y10 GCSE German classes performed a modern German-language version of Aschenputtel (Cinderella) in class this week. Performances were dramatic and passionate, and the pronunciation was spot on: great preparation for the speaking component of their GCSE exam.

 

Options Process for Y9 students

The options process is an important period for our Year 9 students as they start to think about the courses they will study in Year 10 and 11, and their future education and career paths after they leave Hope Valley College. In the new year, we will be working with Year 9 students to help them to make the right subject choices for their future. We will start the process in January with a launch assembly that will be followed by a series of assemblies outlining the different courses that we offer to our students. For parents/ carers of Year 9 students, there are two important dates coming up in school: 

  • 30 January, Year 9 Subject Evening 
  • 6 March, Year 9 Options Evening 

PE Lessons after Christmas

  • Y7, 8 & 9 boys: fitness on their 1st lesson of the week / gymnastics on their 2nd lesson of the week
  • Y7, 8 & 9 girls: fitness on their 2nd lesson of the week / gymnastics on their 1st lesson of the week
  • Y10/11 core PE will be on fitness 

All gymnastics lessons will take place inside and will be barefoot. This is for health and safety reasons and will be non-negotiable. If a student has a medical reason for not going barefoot then the alternative is wearing gymnastics specific shoes. This does not include dance shoes, ballet shoes or non-slip socks. Some fitness lessons will be inside, but others will be outside.

Y11 Science groups

Following the recent Year 11 mock science exams we are making some changes to students' teaching groups. This will enable us to target teaching to students to support them to gain the best grades possible.  Not all students will be moving groups, and they will be told over the next week. The changes will take effect when they return to school after Christmas.

Extra-Curricular Activities

A timetable of the extra-curricular activities on offer in school is attached.

Dates for Your Diary

Monday 6 January – Back to school for all students

Tuesday 21 January – Y10/11 Intervention Evening (for selected students by invitation)

Thursday 30 January – Y9 Subject Evening

Tuesday 11 February – Y10 Subject Evening

Friday 14 February – break for half term

Monday 24 February – INSET day – school closed to students

Thursday 6 March – Y9 Options Evening

Thank you for reading our communication. Here are some helpful email addresses, should you need to contact us:

Kind regards

Debbie Petts

Headteacher, Hope Valley College
T: 01433 620555

 

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