1

Term 2 – Week 7 – Friday 15 December 2017 Key Dates for the Forthcoming

Week

Week 1 on the student timeta-

ble Wednesday 20 December: Col-

lege closes to students for Christmas, 1.30 pm

The College re-opens to

students on Wednesday 3 January 2018 at 8.50 am

Attendance Data—08/12/2017—14/12/2017 House attendance data: Artisans: 91.4% Mariners: 91.7% Smugglers: 92%

Well done to SFB who achieved the best Mentor Group attendance for this

week, at 99.2%

Message from the Interim Headteacher - Kenny Fitzpatrick Following the snow closure earlier this week, I would like to

take this opportunity to explain to parents why the decision

was made to close.

Any decision is based on a number of considerations, but focus-es primarily on four main factors:

That children can get to and from school safely

That the school site itself is safe

That there are enough staff available to supervise students

Being a rural school, the availability of school transport also

has to be taken into consideration.

Mid-Monday morning, we received a call from one of the local bus companies, advising that students who travel on their ser-

vice caught the next available bus, otherwise they could not guarantee that these students would be able to get home. Alt-

hough Robertsbridge itself did not have much snow, the local towns were reporting heavy snow, with the forecast predicting

that this would continue until mid-afternoon. We received

many calls from parents in remote locations concerned that their child would not be able to get home. Given that some

staff travel in excess of 25 miles, I have to consider the weath-er conditions in a much wider area than Robertsbridge itself.

Taking all of the above into account, a decision was made to close the school at 11.30 am. This kind of decision is not

made lightly, but the safety of students and staff is paramount.

I would like to thank you for supporting the College this term with

upholding standards, especially in relation to uniform, homework, and attendance.

I would also like to take this opportunity to wish you and your fam-

ily a very happy and peaceful Christmas. We look forward to wel-

coming students back to College on Wednesday 3 January 2018.

Kenny Fitzpatrick Interim Headteacher

2

Upcoming Events 2 January 2018: College closed for In-Service Training

3 January 2018: College re-opens to students, 8.50 am

15 January 2018: Year 8 OAA university visit

16 January 2018: Year 9 Theme Day

18 January 2018: Years 9 & 10 Report 2 to Parents

19 January 2018: Year 11 Full Report to Parents

25 January 2018: Headteacher’s Surgery, 3.45 pm—4.45 pm, Year 8 Parents’

Evening, 4.00 pm— 6.30 pm

Lost Property Once again, we seem to have collected a vast amount of lost property. This will be

displayed in Reception until the end of term—if your child is missing an item,

please ask them to check lost property, otherwise it will be disposed of.

Inclement Weather

Now that winter is upon us, please can parents ensure that your child has a coat, a key (or access to one) and if they carry a mobile phone, that it is charged. The

weather conditions this week highlighted the need for this reminder. Many thanks

for your support.

Student Congratulations

Congratulations to former student Sophie Barber, who left the College in 2012.

CVAN South East, in partnership with five leading galleries from the South East region, is thrilled to announce that Fine Art graduate Sophie Barber is the winner of

the Platform Graduate Award 2017.

Sophie, a graduate of the University of Brighton’s BA (Hons) Fine Art Practice at

Sussex Coast College Hastings, will receive a twelve-month professional develop-ment and creative mentoring package, lead by artist Jonathan Parsons and sup-

ported by the participating Platform Graduate Award galleries, plus a bursary of

£2,500 to support her creative and professional development.

The Jury comprised of guest selector artist Rosalind Nashishibi and representatives

of the five gallery partners Aspex, De La Warr Pavilion, MK Gallery, Modern Art Ox-ford and Turner Contemporary. Paul Hobson, Director of Modern Art Oxford and

Chair of CVAN South East, had this to say of their decision:

We are delighted to name Sophie Barber as the winner of the 2017 award. The shortlist once again showed an impressive range of graduate talent, but in the end we were all struck by the coherence of Sophie’s painting practice and her already confident and distinctive artistic voice. We are convinced that Sophie will benefit greatly from the financial support and professional development opportunities that the Platform award offers, and we are excited to watch her practice and career develop in the coming years.

Winner Sophie Barber comments:

I’m ecstatic to have won the Platform Graduate Award 2017. Thank you to my tu-tors at Sussex Coast College for all of their support. Also thanks to Rosie Cooper and the team at De La Warr Pavilion for selecting me. I’m excited for what this year has to offer, and making the most of the award, and am looking forward to getting back in the studio painting.

Now in its sixth year, the Platform Graduate Award represents the very best of young and emerging artists in the region. Forty-one graduate artists from sixteen

universities across the South East region were selected and exhibited at the five partner galleries. From each exhibition the host gallery nominated one artist to be

considered for the award, with De La Warr Pavilion nominating Sophie Barber. From this shortlist and an interview process, the Jury chose Sophie Barber.

3

Drama News

A Christmas Carol

On Friday 8 December, students put on an amazing performance of ‘A Christmas Carol’. Both the performers and technicians did a fantastic job and all of their hard

work over weeks of rehearsals certainly paid off!

A huge thank-you to everyone who came and supported this event!

National Theatre Connections Festival 2018

This year RCC will be taking part in the National Theatre Connections Festival. This is a very exciting opportunity and auditions will be taking place on Tuesday 9

January. The auditions are open to Year 9, 10 and 11 students.

4

Mock results are officially out! It was lovely to see the students so excited, and nervous too, to receive their results. The more formal setting really helps prepare them for Au-gust when the results are their actual GCSE examination results. Please do discuss the results with your son or daughter; it makes a big difference. It can be a sit down at the table to analyse where the results sit in terms of their entry requirements to college, or it can be making the effort to ask them for their results. All these things, while small and easily forgotten with the business of everyday lives, have a big impact on stu-dents. They feel supported and it highlights to them the importance of their GCSEs. Some of the conversations will be really positive and will celebrate the achievements of students. Other conversations might be more difficult if the results are not what you and your son or daughter wanted. Regardless of how positive or negative the conversation, it’s really important at this stage for students not to lose momentum in their subjects. Brilliant results now do not guarantee brilliant results later if students become lax. There is still plenty of time for disappointing results to be turned around; the difference that can be made in 6 months can be staggering. Hopefully the Christmas holiday will be relaxing and enjoyable for all students. It’s important for Year 11s to strike a balance between relaxation and work. Doing some revision in the holidays will be a big help to their lessons and revision when they return in January. Revision and practice for the exams is not a sprint, but a marathon. Little and often will help them along the way. This is the message

going out to students in their lessons so parents reinforcing this at home will reduce building anxiety and improve their knowledge and confi-

dence for the exams.

5

The Robertsbridge Community College Children’s Chess Competition (The RCCCCC) is back and qualifying fever has gripped the Co llege. With five lunchtimes of rigorous

chess, featuring over 100 players and nearly 500 matches, 64 elite players have reached the finals stage on Monday 20 December. Eight of the highest performing players have been seeded for the group stage (which can be seen below) with Ed Blinovs (favouring his Latvian Gambit) and Hogarth Hannam the two favourites. Whilst the two

players have a roughly equal record, Hogarth finds himself in a tougher group with the wildly unpredictable Nathan Carey always a threat. Nathan is full of confidence af-ter a recent victory over Mr Austen-White.

Group H offers an interesting proposition when Iris plays Iris, possibly the first time in chess history two Irises have faced off! Group G sees Karig Ely and Issy Channon battle it out for 10A supremacy. Finally plenty of players will no doubt be keeping a close eye on Joe Stephens, who has been blustering about his chances, and seems to

have found himself in a relatively simple group. Full results to follow.

6

Merry Christmas from the Living Garden team!

The garden team have celebrated Christmas with a bumper sprout harvest this

week!

We had two different varieties, regular Brussels sprouts and flower sprouts. Our

team of students did a fantastic job harvesting the sprouts on a very chilly morning in a way that will enable the plants to continue growing so fingers crossed we will

be able to harvest a second crop later in the winter.

The sprouts we have picked all went into our students’ Christmas lunch and we

have had multiple reports that they are the best sprouts that our students/staff have ever tasted!

From all of the garden team we wish you very Merry Christmas and enjoyable

sprouts!

Mrs Linch

llinch@robertsbridge.org.uk

'INDOOR

TENNIS

DURING

TER 'LEARN TO

PLAY THE GAME,

@rcclivinggarden rcclivinggarden rcclivinggarden

7

'INDOOR TENNIS DURING THE WINTER 'LEARN TO PLAY THE 'INDOOR TENNIS DURING THE WINTER 'LEARN TO PLAY THE 'INDOOR TENNIS DURING THE WINTER 'LEARN TO PLAY THE GAME, WHILST HAVING FUN!' GAME, WHILST HAVING FUN!' GAME, WHILST HAVING FUN!'

ADULT & JUNIOR INDOOR TENNIS COACHING (All ages and all standards)ADULT & JUNIOR INDOOR TENNIS COACHING (All ages and all standards)ADULT & JUNIOR INDOOR TENNIS COACHING (All ages and all standards)

Join Nick MontagueJoin Nick MontagueJoin Nick Montague (Registered L.T.A Level 3 Tennis Coach)(Registered L.T.A Level 3 Tennis Coach)(Registered L.T.A Level 3 Tennis Coach)

At the Robertsbridge Community Sports HallAt the Robertsbridge Community Sports HallAt the Robertsbridge Community Sports Hall

ADULT INDOOR TENNIS COACHING ADULT INDOOR TENNIS COACHING ADULT INDOOR TENNIS COACHING &&&

SATURDAY MORNING JUNIOR TENNIS COACHINGSATURDAY MORNING JUNIOR TENNIS COACHINGSATURDAY MORNING JUNIOR TENNIS COACHING

Starting on Saturday 6Starting on Saturday 6Starting on Saturday 6 January 2018January 2018January 2018 Free Taster Session from 10.00Free Taster Session from 10.00Free Taster Session from 10.00---11.00 am11.00 am11.00 am

(Rackets Provided if Required)(Rackets Provided if Required)(Rackets Provided if Required)

For further information & bookings phone:For further information & bookings phone:For further information & bookings phone: 01424 848572/07824 79963201424 848572/07824 79963201424 848572/07824 799632

Email: montaguenick@hotmail.co.ukEmail: montaguenick@hotmail.co.ukEmail: montaguenick@hotmail.co.uk