Rossett News Update - Friday 9 October 2020
Live-streamed Open Day
On Saturday, Rossett teachers braved the live-to-camera experience and broadcast our Rossett School Virtual Open Day 2020 in real time. The hour and a half broadcast included a welcome and presentation from Mrs Grabham, Director of Learning for Year 7, along with a Q&A session with three students from Year 7,8 and 12.
The camera then switched to show live lessons from the English, Maths, Modern Foreign Languages and Science departments, featuring everything from live chemistry and biology experiments to French and Spanish cookery, quizzes and challenges. Interspersed with the live event were recorded snippets from current Year 7 students talking about their experiences of Rossett so far. There were also pre-recorded presentations from Ms Woodcock and members of the Senior Leadership Team. For those who missed the live event and our other pre-recorded presentations, it is now available to view on our website here.
Thank You
We would like to thank the community organisations and businesses who have helped the school during these difficult times. Special mention goes to the Harrogate Lions for making sure all of our students were fully equipped with extra stationery. The Lions and Morrisons have supported our breakfast club and assisted with supplementary food parcels to those families in need.
If there is anyone in the business community who would like to help us support our families in the local community by making a donation please contact iPeat@rossettschool.co.uk.
Coronavirus and attendance
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. You must call the school absence line (01423 564 444) and leave a voicemail informing us about the situation and the reason your child is not in school.
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.
If your child has been off school for a reason related to Covid-19, it is vital that you contact us before they return and give us the reason they are returning e.g. a negative test result.
Holidays: October 26th-30th October 2020
As a further reminder we would also ask Parents/Carers to be mindful of the quarantine regulations when booking holiday destinations for the half-term break. We realise that the ever-changing quarantine rules present great frustration however, we are sure that you wish to avoid quarantine on return from your holiday abroad and any interruption to your child's education. Any quarantine period as the result of a pre-booked holiday will be marked as unauthorised absence.
ClassCharts
We have had extremely positive feedback from students, parents, carers and teachers about ClassCharts. This is a powerful app that will allow you to track your child's progress in behaviour, achievement, and homework. Several parents/carers have not yet signed into the app. We strongly encourage all parents and carers to have this app so that they can benefit from the real time updates it provides about your child's progress in school. All parents and carers were emailed a sign-in code three weeks ago. If you have not yet accessed your account, please use this code to sign up here: https://www.classcharts.com/parent/login and select 'I don't have an account yet'. If you have not got access to this code, please email studentIThelp@rossettschool.co.uk and we will send you a new access code.
Rossett School - Instrumental Tuition
Rossett Instrumental Tuition are delighted to be able to offer some discounted trial lessons to our Key Stage 3 students next half term. If your child would like to start learning a musical instrument, we are offering a block of six 15-minute lessons for a total of £30. We can offer trials with the following instruments: piano, drum kit, guitar, violin, trumpet, trombone, saxophone, and clarinet. This offer is limited to one trial instrument per student and is only for students in Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9. If you would like to apply for this offer or would like to know more, please email our Head of Music, Mr Robin Durbin on rdurbin@rossettschool.co.uk The deadline for applications is Friday 16th October.
Sixth Form Update
Sixth Form students are given information, which is continually updated, relating to the progression activities in which they can get involved. Many events this year, such as apprenticeship fairs and university open days are being hosted virtually and we are encouraging our students to get involved with as many of these activities as they can, to help them form their decisions about next steps. Please click here for this week's progression bulletin.
Both Year 12 and Year 13 have had PSHE sessions this week on how to improve and maintain good mental health, as it is World Mental Day this Saturday (see further details below). Students have looked into the work done by Mind, Young Minds, Heads Together and the NHS. They have looked at the importance of mental well-being; how to identify and manage different mental health issues; how to take steps to improve their mental health; and where to turn for help and support. They have also practised some mindfulness meditation as this is a strategy to enhance well-being.
Uniform
As our students are now wearing their PE kit to school on two days each week, we wanted to remind you that our authorised uniform provider is Rawcliffes, Harrogate branch. They stock the full range of kit including hoodies, training pants and leggings. As the days draw in, we are encouraging students to come prepared for inclement weather.
https://www.rawcliffesharrogate.co.uk/rossett-high?page=1
UK University and Apprenticeship Virtual Fair 2020
This annual event will be online and interactive this year and will be held on Wednesday 14th October between 12.00pm and 6.00pm. As well as allowing students to explore their regional and local post-16 options the event will feature universities, colleges and apprenticeship providers from across the UK . This new Virtual Fair will feature a wide range of exhibiting universities including those from the Russell Group, 'red brick', modern and specialist institutions, as well as colleges and apprenticeship providers.
The event will enable students to visit 'virtual ' exhibition stands and chat to representatives, view information and videos, download prospectuses and take part in live webinars in the virtual auditorium. This event is completely free of charge and is ideal for students in Years 11, 12 and 13 and their parents/carers. Follow this link to register for the event https://ukunisearch-east.vfairs.com/
World Mental Health Day - Saturday 10th October 2020
Saturday 10th October is World Mental Health Day. Next week, students in all years will be engaging with a range of activities in form time that will consider what good mental looks like, how to achieve it and how to maintain it. We are passionate about the importance of helping students build their resilience and understanding that when they have worries, they should talk to those they trust, including the staff at Rossett. During this unprecedented time, we will be supporting students to reframe their thinking about the pandemic. The following link provides information about how to manage our own wellbeing during this time.https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/coronavirus/mental-health-tips
Mental health tips | Mental Health Foundation
The Mental Health Foundation is part of the national mental health response to the coronavirus outbreak. Government advice designed to keep us safe is under constant review has been formatted differently depending on where you live: more details and up-to-date information is available here:
Catering
As the days get colder this is a quick reminder that our fantastic Catering Team provide a full range of hot food from all of the 'bubble' catering outlets. Our Executive Chef and his team have developed a menu which incorporates traditional dishes such as toad- in-the hole and fish and chips, and also European and world dishes such as Japanese mirin poached beef and Jamaican chicken curry. Every Wednesday we have a traditional roast with trimmings.
We are currently supporting and championing 'Yorkshire' foods. All our suppliers are local and we work closely with our catering staff to keep our menus seasonal. We can trace the origins of all of our meat and fish and in some cases can even identify the boat which caught the fish.
Each day we offer two meat and one vegetarian dish. We also have gluten free products available so no one has to miss out.
As well as our hot food we offer pasta with the choice of three sauces including a vegetarian option, jacket potatoes with assorted fillings, hot baguettes and specials which change daily. Finally we do a selection of sandwiches and baguettes which are all made on-site fresh everyday. These can also be pre-ordered using the iPad. We also have an outstanding pastry chef producing a range of desserts and slices.
Here at Rossett we are proud of what we do and are always looking to improve and we welcome feedback from the students and try to make lunchtime an education of food.
The weekly menus can be found at https://www.rossettschool.co.uk/students/catering/ and we have a twitter page so please follow us on @rossettkitchen.
Pre-ordering sandwiches
To prevent the need for queuing, a selection of sandwiches and salads are available to pre-order before 10.30am each day using the following link: https://rossett.school/lunch
Rossett Sports' Centre
Our Sports' Centre is fully operational once again and we look forward to welcoming customers, both old and new. We are a 'Covid Secure' centre and can assure customers that sporting governing body guidelines are constantly being monitored and adhered to at all times.
We are open 7 days a week and our wide range of facilities can be booked online 24/7 - www.rossettsportscentre.co.uk
Badminton > Squash > Football > Table-Tennis > Tennis > Volleyball > Netball > Cricket and much more!
Mental Health and Wellbeing
To further support our students' mental health, the pastoral teams continue to provide a high level of daily support, enhanced by the updated additional staff training they receive. The following links may be helpful in signposting your child to further support should they need it.
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/
Important Diary Dates
Thursday 22nd October
- Year 11 Support Your Child Evening, 6.00pm-8.00pm - meetings will be held remotely and further information will be issued to parents/carers nearer the time;
Monday 26th October - Friday 30th October
- Half Term (please refer to guidance above regarding booking holidays).
Monday 2nd November
- Christmas term begins.
Thursday 5th November
- Year 11 Parents' Evening (1), 5.00pm-8.00pm - meetings will be held remotely and further information will be issued to parents/carers nearer the time.
Thursday 12th November
- Year 12 and Year 13 Parents' Evening (1), 5.00pm-8.00pm - meetings will be held remotely and further information will be issued to parents/carers near the time.
Thursday 19th November
- Year 10 Parents' Evening, 5.00pm-8.00pm - meetings will be held remotely and further information will be issued to parents/carers nearer the time.
Thursday 26th November
- Presentation Evening - details to be confirmed.
Thursday 3rd December
- Sixth Form Information Evening, 7.00pm-8.30pm - further details to be confirmed in due course.
Friday 18th December
- School closes for Christmas holiday.
H Woodcock
Headteacher
