Spring 2017

Harper Green Celebrates Success!

The annual Presentation Evening took place in November at The Victoria Hall in . Pupils past and present, attended the event to celebrate their successes. It was an exceptional celebration, showcasing some of our most talented individuals. Mr Wilson worked his magic with the choir and our talented musicians whilst Miss Gunn choreographed some amazing dance pieces. Former pupils beamed with confidence when they took to the stage to receive their GCSE certificates. With the help, guidance and support of Harper Green staff, these pupils have achieved the best that they are capable of and have flourished to become young confident adults. The dedication, commitment and hard work of our current Year 11 was also celebrated, with students receiving awards for endeavour, citizenship and contribution to school life.

www.harper-green.bolton.sch.uk We Are Harper Spring 2017

The Origins of the Badge & the History of Harper Green School As Harper Green School prepares to become an academy, it’s worth looking back at the school’s journey from a small school, with two hundred and thirty children, into a large campus that is home to 1350 pupils with some 200 staff. The need to have a visual identity has always been a pivotal feature of belonging to a group, be it a football club, a regiment, a trade association, a school, college or profession. Belonging to Harper Green and sharing the ethos of such a group is why Harper Green School underpins a commitment to our motto “Inspire – Believe – Achieve” which is as much a part of who we are, as is our uniform and the badge that identifies our pupils as members of Harper Green School. For many years the Harper Green Central School badge was used to emblazon the letterhead of school stationary as few children possessed a uniform. The design was a simple heraldic device featuring the letters “FCS” ( Central School), a traditional shield which featured the bee and the hive, symbolic virtues and the motto “Industry and Faithfulness in Service”. The Head Master from 1928 was Mr Sam Astle. At that time, the school was effectively divided into a girls and boys school (a white line was literally painted across the quad corridor). Miss Green was the headmistress (with a strictly adhered to policy of zero contact with the boys). The appointment of Mr John Close in 1963 as the headmaster of Harper Green School introduced a charismatic liberal reformer who was charged with the responsibility of merging the boys’ and girls’ schools. Harper Green School was a small school and accommodation consisted of classrooms around the quad. By the late sixties, the school needed more teaching rooms and a major building programme began. The old badge remained and continued in use until the onset of reorganisation of secondary education in 1982 when a tide of sweeping changes swept through the country. Mr Alan Atherton undertook the development of the newly formed school and along with this a new design emerged to incorporate the use of the crown, a rose and a gauntlet clutching ferns, in recognition of the towns medieval name, Fernerth (quite literally meaning ‘place amongst the ferns’). An unusual feature is the rope binding around the shield which symbolises strength. The design was produced in school by Mark German, a year eight pupil whose design was chosen from many entries and created in the Art Department at a time when graphic skills were introduced to the syllabus. The badge was used during the period up to the 1990s, when a simplified version of the two fern symbol was introduced. After eighty eight years it seems appropriate that we celebrate our school’s historical heritage and look back over the many years that Harper Green School has provided quality education. The school has grown from its early school board days, becoming a secondary school and then a comprehensive school. In the next few weeks, Harper green will become part of the Leverhulme Academy Trust, alongside Rivington and Blackrod High School. Harper Green School will retain its identity and value its long history serving the many generations of pupils whom have passed through the school gates. Dr T Colluney

FARNWORTH CENTRAL HARPER GREEN HARPER GREEN SCHOOL SECONDARY SCHOOL COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL

Inspire • Believe • Achieve We Are Harper Spring 2017

Introducing our New Head Boy and Head Girl Pupils and staff have elected Amir Williams and Ellie Lord at Harper Green’s Head Boy and Head Girl. As Head Boy and Girl, they have many roles and responsibilities, as well as being the faces of the school. Over the course of the year, they will have to represent the school at many functions, including making a speech at the annual Presentation Evening. Their main responsibility is ensuring that the prefect team are doing their weekly duties and if a problem occurs they need to make sure they are able to sort it without any hesitations, in a mature manner. Being the face of the school means that Amir and Ellie have to attend many events and help out with Transition Days. Amir and Ellie have done this with a positive, mature and confident attitude. Both Amir and Ellie will tell any aspiring Head Boy and Head Girl that this is a real honour and something to be proud of. Representing Harper Green at public events such as Armistice Day in Bolton was an occasion that they felt proud to be a part of. They hope this is something that the future Head Boy and Girl can continue to attend.

Teacher in the Making! Every year, Year 10 participates in a week-long work experience placement. During this time, pupils enter the world of work and get an idea of what it would be like in the industry or career of their choice. This year we were particularly delighted by the feedback from the placements, however we were impressed with the comments from Mount St. Josephs regarding Hollie Nuttall. Hollie is an outstanding pupil at Harper Green. She is a keen, enthusiastic, hard worker and this was shown in her work experience in the Art Department at Mount St. Joseph's. She gave 100% during her week long placement and she gained so much knowledge, experience and confidence because of her enthusiasm, ability and willingness to ‘get stuck in’. She used her time wisely and she got the most out of the opportunity that work experience had to offer. She was a true credit and ambassador for the school. Hollie taught a Year 7 class, which according to the class teacher was not easy class. Her mentor called her a ‘superstar and a credit to Harper Green’. She was professional and inspiring to work with. The Art Department were impressed with the level of commitment she showed and was impressed with her teaching, something they said they couldn’t have done at her age. Well done Holly!

Inspire • Believe • Achieve We Are Harper Spring 2017 In Flanders Fields... Mrs Rothwell's trip to the Battlefields departed school at 11.30pm on Friday 21st October. We crossed the Channel via Eurostar and despite the lack of sleep we hit the ground running as we arrived in Belgium. We visited the Essex farm which is believed to be the place where the Canadian poet Major John McCrae wrote the famous poem, 'In Flanders Fields'. On from there, Passchendaele museum gave pupils the opportunity to walk through preserved trenches, giving them a feel of how conditions were on the front line before soldiers were given the instruction to, 'go over the top'. Quiet time spent in both Tyne Cot Cemetery and the German War Cemetery overawed the pupils and staff with their sheer size, the number of graves, and the many names on the monuments. The beauty of the location permanently commemorates the ultimate sacrifice of Commonwealth soldiers. After one very long, emotional night and day, we arrived at our accommodation, where pupils were able to unwind playing pool, bowling, and five-a- side football. Day two involved a visit to the Somme, which (100 years ago to the day) was the site of the bloodiest battle in British history. Vimy Ridge is the site of the Canadian Memorial and pupils were able to experience the tunnels the Canadians dug to get soldiers to the front lines safely. The site is another permanent reminder of the horrors of war, as the landscape is scarred with craters from exploding shells. Sunday was a very misty day in France and as we walked to the Newfoundland Memorial, it appeared, the most magnificent memorial out of the mist; it was breath taking. The remainder of the day took us to Thiepval and the Lochnagar Crater, before finishing up with a freezing cold tour of the Delville Wood, where trenches continue to be preserved. The day was completed as pupils and staff attended the Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate, Ypres. On our final day, pupils visited the In Flanders Fields Museum in the heart of Ypres. But, before setting off home, a trip to Leonidas Chocolate Shop was in order to make us all thouroughly sick on the way home. Well it wouldn't be Belgium without the chocolate would it?

Inspire • Believe • Achieve We Are Harper Spring 2017

Remembering the Fallen 11th November is a day of remembrance for those who have fought for our country during various wars and conflicts. With many of pupils having relatives who have served (or are currently serving) in the Armed Forces, we felt that it was respectful if we honoured those brave men and women who have continuously fought to keep our country and the world safe. At 11am on 11th November, Harper Green fell silent. On the yard Mr Wilson and a talented pupil played the Last Post on their trumpets. Classroom windows were opened so that pupils and staff could hear the piece being played. A sense of pride and emotion was felt around the school as everyone respected the two minutes’ silence. Once the two minutes’ silence was up, Mr Wilson and his companion played us out with The Reveille. In classrooms, tutors showed the poem ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ to students during morning registration. During this time, pupils discussed the poem and thought about what it would have been like to be a soldier before, during and after the Great War. As a mark of respect, 12 members of Harper Green Student Council attended the Armistice Day Remembrance service, held on the Town Hall Square in Bolton. It was a beautiful, crisp winter morning and the spectacle of the gathered current and ex-servicemen, as well as school children and the public, was a sight to behold. The students from Harper Green each carried with them the name of a soldier who had died during WW1. All these soldiers were aged under 17, which made the message extremely poignant. The students then laid a poppy at the foot of the WW1 memorial. The poppy had been designed by the students at the school and made using a 3D printer. The students then got a chance to meet Yasmin Qureshi, MP for Bolton South East and take a quick tour around the Town Hall buildings and council offices.

Inspire • Believe • Achieve We Are Harper Spring 2017

School Awards 2016 Mrs Dainton is Bolton’s Star Pupil Naomi Wins

Secondary School Pupil of the Year JUDGES again found it incredibly difficult to choose Teacher of the Year just one winner for the Secondary School Pupil of THE best of the the Year so they decided to pick two very community have been given a deserving recipients. Naomi Crimmins was one of chance to shine. those winners. Behind classroom doors Naomi started at Harper Green School in year nine thousands of teachers, pupils after suffering bullying at her old school. She has and are staff working hard gone on to become one of the school’s best year every day to bring top class 11 pupils. education to the community. Paula Holmes-Patel of Harper Green School said: And here we honour the “She has done fantastically well here and she is achievements of those people one of our best pupils and places that make up all in year 11. that’s good in the borough’s schools at the second “She is a real success Bolton News School Awards. Harper Green School’s story due to her hard Mrs Dainton embodies all that is great about work and teachers. determination.” Mrs Dainton has won the admiration of the staff Naomi, aged15, went and pupils at the Farnworth school for always through a difficult putting her pupils first no matter what. time in her previous Mrs Dainton did not attend the awards as she was school before awaiting the birth of her second child, welcoming coming to Harper baby Amelia into the world on Thursday. Green, where she Picking the award on her behalf was assistant described feeling headteacher Mrs Holmes-Patel. She said: ‘Mrs “welcome” and Dainton is an outstanding teacher. She is fabulous being “determined to in the classroom and always allows a child to fulfil do well”. their potential.’

Fundraiser of the Year Abbie Given-Smethurst was nominated by her peers and teachers for her outstanding commitment to fundraising. Mrs. Minion said of Abbie: “When Abbie told me that she was going to donate her hair to the Little Princess Charity, she was really nervous about having her hair cut into a bob, but she was adamant this was the sacrifice she was willing to make for young girls suffering from cancer. Abbie is very modest and wasn’t seeking attention or acknowledgement but she just wanted to raise awareness for the charity and raise as much money as she could.”

Inspire • Believe • Achieve We Are Harper Spring 2017

See for Yourself the True Harper Green

School... On Open Evening we opened our doors to show our community how proud we are of the

achievements and successes of our pupils. The Drama dedication of our highly professional and motivated staff ensures that each child flourishes in a secure and happy environment. The evening was our showcase to demonstrate how all our staff share a relentless commitment

to ensuring that each and every lesson is engaging, challenging and suited to the learning needs of each individual. This is underpinned by a strong pastoral team who

provide outstanding care, support and Catering guidance, creating an inclusive environment where every child feels safe, happy and valued. As a school our beliefs are simple: each individual should leave Harper Green with the qualifications and skills needed to achieve their

ambitions. At Harper Green we challenge students to explore the limits of their intellectual, physical and emotional

capabilities, enabling them to realise their own Maths infinite potential. Harper Green is the platform for young people to develop into global citizens who are able to make a valued contribution to society. The learning, social and cultural experiences our

young students encounter at Harper Green are pivotal in determining the people they become and provide them with the aptitude, achievements and opportunities to succeed in

life beyond school. Science The evening gave visitors the chance to experience the school, visit every department, ask any questions, visit every classroom, taste a sample of our lunch menu and meet our dedicated staff and friendly pupils…

Spanish

Music English

Inspire • Believe • Achieve We Are Harper Spring 2017 Elves Spread some Festive Cheer FATHER Christmas’ reindeer flew into Harper Green to enlist the help of ‘elves’ to make some early special festive deliveries. In December, the school continued its seasonal tradition of making up and delivering hampers in the community to senior citizens who live alone, may have been unwell, or may not have visitors this Christmas time. This is the fourth year that the school has spread some festive cheer in the community. All students from Years 7 to 11 brought in a donation to make up the hampers in exchange for putting on the style by wearing their own clothes on the last day of term. Staff also brought goods in and around 1,500 items were collected to make up the food hampers. This year the pupils nominated who should receive the hampers - and a dozen of the youngsters donned elf hats as they delivered the good news among the community, missing out on their own school Christmas lunch in the process. Michelle Jefferies, director of resources at the school, said: “The residents are always overwhelmed by the students and write to us to say how pleased they are." The rest of the donations will be sent to Farnworth Food bank to help families in need. Paula Holmes-Patel, assistant head who accompanied the young people, said: “It is one of the highlights of the year. The students and I get a great deal out of it and it helps us remember that Christmas is a time for giving not just receiv- ing. “We do fundraise throughout the year and our nominated charity is Derian House. Raising awareness and helping the students see that there are people less fortunate than they are, is key to what we do in school pastorally.”

Year 9 have taken part in their very first Rugby Union game this half term against

Rugby Union Unites Year 9 Thornleigh. Despite losing, Harper played a good game they should be proud of. Thornleigh have been undefeated for three years. Well done Harper Green on a great Achievement!

Inspire • Believe • Achieve We Are Harper Spring 2017 Harper Green Pupils Meet the Authors Year 7 pupils enjoyed a fantastic day at Bolton School attending the Grand Award ceremony for the 2016 Bolton Children’s Fiction Award. The pupils, who are members of Miss Broadbent’s reading group, had read the six books on the short-list and voted for their favourites earlier in the year. They were keen to meet the authors, listen to them talk about their work and discover who would be this year’s winner. Pupils were delighted when author, Narinder Dhami triumphed for the second time with her intriguing novel, ‘Thirteen Hours.’ A tense thriller, it was by far the most popular book among Harper Green students and a worthy winner. Narinder, who previously won the award in 2010 with her novel ‘Bang, Bang, You’re Dead’, is also notable for having penned the novel version of the box-office hit ‘Bend it Like Beckham.’ She gave pupils an inspiring insight into her life as a writer; from her early days struggling to establish herself in the world of children’s writing to her current success as one of our most highly regarded authors of books for teenagers. To mark the occasion, Librarian, Mrs Wilkinson presented participating pupils with a book of their choice which the visiting authors were happy to sign.

StarBooks Every Thursday during form time, the Library is abuzz with the sound of reading. Some of our year 7 pupils have taken up the opportunity to read to a year 9 reading buddy and further develop their reading skills. Our year 9 reading buddies were selected following a high-quality application process involving completing and application form and an interview. This has resulted in our largest group of reading buddies since StarBooks began! Our first group of year 9 reading buddies then completed a training session before meeting their reading buddy with whom they have worked since September.

Inspire • Believe • Achieve We Are Harper Spring 2017 Homework gets Creative Here are some photos of the projects which Year 7 & 8 did as homework in Autumn 1. Year 7 worked on Roald Dahl, his life and works. (One student even produced a chocolate box full of facts and pictures!) Year 8 focused on Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’ and we had everything from cakes to biscuits shaped like gravestones, alongside biographical reports and essays!

Calling All Budding Maths Rock Stars! Since September 2016, all Year 7 and Year 8 Harper Green students have taken up the challenge of donning a rock star persona and spending the start of every lesson trying to improve the speed and accuracy of their time tables as part of the new Math Mastery curriculum. All pupils have used the paper version of Times Table Rock Stars in their classes, as well as doing battle against their classmates (and the world) using the online website (www.ttrockstars.com). The competition to improve their scores within their maths sets has led to some brilliant improvements so far. This will intensify further after Christmas when we introduce rock charts for each year and competitions between classes and other schools. All pupils are following a carefully constructed programme which gradually adds more times tables through the year and assigns each pupil a rock star rating. Answering questions in less than 2 seconds earns you the title of Rock Legend. The ultimate accolade is answering in less than 1 second a question (Rock God) – a position currently held only by Zhi Jie Qui and Megan Taylor in Year 11. If any pupils would like a login for the online version then please pop into Q3 any time. Finally I would like to give a special mention to Joshua Barnes, Joseph Rowley and Silvana Novac (Year 10) who have improved so much that I now have to practise to make sure I stay ahead! Josh has improved from 20 answers in a minute to a new high this week of 50 (which beat me for the first time!). Well done to all pupils who have so far been involved and we look forward to further improvements next term. Mr A Gillibrand

Inspire • Believe • Achieve We Are Harper Spring 2017 Poetry Day Celebrations in the School Library Year 7 pupils enjoyed a day exploring the wonderful world of poetry when Liverpool poet, Terry Caffrey visited the library at Harper Green School. Terry, who has visited thousands of schools both at home and abroad and recently appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe, performed a selection of his poems, ranging from energetic rhythmic raps and humorous poems inspired by his son’s antics, to a deeply thought-provoking poem about cyber-bullying that Terry felt compelled to write in response to the case of an eleven year boy driven to despair by online bullies. Toxteth-born Terry spoke of his own school days and impressed upon pupils the importance of education and working hard to achieve one’s true potential. As a school-boy Terry’s head was filled with dreams of becoming a professional footballer. He went on to play professionally for a succession of clubs but a serious leg injury when he was twenty-seven ended his career and Terry enrolled at night school to gain the qualifications he had neglected to acquire whilst at school. Terry showed pupils his notebook which he carries with him at all times so that he can jot down ideas and rhymes that pop into his head throughout the day. He even has it next to his bed at night just in case he wakes up with an idea that may be forgotten by the morning! He encouraged pupils to write freely, to get their ideas down on paper, let their imaginations take flight, to shape and develop their work and create their own collections of poetry. Terry was funny, entertaining and inspiring. He was delighted and impressed by his enthusiastic and attentive audience and judging from the excitement, laughter and applause generated by his visit the feeling was entirely mutual! We look forward to welcoming Terry back to Harper Green in the future. Mrs Wilkinson Librarian

Inspire • Believe • Achieve We Are Harper Spring 2017

Whizz-popping Centenary Celebrations in the School Library The 100th anniversary of one of the nation’s best-loved children’s authors was celebrated in gloriumptious style as Year 7 pupils were treated to the enduring magic of Roald Dahl courtesy of Harper Green’s wonderful guest storytellers: the phizz-whizzing Steve Kerns, the swashboggling Mrs Skeer and the truly terrifying Trunchbull a.k.a. Mrs Houston. Pupils sat spellbound as they listened to George mixing his marvellous medicine for his grumpy gran, cringed as the fire-breathing dragon, Miss Trunchbull administered her weekly test and interrogated pupils on their times tables and thrilled to the darkly comic versions of popular fairy tales retold in Dahl’s inimitable style in Revolting Rhymes. Huge thanks to all who helped make the day such a fabulous and memorable occasion for our pupils and a special mention for Senior Catering Officer, Mrs Jacques and her team who designed a truly scrumdiddlyumptious Roald Dahl menu to mark the occasion. Mrs Wilkinson Librarian

Inspire • Believe • Achieve