It has been a super-busy week with lots of amazing activities taking place. 

Yesterday our Sports Presentation Evening took place. This is a wonderful celebration of the sporting year and the many successes our students enjoyed in the sporting arena. It was great to see the hall packed with parents and students despite the atrocious weather.  

Today we held our Annual Gift Drive in support of the Salvation Army appeal. It was a truly heart-warming sight to see so many gifts so generously donated by our students’ families. To see our school community come together to help others was the perfect example of compassion, one of our school values. I know these gifts will have a huge impact on those receiving them. Thank you for helping to make this event such a success. 

This afternoon we had our inaugural Santa Fun Run. Whilst the weather was not great, it did not put a damper on the spirits of those taking part. It was a joyful sight to see staff and students running in their Christmas hats, raising money for our Friends of Severn Vale group. A huge thank you to our Friends group for organising and to the many staff and students who participated.  

Today we held a lockdown practice for the whole school. The drill ran smoothly, the students responded superbly, and we were able to return to learning within 10 minutes.  Of course, this is something we hope to never have to do for real. However, it is important that all staff and students are prepared.  

Attendance continues to be lower than we would like, worryingly so for some of our year groups. We know at this time of year there can be many bugs circulating. To help parents make a judgement whether their child is too unwell to attend school, the NHS has produced some helpful guidance  which can be accessed via the link highlighted. I would encourage parents to use this. When your child is missing school due to illness,  please contact the school as early as possible.  

Every Monday after school, ten enthusiastic Year 8 students participate in a Maths Club with Mr Constable, funded by a charity called Axiom Maths. The club is designed to inspire young minds to consider continuing to study maths after Year 11, by exploring fascinating problems beyond the content covered in their usual lessons.

This is one of a wide range of extracurricular provision that exists for our students. From Dungeons and Dragons to Drama, from Lego to Sport, we want to ensure that there is a club for all. Many of our clubs are organised by the students themselves. If your child has a good idea for a club, please get them to speak to Mr Spooner.  

One of our newer sports clubs started on Monday this week – Boxercise for Year 8 and 9. The focus is on physical activity developing resilience, which will hopefully feed into emotional benefits in and outside of school. We have partnered up with Fight Factory Boxing Club. This means there is a direct link for students who wish to continue this activity outside of school. 

On Wednesday lunchtime we held the first session of our new KS3 orienteering club. This club has been launched with the intention of targeting students who can access more physical activity through an alternative sport. We had a small group of students who had the field to themselves to go off and explore using their maps of the school. They were tasked with finding information at the designated control points and racing back to give in their answers before the other teams. All involved seemed to really enjoy it and have been told to bring more friends along next week. Looking forward to seeing this club grow!  

Our KS4 Basketball team travelled to Newent for their first away fixture of the season. Newent were dominant throughout and exploited our weaknesses through being more aggressive when rebounding the ball and scoring points through lay-ups. Despite the game arguably already being lost at half-time, the boys rallied together to put on a much stronger display in the second half. Player of the Match was Tom J who showed real grit and determination when driving to the basket and competing strongly with rebounds.  

On Tuesday evening, Severn Vale hosted the annual U12 District Football Tournament. With 10 schools competing, the standard was incredibly high. Our Year 7 girls did us proud throughout the evening, showing great resilience and teamwork. I am really pleased that their great performances saw them crowned District Champions. Congratulations to all who took part and to Liv K who was awarded player of the tournament. The girls will go on to the county finals at Cirencester in February. 

The U14 Girls Rugby team played their first fixture against Churchdown this week. They showed real grit and determination to come back from being 4 tries to 1 down, to winning the game 7 - 4. Teanna M was the player of the match; try scorers were Teanna (3), Beth, Abby, Ava and Olive. 

As ever, I include my reminder about Free School Meals eligibility. If your financial circumstances have changed, your child may be eligible for Free School Meals. If you click on this link you will find guidance on the eligibility criteria and the application process. It's a quick process and we are notified of all FSM entitlements by Gloucestershire County Council each Monday. I would urge you to take a look if you think you may benefit from financial assistance.   

I hope you have a great weekend. 

Regards  

Richard Johnson 
Headteacher