High School Autumn Newsletter

Year 13 Business Studies

On Friday 7th November Y13 Business Studies Students received a visit from one of the best companies in the world! Victrex is listed in the top 250 FTSE and Helsby Business students were able to benefit from a real insight into this multinational organisation.

We would like to thank Steve Dougherty (Strategic Marketing Director) from Victrex Plc for visiting and giving the students a brilliant overview of global marketing in action.

Dates for your Diary: Fri 19 Dec - School closes early - 2.30pm (19.12.14 - 04.01.15 incl Christmas Holiday) Mon 5 Jan - School re-opens pupils return Thur 15 Jan - Yr 11 Consultation Evening Tue 03 Feb - Year 9 Consultation Evening Wed 11 Feb - Year 9 Options Evening December 2014 Friday 13 Feb - School Closes

www.helsbyhigh.org.uk 1 Helsby High School Autumn Newsletter

Visitors from Linköping University, Sweden in Partnership with University

Last week Helsby High received visitors from Linköping University, Sweden in order for them to experience secondary education in the UK. The group, consisting of eight Swedish trainee teachers taught lessons to a range of English classes on the subject of Norse mythology; a fascinating subject for those of our pupils who are fans of the Marvel comics ‘Thor’ franchise. Whilst here, our visitors commented on how impressed they were with the effort and behaviour of the pupils they met and were able to take many positive ideas back to Sweden with them. The English department looks forward to continuing their work with Chester University and welcoming further Swedish associates next November.

Mrs Foulder, English Department

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Trip to Active Kids Get Cooking On Tuesday 11th November, the Food Technology Students in Year 7 and 8 have completed their Department took 30 pupils for an action packed one and two star chef awards. The Year 7 day at Reasheath College. The aim of the day students have planned and made toasted snacks was to give students an insight into the food which fit into the Eatwell plate. The Year 8 pupils industry. They all took part in 4 workshops, have made creative pizzas, making their own which were: making burgers and sausages in the bread for the base. Congratulations to those butchery, making butter in the food processing pupils who have been halls, setting up and taking part in a taste panel awarded these and finally the college gave a talk on careers and certificates. courses in industry. The students had to wear the correct PPE (Personal, protective equipment) you can see from the pictures this included hairnets, white coats and wellies. In addition, when in the butchery, they had to wear a metal apron and glove when using the knives. For more pictures form the day please follow our Twitter page HHS_FoodTech. Some feedback from the students

“The best part about the day was making butter and doing the taste testing (sensory Health and Social Care Trip analysis)” On Wednesday 15th October, the A2 Health and “I enjoyed the day at Reasheath because it Social Care class took a trip to the SureStart gave me an in-sight of what the industrial Centre in . When we arrived we were food world is like and what a collage course met by the family support worker who gave us a would be like” tour around the building, showing us the facilities that were on offer and also the sessions that they “Overall the day was pretty good and I would offered to both the children (ages 0-19) and consider going there to do a food related course” adults. The SureStart centre is a community resource providing a wide range of services for “It was a fun day and I learnt lots whilst there” children and their families. They aim to improve “The best part was seeing how sausages are the lives of children and their parents by bringing made” together early education, childcare, health and family support services in the heart of the community. As part of our studies we have to analyse how services meet the needs of the service user. As a group, we really enjoyed visiting the centre, talking with professionals and seeing the centre in action. Beth S

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During an educational visit to Coca Cola in Wakefield, Year 12 Business students were given the chance to see inside a state-of-the-art manufacturing site; the 3rd largest automated plant in the world. Each student had a unique opportunity to develop their knowledge of the world of work and make connections between what they learn in the classroom and the operations that are integral to one of the world's leading brands… and Coca Cola didn’t disappoint!

Mrs N Turner

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HHS Bin-it to go Clean & Green ! One of our new bins is pictured below

Pictured above are HHS pupils Kayleigh and Louise, along with our KS3 Student Support Co-ordinator Miss Louden, at Helsby Library on Monday night to take receipt of cheques from the Chair of Helsby Parish Council, Mr Andy Macpherson, as winners of a Helsby Community Award. The award was the result of a bid made to support our on-going commitment to make our school community as clean as we can.

Commented Miss Louden: 'The Student Voice group have worked hard to make this award a reality and deserve great credit. This funding will now allow the school to invest in new recycling bins and other initiatives to make our school a cleaner, greener environment for us all'.

A2 Philosophy

As part of the A2 Philosophy unit on the Problem of Evil, two students were selected to participate in the Lessons from Auschwitz Project, run by the Holocaust Educational Trust. In preparation for a visit to Auschwitz Concentration Camp, two year 13 students attended a seminar in Manchester in November. The seminar included an emotional talk given by a Holocaust survivor 'Ziggi', who was taken to Auschwitz as a child. Beth and Libby found the experience both heart rendering and uplifting. Following on from their visit the students will deliver an assembly in January to commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day. Mrs J Penney

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Star of the Week is Launched.

In November, Star of the Week was launched! The purpose of this award is to recognise and celebrate the achievement of one student each week from Year 7 to Year 11. This recognition could be for various reasons, including commitment to extra curricular activities, work in the community or being an exemplary role model.

A survey was conducted with over one hundred students across all year groups the results of which helped to structure the system that now underpins Star of the Week.

Year Leaders and Form Tutors discuss student nominations every Friday. The Form Tutor presents the Star of the Week with their gold star badge in form time. Some Year Leaders may recognise this award in assembly time if the student is comfortable with this. The student can then wear, with pride, the gold star badge on their blazer for the rest of the academic year. All members of the school community will be able to recognise this achievement!

Mr Dowler has a vital part to play in the celebration of this award. He will write home to the Star of the Week congratulating them. In addition, outside his office, in the main office area of the school is a display board which lists the names and form classes of all Students of the Week so that visitors to the school can also share in their achievement.

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Helsby High School Welcomes Year 6 Parents and Students

On Thursday 25th September 2014 Helsby High School opened its doors to over 250 families who visited the school during its Open Evening. Teachers, assisted by existing pupils ranging from Year 7 up to Year 13 helped to demonstrate skills, conduct activities and provide tours around school. Year 6 students were given the opportunity to complete an Interactive Task to win one of two £25 WHSmiths vouchers; the lucky winners were Daisy from Kingsley CP School and Gabby at Aston by Sutton Primary School. Feedback from families who attended the event included they felt their child was made to feel extremely welcome and that the event had been a positive and enjoyable experience!

On Monday 6th October and Monday 13th October 2014 we welcomed over 60 families during Open Mornings. This opportunity provided families with the chance to visit the school during a normal working day, and to see the positive working and supportive atmosphere. Year 8 EBuddies who had supported the transition process whilst in Year 7 were Tour Guides during this event. The feedback from parents and teachers was extremely positive. Year 8 students approached the role in a mature, confident and reliable manner. Many of the Year 6 parents commented on how well the tours had been conducted and how helpful Year 8 had been.

Year 12 and 13 Religious studies—Philosophy Trip

"On Friday 28th November, 31 Year 12 and 13 RS students attended a Philosophy Conference in Manchester hosted by Dr Peter Vardy of Heythrop College London. The conference covered topics on the Variety of Religious Experience, the Problem of Suffering and Arguments for God, which form part of the AS/A2 syllabus. The students sat through what was an intense but informative day, as well as having a nice lunch out in Manchester! Mrs J Penney

www.helsbyhigh.org.uk 7 Helsby High School Autumn Newsletter Helsby Students Make Their Mark!

During October, students at Helsby High School participated in the national ‘Make Your Mark’ ballot. This was to decide what issues the Youth Parliament should discuss – when they meet in November – on their behalf. In form time, students learned about some of the issues, and each individual cast their anonymous vote. Sixth Former, and resident CWAC Youth Senator Keith worked tirelessly over the period collecting ballot papers and counting them, ready to send our results over to be added to the national pool on Friday 10th October. About the Ballot and the youth Parliament: The Make Your Mark ballot decided which 3 most important issues will be debated by the UK Youth Parliament, in the House of Commons The Youth Parliament is a youth organisation which represents young people (11-18) in local and national politics The target number or ballots for West and Chester (CWaC) was 4000, and since we returned over 600 votes, we made a substantial contribution to fulfilling this target! The top three issues that Helsby students voted for were: 1) Everyone should be paid a living wage of £7.65 per hour (£8.80 in London) 2) Euthanasia 3) Bring back exam resits in Maths and English, in English schools We are delighted that so many of our young people took the time to vote and get politically active. With a General Election on the horizon, we hope to see our students increasingly interested in wider political issues over the coming months. Interested in Politics? Maybe you could get involved with running events like Make Your Mark! See Mrs Llewellyn for details.

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School Sport Magazine Top 30 Best State Schools for Sport 2014

School Sport Magazine has released its list of the best state schools for sport in 2014 and we are very pleased that Helsby has again been recognised in the top 30.

The list reflects competitive achievement in a range of sports throughout 2014 and honours those schools that take competition especially seriously.

Based on 20 different sports and more than 120 different national competitions, more weighting is given to success in a range of sports rather than single sports – not to mention competitions with more teams competing - and all results are inputted into a special computer programme.

It is a great achievement to be recognised at #22 in the list. http://www.schoolsportmag.co.uk/top-100-sports-schools/4587348675

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English Schools Cross Country Cup Round 1 – Cheshire http://www.esaa.net/v2/2014/xccup/xccup14results.php Wednesday 8th October saw four of the schools’ cross-country teams competing against schools from the rest of Cheshire in the first round of the ESAA Cross-Country Cup at Walton Gardens in . This event was again organised and ran by the PE department together with four student volunteers from the Yr. 12 ‘A’ Level PE group. With over 10 schools and over 60 runners in each race the competition was fierce but there were good performances from both our teams and individual runners. The Junior Boys (Yr. 7&8) were the stand-out performers with their 1st place finish despite not being at full strength. Three runners were in the top eight with the fourth placed counter finishing not far behind in 14th. This gave the team a total of just 27 points which was enough to give them a winning margin of 11. First runner home was Sonny D. in second position. 1 Helsby High School, Frodsham, Cheshire 2 3 8 14 ( 23 33 ) 27 2 , Sandbach, Cheshire 1 6 10 21 ( 29 35 ) 38 3 Bridgewater High School, Warrington, Cheshire 5 19 24 26 ( 47 48 ) 74 4 , , Cheshire 9 17 18 36 ( 51 53 ) 80 5 , Lymm, Cheshire 4 12 34 41 ( 49 ) 91 6 , Northwich, Cheshire 13 15 31 38 ( 39 45 ) 97 7 The King's School In , Macclesfield, Cheshire 11 20 32 43 ( 46 57 ) 106 8 The County High School Leftwich, Northwich, Cheshire 22 30 42 50 ( 52 ) 144 9 High School, Chester, Cheshire 16 37 40 56 ( ) 149 10 , Macclesfield, Cheshire 25 28 44 54 ( 55 59 ) 151 11 Tytherington High School, Macclesfield, Cheshire 7 27 58 60 ( 61 62 ) 152

The Intermediate Boys (Yr. 9&10) performed beyond expectations with their second placed finish. First counter Lauclan S. came in in sixth position and was quickly followed by the next three counters in 13th, 14th and 15th. This gave the team a total score of 48 points, 19 clear of Fallibroome in third. 1 , Chester, Cheshire 4 10 12 19 ( ) 45 2 Helsby High School, Frodsham, Cheshire 6 13 14 15 ( 24 ) 48 3 The Fallibroome Academy, Macclesfield, Cheshire 3 7 28 29 ( 32 ) 67 4 Sandbach School, Sandbach, Cheshire 2 23 34 35 ( 39 53) 94 5 The King's School In Macclesfield, Macclesfield, Cheshire 9 11 27 47 ( 51 ) 94 6 Lymm High School, Lymm, Cheshire 18 20 25 33 ( 36 37 ) 96 7 Sir Thomas Boteler CofE High School, Warrington, Cheshire 1 8 44 45 ( ) 98 8 Weaverham High School, Northwich, Cheshire 21 22 26 30 ( 40 50 ) 99 9 Tytherington High School, Macclesfield, Cheshire 5 31 43 49 ( 52 54 ) 128 10 The County High School Leftwich, Northwich, Cheshire 16 38 41 42 ( 46 48 ) 137 11 The Whitby High School, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire 17 ( ) Both the Junior Boys and Intermediate Boys will now compete in the Regional Finals on November 8th for a place in the National Finals. This will again be held at Walton Gardens.The Junior Girls team, comprising mainly of Yr. 7s, finished in 11th place with their runners placing 35 40 44 52 ( 58 ) whilst the Intermediate Girls came a creditable sixth with their four counters coming 14 23 26 32 to give a team total of 95 points, only 20 points short of the third qualification spot. www.helsbyhigh.org.uk 10 Helsby High School Autumn Newsletter

English Schools Cross Country Cup Round 2 – West Central

Following on from their first place finish in round 1 the Junior Boys produced another good performance to claim 1st place in the regional round of the Cross-Country Cup. Competing against qualifiers from Cheshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Hereford & Worcester, Gloucestershire, Warwickshire and the West-Midlands the team’s first four runners finished in 2nd, 3rd, 6th, and 19th to give a team total of just 30 points, 36 ahead of second placed Sandbach. This meant the team qualified to compete in the National Final in Newquay with a realistic chance of finishing amongst the medals.

1 Helsby High School, Frodsham, Cheshire 2 3 6 19 ( 33 ) 30 2 Sandbach School, Sandbach, Cheshire 1 5 21 39 ( 44 51 ) 66 3 Marling School, Stroud, Gloucestershire 4 8 22 37 ( 43 50 ) 71 4 Fairfax, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands 7 20 23 28 ( 53 ) 78 5 Bromsgrove School, Bromsgrove, Hereford & Worcestershire 9 17 27 40 ( 52 59 ) 93 6 Finham Park School, Coventry, West Midlands 10 15 34 41 ( 42 54 ) 100 7 The Whitby High School, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire 12 24 31 35 ( 49 58 ) 102 8 Thomas Telford School, Telford, Shropshire 13 18 32 46 ( 48 56 ) 109 9 Sir Thomas Rich's School, Gloucester, Gloucestershire 14 16 29 55 ( ) 114 10 Bablake School, Coventry, West Midlands 25 26 38 45 ( 47 60 ) 134 11 R G S Worcester, Worcester, Hereford & Worcestershire 11 30 36 57 ( 61 62 ) 134

www.helsbyhigh.org.uk 11 Helsby High School Autumn Newsletter NetballNetball It has been so encouraging to have so many pupils attending the many netball clubs since the start of the school year. We had more than 70 girls regularly attending the Tuesday after school club which was fantastic. It has been unfortunate that the outside courts were out of use due to health and safety reasons and I hope that now they have been repaired, we will see all these pupils and more return to the clubs in the New Year. As a reminder, netball club will run on the following days unless there is a fixture: Tuesday – all years Wednesday – years 9, 10, 11, sixth form Thursday – years 7 and 8

PLEASE NOTE: THERE IS A NEW NETBALL CLUB STARTING ON TUESDAYS (from 13th January) FOR ANYBODY, YOUNG AND OLD, EXPERIENCED OR NOT! The club will accommodate two ages: 6-7pm is for years 8-11 7-8pm will be ‘back to school’ netball and is open to anybody who may have played when they were at school or who is just keen to try a new sport. There are no limits to this latter club other than its for Year 12 students and older and is open to the general public of all ages. If you are interested, please visit the school website for more information. Miss Clarke

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A level PE visit to Loughborough Travelling back from our experience allowed us to reflect on our day where we all realised how University determined we were to get our 3A's to be able to go. We can all honestly say that our day at On the 20th November, 10 PE AS Level students Loughborough University has changed our along with Miss Clarke and Mr Park went to minds as to where we want to go to university. Loughborough University. Upon arrival we met 2 current 2nd year By Cara G students and our leader ‘Rae’ who both gave a

talk informing us about their sports and the sport in general at Loughborough, at which point everybody had already fallen in love with the university. We then had a guided tour, which started at the power gym; the boys were in their element especially a couple of the lads who had spotted the U21 cricket team training in the top corner. We continued to the sports hall where there was more excitement in watching Leicester Riders basketball team train. We continued to follow our tour guides who took us to the students’ favourite place of an evening, the student union. It is here we learnt all about the university’s night life and student support structure. From there we went to walk around to the athletics indoor and outdoor training facilities, where we saw Para-Olympians Jonny Peacock, Richard Whitehead and Olympians Martin Rooney and Dai Greene. After lunch we had 2 talks; our first talk was all about nutrition and our final talk was about Sports and Exercise Science. These were both presented by students who were in their final year at Loughborough and from there we were escorted back to the gym where we performed lab fitness tests. One of the tests showed us about the efficiency of Adam R and Joe W breathing when they had to run on a treadmill until they couldn’t run any further with an oxygen mask on. This measured their V02 max. and it was very interesting to see their performance graphs during their test taking place. At the end of this we all believed we were finished and got into the minibus believing we were heading back to school, until we realised Rae (our leader) was sitting in the minibus with us, then it hit us we were going to the new multimillion pound gym called the Holywell Fitness centre. Miss Clarke and I were shocked with the equipment available; the equipment was so modern that you could even Skype, or go on Facebook whilst using the treadmill or the bike! www.helsbyhigh.org.uk 13 Helsby High School Autumn Newsletter

G&T Young Leaders As part of the G&T programme at Helsby High each of the local Primary schools was asked to select two Y5/6 children to take part in The Young Leader Award. This award aims to help participants develop leadership skills such as organisation, communication and teamwork, as well as helping to build confidence and self-esteem as they take on the responsibility of leading their peers and younger children. They all received a Sports Leader polo shirt, badge, certificate and whistle.

www.helsbyhigh.org.uk 14 Helsby High School Autumn Newsletter Girls Football U16’s It has been a fantastic first half of the season particularly for the U16 team who reached the last 32 in the country in the English Schools competition. The girls have played some fantastic football along the way and scored some brilliant goals. Victories against Kirkby Sports College, Lymm HS, Chester CHS amongst others saw the girls face Congleton HS in the last 32 in the country. The girls took a 1-0 lead but unfortunately lost 2-1 to a strong Congleton side. The girls have shown real team spirit throughout the competition, never giving up and always supporting each other. A special mention must go to Emma L who despite not being a footballer volunteered to play in goal in the first game of the competition, when we didn’t have a goalkeeper to play. Without Emma the girls may never have had the opportunity to get as far as they did. Also many thanks must go to Mrs B. Ball who works in our school office for accompanying the girls to their final game. The girls are still in the Cheshire cup and play Congleton again in the next round. I know the girls are looking forward to tryng to reverse the score line next time round!!! Good Luck Girls!!!

U18’s The U18s are currently playing in the Merseyside Girls Super 7s league which is held one Wednesday a month at Liverpool County FA. The girls are really enjoying the league and despite most of the girls being U16s the team are holding their own against girls a lot older and with more experience playing football at a higher level. Congratulations to Beth M who is currently playing for Stoke City Ladies. Beth is also hoping to secure a football scholarship in the USA for next year. Good luck Beth!!

U15’s The U15’s also had a good cup run this year but unfortunately missed out on making the last 32 of the country after losing a great game of football 3-1 to a very strong Ashton-on- Mersey team. The game was played in great spirits from both sides and a fantastic individual performance from Leah H in goal deserves a special mention. The girls are still in the Cheshire cup so hopefully there is another cup run to come. Congratulations to Molly W who has been selected for the Cheshire FA Centre of Excellence.

U13’s and U14’s Unfortunately both teams have had early exits from the cup but this hasn’t dampened the girls’ spirits. They clearly enjoy playing football and their commitment to training and the school team has been superb. Congratulations to Hannah P and Rachel M who have both been selected to play for the first ever Cheshire U14s girls team Also Congratulations to Libby G who continues to play for Everton FC Girls

www.helsbyhigh.org.uk 15 Helsby High School Autumn Newsletter Christmas Drama showcase 16th December 2014

The third Helsby Christmas Showcase took place on Tuesday 16th December at 7:00pm in the Drama Studio. The showcase featured a range of work from Drama and Theatre Studies students across all year groups. Some of the performances documents the range of projects studied by the students in Drama Lessons and some of the work is good old fashioned Christmas fun.

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Y5/6 Orienteering Another busy term for our Cluster Primary Schools with 12 events taking place - not The Y 5/6 children from the local Primary just Competitions and Festivals but also schools had a great morning learning all Leadership Training for Y5/6 children. More about Orienteering from the Helsby High children than ever participated with many pupils. Orienteering is a challenging schools entering more than one team in outdoor adventure sport that exercises each competition. Well done to everyone both the mind and the body. The aim is who took part and congratulations to the to navigate in sequence between control

winners of the various competitions who will points marked on a unique orienteering go forward to represent our Cluster at the map and decide the best route to Cheshire School Games in March and also complete the course in the quickest time. Everton finals at Finch Farm in Liverpool. It does not matter how young, old or fit you are, as you can run, walk or jog the Artie Senior (School Sport Coordinator) course and progress at your own pace. The grounds of Helsby High School were an ideal venue for the event.

Y5/6 Quicksticks Y5/6 Playleader Training Quicksticks is designed to introduce Each year Year 5 and 6 pupils are trained young people to the game of hockey. It to become Playground Leaders. They is 4-a-side, can be played on any receive training to lead younger pupils in surface, and uses a larger, lighter and structured, fun games at lunchtime. The safer ball. It is a fun, fast, safe and exciting game. project has had a massive impact with better behaviour at lunchtimes because pupils are actively engaged in activity Y1 and Y2 Mini Kickers and the leaders’ confidence and self The Mini Kickers Football Festivals were esteem has rise planned and delivered in partnership with Y5/6 Dodgeball Leaders Training - Everton FC. The winners of each age Through the exciting and inclusive new group represent our cluster at the final at sport of Dodgeball the award gives upper Finch Farm.

Key Stage 2 pupils the chance to learn

leadership skills and new formats of the sport in a totally practical way. Empowering the mini leaders with the confidence and knowledge to deliver sessions and competitions within their schools to younger age groups and their ACTIVE ACHIEVE ENJOY ACHIEVE ACTIVE peers.

Frodsham & Villages Sport Partnership www.helsbyhigh.org.uk 17 Helsby High School Autumn Newsletter

On behalf of all at Helsby High School I would like to wish everyone associated with the school a Happy Christmas holiday and very best wishes for a successful and happy 2015. Our students have been involved with a wide range of activities and events this term, many of which feature on our website www.helsbyhigh.org.uk. Some of the highlights over recent weeks have included: School Carol Concert, Drama Showcase, Hamper Collection and Deliveries, Senior Citizens’ Party, Remembrance Assemblies, Year 11 Class of 2014 Awards Evening, Annual Streetdance Festival, Music Trip to Barcelona, Year 13 Art Trip to Italy, French Exchange Visit, Last Night of the Proms concert, Aftri Twin visitors, Year 12 Menai Residential, Duke of Edinburgh Expedition. Such a wide range of events is not possible without the commitment and time of staff and support of parents. Thank you. Farewells I am sad to be losing my PA Mrs H Burke. She has been a tremendous support to me since my arrival in 2010, both as Clerk to the Governors and as my PA. Mrs Burke has ensured that I keep to my diary and she organises my work and communications superbly. Her skills, experience and positive personality will be greatly missed by all her colleagues here at Helsby. We wish her and her family our very best wishes in the future New Arrivals Mrs D Shingler, my new PA, will start in January. I would like to welcome back Mrs A James who has returned from maternity leave in December and in January, Mrs E Wright, Cover Supervisor will also return from maternity leave. Star of the Week is Launched In November, Star of the Week was launched! The purpose of this award is to recognise and celebrate the achievement of one student each week from Year 7 to Year 11. This recognition could be for various reasons, including commitment to extra curricular activities, work in the community or being an exemplary role model. A survey was conducted with over one hundred students across all year groups, the results of which helped to structure the system that now underpins Star of the Week. Year Leaders and Form Tutors discuss student nominations every Friday. The Form Tutor presents the Star of the Week with their gold star badge in form time. Some Year Leaders may recognise this award in assembly time if the student is comfortable with this. The student can then wear, with pride, the gold star badge on their blazer for the rest of the academic year. All members of the school community will be able to recognise this achievement! I will write home to the Star of the Week to congratulate them. In addition, outside my office, in the main entrance area of the school is a display board which lists the names and form classes of all Students of the Week so that visitors to the school can also share in their achievement.

Signage and Road Safety As you may have seen, most of our external signage has been renewed and we hope this provides a more positive welcome to the school. Can I thank Parents / Carers for continuing to take care around the bus park and the A56, particularly at the start and end of the school day. Finally, I would like to wish you all a happy and safe festive season and we look forward to the start of a new term on Monday 5 January 2015 Merry Christmas

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