Dear Parents/Carers

We have had a very energetic and positive start to the academic year and the first

half term, and the huge range of activities and initiatives reflect the vibrancy of life

at Ryedale School. The Ugandan Pearl of Africa Choir performance and

workshops within school were a real highlight, reflecting our strengths in the

Performing Arts. Equally our sporting successes detailed in this newsletter are

testament to the culture of sporting excellence that we have here at Ryedale, and

the fantastic ―have a go‖ ethos reflected in the huge number of extra-curricular

activities taking place during the school day.

In lesson, students are focussed, and colleagues are working very hard to ensure

that all learners enjoy their experience and maximise their potential at Ryedale.

The huge variety of learning tasks and stimuli provided in lessons are a reflection of

the high quality of Teaching and Learning at Ryedale School. In the next half-term

our Year 11s will complete Mock Examinations. It is crucial that they prepare

rigorously for these assessments. They will allow parents, teacher and the

students to accurately gauge their performance across their subject areas, as well

as informing intervention strategies to ensure all students get the grades they

deserve. I have made it very clear to Year 11 that their individual achievement will

be down to hard work and determination on their part, supported by superb

teaching and learning, and that all important (and at times stressful!) parental

support. They are a very talented cohort, and expectations are high. After half-

term some students will be allocated a mentor from the Leadership Team who will

meet regularly with them to ensure that they achieve as they should.

I would like to thank all parents/carers, and the wider community, for their continual

support of our School — it is a great place to learn.

Enjoy the half-term break.

Mr Crane Headteacher

LEAVE OF ABSENCE PLEASE NOTE: Taking a holiday during term time means that children miss important

school time – both educationally and for other school activities. Before completing an

application parents/carers are asked to consider the effect on their child’s continuity of

education.

No parent/carer can demand leave of absence for the purpose of a holiday as

of right. The law says that schools have a discretionary power to grant up to 10 days

authorised absence in a school year. Each application is considered individually by the

school, taking into account the factors explained on the Leave of Absence form.

RYEDALE SCHOOL 2010 — 2011

L E A D I N G E D G E S C H O O L

SPECIALIST SCHOOL IN PERFORMING ARTS AND SCIENCE

Special points of

interest:

Adverse Weather

Arrangements

Sporting Success

Half Term Activities

Forthcoming

events

Charity news

HEADTEACHER: MR R CRANE M.A. (Hons), NPQH DEPUTY HEADTEACHER: MR P CLAY CHAIR OF GOVERNORS: MS S BALF

Gale Lane, Nawton, YORK, YO62 7SL Telephone: 01439 771665

FAX: 01439 770697

Email: admin@ryedale.n-yorks.sch.uk 21st October 2010

Inside this issue:

Adverse Weather

Arrangements

2

Sporting Success 3

Lois’ Tree 4

National Poetry Day 4

International Success 4

Half Term Activities 5

Medication in School 6

Pearl of Africa 6

Performing Arts News 7

Dates for Your Diary 8

ARRANGEMENTS FOR SCHOOL IN ADVERSE WEATHER CONDITIONS

As winter approaches, it is worth clarifying the procedures concerned with school closure resulting from adverse weather conditions. When adverse weather strikes, we have to deal with a deluge of telephone calls from coach companies, staff, parents and students who all want advice at the same time. Because we are not always aware of the wide range of problems happening simultaneously and not always able to control situations as they develop outside of school, it is extremely important that every parent/carer explains to their children what to do if a coach does not arrive for them. In the event of extreme weather arriving during the day it may be necessary to send the children home early. It is impossible to contact every parent/carer in advance, so please make sure your child knows what to do in such an event. Please ensure they know where to go to be safe and dry until parents/carers arrive home. Before Pupils Set Off For School It is highly unlikely that we shall take the decision to close the school before the start of the school day. The school will be open for those who can get in. It is important that our telephone lines are kept open first thing in the morning for pupils in difficulty and transport operators who are having problems. Parents and transport operators can see local weather conditions better than we can see them from school. We ask both parents and drivers to use their discretion about whether or not they feel it is safe to make the journey. After Pupils Have Set Off For School Parents need to be prepared for the possibility that:

their children have set off for the pickup points in the morning but the coach has not arrived to pick them up. following warnings of deteriorating weather conditions drivers bring children home from school earlier than scheduled.

In the above cases parents need to have made arrangements in advance to ensure the pupils have somewhere safe to go until parents return home. When children are allowed to go home early because of deteriorating weather conditions the telephone at school cannot be used by 550 pupils at once. Hence the need to ensure that families have contingency plans in place.

Sometimes children set off walking home if they live within a couple of miles of school, only to find that they cannot get in. Please ensure that you have made it clear to your children what they should do in such circumstances. They can usually stay with us until the end of the school day. On very rare occasions the police instruct us to close during the day and get everyone off site. Parents/carers need to be ready for such an eventuality.

Emergency Closure If extreme weather conditions persist and it is impossible to open the school, we shall communicate information to you via: RADIO YORK (FM 103.7 and 104.3 or Medium Wave 1260 and 666) MINSTER FM (FM 104.7) This will be a very rare occurrence, so if you hear nothing, please assume the school is open. Parents can also help by:

contacting the school to forewarn of worsening local weather conditions. ensuring children have an emergency contact number and sufficient change to make a call if

they become stranded. Closing the school is not an easy option and is a last resort. Your co-operation and forbearance will be much appreciated. If you have any questions or comments about these arrangements, please bring them to my attention.

P Clay Deputy Headteacher

SPORTING SUCCESSES SWIMMING Ryedale School’s Charisse Charlton and Jade Hutchinson both put in good performances in the Yorkshire Winter Swimming Competition and with the Personal Best times they achieved, both in the 100m freestyle, qualified for the North Eastern Counties Competition in Sunderland on the 7th November. This follows on from Charisse’s recent success in the Leeds Junior Open Competition were she finished 2nd in the 100m Butterfly and 3rd in the 200m butterfly.

OPEN WATER SWIMMING Ryedale School’s Katie Mould swam in the Coniston Junior 5.25 mile race on Sunday 5th

September. She finished with a time of 2hrs 44 min which was a super time for a 13 year old.

This is Katie’s first season in Open Water and it is proving a very successful one with good

times recorded in 6 open water competitions so far this season.

RUGBY Ryedale School’s Year 9 and 10 Rugby teams are both District Champions having won their respective Ryedale and Scarborough District Rugby tournaments. Ryedale School’s Year 9 team were undefeated throughout the tournament beating: Graham 15-5, St. Augustine’s 20-10, George Pindar Community Sports College 20-10, Filey 15-5 and Lady Lumley’s 30-0. Jeremy Underwood, Jack Hall and Jake Woodward were all outstanding for Ryedale School. Ryedale School’s Year 10 team were also undefeated. With wins over George Pindar Community Sports College 25-5, Filling hall 10-0, Graham School 25-5 and a draw with Lady Lumley’s 10-10 Ryedale School had to win their final game against Filey to win the District Tournament. They did this emphatically with a 15-0 win. Connor Campbell and Fergus Ward were outstanding for Ryedale. Ryedale School’s Year 11 team finished 3rd overall in the District tournament.

HOCKEY Ryedale School’s Year 10 Hockey team had an exciting win over Whitby College in the first round of the Scarborough and District Cup Competition. With the score 1-1 at full time and with nothing to divide the teams after extra time it went to penalty flicks. Ryedale School won 4-1 on penalty flicks thanks to Rachel Adams, Ryedale School’s goalkeeper, saving 4 penalty flicks.

FOOTBALL Ryedale School’s Year 7, 8 and 9 football teams faced Filey in the first round of the Scarborough and District Cup. Year 7 had an emphatic win 11-2, but Year 8 and Year 9 both lost out to last minute goals from Filey. The scores were 4-3 and 6-5 in their respective games. Ryedale School’s Year 8 and Year 10 football teams both comprehensively beat Lady Lumley’s, 8-2 and 5-3 respectively. Liam Dawson of Year 8 and Connor Campbell of Year 10 were excellent for Ryedale. Ryedale School hosted the Ryedale Cluster Primary Year 3 and 4 Football Tournament. There were 8 teams involved from St. Hilda’s, Hovingham, Nawton, St Benedict’s and Gillamoor. Each team was comprised of boys and girls. It was an excellent afternoon which saw St Benedict’s finish as the Tournament winners. St Benedict’s now go through to the Ryedale and Whitby District final. NETBALL Ryedale School’s Year 9 and 11 Netball Teams both qualified from the Scarborough and Ryedale District Competition and now go forward to the North Yorkshire Schools County Round. Ryedale Schools Year 11 team go through as District Champions having been undefeated throughout the competition and Year 9 go through as runners up in their District tournament.

Ryedale School’s Year 8, 9 and 10 netball teams were all victorious away to Malton School in their respective fixtures. Year 8 won 9-6, Year 9 won 20-14 and Year 10 won 31-9. Ryedale School’s Year 11 Netball Team finished as runners up in the Year 11 Ryedale and Whitby Partnership Netball Tournament. Ryedale beat Malton 6-3, Norton 12-1 and Lady Lumley’s 4-3. However they were narrowly defeated by Whitby 4-3 in the final.

Mr McCandless Assistant Headteacher

Page 4

NATIONAL POETRY WEEK SPIRIT SHOWS IN RYEDALE SCHOOL!

As you may or may not know, October 7th was National Poetry Day and to mark the event Year 7 pupils at Ryedale School had a day of dressing up . They were asked to dress up as their favourite poem character, pin words on to their clothes from their favourite poem or do both. They could do anything they wanted with their costume. There was a wide variety of costumes, from a girl crazy about purple to a World War One soldier!! Staff in the English Department also joined in by sticking their favourite poem on their t-shirts. As well as fun, this dressing up day was also a competition. The children were judged on the creativity of their costumes. The winners were George Jackson, Harry Curtoys and Harriet Braithwaite. There were some very creative costumes and picking a winner was a very difficult. As a pupil at the school, I saw all of the costumes and they were fantastic. There were huge amounts of creativity put into them and it was a lot more interesting to look across the playground at break on that day than it is on a normal school uniform day. National Poetry Day is a great way to learn more about poetry and I’ve learnt the way all poems are different, how some rhyme and some don’t. Some use assonance and alliteration yet some don’t. I like onomatopoeia (e.g. boom, swish, and splat) and the way the writer uses it to give the reader a sense of being at the event in the poem. Why don’t you read a poem sometime this week? It doesn’t have to be National Poetry Day to get involved!

By Tom Dewsbury (7A)

LOIS’ TREE A voluntary collection held in school last week in memory of Lois Phelps, brought in £435. Alongside the collection, Mrs Evans’ Year 10 Food Technology Group baked and decorated 180 cup cakes which were sold to staff and students to add to the fund. They raised an amazing £120 in memory of their friend. Well done to them all. The total is a magnificent £555 and after purchasing a tree to be planted in Castle Howard Arboretum, we will send the balance as a donation to The Meningitis Trust.

P Clay Deputy Headteacher

INTERNATIONAL SUCCESS Ryedale School’s Jade Hutchinson and her brother Elliot from Helmsley School have both been selected to represent Great Britain in their respective age groups at the World Junior Biathlete Championships. Tyler, their brother (also at Ryedale School) will travel as a re-serve for his age group. They will travel to Dubai over the half term holidays where they will compete against other athletes from all over the world in a race that involves running, then an open water swim in the sea and then followed by a further run. They hope the water will be warmer than during their selection process when it read just 13 Degrees Celsius. The talented trio put much of the credit for their achievements down to their coaches at Scarbor-ough Swimming Club, where they train up to 7 times a week including 5.30 am starts before school, and their coaches at York City Athletics Club. That’s commitment!

Mr McCandless Assistant Headteacher

WORK EXPERIENCE Congratulations to all Year 11 students who have just completed their work experience. Employers have commented that students worked diligently and reliably, using their initiative and enthusiasm. All great attributes for everyday life. We would also like to thank you for representing Ryedale School so well. If any parents/carers can assist with Work Experience placements in the future, please give me a ring. We are always looking for new places for our students to spend their Work Experience week.

Mrs Hugill Work Experience Coordinator

Page 5

OCTOBER HALF TERM EVENTS During the half term the following events will take place in and around the Ryedale area. Some are free or where there is a cost ―Me Too Vouchers‖ can be used.

Northern Ryedale Leisure Centre and Ryedale and Derwent swimming pools have loads planned for all ages. Leaflets are available from the pools or by calling 01653 691911.

Ryedale Folk Museum at Hutton le Hole has its Potato Week, Big Draw and Halloween Party. Telephone 01751 427367 for information.

Ready to Cook courses for 8 – 14 year olds will be held at Ryedale School on 25th and Lady Lumleys on 27th. 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. £15. For further information contact Susan Balf on 01751 433400/077778640893 or susanbalf@tiscali.co.uk

Archery & Bushcraft for children 8 years and older at Welburn Hall with Andrew Middleton on Tuesday 26th 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. (£10). Information and bookings from Kate Asquith on 01653 628839.

Learn Golf at Snainton on the 29th. Everything provided, £10 per day. Bookings 01723 850014.

Theatre Workshops at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough. 4 to 14 years. 26th and 28th, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. £10 each. Bookings and information on 01723 370540 Ext 297.

Dalby Forest have Animal Intuition, Paper Making and Seed Gathering events along with their Halloween Happenings. Details and bookings on 01751 472771.

St Alban Centre, Ampleforth have activity days. 01439 766740.

Football courses with York City in the Community at Pickering on Tuesday 26th (£10 per day) or Norton College on 27th, 28th, & 29th (£13 per day). For info & bookings call Matty Hood on 07530 028986 or email community@ycfc.net

Pied Piper Indian Drumming & Dance workshops for 7 to 11 years. 25

th at Pickering, 26

th Norton, 27

th Sheriff Hutton, 28

th Welburn, 29

th

Kirkbymoorside. Book your FREE place on 01653 669410

Page 6

MEDICATION IN SCHOOL

Any medication your child needs to take in school, such as painkillers, antibiotics etc.

should be handed in to Reception where it can be held safely and securely with your

child’s name on the pack and administered according to the instructions given.

Each type of medication held by us should be accompanied by a completed MED 1

form which is available from Reception. This form, which must be signed by a parent

or carer, contains information about the illness/condition, medication, dosage and fre-

quency of dosage. Although seemingly laborious, the completion of the MED1 helps

us to ensure the safety of your child and the security of his/her medication.

What we are trying to avoid in school is the situation where a pupil ―self administers

medication‖ or hands out pills to his or her friends unsupervised and unrecorded.

Children who have conditions such as asthma which require them to carry their own

medication, inhalers etc will of course be permitted to do so but once again we should

have a completed MED 1 form to ensure we know what a pupil is using.

I hope you will be able to help us in our efforts to keep all our students safe. Thank you.

Dianne Archibald Office Manager/Senior First Aider

MINIBUS FROM MALTON

Parents of pupils who live outside our catchment in Norton, Malton, Amotherby and Slingsby areas may

be interested to know that a group of parents have come together to pay for a privately run minibus to

transport their children to and from Ryedale School.

For further details contact Ann Hall on 01653 690007 or 077174457680

PEARL OF AFRICA CHOIR

Thank you for all your support for the Pearl of Africa Children’s Choir. We were able to send them a cheque for £1502.70, and with the takings from their crafts and donations, in total they have raised £3140.44 from their time at Ryedale School. We have a small number of CDs of the Pearl of Africa 2010 tour available for sale at Reception. They are £10 each. Please send cash or cheques made out to the Pearl of Africa Children’s Choir.

P Clay Deputy Headteacher

PERFORMING ARTS NEWS

ABRSM NEWS

Congratulations to Elise Symes-Turnbull, who represented Ryedale School at the Middles-

borough Associated Board High-Achievers Concert on Saturday 16th October. Elise has

gained Distinctions for Grade 1, 2 and 3 Singing, all during Year 7, including the school's re-

cord mark of 144/150 for her Grade 1. Her Grade 3 mark from last term was a highly-

impressive 137! Thousands of these exams are taken across the country and to be invited to

participate in a ABRSM concert is a tremendous honour.

A reminder that the ABRSM Grade 5 Theory Exam this term is at Archbishop Holgate's School, Hull Road,

York on Wednesday 3rd November from 5-7pm. Keep practicing your papers over the half-term and good

luck.

I am still awaiting confirmation that our ABRSM practical exams will be the week beginning 15th Novem-

ber, and will let candidates know as soon as possible. Could you please make sure that cheques for the

exam fees are paid to the School Office. Your child should have brought a letter home about the fee... I

have spares if needed!

NATIONAL YOUTH CHOIR

I am delighted to say that five pupils have taken up the challenge of an audition for a place

in the National Youth Choir, hoping to join John Brown (Year 11), who is already a mem-

ber. Good luck to them all and I hope to report good news in the next newsletter.

GUYS AND DOLLS

Rehearsals are now well under way and all pupils are showing their usual high levels of commitment. I

have really enjoyed them so far and I am sure we will have a show to be proud of.

COMPETITION SUCCESS

Congratulations to Hannah Woodward, who as a member of Kirkbymoorside Brass Band, won her solo

section at their recent contest in Durham. She competed against over 20 other young brass musicians.

She performed her piece to her music group at school, and having heard her play, no wonder she won.

I am happy to celebrate all pupils' successes in the Performing Arts that take place

outside school and to report them in the newsletter - let me know what you are all

doing.

Mr Moxon Head Of Performing Arts

Ryedale School 2010—2011 Number 2

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Friday 22nd October School closes for half-term

Monday 1st November Pupils return to school

Monday 8th November Year 10 Drama Festival 7 p.m.

Tuesday 9th November 6th Form Information Evening 7 p.m.

Thursday 11th November Year 7 Parents’ Evening

Monday 15th November Year 11 Mock Examinations start

Thursday 18th November Certificate Evening 7 p.m.

(for ex Year 11s only)

Tuesday 23rd November PTA AGM at 7.30 p.m.

Thursday 25th November Year 8 Parents’ Evening

Thursday 9th December Drama Project 7 p.m.

Thursday 16th December Carol Service 7 p.m. Helmsley Church

Half Term Holiday

Starts 22nd October

Return to School

Monday 1st November

SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT

If parents/carers have any suggestions for school improvement that they would like the Governors’ Home School Committee to discuss, please write to Mr Clay who services this committee. Please add your name and the name of your child, so we can respond to you. P Clay Deputy Headteacher