Standish Community High School [email protected] Bulletin for students and parents / carers Friday 22nd January 2021

Message from Mrs Barker, Head of School

Welcome to another edition of our weekly school bulletin.

It can be hard in lockdown to maintain your levels of fitness – especially in the light of group training sessions, the closure of gyms and swimming pools and the cessation of sports clubs and activities. Despite this, our Standish Community has been increasingly focused on maintaining our physical well-being through a variety of innovative solutions.

Some of the highlights have included Mr Balan and Mrs Pilkington leading a series of exciting virtual fitness sessions for staff, Mr Byron running 5K a day throughout January to raise money for charity and I have written this week to parents with details about our PE live lessons designed to keep children active. Not only that but as a school, the staff of Standish are collectively recording the distances we all walk, run or cycle during lockdown to see how far we can travel together as a group. There’ll be weekly updates in this bulletin so look out below for the current total.

Have a restful weekend and stay safe. Mrs Barker

Who to contact Students can email their teachers regarding their academic work between 8.50am and 3.15pm. For parental enquiries, please email [email protected]. This correspondence will be accessed between the normal school hours of 8.30am – 3.30pm.

Useful Links to help with home-learning Microsoft Office 365 – https://www.office.com Student Expectations - https://www.standishchs.wigan.sch.uk/live-lesson-expectations/265.html

For ICT technical support, please email: [email protected] Please include:

 A description of the problem/issue  Screenshot/s of any error messages  Details of the device/browser you are using.

Keeping safe online At this time of working from home, it is very important our students keep themselves safe online. Internet safety information - including the Standish Community High School e-safety information booklet for parents - can be found on the key information section of the school website: https://www.standishchs.wigan.sch.uk/internet-safety/69.html

Keeping safe at home Our school website has a number of resources to promote well-being and to improve mental health. There are currently resources to help pupils and parents when discussing and dealing with loss: https://www.standishchs.wigan.sch.uk/wellbeing/88.html Many of us are struggling with how the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic is affecting ourselves and our loved ones. Those of us already living with mental health problems are facing extra challenges too. Here you'll find some information and tips to help you cope during this time: www.mind.org.uk/information-support/coronavirus/

Useful websites to support the well-being of our young people https://www.annafreud.org/selfcare/ https://www.walyc.org.uk/ (Young Carers Wigan & Leigh) https://riseabove.org.uk/topic/my-mind/ https://youth.anxietycanada.com/ https://www.moodjuice.scot.nhs.uk https://papyrus-uk.org/help-advice-2/

Useful websites to support parents https://www.relate.org.uk/relationship-help/help-family-life-and-parenting/parenting-teenagers Booking line for telephone or webcam counselling: 0300 003 0396 https://youngminds.org.uk/find-help/for-parents/parents-helpline/ Call for free Mon-Fri from 9.30am to 4pm – available in , , and Northern Ireland: 0808 802 5544 https://www.charlottelowepsychologicalservices.co.uk/files/mental-health-support-directory-cyp- cl.pdf Directory and resources for a wide range of issues https://www.annafreud.org/media/7223/secondary-parents-leaflet-final-proofed.pdf http://www.selfhelpguides.ntw.nhs.uk/penninecare/ https://www.cci.health.wa.gov.au/Resources/Looking-After-Yourself https://papyrus-uk.org/help-advice-2/ https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-on-supporting-children-and- young-peoples-mental-health-and-wellbeing https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/ 876989/Easy_read_looking_after_your_feelings_and_body.pdf https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/

Getting online at an affordable price

There are lots of ways in which students can gain access to remote learning and live lessons without an expensive laptop. There are some good deals on tablets at the moment, for instance:

 Huawei MediaPad T3 10 Inch 16GB Tablet £99  Huawei Mediapad T5 10 Inch 16GB Tablet £120  Huawei MediaPad T5 10.1 Inch 32GB Tablet £140  Lenovo M10 10.1in 16GB HD Tablet £109  Lenovo M10 10.1in 32GB HD Tablet - £129

All these tablets have access to the Google Play Store to download the Microsoft Teams app. Tablets can be paired with a compatible Bluetooth Keyboard to improve the user experience and complete written work.

Other brands of tablet are available - these are just examples. The school is not affiliated in any way with the products or companies listed above and does not take responsibility for any compatibility/technical issues that may arise. Please check the specification and ask the retailer if you are not sure.

General notices

Please can we ask that your child does not bring into school:

Nuts of any type – Lupin – Kiwi – Shellfish

This is due to a number of staff and students having very serious allergy issues. Also please do not allow your child to bring any nuts into school as a snack or part of a packed lunch. Thank you for your support with this.

For those children still attending school, we would like to ask all parent / carers to please ensure their child is equipped with a mask and a couple of spares each day, in case of loss or damage. Disposable face masks can be purchased online via SCOPAY costing £3 for 10 and will be delivered to your child.

SIMS Parents app

Communications will be sent via the SIMS Parents app rather than Schoolcomms. This means you may get text messages or emails from a different source number or email address than you normally would. In the case of emails, please check your junk/spam folder on a regular basis and mark any school emails as 'not junk' or add the source email to your safe sender list.

It is planned that most communications will be via email or the SIMS Parents app message function so please make sure you can access the app; however, all unexplained absence messages will be sent via a normal text message - as they currently are.

If you have difficulties accessing the app or have any other questions about this, please contact us using the following email address: [email protected]

Examples of excellent work this week

Students in school The students in school are working very hard to access the same remote education as those at home. It’s been a very wet week but spirits have remained high. Well done to Mrs Nulty for volunteering to be goalkeeper! Also, students took part in the Packed Lunch Challenge, making their own lunch, no adults allowed! On Wednesday, Regan and Harriet brought in these fabulous lunches – Regan made Bento style rice cats as well as a delicious fruit and yoghurt dessert for breaktime! Harriet was inspired by her favourite TV characters and spent hours making brownies. Well done Regan and Harriet!

Poetry Success Wonderful news from a former student, Katie Bilsborough, who got in touch to let us know that a poem she wrote during the first session of national lockdown during her remote English lessons has been published in Wigan Old Courts’ anthology, The Language of Lockdown. Katie, who has continued her studies in English Literature at college, had been encouraged to enter the poem by her teacher, Mr Blakemore, who was delighted to see her work selected for publication. You can read Katie’s submission below. Well done Katie – everyone at Standish is very proud of you!

Mr Byron’s 5K Challenge Mr Byron has already smashed his £500 target so he will be running his final 5K in fancy dress. If you would like to donate to Alzheimer’s Society, please use the link below: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/chris-byron4

Well done Mr Byron!

The Great Standish Lockdown Challenge Members of our fabulous staff along with their households / support bubbles are walking, skipping, running and cycling as far as they can every week. Distances will be totalled every week to see how far Standish Staff can travel during Lockdown. So far, we have ‘travelled’ 1000km – that’s the equivalent of Standish to Berlin as the crow flies!

Be a Champion – 30 Day Pupil & Staff Well-being Challenges

“Hi! I’m Jamie Peacock. I am a former Champion player. In my rugby career, I played over 500 games, including over 50 times for England and Great Britain. I’ve also won 11 Grand Finals, 4 Challenge Cups, 4 World Club Challenges and I was selected for the Super League Dream Team World Best 13.”

“I didn’t start out as a champion. But I believe everybody has a champion within them. Over the next 30 days, we’ll go on a journey to discover your inner champion.”

“I was able to excel in my career because of my focus on and understanding of the importance of well-being. If you don’t know already, well-being consists of 4 areas:  Positive mindset  Sleeping well  Physical activity  Eating healthily For more information about this free event click the link: https://schooladvice.co.uk/jamiepeacock/

Recipe from Mrs Aitchison Lemon Tart

For the Pastry 250g plain flour 125g butter 50g caster sugar 1 egg

For the Filling 4 eggs 125g caster sugar 125ml double cream 3 lemons A tart tin

First make the pastry (1) Place 250g plain flour in a mixing bowl and add a pinch of salt. (2) Weigh 125g of butter, cube and add to the flour. Rub the butter into the flour until it looks like breadcrumbs. (3) Add 50g of icing sugar using a sieve to remove lumps. (4) Separate an egg, throwing the white away. Add around 4 tbsp. of cold water to the egg yolk and whisk together. (5) Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the egg mixture. Stir to form a dough. (6) Gently bring the dough together on the worktop. (7) Roll out the pastry to the thickness of a £1 coin and line the tin, pressing into the sides and edges gently. (8) Allow to come over the tin a little (trim if it comes over a lot). Use a fork to make holes in the case before covering with greaseproof paper and a few tins of baked beans to weigh it down. (9) Bake the pastry case in the oven (preheated to 180⁰C) for 15 minutes. Remove the greaseproof paper and tins carefully and put back into the oven for a further 5 minutes.

Next make the filling (1) Wash the lemons and grate on the small, smooth side of a grater before juicing the lemons. (2) Mix all of the ingredients together except the zest, whisking the eggs first, with a standard, non-electric hand whisk. (3) Sieve the mixture into a measuring jug before stirring in the zest. (4) Carefully pour into the pastry case. (5) Reduce the oven temperature to 150⁰C and bake the tart for 30 minutes, when it should be set. (6) Allow to thoroughly cool before slicing.

Enjoy!

Mrs Charnock’s Books of the Week

KS3 Recommended Read

After a brief overview on why the planet needs saving in the first place, the book focuses on what can and is being done to tackle these challenges, from small everyday changes that anyone can take to big, international missions.

KS4 Recommended Read

In this self-help guide that discusses topics from stereotyping and unconscious bias to managing emotions and self- confidence, Liam’s advice and guidance helps build resilience and understanding so readers can be their best, most fearless selves.

Happy Reading! Mrs Charnock, LRC Manager

RSPB Great Big Garden Bird Watch For the weekend commencing 29th – 31st of January, the RSPB are completing their annual Big Garden Birdwatch. This is really important as it allows them to keep a record of bird numbers across the UK and helps the RSPB identify any birds that may be struggling and need some help. The Green Team at Standish Community High School are hoping as many families as possible will complete this project. It can be completed at any time over the weekend and takes 1 hour. Please use the link below for more details. https://www.rspb.org.uk/get-involved/activities/birdwatch/everything-you-need-to-know-about-big- garden-birdwatch/

The Futures Team Wigan & Leigh College The next event in our series of virtual events is our ‘Applicant Parent Evening’ which takes place on Thursday 28th January, 6 - 7pm.

The event will cover topics that explore wider college life and delve deeper in to how we support students beyond the classroom, including:

- Transition to College (Preparing & Supporting Year 11 for Further Education) - Career Planning - Enrichment and Extracurricular Activities

There is also a chance to meet the College Principal, Anna Dawe, and participate in a live question & answer session.

This event is open for all to attend, so if any of your students are yet to complete their application to the college, they are most welcome.

Registration for the event is open, and can be found by visiting https://wiganleigh.onlineopendays.com/ before clicking ‘Book My Place’ and then selecting ‘Parent Evening’.

Winstanley College The deadline for applications to study at Winstanley College has been extended until Friday 5th March. Please keep checking your emails for details of Interview Evenings which are taking place in February. Winstanley College are planning events over the next couple of months to help you to find out more about Winstanley College and College life - this will be communicated to you via email. If you need any help or support with applications, email the Futures Team on [email protected]

Alumni The Futures Team are proud to launch the new alumni section of the website. It’s a place to celebrate ex-Standish students and the diverse pathways they have taken since leaving Standish CHS. We hope that Standish played a role in forming, supporting and guiding that pathway in some way. If you are a past student or know someone who is, please ask them to complete the online communication form so we can share their career journey to hopefully inspire the next generation of Standish students. Please follow the link to our alumni page: https://www.standishchs.wigan.sch.uk/careers/228.html

https://www.standishchs.wigan.sch.uk/celebrating-student-career-pathways--their-story/267.html

Parents Zone The Futures Team would also like to invite parents to complete our online 'Parental Questionnaire'. We are looking for some feedback from our parents in relation to your understanding and potential experience (through your child) of the careers programme here at Standish. It might be helpful to complete this with your child to obtain a clear view of all the questions but we certainly appreciate any feedback or suggestions on how to keep improving our careers and destinations programme going forward. Click the link to take you to the parental section of the Futures section: https://www.standishchs.wigan.sch.uk/parents2/243.html Mr Prout

Happier January How can we start this New Year happier? Things have certainly not been easy over the last year, and we are still in difficult and uncertain times. The best way to try to handle our difficult emotions and experiences is by focusing on what we can control. This month, focus on small steps to try to boost happiness - for ourselves and others around us - to spread kindness and hopefully inspire others to do the same.

Thought for the Day: