Rossett News Update - 20 May 2022
GCSE and A Level Examinations
We have been pleased to see the mature approach of our Year 11 and Year 13 students this week as the Summer examination period commenced. Following two years of worldwide disruption due to the pandemic, our students have demonstrated incredible resilience and responsibility in their mature approach and preparation for their examinations.
Year 13 students begin their study leave today and have enjoyed their final lessons with their subject teachers, celebrating their progress. We wish them all the best of luck as their examinations get underway from Monday 21 May.
Year 11 Hoodies and Year books
Friday 27 May sees the final formal school day for our Year 11 students. To mark the occasion, the students will receive their leavers' hoodies and year books following their morning Science exam, and students will be allowed to wear their hoodies for the day. All students must attend lessons for the day as normal.
Shirt signing will take place on Thursday 23rd June following the final exam as part of our Leavers' Assembly where the year group have an assembly in the main hall with speeches, party food and celebrations.
Class of 2022: Graduation Ceremony, Thursday 26th May
Year 13 students will return on Thursday 26th May, to celebrate the 'Class of 2022' in a very special Graduation event held in our Main Hall. This is a more 'formal' farewell with speeches from Ms Woodcock and Mr Keyworth (Head of Sixth Form). As part of their formal graduation ceremony, students will receive a certificate and their year book, and Sixth Form achievement and community awards will be presented.
There will also be musical performances and a keynote speech from our previous head girl, Lucy Hopkins. Staff and students are really looking forward to celebrating with the students at this event.
Key Stage 3 (Years 7-9) Summative Assessment Weeks
At the beginning of the year, students in KS3 (Years 7, 8 and 9) were given their targets in the form of a band (see below) for each of their subjects. Excellence (8-9), Secure (6-7), Developing (4-5) and Foundation (1-3).
Over the course of the year students' subject knowledge and skills have been assessed by their teachers monitoring their progress towards their targets. Your child will have received periodic written and/or verbal feedback as to what they need to do to improve and make progress in each of their subjects.
As a final progress check students will complete an end of year summative assessment activity in each of their subjects. These assessments will test a broad range of knowledge, that has been taught over the course of the year, and is vital to their progression onto the next stage of the curriculum. The assessments will take place in normal, timetabled lesson time between Monday 13th until Thursday 30th June.
Subject teachers will guide your child through the process. Lesson time will be used to tell students what they can expect in each assessment and how long it will be. In the run up to the assessment, home learning will be focused on specific revision activities. All resources will be available for students on Teams in advance. Students will know what topics and skills will be tested in each assessment and will be advised how best to prepare.
To help you to support your child at home we have attached a short guide which outlines the key revision guidance that students are given in school.
Your child's progress, based on their overall performance during the year and these assessments will be reported to you before the summer.
Year 7 3Rs Activity Day
We are delighted to have arranged a 3Rs activity for our Year 7 students will be held on Thursday 26th May 2022. We have organised a day of interactive workshops and activities in collaboration with NHS Wellbeing in Mind and North Yorkshire Sport to further embed our key 3Rs values of Responsibility, Resilience and Reflectiveness.
James Kirton (Olympic Swimmer) will be joining us on the day. James will begin the day with a motivational presentation and share his story. The students will then attend four workshops delivered by North Yorkshire Sport and NHS Wellbeing in Mind where they will explore topics including: Five Ways to Wellbeing, the metaphor of a ‘stress bucket’ and boosting self-esteem and confidence by looking after your physical and emotional wellbeing. Further details will be sent to parents on Monday.
Fantastic year for Rossett in the UK Maths Challenge
As we come to the end of the Maths Challenge competitions for this academic year, we are delighted to share the successes of our wonderful mathematicians.
Last week we received the excellent news that twenty-seven of our Year 8 and Year 7 students achieved bronze, silver or gold certificates in the Junior Maths Challenge. A special mention for Tate Dixon in Year 7 who achieved 'Best in Year' and William Jarvis in Year 8 for achieving 'Best in School'. These competitions are designed to be challenging, to put our students' 'mathematical problem-solving skills' to the test and we are very proud of all of our Year 7 and 8 students who took part and their success.
The younger students in the school have fantastic role models to look up to in Mathematics; earlier in the year Yael Braunstein (Year 11) received news that she scored a Merit in the Pink Kangaroo round and Patrick Fleming (Year 11) achieved a Merit in the Maclaurin Olympiad competition. These are great achievements and a testament to how hard these students have worked to gain a real depth of understanding when learning about Mathematics.
In celebrate these impressive results across all competitions this year we are also looking forward to our students challenging themselves again in these competitions in the next academic year. Thank you to Mrs Smith for coordinating all of these events and encouraging the students so enthusiastically.
Students taking Spanish lessons to the next level
Year 8 students of Spanish have taken their homework to the next level this week demonstrating their cross-curricular Spanish cooking skills. During their lessons students are currently studying Spanish food and drinks and they are learning how to buy food and order food in a restaurant. Inspired by the enormous variety of delicious Spanish tapas, Phoebe Coxon, Leo Bailey and Isabelle Sykes created the amazing dishes seen below, following the tapas recipes in Spanish. i Qué deliciosas!
Year 7 Disco
Last night our Year 7 students were finally able to enjoy their Year 7 disco following its postponement last December! The event provided lots of fun and entertainment as we approach the end of a busy term. DJ Dent, a former Rossett School student, was on the 'decks' and the students danced to the hits and classics such as YMCA and the Macarena!
Many thanks to the PTA, our Sixth Form helpers and staff who attended the event. Particular thanks to Mrs Phelps and the finance team.
LRC News from Mr Asker
I am delighted to make parents/carers of our students in Year 7 and 8 aware that award winning children’s author Tom Palmer is visiting Rossett School on the 22nd June to host an event after school for parents/carers and their child. I have had the pleasure of working with Tom for many years and he is an enthusiastic, fun and passionate advocate for getting more children reading for pleasure and enjoying books as much as possible. In 2019 he deservedly won the Ruth Rendell award for his outstanding Contribution to Literacy.
We are aiming for Tom to do a presentation at approximately 5.45pm to Year 7 and Year 8 students and parents/carers followed by a 'Question and Answer' session with myself and for parents/cares and students to ask questions also.
I am also delighted to confirm that 'Imagined Things' bookshop will be attending the event and they will be selling a range of Tom’s books (available for cash or credit card on the day) which can then be signed by Tom. So, for now, please hold that date and I will be in touch again soon regarding the visit and how to secure a place.
Meanwhile in the LRC it has been delightfully busy with groups from Year 7 and Year 8 looking at non-fiction books. Students' written contributions have been excellent and I have thoroughly enjoyed reading their work and awarding lots of positives. Keep it up Year 7 and 8!
Other than that, my two highlights of the week have been a lovely 'bookish' email conversation with Martha in Year 7 and a book recommendation from Oscar in Year 7. Well done to them both.
Polite reminder:
We would like to remind parents/carers that holidays should not be booked during term-time and that the Headteacher will only grant a leave of absence to students during term time if it is considered to be 'exceptional circumstances'. A leave of absence is granted at the Headteacher’s discretion and any absence will otherwise be marked as 'unauthorised' in a student's attendance record.
Lunch Menu
Well done to...
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U15 Boys' Cricket Team who played Heckmondwike in a T20 cricket game. The result was a convincing 159 for 4 out versus their 125 for 9 out!
What's happening this half term...
Monday 23 May
- A Level examinations begin
Thursday 26 May
- Year 13 Graduation 6.00pm Main Hall
Monday 30 May - Friday 3 June
- Half Term
Monday 6 June
- School re-opens for Summer Term.
H Woodcock
Headteacher
