Principal's Welcome of Experience
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Principal’s Welcome of experience and enthusiasm, further I hope this final newsletter of 2020 finds you strengthening our teaching team. We also say and your family well. fond farewell to Ms Grimshaw who retires in January after a distinguished career spanning As we break for Christmas, I could not be over 15 years at West Craven. She personifies prouder of our amazing students who have all our school core values, in particular in united in their efforts to bring a little joy and support of our more vulnerable students who comfort to others. Our Year 10 Student Well- could not have had a better champion and being Ambassadors led our ‘Give a can advocate over the years. We all wish her a long because you can’ campaign, bringing in and happy retirement. donations of groceries for our local food bank. Year 7 delighted us with their sign Finally, I would like to personally thank you for language version of “We wish you a Merry your continued support in what has been a Christmas”. Our top 100 students celebrated challenging but very rewarding first year as the their achievements this week and received Principal at West Craven. We have had to their ASPIRE award certificates and well- adapt quickly to remote learning, virtual deserved prizes. parents’ evenings and living life in bubbles, but our young people have shown maturity beyond It has been lovely to see former Year 11 their years and taken the changes in their students in school over the last week. They stride. popped in to collect their GCSE certificates and share their experiences of college, I wish you and your families a relaxing apprenticeships and employment. I look Christmas break and I look forward to forward to hosting a celebration event for this welcoming everyone back in January 2021. talented cohort of students when restrictions Best wishes are eased. Mrs Tracy Foy - Principal In sporting news, Bodi in Year 7 won a regional novice BMX Championship in the Under 14 category. He is a shining example of what can be achieved when you display our core values of ambition and resilience. We are thrilled for him and his family and we look forward to tracking his progress in his BMX pursuits. I would like to welcome Mr Munday who joined us this week as our new Lead Practitioner in English. He brings a wealth January 4 Term begins 7 / 8 French – Mock Speaking Exams 11 – 27 Year 11 Mock Exams 27 National Holocaust Remembrance Day Staff Welcome 1 – 5 Year 11 Art Mock Exams We would like to offer a warm welcome to staff who have recently 8 - 12 Year 10 Art Mock Exams joined the West Craven team. February 9 Year 11 Parents’ Evening 4:15pm – 7pm 9 Safer Internet Day 12 School closes for half term 22 Fair Trade Fortnight begins Simon Munday Lead Practitioner in English 23 Term begins 23-26 Year 9 Exam week Sarah Bradley Ryan Cattermole Cover Supervisor Cover Supervisor Halloween Bake Off Winners Congratulations to West Craven pupils, from various year groups, impressed Mrs Whittle with their Gold prize winner amazing entries for the West Craven Connor Graham 7:2 Halloween Bake Off. Silver prize winner There were some impressively gruesome Alfie Thomas 7:5 bakes from everyone, with the Gold, Silver Bronze prize winner and Bronze prizes all being won by Year 7 Madi McNamara 7:1 students. Halloween Bake Off United Against Bullying As Mental Well-Being Ambassadors we understand the importance of anti-bullying, so for Anti-Bullying Week 2020 we put together a PowerPoint presentation, that was shown in Form period; highlighting the importance of speaking out against bullying. To encourage student participation, we came up with activities for each year group. Students in Years 7 and 8 were given a piece of card with another student’s name on it, the objective, to write something kind about that student, this was then shared with the student. For Years 9 and 10, students were encouraged to write a poem about bullying. As Mental Well-Being Ambassadors, our hope was that by the end of Anti-Bullying Week we will have raised awareness about bullying and help students who may be experiencing it to speak out. Thank you to our Mental Wellbeing Ambassadors; Paige Anderson, Jack Kirby and Joshua Templar for all their hard work and for submitting this article. Music to our ears! Mrs Rushworth is delighted that she is able to add a practical element to her Year 7, 8 and 9 music lessons. To enhance learning, school has invested in some new instruments that students can enjoy in a Covid safe way. Year 7s have glockenspiels, Year 8s have ukuleles and Year 9s have access to keyboards. Competition winners to help spread Christmas cheer Students from Pendle Education Trust’s All cards entered into the competition will five academies took part in a competition now be sent to residents at local care homes to design the multi-academy trust’s as part of the Cards for Kindness initiative Christmas card for 2020. which is also being supported by Lancashire Primary and secondary school children Adult Learning and Pendle Education Trust’s from Pendle Education Trust were sponsor, Nelson and Colne College. challenged with designing a card which could be sent out by the schools and Trust this Christmas. The two finalists from West Craven were Evie Higson and Ruby Robinson. The ten finalists were invited to a special Zoom presentation with Anita Ghidotti, Chief Executive of Pendle Education Trust and Executive Principals, Julie Burnside and Lynne Blomley. All of the finalists will receive a certificate and copies of their cards to send to friends and family. The two overall winners will also receive an Amazon gift card. Anita Ghidotti, Chief Executive of Pendle Education Trust, added: “We were overwhelmed by the quality of entries into this year’s competition and had a really tough challenge choosing the overall winners from the primary and secondary academies. We normally gather around one of the Christmas trees at our schools to announce the winners of the competition, but as with many things this year, we had to go virtual. It was still a fantastic opportunity to get children and staff together from our five schools and celebrate the creative talents of our children. A huge well done to all of our finalists.” Children in Need Year 7 student, Zara Syers, baked a delicious selection of treats that she sold from outside her house over the Children in Need weekend. Congratulations Zara on raising £116 for Children in Need. Well done, an amazing achievement! Staff Shine Awards We've been celebrating how amazing our staff are with Shine Award presentations. The winners were nominated by staff for their dedication and passion. Congratulations to Mrs Woodward, Mrs Kennedy, Mrs Markham and Miss Smith; keep up the good work! Mid Lancs BMX 11-14 Novice Champion! Congratulations to Year 7 student, Bodi Bodi said, “I am amazed and would like to Wright who has just become the Mid thank everybody who has supported me Lancs BMX Summer Series Novice throughout this series of races". Champion, in 11-14 Years category. We are looking forward to Bodi bringing his Bodi, who lives to ride, has had a love for trophy into school when he collects it in bikes from a very early age. He first January. became interested in racing about two years ago when he joined Pendle Panthers BMX club, Barrowford, but due to Covid restrictions he hasn’t been able to attend the club for some time. Thankfully, he has still managed to partake in the Mid Lancs BMX Summer Series, who have done a superb job at allowing six Covid friendly, socially distanced races to go ahead (although, it did only finish this weekend, 12/13 December, which turned out to be cold and wet). Bodi has been focused and determined throughout the series, finishing in 1st place in 23 out of his 24 races. Finishing in overall 1st place in the 11-14 years novice category. His parents, Mr and Mrs Wright said “We are super proud of him for his determination and for following his dreams! Bodi has another season of enjoying and practicing novice racing before moving up to expert level, where he would love to work his way up and ride in the Olympics or the Worlds one day. It is nice to end a miserable year on a high. Follow your dreams!” Festive Feast! Give a ‘can’ because you can! We used the last day of term, to support local charity West Craven Food Bank, who will be providing much appreciated groceries to local families over the festive period. Students and staff were encouraged to bring in a can of food in exchange to wear a Christmas jumper or don something red or festive. Our Mental Wellbeing Ambassadors; Paige Anderson, Jack Kirby and Joshua Templar, along with Mrs Pilling, Teacher of RE, delivered the food to the Food Bank on Thursday, 17 December. West Craven Food Bank is a charitable organisation formed in 2013 in response to a growing need in the community, providing emergency food in Barnoldswick, Earby and the surrounding area. Mrs Foy said, “I could not be prouder of our amazing students who have united in their efforts to bring a little joy and comfort to others this Christmas by bringing in their donations for our local food bank”. 100% Attendance This is our Wheel of Fortune that contains Santa was spotted over the skies of all 213 names, across all year groups, of all Kelbrook, on his way to help us with our the students who have achieved 100% 100% Attendance Award celebrations! attendance since September 2020.