Students at Roding Valley High School have been set a series of house competitions and challenges across a number of different subjects to keep them connected with the school community, engaged with their learning and morale high during the recent shift to remote learning. While house points are on offer for the respective winning individuals, the houses with the highest number of entries across each competition will also be rewarded.
With the increasing popularity of Veganuary – an annual challenge designed to inspire people to adopt a vegan diet in the month of January – Roding Valley High School students are being encouraged to rustle up their best vegan recipes and email their photograph submissions into the school, where a judging panel will assess the food according to its presentation and creativity.
Rather topically, in another challenge, students are being asked to look for the positives that can be taken from a negative situation. 27 January 2021 marks Holocaust Memorial Day and students are being encouraged to send in photographs of people, groups and objects that unite communities in times of trial and difficulty. The challenge represents a chance for students to reflect on the powerful human responses and bonds that drew many together in the face of the horrors of the Holocaust.
Sharon Jenner, Headteacher, Roding Valley High School, comments: “The start to the New Year has by no means been conventional. I am, however, extremely proud of the whole school community – students, staff members and parents too – for how they have risen and responded to the challenge of remote learning. Our house system is something that we really value and treasure at Roding Valley High School. As such, these house competitions, set by various different departments in the school, are a real opportunity to build and develop that spirit and sense of togetherness when we cannot physically be in the same place.”
The secondary school has also asked its students to create posters or photographs exploring the theme of religion in light of World Religion Day on 17 January. Other challenges include: designing a festive Christmas chocolate bar to test Year 8 students’ creative marketing skills, improving students’ times tables and recall speed through TimeTable Rockstars, and demonstrating their modern foreign language skills by presenting 10 newly learnt words. To add some more fun to the mix, one teacher has also set up a Pokémon battle server where students can take place in competitive battles online.
The school, keen to prepare its students for the world of work, is also encouraging Key Stage 3 students to gain as many badges as possible from recommended online courses, designed to help improve students’ CVs, while allowing them to improve their computing skills too.
To keep students fit and active during the period of lockdown, the PE department at Roding Valley High School has also launched an ‘Around the World Challenge’ where they are asking students to choose an exercise – whether that is walking, running or cycling – and try and get as close as possible to the 40,075 kilometres that it would take to travel around the world. With the help of Google Classroom, students have until February half-term to log their distances and progress.
Jenner continues: “While we look forward to a time where we can welcome each other back into the classroom again, I know the resilience, tenacity and determination of our school community will carry us through until that moment. Until then, I very much look forward to seeing all the entries that our creative cohort of students submit.”
