Rossett News Update - 19 June 2020
Dear Parent/Carers
In line with the guidance from the DfE, the school opened this week to not more than a quarter of our Years 10 and 12 students. Along with our normal activities for children of key workers and others, we were delighted to see most of our Year 10 and Year 12 students in school for their 'face-to-face' Academic Review Meetings. Students were pleased to be back and took full advantage of the opportunity to discuss individual progress with their Form Tutors, and English, Maths and Science teachers for Year 10 students. For those unable to come in to school these meetings were arranged remotely and hosted by the same teachers.
I know that many of you might feel a frustration that the national programme for re-opening was for these two year groups only, in the first instance. In response to this, we have enhanced our offer to Years 7-9 online, with the further introduction of our 'live lessons and events' to all students. Many of you have written in to thank the staff for the quality and consistency of our Teams-led learning; thank you for your support with this change in provision.
In addition to our small group teaching for Years 10 and 12 during the next four weeks, we will be providing further 'keeping in touch' opportunities through our pastoral staff for Years 7-9. Each student in Years 7-9 will be receiving a summary document that tells you, as parents, the content of the curriculum covered in each subject between March and July - throughout the period of remote learning. Alongside this will be a personalised record of your child's engagement with the subjects that they study. Our aim is to give each parent of students in Years 7, 8 and 9 easy access to this information before the summer.
Years 10 and 12 will receive a summary document in which their examination subjects will report on individual progress and targets using a different style of commentary. Again, the idea is to ensure that parents and students are aware of the subject matter covered in the last three months; successful engagement with the learning; and a clear indication of any areas that need addressing in the next four weeks and over the summer break.
H Woodcock
Headteacher
#rossettspectacular2020
Last night would have been the occasion of our annual celebration of all the wonderful musical talent at Rossett School - our Summer Spectacular at the Royal Hall in Harrogate. To mark this date in the calendar our Music Department invited students to upload videos of themselves performing music from their homes during lockdown. If you would like to see all of these performances follow us on Twitter #rossettspectacular2020.
Fantastic Fundraising
Our fundraising heroes continued their challenges this week despite the extremes in weather. Morgan Glazier completed his first half marathon last weekend and continued to complete a 19 mile run today. Morgan will once again be running laps of the Stray to complete his 20 miles tomorrow - join him from 10am on the Park Run circuit (social distance rules apply) if you would like to support him in this amazing challenge.
Jasmine Moran continues her walking, aiming to reach 100 miles over two weeks. So far, Jasmine has 'clocked-up' 95 miles and is aiming to complete her challenge today. Well done to Jasmine who has demonstrated great resilience to reach this goal.
If you wish to support Morgan or Jasmine please check their justgiving pages.
Year 6 Transition Challenge
Mrs Grabham, Director of Learning for Year 7, received some fantastic entries to her Challenge 1 eve
nts last week. Designed to 'get to know' our new Year 7 students better they were asked to share photographs of the many and varied activities they have been up to whilst spending time at home. These ranged from gardening, gymnastics and den-building – to a number of creative sewing projects and lots of homemade pizza’s.
They Year 7 Team chose Edie as the overall winner. Edie has been learning sign-language from her neighbour over the garden fence and Edie's picture shows her spelling her own name although Edie and her brother also learnt a song in sign-language. Well done to Edie and all of our current Year 6 students who contributed.
Challenge 2
This week is all about books! Reading is an important part of our school curriculum and we are extremely fortunate to have a dedicated Learning Resource Centre at Rossett School, where you can sit and read at break time and lunchtime or borrow books on a regular basis. We have an amazing librarian called Mrs Huett who keeps our range of books up to date and is a fountain of knowledge and always eager to pass on her recommendations.
The second challenge is to write a book review. I would like you to review a recent book you have either read or listened to, explaining in no more than 150 words, why your friends would enjoy it. Please email your review to me transition@rossettschool.co.uk by Friday 26 June at 4pm.
Year 7 Emails
We have been made aware that some students in Year 7 have lost access to their email account. This may not be immediately obvious so please ask your child to check that they are getting regular communication from school. If their account isn't working please follow the instructions on the document here and contact our IT Department if you continue to experience problems (studentIThelp@rossettschool.co.uk) .
Padlet
This week on Padlet, we are highlighting Refugee Week (15-21 June) which invites everyone to stand with refugees through simple acts such as reading a book or watching a film to learn and understand. Mrs Huett has also included a link of books that you can read that relate to Refugee Week. 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 recommendations. Remember to keep checking in on 'Padlet' as news and links will be updated regularly.
Library Book Reminder
We would like to remind you, during this prolonged absence from school, to keep your school library books in a safe place so that they can be returned as soon as it is safe to do so.
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 examinations 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
PE Challenge - Race to Lee Valley Stadium
This week's Rossett Sport challenge sees the Year 7 Girls' Hockey Team take on the Year 7 Girls' Football Team in a Race to the Lee Valley Stadium, home of England Hockey, in Stratford, London - 226 miles away! The Footballers took an early lead reaching Nottingham 83 miles away on day 2. This week, however the Girls' Hockey Team were unlucky and reached 200.5 just 26 miles short miles with neither team reaching the stadium. Better luck next week!
Sixth Form Update
All Year 12 students are expected to complete their initial registration on UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) before next Tuesday. Mr. Foley has emailed all Year 12 students two short videos explaining how to apply to university and how to register on the UCAS website. Students will start work on their personal statements from next week.
The Sixth Form Team have also been working with alumni to gather short videos to give Year 12 students information on a range of careers and university courses as we were unable to hold our annual careers day this year. We currently have 25 videos from past students but if any other alumni would be willing to create a video they can contact bfoley@rossettschool.co.uk for further details.
Home Learning Activities
This week Mrs Phelps tasked Year 7 Design Technology students to design anything at all as long as it would fit inside a tin and was delighted with the results she received. Particular mention goes to Megan Rhodes, Hettie Sadler and Emily Porter for their clever use of materials and ingenuity.
Mrs Grimshaw has shared an array of fantastic Geography work this week. Year 7 were asked to design and create a settlement and Mrs Grimshaw was very impressed with Issy MacIntosh and her creative and original idea of a settlement on the moon.
Settlement Model
I have created my settlement on the moon .
It will be the first human settlement there.
I have researched what the settlers will need to start life there. This will include the key elements for short term human survival; oxygen, food, water, transport, accommodation.
Because these resources don’t occur naturally on the moon,I have looked at ways of creating and storing them. Though water will need to be brought from earth initially.
The moon settlement will be inhabited by farmers and scientists at first.
The specially adapted housing will be sited between the water and oxygen sources, which will also be the places of work for the settlers.
There will also be a community centre for socialising.
Pip and Flo Bennett (7JMA) created a sustainable house featuring a green roof and a wind turbine and Caitlin Hill and Callum Handley created their impressive settlements out of Lego.
Mrs Brown would like to congratulate her GCSE Fine Art students who have been working incredibly hard and have produced some super artwork over the last few months. Well done to: Allura Abazari, Sophia Camacho, Emily Clark, Ivy Gromatzky, Keera Hanspal, Celina Millea, Jess Street and Hannah Wardill all Year 10. This portrait is of Sophia's mum and said to be an incredible resemblance.
Mrs Thompson has also shared some fantastic work completed by her Year 7 Science students. The students created some lovely story boards on 'how fossil fuels are made'. The beautifully illustrated work show detailed explanations containing accurate scientific vocabulary. Mrs Thompson was also impressed by a leaflet designed by Ethan Phelps.
Star Students
Miss Taswell would like to say 'well done' to Alfie Hardaker who produced some excellent work on his Science APP. Despite not being able to carry out the practical Alfie produced 4 pages of results analysis and evaluation. Alice Holman also submitted an excellent evaluation and analysis of data for her science APP. A difficult task when she couldn't do the practical. Well done to them both!
Miss Reynolds and the Maths department have been very proud of how hard Year 7 have been working on Hegarty Maths across the year. As a year group, they have answered a whopping 166,000 questions. The top three students and our stars of this week are: Katie Harland with 1906 questions answered, Annalise Groves with 1865 questions answered, and Connor Mumford with 1716 questions answered. Well done!
Leeds City College - Webinar opportunity
Leeds City Colleges popular webinars are being repeated throughout this month giving students an opportunity to gain lots of important information about college life and the opportunity to ask questions.
Leeds City College welcomes a diverse body of students, where students can succeed with practical courses and important links to industry.
Interested students are encouraged to book a place on a webinar, taking place on the dates and times below to find out more about their range of courses, cutting-edge facilities and life in college:
Leeds Sixth Form Friday 19 June 1pm and 4pm https://bit.ly/37mZi8k
Leeds City College Tuesday 23 June 10am, 1pm and 4pm https://bit.ly/3hkWKw3
Keighley College Tuesday 30 June 1pm and 4pm https://bit.ly/3fh0DQJ
Find out about their courses, areas and apprenticeships, the best travel routes, life on campus and their entry requirements and application process. Students will be able to take part in a Q&A and hear the answers to their questions remotely. Leeds City College courses are currently operating online and they offer support teams to provide advice for potential students.
We would like to remind students and parents to keep checking the Careers Events page for further information about careers events and virtual open days.
H Woodcock
Headteacher
