• Monday 4th January 2021             Inset Day (School closed to students)
• Thursday 7th January 2021           Music Exam (Year 11)
• Monday 11th January 2021          Sports Studies Exam (Year 11)
• Monday 11th January 2021          Creative iMedia Exam (Year 11)
• Friday 15th January 2021              World Religion Day (Sunday 17th January)
• Monday 18th January 2021          Martin Luther King Day
• Thursday 21st January 2021         Year 10 Virtual Parents’ Evening
• Monday 25th January 2021          NEA Food Exam (Year 11)
• Tuesday 26th January 2021          NEA Food Exam (Year 11)
• Wednesday 27th January 2021    NEA Food Exam (Year 11)
• Wednesday 27th January 2021    DofE Parents’ Evening
• Wednesday 27th January 2021   Holocaust Memorial Day
• Thursday 28th January 2021        NEA Food Exam
• Saturday 30th January 2021         DofE Training Day
• Thursday 4th February 2021        Year 9 Virtual Parents’ Evening (2-7pm)
• Tuesday 9th February 2021          Safer Internet Day
• Friday 12th February 2021            End of Term 3 

You may recall at the end of the last newsletter I mentioned that we would be looking for new Parent Governors. Following that process I would like to welcome Emily Axford  to the Governing Body, she will join the Curriculum and Achievement (C&A) committee.

This term we have held all our meetings remotely, this has been successful and enabled us to continue supporting and monitoring the School. We do however look forward to being able to carry out learning walks again and see the School in action.

At the start of the academic year the Governors, in conjunction with the Senior Leadership Team (SLT), identified some key priorities to focus on during the year. Whilst not an exhaustive list some key priorities included:

• The impact of the additional support being put in place for Y11 students (C&A)
• The health and safety of staff and students (CFC and Resources)
• The lockdown contingency plan (C&A)

In brackets are the committees responsible for the monitoring of the priorities, they will report back to the Full Governors meeting at the end of this term. The dialog between the School and the Governors at these meetings is vital to continually reviewing the impact of interventions supporting the priorities and gives flexibility to review any changes the School has introduced. Sharing ideas is more important than ever in the current climate and is what you would expect a good school to be doing.

The first two priorities in the list above are self-explanatory however I thought it appropriate to very briefly explain what the lockdown contingency plan is. The Department for Education (DfE) required all schools to have in place work that students are expected to complete if they have been asked to work at home for example if they are having to self-isolate. Whilst we all want to avoid students having to work at home, if they do have to then it is vital that they continue with their learning, complete the work provided by the School and keep in regular contact with their teachers.

Finally I would just like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved in the School for all their hard work this year which has enabled the School to welcome and support students and their families.

While Christmas will be different this year on behalf of the Governors I would like to wish you a happy one and let hope for a more positive 2021.

Anti-Bullying Week 2020: United Against Bullying

The theme for Anti-Bullying Week 2020 was United Against Bullying.

Bullying is not always about just a single bully versus single victim.

This year the aim of anti-bullying week was to encourage young people, schools and parents and carers to know that it takes a collective responsibility to stop bullying, through identifying the different roles that people play when bullying occurs and what each of us can do when we see bullying taking place.

The school marked the week by delivering this important message in Morning Line Up as well as delivering anti-bullying resources through Prep times over the course of the week.

In developing the theme of United against Bullying the Anti-Bullying alliance worked with a number of children and schools to create the message;

“This year, more than ever, we’ve witnessed the positive power that society can have when we come together to tackle a common challenge.

Anti-Bullying Week is no different. Bullying has a long lasting effect on those who experience and witness it. But by channelling our collective power, through shared efforts and shared ambitions, we can reduce bullying together. From parents and carers, to teachers and politicians, to children and young people, we all have a part to play in coming together to make a difference.

We’re all a piece in the puzzle, and together, we’re united against bullying.”

Students have continued to impress us in their English lessons and we are pleased with the learning that has been taking place in what has been a disrupted term in some cases. We would like to thank the students for their hard work and resilience and the parents for their support.

Key Stage 3

In Year 7, students have been reading their first novel of the year. It has been a pleasure to see them immersed in novels such as ‘Alone on a Wide Wide Sea’ by Michael Morpurgo and ‘Bone Talk’ by Candy Gourlay. Year 8 have completed the study of their novels and have moved on to a unit on Heroes and Villains where they are learning about literary villains and reading extracts from a range of texts from ‘Harry Potter’ to ‘Dracula’ and from ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ to ‘Frankenstein’. They will soon move onto exploring real life heroes through non-fiction texts of a variety of forms and medias. Finally, Year 9 have been reading their prose text and enjoying books such as ‘Unwind’ by Neal Shusterman, ‘Teacher’s Dead’ by Benjamin Zephaniah and ‘Martyn Pig’ by Kevin Brooks. This will help them prepare for the demands of studying GCSE Literature next year. It has been and continues to be a pleasure to share these texts with the students, to see their enjoyment of them, and to take part in the interesting discussions they generate.

Key Stage 4

Year 10 have been studying their first GCSE Literature text – the modern text. Classes have been studying texts from ‘Blood Brothers’ by Willy Russel, ‘An Inspector Calls’ by J. B. Priestley, ‘Pigeon English’ by Stephen Kelman and ‘Lord of the Flies’ by William Golding. We have been impressed with the way students have approached these books and are optimistic about the way they will engage with the exam questions.

Despite some interruptions to the term, Year 11 have continued to work hard to complete the course and prepare for their impending GCSE exams. We have finished the study of the poetry anthology and moved on to their final text: Shakespeare. Students are now studying either ‘Romeo and Juliet’ or ‘Macbeth’. We have also prepared for and sat the first mock exam, Language Paper 1, and look forward to marking these and seeing the progress students have made. It was also a pleasure to see parents at parents evening this term, albeit virtually. Year 11 students should now be revising their modern text and poetry independently. Period 6 lessons continue to be used for the study of English Language as we move on to Paper 2.

Reading Recommendations

The English department have been reading avidly, as usual, and would like to recommend the following books to you and your children:

Key Stage 3

 

Key Stage 4

 

For Parents

   

This term many of the students have been working on

Year 7 – Algebra and Decimals

Year 8 – Area and Volume

Year 9 – Algebra and Handling Data

Year 10 – Quadratics and Simultaneous Equations

Year 11 – Vectors, Areas and Volumes

Maths Challenge

The dates for this year’s maths challenge are;

Tuesday 2^nd February 2021 for the Intermediate Maths challenge (years 9 and 10)

Tuesday 27^th April 2021 for the Junior Maths challenge (years 7 and 8)

This is a national competition run by The United Kingdom Mathematics Trust (UKMT) for able maths students in Years 9 and 10. The UKMT maths challenge is a lively, intriguing multiple choice question paper, which is designed to stimulate interest in maths.  It is aimed at the top third of mathematics students in schools across the UK.

The Science department continues to be proud of how our students respond to the challenges presented by the current situation. 

The Science Team enjoyed more Zoom conversations with their Year 8X and Year 11 students and have been impressed with their commitment to the work.

Years 7 and 8 have finished the Biology part of the KS3 course and both year groups can now look forward to moving on to Chemistry after Christmas.  Year 9 and 10 continue to work hard on the GCSE course through the study of Cells, Energy and Electricity.

Year 11 have started the process of undertaking mock examinations now and have completed Paper 1 of Biology, Chemistry and Physics.  Students will sit Paper 2 in February and the department thanks them in advance for all the hard work that will be going into this.

It was also that time of year when the school recognises the hard work of students from last year’s Year 11.   It was a pleasure to award students for Combined Science, Biology, Chemistry and Physics.  Winners for the Academic Achievement Award went to Scarlett Williams (Combined Science) and Elliot Hurd (Biology, Chemistry and Physics).  Academic progress awards were awarded to Tyler Brotherston (Combined Science), Chloe Dann (Biology), Jaskaran Singh (Chemistry) and Ella Turner (Physics).  We wish them well in their future studies.

It has been a very busy since half term in the creative faculty with students really getting into exploring techniques and developing ideas for outcomes at key stage 3 and at key stage 4 students have been working hard on their coursework and NEA practical exams.

In Food in year 11 we were very privileged to have a visiting Chef in from Gloscol to demonstrate a range a picnic foods they could use in their NEA 2. They were able to learn a range of new skills and techniques on how to present food to restaurant standard.

Yr10 were given the task to produce a ‘Showstopper’ Victoria Sandwich! They were given the basic recipe, then they had the freedom to adapt the recipe in anyway they wanted to. The sponges were amazing and showed a great range of finishing techniques.

Yr9 have been learning about raising agents this term. They have learnt how to conduct a food science investigation looking at the use of raising agents in scones. The investigations give pupils an insight into a piece of coursework they would study at GCSE level.

****  Have a go at this festive recipe ****

Ingredients   225g plain flour 140g butter 56g   caster sugar 1   egg 1 Jar of Mincemeat 1 egg for glazing

Method Preheat the oven to 180’C/Gas 4. Put the butter in a bowl with the sugar and cream together using a wooden spoon or hand-held electric mixer. You don’t want the mixture to be too fluffy; just bring it together. Add the egg a little bit at a time to the butter mixture and beat until smooth and completely incorporated. Fold the flour into the butter mixture gradually, in batches, until absorbed. Be sure to incorporate all the butter sticking to the sides of the bowl. Don’t worry if the pastry is quite crumbly at this stage. Turn the pastry onto a lightly floured surface and knead it quickly until it all comes together. You need a light and gentle touch here – if you work it too much, the pastry will be tough. Place on a lightly floured surface and, with a floured rolling pin, roll to the thickness required. Use the cutters to cut out pastry circles. You will need a slightly smaller cutter for the lids. Place into bun tins and add mincemeat – don’t overfill. Place the lid on top. Glaze the tops with the egg. Bake for 15 minutes

 

In Art Year 7 have been learning about the art elements of Line & Tone and practicing new shading skills to show 3D.

Year 8 have continued their recording project and how artist capture a moment in time with their consumption homework & pieces inspired by Michael Craig-Martin. We are moving next into how artists see things differently by exploring the work of Abstract Art & Cubists.

Year 9 have extended their experience of paint media in their Still Life Food project as well as setting up their own still life photographic compositions. 

Year 10 Fine Art & Photography have been making excellent progress on their first project across a whole range of tasks & media inspired by the coasts & textures.

Year 11 Fine Art Students have been continuing with their independent Abstract Final pieces with some really inspired outcomes. Whilst Graphics / Photography have started editing photoshoots on liquid refraction & distortion. 

CREATIVE MINDS

In Creative Minds in years 7 & 8 students are learning how Art & Design relate to one another and about the habits that we can practice to improve our creative minds. Exploration this term has focused on the Habit Challenge & Investigate with themes in Op Art and Structures.

DT

In textiles y7 students have been really experimental mark-making in textiles exploring the element line and the theme of Street Marks.

Y8 have also been making links to Abstract Art also Students have worked really well and they have started creating printing and dyeing techniques. 

In 3D design Y7 Have been working on creating pewter jewellery designs. Y8 students have been extending their knowledge of architecture and designs in their abstract architecture.

Y9 have been continuing working on a mixed project linking all creative DT skills in a combined Textiles and 3D project. They used their photography & research of Under the Microscope to begin explorations in dyeing & couching techniques and manipulating materials in the workshop

Y10. Textiles students have made excellent progress continuing the theme ‘destroy’ with artist investigations into Vivienne Westwood. 3D students have been creating forms inspired by space in  arrange of materials.

 

VISIT

STROUD: Subscription Rooms. Everything is Light: Everything is Light is a fantastic family attraction featuring a maze of illuminated tunnels and hidden rooms bathed in colour – all from the unbridled imagination of Jack Wimperis.

GET CREATIVE AT HOME

Lots of ideas to be creative at home over Christmas on the faculty sharepoint:

sharepoint> DT> resources> homelearning > ks3> ADT Home activities

Instrumental Lessons at SVS

Dear parents and carers,

Just a reminder that if you are interested in your child having instrumental lessons, information can be found on the school website on: 

https://www.severnvaleschool.com/page/?title=Music+Tuition&pid=182

We offer tuition on the following instruments:

• All brass instruments
• Piano / keyboard
• Singing
• Guitar (inc. bass guitar)
• Drum kit
• Double bass

Please contact you child’s music teacher if you have any questions.

Headphones

Just a reminder that pupils will still need to bring their own headphones to music lessons in term 3.

Term 2 has been a productive term for our students, despite all the current challenges. Year 7 started their new topic about the New Testament and Year 9 started a brand new topic called "Inspirational People". Year 8 have continued with their in-depth study of the fascinating religion of Islam.

Year 10 RS students completed their first module test exam which was a good opportunity to see how they have been doing in their studies. 

Year 11 students completed their Christianity mock exam. There were many students amassing hours of revision on Senecca!

A reminder that all homework for Year 7-9 is completed online using Show My Homework. It is always set on a Week A, and is due on a Week B.

To this families celebrating Christmas, we wish you all a very peaceful Christmas. To the rest of our families, we wish you a restful break.

This term has seen all years building their subject knowledge and their skills and getting to practise them in knowledge quizzes and skills assessments.

Year 7

We started the term with some more work on the events and consequences around the Battle of Hastings in 1066. They have demonstrated excellent understanding in their recent assessments on this topic where they considered the long-term consequences of the reign of William I. They have approached all the activities with enthusiasm and are now moving on to look at the importance of religion in everyday life before investigating the murder of Thomas Becket and the impact of the Crusades.

Year 8

We started the term with some work on the belief in witchcraft & the reasons this declined as more scientific thinking took over. Year 8 have recently been investigating the causes of the English Civil War as well as some of the key people like King Charles I, Prince Rupert, and Oliver Cromwell. They have demonstrated excellent understanding in their recent assessments on this topic & 8Y/H1's "see-saws of power" between Charles & Parliament were a real highlight as they spoke confidently of the shifting power between the two as events progressed in the 1640s.

Year 9

We have spent this term focusing on events like the Russian Revolution of 1917, the mystery of Anastasia and the impact of the peace negotiations of 1919 at the Palace of Versailles. They have demonstrated excellent knowledge of the key people and the terms of the peace treaty. They are already predicting what is going to go wrong with this and can see the links between the peace of 1919 and the outbreak of war in 1939. They are really engaged in their learning and asking so many questions, lessons are a real pleasure! 

Year 10

We are well into the Health and the People module for their GCSE studies and have been studying ideas and attitudes in previous pandemics like the Black Death & the Great Plague of 1665-they spent a lot of time drawing some comparisons between 1665 and Covid-19 in a recent lesson! They've done several knowledge quizzes on SMH which check key facts before building on these as we move forwards in time. We'll be looking at 19th and 20th century medicine next term. 

Year 11

We started the term with the Germany 1890-1945 module, and they've worked hard this term building their detailed knowledge of the topic, testing themselves with SMH quizzes as well as timed exam questions in class. There have been some fantastic results to these with many students demonstrating excellent knowledge and exam skills resulting in full marks for some of these questions. Their resilience during their isolation impressed the team and we were so pleased to see so many engaging with our Zoom lessons.

Well done all! There's been a lot of hard work this term and many successes. We hope you enjoy your Christmas break, and we look forward to what term 3 in January will bring. Merry Christmas! 

The Sociologists across Years 10 and 11 have continued to work well throughout the second term. Year 11 have been studying the first depth topic focusing on the Family and will continue with this after the Christmas break. In February they will sit a Sociology mock, and we highly recommend students revise for this. Year 10 have been covering inequality in modern British society, covering Ageism, Sexism, and Homophobia. Students are set a knowledge test and exam question every two weeks, with homework reflecting the need to revise for this. 

The Sociology Department would like to convey our pride in how well our students continue to apply themselves in the most difficult of circumstances. Well done. 

Year 7 in their new classes have been learning Ordnance Survey map skills. Next topic: Climate change.

🌎 Year 7 Geographers of Term 2: Theo Bennett, Samuel Rod, Dylan Barnes, Brooke Jones, Mason Fawlk 

Year 8 and 9 have been finding out how the tropical rainforest biome is being affected by human activities. Next topic for Year 8 is climate change and Year 9 is conflict.

🌎 Year 8 Geographers of Term 2: Ruby Panting, Alfie Penrith, Simona Kefileva
🌎 Year 9 Geographers of Term 2: Jacob Kelly, Melanie Torres, Sophie Nicholls

Year 10 are studying Human Geography. They have been looking at the development gap that exists between countries and with a particular focus on Nigeria. There is an excellent website which uses images to show the development.  https://www.gapminder.org/dollar-street

🌎 Year 10 Geographers of Term 2: Emily Wadley, Archie Hall, Riley Barnes, Matthew Jones

Year 11 are studying tropical rainforests and hot deserts, part of the Paper 1 Living World Unit. Period 6 sessions have been focused on revisiting topics from Year 10 and looking at Fieldwork. Details of period 6 and revision resources are on Show my homework. 

Year 11 Geography GCSE Mock Exam dates: 

Round 1: Term 2 Week 6/7 Paper 1 and 2, Term 3 Week 1 Paper 3

Round 2: Term 3 Week 5 Paper 1, 2 and 3.

🌎 Year 11 Geographers of Term 2: Jess Ireland, Jake Hipwood, Olivia Long, Amelia, Kallie Porter, James Wood, Paige Weyman, Leia Elcock and Afreen Master 

Year 7

This term students have been doing a topic called Learning to Learn. The principle is simple, if we know what makes someone a good learner, we can adopt these skills for ourselves. A key element of this is seeing intelligence and talents as areas we can develop, rather than fixed things we are either good at or we’re not.

Year 8

Year 8 have been studying a topics on self-image and risk.  The first of these focuses on how we are more than what we look like. We remind pupils to focus on ‘person over packaging’ and value ourselves for the character we have (and can influence), over our exterior appearance.  The risk topic looked at first aid and road safety. Both vital skills for our young people.

Year 9

This term has been spent looking at one key question: “when should we get involved in other people’s problems? Rather than a personal issue, this topic has been looking at when the UK should get involved in global affairs, from genocide through to our recent cuts to overseas aid. Can we be compassionate but fail to act or do we need to put other’s needs ahead of our own?

Year 10

Year 10 finished their work on careers by looking at potential career paths on our profiling software, Kudos (ask them about this). We have now begun the weighty topic of ‘The Big Questions’ where we explore questions such as: where did the world come from; what happens when we die; is all live valuable; and if there is a God, what might they be like?

Year 11

This term Year 11 returned to their Futures lessons for a topic on Post-16 Options.  We looked at how they decide upon their next steps, what the various levels of course mean and how best to fill out applications and approach interviews. A key message, especially in this current climate was the importance of a back-up plan. Institutions expect you to apply to more than one and then take up the best place once results are in. Even more so with apprenticeships. No offer is totally secure right now so always have a plan B.

If any students are still unsure the key is to tell someone. There’s plenty of help available in school. Don’t put it off, let’s sort it together.

Christmas Greetings from Mr Smart, subject leader for Media Studies.

Year 10 have continued to make good progress through the Component 1 set texts which they can be actively revising during their Prep time. They have had their first taster of creating their own magazine covers in preparation for coursework next year and we are now moving onto studying the Bond franchise. I highly recommend watching a Bond film over the Christmas break if possible! It will increase their understanding of the iconic British film franchise.