2019 Newsletter Welcome

We have had a fantastic and very busy first term of 2019-20 here at Longdendale, and I am sure you will enjoy reading about some of the activities and opportunities our learners have had during this time. These are an ongoing reflection of the hard work and dedication of both our highly skilled team of staff and the learners themselves.

As always our learners continue to be great ambassadors for our school and local community. The activities and events they have been involved in over the past term alongside members of the local community have been particularly impressive, and our learners have been demonstrating a real commitment to raising money to support a range of local and national charitable causes. They continue to make us all proud on a daily basis.

Our learners have the opportunity to participate in a wide range of enrichment activities across subjects and more widely across school, and it is fantastic to see so many of them developing new skills and interests whilst taking part in such enjoyable and rewarding experiences.

The recent Aspire Presentation Evening was a real highlight in terms of celebrating some of the successes of our learners past and present, and I would like to thank everyone involved in school life for supporting our learners to reach these standards. It has been fantastic to witness such commitment from everyone in school, and we are looking forward to building on these successes as we are working hard to ensure that Longdendale continues to improve and become a truly world class school with opportunities to match.

Best wishes to you and your families for a peaceful and restful Christmas holiday, and we look forward to welcoming your child back in January ready for another successful term in school.

Andrea Jones

Headteacher Headteacher Awards

Fridays are always an important point of reflection in school on all of the fantastic learning and activities taking place. Each week ends with learners receiving their Headteacher awards from Mrs Jones who says that this is her favourite part of the week. Each week learners can be nominated for Learning Leader and/ or Headteacher awards. The learners successfully awarded the Headteachers award are invited to celebrate with Mrs Jones on a Friday where they are congratulated on their nomination, receive a certificate and the much coveted badge to wear on their blazers. Congratulations to all of this term’s learners who achieved a Headteacher award.

Centre of Excellence – IQM Award

The first term of the academic year saw Mrs Jones (Headteacher) Mrs Willis (Assistant Headteacher) and Mrs Lambert (Director of the AspirePlus Educational Trust) along with representatives from Rayner Stephens High School invited to the prestigious Inclusion Flagship Presentation Ceremony in London. This was a distinguished event for Longdendale to attend as there are only 100 secondary schools in the country who have achieved the esteemed Flagship status.

The award recognises the hard work of all staff and learners in maintaining the Inclusion Quality Mark Centre of Excellence status for the last 3 years; and the vital role the school has played in developing inclusion best practice both at Longdendale and across a network of schools. Longdendale was celebrated in the report for ensuring “every student really does matter and is made to feel special. The school and staff are committed to providing the very highest of teaching and learning experiences” (IQM February 2019). The plaque is now displayed in a prominent position in school for all staff, learners and visitors to see on arrival to school. Student Leadership/School Council Since the start of the year in September, the School Council and Student Leaders have been actively involved in many aspects of school.

The Year 10 and Year 11 Student Leaders have participated in whole school events, such as: Open Evening, Presentation Evening, Tea Dance, Year 7 Enrichment Fair, and Future’s Roadshow. The Student Leaders conducted themselves exceptionally as they represented the school in a professional manner across the events. Learners were proactive as they helped and supported staff, visitors and other learners in the events. Year 11 Senior leaders were at the forefront of the events as they led tours enthusiastically for parents and potential new learners who will attend Longdendale in the future.

Our Head Boy and Head Girl , George and Megan have shown their confidence and passion as they presented speeches at Open Evening and Presentation Evening which engaged parents, learners and governors as they promoted the fantastic achievements and successes Longdendale has had across the year. George our Head Boy, also represented the school on remembrance Sunday, as he layed a wreath at Hollingworth Cenotaph, which highlights the commitment and support Longdendale learners have for our community.

Additionally, Year 10 and Year 11 Student Leaders have helped support staff in their departments or areas they are linked to. Learners have played an active role in promoting extra-curricular clubs and even support by leading the clubs. Staff have expressed how Student Leaders have been engaged and enthused in their roles as they have helped support younger year groups in the subject areas. Year 11 leaders have also had opportunity to meet and liaise with Year 10 leaders, mentoring and supporting them in their chosen areas or departments they are linked to.

Our Charity Leaders have started the year with real momentum as they have played a vital role in many charity events. Year 11 Charity leaders helped in raising awareness, promoted and ran activities surrounding Children In Need, raising just under £900 for the charity. They also led the Shoebox Appeal which they promoted, collected and wrapped 35 boxes for. Finally, the Year 10 and Year 11 charity leaders are using their skills to promote charity events locally, for the homeless shelter and collections for a network supporting young carers.

As well as the Student Leaders, the School Council have been active in the school community. Throughout his first term, the School Council have been involved in meetings which have been led by Sasha and Tony Deputy Head Girl and Deputy Head Boy. Form Representatives in all year groups have gathered learner voices across year groups to help support conversations and an active change in the school. Members of the council have also presented in front of the governors expressing their ideas and accomplishments so far.

The school council have also linked up with Youth Council, where two Year 10 learners are now a member. Their role will be promoting the Make Your Mark campaign, which enables young people to have a voice in our area on aspects which affect their generation.

Finally, Year 10 Student Leaders have been given the opportunity to participate in completing the SSAT qualification; Student Leadership Qualification. This is a new exciting opportunity for learners to gather evidence in a portfolio showcasing their commitments across their time as a Student Leader and gain a certificate and nationally recognised qualification as a Student Leader. National Anti Bullying Week November 11TH – 15TH 2019

During the week, our Antibullying Ambassadors, SMILE Team and Equality Student Leaders all participated in delivering Assemblies to all of our year groups in order to raise awareness.

Tutor activities also followed the theme , as Learners explored difference and worked together , across year groups, to problem solve potential scenarios that could arise for young people.

The National theme was – “ Change starts with us” Our Learners delivered an assembly focused around celebrating and valuing difference, encouraging young people to be confident to be who they are. There was a particular emphasis this year, on raising the awareness that any bullying can impact significantly on emotional wellbeing.

Our Ambassadors refreshed the definition of bullying and highlighted the difference between that and peer conflict, also where young people can access support.

The definition school uses is the one used from the Anti bullying Alliance that says:

That bullying is: The repetitive, intentional hurting of one person or group by another person or group, where the relationship involves an imbalance of power. It can happen face to face or online.

The school also recently participated in Odd Socks Day – Learners and staff were invited to wear odd socks for the day to celebrate uniqueness, individuality and raise money for charities. It was great to see so many members of our school community taking part and supporting this important message. Open Evening 2019

We opened our doors on Tuesday the 1st October to all of our prospective families from our local and wider community. The staff and the Longdendale learners had worked really hard to make the school site and building as welcoming as possible. The activities taking place in the classrooms created a real buzz. The delights of food were evident, the English department served afternoon tea, whilst in languages there was international food tasting, the aroma of pain au chocolat filled the classroom café, to the delight of all the visitors. There was an evening of ‘exploration’ in the science department. A combustion experiment created a fireball that wowed our visitors.

In Humanities there was face painting and rather gruesome medieval medicine and cures were investigated! In Art, the class of 2025 were enthusiastically creating florescent finger prints. In music the learners were given the chance to get hands on with the instruments, parents described the department as ‘spectacular’! Whilst in technology they were busy creating wooden bookmarks, complete with their names to take home and treasure.

In the Drama studio it was definitely ‘lights, camera, action’! There was plenty of singing, chanting and prancing, it was a real spectacle to see. In the sports hall learners were treated to a pressurised penalty shoot-out and ‘battling badminton’, the shrieks of laughter were heard all around the school. Longdendale learners were a real credit to the school.

Our Senior Student Leaders and Transition Leaders were a shining example of professionalism and embodied all of our core ASPIRE values and competencies, as they conducted tours around the school. We had large numbers of learners helping in classrooms, families leaving school were full of praise for the enthusiasm and support their child had received. Year 11 Head boy George and Head Girl Megan, along with two Year 8 Transition Student Leaders George and Charlotte stole the show in the Outdoor Pursuits Centre with their impressive aspirational speeches.

Tea Dance 2019

On Friday 25th October we had our annual Tea Dance celebration. This year our theme was Halloween. Around 40 guests from our community attended and once again it was a fantastic community event. Mr Kilkenny and the Year 11 catering team prepared a wonderful afternoon tea of cakes, scones, sandwiches and macaroons. Mrs Waters and the concert band group played a wonderful medley of tango, jazz, waltz and quick step for our guests to practise their dance moves. Mrs Healey-Wilde and her amazing GCSE dancers showcased their dance skills including a special performance of Thriller. It was a lovely way to end the first half-term and support the local community. Futures Roadshow

On Friday 4th October we had another successful careers event for our Year 11 students. We invited a large number of education providers, along with local and international companies, in to school for the afternoon. The whole of Year 11 were off timetable to attend talks and presentations and visit the various stalls at the exhibition. It was a fantastic opportunity for the learners to learn about the many courses and apprenticeships available to them after Longdendale. They were inspired finding out about the exciting opportunities and possibilities open to them. It was also a chance for learners to talk to the various providers and employers and even take application packs to fill in. Year 10 and Year 11 parents were also invited to attend the event with their child. Evaluations of the event were extremely positive and we are so lucky to be able to offer such fantastic experiences to our students to support their decision making regarding their next steps after Longdendale.

Year 7 Aspire Afternoon

On Thursday the 19th September 2019 we opened our doors and welcomed our new families for the class of 2024 into school. Dressed professionally student senior leaders from Year 11 met with families and escorted them around the building, showing off the fabulous learning and teaching taking place. This event was hosted for the first time in 2013 and was a resounding success. This year’s event was bigger and better as a record number of families took the opportunity to experience Longdendale ‘at work’. The open afternoon was followed with an opportunity for parents and carers to meet with their child’s Form Tutor and discuss the wonderful start their child had made to secondary school.

Sporting News

All year groups have had a fantastic year with sports activities.

Every Monday we have had an amazing turnout for Badminton club with Miss English. The learners have had an excellent attitude and have made a top effort to attend every week developing their skills and friendships.

We have also had a big turnout to football training with Year 7 and 8 on Wednesdays. Mr Cooper has really enjoyed leading the training and the boys and girls have been fantastic and he has now started hosting Basketball club which will continue up until Easter.

The under 14 girls football team also went to a tournament at Curzon Ashton. They lost the first game 2-0 but won the second game 2-1. The girls were all fabulous. The under 14s girls team also went to the Tameside finals. All the girls played fantastically and they ended up coming 4th out of 12 schools.

There have also been plenty of football fixtures for all year groups this year and the teams have made brilliant progress in the league. Year 7 have had fixtures against Rayner Stephens, Hyde and Copley and have won all 3 convincingly, also coming close in the cup against a very good Droylsden team. Year 8 have also done very well winning in all of their league games as well against Rayner Stephens, Hyde and Copley. They also have beaten Rayner Stephens 8-3 in the first round of the cup, so we wish them good luck in the next round.

Year 9 have played some outstanding football this year and have also won all of their league games against Rayner Stephens, Copley and Hyde. Unfortunately the boys missed out on progressing in the cup when they came up against a very talented Alder team in this local derby.

Year 10 have won their league games that have been played so far against Copley and Hyde. The Year 10 team still have to play against Rayner Stephens in the league which we will be looking to win to top the league. Again, the year 10’s came up against a very tough Alder opposition and were beaten on the day

And finally, Year 11 have had the toughest run of games. Unfortunately, they have lost against very good opposition in Copley and Rayner Stephens and also drawing in their league opener against Hyde. The Year 11’s also played against Audenshaw in the cup. This was a fantastic game and we took them all the way to an incredible penalty shootout that was decided on the 18th penalty in Audenshaw’s favour.

The year 7 Basketball tournament was a great success. This is the first time the team have played together and they managed to finish in 3rd place securing a bronze medal. U14 Girls Football Team

The Under 14 girls Football team have had an excellent term with lots of achievements. On the 3rd October, the team took part in the first Tameside Football tournament at Curzon Ashton. Unfortunately, they lost the first game, but won the second game with a 2-1 score. The player of the match was Lucy Waterhouse. On the 17th October, the team took part in the Tameside Football finals where all the girls played fantastically and ended up coming 4th out of 12 schools in Tameside.

Tameside X Country

Congratulations to all Longdendale athletes who took part in Tameside Cross Country. They all represented our school brilliantly, and a particular mention must go to the following learners:

Year 7 boys 2.5 laps: Tim Yr 7 – 9th place 8.55 mins Josh Yr 7- 11th 8.57 mins Arona Yr 7– 14th 9.05 mins Year 7 girls 2.5 laps: Elise Yr 7 - 7th 10.09 mins Charlotte Yr 7 - 17th 10.50 mins Year 9 boys- 3.5 laps: Jake Yr 9 -17th 12.46 min

Boxing

Jack Swallow in Year 10 has had great success in his boxing in recent weeks. Jack is currently the North West Junior Champion and was recently asked to have trials for Boxing during a weekend at the start of December. As a result of this trial, Jack has been asked to fight in mid 2020 and this fight will be aired on BBC Sport. This is a fantastic achievement and the PE team as well as all other staff at Longdendale are incredibly proud and we wish him all the best for the future. Longdendale High School Library

Open to Learners before school, Break time, Lunch times and after school.

Welcome to Longdendale High School library! Our library is used by the learners and staff as a resource centre, an ICT suite and a haven for book lovers. The library resources are divided into Fiction, Non- Fiction, Audio, and ICT.

Here at Longdendale, we encourage children in their enjoyment of reading and their use of the library, irrespective of their reading level. We have made this library a reflection of the larger libraries in town, so that children may take the skills they learn here with them into the wider world. By ensuring the library is accessible, inclusive, welcoming and reflects learner interests, we encourage learners and staff to use the facility. We have a team of around 10 learner-librarians who assist with shelving and labelling, These learners read widely, recommend books to their peers and help others with IT.

In conjunction with the English Department, we produce lists of recommended reading to extend the range, subject matter and challenge of reading, encouraging wider explorations of literature. By broadening reading and literacy we support the development of language, vocabulary and understanding of appropriate writing styles for a range of purposes.

We have a special collection of short stories that are dyslexia friendly and are great for learners who prefer shorter stories. Our aim is to make reading a positive experience for everyone.

Library Competitions

We have many activities and groups that keep learners engaged. The Halloween competition and Christmas card competition are both very popular every year with our learners. Learners love to express through stories and pictures that they create. There are treats for all entries such as book marks and sweet treats and the winners receive lots of great prizes such a book vouchers/stationary/ certificates and lots more. Presentation Evening

On Thursday 14th November we held our annual Presentation Evening at Hyde Town Hall. The evening was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the GCSE results of the class of 2019, as well as the ASPIRE successes of our current learners. Congratulations to all of the learners who were awarded prizes, as well as to the wonderful musicians who entertained us on the evening. In addition to the subject prizes the following prizes were awarded to the class of 2019:

Brian Parker Award for Academic Excellence: Nicola Borejko

Erin Eddleston Award for Endeavour: William Phillips

Aspire Plus Educational Trust Progress Award: Grace Walker

Contribution to the Community Award: Ciaran Moss

100% School Career Attendance: Thomas Broom Charlotte Frost Sarah Hopkinson

Extra-Curricular Activities Research shows that learners who take part in extra- curricular activities make more progress across the entire curriculum. At Longdendale learners thrive in our enrichment provision. Extra-curricular clubs are in place across all subject areas and include; art, music, drama, sport, dance, coding, business and enterprise, science, MFL, journalism, debating, cookery workshops, eco, humanities and maths. Additionally, there are homework clubs which learners can also access.

Year 7 are working particularly hard to meet their enrichment pledge. In order to do this, they must complete at least 12 activities over the course of this academic year. This includes both in school and there are out of school activities for learners to take part in. Our Year 7 learners have demonstrated real enthusiasm and commitment and are enjoying participating in a range of activities and experiences.

Year 7 comments include “I have made lots of new friends”, “I have developed my confidence”, “I have learnt new skills and enjoyed myself”.

Year 8 are working on their charity pledge and aim to complete 6 hours of active citizenship over the course of this year.

We are exceptionally proud of how hard our learners are working to complete their pledges and we are looking forward to celebrating all their successes over the course of the year. Theatre Visits November 2019: Dr Faustus Lowry, Salford Quays

In November, a group of Year 10 learners went to The Lowry Theatre to see the Splendid Theatre production of ‘Dr Faustus’. The learners were inspired by the 1590 adaption to modern language and physical ensemble style. They were influenced by the range of theatrical styles and practitioners and it gave them some great ideas for their upcoming GCSE devised work. They were a pleasure to take to the theatre and as always represented our school in a highly professional manner.

AspirePlus Centenary Battlefield Tour

Over the recent remembrance weekend in November eight learners from across the AspirePlus Trust were selected to represent a delegation on a trip to the battlefields of World War I.

This is a government initiative designed to widen the knowledge and understanding of the First World War but also to reinforce the importance of remembrance. Both schools and learners should be very proud to have been selected for this.

The weekend began with an early morning in Manchester where we met with the delegations from other local schools selected, before a long journey to catch the EuroStar. Also accompanying us on the trip were professional tour guides as well as representatives from the current armed forces.

Over the next few days the learners took part in many visits and activities in both France and Belgium. This included visits to battlefields, museums, memorials and the handling of equipment from the time. On Remembrance Sunday itself the delegation was asked to take part in a special ceremony where a wreath was laid on behalf of Greater Manchester.

As part of the trip research was also done into local soldiers who had fought and died during the conflict. The learners selected for this trip will now be part of arranging future events in school and the local community so that others can learn more about the significance of the war and importance of remembrance.

Throughout the visit the learners demonstrated our core values and represented themselves and the school superbly. Year 7 Residential There was much excitement in school recently as our Year 7 learners set off for their residential visit to The Conway Centre. Over 100 learners took part and the vision was “To instil the Year 7 successful transition to secondary school, enabling the learners to develop key competencies of critical- thinking, communication, citizenship, character and creativity”.

We arrived on the Monday afternoon and after unpacking learners took part in their first carousel activity. Over the course of the three days learners had the opportunity to do high ropes, raft building, outdoor problem solving and a range of creative arts such as role-play, retelling ghost stories as well as performing ‘The Monster Mash’ and learning ‘The Thriller’ dance sequence in an old chapel. During the Tuesday evening learners explored the night-line which involved being blind folded and being navigated through an obstacle course to develop team work and communication skills. They watched a Halloween movie with popcorn and a particular highlight was being sat round the campfire toasting marshmallows and singing group songs. On Tuesday and Wednesday they completed their carousel activities and were treated to a Halloween Disco in the chapel. Miss Wither was fantastic at planning lots of games and activities for learners to win prizes. Mr Baxter-Smallwood performed some wonderful magic tricks for the learners.

On the final day we had a celebration event with prizes being given for different awards for learners who had most impressed in different areas and met our core competencies. For the learners who remained in school ‘Little Mix’ support band ‘New Rules’ attended and performed a special concert as a surprise. The Year 7 learners thoroughly enjoyed this and have signed up to see them again.

Postcards of Kindness

Friday 8th November saw Longdendale High School’s learners engage in the third of our Life Skills Curriculum drop down sessions. The whole school focus for this session was “Postcards of Kindness” – an initiative set up by AgeUK to help combat loneliness in older people living in care homes. The group has over 25,000 members across the country, who send small notes about their day to day life and their days out. This helps older people remember things that happened to them when they were younger and initiate conversation. Longdendale learners created amazing postcards of their own to send to the North-West based care home allocated to their tutor group. The sentiments they conveyed have really brought home the level of empathy and compassion out learners have for those in their community. We have already had a mention on social media from one of the care homes - so a HUGE well done to that Year 10 tutor group for getting straight off the mark with their delivery! Invisible Manchester social enterprise visit

On Wednesday, the 4th of December Alice and Danny from the Social Enterprise “Invisible Manchester” visited a group of Year 8 learners at Longdendale. These learners have been studying the topic of Homelessness in Project-Based Learning. Danny explained to the learners how he became homeless when he left the army with post-traumatic stress and a dark cycle started that eventually made him homeless. Danny said that he lived on the streets for more than four years and experienced physical abuse. He also shared that he used to walk more than 14 miles per day when he was homeless.

Thereafter, learners completed a myth buster challenging common stereotypes such as “Being homeless means living on the street”. Alice explained that being homeless also includes living in transitional accommodation or night shelters and hostels. She reported rising numbers of homeless teenagers in Greater Manchester in the last months and said that there is an urgent need to support them.

Afterwards, learners listened attentively to some of Danny’s poetry that he has published recently. This sparked a round of spontaneous applause from learners who were mesmerised by Danny’s excellent pieces of literature.

Alice and Danny work in a social enterprise that trains people who have experienced homelessness to become city guides of Manchester and other cities in the UK. So far, more than 1000 successful tours have been conducted, educating visitors about the city and providing employment for Mancunians.

Yorkshire Sculpture Park Trip

Learners are currently working on the theme ‘Natural Forms’ in school, investigating and researching Artists such as Andy Goldsworthy and Barbara Hepworth who create their sculptures from ‘natural’ forms.

The trip offered learners the opportunity to develop their observation drawings and their ability to take high quality primary photographs.

Despite extreme weather conditions learners participated in an artist lead indoor sculpture workshop. In the morning, pupils went on a creative journey through the park with their lead artist. The morning session was a great opportunity for learners to find ways of questioning and sharing ideas about art works through creative making and artist-guided activities in the open-air.

The afternoon session took place in indoor learning site. Learners worked in small groups to create their own large-scale sculptural constructions using found materials, both natural and man-made. The learning experience developed imaginative thinking, construction skills such as stacking and balancing, problem solving, team work and speaking and listening. Our learners were highly engaged and enthusiastic throughout the day, and as always were great ambassadors for our school. The Brilliant Club On November 6th, 12 of our learners attended the launch trip for The Brilliant Club at The University of Sheffield. The Brilliant Club is an award-winning charity that exists to widen access to highly-selective universities for learners from underrepresented groups. Enrolment onto The Brilliant Club entitles our learners to six university style lectures or seminars, based on cutting edge science in exciting new fields, delivered by current PhD researchers at Universities here in the North West. The overall aim of The Brilliant Club is to inspire, enthuse and ignite a deep and lasting passion for learning and studying at higher levels. We are sure our learners will complete The Brilliant Club with the knowledge, skills and ambition that drives them to secure places at highly-selective universities.

The launch trip at The University of Sheffield was a fantastic day for our learners, where they exemplified professionalism, endeavour and integrity by doing Longdendale School extremely proud on the day. The learners took part in a University seminar, tour of the campus and halls of residence, and were introduced to the world of further education. Watch this space for a further update after our learners have completed The Brilliant Club and have attended their celebration event at The University of Manchester in the New Year.

Suman Educational International – Christmas banquet

Suman Educational International held a Christmas Banquet on December 10th 2019 for all their partner schools and affiliates. Longdendale has enjoyed a long and prosperous partnership with Suman Educational where we promote educational and cultural exchanges between the great countries of China and The . This banquet is a celebration of our success in the previous calendar year where Chinese exchange learners travel to The UK to experience a tour of the country, their partner schools, colleges and Universities.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Suman Educational International for their continued support of all our learners here at Longdendale, and we look forward to the continuation of our partnership in 2020. Learner Elections Bring Politics to the Classroom The 2019 General Election took place on Thursday 12th December, therefore learners at Longdendale High School also headed to the polls to cast their own ballots in a mock General Election designed to closely mirror the real thing.

All year groups participated in the exercise. The 90-minute session included information on democracy, voting and elections; how the electoral process works; the reasons for the 2019 General Election; understanding why some people choose not to vote and a chance to analyse the five main parties’ manifestos on main topics of interest.

The morning session culminated in each learner casting their vote, based on the unbiased information they had received. It was a political hotbed of activity, sparking debate and passion on many levels.

Mrs Moffat said “The goal is to teach learners that their vote matters, and to prepare them for the future when they are voters, so they understand the responsibility – today has shown that at Longdendale High School, the youth vote truly counts and they are strong voices to be heard”.

Antarctic Adventures: GCSE Geography Learners Skype Scientist Dr. Grant

Both Geography Year 10 classes had the opportunity to speak to Dr. Susie Grant via a video Skype session recently in Longdendale High School. This was to celebrate Antarctica week and enhance their understanding of the Antarctic ecosystem as well as the Antarctic Treaty.

Dr Grant is a marine bio geographer who works for the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and has travelled to Antarctica nine times on research expeditions.

Ms Grant shared with the learners what her research entails as well as how she travels to Antarctica. Amongst publishing a range of articles, Ms Grant has also published an atlas to map species in Antarctica.

Learners asked excellent questions and were listening attentively to Dr Grant. Aron asked, “What was the most interesting animal you have seen so far?”. Dr Grant explained that the scariest animal she had seen was a Giant Antarctic Sea spider which was more than 30 centimetres long and the most fascinating animal was a Giant Woodlouse.

Dr Grant also shared that she has discovered a series of new species amongst the Crustaceans (crabs, lobsters, and shrimps) and explained to us how these species are named. Learners were surprised to find out that new Figure 1 By Laika from USA - Deep sea creatures, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/ species are often named after friends or family members. index.php?curid=31724445 Longdendale Learners conducted themselves professionally throughout the conversation and received some special tips from Dr Grant on how to become a researcher themselves at the end of the session. Awesome Afternoon Tea organised by Longdendale Learner

This winter term the teaching and admin staff in Longdendale High School were treated to an Afternoon Tea by learners Charlotte, Katie, Jessica, and Molly. The girls wanted to organise something special for their teachers that would enable them to relax, socialise and have a good time in the hectic run up to Christmas with the proceeds going to a local charity. Charlotte and Katie comments on her motivation to organise the event, “We believe that homelessness isn’t as widely talked about as we feel it should be. This is why we wanted to do the afternoon tea to make people more aware of this occurring issue.”

The Wellspring is a Stockport based resource centre for homeless and disadvantaged people which provides referrals into housing, free food and drinks, educational courses, health services, hot showers, clean clothing and activities for the homeless. The centre is open 365 days a year often being the first point of contact for people in need. All Wellspring staff are qualified learning advisors and constantly signpost people into education. The girls raised over £100 for the Wellspring thanks to the generous donations of the teaching staff of Longdendale High School.

The girls had decorated the room beautifully which created a festive atmosphere. Upon the teachers’ arrival they asked them for their drink of choice and served delicious, home-made food. There was a selection of sweet scones, yummy Victoria sponge and savoury snacks. The girls demonstrated creativity and endeavour as they made all of the food themselves in the morning before the event. A special thanks goes to their food technology teacher Mr Kilkenny who helped the girls buy the ingredients for their food and supported in making the event a success.

Thank you to Miss Lowe who supported the learners in organising and planning for the event, ensuring everything ran smoothly and all teachers had a great time.

In the second half of the afternoon, the learners experienced the competitiveness of their teachers when they challenged them with an exciting quiz. Charlotte and Katie moderated the quiz and had to think on their feet when there were several teachers with the same score. Mr Marsh was the lucky winner of the main prize, a special treat box of chocolates.

All teachers will remember the event as a success. Miss Weber, the form tutor of Charlotte, Katie and Jess said, “I am very proud of the girls as they set an outstanding example of being caring and independent school community leaders. The learners will receive a Headteacher Award for demonstrating citizenship as a recognition of their excellent work!”