Newsletters

A welcome return to a proper Ribston Hall Sports Day!

Sports day was a huge success after a two-year absence and despite 30+ degree temperatures!

Students demonstrated their resilience, determination and support of one another. It was wonderful to see students working together as team in their houses. It was a very close competition in the end with the with only 1 point between 1^st and 2^nd place. Outstanding field results led Saxons to victory!

A huge thank you to the newly appointed House Captains from Year 12 who demonstrated fantastic leadership skills and acted as role models to the rest of the school.

Well done to all competitors, here are the final results:

Overcoming phobias at West Midland Safari Park

Our Year 12 Psychology students enjoyed a phobia workshop as part of their psychopathology unit of their A-level course. They went to West Midlands Safari Park where they encountered a number of animals, took part in some interactive classroom sessions and enjoyed some rides while they were there! 

Go Purple!

On 8th July, we held a Purple HollieDay in aid of the Hollie Gazzard Trust. We've raised £420 so far for the Trust, who have kindly supported our PHSE curriculum once again this year, delivering talks about stalking, coercive control and the Hollieguard App. 

Year 6 induction Day

Our new Year 7s joined us for an Induction day, trialling classes, lunchtime clubs and mealtimes in the canteen!

They had a chance to spend some time with their new form groups, learn about their House and meet some of their teachers too.

We hope everyone had a great day and look forward to seeing them all again at our Ribston Ready Summer Camp in August! 

Primary Partnership activities

Science Day:

On Friday 1^st July, Ribston hosted a Science Day for Year 5 pupils from 6 of our 9 feeder Primary Schools. They participated in practical science lessons in our fabulous new Science block and watched a practical demonstration given by lecturers from the University of Oxford. Staff were also given training in 2 new practical science boxes (OXbox) that will be distributed amongst the feeder Primary Schools to increase practical science delivery within the classroom.

Primary Matinée - Summer Concert:

We were delighted to welcome 155 pupils from local Primary Schools to a matinée of Act 2 of the Summer Gala Concert, 'A night at the musicals'. This was an informal setting that put Ribston's performers at ease and gave Primary staff and pupils a chance to sit back, relax and enjoy the show.

Leadership:

Our Year 8 leaders provided an opportunity for KS1 pupils from across Gloucester City to participate in a multi-skills event at Oxstalls Indoor Tennis Centre this month. The leaders were a huge credit to the school who enabled the Gloucester City School Sports Network to host their final event of the year. 

Year 8 Geographers getting creative! 

8.4 Geographers were challenged by Ms Morgenstern to produce 'something creative' in response to this term's topic of Coastal Processes and Landscapes, and they did not disappoint!  Pictured are just a few of the lovely creative responses from our talented students.

Year 9 getting to grips with Time Travelling Aliens in Elizabethan England

Mrs Johnstone tasked Year 9 history students with a pre- GCSE project and was blown away with the students' efforts. The level of research, collaborative planning and creativity was amazing. They displayed so much passion and enthusiasm for their presentations, lesson time just disappeared!

There were real aliens (costumes handmade By Georgie 9.5), a guest appearance by Mr James, breaking news from Hope, Isla and Poppy, alien travel guides from Blanka and Lucille, an impressive interactive map from Aryama, Amy, Bethany and Cerys which you could click and choose where to travel to, and a beautiful presentation made on Canva from Elsa and co. Alicia and Meerab had an epic, vocal battle (they appear in the image below with Sanju and Priya) and we had a special video from Pink Panther. 

Each and every group delievered an amazingly creative, factual accurate piece of work - exceeding the brief and fully embracing the task at the end of an impressive and busy year in History. Mrs Johnstone was so proud of each and every person and lots of house points were awarded for recognition! Well done 9.4 and 9.5! 

Pride picnic

To celebrate the end of Pride Month, Mrs Johnstone arranged for her form, 7.3, to host a lunchtime picnic on 1st July. Each table was asked to bring in a coloured food from the pride rainbow.

Mrs Johnstone said "We played music, sang karaoke and celebrated each and every one of us and our uniqueness. Pride is really important to me and I was so pleased to see the wonderful atmosphere. We had wonderful food from Homemade Red Velvet Cakes (thank you Ava!) , Orange Wotsits, Pink panther biscuits, endless amounts of purple mini rolls and lots of tasty blue sweets, we also had healthy snacks, a variety of different coloured treats and lots of different flavoured drinks! Everyone contributed and it was a wonderful way to start July and recognise the end of Pride month...  I was especially impressed with the pupils song choices - we had everything from Queen, ABBA and Neil Diamond to name just a few! (parents would be proud!)"

Join the Summer Reading Challenge

Our Summer Reading Challenge is a list of 40+ suggestions for you to craft your very own reading challenge. Please see below for some ideas.

Upon the safe return of your loaned books the following rewards will be available

📖 1 prize awarded to the student who ticks off the greatest number of challenges – don’t forget you need to evidence that you have read the books.

📖 1 prize awarded to the student who creates the most innovative way of tracking your summer reading challenge.

📖 5 x house points will be awarded to each student who complete 5 x challenges

Books issued now are not due for return until September.

How many books can you borrow?

• • Yr 7: 4 x books
  • Yr 8 & 9: 5 x books
  • Yr 10: 6 x books
  • Yr 12: 10 x books

PLEASE NOTE: it is Library policy to charge for ‘Lost’ or ‘damaged’ (beyond mending) books. In the event of either of these occurring whilst on loan to you, you will be expected to replace the item with a ‘good’ second hand copy.

Primary Partnership event

Our Year 8 Sports Leaders helped at a Primary event at Plock Court last week, displaying some excellent leadership and encouraging coaching talk to the young pupils attending from local primary schools. 

Aryama Bharti, Amy Blanch, Maya Bunnett, Izzy Evans, Gracie Janes, Eva Gabb, Hannah Hampson, Nina Harrison and Cerys Lansdowne.

For the first time at Ribston we have two students who have achieved Silver awards, so a further well done goes to Aryama Bharti and Phoebe Jacob.

Enrichment Week 

The last week of the summer term is Enrichment Week at Ribston Hall, when all students are off timetable and partaking in fun and exciting activities. This year we've had trips go to Drayton Manor, Cotswold Wildlife Park, Croft Farm, London for an overnight theatre trip and Iceland for a week-long Humanities trip. For students who want to stay closer to home, we've visited Robinswood Hill for a nature trail, Gloucester Quays for a cinema and shopping trip, and held a Japanese Cultural immersion experience in school. Students are also getting stuck into some really creative activities like baking for a Mad Hatters Tea Party and recreating Bob Ross style landscape paintings. 

Water based fun at Croft Farm 

Year 12 went to Croft Farm for a day on the water, which was quite fortuitous timing given it was 37 degrees! 

Robinswood Hill 'Bug hotel' walk

Mrs Heard took a number of students up Robinswood Hill to collect organic material to use in building a bug hotel. The students then built them on their return to school.

Within 24 hours, some bugs had already moved in! It all helps with increasing the biodiversity of the school grounds, so we're delighted our bug hotels are attractive places to live! 

Fun at Westonbirt Arboretum

Our Year 7 students went off to Westonbirt for some learning about the environment around us as well as a lot of fun in the sun. 

A trip of a lifetime to Iceland 

50 students and five members of staff are on a four-day trip to Iceland during Enrichment Week. Despite a delayed flight and four lost suitcases on their way there, it is clearly becoming an unforgettable trip of a lifetime for all. 

As we write this, the trip is still ongoing, so a full write-up will appear in the September Ribston Roar. For now, some early imagery from the trip when they visited the bridge between two continents, they went inside a lava tube and walked on a glacier! A black sand beach, whale watching and waterfall images still to come! 

Community Tea Party

As part of Enrichment Week, Year 8 students organised a community tea party, inviting members of the local community to join us for afternoon tea. They entertained their guests with musical and dance performances, as well as organising table decorations, food and drink. Well done all; it was a lovely well attended event, particularly given the 38 degree heat! 

Getting artistic in Enrichment Week

Year 8 have been creating Bob Ross style landscapes using acrylic paint on canvas. Great brushes techniques and use of colour from all!

Mad Hatters Tea Party!

Year 8 produced some amazing tea party products for a Mad Hatters Tea Party, a feat made even more tricky by the heat in the kitchen (did we mention above it was hot in Enrichment Week?).

Gracie is a NATIONAL ROWING CHAMPION!

Congratulations to Gracie Janes who won gold at the British Rowing Junior Championships in Nottingham last week in the WJ14 event! 

Rowing with her Sculling partner at the National Water Sports Centre, Gracie and Harriet achieved the fastest time in the time trial, qualifying for the A final, which was a particularly tough race - but they emerged victorious!

The level of hard work, organisation and intelligence Gracie has invested in her training is immense and we are very proud of her achievements. Well done Gracie!

Historical Association Competition 

The history department advertised a local competition recently and Eva (8.5) needs special recognition for the piece of work she created. She researched and made a wonderful podcast style, 3-minute video on the contribution of women in Gloucester.

It was amazing to hear Eva's passion for 'her-story' coming through (the telling of women's history!). This was an independent, extracurricular activity which was submitted - we are currently awaiting the results but whatever happens Eva we are super proud of you and your efforts! Well done! 

As you are aware Britons, Danes, Romans and Saxons are the four Houses here at Ribston. One of the main strengths of a house system is giving students the opportunity to work together, creating a truly cohesive community and ensuring that age isn’t a barrier to collaboration.

The house system is inclusive of all learning types and interests. We have sporting events, artistic and design competitions, dance, language, music and many more. I will be focusing on increasing the number of these house events across the curriculum and creating further opportunities for students to represent their house. The house leader board total is communicated through Ribston Roar and displayed in tutor groups. Collaboratively you work together to add to the house point leaders board. Each time you gain a house point for excellent academic work, effort or participation, this is added to your houses total, with an annual cup awarded at the end of the year to the house with the most points.

Students were invited to take part in a very exciting ‘design your house logo competition’, where they were tasked with creating a new house logo fit for our second century. Our current house flags needed refreshing, and I am very excited to reveal the winning designs that reflect the culture and history of the civilisation their house is named after.

The winners are:

Britons: Millie Davies 9.1

Danes: Katerina Allen 7.1

Romans: Bethan Folkes 7.5

Saxons: Chloe Hanson 9.2

Well done to all that entered, it is fabulous to see your creative talent.

Mrs Hay, Lead for School Culture

Congratulations to this year's overall House Cup winners - the Romans!

Calling Year 11 and 13 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

As a response to your feedback, Monkhouse understand the importance of being able to communicate with you directly, so that they can keep you updated and in-the-loop as 'Back to School' approaches.

In order to keep you informed, we ask that you sign up to their email communications via the Monkhouse homepage or create account form to allow updates from Monkhouse to reach your inbox.