This week, I sent details to parents, and began a series of assemblies with students, explaining our updated Mobile phone policy that will come into effect in September.  This has been driven by the change in the law introduced by the Government which requires all schools to ensure that “pupils do not have access to their mobile phone throughout the school day”. This is a move that I fully support both from an educational point of view and from a wellbeing point of view. Taken alongside the proposed restrictions on access to social media for under 16s, I hope this is the beginning of a much-needed recalibration of the relationship with tech for young people and for wider society.

Earlier this term I shared details of a Year 7 student who was seriously injured when she was hit by an e-Scooter ridden by another student. This week I was made aware of another young person, not from our school, who was seriously injured when they were hit by a car whilst riding their e-Scooter, an accident witnessed by a number of our students. Both of these incidents highlight the risks of riding e-Scooters. The police contacted me this week and asked me to share information regarding the law and e-Scooters. This information is attached to this message.

Last Friday we completed our farewell celebrations for Year 11 with their Prom, which took place at the Bowden Hall Hotel. The sun shone, and it was a glorious evening and setting for the students to enjoy. This year group has been a delight to work with for the last 5 years, and I’m delighted they had such a perfect end to their time with us.

As we said farewell to one group of students, it was time to welcome another. This week saw our induction evenings for the parents of the new Year 7 students, as well as an induction afternoon for the new students themselves. It was a pleasure to welcome the Year 6s to Severn Vale and to spend the afternoon with them. I am looking forward to getting to know them better and to working with them over the next 5 years.

The World Cup in North America continues, and at Severn Vale our Year 7s have been taking part in their very own World Cup inspired football tournament. It has been organised by a group of Year 7 students themselves, and has been an absolute triumph. The atmosphere on the AstroTurf every lunchtime has been fantastic. The students have really enjoyed the occasion, and it has also raised a significant sum of money for the students’ chosen charity, Blood Cancer UK. Next week it's the turn of the Year 9s, who begin their tournament on Thursday.

It has been a busy week fixture wise, including:

Year 7 Rounders – our Year 7 A and B Rounders teams travelled to Ribston for their latest fixtures this week. They played against a really high standard of team with excellent batters. Our girls battled really well and fielded superbly. The B team lost 18 - 16. Players of the match went to Fleur P and Sophia S. The A team had an excellent second innings, scoring 10.5 rounders with some great batting and communication skills, the game finished 24 - 12.5 to Ribston. Later in the week the Year 7s also had a fixture away to St Peter’s. Unfortunately, torrential hail brought the game to a close with the girls leading 8 - 3.5.

Year 7 Cricket – the Year 7 boys hosted St Peter’s in their final cricket fixture of the season. Across the matches, the boys won two and lost two. It has been a real pleasure working with this group of boys since Easter. Impressively, 14 out of the 16 students had never played competitive cricket before joining Severn Vale, so it has been fantastic to see the progress they have made in such a short space of time. A special mention goes to Broady and Charlie for their outstanding bowling and batting across both games; they truly led by example.

Year 8 Rounders – the Year 8 Rounders team travelled to St Peters for their latest fixture. The girls were playing some great rounders and were deservedly leading 6 – 2 when the heavens opened and a hailstorm meant the game had to be postponed.

Year 9 Cricket – the Year 9 boys also played St Peter’s this week. The boys fielded brilliantly, taking some excellent catches and putting on a great bowling display. After a shaky start to the batting, TJ and Jake steadied the ship by scoring some well-taken boundaries. Overall, they fell just short of their target.

Year 10 Cricket – the Year 10 girls cricket team enjoyed a fab evening of cricket at Churchdown this week. They played some great cricket to come away with the win, 91 - 57. Players of the match went to Ava for her bowling and to Maisie for her batting.

Under 15 Cricket – our U15 girls faced King's on Tuesday in their final cricket match of the year and got pretty wet in the process! We fielded well with some excellent bowling, particularly from Charlotte, Izzy N, Isabella and Lotte (who took 2 wickets). When we went into bat we were chasing 68 runs. Our batting started off slowly, but after a few overs we started scoring some boundaries. The game came down to our final pair. A 4 from Izzy from the final ball secured the win. Well done to Charlotte who was chosen as bowler of the match and to Emilia as batter.

Year 10 Athletics – our GCSE PE track athletes travelled to Holmleigh Park for another joint moderation session this week. We had students competing in both the 800m and 100m events, and all performed exceptionally well. These moderation evenings are invaluable in helping us gain an accurate understanding of students' practical grades, enabling us to support them in achieving the highest possible score. It was fantastic to see our students performing in a competitive environment alongside the Holmleigh students, demonstrating both their ability and commitment to their sport.

In other sporting news, I am delighted to report that Year 9 student Lauren Hopkins Year 9, attended the European Cheer Summit in Lisbon, Portugal with her Under 16 Level 4 team and helped them became the Under 16 Level 4 Champions! I was also delighted to hear that Year 9 students Oliver Hood has been invited by Hartpury Rowing Club to attend the regatta at Henley this week. This will be an amazing opportunity for him to develop his skills.

As always, I end with my weekly reminder about Free School Meals eligibility. We have written separately with an update on eligibility. Please do make sure you have read this to see if you now qualify.

The weather forecast suggests another hot spell next week. Given that, we have decided to stick with PE kit for next week.

I do hope you have a great weekend.

Regards

Richard Johnson
Headteacher