Newsletters

Visiting Cheltenham Science Festival

Our Year 7 students visited Cheltenham Science Festival on its opening day. After attending an engaging talk on the transfer and storage of energy, they explored the Discovery Zone, experimented with different materials in the Maker Shack, and coded and played games in the Arcade. Some large businesses were there talking to students and conducting demonstrations, including local employers Dyson, Renishaw Engineering, GCHQ and Spirax Sarco.

Students took part in activities as diverse as making ocean clean up mats from human hair, using willow to create ornaments and learning how to poke a skewer through a balloon without popping it! It was a fun, interactive day for the students - many thanks to Mrs Heard for organising the trip.

See more in the video on our website: Ribston Hall High School - Science fun in Cheltenham

June is Pride Month - but what do you know of its history?

Our Deputy Head Girl, Abi Dermody, led a brilliant virtual assembly on the history of Pride Month. Here she explains where the celebration we know today originated:

The first pride celebration came about after an incident occurring in NYC, on 28th June 1969 at The Stonewall Inn, which was an aggressive example of transphobia against a transgender woman, who was also a regular customer!

This kick-started the first 'Stonewall Riots' which was led by a group of transgender woman of colour, such as Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera. The riots in 1969 inspired conversations about the mistreatment of LGBTQ+ people around the world and encouraged protest for change.

One year later, on June 28th 1970, the first official pride event occurred. Led by Brenda Howard, an openly bisexual activist, the Christopher Street March was named after the area where the Stonewall Inn was located.

Parades and marches were becoming increasingly popular and by the 1980s, this method of celebrating was shared globally. By the 1990s, media visibility was growing with brands and organisations actively taking part in the celebrations by showing support for employees who were part of the LGBTQ+ community.

Currently in 2022, 52 years later, the pride celebrations are as extravagant and inclusive as they have ever been. People and organisations are striving to continue advocating for the beliefs and rights of everyone in this community, while also ensuring Pride does not become a commercial brand but remains a growing movement!

Biology Challenge 2022

Students from Year ten completed two 25-minute tests in exam conditions, competing among 41,000 students from 550 schools worldwide

20 Students - Sacha Claridge, Zainab Lulat, Aaminah Saleem, Millie Sharpe, Erin Bates, Faye Bullock, Isabella Hart. Hannah Brown, Lainey Rickards, Isabelle Palmer, Precious Komolafe, Seren Gough, Aimee Wood, Katie James, Chloe Thorogood, Olivia Lake Kelly, Ruby Elkins and Megan Abrahams - all achieved a Gold Award for their scores, which put them in the top 5%.

25 students who achieved Silver Awards - Monisha Mohan, Maisie Blakey, Jemima James, Liana Johnson, Felicity Adey, Immi Richards, Isobelle Moger, Isobel Moss, Mathilde Hiatt, Ofelia Pym, Eva Yordanov, Eulalie Bisimwa, Hope Hart, Rebecca Gravestock, Molly Douglas, Annabel Wall, Maggi Fuller, Evie Rushton, Amy Bowd, Natalie Sturgess-Cadman, Mia Hall, Annabel Gear, Isabel Kear, Alice Holder, Bethan, Sienna Zecca - had scores in the top 10%.

 22 Students achieved Bronze Awards for scores in the top 15%.

Mrs Karwa added “The aim of The Biology Challenge is to stimulate curiosity for the natural world and encourage students to take an interest in biology outside of school.

"We are continually looking to provide our students with opportunities to extend their learning and enthusiasm for sciences beyond the classroom, and we are delighted that so many students took up this challenge and performed so well.

"In addition to the Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards, a further 16 students were highly commended, and 11 students commended.”

All participating students have received a free Royal Society of Biology BioNet membership for one year.

Junior Physics Challenge

The British Physics Olympiad is a competition created by the Physics Department at the University of Oxford. Its core aim is to foster curiosity, celebrate successes, while also encouraging the study of Physics. The competition is designed to test students’ understanding and problem-solving skills. 

The competition consists of two twenty-five-minute online multiple-choice papers where questions are based on an assortment of topics from across the GCSE specifications along with some wider off-curriculum physics concepts. The Olympiad is a fantastic opportunity for students to evidence this along with resilience; this is what makes the Olympiad both challenging and fun.  

Globally, 10,800 students from 200 Schools participated in the awards and while this is an individual competition, it's great to see all the young physicists in Year 10 excelling and showing such positivity. Our gold students finished in the top 15.6 % of entrants across the world, silver in the top 28%, bronze in the top 52%.

Our Year 10 students participated in the Olympiad and achieved brilliant outcomes.

4 students achieved Gold award - Freya Anna, Alice Holder, Emily Mason, Grace Withers.

8 students achieved Silver awards - Monisha Funtilon, Glory Ohen, Tanisha Joshi, Grace Beale, Monisha Mohan, Phoebe Nixon, Orianna Parker and Tabitha Riley.

62 students achieved Bronze awards and 18 students achieved Commendation. Well done all, what a brilliant performance! 

Royal Society of Chemistry Schools' Analyst Competition.

Well done to all Year 12 Chemistry students that took part in the Analyst Competition this year.

They were tasked with finding the perfect formula for fish and chips.

Students used a range of analytical techniques and skills during the competition from running accurate titration on vinegar samples to setting up and analysing Thin Layer Chromatography of amino acids found in flour samples.

Congratulations to Grace Cooper, Holly Haynes and Thomas Johnson who scored the highest in the school and are crowned champions in the whole of the Southwest region!

£50 Amazon gift voucher prizes went to each student, as well as a £500 prize for Ribston Hall High School science team to spend on curriculum enrichment. Great performance, all! 

C'est Bon!

Year 7 have been learning how to order their breakfasts in French - miam miam! An excellent way to end a really productive year of language study.

Leavers' Ball

It was our Year 13 Leavers' Ball at Hatherley Manor on 30th June. What a way to celebrate the end of their Ribston years and finishing their A-level exams. It was fabulous to see everyone dressed up in their finest outfits and enjoying the event. After a three-course meal, there was an awards ceremony; among many other accolades, Laiba Malik was crowned as Prom Queen and Mr Goodwin crowned as Prom Lord!

Top of the Scouts!

Hannah Freestone, Year 8, has been awarded the Chief Scout's Gold Award, the highest award available to young members in Scouts. She was presented this award at her scout group earlier in June. Well done Hannah, what a great achievement! 

Hannah is also fundraising to fulfil her invitation to the World Scout Jamboree in South Korea next year, which the school has been happy to support. If you'd like to read more on this or get involved, please visit her fundraising page. 

Artistic Swimming Success

Izzy Evans, Year 9, Lottie Evans, Year 7, and Evie Parker, Year 9, have had multiple successes in the pool, competing for Cheltenham Swim and Water Polo club.

The competed in the south-west Artistic swimming competition. Swimming together in the 13-15 team, Izzy and Evie claimed gold for their routine. Lottie claimed gold with her 12 & under team and gold for the individual figures competition.

They followed this up by competing in the National Artistic Swimming Combo Cup a couple of weeks later at the London Aquatics centre. This involved teams of up to ten athletes moving in unison to high tempo music with impressive throws and lifts - 97 teams from across the UK took part. It's contested over two division and five age groups. Lottie's 12 and under team placed 4th, while Evie and Izzy's 13-15 team came away with a bronze medal. Fantastic results in some big categories, so well done again ladies! 

Isabella qualifies for the National Championships!

Isabella Dodane has been competing in Affiliated Show Jumping events to qualify for the National Championships which are held at Stoneleigh each year. 

This year she has qualified with her pony Peri for 2 classes at the National Championships on 4th August. In order to qualify for the British Novice class, they need to jump 4 double clears in the first-round classes and then at the 2^nd round finish in the top 10. The Stepping Stones is another class where they need to jump 4 double clears. I am sure you will join me in wishing her luck.

Multi-Talented Grace performs at a Music Festival!

Grace Rodger (Y10, GCSE Music) performed at Ashton Keynes Music Festival, which was held from 21^st to 26^th June.

Grace sang ‘Gravity’ by Sara Bareilles and played ‘Nuvole Bianche’ on the piano. She also conducted and arranged harmony for the ensemble performance for the Festival. So impressed with her talent, one of the producers of Serenity Audio suggested the recording of Grace’s performances.

Well done, Grace!

We are currently recruiting for a number of roles, including a TA, a Maths teacher and a PE teacher. If you are interested in finding out more about our open roles, please visit our vacancies page. 

Calling Year 11 parents

We are always very grateful to receive good condition uniform if you'd be happy to donate it to the school. Our second hand uniform shop is popular as students can pick up items from as little as £2. 

Important communications from our schoolwear supplier

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