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Here’s a round-up of the 2024/25 academic year so far. Congratulations on all you have achieved this year.
We wish the Vale of York community a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
During the summer holidays, Ben Vamplew (Year 8) took part in the Athletics National final in Manchester – representing York and District.
Teams from across the country had been competing all year, and City of York made it through to the final 7 teams. So – on the 31st August, Ben ran – like the wind – in the 150m race, coming 3rd! Huge congratulations on this great achievement. We look forward to seeing Ben continue his success in his running career.
On Wednesday 23rd October, we proudly presented over 40 Year 10’s with their Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Awards.
What an amazing achievement! The pupils have all volunteered, been physical, learnt a skill and completed a 2 day overnight expedition; Congratulations to all!
Congratulations to Poppy and Dafydd in Year 10 who both took part in the French Duolingo summer challenge. Poppy got the highest streak among her peers and won a Paris Olympic Games water bottle! BRAVO Dafydd was the runner up!
Well done to both these pupils who have worked hard across the summer, and have gained an extra skill, as well as inadvertently helping themselves to achieve great marks in next year’s GCSE’s!
U13’s Girls – On Tuesday 3rd December, the Under 13’s girls’ football tournament took place at The Vale. Some great football was played, and our team came 4th out of 9 teams from across the city. Our girls played with great teamwork and enthusiasm, and made their coaches very proud.
U15’s Girls – On Monday 18th November, our Under 15’s girls’ football team played in a home competition, coming 3rd out of 8 teams! In an exciting finish, the girls won the 3rd place (in the 3rd / 4th play off) in penalties! Amazing work, girls!
Year 7 Girls – On Wednesday 2nd October, the Year 7 girls premiered at a 6-aside tournament at Huntington School. What a great first effort; the girls achieved 2 wins and 2 draws, resulting in 4th place! We are looking forward to seeing how this group develop and progress as a team in their time at The Vale.
Year 8 Boys – On Wednesday 20th November, the Year 8 boys’ football team took part in a tournament hosted by The Vale of York. Lots of schools from around the city turned out, and there were some exciting matches. Our boys played very well, with some great penalty shots… to win the tournament! Congratulations, boys!
Year 9 Football County Cup Diary –
On Tuesday 24th September, our Year 9 boys kicked off the season, with a great win against Boroughbridge; 5 goals to 3! A great match and the team is now looking forward to more successful games in the County Cup competition.
Wednesday 6th November
What a close game in round 2 of the County Cup, against George Pinder School. At half time, the Vale boys were down 4 goals to 3. BUT ….. They turned it around, and when the final whistle blew, they were victorious with 5 goals to 3! This was a tremendous effort – and the boys showed guts and determination to pull back with 2 goals to win. Mr Rampling was very proud of the boys. Round 3; here we come!
On Wednesday 27th November, the Year 9 boys played in a football tournament, hosted by The Vale, and attended by 7 teams from across the city.
The Vale team played hard and finished 3rd; they were undefeated in their matches, but beaten on goal difference. Well done, boys!
Year 10 Boys – The Year 10 boys’ football team got off to a flying start in round 1 of the County Cup competition. They beat Bedale 5-2, so are now off to round 2. This team were the County Cup winners 2023/24, so we are hoping that they will hang on to the title this year!
Our Year 10 football team put in a great performance in early December, in the second round of the County Cup. They beat King James’ School, by 5 goals to 4, which means that they are now all set for the third round, with the final 8 schools, in the tournament after Christmas. Mr Rampling and the coaches are very proud of you all, both for your play, your effort and your conduct.
Click here to read The Library Ledger – Our Library Newsletter; Issue 1
On 17th October, 22 students from across the school, went to see the author Robin Stevens at St Peters school. Robin Stevens is a wonderful children’s author, who has written 15 books, including the series ‘Murder Most Unladylike’. When we arrived at the St Peter’s Memorial Hall, it was packed!
Robin told us about how she became an author, her childhood, her influences and how she came to write the first book in the series of Murder Most Unladylike. The second part of her talk was about how to write a murder mystery, and the different elements that you need to think about; setting, victims, clues, suspects and detectives! Robin then composed a quick murder mystery story using suggestions from the audience!
Next, we did a personality test to see which character we fitted – Daisy / Sherlock Holmes or Hazel / Hercule Poirot! And then Robin showed us how to decipher clues and secret messages.
It was a great talk, very entertaining and everyone really enjoyed it. Before leaving St Peter’s, we were able to get our books signed by her. We look forward to buying her latest book for the library!
Bookbuzz is an initiative, organised by the National Book Trust, which aims to promote a love of reading in schools. Each year, Bookbuzz offers a selection of 16 books, which the pupils choose, after having had a peruse of the copies, and a video promotion from each author. The books were an eclectic mix, so pupils could choose from murder/mystery, science fiction, facts, ghosts (!), real life, adventure and fantasy. Year 7 and 8 pupils were able to choose their books back in September – and they arrived after half term. So far – great reviews from the students about their books! And the best news; the school was given several spare copies of each title, meaning that if the pupils struggled to choose between titles, there are extra copies available in the library to take out!
News arrived after half term, that 3 of our students took part in the Martial Arts World Championships, which took place in Portugal. Lucas, Joe and Harry were all competing for Team England, and we were so excited to hear of their amazing achievements in this competition.
Lucas (Y11) achieved a Gold Medal in Light Continuous -35Kg category, competing against three other fighters from around the world on his way to winning his title.
Joe (Y11) achieved a Bronze Medal in points -60Kg category. Joe managed to reach the World Championships even though he had broken his hand earlier in the year; a great achievement to medal in a strong category.
Harry(Y8) achieved a Silver Medal in Light Continuous and a Bronze Medal in Points -35kg. An amazing effort from Harry in his first world championships.
Congratulations to these three, and we look forward to hearing of more medals and achievements as they continue to progress in their martial arts.
19 excited students set off from Vale of York at 11pm at night, heading for Morocco. We headed to Gatwick airport for a flight at 7am. We landed just outside Marrakesh, 4 ½ hours later – but surprisingly no time difference!
After a night in Marrakesh in ‘Hotel Ali, we took 2 very fancy minibuses to Cascade de Ouse – a waterfall, which we walked around.
On Wednesday 23rd October, 14 Year 7 and 8’s from our rugby squads enjoyed a morning at the LNER stadium, watching the Samoa rugby team complete a training session ahead of their match with England at the weekend. The boys soaked up the atmosphere and loved meeting a couple of the players. Alfie was given a shirt, worn by one of the players, which was signed! Thank you Mr Mapplebeck and Mr Marruci for taking our boys.
Just before Christmas, Our fabulous parent group the Vale of York Society drew the Xmas raffle. There were some exciting prizes including a weekend for two in Edinburgh. This raffle raised just short of £1500 which will go back into school to fund resources and opportunities for our pupils. There were some exciting prizes – and the weekend for two in Edinburgh. A big thank you from everyone involved with the Vale of York Society for your support. If you are interested in being part of this group or wish to know more information about their work, contact Mr Orr on r.orr@voy.hslt.academy.
Thank you to everyone for supporting the Food Hamper Project drive on the last morning of term. The pupils arrived in school with their donations, which were delivered to our fantastic Senior Prefect Team who did a great job of organising everything. The shelves are now re-stacked and ready to go for 2025 – our fifth year supporting the community with this initiative.
This year, we also launched Victoria’s Fund – the new name for all our charity fundraising at Vale of York Academy. This has raised £323.89 and this will go to support the great work of St Leonard’s Hospice.
Please click here for: Wellbeing in Mind Information