Principal's update 21 July 2023
Published on 21/07/23
Dear Parents and Carers
This week I have lead assembly for every year group and talked to them about their achievements this year, there are many and so much I am proud to talk about – well done to every single child or young person – you are awesome. Thank you to you as parents and carers for your ongoing support for our school and for your commitment to the success of all our children and young people. Hope Valley College is a fantastic school, and I am proud to be their Principal. We have said a fond farewell to some of our staff this week, Mr Thomas, and Mr Gawel are retiring, Mrs Grego is taking on the challenge of academia and Dr Saxton is going to work in the NHS. We thank them all for their many years of service and contribution to our school. We wish them every success in the future. We are welcoming Ms George and Ms Bott into Science, Mrs Damms in Maths and Ms Townend in Humanities – I know they will bring a wealth of experience and a passion for their subject.
We have celebrated the last day of term with a non-uniform day, celebration assemblies for each year group with our end of term awards and an afternoon of sports! The weather was kind to us, and the rain held off so that students could enjoy games of netball, handball, and football on the field. A huge well done to all our award winners!
Thank you to those of you who were able to attend our information evening on Tuesday. Donations from today’s non uniform day will go towards fundraising for the 3G pitch. We are putting together a programme of future fundraising events and would be grateful for any help with these. If you can volunteer, please let us know by replying to this email.
We hope you all have a lovely summer break. We look forward to welcoming students back to school in September on the following dates:
- Y7 & Y11 – Wednesday 6 September
- Plus Y8, Y9 and Y10 – Thursday 7 September
Term dates can be found on the calendar on our website. For your information, the school photographer will also be in school on Thursday 7 September.
What’s going on in school
- When we return in September, we will be hosting auditions for We Will Rock You. We are asking students to prepare for auditions over the summer. Please do encourage them to consider signing up. There will be auditions for chorus, principals and interviews for backstage. We will be emailing all students the audition material, but audition details and character information are in the document attached. If there are any questions, please contact Miss Starbuck or Mrs Machan.
- Y10 students finished off their GCSE drama assessments this week. Miss Starbuck is really proud of the group, and we look forward to more performances from this talented group next year.
- It was party time in the library this week to celebrate the end of another year! Thank-you-Maltesers for all our excellent Library Helpers who have kept things going at the library desk all year; Dungeons & Dragons cake and crisps for our lively D&D group, and choc biscuits and lollies for all the book clubbers, who were nearly, but not quite, defeated by today's fiendish emoji book-title quiz. There has been lots of uptake on the library's bespoke Summer Reading Challenge, so if you find a yellow challenge card in a pocket or bag, please encourage the owner to complete as many mini projects as they can. One of the challenges is to send someone a postcard - we'd love to receive some in the library as a record of where everybody has been (even if it's only down to the village!) There will be a prize for anyone who has ticked every DONE IT! circle by the first week back in school.
- The 2nd edition of our student newspaper, HaVoC, was launched today.
Activities Week Lost Items
After all the fun of last week's residentials you may have found some unfamiliar items in your young person's luggage. So that these items can be returned to their owners, please can they be dropped off at school in Reception between 9am and 3pm during the holidays or when school opens again in September. Thank you
Year 10 data
This afternoon students have been given a paper copy of their final assessment point data in Year 10. The grades show how well we think they will do if they continue working as they are doing now (a ‘most likely outcome’). The FFT column is a potential grade based on their SAT test scores and other information that has been generated by Fischer Family Trust (FFT), an organisation which provides information for schools. This is a raw measure of potential; many students exceed this grade.
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.
New timetable for Bamford bus from September
From September, the Bamford bus service will be operated by Andrews Coaches and will run at the following times:
Service 275
Yorkshire Bridge Inn 0824
Bamford Derwent Hotel 0826
Bamford Station 0829
Hope Valley College 0839
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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
