Newsletters

Winter Concert

At the beginning of the month, Ribston Hall hosted their Winter concert, a truly memorable evening of music and talent. The event began with the traditional Boar’s Head Carol, performed by the Sixth Form students, setting the tone for the performances that followed.

The night featured many outstanding musical performances, with every year group represented—a testament to the depth and quality of talent at Ribston Hall. It was wonderful to see older students inspiring the younger generation to showcase their abilities on stage.

Psychology

In October, A-level Psychology students from Ribston High School visited the Francis Close Hall campus at the University of Gloucestershire for a day of practical activities and engaging lectures. Highlights included a hands-on "Crime House" activity and two degree-level lectures.

Dr. Leila Iliffe-Hodgetts introduced advanced concepts in developmental, cognitive, and social cognition, connecting them to the students’ A-level knowledge. She shared her research on counterfactual thinking, alexithymia, autism, and risky decision-making, while offering insight into her academic journey and career.

Dr. Susie Atherton led an interactive criminology session where students designed their ideal prison, exploring rehabilitation strategies and discussing real-world practices and reforms.

In the "Crime House" activity, students solved a staged crime scene, guided by Chris Fewell (former police officer) and Emma Collins (graduate teaching assistant). They learned forensic techniques, teamwork, and problem-solving, linking the experience to real-world investigations.

The students embraced this super-curricular opportunity with enthusiasm, gaining insights into psychology as a discipline, career pathways, and degree-level study.

Philosophy and Ethics 

In October A-level Philosophy and Ethics students attended a Sixth Form Religion and Science day at Gloucester Cathedral. Students heard lectures delivered by The Rev’d Prof. Andrew Davison, the new Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford. Dr Sigbjorn Sonnesyn, Bristol University. The Rev’d Cannon Dr Mike Parsons, Anglican Priest and Physicist. Lectures covered the history of the relationship between religion and science, Religion and Science in the Modern Ages, and astrobiology and the long history of Christian writing on this topic. Students also had the opportunity to ask questions to a Q&A panel chaired by The Rev’d Canon Craig Huxley-Jones.

Students really enjoyed the opportunity: 

'I really enjoyed the second talk by Dr Sigbjorn Sonnesyn on the development of the relationship between religion and science throughout the past. It really showed a different perspective on how they relate' – Mia

'It was interesting to hear different perspectives on how religion and science interact. This will be great for my studies this year and it's really broadened my perspective on things.' – Jae

Year 8 Fundraising

This year, Year 8 chose to fundraise for Cancer Research UK, raising an impressive £200.62 during a lunchtime in November. Each House came up with creative ideas and worked together to make the event a success.

“Britons did a human fruit machine, a very successful bake-sale, guess the name of the cuddly sloth and guess the number of sweets in the jar. We proudly raised over £70 with all the tutor group helping by donating prizes and baking cakes at home. Some of the tutor group created colourful posters and price tags. Overall our stall had a very positive atmosphere and was so much fun to create and take part in, we loved it and so did our customers.” – Isabella and Rosie (Britons)

“For our charity stand, our class decided to make some cakes and set up some games including guess the name of the bear and guess how many sweets are in the jar for 50p each. In total, we came second with £41.91 for Cancer research UK. We are so grateful that we were able to sell out most of our cakes and that many people applied for the games.” – Olivia and Jessica (Celts)

“The year 8 Danes decided we wanted to do lots of different stalls so we could raise as much money as we could. We did a raffle, a lucky dip, guess the lollipop with the dot, guess the teacher from the baby photo and sold hot chocolate cones. The whole of class contributed and around half of the class helped on the stalls. In total we raised £31.11.” – Ella (Danes)

“We had lots of people asking to participate and help. Students got involved in guessing the name and the amount and were quite persistent while trying to win, the people that helped out had lots of fun getting students involved and we raised £20.40” – Beatrix (Romans) “Our stall included a jar of sweets and a bear. With the sweet they had to guess the number of sweets! This was the most popular one, the bear had a name that students had to guess! The sweets raised more money and was more approachable. Our stall raised a total of £20.40! We appreciated all of the money we raised.” – Hunniee (Romans)

“On our stall we sold a variety of baked goods, reindeer pom poms, some chocolate orange reindeer, mini hats to decorate your home for the winter and some Christmas cards. We also had some activities such as a lucky dip and guess the name of our octopus. The winners of the octopus was Emma, Joan and Agnes with the most creative name; Sir Mistletoe of the North Pole under the candy cane region the 53rd . We raised a total of £ 33.67. We had loads of fun running the stall and seeing the other houses stalls as well , we are glad to make money for such a lovely cause.” – Harriet and Ella (Saxons)

Shaping Futures

The Shaping Futures programme launched at the end of November, with seven of our feeder primary schools visiting Ribston for a Computing Day.

Pupils enjoyed a variety of activities, from Ohbots and Microbits to building a computer. After the Computing sessions, they met their fabulous Year 12 mentors, who guided them through 11+ online materials from Atom Learning.

It was a fantastic start to what promises to be another successful year for Shaping Futures. A big thank you to Kaeren Coverdale for organising the computing activities and to our external visitors!

Our Shaping Futures schools were also invited to the matinée performance of our Winter Concert. They enjoyed the show in an informal setting, having their picnic lunch while watching our talented Ribston performers. Afterward, they reconnected with their Year 12 mentors for an online tuition session.

Over the academic year, 12 sessions will run, featuring subject-specific days, after-school workshops, and online familiarisation with Atom Learning. These activities aim to boost the confidence, attainment, and aspirations of our feeder Year 4 and 5 pupils.

Frantic Assembly Physical Theatre Workshop

In November, some Year 10 and 11 drama students took part in a Frantic Assembly physical theatre workshop - led by Practitioner Felipe! It was a great opportunity to further expand our knowledge of physical theatre to apply to our GCSE course and was enjoyed by all students who took part! 
Hannah Hindle, Yr 10.

Book Buzz programme

Year 7 students have taken part in the Book Buzz programme this term. We discussed eight new titles in small groups and also watched a video where the authors described their books to us. This was a great opportunity to discuss books and share reading habits and preferences. At the end of the lesson, each student chose the text they would like to order for themselves. It is lovely to see the year 7 students enjoying their Book Buzz books in library lessons, and they also have the opportunity to borrow copies of the texts they didn't choose from the library. Thank you to the Ribston Hall Association for their contribution to this fantastic project and enabling every new Ribston Hall student to receive their own brand-new book. 

Modern Foreign Languages Lille Visit

At the beginning of December, we took a group of students from Year 9 and above to Lille, northern France. Students had the opportunity to visit the Christmas market, explore the surrounding shops and café and go to Euralille, one of the biggest shopping centres in Europe. Gifts were purchased, food was eaten and a good time was had by all.

Cyber Challenges and Computing

CyberFirst Girls competition
Twenty Yearr 8 students took part in the CyberFirst Girls competition during November. They had a lot of fun, ate lots of biscuits and learnt a lot!  The top team internally was ‘Pota-toes’, which included Ava, Grace, Millie and Alice.

University CyberSecurity competition
A new cybersecurity competition, run by UWE, University of South Wales and Cardiff University took place in October which involved solving cybersecurity challenges.  This competition was open to students in Years 10 – 13.  We had 4 teams enter, participating in their own time.  247 teams comprising over 1360 students took part in this competition. Our teams placed as follows:

26 - Ctrl Alt Elite
77 - Knowitall Ninjas
102 – Kangaroos
134 - Lion Downs 

Impressive work from everyone who took part! Excitingly, Ctrl Alt Elite has been invited to the finals in March 2025 at a university campus.  Congratulations to Annie, Bea, Evie and Sienna in Yr 10.

Bebras Challenge
In November, most KS3 students took part in the Bebras Challenge which is a computational thinking problem solving challenge.  This year we had 48 Gold awards, meaning the students scored in the top 10% of students who took part across the UK.

Well done to the following students who got Best in School in their respective categories, tying for the honour. Evelyn (7C), Isolde (7D), Katie (7D), Hannah (9-3), Willow (9-3)

Our Year 10 Sports Leaders enjoyed a day at Barnwood Park this month, supporting the Gloucester School Sports Network (GSSN) with their Key Stage 1 Christmas Multi-Skills event. 

Cheryl Stennett (Manager of the GSSN) said : Please can I take the opportunity to say a thank you for supporting our Christmas primary school's multi-skill festival yesterday.

In total just over 500 primary children, 100 teachers from 14 local schools took part. They all had an amazing time, due to your enthusiastic sports leaders.

Your students were an absolute credit to the school, such great ambassadors and positive role models. The primary children looked up to them all, from Rudolph the red nose Reindeer to Father Christmas and those cheeky elves! What a great start to the festive season, please thank them all from the GSSN team.

We really do appreciate the support that we receive from Ribston Hall, who will always remain a key partner to GSSN.

Science

Congratulations to all Year 13 Chemistry students on completing a successful lab day last month!

In preparation for the session, students conducted research to create detailed risk assessments for handling potentially harmful chemicals, including methyl-3-nitrobenzoate, and concentrated sulfuric and nitric acids. This ensured they were well-prepared for safe and effective lab work.

On the day, students synthesized methyl-3-nitrobenzoate through a carefully controlled two-stage process. They began by mixing the acids in an ice bath to regulate the temperature before adding them to nitrobenzoate. Precise temperature control was crucial to avoid forming impurities in the product.

To evaluate their results, the students tested the purity of their synthesized compound using melting point determination and thin-layer chromatography, showcasing their attention to detail and analytical skills.

We are incredibly proud of their hard work and commitment to scientific excellence!

Read Our Latest News and See Highlights from Our Incredible Fashion Show

Written by our talented students Harroop Bhandal (Year 13) and Poppy McGuire (Year 12), these article captures the success of the second year of this amazing event.

Congratulations the Romans who are at the top of the House Points Leader Board as we end 2024! Well done to everyone who was awarded house points this year.

Safeguarding Information

As we approach the Christmas season, I would like to take a moment to thank you for your ongoing support and partnership in ensuring the safety and well-being of our students.

Please remember that if you have any safeguarding concerns during weekends, school holidays, or times when the school is closed, you can reach out by emailing head@ribstonhall.gloucs.sch.uk. During term time, you can contact me directly at dh@ribstonhall.gloucs.sch.uk, and if appropriate, please copy your concerns to head@ribstonhall.gloucs.sch.uk.

Your communication is vital in helping us maintain a safe environment for all our students.

Wishing you a joyful Christmas break.

Mrs. Debbs Hay
Designated Safeguarding Lead

Gloucestershire Safeguarding Children Partnership | Gloucestershire Safeguarding Children's Partnership

Contact Children and Families Services | Gloucestershire County Council

Home : Gloucestershire Healthy Living and Learning

NSPCC | The UK children's charity | NSPCC

Family Information Service (FIS) | Gloucestershire County Council

Child sexual exploitation | Gloucestershire Constabulary

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service - CAMHS > Glos Health & Care NHS Foundation Trust