Challenge and Enrichment

Please see below some examples of our debate submissions in Spring 2021.

Freedom of Expression
Girl Gangs The Factors Affecting Participation
One Child One House Debate Other viewpoint and One Child One House Debate

Please click here to view the Google Drive folder for our challenge and enrichment submissions 2021.

Have a look at the different pieces created and feedback by clicking on this Google form. Please vote for one project only.
Criteria: The project stands out and is creative as well as unique.

Please click here to view the Google Drive folder for our challenge and enrichment submissions 2020.

Have a look at the different pieces created and feedback by clicking on this Google form. Please vote for one project only.
Criteria: The project stands out and is creative as well as unique.

Please find below some thought provoking essays written by our students about areas that interested them:

Family Mechanism

Should exams be abolished

The Mysterious death of Tutankhamun-2

RVHS have a strong debate culture in the school; both an extra-curricular activity and embedded within the taught curriculum. The school take part in a number of competitions aand have recently won the National Final of the ‘Up For Debate’ competition. We have won the ‘Epping Forest Parliamentary’ Debate, organised by Dame Eleanor Laing, MP more times than any other participating school. Some of the debate opportunities we offer are: 

• Debate Club 
• PiXL ‘Up for Debate’ Competition
• Epping Forest Parliamentary Debate
• Eton Open Debate
• European Youth Debating Competition

The Bar Mock Trial competition is a unique opportunity for students aged 15-18 from all over the UK to gain unparalleled insight into the justice system. The competition immerses students in all aspects of a criminal trial, as they take on the roles of barristers, witnesses, clerks, ushers and jury members. The Bar Mock Trial competition is a unique opportunity for students aged 15-18 from all over the UK to gain unparalleled insight into the justice system. The competition immerses students in all aspects of a criminal trial, as they take on the roles of barristers, witnesses, clerks, ushers and jury members. 

Students appear in real crown courts in front of real judges and are assisted in their preparations by professional barristers. 

• This opportunity includes:
• Legal case study and preparation
• 1:1 sessions with a practising barrister
• Participation in the annual competition at Snaresbrook Crown Court

Established in September 2017, Roding Valley High School release four issues of the magazine for each academic year: Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer. The magazine is completely student-led; students edit, design, illustrate and photograph all content. The magazine is published both online and in hard copies which are available to read around the school and in the school community.

This is a brilliant opportunity for students to write about something they are passionate about and take ownership of the publishing process. Students across year groups work together as a team and also improve their literacy in the process.

Older students can take a management role in this as ‘Editor’ of various sections. This is brilliant for their CV, applications and exposure to a management role.

Students will have the opportunity to:   

• Take on the role of ‘Editor’ or ‘Writer’ for different magazine features.Work to a publishing deadline.
• Take part in the editing process.
• Attend weekly meetings with students across the school.
• Write about something they are interested in.
• ‘Editors’ will gain management experience; organising the writers and features within their section.

Each year, Roding Valley High School provides trips to Oxford, Cambridge and other Russell Group Universities. Students take part in a number of workshops on: the university application process; life at university; how to write a personal statement and taster lectures.

University trips and workshops both in school and at the universities are available to our Sixth Form students as well as high achieving students in year 10 and 11.

This is a great opportunity for some of our high achieving KS3 students to research and produce a project about something they are passionate about. In the past, projects have been produced on a wide variety of weird and wonderful things; from optical illusions to Dr Who, students have complete ownership over how they go about producing this.

The project is launched in the summer term and students are given six weeks to prepare for the ‘Showcase Evening’. 

Winners 2019

On Thursday 20th June, some of Roding Valley’s top KS3 talent showcased the projects they had been working on for the last month. These projectsencouraged independent study and research from some of our year 7 and 8 students. The projects could be on any topic that students found interesting and the standard of work produced was exceptional. Four awards were available on the night and with such a high standard of work, the final decisions were incredibly difficult to make

The ‘People’s Choice’ award was won by Ava Towner with her ‘Save the bees’ project. Ava’s display was absolutely stunning and well researched featuring bees and flowers made from clay. Ava also provided informative leaflets on her topic and was able to explain the importance of bees and their effects on our ecosystem eloquently.

Skye Salek-Haddadi won the ‘Innovative’ award for her project on facial recognition that surprised and intrigued judges with her concept. The project included a facial recognition match up game as well as a detailed explanation giving us an insight into how our brains work.

Henry Foster was awarded the ‘Imaginative’ award for his project ‘Code Duck’. His project comprised of a game that he had created himself writing thousands of lines of code. The interactive elements of his project enabled us to try our luck at his game which was incredibly addictive!

Finn Maddigan claimed the ‘Informative’ award with his project on renewable energy sources. Finn demonstrated a wealth of knowledge about his chosen topic and was able to explain the ins and outs of renewable energy sources that are used today with specific examples as well as provide ideas on its usage in the future.

A truly outstanding amount of effort has been made by all students that have been involved in the showcase. This is a truly remarkable event in the Roding Valley calendar; staff members, students, parents and judges were blown away by the high standard of projects on display.

A special thanks to the judges with the hardest decisions of the evening: Miss Jenner, Head of school; Tony Barritt, Former Chair of Governors and Richards Bassett Chair of Epping Forest District council.

Available to our year 10 students, this opportunity allows students to build their confidence and ‘Speak Out’ about something that matters to them. Students will take part in a workshop to practice their speech writing skills and then participate in the competition.

The competition begins at school-level, with three winners ‘speaking out’ in assemblies to earn their place in the regional heats. At this stage, local schools will come together to crown their champion for the national finals.

This not only builds confidence in our students, but this also helps prepare students for the ‘Speaking and Listening’ element of their English Language GCSE.

Roding Valley have been very successful in this competition with a regional final winner in 2015, runner up in 2016 and 2017. This year, the school hosted the event and were given two entrants into the competition, and out of18 schools, we won the 1st and 3rd prize.

Below is the link to the Speakers Trust website to see all the photographs and highlights of the event hosted by Roding Valley High School. 

Click here for Speakers Trust Website

To inspire our Year 9 pupils to explore beyond the structure of the national curriculum we have developed a series of lectures drawing on the wealth of expertise from our subject specialists. These lectures are taking place on a weekly basis and have encouraged our pupils to consider their subjects in a real life setting. Topics have so far included: how languages improve cognitive ability through Japanese, Myasthenia Gravies, Communism in China and the impact of Geography on global politics.