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 News from Mr Grady
20th July 2023
Hello everyone,
Well, we are just about at the end of the school year, which is always a time for looking aback and taking stock.
I realised recently, that not only is this July my fifteenth wedding anniversary, but also, the fifteenth anniversary of my association with Rugby High School. 15 years is a very long time, it seems to me, but in education terms, is only just over two cohorts of students moving through the school from year 7 to 13!
I cannot begin to name, nor tell you about the hundreds of students it has been such a pleasure to work with over the last years, as they have arrived, worked with us and moved on. Many colleagues are still here, from back in 2008, and have far more years at the RHS coalface than I do!
I think back to the slightly fresher-faced 31 year old who arrived in September of 2008 as acting head of Drama, newly married and eager to join what he already felt was a very special community. Over the years, my appreciation for this community has only grown and grown. I was welcomed with such care, kindness and respect by colleagues and students alike, and although our school has changed physically in those 15 years, in size, and in diversity, its core values have remained very much the same. We still set heights in our hearts, we still look after and care for each other, and we still maintain an atmosphere of joy and curiosity in learning. I could not be prouder to work in the RHS community, and fifteen years in, am looking forward to what the next academic year will offer.
The last week of curriculum enrichment has been an absolute joy, joining the year 10 at the water park, and leading drama activities, and seeing the many, many pictures from students in Wales, Italy, France, and of course Drayton Manor shows just what a frenzied and activity-full last week it has been. We show no sign of slowing down in trying to offer the very best to all our students!
Having said that, we all need a rest and a chance to recuperate and recharge, so I am also looking forward to the summer break, and I hope that however you are choosing to unwind and recharge, that the summer break treats you kindly. I look forward to talking to you all again in September.
Stay well and safe everyone,
With all best wishes,
Mr Grady
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Autumn term 2023
In preparation for returning to school in September, please note the following dates:
Term starts for YEAR 7 and YEAR 12 students ONLY - Tuesday 5th September 2023
Term starts for ALL remaining students - Wednesday 6th September 2023
We look forward to welcoming you back in September.
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Celebration Assemblies
This week we held our Celebration Assemblies to award subject certificates, Cadets Awards, special prizes, house point raffle winners and Head Teacher awards. Mr Grady encouraged all our students to reflect on their year and celebrate their personal achievement too, whether it was a mountain expedition or the successful handing in of homework on time. Congratulations to them all!
Year 7 Subject Awards
English - Rachel H
Maths - Amelia K
Science - Angelyn J
Computer Science - Kai O
Art and Design - Emma A
French - Grace H
Spanish - Erin K
Latin - Irene B
Drama - Dhanya R
Music - Eva B
Geography - Aashna B
History - Freia M
PRS - Nasya S
PE - Anushka K
PSHE - Ananya G
Year 8 Subject Awards
English - Chloe B
Maths - Meera R
Science - Maliha R
Computer Science - Sofia F
Art and Design - Sirisha G
Textiles - Ella G
Food Technology - Ash K
French - Daisy C
Spanish - Manon J
Latin - Isla B
Drama - Arlo R
Music - Breesha C
Geography - Idara U
History - Izzy B
PRS - Diana O
PE - Emily G
PSHE - Imogen M
Year 9 Subject Awards
English - Feyi A
Maths - Lhotse W
Science - Harriet G
Computer Science - Anya P
Art and Design - Astrid B
Textiles - Emily D
Food Technology - Shantai B
French - Ellie P
Spanish - Poppy P
Latin - Ana V
Drama - Jupiter M
Music - Rania A
Geography - Emisha C
History - Freya S
PRS - Tanishka G
PE - Selina Y
PSHE - Tilly B
Year 10 Subject Awards
English Language - Rebecca E
English Literature - Jess H
Maths - Charlotte S
Biology - Evelyn B
Chemistry - Pippa T
Physics - Fresia T
Science - Violette H
Computer Science - Svara T
Business - Grace F
Art and Design - Matilda C
Textiles - Amber A
Food Technology - Angela S
French - Jess B
Spanish - Ivany T
Latin - Amelia K
Drama - Poppy G
Music - Aimee J
Geography - Shayni M
History - Ivana R
PRS - Olivia O
PE - Nathan W
Year 12 Subject Awards
English Language - Mutende L
English Literature - Mazvita M
Maths - Beth R
Further Maths - Liliya H
Biology - Elisabeth H
Chemistry - Priya B
Physics - Vatsal P
Computer Science - Jess N
Psychology - Kai B
Sociology - Ashleigh H
Business - Lucy B
Economics - Arthur L
Art and Design - Morgan B
French - Georgina W
Spanish - Emily S
Latin - Millie W
Classics - Ellie M
Drama - India H
Music - Edward B
Geography - Charlie N
History - Edie HM
Politics - Amy L
PRS - Rose O
PE - Aleks D
PSHE - Grace T
EPQ - Evie FM
Bronze Industrial Cadets Awards
Olly B, Ruby C, Summer G, Visali M, Trisha P and Deena S.
Gold Industrial Cadets Awards
Felix F, Elizabeth H, Jen JP, Grace O, Karol J and Ameera H.
Gold Industrial Cadets Award and People's Choice Award for Gold Industrial Cadets, West Midlands
Ansruta A, Evie F, Hema K, Maddie M, Shraya M and Alasdair R.
Year 7 Jane Eggleston Award for English - Ellie-Mai O
Head Teacher’s Awards
Year 7 - Tamsin O
Year 8 - Chloe B
Year 9 - Anna S
Year 10 - Ava P
Year 12 - Evan H
Well done to them all!
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Record Funds raised at Summer Fayre
The recent Summer Fayre raised a record total of £1752.21 for all of the form's chosen charities!
Here's the winning totals for years 7, 8 9 and 10. A fantastic effort from everyone!
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School Games Bronze Mark awarded
We are delighted to announce that we have achieved the School Games Bronze Mark Award for the 2022/23 academic year. The School Games Mark is a Government-led award scheme launched in 2012, facilitated by the Youth Sport Trust to reward schools for their commitment to the development of competition across their school and into the community, and we are delighted to have been recognised for our success.
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There were great successes for our sports teams this year. These include:
- Years 7, 8 and 9 all winning their Netball League
- Years 8 and 9 winning their Badminton League
- Years 7 and 8 winning both their Basketball matches and Year 9 winning one and drawing the other.
- The U13 Futsal Team winning the East Warwickshire Competition.
- Year 9 winning their Rounders League
With so many of our students competing in local inter-school competitions this year we're really proud of our pupils for their dedication to all aspects of school sport, including those young volunteers, leaders and officials who made our competitions possible.
As part of our application, we were asked to fulfil criteria in the areas of participation, competition, workforce and clubs, and we are pleased that the hard work of everyone at our school has been rewarded this year.
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Wimbledon Tennis Trip
Once again our RHS students were lucky to be given the opportunity of attending the Wimbledon Championships. This really is such a special trip and one that the Year 10 students thoroughly enjoyed. The spectacle of the Championships really is something to behold, and the thrill of live tennis within touching distance is just amazing. Whilst we did have a bit of rain affecting play at the start, we were then gifted with sunshine and non-stop action late into the evening. We saw men's and women's singles matches, all of which went through to be decided by last set tie-breakers, so we really got to witness the full drama of it all. The athleticism of these players, maintaining high energy for 3/4 hours, really is remarkable.
On the second day we did the 'London Bridge and Tombs Experience'....and what an experience it was! Having never done it before, we weren't quite sure what to expect; but what we got was, some history, some laughs, a few jump scares, deafening screams, and a whole lot of adrenaline pumping through the veins. Whilst hearts felt like they were going to burst out of chests, and some tears did leak from eyes, the excite-able chatter afterwards, recalling funny moments, was really nice to hear.
Overall this was a great two days and the students represented RHS perfectly. We look forward to hopefully offering this opportunity to more students next year.
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Windy Days Competition
On 30th June, 10 of our Year 8 students attended a Windy Days event at Lawrence Sheriff School run in conjunction with GE Electric.
"Our Year 8 Windy Days Competition at Laurence Sheriff School was a fulfilling, fun, and useful trip and we had many chances to build our teamwork, problem solving, and creativity skills. We were given a task – to create a windmill that was efficient. In the final third of the event, we created our final wind turbine, keeping in mind the things that we had learned and eventually presented them. We were given endless amounts of support from teachers and sixth formers that had volunteered.
After the presentations were finished, our final scores were added up. Rugby High School came second – by one point! We also won in the Maths and Physics category (as our scores on the booklets were also included in the final score).
Overall, this event benefited my learning, and other skills that I need to use in daily life. Above all, it was incredibly fun!"
Sarah A, 8H
"The Windy Days science trip, jampacked with countless team building activities, was certainly one to remember. With experts from GE Energy coming in to give us an insight on renewable wind energy, and even a chance to build a turbine ourselves, it allowed us to experience the true uses and wonders of science in practice.
Building of our wind turbines required us to use both engineering and logical skills in order to execute the task. As well as this, each group had booklets on mathematics, physics, business and design technology to complete. To our surprise, RHS came 1st in the mathematics paper and 1st in the physics paper, and 2nd overall! It was and amazing experience, and we hope that many more will be able to try this in the future."
Summer H, 8H
Read Sarah and Summer's full accounts of the day here.
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Oxford University 2023 French Flash Fiction competition
This annual competition invites secondary school pupils to write a short story of no more than 100 words in French. This year we were absolutely delighted when it was announced that Sana D in Year 11 was awarded runner-up in the Years 10-11 category.
Over 950 entries were submitted and the French judging panel, made up of academics from the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, commented that it had been such a delight and an honour to judge the entries, which were considered to have been so wonderfully creative, inspiring and original.
Félicitacions, Sana! Many congratulations on this fantastic achievement.
The MFL Department
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Art Competition Success
The three Rotary Clubs of Rugby joint Youth Committee recently held their 2023 Young Artist competition and Exhibition at St Andrew’s Church. More than 50 budding young artists took part in the competition, which was made up of four categories; Key Stage 3, GCSE, A level and the popular Public Vote.
The professional judges Judy Haslam-Jones, Eric Gaskell and Sue Hayes had a difficult job to judge on all the technical details of the art work according to age and around 350 people voted for their favourite piece in the Public Vote category.
Rugby High’s Holly A won the A Level category and Shayna M was Highly Commended and in the GCSE category Honour N was also Highly Commended. Well done to them all!
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Taekwondo World Championships success
Last weekend saw the Taekwondo International World Championships come to Coventry and we had four students competing.
Selina Y, year 9, became a double World Champion. Firstly, she competed in the black belt girls individual pattern category which was very tough because it was out of 61 girls and Selina won making her the World Champion. She then went on to compete with her younger sister and a friend in the black belt girls’ synchronised team patterns category of 15 teams and they won gold as a team.
Ivy C, year 8, received gold for her musical pattern - traditional taekwondo movements, choreographed to music of your choice. Ivy chose Beethoven featuring Pirates of the Caribbean and she is now youth girl musical pattern World Champion”.
Isabel M, year 8, also competed. Isabel took part in Black Belt musical patterns, individual patterns and team patterns. No medals this time but it was a great experience.
Anushka K in year 7 got a silver in individual sparring and bronze in team sparring.
Ex RHS student Anjali Neelakantan was chosen to Captain the England Ladies Team in the international event, and dominated her individual divisions earning (at least) 3 new world champion titles, and collecting various silver and bronze awards throughout the weekend too!
We are really proud of all their achievements, dedication and hard work.
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PTA Engagement Survey
The RHS PTA committee would like to thank all those who completed the recent PTA Engagement Survey and provided valuable feedback. We will review all of it and plan how we can include this in our future activities.
Thank you again! The RHS PTA
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Year 8 Rounders Round-up
Vs Free School - won 11.5 – 10
Team: Lily LM, Florence K, Aarya S, Meera R, Prishaa W, Sirisha G, Amelie T, Sera D and Shaashvati S
We won the toss and elected to field first. The team performed well with some good catches (getting the first batter out on the first ball started things off nicely!) and stumpings which got the whole team out after only 18 balls and a score of 2 rounders. We went into bat and scored a healthy 11.5 rounders with only 4 batters getting out. Top scorers Meera and Prishaa with 3 rounders each closely followed by Sirisha on 2.5. Free school went back into bat to try and beat our score and put up a stronger fight this time but couldn’t manage to catch us within their allocated 30 good balls. Well done team!
Vs Ashlawn - won 17.5 – 9.5
Team: Oliwia E, Jenny M, Izzy B, Florrie S, Sophie F, Manon J, Isabel S and Poppy C
Vs Avon Valley won 17 – 1.5
Team: Meera R, Prishaa W, Molly D, Sirisha G, Chloe B, Kaila J, Dulcie C, Emily G and Poppy F
After winning the toss we elected to field first and started well, again getting the first batter out on the first ball. We had a clean sheet with no no balls given and Avon Valley finished their first innings on 1.5 rounders. We equally had a few batters out on their first balls, lessons learnt hopefully, but finished the innings comfortably in the lead with 9 rounders. After putting Avon Valley back into bat our fielding was so slick that no more rounders were scored. Emily at backstop and Dulcie on first post made a great team getting 5 people out before they had even reached first post. Not that it was needed, but we went back into bat again and almost doubled our score finishing on 17 rounders.
Vs Harris won 7.5 - 6
Team: Meera R, Izzy B, Chloe B, Ella G, Kaila J, Emily G, Dulcie C, Oliwia E and Poppy F
Another easy victory again only one batting innings for us needed to win. After losing the toss and being put into bat, we scored 7.5 rounders with Chloe scoring 3.5 of those. Our fielding was on top form again, getting 6 of their players out on their first ball and a seventh on their second ball. Due to only 2 players being left in we then managed to stump the batting box with no players at home, getting the whole team out in 13 balls. We then put them back into bat to see if they could beat our score but even though they doubled their score, it was enough to catch us in 30 balls.
An unbeaten season for the year 8 squad, well done!
Mrs DG
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Calendar Competition
The annual Rugby Photographic Calendar competition 2024 is now open for entries. Students under 18 can enter free of charge with a variety of exciting prizes on offer making this a great summer project for aspiring young photographers. There is a “Best Under 18 Photographer” prize specifically for this group. This competition is also open to everyone so staff and parents may like to enter!
Find out more and enter here.
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The Song of Wandering Aengus
William Butler Yeats
I went out to the hazel wood,
Because a fire was in my head,
And cut and peeled a hazel wand,
And hooked a berry to a thread;
And when white moths were on the wing,
And moth-like stars were flickering out,
I dropped the berry in a stream
And caught a little silver trout.
When I laid it on the floor
I went to blow the fire aflame,
But something rustled on the floor,
And some one called me by my name:
It had become a glimmering girl
With apple blossom in her hair
Who called me by my name and ran
And faded through the brightening air.
Though I am old with wandering
Through hollow lands and hilly lands,
I will find out where she has gone,
And kiss her lips and take her hands;
And walk among long dappled grass,
And pluck till time and times are done
The silver apples of the moon,
The golden apples of the sun.
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School Vacancies
Assistant Caretaker is 20 hours a week: £9,123 to £9,306 - plus overtime pay. You will report to our Premises Manager alongside two other Assistant Caretakers. The successful candidate will be self-motivated, have a high attention to detail and take pride in their work. You must be passionate about contributing to a programme of continuous improvement of the school site.
Cleaner: 9 hours per week. Start times: Morning shift flexible starting between 6am to 7am or afternoon shift from 3.50pm. Term-time plus 5 training days plus 1 working week for deep clean – 40 Weeks. NJC Scale Point 1/2 (£10.50 – £10.60 per hour).
Cleaners are needed to join our team, working in a friendly environment. Training for cleaning and COSHH will be provided. Applicants must be able to work alone and as part of a team.
Mid-day Supervisor: Term-time only from 12.50pm to 2.05pm each school day. NJC Scale Point 1/2 (£10. 50 - £10.60 per hour).
The post involves supervision of the students and assisting with the smooth running of the canteen service.
For further details, job description or an application pack for the above posts please contact:
Mrs H Wallace, Office Manager. Email: vacancies@rugbyhighschool.co.uk. Telephone: 01788 819500
Visit the vacancies web page
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For RHS Students ONLY
If you have a concern about another student, please fill in this form to report your concern.
For more information about Wellbeing including resources and links to our DSL's, please visit our Wellbeing page here.
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Please find below information that has been passed to us that may be of interest to you and your family.
Warwickshire Family Information Service Newsletter
18th July Edition
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The School Newsletter is sent out every other Thursday during Term time.
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