Rossett News Update - 12 February 2021
Thank you for your support during this half term. We will be writing to you all again shortly with updates around the re-opening of schools and the decision from Ofqual. With this in mind, please watch your email inbox for school communication as we may have to write to you at short notice.
Important Changes to School Calendar
Changes to Calendared Events:
Please find below some changes we are making to the dates of the scheduled Parents' Evenings and the Year 9 Options Evening after half term. This is to ensure that our teachers are able to have fully informed conversations with parents of students in the examination year groups, after the announcement by OfQual and the Department for Education on how grades will be generated this summer. In addition to these evenings, and once information has been released by the government, we will run an additional information event to ensure parents and students are fully informed of these details and have the opportunity to ask any specific questions they may have.
Change to calendared dates
- Year 9 Options' Evening – From Wednesday 3rd March to Thursday 18th March
- Year 9 Parents' Evening – From Thursday 11th March to Thursday 25th March
- Year 11 Parents' Evening (II) – From Thursday 18th March to 22nd April
- Sixth Form Parents' Evening (II) – From 25th March to 29th April
Please note – there are no changes to:
- Year 7 Parents' Evening – Thursday 4th March
- Year 8 Parents' Evening – Thursday 15th April
Free school meals
Self-esteem Awareness Week
As Oprah Winfrey quite rightly says; “Self-esteem comes from being able to define the world in your own terms and refusing to abide by the judgment of others.” Self-esteem is an important part of positive mental health. During this challenging time, we want our students to reflect their own level of self-esteem and take steps to give themselves a well-deserved boost.
Some really easy ways your child can boost their self-esteem include:
×STOP criticising themselves
×STOP comparing themselves to others
üSTART practising gratitude
üSTART moving – we all know the benefits even a little bit of exercise can bring.
Activities for the February half term break
During the whole school assembly this week in which the Deputies and I spoke to all students, Mr Saunders highlighted a wide range of activities that would be ideal for the half term break. We have tried to collate free activities to suit most interests. Please find links to the activities below. We hope you can find some enrichment opportunities for your family to take part in over the well-deserved break.
Astronomy
You can study astronomy and astro-photography through online events at the upcoming Northumberland Dark Skies festival (12-21st February).
Nature
Half-term coincides with National Nest Box Week (14-21 February), so paint and hang your own and, with the RSPB’s Big Schools’ Birdwatch, which calls for pupils to submit garden survey results by 22 February.
Science
Glasgow Science Centre posts free films and lessons, and the London Science Museum has some brilliant online games (try Launchball).
The environment
Free online event - YouTube live stream of this unique event exploring James Lovelock’s Gaia Hypothesis
- Date: Saturday 13 February 2021
- Time: 19.30–20.45
- Price: Free, booking essential
click here to find out more and book
Climate change
Watch talks by some of the world’s most eminent climate scientists click here
Music
Presenter Rachel Leach explores the separation of sounds, how music travels around an orchestra and what you can hear between the notes, in this one-hour family concert with the London Symphony Orchestra. click here to book a free place
You can watch lots of previous Glastonbury performances on YouTube at the Glastonbury channel
Comedy
Two teams of comedians go toe-to-toe (from a distance) with quick-witted gags, games, sketches and songs inspired by your suggestions. There's a referee on hand to ensure a good clean match and field suggestions from the audience. Shows are loads of fun for kids and adults alike.
click here to find out how to watch them
International events over half term
Chinese New Year on 12th February click here to join the celebrations
Pancake Day (Shrove Tuesday) on the 16th February click here to find out more click here to find out more
Mardi Gras carnivals in Europe, New Orleans and most of all Brazil click here to find out more
Sapporo snow festival Japan click here to find out more
Black History Month – USA click here to find out more
LGBT+ History Month - click here to find out more
Inter-form Challenge
Each week of this current lockdown, Miss Goacher in the PE Department has been posting our current Inter-Form challenge on YouTube, as well as sending emails to students. Students have completed these each week and submitted their scores in an online form.
For this last week, students have been challenged to complete as many of the five challenges as possible during their timetabled PE lesson.
The five challenges are below:
Current Inter-form event winner are listed below along with a running total of all three Inter-form events:
Additional Mobile Data
We would like to remind you about a government initiative to provide additional mobile data or 4G routers to families who do not have fixed broadband at home. Please find details of this offer below. Please note that O2 and Vodaphone have been recently added to the list of mobile phone providers. 4G routers are now also available to students in Year 12 and 13, as well as students in Years 7-11.
To support some students during this latest lockdown, the government have offered an increase of data allowances on their mobile devices. This scheme temporarily increases data allowances for mobile phone users on certain networks. This is so that children and young people can access remote education if their face-to-face education is disrupted. This scheme is available for students who:
- Do not have fixed broadband at home
- Cannot afford additional data
- Have access to a mobile device that uses a participating network
- Cannot access face-to-face education
This is currently on offer to mobile phone users on these networks:
- Three
- Smarty
- Virgin Mobile
- EE
- Tesco Mobile
- Sky mobile
- Vodaphone
- O2
- Other providers may join the scheme at a later stage.
If an increase in mobile data isn’t a suitable solution for your family, the government are also offering the opportunity for families to request a 4G router for those students who are eligible for free school meals or pupil premium funding, and who don’t have access to the internet. If you would like us to apply for a 4G router on your behalf, please complete this form.
Year 7 Competition Winners
As part of their PSHEE programme this term, Year 7 students attended a virtual assembly based around the environment and focused on waste and recycling. The students were set a challenge to produce a Rossett ‘R’ from items they had in their recycling or that could be re-used. The students produced some really creative projects - with the winning entry going to Iona Cheyne for her creative use of a milk carton. Well done Year 7!
Year 7 Creative Painting Project
Year 7 students have been working on developing their expressive and creative drawing recently. They were asked to think about how certain words can make them feel and how they might visually represent these words/feelings such as happy, anxious, imaginative or bored. The students then went on to draw how they have been feeling over the last few weeks. The results have been beautiful!
This week students have been drawing to music which they have really enjoyed. They will develop these drawings into their 'Creative Painting Project' after half term and will look at a range of artists from Kandinsky to Iain MacArthur as well as many others. They will also learn how to paint with water colours. Well done Year 7 artisits!
*Any student who doesn't have an art pack should have been contacted by now, but if a student doesn't have a pack, they can contact office@rossettschool.co.uk to arrange a collection time for one.
Year 8 Fantastic Artwork
Year 8 students have been introduced to artists inspired by architecture and have created some beautiful mixed media pieces inspired by artist Ian Murphy. They have been very resourceful by using coffee-stained backgrounds and recycled paper to create texture before working over the top. Students are learning about different styles of architecture before creating their own cardboard and recycled materials.
Making learning fun in MFL
Meanwhile, in Year 7 and 8 French and Spanish lessons, students have seen the funny side and have enjoyed 'joke week'. We have included a small selection of their wonderful work below:
With particular congratulations to: Stella Caswell, Ashlyn Ngamaleu, Nishta Saike, Kyran Wyse in Spanish and Iona Cheyne, Sofiah Clayton, Iarina Heredea and Oliver Summers in French.
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 future examinations or the current national coverage of the pandemic.
The Go-To – www.thegoto.org.uk – is a portal or ‘single point of information’ for the wide range of mental health support services available to help children and young people in the county address their social and emotional health needs.
https://www.kooth.com/ https://www.minded.org.uk/
Covid-19: Reporting
Please be assured that when school is closed for the half-term break, we remain staffed for the reporting of any incidents of COVID positive testing.
If your child has a positive test result in the next week, please use the following link and complete the details on screen: https://rossett.school/positive
A further reminder that if your child has any of the symptoms described in the attached parental letter from Public Health England here, they must stay at home and arrangements need to be made to have a test.
We would remind you that you should only book a test if your child has any of these three coronavirus symptoms:
- A high temperature: any new high temperature where your child feels hot to touch on their chest or back (you do not need to measure the temperature);
- A new continuous cough: coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours;
- A loss of, or change in, sense of smell or taste: a noticeable loss of smell or taste or things smell and taste different to normal.
With every best wish from all at Rossett for a restful half-term break.
Helen Woodcock
Headteacher
