Hall Fold, Whitworth, Rochdale Lancashire, OL12 8TS Tel (01706) 343218 www.whitworth.lancs.sch.uk
CALENDAR DOWNLOADS Monday 31st HPV 3rd dose
Tuesday 1st Primary Cross Country Competition (1.30 – 3.00pm)
Friday 4th School closes –Easter Break
Monday 21st School reopens Scan this QR code to download the latest news and events from Whitworth
Community High School.
Dear parents and carers
As the Easter break approaches and Spring is in the air, we send our best wishes to two colleagues who are getting married over the holiday – not to each other! Dan Crook, our data manager, and Rachel Welden, Assistant Director of Expression are both looking forward to Easter weddings and we wish them a lovely day and long and happy futures with their respective partners.
Y11, on the other hand, have revision sessions scheduled during the holidays and should have brought home a timetable of sessions on offer! The Expression Faculty’s Y11 GCSE English mentoring programme starts next week, with targeted students offered 1-1 support from their peers. Research shows that peer mentoring has a very high success rate as an intervention strategy, raising the game for both mentors and mentees, and we are confident that this proves an effective boost for many of our students.
As a school we are keen to promote lifelong learning and are delighted that Vicky Mairs, a key member of our pastoral team, has successfully completed her Foundation Degree. Studying whilst working full-time requires excellent time management as well as commitment and I congratulate Vicky on this achievement.
We look forward to the official arrival after Easter of Andrew Oliver - Assistant Headteacher: Teaching and Learning, and Peter Williams: Director of Learning for Expression, both of whom have spent time in school in recent weeks and have clear plans to support and drive school improvement and to enhance outcomes for students. From a strong field we appointed Louise Greenhalgh and Andrea Whitehead to the Logic Faculty and they will join us in September to teach mathematics. Mr Lister has already ordered some of the mini cars used by Ms Greenhalgh in her demonstration lesson on time / velocity! School Council members assisted in lesson observations and were, as always, astute in their comments and perceptions.
Mrs Abbas and a group of Y8 students, supported by TAs, have been busy today creating Whitworth Community High School’s news for the BBC’s School News Day, a national event for schools.
Congratulations to Alex Lord, Y8, who won the Girls under 13 singles and doubles Rochdale Junior Badminton competition on Saturday 15th March. She was in action again on Sunday at Belle Vue Manchester where along with three other players was part of the Rochdale Junior Badminton Club team who won the final of the under 13s Manchester League.
Our uniform plans move steadily ahead. School Council have now firmed up their decision regarding the colour of blazers: light navy for Y7-Y10 and a classy grey ‘Saville Row’ designed jacket for Y11. Prices are likely to be around £24 for the Y7-Y10 blazer and will be £30 for the Y11 jacket. Both are machine washable and will come fully badged. The badge design is still under discussion and attached to this letter you will find 3 potential designs, commissioned from Mr Rushton, which incorporate some of the key elements staff and students felt would represent our school and the local area. If you have a preference, please tick your favourite myapp.is/whitworth 28th March 2014 Hall Fold, Whitworth, Rochdale Lancashire, OL12 8TS Tel (01706) 343218 www.whitworth.lancs.sch.uk design and ask your child to return the sheet to their form tutor by Tuesday 1st April in order that we can make a final decision. We are also looking to redesign the school tie – prefects will continue with their red tie – ready for September and all ties will be clip-ons from then on. Again, ties will only be available from school. Students’ request to move to blazers is a timely one – since Ofsted have announced an increased focus on how students present themselves as well as on students being ready to learn by having all necessary equipment. Blazer pockets will be invaluable for ensuring pens / pencils / rulers are on hand!
Once again, we have had a number of visitors and tours of school. Visitors and parents are asked to sign our Visitor Books as they leave so that we have constructive feedback on the success and outcome of their visit – whether they have been for a tour or a meeting. The overwhelmingly positive feedback suggests that, even if parents / carers have come in to resolve an issue or share a concern, they are happy with the outcome and have had a welcoming, solution-focused experience. Comments from parents include: ‘Brilliant result,’ ‘Meeting went well. Teachers and parents working well together,’ ‘I’m grateful for the time and effort of the teachers in helping my son progress,’ whilst visitors’ comments include: ‘Such an amazing week. It was brilliant teaching the students in RE and music. They responded so well throughout the week. Y7 and Y8 were great at the gig. Brilliant week all round!’ (Twelve24) and ‘Very welcoming environment. Pupils were great and I enjoyed my visit,’ (interviewee.)
Can I take this opportunity to ask all parents / carers to reinforce with students our high expectations regarding uniform, appearance and behaviour. The uniform requirements are quite clear in student planners – length of skirts, top buttons fastened, no make-up and no piercings other than one pair of studs / sleepers. Staff should not be spending valuable teaching or pastoral time in dealing with students whose appearance does not meet our standards – especially when the contrite response from students always shows that they know exactly what is acceptable and what is not! The current fashion for dramatic headbands (I have checked that this is the correct term with our Y11 fashionistas!) is not appropriate for school.
Next week we will be holding our termly Commendation Assemblies, where students whose top achievement or outstanding effort has been commended by teachers will receive bronze, silver or gold stars, and where 100% attendance, best Learning Journals from each tutor group and best Home Learning Booklets (Y7 only) will also be rewarded. I look forward to signing hundreds of Commendation certificates this weekend!
Best wishes
Mrs G Middlemas Headteacher
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Please return this slip with your preferred design ticked, to your child’s form tutor by Tuesday 1st April
myapp.is/whitworth 28th March 2014 Hall Fold, Whitworth, Rochdale Lancashire, OL12 8TS Tel (01706) 343218 www.whitworth.lancs.sch.uk
NEWS Whitworth Community High School Y8 student Alex Lord competed in and won the Girls under 13 singles and doubles Rochdale Junior Badminton competition on Saturday 15th March. She was in action again on Sunday at Belle Vue Manchester where along with three other players was part of the Rochdale Junior Badminton Club team who won the final of the under 13s Manchester League. They played four rounds during the season and were the overall winners.
Well done to all year 7 and year 9 boys who played in the Rossendale Cup on Tuesday night. In difficult conditions both teams played well in the quarter final of the cup against Haslingden High School.
Year 9’s had several chances in the first half to take the lead with Harry Clegg firing just over from two long range free kicks. In the second half a tidy finish and a penalty gave Haslingden a 2-0 lead but Whitworth had late chances through Joseph Wood and Leon Hesketh. Unfortunately they couldn't take any of these chances with the final score Whitworth 0-2 Haslingden.
Year 7’s played against a very good Haslingden side. Whitworth came in 2-1 up at half time thanks to goals from Reece Livsey and Casey Mairs. In the second half Whitworth had to take a lot of pressure from Haslingden but great defending from Charley, Ethan, Archie and William kept Whitworth in the game. A special mention goes to Joe Reeve who doesn’t normally play in goal but had a terrific game and made some outstanding saves. Late on Whitworth made the game safe thanks to a Jessica Greenwood long range strike which found the back of the net. Well done to all years 7’s who played and good luck in the semi final.
During Science and Engineering Week pupils of Whitworth High School participated in STEM drop in sessions during lunch times run by Mr Abbas and Mr Andrews. The fun sessions attracted many pupils, some of whom were new to the STEM scene. The sessions included – aeroplane challenge, stick bombs, making a gamepad, balloon rockets, the ultimate STEM quiz and ‘origami special’ hosted by our very own STEM regular Elliot Baldwin. Well done Elliot! Prizes were handed out to the best performing individuals and a lot of them had enjoyed the experience. The sessions were a great success and we hope to do it all again next year!
Well done to the following students who have won ‘Pupil of the Term’ in the PE department:
Year 7: Jessica Greenwood - extra-curricular performance in year 7 and 8 football teams.
myapp.is/whitworth 28th March 2014 Hall Fold, Whitworth, Rochdale Lancashire, OL12 8TS Tel (01706) 343218 www.whitworth.lancs.sch.uk
Year 8: Kyle Brooks - excellent use of skills in coaching others.
Year 9: Charlotte Baldwin - brilliant attitude in every lesson.
Year 10: Elizabeth Nuttall - great engagement and progress in GCSE theory lessons.
Year 11: Sam Szelesi - fantastic practical performance.
In STEM this week pupils made their very own apps using a cool software – Blippit! Different mobile apps were created by the talented individuals, such as gaming, football and even an app on horses. Pupils really enjoyed the sessions and will be showing off their apps to family and friends on their smartphones at home.
STUDENTS OF THE WEEK w/e 28.03.14 LEARNING JOURNAL OF THE WEEK w/e 28.03.14
Georgia Atherton (Science), Joshua Sheridan Galbraith, Jacob Standring (Art), Hannah Smallwood Butterworth, Louey Rainbow, Dylan (Art), Thomas Stringer (Art), Willow McKinley, Katie Kershaw, Lauren
Pilkington (Art), Jack Dempsey (Art), Lomax, Charlotte Inger, Chloe Ketsara Lumb (Art), Gabby Sanderson Harrison, Caitlin Cope, Sheridan (Art), Lewis Reid (Art), Sian O’Dell Galbraith, Danielle Palmer (Art), Harry Egan-Fitton (PA), Bethany Richards (DT), Bethany Riley (DT)
Top GEMS+ points w/e 21.03.14 Aurora Carroll
8 Jessica Witter
7 Olivia Addy Emily Barnes GETTING Benn Howarth James Johnson
ENGLISH Callum Smith MATHS Lucy Wilkinson Declan Young SCIENCE+ 6 myapp.is/whitworth 28th March 2014 Hall Fold, Whitworth, Rochdale Lancashire, OL12 8TS Tel (01706) 343218 www.whitworth.lancs.sch.uk
myapp.is/whitworth 28th March 2014