Newsletters

Rugby High School - Summer 2021 Issue 38

News from Mr Grady

Hello Everyone,

A second sporting newsletter in two weeks?  What on earth is going on?  Well, I’ll leave England’s continued progress through the Euros (although when you’re reading this we’ll know if it is continued progress or not!) And focus on the fact that we are so very excited that Friday 9th July is Sports Day!

Having had to miss out on this wonderful whole-school celebration of competition and personal achievement, it is wonderful to be able to look forward to a “slightly normal” thing happening when it actually should.  Yes, we’re having to do it year group by year group to maintain bubbles, while they last, but it will be amazing to our students out in the open air, cheering their classmates on, and hoping to gain as many points for their house as possible.

I have the privilege of being trackside for the duration, and that means I get to see students as they come to the end of their races, or report back from the field events with scores, records and personal bests.  Sports day of course is a celebration of fitness and athleticism, but it is, more importantly a celebration of getting stuck in, having a go and trying your best no matter what. 

If we were to only enter the races we thought we’d win, we’d only enter a precious few, or indeed none at all, and although it feels like a cliché, it really is the taking part that counts. 

Over the years of sports days that I have witnessed in schools, there of course have been individual triumphs where students who are incredible athletes have achieved great things, but I have to say the times I have felt the most pleasure is in watching students refusing to give up when it got tough, in pushing themselves onwards and making sure that once they’ve started something they were flipping well going to finish.  And often, the roar of the crowds for students who challenged themselves and sweated through an event were louder than for the students who made things look almost too easy. 

Sports day is a celebration of everyone taking part: I would always rather be the last one on the course cheering on those ahead of me.  A good-natured last place is always better for you than not having got out there and had a go at all.

I wish all our competitors the very best on Friday, have a great day, enjoy it, and embrace the sweat!

With very best wishes, stay well and safe everyone,
Mr Grady

Proposed - D of E Silver (yr10) - Practice - Yorkshire dales
All Day
From 15 Jul until 18 Jul
15
July
Propose - D of E - Silver (yr11) - Qualifier - Yorkshire Dales
All Day
From 15 Jul until 18 Jul
15
July
Summer Holiday
All Day
From 19 Jul until 23 Jul
19
July
Proposed D of E Gold - Practice - Lake District
All Day
From 23 Jul until 27 Jul
23
July
Summer Holiday
All Day
From 26 Jul until 30 Jul
26
July
Summer Holiday
All Day
From 02 Aug until 06 Aug
02
August

Your Views Wanted

I am leading a review into how we report to parents at RHS, the aims of which are as follows:

  • To design a 21st century reporting system which reflects the opportunities given by the pandemic to think more creatively in education, and create something that is both innovative and impactful

  • To make the reporting process more formative, with more accountability for students to act on feedback

  • To streamline the reporting process, making feedback to parents timelier, and making most effective use of staff time

  • To develop a system that is based on in depth consultation of all stakeholders, and takes an evidence-based approach, with a focus on triangulating feedback, including looking at other schools

  • To better understand what information on their child’s progress is most useful and informative for parents

As part of the first stage of this review we are wanting to carry out an extensive evaluation of the process, and are canvassing in depth feedback from all parents/ carers, staff and students.

We are therefore asking all parents/ carers to take some time to fill out this initial questionnaire, on MS forms. The questionnaire should take around 10-15 minutes to complete, and you will only need to complete it once for all children attending the school.

The questionnaire can be accessed via this link: Parent Questionnaire 

All feedback will be treated anonymously, and will not be shared outside the organisation. All honest and constructive feedback is very much welcome.

Once we have received feedback from all parties we will be looking at how we can redesign the system to best achieve the goals listed above. It will be an ongoing process, and may involve organising further parental focus groups and piloting different ideas. We will endeavour to keep you updated at every stage of the review.

We would appreciate all responses to be submitted by Thursday 15th July. If you would like to discuss this review in any further detail please contact me at s.price@rugbyhighschool.co.uk.

Thank you very much for your support.

Sophie Price

07 Jul 2021
Let the (History) Games Begin!
Following a long and challenging year, it was decided that 9T3 deserved an opportunity to allow their imaginations to fly and create a project which synthesised their learning for the year. This project was in the form of board games which, combining historical accuracy with innovation, allowed play...
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07 Jul 2021
My DofE Challenge - by Sophia Chowdry
My name is Sophia Chowdry and I completed the Bronze Expedition for my Duke of Edinburgh Award. I have cerebral palsy which means I have difficulty with mobility and balance. With my degree of cerebral palsy, I do not really notice I have it until I cannot do something as well as another person. I n...
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Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme 

We are delighted to share with you details for the upcoming HAF Summer Programme. 

A programme of free face to face activities and food provision will be available for each qualifying child for four days each week for four weeks of the summer holidays. This provision will be available for take up between Monday 26th July and Friday 3rd September.

Unlike the Easter programme, we will NOT be asking schools to provide codes to families who qualify for benefits-related free school meals as we are sending the codes direct to families. Families will receive a text and email from WCC (Warwickshire County Council) advising them of their booking code.

Please see this link for further information

You can always check your eligibility https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/education-learning/apply-free-school-meals

Our Pastoral Team thought you might find this helpful

 

In Year 11 and thinking of a Medicine Degree?

Education Projects Group are running a free online event for year 11s and soon-to-be 12s who are just starting to think about applying to medical school. This is primarily aimed at year 11s who will be starting A-levels (or equivalent) in September 2021. We will have Doctors and current medical students covering the application timeline, work experience, entrance exams and everything they need to hit the ground running in September. An event timetable can be found on the Google registration link below.

Event name: Medicine Application Timeline - Getting Ready
Location: Online
Date: 21st August 2021
Ages: Current year 11 (going into year 12 in September)

This is a FREE event and booked on a first come first serve basis.

Google registration link: https://forms.gle/Dud254nM1dozd3uF7

Returning Schools Library Service books
and Rugby High School library books

Sadly, it's been a while since students have been able to borrow books from the school's Reading Room! However, we feel there may be quite a few borrowed books still in students' school storage areas and at home.... We are particularly reliant on the large number of books we borrow from the Schools Library Service each year to add to our own stock. In order to have our new consignment from the Schools Library Service, we'll need to return our current books. These have "Schools Library Service" or "SLS" clearly marked on them - and on the spine too. Please could you check around at home to see if there any Schools Library Service books lying around? If you have any Rugby High School library books, we'd love those back too. Books can be left on the tables in The Reading Room - they don't need to be signed back in. Students shouldn't borrow any more books from the room at the moment. 

Thank you - and I hope everyone has a great summer of reading! 
Miss Danks.

Please find below information that has been passed to us that may be of interest to you and your family.

Latest information on coronavirus from Warwickshire County Council
 

Warwickshire Family Information Service Newsletter

July 6th Edition

 

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