Headteacher's Update 4 April 2025

Dear Parents and Carers
We come to the end of Spring Term – a term full of activity. We have seen so many examples of our students being the best that they can be. This week, 52 of our young people performed as a choir in Disneyland Paris. They have had to turn up to rehearsals and meet the high standards of Disney through an audition process. I hope that they have learnt much from this experience and are able to use this to engage in even more extra-curricular activities.
Year 11 are 11 days away from the official start of the exam season. However, language speaking exams and art exams begin very quickly after Easter. They have been sent lots of information about how to continue their revision over the holidays to ensure that they have completed the best possible preparation for their exams.
After Easter we have a short but full term. We will continue our hard work around attendance and encouraging our young people to 'Turn up and take part' so that they can make the most of every opportunity available.
As part of our work around high expectations and standards, I would ask that you ensure that over Easter your young person has the correct uniform and that it is in good repair ready for the new term. Information regarding uniform is on our website and in the student planners should you need to check. When we return after the holidays, we will run a series of assemblies to remind students of our expectations, and we are grateful for the support of our parents and carers in meeting these.
What’s going on in school:
- In their final ever football match for HVC, the KS4 boys team produced an outstanding performance, defeating STM 8-1 on Tuesday this week. The result is a fitting end to a great season and testimony to all the hard work and commitment. Mr Streets says it has been a pleasure to coach the team, and we wish them all well in their future careers.
- Our trip to Disneyland & Paris was a huge success! Our young people were an absolute credit to our school community and our coach drivers said they'd never experienced such a well-behaved group in all their years of working in the industry! Their performance was also outstanding! We hope our young people have been left feeling inspired and believe they can achieve anything if they put their mind to it. Reach for the stars. To infinity and beyond!!! Thank you to all staff who all worked tirelessly to make the trip a huge success: Mrs Machan, Ms Garland-Taylor, Miss Starbuck, Ms Powis, Ms Wain and Mr Rasool. We hope to revisit this trip again in the future.
- Staff and volunteers helped reset all the climbing wall routes last Saturday. With help from the caretakers, around 300 climbing holds were removed, cleaned and then reset as new climbing routes. The climbing club and Hope Valley Adventure Film Festival will make the most of the new routes.
- Year 7 students travelled to St Thomas Moore school in Buxton on Thursday last week to participate in Sports Hall Athletics, competing against 6 schools in various events such as sprinting, relay, shot put, long and triple jump. This is the first time we have done this event in three years. A special mention goes to Ada in Y7 who won her 8 lap middle distance race by almost two laps! Thank you to our Sports Leaders, Alexa, Daisy and Sylvie who helped run the event alongside the Sports Leaders from St Thomas Moore.
- Our Y7/8 girls football team travelled to Glossopdale school last week and thoroughly enjoyed their match, despite missing out on a win. Key Stage 4 boys played well against a strong side from Chapel High school, but almost missed out on a win, with a 3-1 defeat.
- At the weekend, our DofE students completed their First Aid Course with High Peak First Aid. Our provider specifically commented on their willingness to be involved and develop their practical skills. Students learnt how to apply bandages, use a defibrillator, carry out CPR and check for choking. Well done all. Thank you to all staff and volunteers who gave up their time at the weekend.
Year 11 English Language and Literature Easter Home Learning Expectations
- Students have a language paper to complete (revision + planning time then 1hr 45 minutes to complete).
- They have a literature anthology poetry revision booklet to complete (2-3 hours).
Support:
- Students are encouraged to use their exercise books, GCSEPod and Teams - Class Materials to support them.
- We would also encourage them to reread/watch the GCSE literature texts to consolidate their knowledge of the narrative and quotations (An Inspector Calls, A Christmas Carol, Macbeth).
- Additional literature paper 2 mock papers are also included.
Year 8 World Views Homework
After Easter Year 8 will be building models of churches in class. Please bring in some clean cardboard to use for your model. Please make sure your cardboard is clean and dry. If possible, flatten it to make it easier to store.
8P – Tuesday 22 April
8H – Wednesday 23 April
8E – Thursday 24 April
8O – Thursday 1 May
What to bring:
✔ Cereal boxes
✔ Kitchen roll tubes
✔ Small to medium cardboard boxes (e.g. packaging from food or deliveries)
✔ Any other lightweight cardboard
What not to bring:
✘ Large or bulky cardboard (we don’t have space for big models)
✘ Toilet roll tubes (for hygiene reasons)
✘ Anything that has contained nuts
Subject Evenings
Next term we have the opportunity to meet with parents and carers of students in Y7 and Y8 at our subject evenings. For Year 8, this will take place on Thursday 8 May – a link for booking appointments will be shared with you after Easter. For Year 7, the date is Tuesday 20 May. More information will be shared in due course.
HVAFF 26 April 2025
We are looking forward to the Hope Valley Adventure Film Festival after the Easter holidays. Please join us for a fantastic day full of films, activities, food and guest speakers. We are excited to welcome the Alpkit bike garage this year – bring your bikes and Alpkit will help you repair them. Students are encouraged to make short adventure films to enter the competition for a chance to win some great prizes. Get film-making over the holidays and send in your creations! We want to see your adventures – real or animated. Tickets and details of how to enter the competition are available at: HVAFF – Hope Valley Adventure Film Festival
Thank you to all those who have volunteered already, we are looking for a few more to help with set up in the morning and serving food and tidying up during the evening. If you can help, please get in touch: ptfahv@hopevalley.chorustrust.org
Job Vacancies
We are recruiting for cleaners to join our site team and a temporary Learning Mentor in Hope Valley Pathways, our specialist SEND Post 16 resource. For more information about these vacancies, please see our website: Hope Valley College - Vacancies
Dates for Your Diary
Saturday 26 April – HVAFF
Monday 5 May – Bank Holiday – school closed
Wednesday 7 May – Hope Valley Pathways Open Evening
Thursday 8 May – Y8 Subject Evening, Y8 HPV vaccinations
Tuesday 20 May – Y7 Subject Evening
Friday 23 May – Y11 leavers assembly , break for half term
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 W: www.hopevalley.chorustrust.org Hope Valley College, Castleton Road, Hope, Derbyshire S33 6SD |
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