Settle

College

Matters

Inside this issue: Autumn Newsletter 2019 Message from the Head of School 2 UKMT Maths Challenge 3 Extended Project Qualification 4-5 Child Rescue Nepal 6 Music Concert 7 Girls’ Rugby 8 Sports Leaders 9 Boys’ Football Report 10-12 Blackpool Zoo Trip 13-17 Boys’ Rugby Update 18-22 Fell Running Championships 23-24 Dutch Visit 25 Attendance Matters 26 Students of the Month 27 Academic Calendar 28

Photo top: Blackpool trip Photos Centre and above: Music Concert

Head of School Message Autumn 2019

Dear readers,

It is with great pleasure we bring to you our Autumn edition of Matters. The articles and experiences are varied and provide a snap shot of what is on offer both within the school day and beyond.

We have a Twitter account for the school sharing events as they happen as well as a Twitter feed direct for sport. If you don’t already follow us, then please do consider @SettleCollege.

Whilst writing this piece, students and staff are preparing for a variety of end of term activities at this time of year. The second to last week of term has seen a fantastic Christmas Concert showcasing musical talent from Year 5 through to Sixth Form internal exams for all Year 10 and 11 students and the enormous task of Christmas dinner for 647 students and staff!

The next term isn’t set to slow down. Highlights include the Barcelona trip for Year 8, Iceland trip for Sixth Form and the Ski trip open to KS3. This and more all to look forward to in the Spring edition of Settle College Matters.

With a push on careers and work experience, parents shall be aware of the focus on getting all Year 10 involved this year, engaging with employers. We look forward to parents and local businesses coming in over the next few months, providing students with information and experiences of career choices and pathways.

It is likely you have enjoyed a well deserved and restful Christmas break by the time you read this. Wishing all our readers the best for 2020.

With best wishes,

Gareth Whitaker

Headteacher.

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UKMT Senior Maths Challenge By Mrs Davey

The UKMT(United Kingdom Mathematics Trust) is a charity founded in 1996 with the aim of helping with the education of children in mathematics within the UK. The UKMT run a series of national mathematics challenges designed to encourage children's interest in mathematics and develop their skills.

In November Years 12 and 13 took part in the Senior Maths Challenge and the results were as follows :

Year 13 - Joe Eather for Best in Year

Year 12 - Emile Oliver for Best in Year, Best in School and Bronze award

Thomas Dale, Rebecca Damerell, Lewis Hooley, Joseph Scratcher, Jessica Harrison - Bronze Award

Congratulations and well done to all those students.

Mrs Davey Mathematics Teacher

Extended Project Qualification (EPQ)

An Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) at Settle College has grown to become very popular. Many students see this as an opportunity to investigate something they are passionate about further. They often discuss their findings in their personal statements or at university interview. Indeed, quite a number of universities see the EPQ as an important qualification, and they sometimes reduce their offer to a student due to their excellent EPQ result.

The EPQ is the perfect way to encourage students to extend and develop beyond the material being covered in class and explore their passion for a topic. This may help them decide which subject to pursue at university. By taking responsibility for the choice and design of an individual project, students:

- become more critical, reflective and independent learners - develop and apply decision-making and problem-solving skills - increase their planning, research, analysis, synthesis, evaluation and presentation skills - demonstrate creativity, initiative and enterprise.

In 2019, 70% of students gained an A*-B at Settle College. Past titles have included:

To what extent are modern day reptiles more advanced than dinosaurs? What is the potential impact of graphine on technology? How has 20th century warfare affected the advancements of medicines and surgery? Is society preparing children for the 21st Century? Should smoking related illnesses be treated on the NHS?

S.Murphy Head of Sixth Form

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Extended Project Qualification By Elizabeth Pettifer

The Extended Project Qualification scheme is the perfect way to voice your passion or further your knowledge on a subject that interests you, but is not catered for within your A-levels. It gives students the opportunity to design and run a project independently with the occasional input of a supervisor available to advise and keep you on track. Whereas most people choose intuitive written projects on their chosen subject, culminating in a final essay, it is also possible for students to produce an artefact as part of their research, or even a piece of art.

When choosing my EPQ topic I instantly knew I wanted to do a project relating to my future ambition of becoming a research geophysicist. In this job I would need an understanding of seismology (the study of earthquakes) and this informed my decision to research and build a seismometer (device used to measure earthquakes) by hand. I had to gather together the different components and then build it (thanks Mr Kowalski for cutting the wood to size, and to Mr Hudson for the copper wire).

The school’s basement sits almost directly on top of the South Craven Faultline. It was a perfect place to situate the seismometer.

I was fortunate enough to secure the assistance of Leeds University’s Geology and Geo-Sciences departments and was loaned a Raspberry Shake which does the same job as my seismometer and measures seismic movements. I am very grateful for the opportunity to use such a cutting edge valuable piece of equipment, and wish to thank them for their help. The Raspberry Shake needed an ethernet connection and so this ran in Mr Brade’s office.

I have collected a lot of data and have some very interesting spikes which need further investigation. The Craven Fault line is known to be active, although the movements are very small in seismic terms. I look forward to continuing my study.

By Oliver Celebrating 20 Years of Child Rescue Nepal Brummitt

Namaste is a fair trade company selling rugs, gifts, furniture and clothing. Child Rescue Nepal is a charity which our family business (Namaste) has supported for over 15 years.

In Nepal, it is estimated that there are over 100,000 children working in hazardous situations. These children are extremely vulnerable and often suffer from physical and emotional abuse. CRN rescue children, keep them safe and reunite them with their families. CRN has rescued and rehabilitated 851 children, 822 of those have been reunited with their families. CRN have helped to protect 101,927 children in their schools. Since the earthquake in 2015 CRN have helped to rebuild 48 new classrooms, provide schools with pumped water, toilets, a library and lunch meals for children attending school.

On Monday 2 December we were invited to go to the 20-year celebrations of Child Rescue Nepal in London. We enjoyed delicious Nepalese curries and learnt to make momos. These are a kind of Nepalese dumpling filled with chicken and vegetables. We listened to a talk by the CEO who thanked Namaste for its valuable support and generous raffle prizes.

This is my momo

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Music Concert By Helen Robertson

Settle College Christmas Concert was full of festive cheer and with amazing talent on show. Mar Barclay (Year 11 GCSE Music student) gave a stunning rendition of Skyfall whilst the ever growing Settle College Band got everybody in the festive mood with some seasonal favourites.

The school choir performed Elton John's Your Song complete with Elton John styled glasses and Christmas hats! The concert also saw the debut performance of the Settle College Primary Clarinet ensemble. Comprising of Year 5, 6 and 7 pupils who only started lessons with Mrs Robertson at the start of October. The pupils wowed the audience with an incredible performance and were presented with Certificates of Achievement.

All the pupils who took part performed magnificently and are already looking forward to the Spring Concert.

by Miss

Girls’ Rugby Farrar Settle College was invited to Keighley Rugby Club to celebrate 150 years of Rugby. The U15 A Team opened the event with an outstanding game of Rugby, which got the celebration off to a wonderful start.

All teams from the different schools varied on abilities and played in different ways, which included changes in team size and contact/non-contact. We had an A and B team, which saw a mixture of Year 9’s and 10’s playing together. This was outstanding to watch as the Year 10’s supported the Year 9’s and guided them through the matches.

Both teams showed determination, teamwork, outstanding communication skills and showed the other schools how fantastic we are as a Rugby School. We also had some Year 11’s from our school learning how to referee and helping out at the event. Having our leaders at the event showed that we are a dedicated school, willing to promote physical activity. The leaders were mature, controlled the games and had the opportunity to develop their skills. All schools played very well; however, we were slightly unlucky as we walked away with several injuries…we made sure that Miss Farrar could remember her skills from her First Aid Training Course!!

It was a very good day, enjoyed by all! We are excited for Rugby after Christmas and we have a lot of upcoming matches in store. We would also like to see more faces at Rugby Club on Thursdays after school, so we can take even more teams to events like this!!

Miss Farrar’s POT (Players of the Tournament) – Beth Roberts, Jessica Baines and Bella Spensley.

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Sports Leaders by Miss Farrar

This year has given Settle College pupils the opportunity to become Sports Leaders. Miss Farrar is organising the Primary School Festivals and will always require the help of Settle College pupils to support the day.

So far this year we have seen Leaders in Cross Country being ‘Hares’, guides and placers. Leaders also take up roles as warm-up coaches, motivators and inspiration for the Year 5/6 Football Festival and we have seen leaders at all the Rugby Festivals that have taken part this year.

In the New Year we have 25 different events to get through and Miss Farrar is always looking for Leaders. The first event when we come back after Christmas is the Swimming Gala, so keep an eye out on the notice board so you can sign up!

Miss Farrar’s Sports Leaders of the Term – Abbey White & Pippa Chamley (Rugby), Ned Whitaker & Jack Sanderson (Cross Country) and Joe Dinsdale & Jonathan Hill (Football).

by Marcus Boys’ Football Report Year 8 Harrison

The Year 8 team drew Lady Lumley’s of Pickering, at home, in the first round of the Yorkshire Cup. The Pickering side were extremely strong and delivered a stellar performance against our boys. To their credit, the Year 8 team battled hard to the final whistle but, in the end, we lost the game and exited the cup disappointingly early.

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Boys’ Football Report by Marcus Harrison

Year 9 The Year 9 team played St John Fisher school, Harrogate (away) in their first round Yorkshire Cup encounter. Due to unforeseen unavailability from some of the squad, we travelled to Harrogate with only 9 men!

It was always going to be an uphill battle; playing a notoriously strong St. John Fisher side with 2 men down but our year 9 boys made an unbelievable game of it, we held out at 0-0 for almost the entire first half and even offered one or two threats at goal with the talented and determined Joe Dinsdale latching onto some forward balls from Jimmy Howarth in midfield. Jacob Greenwood-Smith was doing the job of three men at the back, foiling attack after attack.

Every boy on the pitch performed incredibly well but inevitably, playing with only 9 against a strong team, victory went to the Harrogate team and Settle Year 9s exited the cup at the first stage. Year 11 The Year 11s first game of the season was a County Cup away fixture against , . We made the long trip to Whitby with only 10 men and an exciting and dramatic game unfolded. Playing a 4-4-1 system, we had a game plan and the boys executed it perfectly. Settle started on the front foot from the first whistle, outplaying the Whitby team all over the pitch. Performances of particular note came from Liam Knights in midfield, Will Smith in goal and Niall Wakefield in defence. At full time the score was tied and after a goal-less period of extra time it was penalties! The penalty shoot-out was extremely tense, there were few missed and almost the entire team had to step up to take one. Thanks to a couple of fantastic penalty saves from Will Smith and superb contributions from the majority of our team, Settle won the shoot out and the game.

Boys’ Football Report by Mr Harrison

The Year 11s second round match in the County Cup was a home tie against a team from Tadcaster: Tadcaster Grammar. The Tadcaster side was too strong for the Settle players, with at least two academy players in the side.

The game was a bad-tempered affair and their quality proved too much on this occasion, despite a spirited performance from our defence and Will Smith in goal. Tadcaster went away with a comfortable victory.

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Blackpool Zoo Trip by John Beresford On the 6th of December our year (Yr 7) went to Blackpool Zoo. It took 40 minutes to get there and the coach ride was fun. We didn’t have to queue to get in, which was great. We split into 4 groups.

We set off on a path because we didn’t know where to go. Shortly we came to a monkey house; it was quite small, smelly and surprisingly quiet. The monkeys were hilarious to watch because they were jumping everywhere interacting with each other and they had long tails. We spent a few minutes in the monkey area before moving on to the next enclosure.

Other animals we saw at the zoo included penguins, sea lions, gorillas, reindeer, giraffes, Asian elephants, tigers, lions, orangutans, lemurs, aardvark, squirrels, gibbons (shown right) and ant eaters. We also saw lots of reptiles and birds, including tortoises and flamingos.

My favourite animals were the wolves. The wolf enclosure cost the zoo £500,000 to create and is home to 4 Iberian wolves.

The wolves are very fast and remind me of my favourite dog, German Shepherds.

There was so much to see at the zoo I am surprised we had time to fit it all in!

by Anna Blackpool Zoo Trip Murray

Could you believe that a wet wintery Friday turned out to be such an extraordinary experience? The coach journey was not a promising start but as soon as we began to get into our groups the expectations began to rise.

Obviously the gift shop was the main event we were all waiting for, but before I even get started on that joyous experience, I’ll share some of the highlights with you.

It’s difficult to choose which animal was best, between the Emperor Tamarin monkeys or the baby Gorilla, as both were highly endearing. I’m going to have to come down on the side of the gorilla as his playful character impressed even the most unwilling spectators. Would they sell them at the gift shop?

One of the most fascinating events was the seal show: they could clap, balance balls on their noses, do impressions and most importantly they knew how to climb into a barrel of fish. The penguins were as cute as ever but I can’t say the same for the peacocks, who mysteriously appeared on the roof of their enclosure, before chasing after some of our group. It was hilarious.

Finally, after everyone had emptied the gift shop, we got on the buses to come home, vowing to return again, one day, to Blackpool Zoo.

By Anna Murray 7W2

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Blackpool Zoo Trip Photos

Photos Blackpool Zoo Trip

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Blackpool Zoo Trip Photos

Boys’ Rugby Update – Year 7 Sept - Dec

The Year 7 Rugby team have made an encouraging start to their school rugby careers. The team consist of a mixture of experienced payers from local clubs and also some complete novices with little or no experience.

The team have attended White Rose festivals at Ilkley and Keighley where they have played against several other local schools. They have had mixed fortunes winning and losing some matches.

The team have also had fixtures against Ermysted’s and South Craven which have ended in defeat but gave 5 students an opportunity to play their first ever game of rugby.

Special mention goes to Connor for his fearsome tackling, Edward for his leadership skills and George for his all around performances.

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Boys’ Rugby Update – Year 8 Sept - Dec

The Year 8 Rugby team have had an excellent first half of the season. The most encouraging aspect has been the increasing numbers of students wanting to play rugby for the school. Having had a small squad of 12 we now have 20 students who have represented the team. Similar to the Year 7 team the players have a variety of rugby experience.

The team have played in 4 White Rose tournaments across the term. They have been very successful, winning considerably more games than they have lost and have beaten schools such as Ermysted’s, Ilkley Grammar and South Craven.

All of the students have performed well but especially encouraging have be the efforts of Ted and Reuben who have only recently started playing. Six of the Year 8 team have also played up a year for the Year 9 team. These students are Theo, Matthew, Ben, Dan, Luke and Sam.

by Sam Redfearn Boys’ Rugby Update – Year 9

The Year 9 rugby team started the year with a White Rose Tournament at North Ribblesdale. Here we won most of our games with some great performances by Jimmy, with some great running, James with lots of incredible tackling, Isaac with some speedy breaks through the defence and the rest of the team who had some really good moments.

We followed this with another tournament at South Craven and also Keighley, where we, again, won most of our games. Encouraging performances came from Jonny and Thomas who both worked hard throughout.

We then made the 3 hour trip to Goole to play Snaith School in the Yorkshire Cup. We made a slow start and lost the game, however the second half performance was much improved and we came away with our heads held high.

We have since played Ermysted’s and were unlucky to come away narrow losers in a really competitive match.

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Boys’ Rugby Update – Year 11 by Harry Mathew

A week before our first Yorkshire Cup tie, the Year 11 Settle College rugby team attended the White Rose Rugby festival at Keighley RUFC. We put in a great few performances in the first run out of the season- winning 4 out of 5 matches. The highlight being a great win in our brief encounter with local rivals Ermysted’s. However our only defeat came in our match vs Ilkley Grammar School due to a slow start and Ilkley’s ability to resist a late Settle comeback. Overall this was a great warm up for our match a week later and a sign of things to come this season.

We played our Yorkshire Cup first round tie at home, North Ribblesdale RUFC, against coming all the way form York. They were an inexperienced side which lead to a somewhat strange game - largely due to the lenient nature of the referee (understandable because of the fact the opposition proved relatively new to rugby). Fulford put up a good fight but Settle ran out 44-0 winners in a slightly scrappy game, but we displayed good use of width in some tricky weather conditions and ultimately progressed into the next round of the cup.

Our eagerly anticipated encounter with Ermysted’s was certainly our highlight of the rugby season so far. We knew they would be keen to avenge our convincing victory over them in the short match during the White Rose Rugby festival weeks earlier. However soon after kick off it became clear that Settle had come with intent, skill and physicality. All of which combined to produce an early try in the corner paving the way for what I believe to be our best half of rugby we’ve played yet this season for club or school. Yet this was far from a one half performance as after the break we continued our demolition of the respectable Ermysted’s defence.

In the game we displayed some excellent attacking rugby leading to many tries coming from free flowing rugby or brilliantly timed backs moves. Not only this, our defence stood firm, even withstanding a couple of instances where Ermysted’s came close to our own line. We ran out 0- 57 winners and put into practice all we have worked on this season as we look to build towards putting in some huge performances in the Yorkshire cup this year.

Continued from

Boys’ Rugby Update – Year 11 previous page

We returned to rugby action some weeks later and yet again attended a White Rose Rugby festival at Keighley RUFC. Despite the disorganisation of the event, along with Ermysted’s Grammar School and Ilkley Grammar school we managed to get in some valuable minutes putting our training into practice. Having negotiated the rules, it was established we would play 13-a-side in a full sized pitch and with that our first match commenced.

We ran up an early lead with two well worked tries in the corners, each showing a degree of skill and strength combined with our ability to retain the ball. However our defence allowed big Ilkley players to get over the gain line consistently. Moments after being held up over the line Ilkley crossed again, this time dotting down for the try. Full time passed and we secured a 12-5 victory against Ilkley who had beaten us last time we met.

On to the Ermysted’s game, a side who we beat convincingly before the end of the last half term. However, this time there was the added challenge of an inexperienced referee, which along with our disjointed game play resulted in us slipping to a 2-point defeat. As you can imagine this festival left us with a lot to work on ahead of our Yorkshire cup fixture with Wolfreton School.

Following a successful first half of the season the Year 11 team have had further good news this week, this time on an individual level. Four students from the team have been selected to represent Yorkshire Under 16s, they are Adam, Ben, Harry and Ollie. This is a fantastic achievement for the boys individually, all of whom have worked extremely hard to achieve this. It also represents a very proud achievement for the school. 22

Fell Running Championships by Jack Sanderson

English Schools Fell Running Championships – Held on the 6th October, this was the first opportunity for us to represent Settle College in a running event. Fortunately for ourselves the race was on our doorstep, at School. The weather was kind with it being nice and sunny.

Three Year 7s took part alongside two Year 8s. The Year 7 students included Jack (myself), Ned and Charlotte. The competition was extremely tough, with a total of 119 runners (76 boys and 43 girls), with some travelling from a long way to run, e.g. Isle of Man.

The course was gruelling, with thigh burning climbs, steep descents, a water jump and plenty of mud! We all ran really well with the results being myself achieving 18th place, Ned 47th and Charlotte 13th.

For the Year 8 team Oliver Brummitt and Connie Eccleston both ran spirited races on a course that had since become very muddy and heavy. Both Oliver and Connie finished in the middle of the pack, an effort they should be very proud of.

Harrogate and Craven Cross Country Qualifier Held on 5th November we once again found ourselves back at to take part in this cross country event. A familiar course (from our primary school days), myself, Ned, Henry, Robbie and Charlotte, from Year 7, were willing participants to take on this challenging course. On this occasion boys and girls competed separately.

Continued from

previous page Fell Running Championships

We were made aware that the first 8 boys and girls would gain automatic entry to the next round, the finals. There would also be a further four places for runners to be selected to go through to the next round. The pace was fast and furious, with once again good results. I was delighted to finish in 4th place with Robbie shortly behind in 11th.

We will both be attending the next race in Jan 2020 to compete for our North Yorkshire vests, something we achieved last year.

In other year groups Harry from Year 8 ran a brilliant race to qualify for the next round. The Year 9 team consisted of Jimmy, Jonny and Ben. All of these students performed well with Jimmy narrowly missing out on qualification.

Report By Jack Sanderson – Year 7

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Dutch Visit By Rosie Pettifer

On 15th October Settle College’s 6th Form hosted a group of Dutch Students from Staring College in Lochem. The students were visiting our school as part of a weeklong visit to England, allowing the students to immerse themselves in British culture and history (as well as the beauty of the Yorkshire Dales!).

During their visit the students accompanied members of our 6th from to their lessons so they could gain an understanding of how education post 16 operated in a different country. But they were not the only ones learning!

After giving the students a tour of Settle College, we met in the 6th Form common room giving them the opportunity to teach us about life and school in the Netherlands, including sharing traditional ‘Stroopwafels’ with us!

This was a wonderful and engaging opportunity for everyone involved and, in many cases, new friendships were formed.

Attendance Matters by Mrs Pettifer

The last few weeks have seen high levels of absence across school. Students are sometimes ill and there have been some nasty viral bugs out there in the community.

I would just like to thank parents who have called in on each day of absence as our policy requires -to update us about their son/daughter.

Hopefully two festive, restive weeks will see a return to good health across the school.

Wishing you all a Happy, Healthy Christmas and 2020.

Vicky Pettifer Attendance Manager

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Sept - Nov Student of the Month

September: October:

Year 7: Alna Maria Sinu Year 7: Edward Whaley

Year 8: Emily Scott Year 8: Grace Clayton

Year 9: Macale Halliday Year 9: Evie Drew

Year 10: Max Clark Year 10: Paige Dryden

Year 11: Harry Wills Year 11: Pippa Chamley

Community: Archie Shackleton Community: Maj Lambert

Sixth Form: Fae Donaldson & Megan Baines Sixth Form: Aston Graham

November:

Year 7: John Beresford

Year 8: Sam Bland

Year 9: Zach Barker

Year 10: Freya Hawkins

Year 11: Billy Green

6th form: Joe Eather

Community: Charlie Beck

Technology: Theo Green

Congratulations also to Tom in 9M for his amazing

fundraising efforts for Manorlands Hospice- well

done!

Term Dates Academic Year 2020

Spring Term 2020 Term Starts:

Tuesday 7th January (Monday 6th January is a staff training day)

Holidays: Half Term: Monday 17th February to Friday 21st February Term ends: Friday 3rd April

Summer Term 2020 Term Starts:

Monday 20th April

Holidays: Bank Holiday: Friday 8th May Half term: Monday 25th to Friday 29th May Term ends: Friday 17th July (Monday 20th July is a training day for staff)

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