Ardèche Trip, July 2020

The main highlight of this trip will be a 19-mile 2 day descent of the Ardèche river. We will canoe for 2 days and camp overnight under the stars, in a bivouac. Other activities will include a visit to a local town and market, climbing, kayaking, high ropes, raft building and archery. During the week in France, we will be based at “Camping la Savane”, in a private tented village nestled among the trees on the banks of 2 rivers near the traditional town of Ruoms. 

The trip is open to all current students in Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 and will cost £685, which has been broken down into 7 instalments.   The deposit can be paid on the School Gateway from Friday 14th June. Please note spaces are limited, 

Full information can be found here. 

Aptitude for Performing Arts Admissions

The Avon Valley School is designated as a having a specialism in the Performing Arts. Therefore, up to 10% (approximately 22 places) of each new cohort will be available to children who demonstrate aptitude, or potential, in the performing arts.

To qualify for one of the 22 places, children must achieve a minimum standard in the selection process.

• Should fewer than 22 children apply for these places, or achieve the minimum standard, the unfilled places will be allocated in accordance with the standard admissions criteria.
• In the event of equal ranking, places will be allocated in accordance with the distance criterion
• If a child is not allocated one of the 22 specialist places, the application will still be considered in accordance with the school’s admission criteria.
• An applicant for a place under The Avon Valley School’s Performing Arts Aptitude Selection Process will be required to attend the selection process at the school. The results of this selection process will determine the offer of places under criterion 3 of the over subscription criteria.

Further details relating to our Performing Arts admissions, including FAQs and an application form can be found by clicking here. 

NB: Parents who apply for their child to sit the aptitude test are still required to make an application for the school using the Warwickshire preference form.

A dancer from The Avon Valley School and Performing Arts College has recently qualified for a national dance competition’s finals after enjoying success in the regional stages.

Year 8 student, Megan Gyles impressed the adjudicators with her performance and claimed third place in the West of England Regional Final, which covers a large area from Shropshire to Cornwall and includes Wales. Megan who dances five times per week with Christine Anderson Theatre School in Rugby qualified with honours for her solo performance inspired by Gertrude McFuzz from ‘Seussical the Musical’.

Megan, along with three others from her dance school, will now progress to the ‘All England Dance’ national finals, which take place in High Wycombe during July.

Megan, who has danced since she was aged three, said “I love dancing because I can forget everything and just focus on the dance. Learning the routines is hard work, but I really enjoy it.”

When asked about her inspiration Megan added: “I am inspired by all the teachers at the Christine Anderson Theatre School who help me improve as a dancer, and my mum who is always a massive support.”

Megan, who has chosen dance and drama as two of her GCSE options, recently performed on stage with former X-Factor winner Sam Bailey in a production of ‘42^nd Street’ performed at Coventry’s Albany Theatre and she will soon take part in her theatre school’s annual dance show.

Headteacher, Alison Davies, said “Megan is a wonderful student who fully embraces our performing arts ethos and it is great to hear about her success in the recent dance competition. I wish her the very best of luck in the finals.”

A talented gymnast from The Avon Valley School and Performing Arts College has recently enjoyed great success at a regional gymnastics competition and will now progress to the national finals.

Year 8 student, Julia Kaczmarek competed in the West Midland Amateur Gymnastics Association’s Compulsory and National Finals which were held at Chase Leisure Centre in Cannock, Staffordshire.

Julia’s fantastic performance at the finals saw her claim first place on the beam and the bars, and third place in the floor event, leading to her being named as a regional champion who will soon be off to the finals, where she will compete against other gymnasts from across the United Kingdom, along with a number of her team mates from Rugby Gymnastics Club.

Julia who has been a member of her gymnastics club since she was five, said: “I spend a lot of time training as I go to the gymnastics club five times every week. My coach Tracey Kerr is really helpful and she encourages me a lot and she has help me learn lots of new skills.“

When asked about her future Julia said she’d like to continue to develop as a gymnast and perhaps one day represent Poland in the Olympics.

Headteacher, Alison Davies, said “Julia is a delightful student who is a very talented gymnast. At school Julia works very hard and is dedicated to her studies; after hearing about her recent success I can tell that she applies the same attitude towards her gymnastics. I wish her the very best of luck for the finals.”

GCSE art and textiles students from The Avon Valley School and Performing Arts College have recently showcased their portfolios and GCSE exam pieces in an exhibition attended by proud parents and carers.  

During the exhibition the school converted its theatre into an art gallery to celebrate and show the work of just under one hundred Year 11 students, who study either art or textiles as one of their GCSE options. The display featured portfolio work, which makes up 60% of the students’ final grade, and exam pieces for which the students had 10 hours to complete a piece in exam conditions.

On the exhibition’s opening night parents and carers were warmly welcomed to view their child’s work, along with the work from the whole cohort, with artist styles ranging from landscape and expressionism to cubism and pop art. Included in the exhibition were items of clothing and fabric products designed and created by the school’s textiles students.

Jennifer Smart, the school’s faculty leader for art and design, said “We have many talented students who have worked really hard to produce their portfolios and exam work, and we have been very impressed with their efforts. It has been wonderful to see our students develop their own style throughout the course and there have been some very high marks awarded.”

Headteacher, Alison Davies, said: “It was lovely to see so many parents and carers in school taking time to look at the art work produced by our students. I enjoyed looking at the students’ work and was incredibly impressed by the standard, which is a credit to the time, effort and patience invested by our art department.”  

Three students from The Avon Valley School and Performing Arts College have recently been sharing the stage and limelight with X-Factor winner Sam Bailey, who starred in Five Star Theatre’s production of ‘42^ND Street’ which was recently on stage at Coventry’s Albany Theatre.

Year 9 students Isabella Awang and Sam Downey along with Year 8 student Megan Gyles have been toe-tapping and shoe-shuffling on stage as dancers in the Broadway hit musical, which was directed by Five Star Theatre’s Ethan J Smith and choreographed by Tanveer Devgun.

The three performing arts loving students, who all belong to the school’s Garrick House, have been juggling school work with rehearsals. They were all very excited to be a part of the show and share the stage with Sam Bailey, who won the tenth series of The X Factor in 2013 under the mentorship of Sharon Osborne.

Headteacher, Alison Davies, said “As a school we invest a great deal of time and energy into the performing arts which feature on our students’ timetables. Therefore, it is wonderful to hear that these three students have been pursuing the performing arts outside of school and that they have had the chance to perform in front of a large fee paying audience.”.

The show ran for four nights from Tuesday 14^th – Friday 17^th May, with adult tickets costing £20. Full information, can be found here