Dear Parents,

once again, I am writing to you at the conclusion of another busy and successful school year. As usual, I would like to remind you what some of our priorities are as a school:

• Support progression routes for pupils (how we support pupils moving here from primary school, through Year 9 and, of particular importance, moving from Ribblesdale to other institutions as the raising of participation age takes effect from 2013)
• Involving parents in discussion about the curriculum in Years 9-11 (we now have a parents’ focus group and they take the opportunity to meet us regularly)
• Professional development for teachers focused around making learning in class consistently ‘active’
• Enable access to pupil information by parents via the internet as set out by the government

Last week, we held our ‘Shine’ event; this celebrated the diversity and talents of our pupils and staff. The week began with a sport and music evening in the sports hall. Over 70 pupils demonstrated and showcased their sporting and musical talent to a good audience. Some pupils, who are national or regional champions in their respective sports, gave a short presentation. It is truly amazing how many of our young people have such high level skills. ‘Spotlight’ was held mid-week at the Grand in Clitheroe and there was a packed hall each evening. Every year I do not believe that the quality and standard of what we see can be improved on – but it does get better and better. Well done to everyone involved in the organization of performances. It was fantastic! At the end of the week we had the ‘Shine’ event in school, a day in which every pupil did something a little but different: African drumming; climbing; cooking; celebrating fashion; animals; gardening; model making to name just a few. It was a truly incredible day and well worth all the hard work. It was an exciting and memorable way of celebrating cultural diversity and the society we live in.

Earlier this term members of my team and I spent the week looking at the sport/PE curriculum and lessons. Working with the PE teachers, we observed lessons, spoke to the pupils and looked at the work of the department. We do this termly in different curriculum areas, and I am really pleased to report back to you that what we saw was an incredibly hard working department focused on achieving the best in everything they do – just like all the other successful subject teams we have in school. This year, there have also been more successes in competitions.

In my summer letter to parents, I always make a plea to you. When buying your son or daughter’s new school uniform, please buy the right thing! In particular, footwear. It is incredibly frustrating trying to keep 1300 pupils looking smart, but it can be done! Black shoes only please – not pumps, anything with a stripe or trainers. Hair pieces, to tie long hair back, should be simple and not elaborate flowers, etc. Hair styles: please note that on the first day back, hair styles must not be extreme – in colour or style – and fake tan should not be worn – I don’t want orange pupils!

At this time of year, we say goodbye to a number of staff who are leaving the school. We thank Mrs Allonby, Mrs Woodward and Miss Woods from the support staff; Mr Hanslip, Miss Thomson (RE), Mr Harris, Mr Hetherington and Mrs Simpson from teaching staff. Miss Sumner and Mrs Crewe are retiring and we wish them well in whatever they do next (Mrs Crewe will be working with us part-time next term). We welcome back in September, from maternity leave, Mrs Schofield, Dr Osborne and Ms Holaday.

My own thanks of course go to governors, staff, parents and pupils for their hard work this year. I wish everyone connected to the school a very restful and enjoyable summer break.

School re-opens for (new) Year 7 and Year 11 pupils on Thursday 2 September at 8.45am and for all pupils the following day on Friday 3 September at 8.45am.

Yours sincerely

S A Smith

Dear Parents and Pupils,

at the end of a long academic year, after so many positive achievements, I always begin my letters by reminding you of our current priorities as a school. They are to:

· Continue to improve the examination performance of our pupils, especially for those pupils who do not achieve the national benchmark of level 5 in Year 9

· Provide more choices of learning styles for students in Years 9-11 linked to their personal learning pathway

· Build up a sense of community in the school

· Improve the understanding of parents, pupils and the community about our specialist status in technology and applied learning

Learning and innovation

Earlier this term, we undertook a programme of lesson observations. I saw a wide range of lessons with all year groups. I know that our pupils benefit every day from vibrant, focused activities that develop skills and subject knowledge. It is wonderful to see our young people making progress.

One of our greatest successes this year was the Year 7 Foundation Programme, more commonly known as SPLAT. The programme is skills driven. A few weeks a go, parents of Year 7 pupils were invited to school to look at their outcomes which included displays from The Olive Press and Roefield Leisure Centre.

In 1999, Ribblesdale became one of the first Technology Colleges in England. Ten years on, we celebrated our first decade with The Great Exhibition. The event demonstrated the impact this specialism has had on technology, art, textiles, hospitality and catering, to name just a few areas. I was pleased to welcome to school the Deputy Mayor of Ribble Valley, and Mr Bob Stott, Assistant Director for Universal Services with Lancashire County Council. I know they too were bowled over by the quality of what was on display. Thank you to everyone involved for making the event an outstanding success.

Standards of uniform and school ethos

Last term I wrote to you about the standard of some pupils’ uniform. I said that we expected uniform to be of the same high standard every day irrespective of the time of year, age of the pupil. Whilst there has been some improvement, some aspects of it are still not good enough: footwear, in particular. Please see the enclosed page dedicated to uniform. When we start the new school year in September, everyone should be clear what the expectations are.

Unfortunately, I have recently excluded permanently two pupils who possessed and attempted to pass on drugs to other young people. A simple message again: zero tolerance in this school.

Enrichment programmes

This year has been one of the most successful for the school, particularly in sports competitions. Our teams have achieved:

· HRV Cup: Year 7 came 2^nd on goal difference; Year 8 winners; Year 9 runners up; Y10 quarter finalists; Year 11 Double Winners League and Cup

· HRV Cricket Cup: Year 7 winners

· Athletics: Overall boys’ track champions

· Netball: HRV winners in Year 8 and 9

· Golf: Lancashire Schools Championship – 1, 2^nd or 3^rd place across different categories

· Individual honours for Lancashire and England

Congratulations! You can see a full list of enrichment activities reviewed or advertised on the school’s website. The next update will be in September.

The performance arts at Ribblesdale have produced a number of events this year. Last night, I attended “Stars” at The Grand. There were 500 very lucky people watching a hundred pupils perform and support behind the scenes. How would I describe it? Outstanding.

Educational visits continue to take place. This year we have seen a number of overseas visits and more local ones. Each continues to have an important impact on pupils’ learning providing them with opportunities to develop and grow up beyond the classroom. In the coming months, we expect to be awarded ‘International School Status’.

Ribblesdale is now a Full Core Offer Extended School. This means that we provide or ‘signpost’ to a range of services that support young people. This term we have had a bicycle club, teaching boys in particular to ride responsibly; cooking/camping group looking at life skills; a ‘big sister’ group for girls; Indian head and foot massage. Such opportunities are available next term as well, and I would like to remind pupils that the Learning Resource Centre is open and staffed after school on Tuesday and Thursday until 6pm and on Monday and Wednesday until 4.30pm.

Getting healthy

Last Friday was the “Get Healthy Day”. This was a superb day where health matters were tackled in lessons and activities provided in the LRC during lunch time. I am grateful to staff, pupils and many agencies that supported us including the NHS. What did we do? Blood pressure, pulses, skate-boarding, army sports, learning about sleep, dietitians, to name just a few. Also, our School Travel Plan has just been approved by the DCSF, which means we now have some additional resources to support our plan and try to make a positive impact on the environment.

As we prepare for the autumn term, I must ask for your help. Given the likely escalation of the H1N1 flu virus, I would ask that the parent of any pupil who has a clinical diagnosis given after Monday 24 August must inform us by telephoning the main school number during office hours (you can leave a message – please tell us your son or daughter’s coaching group). This will help us plan more effectively for the start of term.

And finally

At this time of year a number of staff are leaving the school: Miss Vercoe, Mrs Bootle, Mrs Brayshaw and Miss Richardson. Miss Richardson is also getting married: congratulations! Also leaving are Mrs Court and Mr Hammond. Mrs Loxham is retiring after seven years working in learning support, and Mr Wild is also retiring after committing most of his working life to the young people of Ribblesdale – 28 years! We are grateful for all they have done in moving Ribblesdale forward.

We wish every success to Year 10 and 11 pupils who await their summer examination results due in August. I would personally like to thank pupils, parents and all staff for their help and cooperation this year and wish all of you a great summer holiday and a good rest.

School opens on Friday 4 September for (new) Year 7 and Year 11 pupils and for all other pupils on Monday 7 September. Pupils must be on site at 8.45am prompt.

Yours sincerely

S A Smith

Headteacher

Dear Parents,

year on year, there are more exciting initiatives and learning opportunities to discover. The only drawback is it makes all of us, including the pupils, really tired!

As always, I outline the core targets for the next couple of years. It goes without saying that we aim to improve even further pupils’ results and the quality of learning and teaching in the school. And you may notice one new target, the last one:

• To provide more choices of learning styles for students in years 9-11 linked to personal pathways
• Build up a sense of community in the school
• Develop further the learning environment to make it fit for purpose
• Strengthen the understanding of parents, pupils and the community about our specialist status

Innovation

Year 9 pupils have just won the Wave Power Challenge held at Lancaster University. We beat three other excellent schools to win the Innovation Award and the overall 2008 winner, which brought together technology and science in this project. I should also ask you to note that our pupils were competing against Year 10 pupils! Well done to them! Innovation is certainly a “buzz word” in education at the moment, but it means “doing things differently”. Indeed, there are so many examples of doing things differently at Ribblesdale that I can not list them all here. If you browse through the latest edition of RibWord (enclosed) then you can see what I mean. It is very important that we need to respond to a changing world and ensure that real life experiences form part of the curriculum rather than merely tagging on such experiences at the end.

I am writing to you the morning after our summer show “Razzle Dazzle”. What a superb evening! The event was held in a professional setting this year at The Grand, Clitheroe and the venue was full. The quality of the performing arts at this school continues to get better with every event. The real life setting only embellishes the quality of what was achieved. We have resourceful, confident, talented young people and staff: we are very lucky. Well done to everyone involved.

The learning environment

Work is almost complete to transform an underused and unloved area of the school to a state of the art Learning Resource Centre/Library (LRC). It is situated adjacent to a coffee shop (the name of which is being determined by the school council) which will be available to Years 9-11 as a complementary venue to the dining room. More importantly, in due course, it will be available after school, as will the LRC which will be open and staffed until 6pm two evenings each week from the end of September. A student services office will bring together a range of support services for young people and they will get more information about this when they return to school.

Donation book shop

To celebrate the opening of our new LRC we are offering parents and friends of the school an opportunity to sponsor a library book. The scheme involves buying a library book for the new LRC. We shall place a sticker on the inside cover of the book purchased recording the name of the sponsor. The process is entirely electronic and you should follow these simple steps:

• Log on to the school’s website and select the “donation bookshop” link (or the direct address is www.ribblesdale.org/bookshop)
• Browse from the several hundred books available
• Select one or more books and follow the on-screen instructions
• Print off the form and return it to school with the cheque attached. An acknowledgement will be provided. Cheques should be returned to the student services office (the old R19 art room)

I very much hope you and your family will contribute to the scheme. Our aim is to provide a library stock of 12,000 books by next year. We currently have approximately 8,000 books in stock.

Summer examination results

You will have read in the media that Key Stage Three (Y9) SATs results have been contracted out by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority to ETS Europe. We have been advised that the SATs results will be made available to us much later than the published date; when they are available we shall send them to parents by post. It is interesting that as the most tested young people ever, they still have to suffer the consequences of an outrageously bureaucratic system to find out what we, as teachers, already know!

For pupils following early entry/accelerated programmes, results will be posted home in August.

Year 7

We always evaluate what we do and try hard to make things better – even if they are good already. Earlier this year when we spoke to some Year 7 pupils, they told us it would be nice if they could have a designated social/play area somewhere on the site. Having considered this, from September, the playground in front of E Block and B Block will be designated a Year 7 playgound only. This means that only Year 7 may use this space at lunchtime (1.05pm-1.45pm and an hour earlier on Friday) and breaktime. Prefects will assist in supervision. I will be interested to know the views of our new students when the scheme has been running for a few months and evaluate it again after Christmas.

Uniform

I am delighted with the standards of uniform the pupils achieved this term. After a very high profile reminder in April, everyone worked hard to make sure standards improved. Parents have been very supportive. When phone calls have been made to ask for your cooperation as parents, this has been done willingly and is appreciated. The outcome is that our pupils take pride in their appearance.

We do continue to have some difficulties with footwear. A small number of pupils do not have appropriate shoes for school. To help parents make an informed choice about types of footwear appropriate for school, please find enclosed some pictures that will help. May I also remind pupils that v-neck jumpers with the school badge should be worn. Enclosed is the uniform/suppliers list.

Staffing

Miss Rogers is leaving the school after three years; also leaving are a number of staff who have been working to cover long term absence or maternity leave: Mr Fletcher; Ms Aslam; Mr Ashcroft; Miss Hickman and Mr White. We are grateful for all their help in moving this school forward and they should be well satisfied with their contribution.

School opens for the autumn term as follows:

• Wednesday 3 September at 8.45am for Year 7 and Year 11 (school closes at 2.10pm – buses arranged)
• Thursday 4 September at 8.45am for Years 8, 9 and 10, closing as usual at 3.10pm
• For pupils following Period 7 courses, they begin on Monday 8 September at 3.15pm

Thank you to parents and pupils for all your hard work in supporting Ribblesdale this year. On behalf of all the staff at Ribblesdale, may I wish you a happy and restful summer break.

Yours sincerely

S A Smith

Headteacher