Wales High School Easter 2017 Newsletter
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MADRID TRIP WALES HIGH SCHOOL During February half term, a group of students from Y10-Y13 visited EASTER 2017 NEWSLETTER the Spanish capital, Madrid. It was an amazing experience and we got to live the city life for a few days In a different year we might have started the Summer term by this point and we and experienced some real finally arrive at the Easter break after an extremely productive period since Spanish culture firsthand. We visited some famous places, such Christmas. as the Las Ventas Bullring, I am excited by the prospect of the Summer exams and would like to wish all of our El Estadio Santiago Bernabeu (Real Madrid’s stadium), Toledo students who face the challenges of Public Examination, the very best of luck as (one of Spain’s most historic they continue to prepare over the next two weeks. I would also like to remind you towns), and many other fantastic places. We even had the chance all, it is never too late to make a difference, so approach this task with energy and to sample real Spanish tapas – it enthusiasm ….and please, do not forget to find some time for yourselves as well! was delicious! We say goodbye today to Mr Rowbottom, after a short period with the school and On the last night we ate at the Hard Rock Café, which was a Miss Isherwood who is moving back across The Pennines to be nearer her family. lovely way to finish a fabulous trip. We are also celebrating the retirement of Mrs Fowkes and Mrs Cole, who together, It was an amazing trip and the group got along really well, with have served the school and its community for 37 and 32 years respectively. They lots of new friendships made. have been enormous influences in shaping the school into what it is today and We can’t wait to go away again have touched the lives of so many of you over their time of service. They leave a next year! great void and will be sorely missed. We wish them well for the future. Easter Camp – 50 excited Y7 students are setting off tomorrow (Saturday, 8 April) for Easter Finally, may I take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy Easter. Please stay Camp. They will spend 6 nights in caravans on the beautiful site at Pentewan Sands, St Austell, safe, and I look forward to welcoming you back into school after the holidays. Cornwall and take part in various activities. Let’s hope the sun shines for them! Pepe Di’Iasio, Headteacher Carol Banks 20.01.1957 – 01.02.2017 In February we said a sad farewell to Carol Banks, a long standing member of our cleaning team, who passed away suddenly whilst at work. Carol was a well-respected and well-loved member of our community who had worked at the school for twenty three years. She lived close to the school and many of you may End of Term have known her and her extended family. Full School Assembly She will be deeply missed by all at Wales High School. MFL Foreign Language Spelling Bee - This year we have launched the Y7 spelling competition in French and Spanish which has seen all of Y7 taking part in class competitions! Y7s had to learn 50 words in the target language and how to spell the words out too in the French or Spanish alphabet! It was a tough competition but our wonderful Y7s rose to the challenge! Winners of the class competitions: 7.1 Grace Williams. Runner up: Liam Betts 7.2 Erin Street. Runners up: Talia Bingham-Lewis, Fenn Russell, Scarlett Mitchell 7.3 Ava Allen. Runners up: Chloe Jolley, Flynn Ward 7.4 Eve Elliot. Runners up: Cameron Bird, Libby Raper 7.5 Georgia Hansell-Hides. Runners up: Isabella Donald, Jacob Grudziak 7.6 Milo Smith. Runners up: Millie Hammer, Caitlin Hutchinson 7.7 Ben Anderson. Runners up: Hollie Anthony, Simeon Jones 7.8 Eva Gorecki Hunt. Runners up: Louise Dimbleby, Miles Ridge 7.9 Jack Ashton. Runners up: George Carnall, Amelia Moore 7.10 Maisy Lyne. Runners up: Eve Senior, Olivia Fletcher We then had a final school competition to find our overall winners! The finalists had to learn some new, more complex spellings and we held a nail-biting final! Congratulations to our winners! World Book Day Spanish champion: Ava Allen, 7.3 On Thursday 2nd March, Wales High School celebrated World Book Day in style, with staff French champion: George Carnall, 7.9 dressing up as famous characters from literature and each tutor group decorating a door to Thank you to all our fabulous competitors in Y7 and look out for next year’s competition! resemble the cover of a well-loved book. Parents and students got involved at Parents' Evening, with Sam Back of 8.3 winning a £25 voucher for guessing which characters certain staff members were dressed as! In a hard-fought competition, the PE department and Music department were joint winners for best-dressed department, and the winner of the doors was a Peter-Pan themed door in Learning Support. The Great Big Book Swap took place in the Grand Hall, with students sharing their favourite reads. Mrs Bolton, Leader of Literacy, said, "a love of reading is critical to the success of our students but, more importantly, at Wales High School we promote reading as part of a healthy and fulfilling lifestyle. World Book Day has been a wonderful opportunity to celebrate this whole-school ethos, but engaging our students in reading is an ongoing passion of ours." Other Literacy - Four students this term have the opportunity to have their mini-sagas published, after gaining winning places in the nationwide creative-writing competition "Your World, Your Words." Well done to Morgan Whitworth, Victoria Thornewell, Gleb Cipriani and Sam Hudson! Two students have also hit a significant milestone in their reading. Well done to Ellie Godhard in Year 9 and Talia Thompson in Year 7, for being the first two students to complete the mammoth "16 Classics Before 16" Challenge, where students are asked to read 16 classic books before they reach the age of 16. Both girls have received significant prizes to mark this achievement. Their names will also go onto the Wales High School Reading Hall of Fame! MFL NEWS MFL Challenge Event On Tuesday 7 March, 20 Y11 French and Spanish students visited Chapeltown PD/JSo Academy to take part in a languages April 2017 competition. The event started with us Dear Parent/Guardian walking into the academy, proudly carrying the trophy (that we won last year!). At this I would like to inform you that we are planning a change to our school day for the next academic year. year’s event we had to take part in a You will be aware that our educational landscape and the demands on schools have changed dramatically over the number of difficult language challenges, last decade and we want to ensure that Wales High School remains at the forefront of educational development and including crosswords, translation quizzes that our students gain the best possible opportunities during their time with us. and counting to 20 in Latin. Once the marks had been counted, we were announced as We have some exciting and innovative ideas that will enable us to offer all our students a curriculum which prepares them for life in the twenty first century. I am confident that you will share our vision of the opportunities this will open the proud winners for the second year up for your child’s future choices and understand to provide this, a change to the structure of our current school day running. After our glorious victory, we travelled to Meadowhall for a celebratory meal at the is needed. Tapas Revolution restaurant. We enjoyed a variety of typical Spanish dishes, and as the staff were so impressed, they even gave us a free serving of churros con chocolate for dessert. The To support the changes, we have worked with both Kiveton Park Infant School and Meadows Junior School about the most effective times to start and end our days to help parents, families and the local community to reduce meal was universally enjoyed by all and we returned to school late, but full and victorious. Next congestion and permit safer journeys to and from school for all. A letter will follow from these schools to confirm year we’ll make it three victories on the bounce! their arrangements to support this. We have also consulted with the school bus company to ensure that our students get the very best journeys to and from school. Our new teaching week will encompass the following ideas: - a slightly earlier start to the day; WHS Quizlet Sets are now up and running. MFL - an additional lesson in the week to allow for greater breadth of options and enrichment across the school; students can access their class sets on phones, tablets and - a 26 lesson teaching week, as part of which 1 day of the week (Monday) will have 6 lessons of teaching, and 4 computers. Learning vocab is now easier and more fun! days will continue to have 5 lessons of teaching; Just search either WHS French or WHS Spanish and look - a reduction in wasted ‘travel time’ between lessons; for the Spanish and French flags and your specific year - more teaching time in the morning sessions; group to get practising on the go! - the removal of afternoon tutor group time; - a slightly shortened lunchtime, though one which is still long enough for clubs, activities and intervention sessions; - an earlier finish on 4 days of the week.