Dear Families,
We have reached the end of the first half term, and whilst students have only been in school for four days this week, we have packed a lot in! Rewards assemblies took place for all year groups. These are great assemblies where students celebrate each other’s achievements. There is also a bit of friendly competition between form groups, as Heads of Year share the tutor point standings! We also celebrated the forms who won the attendance championship. The winners are below:
Breakfast of Champions:
7ABC
8AGU
9WJF
10JCU
Chocolate Bar Rewards:
Year 7: 7ABC, 7ASQ, 7CBE, 7MMC
Year 8: 8AGU, 8GKD
Year 9: 9WJF, 9JWR
Year 10: 10JCU
Well done to all the forms who won a prize. Keep up the great work with your attendance; we know you will all be excited for the next attendance challenge, ‘Christmas Battle of the Bands’!
Plactopus Unveiling
On Tuesday afternoon, it was a privilege to spend time with the students who have been working on the sculpture that has now been unveiled at Rushden Lakes. Students also read aloud some of the poems they had written. If you visit Rushden Lakes over half term, you will be able to see the sculpture on display, along with all of the students’ poems in shop windows. Scan the QR code on each poem to vote for your favourite. Well done to all the students who helped build the sculpture, and to those who wrote such wonderful poems.
Reward Shop
After half term, we are excited to be launching our new online rewards shop. Students will be able to spend their well-earned Team Rushden Points on a wide range of items, including stationery, art resources, hair bobbles, footballs, basketballs and skip-the-queue cards. We know students will be excited about this, and we look forward to seeing how they choose to spend their TRPs.
Performing Arts Showcase
We want to congratulate all Year 13 students on their amazing performances on Wednesday evening, which formed part of the final assessment portfolios for their Level 3 BTEC course. We are extremely proud of everyone who performed, and we are already looking forward to seeing them perform again later this term in the annual panto!
Ethos Events
Our Ethos team has a number of exciting events coming up that we would like to share with you.
The first is a Holiday Craft and Games Morning, taking place during half term on Thursday 29th October, from 10:30am to 12:00pm. There will be opportunities to build LEGO models together, do some autumn-themed crafts, play games, or start to get festive with some Christmas card making. Drinks and snacks will be available, and all under-16s must be accompanied by an adult.
The second is our upcoming coffee morning, which has a SEND focus. You will be able to meet and talk to members of our SEND team. This will take place on Wednesday 4th November from 9:00am until 10:30am. Please arrive at the school reception and a member of the team will come to meet you.
For further details about both events, including the venue for the Holiday Craft and Games Morning, please contact Jenni King by email at
BTEC Launch Evening
We would like to thank all the families who were able to attend the BTEC Launch Evening on Thursday. It was great to see so many of you there, showing how much you support your child’s success. We hope you found the evening useful, and that it helped you better understand the differences between BTEC and GCSE courses, as well as the importance of building positive habits early to maximise success in the units completed and assessed in Year 10. We appreciate that some families could not attend due to other commitments, so we will share the slides from the evening, along with a link to a resource booklet.
Outdoor Clothing
We have already seen some poor weather over the past couple of weeks, and as we move into the autumn and winter months, it is only going to get worse. We would like to remind families that students are not allowed to wear hoodies in school, and in wet weather these are not suitable for keeping your child dry. As a reminder, please see the details below, taken from our uniform policy:
The standards and expectations on outdoor clothing for ALL students in Years 7 to 11 are as follows:
- Students should wear an outdoor coat over their jumper during periods of cold or inclement weather.
- Whilst the school cannot control what students wear to and from school, it is important to note that hoodies, sports tops, tracksuit tops, leisurewear and sportswear, and other branded sweatshirts do not meet the standard, and are not allowed to be worn in school. Students will be asked to remove these items. Where necessary, prohibited items may be confiscated in accordance with the Behaviour Policy.
- Coats should be of a plain colour and large or prominent logos are not permitted.
- Casual jackets such as denim, leather, or hooded jumpers are not permitted.
- Coats should be removed inside classrooms.
- Hats, gloves and scarves can be worn during periods of cold or inclement weather. All hats must be removed on entering any school building.
- Gloves and scarves must be removed on entering classrooms and only put back on when dismissed at the end of the lesson.
Bumper Newsletter
As it is the end of the month, don’t forget that we share more information in our bumper newsletter, so make sure you keep swiping across! These monthly editions allow staff to share more detail about the amazing work taking place across the school.
We hope you all have a lovely half term break, and we look forward to seeing all students on Monday 2nd November, ready for line up at 8:25am.
Yours sincerely,
Mr. J. Firth
Principal
