We have had a wonderful month filled with showcasing our talent and demonstrating the compassion of the Ribston School community. The school has been full of Ribston spirit!
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thank you for all the support you give to our students and staff, we greatly appreciate it.
We look forward to seeing the students back in school in the next decade, on Monday 6th January 2020.
Sarah Colombini
Headteacher
Christmas Hampers
Every year at Christmas, the Ribston Community takes the opportunity to provide hampers for families around Gloucester. We raised funds by holding a Christmas Jumper day, and this year students wore a variety of designs from silver stars to Rudolph’s red nose! All the money raised was used to buy lots of Christmas food including mince pies, chocolates and cake. Students in the Sixth Form wrapped boxes and packed the 40 hampers to overflowing ready for distribution.
Throughout December, students have also been bringing in food and toiletries to donate to the Gloucester Food Bank. Many thanks to everyone who has supported this project, we were delighted to be able to hand over several crates to the Food Bank earlier this week.
Christmas Card Competition
We ran the annual Christmas Card competition again this year and had lots of fantastic entires. Thanks to all the students that took part. These were the winners who received a WH Smith £10 book token.
Best of Key Stage 3 Georgie Abbey, 7.5
Best of Key Stage 4 Poppy Wynter, 11D
Best of Key Stage 5 Kallie-Ann Norris, 13.1
The Christmas Concert
On Friday 13th December, Ribston hosted our annual Christmas concert which consisted of music and drama performances.
Both the Drama and Music departments worked very hard to produce the acts including those from Senior Choir, Senior Orchestra, A Cappella Choir, Flute Choir, The Boar’s Head Carol, solo performances and more.
With the drama performance of ‘Who Invented Christmas?’ to follow. We had a range of performances from traditional pieces to more modern pieces, such as that of the A Cappella choir. A huge thank you to the Music teachers, Mrs. Hill as well as the Peripatetic staff who have all worked incredibly hard to make Friday night such a wonderful night for everyone.
The evening was very well received and attended, being one of our busiest Christmas concerts in years.
by Meghan Riley (Year 12)
Who Invented Christmas?
On Friday 13th December the Drama department put on the play “Who Invented Christmas?” performed during Act Two of the Christmas Concert. With a cast of 40 students, from Years 7 to 13, the story followed a family travelling through time to discover the origins of Christmas traditions. This included visiting the Persians, Romans, Saxons and other historical civilisations up to the Second World War. The play was an fantastic success!
With particular congratulations to Viki Lukacova, who stepped into the role of The Narrator as an understudy on the morning of the performance. Some of the most iconic moments of the play included Henry VIII’s dancing, Maximus galloping in on a hobby horse and the Greek Women’s RuPaul’s sass.
A huge well done to all the students involved and thank you to the students who supported us backstage and on the tech desk.
by Evie Cowley (Year 12)
Tanzania jet-setters busy fundraising!
Hujambo! (Hello!)
The Tanzania group continue to fundraise for their exciting expedition next summer.
Over the past year students have been raising money in various ways including babysitting, organising school discos, making and selling works of art, selling refreshments at the Junior Dance Show and more!
Students met with Camps International speaker Julie Lax to share fundraising opportunities and exciting information regarding their trip, including further information about the community service work they will be completing out there.
Tanzania 2020 will help to challenge students view on the world, understand the day to day challenges rural communities face, help work on projects which transform communities and help students overcome significant issues they face including access to clean water, education and housing. The expedition will also increase student’s self-worth and appreciate the impact just one person can have on the world.
Whilst on their 4-week life-enhancing expedition students will see some of the world’s most spectacular wildlife including elephants, zebras, giraffes, big cats and monkeys. Students will meet the inspiring Mamas of the local villages as they welcome them to the community and teach some of their traditional skills. Students will also be taking on a 3-day trek through the vibrant tropical rainforest of the Usambara Mountains.
Safari salama! (Safe travels!)
Mrs Hill
Thalir Maalir 2019
A huge well done and congratulations to Sara Raasenthiran (9R) who, alongside peers from other schools, raised over £2000 by organising Thalir Maalir, a charity program filled with drama, music and cultural dance.
Sara helped organise this as part of her Duke of Edinburgh award and donated £100 to benefit Ribston Hall. We hope to host this event at the school next year.
Theatre Trip – ‘An Inspector Calls’
On Thursday 7th November the Year 10 and Sixth Form Drama students went on a trip to Malvern Theatres. We saw a live theatre production called ‘An Inspector Calls’ by J. B Priestley. The play is based on the Birling family being visited by a man calling himself Inspector Goole, who questions the family about the suicide of a young working-class woman in her mid twenties. It is a political comment on Victorian and Edwardian English society.
From start to finish this play had me on the edge of my seat. I couldn’t believe how realistic the set looked! There was a building in the middle of the stage which had a balcony. It was set in 1912 and the building really replicated the era. At the beginning of the production there were children playing in the rain - and oh boy did it rain! There was so much water falling on stage, but it really gave the effect of actual rain.
When the main characters all came on stage I was absolutely stunned by Sheila’s dress. She had a beautiful gown that had a bustle and lay around her ankles. It was made from lace and was made in the colour white. She looked so elegant and beautiful. That was until the end where she had made it all dirty from the floor and she looked miserable and messy. This was significant to the play as it showed how she was pure at the beginning of the play and as the secrets were revealed it showed she was vulnerable. This happened to almost all the characters apart from Sybil who managed to stay untainted from the Inspectors harsh investigation.
All together the play was well presented, and I would recommend it to everyone. Don’t want to spoil it for anyone but the Inspector is one crafty fella. Is he who he says he is?
Thank you to all the staff who made this trip possible.
Kaitlin Howley (Year 10)
Introducing our new team of Year 12 Peer Mentors
The team is now up and running ready to work with younger students across the school year groups. Peer Mentors are based in the Library every lunchtime and are there to offer support and guidance to anyone that needs it. Whether you are having trouble settling in at school, friendship concerns or struggling with homework you can drop in and have a chat to whoever is on duty.
Peer Mentors also offer one to one support to students who would like to talk in more depth and can be contacted either in the Library or you can ask Wellbeing or your Head of Year to help you connect with someone in the team.
Peer Mentors are trained in active listening skills and have demonstrated a high level of maturity before becoming a fully-fledged Mentor. Each of them is dedicated to promoting and modelling good emotional health, kindness and resilience and aim to demonstrate the ‘five ways to wellbeing’.
#A Day Without
Our Wellbeing theme for this month was Thinking of Others. All throughout the month of December the school have been thinking of others who aren’t as fortunate as we are, especially at Christmas time. To help encourage the understanding of the struggle that this may be, on 3rd December, all students and staff were set a challenge to go #ADayWithout and give up something important in our lives for 24 hours. This went really well with Ribston Hall raising over £60 for Leonard Cheshire UK. Leonard Cheshire support individuals to live and learn and work as independently as they choose, whatever their ability. This is a charity to support physical and mental disabilities.
On behalf of the Wellbeing Ambassadors, I would like to thank everyone who took part.
Maisy Chamberlayne 8S, Wellbeing Ambassador
Supporting Children in Need
Our Charity Week 2019 ran from Monday 11th to Friday 15th of November all in support of Children in Need. During these five days we managed to raise an incredible £1526.
The aim of the week was to allow each house one lunchtime to set up their own stalls, one per year group, in the school gym. These ranged from chocolate fountains, to bring and buy, to sweet shops and games. Houses then competed against one another to raise the most money, with each pound raised equalling a house point. The week started with Britons holding their event, followed by Danes, Romans and then Saxons. Finally, Friday was down to the sixth form who had prepared a non-uniform day, bake sale and a Children in Need Quiz to be held in they gym. It was a very busy and exciting week supported by house captains, but overall Saxons were our house winners raising £309.29 for charity. A big thank you, as well as congratulations, to everyone who got involved for such an amazing cause.
by Lucy Fowler (Year 13)
Fundraiser Table Top Sale
The Barbados team will be doing their last fund raiser before they head off to warmer climates. In January they will run a table top sale, so we are asking for items that you may have around the house that you are never likely to use or unwanted Christmas presents.
Dawn Barnett, Curriculum Lead – Performance Events Coordinator
Cross Country District Championships
Congratulations to all the runners that took part in the District Cross Country on the 7th November. Overall, we finished in 3rd place, with our Senior Boys and Girls finishing in 1st place.
There were some outstanding performances from our students, notably Seren Jones finishing in impressive style to take 1st place in the Junior competition with Freya Howell coming in behind her to take 2nd place. Well done to Ruth Brook who also won the Year 7 race with Ella Hardiman finishing impressively in 3rd place. A great day was had by all.
Dawn Barnett, Curriculum Lead – Performance Events Coordinator
KS1 Christmas Event
Year 10 Leadership in PE lessons
Our Year 10’s have been busy since September, training to be Sports Leaders in their core PE lessons. Each student has learnt how to communicate effectively, organise groups and equipment and work as part of a team. Their training has culminated in running fun and motivating activities for KS1 pupils from Calton Primary School. Activities have ranged from tag rugby to 'steal from the nest' and parachute games.
The Year 10 Sports Leaders have enjoyed both leading and participating with the KS1 pupils, learning to use their initiative when required and gaining an understanding of the importance of patience when leading younger pupils.
The PE Department and Sports Leaders alike were delighted to receive a huge envelope of thank you letters from Year 1 pupils at Calton Primary School. It is clear to see that our Sports Leaders really have had a positive impact on these younger children.
Emily Mason Year 8 (pictured on the left)
Gold Medal Success
Congratulations to Emily Mason who took part in the South West Region synchronised swimming duet competition in Plymouth at the end of November. She came away with a gold medal in the age 13-15 category. A fantastic and well deserved achievement.
Lacrosse Taster Session
Ex-student Molly Abbott and her team mate, Amy Peterson from the University of Gloucestershire offered Ribston Hall High School a taster session in Lacrosse as part of their vow to ‘give something back’ in the run up to Christmas. 18 students from across Years 9 and 10 signed up for their first experience of Lacrosse which proved to be a huge success.
The girls were taught how to pass, catch, cradle and scoop which enabled them to play a game of possession at the end of the session.
Exam Certificates
The summer GCSE and A Level certificates are now available for collection on school days until 4pm. Please bring in ID. If you are not able to come in person, please arrange for someone else to collect them on your behalf and send an e-mail to exams@ribstonhall.gloucs.sch.uk to let us know who will be collecting your certificates.
With the drama performance of ‘Who Invented Christmas?’ to follow. We had a range of performances from traditional pieces to more modern pieces, such as that of the A Cappella choir. A huge thank you to the Music teachers, Mrs. Hill as well as the Peripatetic staff who have all worked incredibly hard to make Friday night such a wonderful night for everyone.
Over the past year students have been raising money in various ways including babysitting, organising school discos, making and selling works of art, selling refreshments at the Junior Dance Show and more! 
on the world, understand the day to day challenges rural communities face, help work on projects which transform communities and help students overcome significant issues they face including access to clean water, education and housing. The expedition will also increase student’s self-worth and appreciate the impact just one person can have on the world.
The aim of the week was to allow each house one lunchtime to set up their own stalls, one per year group, in the school gym. These ranged from chocolate fountains, to bring and buy, to sweet shops and games. Houses then competed against one another to raise the most money, with each pound raised equalling a house point. The week started with Britons holding their event, followed by Danes, Romans and then Saxons. Finally, Friday was down to the sixth form who had prepared a non-uniform day, bake sale and a Children in Need Quiz to be held in they gym. It was a very busy and exciting week supported by house captains, but overall Saxons were our house winners raising £309.29 for charity. A big thank you, as well as congratulations, to everyone who got involved for such an amazing cause.
The Barbados team will be doing their last fund raiser before they head off to warmer climates. In January they will run a table top sale, so we are asking for items that you may have around the house that you are never likely to use or unwanted Christmas presents.
team mate, Amy Peterson from the University of Gloucestershire offered Ribston Hall High School a taster session in Lacrosse as part of their vow to ‘give something back’ in the run up to Christmas. 18 students from across Years 9 and 10 signed up for their first experience of Lacrosse which proved to be a huge success. 