It has been an incredibly busy week for our Year 11 students as they tackled their last set of mock exams. Their conduct and application throughout have been exemplary, and all have risen to the undoubted challenge of 7 exams in 5 days.

These exams will give both the students and their teachers a real understanding of where they are and what they need to do over the next 2 months in order to secure the grades they want to achieve in the summer exams. Year 11 enjoyed doughnuts in the hall at lunchtime today; a well-deserved treat for all their hard-work this week.

Students in Years 7 – 9 have also been tackling key assessments this week with the Order assessments in Maths and Science taking place. These assessments, alongside English assessments taken previously in the term, are a key benchmark of how each student is progressing. Again, I have been impressed with the maturity and hard-work demonstrated by the students as they tackled these assessments.

On Monday, the auditions for the next production from our Drama Club took place. This summer’s production will be Peter Pan. Based on the productions that the club has put on to date, it promises to be an excellent show. Good luck to all those successful in the auditions.

Today, students and staff took part in our second annual Severn Vale School Charity 5K run. This year’s charity was chosen by the Year 7 Student Ambassadors. They selected Sunflowers, which supports local families who have been bereaved by suicide. It was a cold, but dry afternoon with lots of runners taking part, raising a significant amount of money for this fabulous charity. There was great spirit and camaraderie on display and it was a wonderful way to end the week.

On Friday we recognised the International Day of Mathematics. This is a worldwide celebration of maths which takes place each year on 14 March. Also known as Pi day, our morning breakfast club continued their extra treats with fruit pies this morning. 

Fixtures this week included:

• Year 7 & 8 Netball – all our Year 7 and 8 netball teams travelled across to Denmark Road this week. The Year 7A team came back from falling behind early to win 3-2. Bish P got player of the match. The Year 7B team lost 4-1. Player of the match was Shay S. The Year 8A team lost 13-6, Caity C got player of the match. The Year 8B team won 7-3, Izzy C got player of the match. It was a great set of fixtures played in an excellent spirit.

• Year 8 Football - the Year 8 boys played their final game of the group stage of the District tournament on Tuesday against Gloucester Academy. Their performances this year have been excellent, and this game was no different with the boys coming away with a convincing win to finish top of their group. Toby W once again finished the game with a hat-trick, taking his goal tally to 14 goals in 4 games.

• Year 9 Football - it was a busy week fixture-wise for the Year 9 boys. They kicked off with a challenging game against front runners to win the district, St Peter's. The boys put in a great shift and had the better of the game for the first half, but unfortunately could not maintain it to see out a result. The game finished 2-0 to St Peter's but the boys did themselves proud. Player of the match went to Jack U for his brilliant goalkeeping and distribution. The boys played a second game of the week against Gloucester Academy. It was a heavily rotated team from the previous game, with loads of boys making their SV debut. It was a close, scrappy game but the boys managed to come away with the win, thanks to a well taken penalty from Jack W. Player of the match went to Charlie P for his rock-solid defending throughout.

• U14 Football - Our U14 girls played top of the group Henley Bank on Tuesday. It was a brilliant game, and the score doesn't reflect how well the girls played. It was 0-0 at half time, but then after giving away 3 penalties the game finished 4-0 to Henley Bank. Player of the match went to Lily H.

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.   

Kind regards,  

Richard Johnson 
Headteacher