Rossett News Update - 10 July 2020

Rossett Sports' Centre Re-opens

We are delighted to let you know that we have re-opened Rossett Sports' Centre and its outdoor facilities this week in line with the latest Government guidelines.  If you are  bored with your current lockdown exercise routine and need a change to keep you motivated, - we can help!  Book our 3G pitch, caged football pitches or our tennis courts and get together with friends for some socially distanced fun and exercise.  Visit the Sports' Centre website here for further information and temporary opening hours.

New Sixth Form Student Leadership Team

Further to the appointment of our Head Girl and Boy and their Deputies that we shared with you last week, we have now appointed a wider Student Leadership Team of Senior Prefects.  This followed interviews which were held remotely this week.  We look forward to working with all of our new Senior Prefects throughout the next academic year.  Congratulations to the successful team.

Name	Position / Title
Evelyn Richards	Senior Prefect :Inclusion
Ethan Atkinson	Senior Prefect : Rossett Values
Olivia Woodhead	Senior Prefect : Student Welfare
Emily Farquhar	Senior Prefect : Charity
Sophie Westwood	Senior Prefect : Environment
Isabel Frazer	Senior Prefect : Student Welfare
Karleen Menes	Senior Prefect : Support
Luca Lenahan	Senior Prefect : Facilities
Katie Merckel	Senior Prefect : Equality and Diversity
Jai Sagoo	Senior Prefect : Equality and Diversity
Megan Davis	Senior Prefect : Rossett Values
Max Davies	Senior Prefect : Music and Arts

Year 6 Transition

A report from Mrs Grabham (Director of Learning: Year 7)

It has been a busy week for current Year 6 students joining us in September, following our live transition activities on Wednesday. We were delighted that so many future Rossett students were able to  join the live assembly, History quiz and Modern Foreign Language lessons. We also provided the opportunity for our prospective parents  to listen to a parents’ information speech presented by Ms Woodcock, Mr Saunders (Associate Deputy Headteacher) and myself.

Following this event, students starting Rossett School in September received some  material to help prepare them for their French or Spanish studies when the term begins.  Research shows that if students have confidence, then they are more likely to enjoy and succeed in learning languages. Each student has been sent a work booklet which includes website links that contain all of the required answers.  This will give our new students a great way to keep busy during the summer holidays; learn new language skills and be fully prepared for September.

Winner of Challenge 3

Last week our Year 6 students were asked to consider their role model; someone who inspires them and Mrs Grabham and the Year 7 Team were delighted with the amount of responses they had - making it, once again, very hard to choose a winner!  They were fascinating to read; from primary school teachers and family members to famous pop stars and footballers, the range was diverse.  We are delighted to announce that the winner is Barnes Walker, whose role model is Danny MacAskil - read his inspiring account here.

Transition Challenge Number 4

Our final Challenge is based around our Rossett 3Rs' values which formed part of Mrs Grabham's  online assembly. Responsibility, Resilience and Reflectiveness are words that students will become very familiar with when they start at Rossett School. For the final challenge, students have been asked to think about how they currently demonstrate these values; in what ways have they been responsible, demonstrated resilience and taken time to reflect? Again, students can be as creative as they wish with how they present their work. All submissions should be sent to transition@rossettschool.co.uk by 4pm on Wednesday 15 July so that the winner can be included in the final newsletter of the academic year.

Congratulations to our NQTs

On behalf of everyone at Rossett School we would  like to pass on our congratulations to Mr Wolfram (English) and Mr Bentley (Music) on successfully passing their NQT (Newly Qualified Teacher) Induction year. We would also like to thank their mentors, Mrs Dargie and Mr Durbin and their faculties for the support that they have offered this year.

UKMT Junior Mathematics Challenge

We wrote to you recently about our keen Mathematicians in Years 7 and 8 sitting the UKMT Junior Mathematics Challenge online. After excellent successes in the Senior and Intermediate challenges, we were hopeful that our budding young mathematicians would also do us proud and that they did.  Well done to Eilidh Owens, Rory Dixon, Tom Wareham, Sam Barker, Matan Braunstein, Eleanor Ashby and Evelyn Ridley who achieved a 'Bronze' Award. Louis Matthews, Alfie Hardaker (best in Year 8), Joseph Alderson, Hetty Hardaker and Katelyn Lim who achieved a 'Silver' Award.  Jack Morgan who achieved a 'Gold' Award and Luca Pogoreanu who won 'Gold' and was also given the accolade of being named  'Best in School'. An additional 26 students received a participation certificate - congratulations and well done to all.

Class Charts

We will be moving to ‘Class Charts’ in the Autumn Term, which is a new school-parent communication system.  The system will inform parents around academic attainment, homework, rewards and behaviours.  Further details will follow in September.

Star Students

We have had a fantastic response from our students to the recent introduction of  'live' lessons. Miss Taswell would like to say 'well done' to James Beesley, Pia Moment and Becky Crowther (all Year 7) for their excellent contribution in their Science live lesson this week.

In Mathematics Miss Reynolds wanted to congratulate all of Year 7 who have worked so hard during lockdown.  She believes that to be a great mathematician, not only should students be able to understand the small steps that lead to the big ideas in mathematics, but they should also be able to communicate this well too. Special mention to Aurora Catania, for her effort in this subject.

Miss Fairbairn would like to say a huge 'well done' to Luke Smetham, Dylan Heywood and Sanjana Karimisetti for their incredible engagement, positivity and commitment to the GCSE PE Live Lessons over the last four weeks. They have all contributed tremendously and have performed exceptionally well in their assessments. 

Padlet

Next week is a good week for scientists as Padlet features  two great online events.

The Royal Society have moved their Summer Exhibition online this year; from 13-17 July  they have a free digital programme of events including talks, quizzes and videos. It’s a varied programme with lots of fascinating subjects; explore exoplanets, visit Antarctica, and find out what your pet is thinking. 

On Tuesday 14 July,  Big Bang Digital 2020 takes place. It’s a day of activities looking at the role of scientists and engineers during the pandemic. Looking at food production, vaccines, transport and pollution to name a few, it looks fascinating and inspiring. 

As you will now know Padlet is a great on-line resource curated by our Learning Resource Centre Manager, Mrs Huett.  Follow the link to 'Padlet' here for lots of links, reviews and book recommendations.  Remember to keep checking in on 'Padlet', as news and links will be updated regularly.

Mental Health and Wellbeing

We would like to remind you of the support groups, websites and text-based helplines that exist to help students combat feelings of anxiety that may result from worrying about school or the current national coverage of the pandemic.

• Kooth – a free, online counselling service available at kooth.com
• Buzz Us – run by Compass Buzz and specific to young people from North Yorkshire; this is a text messaging service that connects students to a ‘well-being’ advisor on 07520631168 https://www.compass-uk.org/buzz-us/
• Young Minds - https://youngminds.org.uk/
• NHS Every Mind Matters - https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/
• Give us a Shout - https://www.giveusashout.org/
• The Mix - https://www.themix.org.uk/
• Nightline - https://www.nightline.ac.uk/

Tips for home learning

• Where possible have a quiet space away from distractions;
• Be organised - have a routine based around the school day including break and lunchtime;
• Leave your mobile phone in another room and turn off notifications while you are home learning;
• Stay safe on-line - only use trusted websites.
• Remember you can contact your teachers with any queries via Teams and the Network Team with any IT queries. at: studentIThelp@rossettschool.co.uk

Home Learning Activities

Miss Askew has been very impressed with her Year 7 students who have been looking into the history and style of Commedia Dell’Arte over the last half term in their Drama lessons. The students have finished off the scheme with a mini project of making their own Commedia style mask following a step-by-step guide which Miss Askew provided.

Mackinley Elliot in Year 7 sent some great pictures yesterday of the progress he has made in creating his mask. He has really enjoyed this project as part of remote learning. His smile says it all!

Mrs Shepherd would like to  congratulate Joanna Eyles, Pati Budnicka, Katie Pitt, Jasmine Fayyaz and Rhiannon Ashworth (Year 9) for producing amazing coursework in their Textiles GCSE. Mrs Shepherd has been very impressed at what they are producing without face-to-face help. They are being very responsible through consistent contact with their teacher,  and demonstrate great resilience as they have tried with all assignments  set and have been reflective by completing DIRT work throughout home learning.

Mrs Shepherd also tasked her Year 7 Food Technology students this week with making their favourite take-away meal at home and was really impressed with the results!  Well done to Harry Galton, Ava Linley and Max Taylor for producing  these fantastic meals.

 

And finally this week, Miss Parker has been very impressed with the participation in live lessons are making and sent us this picture of Anna Littlejohns (Year 7) home learning after her Food Technology live lesson - great work Anna!

H Woodcock

Headteacher