Term 3 draws to a close today. It has been a productive term. Overwhelmingly, the students have worked well, making the most of their learning opportunities, which has been great to see. We have seen an increase in attendance across the term, which I very much hope can be sustained throughout the rest of the year. We have also seen a wide range of activities for our students to participate in. These opportunities continued this week.

One of these was the final of the school’s FameLab Academy, an initiative run by the Cheltenham Festivals which seeks to revolutionise science communication in schools. In the competition, Year 9 students, supported by their teachers, prepare three-minute presentations to explain a scientific topic in a dynamic and engaging way to a panel of judges. This year’s competition had more participants than ever, with every student in Year 9 giving a talk on a science topic of their choice in their science class. The 10 students selected to take part in the school final spoke confidently and clearly to an audience of students, staff and family members.

The quality of presentations was really high and included a wide range of topics. Megan R's talk on stress and Rafael R's talk on conjoined twins could not be separated (!!!) and so were declared joint runners-up. Soph S won the competition with her talk about anxiety. She will go on to represent the school at the Gloucestershire final in March. Congratulations to Soph and to all who took part.

Over the past 2 weeks, students from all year groups have been taking part in our Term 3 Music Performance Platforms. Songs from many current globally renowned and award-winning artists, bands and musicals have been showcased:  the musicals “Wicked” and “Les Miserables”, Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, Ed Sheeran, Adele, Rihanna, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Christina Perri as well as lots of emerging artists and bands such as Gracie Abrams, Gigi Perez, Orla Gartland, Lemon Demon, The daughters of Eve and Mom Jeans. Some blasts from the past were also featured too from the Backstreet Boys, Ray Charles and Led Zeppelin. The opportunity for our students to really engage with, learn and develop musical skills that enable them to mature as performers is so important and term 3 has proven to be another term with very encouraging first performances and progress from everyone who participated. Thank you to all who got involved and a huge well done from the Music department too.

Earlier this term, students from Year 9 and 10 took part in the UK Maths Challenge. It was brilliant to hear that of the students who participated, 29 achieved bronze awards, 9 achieved silver awards and 3 achieved the coveted gold award. Pak Nok Chan was the top scorer and his score has earned him a place in the next round. He is the first Severn Vale student to achieve this accolade. Congratulations to him and to all who participated in this challenge.

Our Year 9 Parent Evening took place this week. It was a pleasure to see so many parents and their children in attendance. The Year 9 Parent Evening serves not only as an opportunity to discuss progress in individual subjects, it also enables conversations about potential option choices. The final part of the options process is the Option Evening itself, which takes place on 6 March.

On the sporting front this week…..

• The U12s girls football team travelled to Bristol today to take part in the county 7 a side tournament. The girls played superbly, dominating every game they played. The games are tricky only being 10 minutes long but they played some brilliant football and didn’t look like conceding in any of their matches. They drew 3 and won 2 games, finishing second in their group. This meant they narrowly missed out on a place in the final. Congratulations to the team for an outstanding effort.

• The Year 10 football team played a home fixture against Holmleigh Park this week in a match that finished 5-2 to the visitors. The boys started slowly, going into half-time 4-0. Their second half performance was much stronger and saw them score two well worked goals. Player of the match went to Sammy W for demonstrating good captaincy skills and for being the creative spark for most of the game.

• The Year 11 boys played The Crypt this week in a game which is always a close encounter. Crypt were a well organised team and dealt with the dreadful conditions better than we did. The first half was incredibly close and there wasn't much between the sides. The second half saw our energy levels drop off and we lost a lot of the 50/50 challenges which led to goals. Crypt took their chances well and won 3-0 on the night. As always, the boys battled hard and defended well but the ball would just not go in the net for us. Player of the match was Oliver McDade for some very brave saves.

I was really pleased that following some incredibly generous donations from some local companies, this week the school was able to provide equipment to our students to ensure they are safe whilst cycling to school. The companies, Tony Gee LLP in Stonehouse, Thrive Education and Decathlon, supported by our own Friends of Severn Vale, provided funds so that the school could source cycle safety equipment that parents were then able to request. As a keen cyclist myself, I know how important it is to keep safe whilst on the road.  With so many of our students local to the school, cycling to and from school is a big thing for us and seeing this initiative taking off really pleases me.  A huge thank you Tony Gee LLP, Thrive Education, Decathlon and our FOSV.

The next round of Order Exams is fast approaching for Maths and Science for our KS3 students. The students will also be completing assessment tasks in their English lessons. Work has been set on Satchel One by their maths and science teachers to help them prepare for these exams which will take place as follows: 

• Year 7 - Tuesday 11 March;  

• Year 8 – Wednesday 12 March;  

• Year 9 -Thursday 13 March.   

As always, I include my weekly 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.   

Finally, a group of Year 11 students set off for Madrid today for a languages trip. I’m sure they will have a great time. A big thank you to the staff giving up the first part of their half-term to accompany them.

We will see the students again on Monday 24 February, which is a week A.  

Kind regards,  

Richard Johnson 
Headteacher