Newsletters

June 2020

Another month and another lockdown Ribston Roar! 

This month, we were able to welcome back the Year 10 and Year 12 students onto school site to offer them some face to face sessions. We have been talking to them about their wellbeing during lockdown and they have shared their experiences on what it has been like and the barriers they have faced in their learning. Year 12 have had some UCAS guidance and students are now receiving subject sessions that will help staff determine gaps, set the right level of work moving forwards and plan for September for these year groups. This has been crucial to ensure students feel supported and gives us an opportunity to build their confidence as much as is possible. The staff have really enjoyed seeing the students again and spending time with them and hopefully the students have felt the same way!

We have also been able to plan for Year 7,8 and 9 to come in for Wellbeing sessions and a picnic before the end of the year so we are also looking forward to seeing them in the last few weeks. 

In May, I launched a photography competition to all students as my office walls have been bare since I arrived at Ribston and I wanted some student photography to adorn my walls. I asked students to send in pictures they had taken during lockdown that they were proud of and I was delighted to receive 66 entries. All were of superb quality and I had a difficult time choosing the winners. If you click on the link here, you can see all of the entries that were submitted. Below you can see the winner who is Hannah Brown, 8B who produced this photograph of the beautiful poppies that were recently in bloom at Plock Court in Gloucester. Well done! The 8 runners up are also below. I have decided that all 9 will be going up on my walls soon. 

Sarah Colombini 

Headteacher

Top to Bottom, Left to Right: Danielle Veluz 7.2, Katie Lundberg 9S, Louisa Garley SF4, Maisie Potter 9B, Jim Thurlow 7.3, Lucy Trafford 11B, Myrto Barling 8S, Rosie Emmett 10B.

Celebrating PRIDE month 

June is Pride month, it is a month dedicated to celebrating the LGBTQ+ communities all around the world.

Pride is usually celebrated with lots of parades and marches but with coronavirus and social distancing still in place, things have been a little different this year.

Ribston's Umbrella group has written about Pride month but also during lockdown. 

"As with every year, June marked Pride Month, and this year celebrates 51 years since the Stonewall Riots that pushed forward the LGBT civil rights movement in America. 

50 years ago on 28th June was the Christopher Street Liberation Day March - the first ever pride march. While for many this was a celebration of acceptance, this was not the case for everyone. The now much-loved activist Stormé DeLarverie spoke at the protest, but was booed by the white audience. Here at the Umbrella Group, we stand with our LGBTQ+ and BAME community.

As the leaders of the school's LGBTQ+ group, we felt that it was important to continue to provide a space for students to be able to stay in touch and support each other. At the beginning of lockdown, we created a list of LGBT media to access such as TV shows and films, to provide comfort and a way to express pride. Since then, we have produced more PowerPoints on LGBT issues to support members of our school community.

And whilst this year, Pride looks a little different to usual, we hope that everyone has been able to celebrate it in their own way. Here at the Umbrella Group, we are so proud of you, and we hope you have pride in yourselves too."

The Umbrella Group

International Women in Engineering Day (INWED) Competition 

June 23^rd marked International Women in Engineering Day (INWED), an event held globally to celebrate the achievements of women engineers, raising the profile and awareness in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), whilst demonstrating a commitment to diversity and inspiring future generations.

Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in Cheltenham launched a poster competition to local schools to raise recognition of this day. The theme this year was ‘Shape this World’ and this could be used to influence the student’s design. The criteria stated that it needed to be about a woman from any point in history or present day who was/is involved in STEM, explaining what she did and why it was impressive.

GCHQ received numerous entries from a range of schools and the winners were selected from a panel of GCHQ engineers.

We are absolutely delighted to say that Poppy Smith, 9R won the competition and below is her winning design.  

Poppy Hume, 9B won the runner up prize!

Both have received prizes and letters congratulating them, as well as their work being publicised on the GCHQ Twitter and Instagram feed (18,000 followers!)

On behalf of the Science and Design Team, massive congratulations to both students.

Lockdown Art and Design Work

Poppy Smith 9R has continued being busy during Lockdown and has produced  these 2 beautifully drawn pieces of artwork inspired by the Artist Cath Riley who her year group studied this year in an Art lesson. The first drawing is a crystal pendant and the second drawing of a section of runner beans (just like the artist studied) - both monotone drawings which are very high tone and showing her knowledge of the B pencils and their properties resulting in work full of impact! 

Gareth Collins, Teacher of Art, Photography & Graphic Communication

Ribston Staff and Student Working Group against Discrimination

In response to events in the last month, students and staff have joined together to form a group to discuss all types of diversity and discrimination in our society. The group is using Microsoft Teams to communicate, share ideas and articles that may be of interest. Jade Roberts in Year 9 has written her thoughts on the discussions:

“Racial discrimination has been a major issue in our society. The death of George Floyd has triggered many riots and protests for equal rights, an issue which has been going around for decades. An innocent man along with many other people of colour have been killed by police officers due to the colour of their skin. It needs to stop! "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character. I have a dream today!" This quote was said by Martin Luther King in his speech for the fight of justice. People should not have to worry about their lives because of their skin.

Iman Raja, in Y12 would like to set the students a challenge to support the group:

“As you have probably seen throughout these past months, the news has been a whirlwind of protests and petitions for the Black Lives Matter movement. As a school and as a community, our main ethos should be to advocate for and to encourage movements that strive for justice and accountability as well inspire and educate people from all backgrounds to stand together.

We would like to display artwork or models that clearly celebrate diversity and refute discrimination in our society. We would like to hold a whole school competition where you can channel your thoughts and what this movement means to you into a physical piece of art. This can include drawings, paintings, sketches etc. and can include quotes that you have been moved by.

We hope that this competition will catalyse many more opportunities for students who want to show their support and showcase the many skills we have at Ribston. Feel free to get as creative as you like, we're very excited to see what you come up with!”

If you would like to create a piece of artwork, please email an image of the final piece to Mr Barnard (ab@ribstonhall.gloucs.sch.uk) by 1st September 2020. We would like to display these in September, so please keep hold of these pieces. 

Sharing Student Work - Food Technology Challenges

It was my dad's birthday so we had Thai food for dinner. I made khao pad supparot (pineapple and cashew rice). 

Hannah Brown 8B

May Harper 8B 

May has been cooking at home during lockdown. May's mum sent in a few pictures of the amazing food. May has always been interested in food - buying it, preparing it, cooking it and eating it! 

When she started at Ribston however, her interest really took off - she found the cookery curriculum stimulating and engaging;

she was particularly delighted to be awarded Star Baker multiple times!

May decided to take responsibility for the evening meal every Wednesday, and the lucky Harper family have been treated to restaurant quality food every time! 

May is looking forward to resuming her school cooking lessons soon. 

Molly Allen 8B 

Mini Oreo Cheesecake  - We didn’t have a recipe to make this but for the biscuit base we put melted butter and crushed up digestives together and cooled. Then, for the main layer, we melted Oreo chocolate bites with cream cheese, we also added a little bit of icing sugar to make it a bit sweeter. We then put that on top of the biscuit and cooled for a few hours. It tasted very good although the biscuit base went a bit too hard so that is something we can work on next time.

Spring Pork Casserole - This casserole was from a Slimming World recipe, so it was healthy, but it also tasted nice. It contained pork, red pepper, orange pepper, onions, leek, bacon, garlic cloves, plain flour, curry powder, canned tomatoes, dried oregano, chicken stock and mushrooms.

Haddock and Prawn Gratin -This was another Slimming World recipe and was delicious. Instead of potato mash, I mashed carrot and swede which didn’t mash as well as I thought it would so I will have to work on that for next time. The other ingredients included: hard boiled eggs, prawns, haddock, plain yoghurt, nutmeg, and dill.

Coffee Cake - I made coffee cake because it was my Grandad’s birthday. It was a BBC Good Food recipe and the cakes came out very light and spongy/bouncy. The icing also had a strong coffee taste but was a bit sweet and I added the chocolate chips because I know my Grandad likes them. The only thing with this cake is I don’t feel like my presentation is the best and it isn’t very neat, but I can work on that if I make it again. Overall, the actual cake was very good, and my Grandad enjoyed it a lot.

Becky Chisholme 8D These are my butterfly cakes. I added a bit of raspberry jam on the top of some of them because it made them extra tasty ??

Freya Carroll 8B, - Butterfly Cakes               

Rosanna Phelps 9R made sausage rolls, Viennese biscuits and bacon and potato cakes.  Everything went down a storm! My mum wanted to eat the sausage rolls all over again, and said she’d write a rave review for them! Even my little sisters loved them!

Everyone loved the Viennese biscuits (Of course!) and my mum said they were ‘very melt in the mouth’, which is what I was really hoping for!

And my bacon and potato cakes were DELICIOUS! I’m loving baking and cooking and I’m going to keep all the recipes I have been sent!

Blanka Gradziel 7-REG5
Here is my pasta salad.

Vegetables; rucola tomatoes avocado cucumber radish

Dairy; eggs

Meat; chicken

Oil /dressing; olive oil and balsamic vinegar, balsamic glaze

Sprinkle of pumpkin seeds

Basil for decoration

Grace Cooper 10B  Here is my Bakewell Tart, I used blackcurrant jam instead of raspberry to give the pie a tangy and sharp taste.

Rosa Jolly 7-REG4

I really enjoyed this week’s task. I have attached a picture of my salad the ingredients and a list of ingredients. My family loved the pasta salad and we will definitely be eating it again.

Sharing Student Work - Design Challenges

A-Level Student Alexa Allsup 12-SF5 produced this fantastic artist copy as part of her Personal Investigation research. She has shown beautiful and refined embroidery skills - well done Alexa!

Daisy James 7-REG5 

created this fantastic sock monster.

She also created a character profile and story about her monster.(Click here to see more) This project was based on the work of designer John Murphy.

Whilst in lockdown, Rosanna Phelps 9R has enjoyed using her embroidery skills she gained in her Textiles rotation earlier this year. She embellished her iPad case. You’ve done a great job Rosanna! Well done!

Seren Gough 8D produced some fabulous designs for her pattern project this rotation.

Sharing Student Work - Biology Challenge

Mr Cerullo set Year 7 a challenge during Lockdown to create a model of a cell. 

Here is a picture of my cell. I used polystyrene from a package, then carved it into the correct shape and then painted it. Lucy Carter 7-REG5

July Enrichment Competitions

As we are unable to have our enrichment week this year, we are offering lots of competitions to students to get involved in to gain points for their houses as we still will be awarding the House Cup to the house with the highest number of points. Below are the events and competitions that are being offered. Students have all been sent information on how to get involved. 

RIB TOK Challenge

This year's House Captains have introduced a new challenge to Ribston’s virtual House Events: Rib Tok! The House Captains have chosen a famous TikTok dance and are asking students to learn your house’s chosen dance and send in a short video to them via their house Teams group . It is an optional challenge, but there are House points involved for the house with the most submissions, as well as the best dancers, so we’d love to see as many of you involved as possible, from all year groups!  

Britons: Sunglasses Challenge, Danes: Funky Town, Saxons: U Can’t Touch This and Romans: Blinding Lights.

Videos sent in must be no longer than 15 seconds and must be sent to House Captains via Teams by Thursday 9th July at 3pm.  

RIBSTON REV’S 

Another challenge we would like students to take part in is the Ribston Rev’s challenge! This will take place between the 6^th-13^th of July and we ask that in this week students try to do as many miles as they can, whether this is running, walking, cycling or scooting! Families are also welcome to take part in this challenge and all of your miles travelled will be added to your house total. You can send video or photographic evidence e.g. with your phones, watches or ask your parents to sign a sheet with the total miles and send in. The deadline for your final total is 13^th July and the results will be revealed on the 17^th, which will also include the Sports Week results!  

VIRTUAL SPORTS WEEK  

Virtual Sports week will take place from the 9th – 14th of July. We would like students to take part in as many challenges as possible from the list below:  

*Keep up challenge for 1 minute (you can use anything you like e.g. hockey stick and ball, football) 

*Miles challenge run/walk/cycle 

*How far you can throw a toilet roll  

*Ball speed throw at wall for 1 minute 

*How many skips in a minute (using a rope) 

*Duo event with sibling or parent

*Relay 200m x 2 people, 400m x 4 people 

*How many chest passes in 1 minute (5m apart) 

*How many bounce passes in 1 minute (5m apart) 

*Running: 50m, 100m, 800m, 1500m 

Students can video themselves doing these or record their times/distances and submit them to the House Captains via Teams. Points will be based on the number of entries into each house. This will then be collated for sharing on Friday the 17th July. We look forward to you all taking part!

From both Olivia Denhome-Parker, on the Head Girl Team in charge of House Teams and the House Captains. 

Student Sport Achievements During Lockdown

Rose Whitehead, 9D recently competed in her first virtual race as featured in Gloucestershire Live's newspaper edition. She has been regularly training to improve her kayaking with Gloucester Canoe Club throughout lockdown. 

Ribston Alumni 

Tabby Lazenbury who left three years ago, studied GCSE and A-Level Textiles at Ribston achieving an A* in both. She went on to study BA (Hons) Textile Design at Nottingham Trent University. She has just finished her degree and has been entered into the Fashanne Awards.

Tabby’s concept for her entry was developed from time spent working alongside apparel designers at ‘Speedo’ and has been inspired by origami, architecture and innovative material technologies. Her dynamic sportswear pieces showcase engineered ‘trompe l’oile’ prints and digital embroideries manipulated to enhance the body. Led by the need for safety when running, cycling and training outdoors, these pieces include reflective elements for visibility along with padded protection systems and laser cut ventilation adding to the functionality, flexibility and strength of her collection. Fold, flex, expand, reflect, transform.

Ribston are incredibly proud of Tabby - who is such a creative and talented design student. If you would like to support her entry in the ‘People’s Choice’ category for the Fashanne Awards you can visit https://www.fashanne.com/online-awards-2020/  . If you scroll down to the bottom - there is a list of names -  you can select Tabby Lazenbury. She would certainly appreciate the support from the Ribston community.