NEWSLETTERChristmas SEPTEMBER - DECEMBER 2018

Sharples Park Bolton BL1 6PQ T: 01204 301 351 thornleigh.bolton.sch.uk ChristmasChristmas NEWSLETTER l thornleigh.bolton.sch.uk headteacher’s MESSAGE

Dear Parents, Carers and Friends of Thornleigh Salesian College Welcome to the ‘bumper’ edition of our school newsletter. It gets bigger each term, which reflects the many activities, experiences and opportunities our children get as an integral part of their curriculum here at Thornleigh Salesian College. I think we have had the best start that we have ever had to any academic year and we are so proud of all of our children. Our revised rewards policy means that all students are rewarded for maintaining the very high standards of behaviour and learning here, but it also means that they can gain additional points for activities they are involved in both in and out of school. Many of our children are competing at a high standard at a particular sport or are performing in local theatres. Their talent amazes me and you will see plenty of evidence of this inside. The Tanzania project this Summer was absolutely fantastic and the group of sixth formers that I took were incredible. I want to thank all the staff who gave up 4 weeks of their Summer holiday to make this possible. This year’s Mission Week was the best yet on the theme of ‘Make God’s Love Visible’ and we certainly did that with the activities and workshops that we had throughout the week. I am very, very proud of this school and I refer you to the letter that I have enclosed with this newsletter. The next two terms are going to be very special for me and I will cherish every moment. Have a happy and holy Christmas and I will look forward to seeing you in the new year! God bless Alison Burrowes

CONTENTS Headteacher’s Message 2 Wider Key Skills 21 Student Council 3 Food Technology 21 Mission Week 4 - 7 English 22 The Tanzania project 2018 8 - 9 History 23 Thornleigh Sport Success 10 - 15 Modern Foreign Languages 24 - 25 Thornleigh School Games Organiser 16 Music 26 - 27 Maths 17 Chaplaincy and RE 28 - 29 Geography 17 Sixth Form Art 18 - 19 30 - 31 Science 20 Bolton Youth Debate 31 Health & Social Care 21 Boost Your Points Week 31

2 Christmas NEWSLETTER l thornleigh.bolton.sch.uk Thornleigh salesian college student council

At the start of this new term we welcomed 31 new Year 7 form representatives into the School Council, bringing the total number up to 92 .

In September we began the year by launching the “Make Your the Salesian family .This was followed by more assemblies , this Mark” Campaign for 2018. As usual, there were 10 topics to choose time on an anti-bullying theme. These assemblies can be quite from: sensitive as they are designed to challenge our students to think • Equal pay for equal work more carefully about their behaviour. This year we returned to the theme of respect, for ourselves and for others. • Votes at 16 As we moved into November we offered a number of new projects • End period poverty for students from different Year groups to get involved with. Next • Improve Youth Services March, we will be taking part in a Mock Trial competition in a • Let’s tackle homelessness Magistrates Court. We now have 15 Year 8/9 students meeting • Improve Public Transport once a week, preparing to take on various roles as Prosecutors • End knife crime or Defence Barristers, Jurors, Court reporters as well as the role • Improve Mental Health Services of Defendant. We also are working with other groups to help our school gain International School Status. Our first project will • A curriculum to prepare us for life be about different cultures and traditions in the celebration of • Welcome refugees Christmas. Each student had to choose just one issue to vote for. The School We also wanted to support “Jumpers for Jimmy”, a charity which Council delivered assemblies to all Year groups and then the following promotes, peace, hope and forgiveness. This charity was set up by week, the topics were discussed in more depth during the Tutorial Mr and Mrs Mizen , following the tragic death of their son Jimmy. period, at the end of which ,the vote was taken. Here, in Thornleigh Jimmy had only just turned 16 when he was killed in a totally Salesian College , the three issues which gained the most votes were: unprovoked knife attack, whilst he was waiting to be served in • Improve Mental Health, a café, near to where he lived. Mr and Mrs Mizen, came to visit • End knife crime Thornleigh Salesian College 2 years ago when they spoke, during • A curriculum to prepare us for life. Mission week to students from our Upper School. On December 3, students were invited to wear a Christmas jumper, making a small Every student, in school on October 1st had the opportunity to donation to the charity. vote. Our votes were added to the other 1,111,400 votes from young people across the UK. This makes this campaign the largest Youth Consultation of its kind, with more than 1 in 5 of all young people, aged between 11-18 taking part! Jonathan Owen, (one of Bolton’s Youth MPs) from Year 11, went down to Westminster to take part in a debate in the House of Commons.

Mr and Mrs Mizen with Mrs Burrowes

The School radio has been offline for the last few weeks, due to technical problems. We will be up and running shortly and would welcome some extra help in the New Year. If you are interested Ella Tinniswood and Jonathan Owen, Bolton’s Youth MPs please pop into the library and speak to Mrs Pawlowski Finally, as we approach the Christmas season we will be helping At the start of October ,the School Council delivered assemblies out with The Christmas stalls at the back of the hall, at the evening in chapel to all Year groups about what it means to be part of productions of Godspell. Hope to see you there!

Christmas NEWSLETTER l thornleigh.bolton.sch.uk 3 MAKE GOD’S LOVE VISIBLE ACT JUSTLY LOVE TENDERLY WALK HUMBLY

Monday 15th October saw the launch of our annual Mission Week. An action packed week that gives us a chance to really remember what it means to belong to Thornleigh Salesian College, and to celebrate what that means to be part of the wider church. Over the last few years Mission Week has gone from strength to strength with activities and speakers coming from all over the country. This year we invited our students to focus on the theme of “Making God’s Love Visible”.

4 Christmas NEWSLETTER l thornleigh.bolton.sch.uk Monday was our launch day and we were joined by mime artist Steve Murray who helped us explore our theme though mime. With all year groups getting the opportunity to witness Steve’s most incredible story and share in some of his experiences, we were able to start our journey though Mission Week knowing that God’s love is there, we just have to look a little harder sometimes. Along with Steve was our school choir and many other students who helped us move into mission week with a sense of prayer and reflection.

Tuesday and Wednesday was the start of our small group activities, with Cafod joining us again this year to work with our Year 7 students, the message for Year 8 was that of Peace as they had a work shop with Pax Christi and Year 9 experienced the heart wrenching stories of Christians persecuted for their faith and were ably lead in writing messages by Aid to the Church in Need. Year 10 had another workshop by Steve Murray looking at more of the issues we face today and how they might manifest in our everyday life. Steve’s message was a powerful one that sent many of us away with emotions welling inside us.

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Christmas NEWSLETTER l thornleigh.bolton.sch.uk 5 MAKE GOD’S Years 10 to 13 also had the privilege of meeting Figen Murray, whose son, Martyn Hett, died in the Manchester Arena bombing.

This was one of the most moving moments of our week. Mrs better world. She also invited us to reflect on our own actions Murray shared with us the events leading up to and the events and take responsibility for them. immediately after the arena bombing but she also shared with Mrs Murray had a profound effect on many of our students, us some of her innermost thoughts and feelings. especially those who were involved in some way with the arena Mrs Murray’s overriding message was that of forgiveness and bombing. The impact this had on our students was physically peace, she encouraged our students to work for peace and a evident as they gathered at the end to speak to Mrs Murray.

Thursday was our Mission Together day. This was a completely collapsed timetable where students did one hundred minute sessions to work with outside organisations or some of our own school staff. The theme of the day was MIselfie with each workshop being MIself, MIworld and MIgod. Our students embarked on a carousel of activities that challenged us physically, mentally and emotionally. Some of the guest speakers we had were: Soccer skills Urban Outreach - www.urbanoutreach.co.uk L’Arche - www.larche.org.uk Cenacolo UK – www.cenacolouk.org Medaille – www.medaille-trust.org.uk With workshops being delivered by school staff from: PE – Team games and water challenges Music and RE – The BIG sing Maths – Cafod’s trade game Creative studies – Selfie Portraits Science – Plastic and our world RE – Images of God IT – Online safety MFL/Geography – Be the change you want to see in the world History – WW1 – 100 years English – Mindfulness The day was action packed and our students had the best day. So much came from the day and this has been displayed around the school as a legacy of Mission Week that goes on, God’s love truly becoming visible for many weeks to come.

6 Christmas NEWSLETTER l thornleigh.bolton.sch.uk MAKE GOD’S LOVE VISIBLE Friday took on a different tone with our End of Week liturgy, Fr Chris Gorton, our local parish priest, introduced us to the idea celebrating all that has happened during our Mission Week, two of Adoration and after his introduction we brought Jesus in to year groups at a time gathered in the sports hall to spend some our sports hall in the form of the Blessed Sacrament. time with God. With a short procession, a scripture reading and some prayers, This service for us at Thornleigh Salesian College was a true followed by the most moving moment of silence as all of our symbol of all that we have been working towards, each element students simply watched Jesus with the light shining on him. of the service was carefully crafted by both staff and students This moment was profound and deeply moving for both staff who worked together to lead our students in a liturgy like no and students. We ended with a bang showing our Mission Week other. video and singing the song Thrive, to which some Year 7 and 8 The service started with a short drama piece about how we all students were seen dancing to on their way back to class. carry baggage in our life but how it was important to give some Mission Week was a staggering success and both staff and of the baggage to God, which we then took ownership of by students alike had some of the most incredible experiences. listening to the choir sing the song from the Greatest Showman, This is ME. Our dancers did a wonderful dance that depicted the Our Mission Week truly gave us the opportunity to come song beautifully. together as a community and to Make Gods Love Visible.

Christmas NEWSLETTER l thornleigh.bolton.sch.uk 7 My Tanzanian experience began the day I got the letter through the post saying I had been accepted onto the trip, immediately being flooded with messages from the future Team Tanzania with congratulations, everyone wanting to know who was going. Throughout the next several months we all worked closely together raising the funds needed to go, a task I personally found quite daunting, being the only Year 12 in the group. However, never once did I feel left out or not part of it all, in fact it felt the complete opposite. Whenever any of the other 12 had the chance to talk to me or get to know more about me, they did, something I didn’t expect at all. Somehow the 19th of July came round and we were at the airport, saying goodbye to our family, and starting the journey with our new family. None of us knew what to expect, but were all ready to accept anything and anyone that was thrown our way. The first challenge I came across was when we got to our second accommodation in Moshi, where we stayed for the majority of the trip. We were asked to team up and pick who we were going to share rooms with, and even though everyone had been really friendly, I still didn’t feel as though it was up to me to pick who I was going to spend a lot of my time with, not wanting to force anyone into a situation they didn’t want to be in. Thankfully, Lucy and Rhianna asked me to share a room with them and saying yes was one of the best decisions I made in that month. One of the best moments for me was our first trip to the school, and seeing the children’s raw reactions to their new visitors, it was at that point I realised the sort of impact we had the potential the to make. Over the next few weeks, every break and lunch, we would be swarmed by young children, asking if they could record messages to send to the group that had visited previous to us. TANZANIA They remembered everything about that group, I can only hope we had that sort of impact on those children, where in 2 years, they are asking the future Team Tanzania to send home messages to us. It project wasn’t always this fun and easy in the school, sometimes I was so frustrated and tired I wouldn’t want to teach, but as soon as you see one of your students click and finally understand what’s going 2018 on in your lesson, it was all worth it.

All of the stress and frustration that was with you at the schools disappeared once we were back at the accommodation, playing cards, helping cook tea, listen to everyone else’s day, staring at the peaks of Kilimanjaro in the distance, or just wandering about. This is when we all were constantly learning new things about each other, even when we didn’t think there was anything else to learn, there was. Although it was possibly one of the hardest things I have ever done, and will ever do, I wouldn’t take it back for the world, and don’t think I can possibly forget my time in Tanzania! Olivia O’Callaghan - Year 13 Student

8 Christmas NEWSLETTER l thornleigh.bolton.sch.uk The Tanzania experience is something our students We did manage to see some of the sites including climbing up to carry with them for the rest of their lives. the first base of Kilimanjaro. Both challenging and exhilarating we all made it to the top and got the most spectacular view. During the 4 weeks we were away we had many different opportunities, some of our students volunteered in the local We also visited the Ngorongoro Crater and the national park schools, both primary and secondary while others observed were we were taken for a two day safari. This was such a great in the local clinic. The experience was profound. Our students two days as we got to see four out of the big five with the rhino reached out to so many young people and brought a smile to causing quite a stir in the park as it had not been see for weeks. their faces. As they walked down the street, they were often We certainly won’t forget the experience in a while. followed by many children simply wanting to hold hands. Each day our students went to their different projects, each From the hospitality of the local community to the welcome evening we came back together to share experiences and the of our Salesian hosts, this truly was a life changing experience. events of the day. This was done in a variety of different ways Both staff and students alike arrived back in Manchester but for some of our students just simply sitting down and writing different people. in a journal proved to be the most rewarding opportunity. Much of what we saw challenged our thinking about our world The world we live in is changing rapidly but each one of us has but quite often it also brought up emotions based around the the opportunity to make a change, even if it’s just a little bit at poverty and opportunities of the young people in the local area. a time. There was a great sense of how lucky we were to have had the opportunities we have but this brought with it a desire to give Our students have changed the world of one or two of those the young people we met the best experience possible. Our young people they met and I know for sure each and every student’s creativity and charisma was second to none even to student we took to Tanzania will one day change the world they the point of going back to school in the evening to do extra are living in. classes with the students. Sandy Fairley - School Chaplain

Christmas NEWSLETTER l thornleigh.bolton.sch.uk 9 NETBALL The Netball season has commenced with another excellent start with over 80 students attending practice on a regular basis on Tuesdays - we are proud to be able to offer six teams per week to play against other schools. We are very proud of all our girls involved in Netball and Year 7 and 8 those who participate in netball clubs including Rivington and An amazing start to our lower school netball with some Westhoughton clubs. This is a real commitment for our students, outstanding results. as we know they train during the week as well as playing netball from a Sunday in Whitefield. The Year 7 team including the results against Bolton School have only conceded 11 goals in their matches so far. They have Thornleigh sports hall is also now used on a Thursday evening only lost one match, which was a narrow defeat against a Bolton for Rivington netball club for Year 6’s with quite a few of these School Team. attending a partner Primary schools. The Year 8 A and B Well done for putting in all the extra hours and especially the team are both parents for running them around everywhere. unbeaten in their matches. The A team Upper School Netball have scored 80 goals The upper school teams (9, 10 and 11) have all made a positive and only conceded 4 start to the netball season so far. Four fixtures have been played which is outstanding in the first half of the season, with matches against Little Lever, and shows the strength Saint James and Westhoughton, all resulting in wins for our girls in both the attacking at senior level. and defensive Tough matches against Bolton School ended in defeat and positions. our fixture against Rivington and Blackrod will hopefully be The B team rescheduled for the return of the season as it is yet to be played. again have scored 44 in their matches and The Year 10 and 11 teams both competed competitively in their conceding only one respective tournaments, narrowly missing progression to the goal. later stages. The Year 9 tournament is scheduled for the second half of the season. The girls have shown great commitment to We look forward both training and matches and we look forward to building on to our next matches our success when netball returns (after February half term). and the netball Well done to all girls involved. tournaments.

THORNLEIGH St JAMES PLAYER OF THE MATCH

YEAR 7 12 2 Ada Ike

YEAR 8 A 31 2 Charlotte Preston

YEAR 8 B 31 1 Gabby McClelland Walker

YEAR 9 10 5 Izzy MGaughey

YEAR 10 24 19 Lauren kay

THORNLEIGH LITTLE LEVER PLAYER OF THE MATCH

YEAR 7 9 3 Lily Ainscough

YEAR 8 25 1 Charlotte Preston

YEAR 9 12 4 Cortney Settle Some of our Year 8 Netball team who train at Rivington Netball club and play on Sundays YEAR 10 31 4 Lauren Kay representing Rivington Netball club.

10 Christmas NEWSLETTER l thornleigh.bolton.sch.uk CROSS COUNTRY Our annual cross-country took place in the grounds of Rivington. The course included some difficult terrain and as usual all the conditions and elements that cross-country offers. We had some fantastic individual and team results so well done to all those who competed. 14 schools entered each race so some of our results are a real testament to our talents students. Year 7 Boys -2nd, Year 7 Girls- 3rd, Year 8/9 Boys-6th Year 8/9 Girls -4th, 10/11 Boys-7th, Year 10/11 Girls -2nd EMMA HALLIDAY This year, Emma Halliday has continued to train and compete for Bolton Triathlon Club in Triathlons and Cross Country races. During 2018, she has raced in the Youth category for 15/16 year olds and has completed 6 triathlon events. Coming into the final race in Blackpool Emma was 7th in the series but a strong performance ensured that she finished 5th overall in the North West. Although she has been doing triathlons for 5 years, Emma has stepped up her training this season training 3 times a week across the 3 disciplines and the hard work she has put in certainly paid off in the end. STAFF AND STUDENTS NETBALL The staff played netball against the 6th form in their first ‘friendly’ match. The friendliness soon wore off and the competitive nature of both students and staff was soon witnessed. The staff won by 5 goals. Well done to the 6th formers for taking the initiative to organise. THORNLEIGH STAFF RUNNING CLUB Staff have been taking the opportunity to meet up on a Thursday after School and completing a 5k run in the surrounding area. This has included exploring the Smithills and Horrocks Fold which means lots of hills!

OLIVIA BOOTH Year 7 Thornleigh Salesian College student Olivia Booth has just returned from the World Kickboxing Championships in Italy! Olivia got to the semi finals in her individual section and was chosen to represent Great Britain in the team event where they won Silver! Olivia was also awarded a certificate for ‘Fighter of the Week’. Everyone at Thornleigh are so proud of her amazing achievements. Well done Olivia!!

Christmas NEWSLETTER l thornleigh.bolton.sch.uk 11 GIRLS GO GOLD SPORTS CONFERENCE Thornleigh Salesian College were lucky to be invited to a ‘GIRLS GO GOLD SPORTS CONFERENCE’ which was being hosted by Bolton School. This meant that they were part of 200 ‘high performance’ pupils Some of our students are already thinking about their future travelling from all over the country to attend the Girls Go Gold and which path to take and they got the opportunity to explore Sports Conference at Bolton School in September. The theme their possible pathways in more detail as they also attended the for the day focussed on ‘ Where Sport can take you’. higher education exhibitions.

The day started with a welcome from the Headteacher of Bolton The closing speech was delivered by Commonwealth Games School (Sue Hincks) followed by the opening Key Note Speech athlete Eilish McColgan who inspired us all with her life story by Beth Tweddle, Olympic medallist. This was a real treat for all about her journey to Commonwealth glory and the multiple those who attended as Beth talked about her journey, failures injuries and serious operations she had to endure on the way. and the resilience she demonstrated throughout her career, We were all lucky enough to get our photograph taken with which eventually took her to the Olympic medal-winning Eilish at the end. podium. A fantastic experience for all the students who attended and Mrs Crosby. The students were then dispersed and followed a carousel of activities between 10am-12.00 noon and again between 1-3pm. They were fortunate to be on the receiving end of some amazing workshops which included practical sessions as well. • A Netball workshop with Manchester Thunder Coaches. • A Seminar on the work of a BBC SPORT producer (Victoria Cotton) • A seminar on life as a BBC SPORT presenter (John Watson) • A Podiatry workshop with Dr Lindsay Hill • The students then travelled to Bolton University and took part in more sessions including Sport Rehabilitation and Sports Science.This included a presentation on being a female practitioner (Physiotherapist) in professional Sport and a workshop on prevention of injuries.

They also had a practical session on Fitness testing and screening along with a biomechanics session on strength and conditioning for female athletes in sport.

12 Christmas NEWSLETTER l thornleigh.bolton.sch.uk JULIA WINOGRODZKA ATHLETICS ACHIEVEMENTS Julia Winogrodzka, a Year 9 Thornleigh Salesian College student, has achieved amazing success in Athletics... we are extremely proud of her! On the 13th & 14th of July 2018 Julia represented Thornleigh 2nd place were girls that are one school year above Julia) which Salesian College & Greater Manchester Schools’ Athletics hopefully bodes well for the next year when she will be the older Association at the English Schools’ Athletics Association girl in her age category. National Championships which were staged at Alexander Following the Long Jump success Julia then ran in heat no. 3 of Stadium in Perry Barr, Birmingham. She was to compete in her the 75 m Hurdles. Julia’s race had the strongest headwind of all strongest event - Long Jump - after gaining a qualification from 3 (-1.6 m/s) and in these conditions Julia finished 6th with a time County Champs earlier in the year. of 12.01s and did not qualify for the final although was the 3rd During the qualification on Friday she achieved the qualifying best “bottom” age girl in the entire group. standard (5.20 m) by jumping 5.35 m (1 cm short of her PB at Following the above Julia took part in Polish U16 Championships the time) on her second attempt and qualified automatically to for girls & boys born in calendar years 2003 & 2004. These the Junior Girls (i.e. school years 8 & 9) final. She was the only were held over two days - 22nd & 23rd of September 2018 - in Greater Manchester girl to do so and only one of two year 8 girls Bełchatów, Poland. in England. On the first day, after a shaky start in the Long Jump (two In the final on Saturday morning she started great and jumped fouls in two first attempts), she had to get a good markin 5.41 m for a new PB in her first jump and, although she came order to qualify for the top 8 which gets further three jumps. very close in next attempts (incl. 5.35 m & 5.40 m) she couldn’t Julia managed a very respectable 5.29 m which put her in improve on that but it was good enough for a 6th place overall 2nd position after the third round. After some fantastic jumps and highest position for a year 8 girl in England. by other girls Julia was on 4th position before her fifth jump. On 26th of August 2018, after a summer holiday break, Julia took However - motivated by the high level of other contenders - part in England Athletics Championships at the International Julia jumped a fantastic new PB of 5.45 m which no one was Athletic Stadium in Bedford. able to beat in the final sixth round which meant Julia claimed In the U15 Girls Long Jump Julia managed some very solid jumps the gold medal to become the youngest winner in these entire getting 5.16m in two of her initial attempts. Her fifth round jump Championships. was her best but unluckily was just over the plasticine marker. Second day saw Julia competing in 80 m Hurdles sprint. In the With the weather conditions worsening towards the end of the qualifying heat she finished 3rd and equalled her PB of 12.19s competition Julia wasn’t able to improve on the 5.16m however which was enough to get to the final. The final race was even so were the other girls and Julia’s result was good enough for a better and Julia produced a new PB with a result of 12.09s which 3rd place and a bronze medal at these National Champs. Julia gave her 6th position overall. Julia was, by far, the youngest girl was also the highest ranked “bottom” age U15 girl (i.e. 1st and in the final and 2nd if you only count girls born in 2004.

Christmas NEWSLETTER l thornleigh.bolton.sch.uk 13 BOYS FOOTBALL We have had a positive start to the football season playing a host of fixtures against Bolton schools in the Bolton League, completing rounds of Bolton Cup fixtures and competing in a host of Greater Manchester Cup fixtures. Year 7 have won all but one game so far this year. Currently Year 11 have entered their final football season as a group. They being undefeated in the Bolton League and the Town Cup, began the season with an entertaining win against Little Lever. but unfortunately losing to a strong Bolton School side in the This prepared them well for a trip to Our Lady’s High School, quarter-final of the Greater Manchester Cup. Highlights include Blackley in the GMCSFA Cup. Despite leading twice, they were wins against Canon Slade (4-0) and Turton (7-0). beaten 5-3 by a strong and technically gifted opponent who, at Year 8 started well with a win against Chorlton High School in the time of writing, were about to contest a final tie. the first round of the Greater Manchester Cup but have since A sublime Scott Bladen free kick was the pick of the goals. found it tough. In the second round, they were beat by a strong The team remain in the Bolton Schools Cup having beaten side from Kingsway School. With narrow defeats against Turton Westhougton in round 1 and have been rewarded with a tie and Canon Slade in the Bolton League but success in the Bolton against Mount St Josephs in the next round. The performance Cup with a big win over Ladybridge (5-0). St Joseph’s await in of the season so far was undoubtedly a 5-4 merit league away the next round. victory over Turton. Tom Swailes scored 4 goals and there was Year 9 have had a difficult start of the year, with a narrow defeat an excellent debut from Jack Coop. Turton have a talented U16 to Manchester Creative and Media Academy in the Greater team so this was a real feather in the cap for Year 11 and gives Manchester Cup (3-4) to then come up against them in the plate them belief that they can finish their school football journey competition a month later, where again it was not to be, losing with success. 5-2 away from home. It has been a similar storyline in the Bolton Attendance at football practice at the start of the year was League, after a good battle with Westhoughton drawing 1-1 fantastic. Football season will kick-off again after February half- they were narrowly defeated by Turton (2-1) and Canon Slade term. (3-1) respectively. They are still going strong in the Town Cup having defeated Eden Boys with a convincing 3-0 win. It is the Year 10 boys that have had an exciting start to the year, starting with a hard fought battle, which ended 1-1 after 90 minutes, to go on and win in extra-time in the first round of the Greater Manchester Cup against Bury Grammar. But the drama didn’t stop there, as they were sadly knocked out in the second round by Burn Church School, with the final score at 3-3 they were knocked out by penalties losing (5-4). In the Bolton League, they suffered a 2-0 loss to Westhoughton but showed great spirit to bounce back and beat Turton 3-2. RUGBY Rugby has started well this year with each year group competing in rugby fixtures every other Monday night. These games have taken place at numerous venues against a variety of schools including St James’s, Ladybridge, Little Lever, Bolton School and Canon Slade. The results have been mostly positive and the determination and resilience of the players continues to be excellent. The turnout has also been excellent this year for training after school on a Thursday night with over 50 students attending the sessions to develop their skills. Due to the recent dark nights all the fixtures have now been stopped until February when we will start again with our weekly fixtures to conclude the season. BASKETBALL The basketball season started in October and we have had strong numbers at practices on a weekly basis. We have entered teams in all age categories this year, at U12, U14 and U16 levels. All teams have experienced some success so far but the season is in its infancy so we will update you with results in 2017. Our biggest highlight so far was a tightly contested game against St James’s which resulted in our Y8 and 9 students claiming a close 14-13 win. Keep up the good work boys.

14 Christmas NEWSLETTER l thornleigh.bolton.sch.uk BADMINTON AND TABLE TENNIS The Badminton and Table Tennis seasons also take precedence during the dark winter months. Badminton practices run on Tuesday evenings and table tennis practices run on Friday evenings, with strong attendances in evidence at both sessions. Similar to basketball, both seasons are in the early stages but we have a mixture of experienced KS4 students playing alongside an array of KS3 students to ensure that teams in both sports are both competitive and sustainable for future seasons. THORNLEIGH SPORT AND DANCE LEADERS The role of Sports Leaders within the PE department involves leading the Out Of School Hours Activities (OOSHA), where they get to have final say on which sport clubs will run during lunchtimes. We currently have over 30 leaders working alongside the PE department, planning, choreographing, delivering and teaching lunchtime clubs for the rest of the school every week. This term, as a thank you for all their hard work and commitment, the staff and students enjoyed an evening at Jump Xtreme, where they had an hour of the centre to themselves, thankfully with no injuries! This year we are also working in close partnership with the Bolton Sport Leadership Programme. So far, we have provided Sport Leaders for numerous events across Bolton. These have included the Bolton Primary Swim Gala, Bolton Hockey Finals and Primary Rugby Championships. The students involved have been a credit to the school. OOSHA LUNCHTIME U13 CRICKET TEAM WIN RAFFLE LANCASHIRE SHIELD Throughout this year, we are running a new The U13 cricket team won the Lancashire Shield lunchtime OOSHA programme aiming to boost with an 8 wicket victory over Hutton Grammar participation levels, with the main focus being to School on Monday 9th July. consistently maintain these levels. The game was hosted by Spring View Cricket Club and the We have operated a raffle ticket scheme where each student weather made for the perfect spectacle. Hutton won the toss gets a raffle ticket every time they attend a lunchtime OOSHA and elected to bat but it was Thornleigh that signalled their club. On the last Friday of every month, we hold a lottery draw attacking intent, taking a flurry of early wickets to reduce where students have the potential to win prizes. So far, we have Hutton to 30-6, with Jonathan Allen (3-8) doing the majority of held 3 lottery draws which have been a huge success. Local/ the damage. Hutton battled hard and two strong partnerships national companies have been extremely generous and donated saw them reach a score of 103 before Thornleigh eventually some fantastic prizes. bowled them out a few overs before reaching the allotted 30 overs, with Daniel McGuinness picking up 3-20 along the way. Many thanks to the following; Our start in the chase didn’t go well as Hutton dismissed our • Nando’s • Bolton Arena • Astley Bridge Asda • Campcraft two openers quickly to leave us exposed at 6-2. However, • Bolton Wanderers Community Trust • Tobutt Sports an outstanding 3rd wicket partnership of 99 between Joe • Jump Xtreme • Hollywood Bowl • Vue Cinemas Lightbown (59no) and Joseph Ward (32no) saw us home. It was

a joy to watch. Well done to all the boys involved who beat Accrington Academy, Bury Grammar, Oldham Hulme Grammar and St.Michaels High School en-route to the final.

Christmas NEWSLETTER l thornleigh.bolton.sch.uk 15 THORNLEIGH SCHOOL GAMES ORGANISER As a School Games Organiser for Bolton, I provide a competition structure and pathway for all the primary and secondary schools in Bolton. If a school wins a pathway competition, they go on to represent Bolton at the Greater Manchester School Games. I also run festivals and workshops that have a focus on inclusion • Primary Cross Country League that ran over 4 weeks and and are designed to inspire pupils to take part in a healthy involved over 360 pupils each week. The top 20 runners for active lifestyle. I work alongside, and in partnership, with many boys and girls will go on to represent Bolton at the community clubs and providers to increase the opportunities Greater Manchester School Games final in Feb. for young people to take part in sport and physical activity. • Tag Rugby competition for Year 5 & 6 that involved over 140 Competition, in the right setting, not only has physical benefits pupils and 8 young leaders, 4 of which were from Thornleigh to a child’s development but can also provide mental benefits Salesian College. of raised self-esteem and confidence. • Prama Fitness session for seven schools working alongside There are many other roles in sport alongside playing and so it David Lloyd’s club promoting healthy active living. is my job to train young leaders to be competent in leading and • English Football League Kids Cup, involving over 360 pupils officiating in competitions and as such, have built a workforce of from Year 5 & 6 hosted by Bolton Wanderers Community young leaders from all the Secondary schools across the Bolton Trust and involving 20 Young Leaders borough. This year I have set up Bolton’s first ever ‘Leadership • Basketball Competition for Year 5 & 6 that involved over Academy’. A selection of pupils from all the secondary schools 140 pupils and 6 young leaders. Supported by Manchester in Bolton will be trained to lead and run intra-competitions, run Giants. Winners will go on to represent Bolton at the Greater partner school festivals and lastly a borough competition. Manchester School Games in March. I also support schools in evidencing the impact the Sports • Gymnastics workshop for pupils in Year 1 - 4 run by Beth Premium (a minimum of 16K for each school allocated by Tweddle Gymnastics for 60 pupils. the Secretary of State) through helping them to apply for a School Games Mark accreditation. This year 41 schools in • Hockey competition for Years 5 & 6 involving over 100 pupils Bolton achieved the accreditation in at least Bronze, Silver or and 6 Young leaders. Top two teams go on to represent Gold (previous year’s total was 19). One school achieved the Bolton and the Greater Manchester School Games. prestigious Platinum award, of which there were only a few • Swimming Competition for Year 4 & 5 involving 128 pupils, in the country. Each school that achieved Gold or Platinum 4 Young Leaders from Thornleigh Salesian College and have been given 10 complimentary tickets to watch Bolton supported by David Lloyd Bolton. Winning girls and Winning Wanderers and to meet a player and be presented with their boys teams go on to represent Bolton and the Greater plaque pitch-side. Manchester School Games. These are some of the things that have taken place in the last • KS2 and KS3 Inclusive Sports Festival which involved 24 6 months: schools and 144 pupils on the SEND register or pupils that have low confidence or self-esteem that will benefit • Cricket Competitions for Year 4 - 6 that involved over 320 from taking part in the event. Activities such as Boccia, New pupils and 32 Young Leaders. Winners went on to represent age Kurling, Indoor Cricket, Short tennis, Goalball and Bolton in the Lancashire County Cricket Finals Seated Volleyball took place. Supported by BWCT, • The first ever Flat Bat Rounders tournament for Year 5 & 6 David Lloyd LCC and Boccia Bolton. that involved 154 pupils and was officiated by the Bolton • Mini Whistlers Young referee programme run by the Rounders Development group. Lancashire FA, training 60 pupils from Years 5 & 6 in leading and officiating intra football competitions. • 24 Young Leaders from Thornleigh Salesian College were trained by the LTA and gained the ‘Mini Tennis Leader’ • Secondary School Cross Country competition in which 16 qualification and went on to officiate the Greater Manchester schools to part from Year 7 - 13. School Games Finals. Bernadette O’Hare Thornleigh Salesian College School Games Organiser

16 Christmas NEWSLETTER l thornleigh.bolton.sch.uk NUMERACY CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE NUMERACY Students from Year 7 and 8 have once again been able to participate in the weekly Numeracy CHALLENGE Challenge this year during morning registration. If you were to receive gifts from the ‘Twelve days of Christmas” song only on the prime number days, One question is sent out each week and students are encouraged to use the skills they have be learning in their which gifts would you have and how many items? maths lessons to answer a tricky problem solving question. A leader board is updated each week and there has been some fierce competition between 7 Delta, 7 Omega and 7 Alpha for top spot on the leader board. Here is the leader board for this term so far.

FORM TOTAL CORRECT ENTRIES

7 DELTA 279 7 ALPHA 247 7 OMEGA 245 8 GAMMA 244 Solution: 8 LAMBDA 229 The prime numbers are 2, 3, 5, 7 and 11 so the gifts received would be; 11 Drummers drumming, 7 Swans swimming, 5 Gold 7 KAPPA 218 Rings, 3 French Hens and 2 Turtle Doves which is 28 gifts in total. 7 THETA 218 7 BETA 215 A-LEVEL UK MATHS 8 SIGMA 209 CHALLENGE This half term A Level Maths students have been 7 SIGMA 155 involved in the Senior Maths Challenge organised 8 BETA 136 by UKMT. All of Year 12 were entered into the individual senior maths 8 THETA 134 challenge. Students had to answer 25 multiple choice questions, with students losing marks for incorrect answers. These answers 8 DELTA 133 where then sent off and students who scored the top marks 7 GAMMA nationally received certificates. 7 students gained certificates from 124 Thornleigh Salesian College; congratulations goes to the following 7 LAMBDA student who gained a silver certificate; Georgia Mather, 119 and the following students who gained a bronze certificate; 8 OMEGA 81 Ansar Lala, Wendy Iroghama Ode, Jomy Shoji, Aamina Natha, Mia Gordon, Nabeelah Adam.

Here pupils have been using eggs to show the structure KS3 GEOGRAPHY of the earth. This work has led to students in year 8 being Thornleigh Salesian College Geographers have able to complete GCSE style questions and challenge their been using different objects in order to represent learning. parts of the world. For more Geography updates follow @tsc_geography

Christmas NEWSLETTER l thornleigh.bolton.sch.uk 17 MISSION WEEK WINDOWS Year 7 Art students explored the theme of ‘MiSelfie’ and created stunning window displays during Mission Week. Each form created individual portraits using coloured pencil and collage which celebrated their individual personalities, hobbies and interests. Which then combined to create beautiful stained glass windows. These completed windows looked beautiful when displayed during our end of Mission Week Services.

MISSION WEEK YEAR 9 ART TRIP TO BOLTON MUSEUM Year 9 Art students had an inspiring visit to Bolton Museum and Art Gallery, they explored the artefacts and new displays of their recently renovated exhibits. Students took time to Photograph and Draw the sealife relating to their current project. It was a delight to work alongside our students creating colourful mixed media sketchbooks inspired by their visit. ART - WE REMEMBER Art club Poppies and display on Astley Bridge Cricket Club Year 7 and 8 Art club Tuesday Lunchtime in C1. Each week students are given the opportunity to work with a range of different media, fitting a broad selection of different themes. New members are welcome. To commemorate 100 Years since World War One ended students took part in creating 100 poppies, and a large scale painting which was displayed in the local community.

18 Christmas NEWSLETTER l thornleigh.bolton.sch.uk LOOK WHAT OUR BUDDING ARTISTS HAVE PRODUCED THIS TERM!

Christmas NEWSLETTER l thornleigh.bolton.sch.uk 19 ENGINEER FOR A DAY Six exceptional girls from Year 8 took part in a girls engineering challenge at Bolton University at the National Motorsport Centre. Isobel Hockenhull, Abigail Meehan, Faith Ashworth, Isabel Skeehan, Ella Brierley and Natalya Bonfield took part in the squashed tomato challenge where they were tasked to design and build a way to deliver tomatoes from the top of a mountain to the bottom of a mountain completely intact. They worked brilliantly as a team together and with their mentor Phoebe. They managed to transport 119 tomatoes down in one trip with no damages. Ten more than their next competitor. The day was organised by the engineering company MBDA who build missiles and weapon systems. Each team had a female engineering mentor who worked brilliantly with them. It was a very inspiring day and the girls were a credit to themselves and the school. SCIENCE CLUB MISSION Science club for Year 7 and 8 is up and running for the second half term. TOGETHER DAY We had a very impressive fireworks themed club to kick us Year 8 spent the day with Science during Mission off with classics such as the screaming jelly baby and flame Together day in Mission Week. tests, as well as couple of new tricks including sugar cubes making some amazing colours. We will be making slime, doing The theme for the two period session was the harmful effects dissections and maybe even investigating some owl pellets to of the overproduction and over use of plastics in the world. see what they have been eating! If you are interested in any They learnt about what damage it can cause to the planet of this and more make sure you turn up every other Thursday and specifically the oceans. This was a shocking revelation after school in room 44. to a lot of them. The second task of the day was to understand more about TALENT 2030 how plastics are made and they were even able to create their own version of a polymer by making slime. The final Lauren and Anna in Year 9 are taking part in the activity was to design and create a profitable product out of annual Talent 2030 Girls Engineering challenge. the waste plastics that had been collected from the school They have been tasked with finding a solution to a 21st century and homes. The Year 8’s were impressively creative and problem. They are focusing their efforts on the problem came up with some amazing ideas including; fashionable of plastics again as it is such a major global issue. They are sliders, working flasks and mugs, clothes and accessories. conducting research into the harmful environmental effects as well as possible solutions. They are very interested in finding The Science department were very impressed with Year 8’s out more about bioplastics and will attempt to make their own. behaviour and effort on the day and hope that this session will encourage them to help reduce the harm plastics are The entry will be ready for submission by the end of December doing to the planet. so fingers crossed for them. TWITTER The Science department are regulating tweeting about the practical taking part on a daily basis and any extracurricular activities. Make sure you keep up to date with us by following us on twitter @TSC_Science

20 Christmas NEWSLETTER l thornleigh.bolton.sch.uk As preparation for their PPE and their external exam in HEALTH February, our Year 11 Health and Social Care students took part in a workshop with Joanne Birch. AND SOCIAL Joanne is the Maternity Ward Supervisor at Wigan Hospital. She taught the students how to monitor their own health indicators and advised on how they would apply these readings in an exam situation. They thoroughly enjoyed the CARE workshop and we are hoping to work with Joanne again the future. FUTURE CAREERS As part of Year 11’s Wider Key Skills enrichment, we have started to think about their future careers. To help them achieve their maximum options, Ms Gledhill arranged a visit to Bolton College. This gave them a wider view of what courses are available to them. The students asked many questions which helped solidify further career options for some of them. The students had a very busy, fulfilling day! ARMY OFFICER Q&A Also as part of Year 11’s Wider Key Skills enrichment, we thought about a different types of future career for our students. To help them achieve their maximum options, Ms Gledhill arranged for a member of the Army Careers Office to come into school for a Q&A session. The students thoroughly enjoyed it! HALLOWEEN & CHRISTMAS BAKE Halloween was celebrated in a ‘spooktacular’ way with Ms Pages Year 9 food class creating a range of decorated cupcakes. In a competition to rival the Great British Bake off, Maisie beat Madison to a closely awarded first place with Brandon collecting third prize. Students baked their cakes in class on Tuesday and then decorated them during Wednesday’s lesson. The Christmas bake off will definitely be a close competition! In Year 11, Mrs Anthonys class created a Halloween party spread designed for pre-school children as part of their controlled assessment. Owen and Lewis made a selection of dishes including spooky eyeball pasta, spiders web cookies and eyeball cupcakes. Not to be outdone Kaidah and Emily have created a Christmas feast, featuring a Christmas cup cake wreath, cake pops, sausage rolls and chicken and vegetable skewers. Key Stage 3 students have been focusing on food from around the world this term, they have been cooking Chilli from Mexico and a pizza from Italy.

Christmas NEWSLETTER l thornleigh.bolton.sch.uk 21 OPEN EVENING DUKE OF IN THE ENGLISH EDINBURGH DEPARTMENT NEWS This term saw another fabulous Open This year we have seen an exciting development in our Evening in English! Duke of Edinburgh programme here at Thornleigh; we We had some wonderful Performance Poetry in have been awarded our own Duke of Edinburgh Licence! Room 2, interactive Grammar Games in Room 3, This means that the running of the programme should be much a spooky step into Macbeth’s Scotland in Room smoother…and we get a lovely certificate and plaque for reception! 4 and a brain teasing Beat the Lock quiz in Room 5. We were absolutely thrilled with how well our students performed and behaved; they really gave the best Thornleigh impression!

D of E 2018-2019 Now that we are a licensed school we have got our 2018- Some spooky goings on in Room 4! 2019 cohort of explorers off to a flying start. This year we have a record number of 40 students starting off on their Duke of Edinburgh journey and Miss Sweeney and Mr Pritchard are THE WONDERFUL really excited to see how this fabulous bunch get on! They are currently organising and taking part in their Volunteering, Physical and Skill section WIZARD OF OZ and appear to be taking on all manner of challenges. We have already begun our preparations for the first day walk on February 9th 2019 and On Thursday December 13th, Miss we are confident that this year’s resilient bunch will have no qualms with Sweeney, Mrs Thomasson and Miss some inevitable winter weather! Hodgson took a group of 30 Year 7 students for a festive treat along the yellow brick road. This was at the University of Bolton Stadium to see a wonderful production based on Frank L. Baum’s Wizard of Oz. All of the students were beautifully behaved and a fantastically festive morning out was had by all! A wonderful way to round off a busy first term for Year 7!

22 Christmas NEWSLETTER l thornleigh.bolton.sch.uk HISTORY’S TRIBUTE TO FALLEN SOLDIERS Thornleigh Salesian College Year 10 history students and staff have paid fitting tributes to the fallen soldiers of World War 1 and respectfully commemorated 100 years since the war ended. By doing this they have created their own ‘Tommy’s’ by sticking poppies to the outline of a Tommy Soldier. The red poppies represent the fallen soldiers, white poppies represent peace and the blue poppies represent the animals killed at war. The Tommy’s have been placed around school for all to see, each one with a small plaque with the name of a Bolton soldier who was tragically killed in the war. The Tommy’s truly are a remarkable piece of artwork and look amazing in school - they are a reflection of the huge amount of time the staff and students have gladly put in to them, sticking on the poppies quietly whilst reflecting on their true meaning.

HOLOCAUST EDUCATIONAL TRUST VISIT On Wednesday 7th November Sixth Form students scenes witnessed today are ones ingrained into our memories Shauna Smith-Wilson, Zaynah Ibrahim, Mary-Jane such as the never ending rows of buildings which housed the Macrae-Shields and Chloe Vaughan were given the captives and the bottomless piles of belongings left to age. It’s so important that we do not forget the events that transpired opportunity to visit the Auschwiz concentration and do not let history repeat itself as it is beginning to do so.” camp in Poland with the Holocaust Educational The students were accompanied on the visit by History Teacher Trust. Mr Bell. As part of their continued commitment to the work of The students had been selected due to the commitment they the Holocaust Educational Trust they will be helping the school have shown to History at Thornleigh Salesian College and have to remember Holocaust Memorial Day in January. also taken part in the Lessons Through Auschwiz programme run by the trust. The visit included a very early flight from Manchester airport followed by a thought provoking tour of the camps. One of the students wrote “I don’t think there are any words out there that are able to convey what we witnessed on this day. A material object was held in higher regards than a human, whose life was so easily discarded. It’s so hard to imagine the figure of 6 million who endured such horrible treatment during the Nazis reign of power, people who believed they were off to a better place to escape the ghettos only to be carted off like cattle with no knowledge of their inevitable death. Images of the

Christmas NEWSLETTER l thornleigh.bolton.sch.uk 23 LANGUAGE WEEK From 24th -28th September this year, the MFL department celebrated Language Week. Throughout the week students were invited to participate in a range of activities celebrating Cultural Diversity Students led the assemblies in chapel every morning, highlighting The students had to create a cake or decorate a cake which the importance of respecting our own diverse community in represented a country or culture and we had an overwhelming school but also around the world. response. Staff joined the MFL department at lunchtime to judge Mrs Avci ran a competition where 30 staff across all the whole the cakes and they voted on their favourite, Miss Brown enjoyed school wore a badge saying ‘Hello’ in many different languages sampling each one of the 35 cakes. Due to a fantastic response and the students had to find 15 countries and teachers. The it proved to be a difficult competition to judge however, the winner was Khadijah Hasan from 7O winning a £5 voucher and overall winner was Sophie Platt in 7L who won a £50 Amazon MFL goodies. During Year 7, 8 and 9 lessons, the students had voucher with Georgia-Grace Anderson, also of 7L in second a treasure hunt of activities searching facts about Spain and place with a £25 voucher. 3rd Place of £10 was shared between 4 then answering questions. They also created a postcard which entries, Callum Macrae-Shields & Eloise Brett-Andrew 7O, Joseph represented Spain and the best ones will be used for our reward Parkinson 7S, Mia Luettge 7K and Bilal Matadar 7O with a further postcard home. The students excelled themselves this year in 11 Highly Commended prizes of £5. the whole school competition which was ‘Let’s Communicake’. We cannot wait for next year’s competition…

YEAR 7 & 8 LA SALSA EVENING! As we celebrated the culture of Spain, Miss Collins organised her usual trip to La Salsa in Bolton on a Wednesday 17th October, 100 students from Years 7 and 8 and 10 staff enjoyed fabulous tapas at the local restaurant. The staff at La Salsa once again spoiled the students with joined in the event, enjoying the lovely tapas with the endless amounts of food and it is safe to say that nobody students. left with empty tummies! The night was thoroughly enjoyed by all and our children The students tried dishes such as Patatas Bravas, Spanish loved having a taste of Spanish culture. style chicken, chicken fajitas and Spanish meatballs, to We look forward to next years event - lets see if we can get name but a few, with chocolate cake as the grand finale! as many students enjoying the evening! Staff from the MFL, Geography and Maths departments,

24 Christmas NEWSLETTER l thornleigh.bolton.sch.uk INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL STATUS AWARD In July, following months of collating evidence and submitting the forms, Thornleigh Salesian College, with the help of Miss Brown and Mrs Avci achieved the Intermediate International School Status Award. The MFL department was supported by other departments in continue through this academic year. The 31st of January is the the school embracing the Sustainable Development Goals and Feast of Don Bosco and in collaboration with our Partner schools International activities. Not to mention a full day in July with Year in Madrid and Italy, the students will create a video about what it 6 students (our current Year 7s). means to be a Salesian. We are pleased to announce that following this success we are Throughout the year, you can follow all of our activities on our working towards our full International Schools Award by the end International Twitter page @TSCInternation1 of this academic year and we are very excited with all the cross- In October, Miss Brown had the opportunity to visit one of curricular projects which are in place. our Partner schools in Madrid, El Pilar where she spent 3 days The MFL Department has continued to develop their links with discussing project ideas for the coming year. It was a typical Salesian schools in Spain, in particular El Pilar in Madrid, and warm Salesian ‘Bienvenido’ and we look forward to growing our throughout the year they are going to be exchanging cultural partnership further. projects. Year 7 students have just created ‘Christmas shoe boxes’ which have been filled with letters about how we celebrate Christmas in England, cards and activities. Whilst Year 8 are in the process of creating cookery books, including all their favourite recipes and instructions on how to make them so their friends in Spain can enjoy a taste of England. Year 9 students will be exchanging information about technology trends in school and Year 10 are going to create a video in collaboration with ICT advertising their school to show the different learning environments. We are extremely excited about getting to know our friends in Madrid and to compare our cultures. We are looking forward to our International Sports Day towards the end of the year where form classes will research and represent a country from the Olympics. Food Technology is celebrating World Food and the influences of different cultures and countries on food not to mention making and tasting their work. Construction is exploring the different materials available in a range of developed and under-developed countries around the world and how these affect the final products. Whilst ICT are communicating with the International Space Station using coding and messaging. Following another successful visit to Tanzania in the summer, the Maths and Science Departments are working with Don Bosco in Moshi sharing resources and revision worksheets. Latin is looking at the History of Classical Civilisation and the impact on modern day society. Both the Science and Geography Departments are investigating the global issue with plastics and they are both working with different Salesian Schools in Madrid, San Miguel Arcángel and Colegio Salesiano Atocha. Geography has launched a calendar competition where students are to photograph their image of climate change and the winners will receive a copy of the final product. The History department not only has an international curriculum but has worked closely with other departments commemorating the centenary of World War One. We are particularly excited about the Global Citizen project running with our School Council and our partner school the European School of Helsinki. The students will collaboratively develop projects and share ideas over the year around issues such as social justice and the environment. Keep an eye out in the library for the photos. Being part of an active Salesian network, the school has developed, nurtured and initiated many projects and activities on a local and international scale and many of these projects will

Christmas NEWSLETTER l thornleigh.bolton.sch.uk 25 CONCERTS, COLLEGE CAROL SERVICE CAROLS AND Our annual Carol Service took place on Tuesday 18th SCHOOL December at 7pm in the College PRODUCTION Chapel. Family and friends attended, a wonderful time was had by all. Christmas is fast approaching and is always a very busy and exciting time in Music ST ANN’S and we’ve been very busy preparing for the Remembrance Service, our School LUNCHTIME Production ‘Godspell’, The Community Party CAROL CONCERT, and Carol Services this half term. Rehearsals have been taking place all term with College Concert Band MANCHESTER and Choir on Monday, Strings and our Rock Bands on Wednesday as well as many other smaller ensembles and groups. The Staff Choir have One of our favourite trips every also been rehearsing on Wednesday after school and we’re looking year is our annual Christmas forward to performing at the end of term Carol Services. outing to Manchester. This year we will be performing a Carol Concert at HOLIDAYS ARE St Ann’s Church, St Ann’s Square, Manchester from 12.30pm – 1.30pm. COMING! We have performed in Manchester for many years and the College Choir always performs beautifully. Our Everyone has different things that make wonderful singers and musicians will perform Carols them feel as though Christmas is just and other festive songs before enjoying a visit to the around the corner. Manchester Christmas Markets as a festive reward. We would be delighted to see as many parents, friends It might be finishing your Christmas shopping, wrapping presents and family at the lunchtime concert as possible. So, under the tree, or the iconic adverts of John Lewis or Coca Cola. if you are working or shopping in Manchester on However, I have never known anyone who doesn’t begin to feel the Wednesday 19th December from 12.30pm- 1.30pm, Christmas cheer when they attend a Carol Service. please come along to the carol concert to hear our wonderful choir and enjoy the festive spirit. MUSIC instrumental WORKSHOP lessons and RESIDENTIAL ensembles We are always looking to recruit new members! So WEEKEND if you’d like to get involved join us for rehearsals in January. Friday 30th November to Spring Term Ensembles: Strings - Wednesday Break time Sunday 2nd December, Concert Band - Monday Lunch time Savio House, Bollington. Ukulele - Tuesday Lunchtime, Choir - Monday After School Music 2 We had yet another fantastic weekend of Rock/Pop Bands – Wednesday After School Music 1 Music making at Savio. Our annual weekend Music workshop was enjoyed by and 2 students across Years 7-10. Acoustic Club – Thursday After School Our fantastic instrumentalists and singers had a full day of rehearsals for the upcoming Carol Services at the end of term and Rock and Pop CHRISTMAS EVE MASS - Night in Spring, followed by a walk through the countryside and the village of Bollington. 7:30pm IN THE school Thank you to Miss Dallas, Mrs McKenna and Brother Robert for their help CHAPEL - ALL WELCOME and support on the trip and to Mr Fairley for being ‘Chef’.

26 Christmas NEWSLETTER l thornleigh.bolton.sch.uk This years Thornleigh It has certainly been a difficult Salesian College production piece to bring together (in only 12 weeks), but I am once again was ‘Godspell’. overwhelmed with the commitment Spread over three nights, 5th - 7th from everybody involved. Our main cast December, and even a performance to local members (The Tribe) have been rehearsing primary schools, the show was an absolute twice a week since September and even the sell out! last few weekends. I am certain that this show The students were all outstanding and it was has created some wonderful memories for these obvious to see how much energy and effort had been youngsters, and hopefully it will inspire them to be put in to the show by them and Mr and Mrs Eccleshare, even more involved in the Performing Arts here at who directed it. Mr Eccleshare said: Thornleigh Salesian College. ‘Godspell’ has always been one of my favourite I would like to personally say a huge thank you to musicals and one I have always wanted to perform as our Y13 students who will be performing in their last a school production! The challenge has been taking a school musical. Olivia, Ella and Isobel – you have been performance which is written for ten people and an absolute pleasure to work with in all the shows you expanding it to a cast of fifty, in order to give as many have been involved in over the years – we wish you pupils as we could an opportunity to be involved. lots of luck in the future!”

Christmas NEWSLETTER l thornleigh.bolton.sch.uk 27 MAKE SOME NOISE SHARE THE Make some noise was proudly hosted by Thornleigh Salesian JOURNEY – College once again. The evening sleepover saw 260 students from schools from across the YEAR 7 country descend on us ready to celebrate what it means to be Salesian and Year 7 have taken part in their very what it means to celebrate our faith. The evening was a mixture of prayer and own Share the Journey. activity with an activity carousel followed by hot chocolate in our canteen. During RE lessons our Year 7 students have The evening concluded with a beautiful candle lit procession with the Blessed gone for a one mile walk in support of Cafod’s Sacrament through the main yard and into the chapel. Peace and quiet share the journley campaign. Each class was descended and many of the students were deeply moved by the experience. given two lessons, one to learn about the The evening was relatively uneventful and for the most part the school went campaign and the second lesson to do their quiet as the students got some sleep saving their energy for a fun packed one-mile walk, we did not go far, only across the activity filled day. And action packed it was. road, but still that totalled well over 300miles to add to the Cafod campaign. As a school we stood in solidarity with those less fortunate than ourselves. WEEK DAY MASS Weekday mass continues to grow With rides arriving from early morning the moon was on full show. The with the thanks to Fr Kieran and the students had a hearty breakfast of sausage and bacon. We moved into chapel RE department. where the good morning was given all the way from Rome via skype, which At the moment Year 7 are currently leading our was set up by our IT department. The students then descended on the main masses but the number of students who are yard where inflatables were inflated and rides were in full swing, an amazing choosing to come to mass is ever increasing. few hours were had by all. We recently had the mass of St Francis where The grand final was the most amazing celebration of the Eucharist that has we blessed the animals with well over 40 possibly ever been celebrated in our school chapel. The music, the atmosphere, students attending. We now regularly have and the young people all came together to make the best experience ever. between 35 and 50 students who are attending Our 38 students who attended the weekend are already looking forward to mass which just keeps going from strength to next year. strength. YEAR 7 SALESIAN HOUSE VISITS Year 7 have once again each one of our Year 7 students went to visit the Salesian house. Our students were shown round the main rooms of the Provincial House and also the Provincial Office and the office of Salesian Link andDon Bosco Publications. For the students the best bit of the tour was the welcome they received by all. Everyone stopped working and took a few moments to share their job with our students. Each one left with a little pile of goodies to take home with them to remember their time at the house. “It was good that the house was so welcoming, and it was nice to see what FRIDAY WITH the Salesian priests and brothers do in the house. I also liked hearing about the history.” FR CHRIS Declan Year 7 Each Friday Fr Chris Gorton now spends the morning with us in school, he spends some time with students in assembly and has also started visiting the Year 9 form classes. Fr Chris leads the morning reflection and then spends some time chatting with the students. Fr Chris has also assisted with Year 10 curriculum RE and also with Reconciliation services and other aspects of RE and chaplaincy life. It is great having him with us and is this is forging ever stronger links with our local parish life.

28 Christmas NEWSLETTER l thornleigh.bolton.sch.uk ADOREMUS On a wet day in September a few but faithful group trouped out through the streets of Liverpool to take part in the Adoremus – youth conference. We joined well over 300 other young people in the Liverpool had forgotten how wet we got in the rain as we were seen singing Ecco arena to celebrate our faith. and dancing. Our students listened to guest speakers from around the world The day ended with a powerful moment of adoration. The and were then split in to small groups where we experienced a students, especially some of the younger ones were deeply more intimate type of exploration of our faith. Before long we moved by the experience. A great day was had by all.

DYSLEXIA AWARD THE BIG SING The RE Department and Students Support team have During Mission Week, Mr Antonio and Mr Eccleshare worked hard to evidence The RE department as the first gave students the opportunity to take part in ‘The Big Dyslexia Friendly Department in Bolton! Sing’. Members of the team have worked tirelessly to put in place All Year 7 classes joined Mr Antonio and Mr Eccleshare in the resources, aids to learning and departmental schemes so that Chapel where they were able to learn via music and song. we can ensure that all students have the ability to learn without This proved to be a hugely successful and uplifting event that barriers that can affect students with dyslexia. This has proved allowed students to learn in a fun and different way. to be hugely successful and has evidenced those students in RE have the full range of resources available to them in order to learn. DYSLEXIA AWARENESS WEEK The RE department, as part of our work to make us a Dyslexia Friendly Department, announced and celebrated Dyslexia Awareness Week by wearing green and spreading the message around our school. This day empowered the need for awareness of dyslexia and the support that is offered to those with this potential learning barrier. Every member of the RE Department wore green and posted our picture on Twitter to make as many people as possible aware. NO PEN LESSONS This term we have put in place ‘No Pen Lessons’ that emphasises and promotes the different strategies and YEAR 11 REVISION / styles of learning. PPE PREP This gave us the opportunity to deliver lessons that were As the Year 11 GCSEs approach, the RE department have discussion based and used different strategies to aid students’ begun to offer after school revision to our students in curiosity and promote learning. Year 11. This tool allowed us to promote a love of learning and take away This has allowed students of all abilities to come after school and the need to assess purely on written ability. This has proven enjoy a drink, biscuit and more personalised revision, working in to be successful in allowing students to express views and use small groups to remove any barriers to learning / revision and tools to express feeling and thoughts in a more kinaesthetic and allow students to peer learn on areas that they need to develop. auditory way.

Christmas NEWSLETTER l thornleigh.bolton.sch.uk 29 FINDING OUT ALL ABOUT OUR PIXL PARTNERSHIP In October the whole of Year 12 attended the first PIXL student conference at the Etihad Cricket ground to find out about “Making Year 12 Matter”.

Upon arrival to our luxurious conference several negative issues that can hinder room, students were welcomed with a Level 3 learning. Please look out for spot of brunch before listening to range these at home and get in touch if you of presentations. Each guest speaker feel your Year 12 child needs support: addressed a key area for all Level 3 • Overuse of mobile phones/ learners including how to organise time Social media efficiently and appropriately, dealing • Thinking Year 11 effort and systems with the workload and being resilient will work in Year 12 learners. • Being disorganised In addition, some crucial advice • Refusing to commit to a future career about applying for universities and plan techniques to revise and to study independently were shared. At the • Working long hours in part-time end of the conference students listed employment to a motivational speech by Junior, • Not talking about barriers and anxieties a member of the “Fix up team”, who Please remember that we are committed told his story about struggling in post- to supporting every student towards 16 education to becoming a successful aspirational goals. Sometimes we need business entrepreneur. There was a lot to remember that, like in any sporting of food for thought and many tips for us discipline, a student (athlete) needs to harness going forward. a fully informed and dedicated team Although this conference identified around them in all aspects of their life. Resilience, Organisation and Motivation Parents, thanks for your support so far as key skills to success, it also highlighted this academic year. THE MOST BIASED THING YOU WILL READ ABOUT WHY YOU SHOULD COME TO THORNLEIGH SIXTH FORM... Every year I am asked to go into local schools to give advice so that students across Bolton can make impartial decisions about their post-16 choices. However, having been a student at Thornleigh Salesian College know the teachers, the systems, the routines, the support routes, and then at our sixth form, I may not be able to offer the most the journey, and their peers and because they know all of this, impartial advice. So I would like to summarise some of the they won’t spend an invaluable chunk of that 18-month journey points that I hope you will have heard if you listened to one of getting to know new systems, teachers, friends, routes and my speeches at our October Open Evening. routines. Support systems, routines and familiarity can be seen as One of our students from the class of 2018 came to talk about negatives by Year 11 students at this time of year. For example, the support she received in the Sixth Form and as I listened to some students say, “I am sick of intervention”, “We get too much her, her experiences and the opportunities she had been given, homework”, “I want a complete change after Year 11” or “I want a I realised just how fortunate she had been to learn here and just fresh start”. While all of these responses are perfectly acceptable, how fortunate we are to have such a calibre of students in our I often think that students underestimate the importance care each day. of continuing a partnership with teachers and professionals If you are still unsure, please make sure your child talks to who know their potential and areas for development. They their group tutor and requests an appointment with our post- underestimate the importance of having a support system of 16 team. When I attended this sixth form I entered with poor peers and of knowing the journey to, and from, college. They GCSE results and low target grades. With the help and support can underestimate just how important those routines that they of the staff, I smashed my targets and have managed to realise want to be free from are going to be when studying A Levels and my aspirational goals. BTEC qualifications. I therefore hope you believe me when I say that I have a Without a shadow of a doubt, post-16 education is the most subjective commitment to support all students to attain beyond challenging phase of the educational journey and it is only expectations. But what do I know? I am clearly biased! a very short Key Stage lasting barely more than 18 months in total. So that is why I feel Thornleigh Sixth Form is the ideal Tonino Passarello choice for Thornleigh Salesian College students. Year 11 students Director of Sixth Form

30 Christmas NEWSLETTER l thornleigh.bolton.sch.uk GREATER MANCHESTER HIGHER NETWORK FOR COLLABORATIVE OUTREACH (NCOP) & BRILLIANT CLUB The Greater Manchester Higher Network Collaborative Outreach Programme, or ‘NCOP’ is a Government- led project aimed at raising participation numbers in Higher Education. The sessions are all delivered by a Graduate Adviser and After the launch, we have held tutorials at college each Monday involve working with a group of students in Years 10 and 12. The and Friday, during which the students have worked with two PDd programme offers students a range of activities whereby they tutors from Liverpool. The Sixth Form students have been looking explore Higher Education and the opportunities available to at cellular structures and genetics and the Year 10 students have them beyond school and 6th form. been looking at how the brain processes pain. All of the students have been working at degree level and will finish off the course In November, a group of 6th Form and Year 10 students went to by completing an assignment that will be celebrated at Liverpool The University of Liverpool for the launch of the Brilliant Club, University. a scheme aimed at challenging some of our students and is delivered in conjunction with NCOP. By the end of the programme, students will have a clearer understanding of higher education pathways and hopefully they On the day, the students were introduced to their tutors and will have begun to identify some of their own aspirations in terms were given a tour of the university. of education and career goals.

other familiar faces including BOLTON YOUTH MPS Shadow home secretary, Dianne Abbot and House of DEBATE AT THE HOUSE Commons leader, Andrea OF COMMONS 2018 Leadsom. On 9th November we - Ella Tinniswood and Jonathan The issues that were voted on, Owen, Bolton’s Youth MPs - had the amazing opportunity as the two campaigns for the to sit on the green benches of the House of Commons to UK Youth parliament 2019 - represent the young people of Bolton at the UK Youth 2020, were “Votes at 16” and Parliaments’ annual debate. “Put an End to Knife Crime”. There we debated the five issues that came top in the “Make We had a truly amazing day Your Mark” Ballot which was voted on by over one million and we can’t wait for next year. However, at the minute we young people from across Bolton and the UK. The five issues are looking forward to campaigning on these issues in Bolton, we debated this year were: “Put an End to Knife Crime” “Equal alongside our committed youth council. Pay for Equal Work” “Tackle Homelessness” “Mental Health” and “Votes at 16”. We thoroughly enjoyed this experience, it was amazing and we will never forget it. The Leader of the Opposition Jeremy Corbyn was in attendance to hear our highest voted debate on knife crime, along with Jonathan Owen - Year 11

Achievement points. Students were BOOST YOUR POINTS also encouraged to bring in evidence The first “Boost Your Points” week was launched and took of the out-of-school activities that they place at the end of term one. participate in – these students were The staff at Thornleigh Salesian College know how important it is awarded Bonus Points. to develop the students’ whole being and encourage students to The ‘Boost Your Points’ week will take take part in school extra-curricular activities. place at the end of each half term. During this week students who regularly attended extra- “Well done and Congratulations” to those curricular activities in the first half term were awarded Additional students who “boosted their points”.

Christmas NEWSLETTER l thornleigh.bolton.sch.uk 31 Term Dates Academic Year 2019

Spring Term 2019 First day of term for students Monday 7 January 2019 First day of mid-term holiday Monday 18 February 2019 Students return to school Monday 25 February 2019 Last day of term for students Friday 5 April 2019

Summer Term 2019 First day of term Tuesday 23 April 2019 Bank Holiday Monday 6 May 2019 First day of mid-term holiday/Bank Holiday Monday 27 May 2019 Students return to school Monday 3 June 2019 Last day of school year – 1 pm EARLY FINISH Friday 19 July 2019 SEPT - DEC 2018 Christmas NEWSLETTER l thornleigh.bolton.sch.uk