Principal's update 29 September 2023

This week we have welcomed students from the Frederikssund Private Realskole in Denmark into school. They have been buddied with some of our Y10 students and have accompanied them to lessons and taken part in several after-school activities throughout the week. Next week a different group of Danish students will be in school to see what life is like at HVC.

We are looking forward to our first LEAD day of the academic year on Monday 9 October. Our Learning, Enrichment and Development days are off timetable days and give us the opportunity to focus on important curriculum themes and topics. Each year group will be involved in a different activity. Year 7 will head to Castleton to visit Peveril Castle. Year 8 will visit the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester. Year 9 will be looking at careers and the wider world. Year 10 will be considering the question ‘What is a (Hu)man?’ with a session from external speaker, Andrew Bernard. Year 11 will look at life beyond Hope Valley College.

What’s going on in school:

• On Tuesday, we celebrated European Day of Languages, with activities in tutor time. The kitchen team produced some wonderful tasting plates for our international themed lunch on Thursday this week, with dishes from France, Greece, Spain, Italy and India. 

• Our Sports Leaders did a fantastic job with our first Primary event - they were a credit to the school. Children from five local primary schools attended our Yr5+6 Mini soccer qualifier and were well looked after by 13 excellent Sports Leaders, who ran the tournament, from First Aid to refereeing - well done!

• This week we shared the cast list for We Will Rock You! Over 100 students have signed up to get involved, smashing last year's record. We are super excited about staring this journey and cannot wait to see our wonderful students perform on the 5th-9^th March. Be sure to keep an eye on our social media to find out more about tickets and rehearsals.

• If your young person is involved in our production, you will receive a separate email with expectations and a full rehearsal schedule. Weekly updates of rehearsals for the following week for We Will Rock You and our production of Dennis Kelly's DNA will also be included in this communication.

	Lunchtime Rehearsals			After School rehearsals
Mon 02/10				DNA Rehearsal	Drama	3:30-5:00	DNA cast
Tues 03/10	Backstage DNA	Drama	Backstage
Weds 04/10	Act 1 Scene 1	Drama	Khashoggi, Buddy, Secret Police	I Want to Break Free #3 & Somebody to Love #4	Hall	3:30-5:00	Whole Cast
Thurs 05/10	Radio Ga Ga #2 & Flash #15, We Are the Champions underscore #21, Bicycle Race #21a	Music	Whole cast
Fri 06/10				duolouges	Drama	3:30-5:00	Galileo and Scaramouche

• The wheels are in motion... Reading Buddies is resuming soon! Our Y11 volunteers are fully trained and raring to start reading with their Y7 partners. STAR reading assessments are taking place this week and we hope to be able to pair up Buddies to start in early October. Watch this space!

• Y7 and Y8 football teams travelled to St Philip Howard school on Wednesday. Y8 played very well all game but unfortunately just lost out to a last-minute penalty, with a final score of 2-1. Y7 were on fire and were triumphant over their opponents, winning 5-1. Outstanding teamwork, skill and fitness were displayed.

• It was Year 9’s turn to take part in our Inter-house competitions this week. Lose Hill were the football champions, whilst Kinder were victorious in netball. Well done to all who took part.