The final term of the academic year has begun. It was a pleasure to welcome the students back and to see them settle into their studies quickly.

For our Year 11s, the next phase of their exams has begun. It has been a very busy week with a number of core GCSEs taking place. The students have broken the back of their exams and can hopefully see the end in sight. As has been the case for the past number of years, we have kept the Year 11 students in school throughout the exam period. This has enabled us to keep teaching the students and using these valuable opportunities to use our insight and experience to prepare the students for their exams. The benefits of this approach are many. Just one example was in History, where the teachers used the example of popular entertainment in Elizabethan England to plan the long essay response and the exact topic came up the next day in the exam. I know the students have appreciated the support and the ongoing contact with their teachers.

Both our KS3 students and our Year 10s have key assessments coming up in the next few weeks. For the KS3 students, their Order Assessments will take place in the week beginning 22 June. For our Year 10s, their end of year exams will also begin in the week beginning 22 June. The Year 10s will also be completing the spoken language component of their GCSE English Language qualification. Revision for all the students is in place on Satchel One. Thank you in advance for ensuring your child is completing this so that they can be as well prepared as possible for these forthcoming assessments.

Throughout the academic year to date, I have been very pleased with the significant improvements in attendance that we have achieved. This has seen our attendance rate consistently running above the national level. The last week of term 5 and the first week of this new term have been the first weeks when we have seen a real drop in attendance. That is clearly disappointing. It is a particular concern to see a drop in attendance for Year 10 students. It is less than a year until they will be taking their GCSEs. Gaps in knowledge caused by absence will inevitably mean that students will not be able to realise their potential. For some, this will mean they will not be able to get onto the apprenticeship, the college course, their chosen A Levels.

We know the opportunities for young people are bleak at the moment, with around 1 million young people not in education, employment, or training. This represents around 1 in 8 of the 16-24 age group. We want to ensure every Severn Vale student has the foundation to go on to realise their enormous potential. Strong attendance is a key factor in enabling that to happen. Please do work with us to ensure that your child is in school every day they can be. Thank you in advance for your support with this.

At the end of last term, we held our final performance platforms of the academic year. Students from Year 7 - 11 were again involved. It is always great to hear our returning performers. However, there has been a pleasing increase in students new to performing too. The range of music performed as always is vast and Term 5 saw the typical range of grade exam pieces / songs students have recently working on, repertoire that students have been learning in their instrumental / vocal lessons or even working on in their own time, as well as students’ own current “firm favourites” too. The music department would like to thank and congratulate all our performers throughout 2025-26 - it's been a rewarding and enjoyable year. Our final live performance opportunity for this academic year will now be our Summer Showcase 2026 on Wednesday 8 July at 6pm in the main school hall. It promises to be an excellent event. 

On Wednesday evening, 32 of our KS3 athletes travelled to Holmleigh Park to compete in a warm-up event for the District Athletics which takes place later in the term. St Peter’s and Churchdown were also in attendance. The event provided students with a great opportunity to practise their events in a competitive environment. The weather proved challenging, with strong winds and heavy showers throughout the evening. Despite this, all our students performed very well in their respective events. It was particularly pleasing to see our Year 7 students competing for the first time. We are now looking forward to the 16 June, when we will be taking 54 students to the Prince of Wales stadium in Cheltenham to compete in the district tournament.

In other fixture news:

Year 7 Cricket – our Year 7 girls cricket team enjoyed a fun (but very soggy) evening of cricket over at The Crypt this week. We played 2 games, winning against Ribston and losing to Denmark Road by one run! Player of the match went to Nesiah.

U13 Cricket - our U13s played a great cricket match against  XX this week. It was such a close game with Seven Vale winning by just 3 runs. Well done everyone, in particular our batter and fielder of the game, Ava and Caia.

All-Stars Cricket – on Thursday evening, we took our All-Star team over to Holmleigh Park for their first fixture of the term. With concerns that the weather might disrupt play once again, the decision was made to move indoors. It turned out to be a great afternoon, giving students the opportunity to adapt and showcase a different set of skills. A special mention goes to Olly for some excellent batting, helping us maintain a healthy lead. There was also some impressive bowling on display from Jack and TJ. A strong all-round team performance saw SV secure a 5-run victory.

This weekend sees 29 of our Year 7 and 8 girls travelling to Condover Hall for a weekend netball and football tournament. We wish them all the best.

As always, I end with 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.    

I do hope you have a great weekend.

Regards

Richard Johnson
Headteacher