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 News from Mr Grady
17th March 2025
Hello everyone!
There is an awful lot going on at RHS at the moment. Year 10 are midway through their exams, years 11 and 13 are busily preparing for the early formal assessments of Art Exams; French and Spanish speaking exams; Drama and Music performances and recordings. Non-examined assessments are being marked, and all in all the academic nature of the school is right at the forefront of what we are doing.
I have been meeting with the students I mentor, discussing revision plans (“have you got enough time built in for a break?” “Are you really planning on working for 12 hours ALL day Saturday AND Sunday? Might that be a bit optimistic?”) And making sure they have everything they need from staff to ensure they meet their aspirations.
In the middle of all this academic endeavour, it is Neurodiversity Week, and this morning, I was privileged to watch an assembly given by our students educating us about neurodiversity, and hearing some testimonies from students about their own neurodiversities. It was a sobering moment, hearing some of the shocking comments our students have been subjected to (out of school - I might add) and a lovely reminder of just how welcoming and safe a place RHS is for all students.
I have lost count of how many students who join us from other schools in year 12 state “I could not have been this honest about myself or my needs in my previous school.” A depressing state of affairs, but a wonderful testament to the community our students foster here at RHS.
I know there are other events planned this week to continue to support students to understand each other more and more fully and to ensure that our kindness, care and respect continues to be offered to each and every member of the school community.
I hope you all have a good week,
Stay safe and well,
Mr Grady
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Date for your calendar
Please note that Wednesday 26th March is our Spring term Staff Training Day, so no students are expected in school.
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World Book Day celebrations
Thursday 6th March was World Book Day and the theme was 'Kindness, care and respect. Our students and staff excelled themselves with their creative costumes with a wealth of home-made costumes and accessories. The costume competition was judged at break time with everyone cheered on by fellow students and the winners were declared to be:
Alice in Wonderland, Mystique, 101 Dalmations, Disney villains and the Pokemon trio.
Staff also took to the stage to show off their department's outfits' theme. The English department came as Lord of the Flies with Mr Grady as the conch and the RH6 team were Charlie and Lola! PE staff were cuddly Care Bears, MFL staff were fairies and everyone in the Admin Office was Mary Poppins!
Other outfits spotted include Rapunzel, Elsa, Aslan the Lion, Parasoul and Umbrella from Skull Girls, the Very Hungry Caterpillar with a strawberry and Circe from The Odyssey!
Team efforts were bountiful this year with a gang of Care Bears, the cast of Toy Story, the characters from the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Winnie Pooh and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children!
In form time students took part in a literary quiz and when passing through reception they had the chance to play 'Guess the Teacher', with staff posed behind books giving hints to their identity. And at lunchtime the pre-loved book stall and literary-themed cake competition and sale were very popular!
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Politics trip to Westminster
On 6th December last term, Year 12 and 13 History and Politics students went on a trip to Westminster to visit London and get to see where political decisions take place.
Phoebe H shared more about the trip: “We started off the day by visiting Downing Street and the Supreme Court (where most of us managed to get out without hassle), as well as checking out landmarks such as the London Eye and Big Ben, and a walk around Parliament Square where we saw statues of famous historical figures such as Gandhi and Winston Churchill. We were then given a tour of both chambers in the Houses of Parliament, the House of Lords and the House of Commons, where we were shown where MPs and Lords vote on bills.
To finish off the day we split into groups where we had to create our own political party, elect a representative to present their policies to the class, and then vote for our favourite. The winner was the Pink Pony Club, who campaigned for radical feminist change in society.
It was a really informative and enjoyable day, and we all left with a greater knowledge of the political system that affects our lives.”
Phoebe
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Acclaimed author Caroline Lawrence shares story writing tips
On Monday 3rd March our Year 7s were visited by famous author Caroline Lawrence! Caroline has sold millions of books and writes with the dual aim of entertaining children and teaching them too. With World Book Day later this week this was an exciting talk on how to write a myths-based story and having written 45 books Caroline has plenty of experience to share.
Caroline's most famous books are the Roman Mysteries series and her first book, The Thieves of Ostia, was published in 2001. It introduces Flavia Gemina, the daughter of a sea-captain who lives in Rome’s port, Ostia. In this book, set in the year of Vesuvius's eruption, Flavia meets three other children from different backgrounds: Nubia, Jonathan and Lupus. A further sixteen books follow the adventures of these four as they solve mysteries and have adventures in Pompeii, Rome, Greece, Turkey and North Africa. The series was televised by the BBC in 2007 and 2008 and filmed on locations in Tunisia, Bulgaria and Malta.
Caroline shared the stories in ancient myths and showed how many Hollywood movies embody these same stories, like The Matrix and Star Wars! Caroline then went on to show how the hero's journey is a great template to use to create a story, where the lead character goes on a quest to find a prize, achieve a goal or even save a life. She explained the concept of 7 plot beats starting with the problem and ending with the character on a new level.
Caroline also shared the concepts of mentors and talismans and snippets of detail about life in the ancient world, finishing with a flourish of her sponge on a stick which she often asks primary school children to guess the use of. Ideas range from it being a stick to beat slaves with to a writing award, but the true purpose was for Romans to use instead of toilet paper!
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Nishad in final team selection for Physics Olympiad
The Physics Olympiad is a competition run annually with the aim of putting together a team of talented Physicists to compete in the International Physics Olympiad taking place in Paris in July or the Astrophysics Olympiad in Mumbai. Round 1 was held in November and 7 of our talented Year 13 students entered. All received certificates but special recognition should be given to Finley H who achieved a Silver Award and Nishad D who got a Top Gold – one of only 162 students nationally out of 3900.
Nishad was then invited to write the Round 2 papers in both Physics and Astrophysics (about 100 students) with the aim of making it into the group invited to the training camp at Oxford University in April. He recently found out that he has been awarded a Gold certificate (33 of the entrants) and a Silver award in the Astrophysics. We have just found out that he has now been invited to the training camp and final team selection for the Physics Olympiad – one of only 14 students in the country.
Congratulations to Nishad on this fantastic achievement and fingers crossed for the next stage!
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Poetry by heart recitations
Mr. Grady, Mrs. Gregory, Ms Sidwell and Miss Danks have been privileged to listen to some delightful poetry recitations by students from years 10, 12 and 13 as part of our Poetry By Heart key stage four and key stage five school competitions. The standard of recitations was excellent. All of the students had engaged with the poems so thoughtfully and the recitations were intelligent, informed and delivered with conviction and emotion. All of the judges commented that the students had made the older poems sound as if they were recently written! The entrants all made the poems their own and made the judges love them - either greeting them as much-loved favourites or making them deeply interested in the poets, their ideas and their language.
Of course, the challenge was to choose our winners - always a difficult process when the standard is so high. In the end though, the judges decided that Gunjan Shrimali was our key stage four winner and Emily Hutton our key stage five champion, both for their engaging, sensitive and moving recitations. The students' recitations will now be filmed and uploaded onto the Poetry By Heart website for judging in the national competition.
We were so proud, yet again, of our students and reminded by their excellent example of how RHS students take on the most amazing challenges, push their limits and achieve excellence. Very warm thanks to all the contestants.
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Year 11s watch hard-hitting Loudmouth Theatre play
On 11th March Loudmouth Theatre performed a thought-provoking play delving into sensitive topics of sexual harassment and assault for year 11s.
The lead characters, Wes and Sam, are friends whose friendship ebbs and flows through the play as Wes tries to change his behaviour and embrace more feminist ideology. Sam feels they haven't lived in the same world and she asks Wes to open his eyes to the misogyny around them. By the end of the play Wes eventually calls out his friends when they make sexist or derogatory comments.
The character Sam talked about an assault she suffered but felt she couldn't tell anyone about as 'who would believe her.' She eventually confides in Wes who, at first, doesn't show the empathy and understanding she needs. She reaches out to another girl she knows and together their friendship strengthens their resolve to talk about what happened to them.
Afterwards year 11s workshopped the ideas of toxic masculinity and the pressure to conform to harmful stereotypes.
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Year 10 Science Careers talks from ex-students
With National Science Week running last week, Year 10 students were recently visited by 4 ex-students who provided talks about their careers in STEM. Not only did they get to hear about different applications of Science in the world of work, but also about the processes involved in moving from GCSE’s to A-levels to apprenticeships or University degrees. It was also lovely for the staff to see where our brilliant students are now and to hear their excitement for their jobs and share their career paths with our students.
Our speakers were Madeleine Anderson, a Marine Biologist with the British Antarctic Survey, Debbie Holmes, a Medical Physicist at Northampton hospital, Caitlin Fletcher, a Mechanical Engineer working at Sellafield decommissioning parts of the site and Jessica Batchelor who is a Geotechnical Engineer Degree Apprentice with AtkinsRealis. A big thanks to them all for giving up their time and providing such interesting talks.
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E-platform books
We have recently doubled our E-Platform loan capacity, so there is now even more opportunity to borrow an E-book. As long as you have WiFi and a device, you can read a book via this platform anywhere in the world.
In order to borrow your first book, students must sign into the platform here, and use their school username and password to log in.
Once you have signed in this way (after your first loan), you can then download the app or use the QR code below to access a whole host of exciting new reads.
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Uniform sale coming up
The next PTA uniform sale will be on Saturday 5th April, 10am - 12pm.
This is your chance to make huge savings on good quality pre-used uniform for your daughter and play your part in raising money for the school.
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All proceeds go to the PTA which provides funding for academic and non-academic activities for our students. You can find out more about the PTA here.
Come along to the uniform sale for outgrown but not outworn school uniform on Saturday 5th April!
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🌸 Charity Pamper Hamper – Raffle Tickets On Sale Now! 🌸
Win a wonderful filled Pamper Hamper for yourself or a loved one (Mother's Day upcoming) in aid of Cancer Research! 10R's Charity Pamper Hamper is filled with luxurious self-care goodies, perfect for relaxation and indulgence.
📅 Raffle tickets available on ParentMail : 10th March – 21st March
💖 Proceeds go to Cancer Research – helping to make a difference
🎟️ Winner will be picked out raffle style and notified w/b 24th March
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Table Tennis players heading to the Finals
Congratulations to our Table Tennis players, Daya Chima, Anya Sompura and Srihamsini Garlapati, coming 2nd in their Semi Finals competition, and securing a place in the National Schools Team Finals on Sunday 27th April, in Wolverhampton. We all wish them the best of luck in this next stage.
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East Warwickshire district Football Competition
Photo caption: l-r, Eva SB, Holly S, Eva L, Riya S, Melisa B, Christina A, Anya H, Louise M, Efesombia A (C).
U13s Rugby High 4 (Eva SB, Anya, Eva L,2) - 1 Ashlawn
On Tuesday 25th February was our U13s first match for the East Warwickshire district competition and a great game against Ashlawn. Ashlawn were first to score, but Eva SB responded quickly with an assist from Eva L, and Anya scored again from an Eva SB throw in to put us 2-1 ahead at half time. Melisa didn't have to do much in goal (and got very cold as the Sun began to set) but she did make some really key saves, and along with solid defending from our back three of Louise, Holly and Riya, Ashlawn weren't able to get past us again. In the second half, Eva L scored twice, with assists from Anya and Christina, and Christina twice came close to scoring herself, unlucky! The game was captained by Effe who worked so hard up and down the pitch, and had so many shots on target, but the excellent Ashlawn goalie got behind them all. It was a fabulous start to the season and a really good-natured game, which ended with Ashlawn selecting Anya as player of the match. We had no subs and every player worked so hard, Dr Brown and Mr Phillips felt very proud of them!
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Netball league results
Our Year 7 Netball team have been busily competing over the last term, in their first ever Netball league. They put in a lot of training time at extra-curricular club, and also put in some extra shooting practise in their own time too. The games were very varied in their challenge, and each one asked something different of them. The team were a combination of all 4 forms groups, so it was really nice to watch their skills develop, as well as their friendship.
Emili said - "I loved everything about netball. I only started this year and I immediately loved it."
Daniella said - "I loved that we all worked together and that helped us win our matches."
Zoe said "I think that it was a great experience and would definitely recommend it to anyone who is competitive, who enjoys sport, and to everyone who wants to have fun!"
Their results from all their games were as follows;
Won against Rugby Free 17-11
Won against Ashlawn 33-0
Lost against Avon Valley 4-8
Lost against Bilton 13-14
Won against Houlton 10-1
The team members were; Daniella Kaufman, McKayla Obijiaku , Delight Nkpey, Shree Fatania, Grace Abolarin, Olive Akeroro, Zoe Challis, Emili Cela, Sophie Thomas, Aerwyn Caborn, Leah Nherera, Rebecca Abbey, Isla Brown, Alina Turan-Jurdzinska
Well done to the whole team!
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Cricket success
Our U15 Cricket team recently played Barrs Hill School in a team of 8. We worked well as a team, communicating during the match, allowing us to get multiple players from the opposition out. Our opposition, Barr’s Hill, chose to bat first. This was good for our team, as our preference was to field first, so we knew the number of runs we had to beat. After some good catches and stealing runs, it ended up being a draw, with both teams scoring 70 runs. We did a tie breaker - Barr’s Hill scored 9, and we scored 10, making us the winners of the match! We played well as a team, and we were all very happy with the result!
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Spotlight on a Science Technician
We’d like to highlight the wonderful Science technicians we have at Rugby High School. They work so hard behind the scenes ensuring our Science lessons are resourced with safe, interesting and exciting practicals and demonstrations. In this issue our highlighted technician is Mrs Irfan!
1. When did you join Rugby High School and how did you get into the role of Science Technician?
I joined Rugby High in March 2019 as an Exams Invigilator and in September 2021 an opportunity came up to help out in the Science department as a Lab Assistant for six weeks. I really enjoyed my six weeks and when the Science Technician vacancy was advertised, I applied and was successful.
2. What various jobs do you do in your role?
My role involves putting together the practicals for all the year groups as well as various admin jobs. I also work on the house and rewards system, which includes preparing for the house rewards afternoons, induction days for the new Year 7 students and the celebration assemblies.
3. Describe what a typical day might be like?
I write down the practicals I have for the week in my diary and after checking it each morning, I start preparing the experiments I need to put out that day. This sometimes involves making up chemicals and/or setting up apparatus if it is a teacher demonstration, as well clearing up the equipment, disposing off chemicals or other materials afterwards, whilst always maintaining health and safety standards. On occasions, I also help students during their practical lessons.
4. Do you receive ongoing training and if so, what?
Most of my training is on the job and is carried out by the senior technicians I work with. I have also done some online training and attended a chemical handling course. I do intend on going on more courses.
5. What is your favourite part of your job?
Every day is different and sometimes unpredictable, not coming from a science background I am also constantly learning. Problem solving is a rewarding aspect of the job, figuring out what went wrong in an experiment or learning how to fix lab equipment is very satisfying. I also enjoy setting up fun practicals like the Chemistree at Christmas time and the forensics experiments during curriculum week. The students enjoy them and they learn some valuable scientific concepts.
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Kooth webinar
Join Kooth on a 30-minute webinar designed for families, exploring how Kooth - with its 'out of hours' availability, anonymous digital chat support and asynchronous messaging - is well-placed to meet the specific needs of neurodivergent young people.
The webinars are taking place on Tuesday 18th and Thursday 20th March, 18:00 - 18:30. If you can't attend either of these dates, you can still register interest to receive guidance on the topic and the team will be in contact.
For more information and to register an interest, go to the Kooth website.
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Parent Online Safety Workshop
Safeline are delivering a Parent Online Safety Workshop on Wednesday 9th April, 5pm to 6pm.
During the workshop, they will cover various aspects of internet safety, including social media apps/websites, online grooming, cyberbullying, and the risks associated with online gaming. Their goal is to equip parents with the knowledge and understanding they need to protect their children in the digital world. If you would like to attend please confirm by emailing ramandeepd@safeline.org.uk and please include your child’s school name. Please join by going into Zoom and putting in Meeting ID: 765 294 7590.
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Virtual routes into STEM course
For a limited time EDT is still accepting applications for their Virtual Routes into STEM course that is running over the Easter Break (4th-25th April 2025). If you are interested students please make an application ASAP to secure a place on the course!
This course allows students in Years 9 and 10 to recognise the variety of opportunities available to them after taking their GCSE’s including STEM Education, STEM Careers and Apprenticeships, including Degree Apprenticeships.
- 100% of students on the 2023/24 course felt they had increased their skills and knowledge at the end of the course! 👍
- 100% rated the course as good or excellent! 👍
- 98% felt confident in their career’s choices at the end of the course compared to 68% before! 👍
Find out more and apply now.
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Free Webinars this Spring
Elevate Education will be hosting the last of their free Spring webinars on 25th March.
This one focusses on supporting your child through their exams.
Sign up online
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25th March 25, 6-7pm: How You Can Support Your Child During Exams
Click here to register for this webinar for free
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Job advert: Exam Invigilator
£13.74 per hour
Responsible to: Exams Officer
Start date: 1st May 2025 (or as soon as possible after)
We're recruiting Exam Invigilators:
- To uphold the integrity of the internal and external examinations/assessment process in accordance with the examination regulations.
- To ensure the exam room is adequately prepared.
- To give all their attention to conducting the examinations/assessments in line with examination regulations and school policies.
- To supervise candidates in a quiet and unobtrusive manner in accordance with the examination regulations.
- To ensure students enter the examination room in accordance with the examination regulations and enable them to find their allocated seats quietly and efficiently.
- To accurately distribute examination papers, associated materials and equipment at the beginning of the examination and collect them in accordingly.
Further details, job description or an application form on our website
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Gerard Manley Hopkins
Pied Beauty
Glory be to God for dappled things –
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced – fold, fallow, and plough;
And all trades, their gear and tackle and trim.
All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.
All things Poetry found at Poetry by Heart
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Please find below information that has been passed to us that may be of interest to you and your family.
Warwickshire Family Information Service Newsletter
11th March Edition
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The school newsletter is sent out every other week during term-time.
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