Principal's update 7 July 2023
Published on 07/07/23
Dear Parents and Carers
I hope you have had a great week; we have had a busy week beginning with the Y11 Prom and ending with Y6 Transition on Thursday. Y11 looked wonderful as they arrived at the venue and their behaviour was exemplary – the venue commented on their politeness. We were so proud to see them as the fantastic young people they have become, and we are looking forward to seeing them on results’ day as they reap the rewards of their hard work.
School was closed today as you know, and we have missed our children and young people. I am fully aware of the mixed message that school closure sends to our community especially as we continue to stress the importance of school attendance. We can only hope that both sides of the current dispute can find a resolution so that our children can return to school without disruption. I want to thank you for your support in ensuring that your children and young people return to school on Monday and for the rest of the term. School provides so much more than an education as we were reminded when we set out our plans to Governors for extra curricular and educational visits in 2023/24.
We have been approached by the Football Association about the possibility of a 3G Pitch at Hope, to share more details with you all and our need to raise money for this facility there will be an open evening on Tuesday 18 July at 5.30pm – we are keen to lay out the plans and to secure funding and help to raise funds. Please come along and have a cuppa and listen to the proposals.
We are very much looking forward to Activities Week next week. Each year group will be undertaking different activities throughout the week, and you should have received information about these. Our Year 10 students are involved in work experience, and we hope they have an enjoyable week. Students in Years 7-9 will take part on our annual Sponsored Walk. There is still time to collect more sponsors and help us to raise money for Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) and for our PTFA. All monies should be brought into school and given to Tutors. Thank you in advance for all your donations.
The plan for all year groups is below; students must be in school uniform for all activities, including trips, except the sponsored walk.
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In school |
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Trip |
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Residential |
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Monday 10 |
Tuesday 11 |
Wednesday 12 |
Thursday 13 |
Friday 14 |
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Year 7 |
PGL Residential |
PGL Residential |
PGL Residential |
Film making |
Sponsored Walk |
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Year 8 |
Rockets |
Bolsover Castle |
MFL Cinema |
Puzzle Day |
Sponsored Walk |
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Year 9 |
Sponsored Walk |
MFL Day |
PGL Residential |
PGL Residential |
PGL Residential |
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Year 10 |
Work Experience |
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What’s going on in school:
- Students from Y7 and Y8 attended a fantastic event held at Buxton rugby club to further develop rugby skills. All students were fantastic. If anyone is interested in rugby clubs outside of school they can contact: Sheffield Tigers, Abbeydale or Buxton rugby clubs for further information.
- Y10 GCSE drama students took their exam for Component 1, worth 40% of their course. Miss Starbuck is very proud of them all and what they have achieved.
- There is much excitement around school, following the announcement this week of our School Musical for 2024! We will be performing ‘We Will Rock You’ (Schools Edition) next March. Information on auditions in September will be sent out soon.
Year 10 work experience
All Year 10 students have been provided with safeguarding information and an emergency contact sheet to complete and provide to their employer.
New Management Information System
We are currently in the process of migrating from Progresso, our current management information system (MIS) to a new provider called Arbor. This is because Progresso are no longer providing this service to schools and as a Trust we believe that Arbor will provide a high-quality service for students, staff and parents. Parents can currently access reports, timetables and other information via the ‘Cloud School’ parent app and this will continue using the Arbor parent and guardian portal. Usernames and passwords will be issued via email in September, so it is important that we have up-to-date contact information for you. As part of this process and to ensure we are GDPR compliant, we will be requiring you to check the accuracy of the information we hold carefully. Finally, it is worth noting that “Progresso” will cease to be available at the end of July. Please contact school if you require any further information at this stage.
Lost Property
We have a huge number of items in our Lost Property store - mostly uniform and other clothing, but also jewellery, pencil cases, water bottles, Food Tech containers... the list goes on! As we are approaching the end of the school year, we would like to be able to return all of these items to their owners. Please remind your young person to check at Reception to see if we have their lost property as all items that have been with us for longer than a month will be given to charity or disposed of before term ends.
School Bus fares increasing - DCC contracted school buses
You will be aware that bus fares charged to students were rounded up to £1.00 for a single journey from September 2020 as part of the Council’s Covid measures. Following a three year price freeze the single fare will increase to £1.20 from September 2023. To give families time to adjust to the change, this will be implemented from Monday 25 September 2023.
Job Vacancies
We are currently recruiting for a Higher Level Teaching Assistant / Inclusion Manager and a Design Faculty Technician. For more information, please see our website: Vacancies - Hope Valley College (hopevalley-chorustrust.org)
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Thank you for reading our communication. Here are some helpful email addresses, should you need to contact us:
Kind regards |
Gaynor Jones
Principal, Hope Valley College
T: 01433 620555
