Bishop of Liverpool & Deputy Mayor of Liverpool
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Bishop of Liverpool & Deputy Mayor of Liverpool officially open Archbishop Blanch School We are honoured that The Rt Revd Paul Bayes, “Archbishop Blanch is an excellent example of a fully Bishop of Liverpool, along with Councillor Ann rounded church school matching high academic O’Byrne, Deputy Mayor of Liverpool, have officially standards with deep pastoral care, enriched by a opened Archbishop Blanch School. strong faith-based ethos and a clear understanding of Christ’s teaching. As I open their building and Bishop Paul spent the afternoon with staff and bless their prayer room I pray for all those who pupils and also opened the school before touring the study, teach and learn in this fine school.” facilities, blessing our prayer room and closing the visit with a whole school celebration. Before the visit students enjoyed a values learning Bishop Paul stated: day, centred around our school’s core value for this term, Community. Pic: Official Plaque Ann O’Byrne & Rt Revd Paul Bayes As part of our official opening day celebrations the students were involved in a creative learning day. They participated in many different activities such as cheerleading, planting, making friendship bracelets… Have a look at some of the fabulous pictures taken on the day. It’s been a very exciting second half term in our new building. As we prepare for Christmas, I am reminded of all we have to celebrate and be thankful for: milestones such as the official opening of our new building, individual successes in a variety of extra-curricular activities, and, of course, the hard work and commitment of our students in their academic pursuits. I look forward to welcoming our young women and men back to school in January as we continue to build on the firm foundations created this half term, firmly rooted in our Christian values. May I wish you and yours a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Miss H Duggan, Headteacher Liverpool student represents the North West at Parliament Caitlin Cavanagh, a Year 12 student, led a debate to mark the 750th anniversary of the Magna Carta, which discussed what the principles of the document mean to young people today. Caitlin, who is a Member of the Youth Parliament (MYP), was one of many members taking part in the debates throughout the day. A range of topical issues were discussed, including the Caitlin Cavanagh need for improved mental health services and tackling racist and religious discrimination. Students’ Visit to Alder Hey The debates were streamed live on the On Thursday, 26 November ABS students Parliamentary website and Archbishop attended Alder Hey’s Quality and Safety Blanch School were delighted to watch Team Workshop and had a tour of the amazing new hospital facilities. Students Caitlin live from Parliament. took part in the first part of a project aimed Headteacher Heather Duggan says: at improving patient communication at the “We’re so proud of Caitlin! She hospital, included looking at language used in leaflets, entertainment provision and represented the North West brilliantly ways to ease anxiety and fears amongst and is an excellent role model for our younger patients. younger pupils. As the only secondary school to be “We try to encourage our pupils to invited to take part in the project, we are take part in as many extra-curricular immensely honoured and look forward to developing our links with Alder Hey. activities as possible, and The UK Youth Parliament is a fantastic way to represent the region and make your mark.” Quote from Caitlin. “It was an amazing experience that I got to do, and in my speech I got to say why 16 and 17 year old’s should have the right to Computing vote, something I truly believe we Wizardry! deserve. Although it was nerve- wrecking, I’d do it again in a Students in computing club have been delving into the world of control and heartbeat.” robotics. Each student received a pack from which they could choose to create 5 different models which used a range of sensors and motors. Once the model had been completed the students then developed the code and tested the model ensuring that all wires were connected to the right places. At times students struggled with fault finding element of the Archbishop Blanch project but all did well overcoming this barrier to create individual models to solve School shortlisted for different practical problems. Four Educate Awards! We are thrilled to have been shortlisted for 4 Educate Awards including: Outstanding Commitment to Sport in Secondary School Innovative and Creative Literacy Award Career Aspiration Award Innovation in Education Award Congratulations to all staff and students involved in this fantastic achievement. We were thrilled to receive a runners up award for Innovation in Education award, congratulations to Mr Jones and the DT team. Mr Love – Computing Celebration of Achievement Evening On November 11th we celebrated our student’s success at the Cathedral and we were privileged to welcome Luciana Berger as our guest speaker. It was a wonderful evening with fantastic music from our choir and orchestra. Luciana Berger Writer in Residence at Blanch A new approach to e-safety ‘Writing at Blanch’ has been running since October for one day per week and for Archbishop Blanch as we during this time pupils in Year 7 -9 have completed a short course in creative join nationwide peer education writing designed to stimulate the imagination and raise pupils’ awareness of what engages readers and makes them eager to read on. These sessions programme. allow the girls to write freely, without the pressure of assessment, and they are encouraged to think imaginatively and experiment with different Our students are set to become Digital Leaders voices and settings. Some found this ‘freedom’ a little daunting at first, as after joining an innovative new internet they lacked confidence in their writing skills, but by focusing on ideas: on safety programme from UK charity, Childnet characters and the situations they might encounter, pupils were able to International. draw upon their unique experiences and viewpoints to make these sound authentic. Focusing on character, situation and setting makes pupils less Launching in September 2015, the Childnet self-conscious of the words on the page and allows them to write at greater Digital Leaders Programme aims to empower length, and about the things they know about. Giving pupils control seemed young people to champion digital citizenship to have a marked effect on what they produced, and helped less confident and digital creativity within their schools and to writers to find a voice. educate their peers, parents and teachers about At the end of the four-session course pupils are invited to write a story staying safe online. and submit this to a panel of readers who will choose a selection to be By harnessing published on the school website. Those selected are chosen because of the the power of effect they have on the reader, so pupils whose spelling and punctuation are not secure are just as likely to be chosen as the more polished stories. The youth voice reading panel is coming together slowly but, ideally, it should be made up Childnet’s new of readers from all year groups, who will meet two or three times per term programme to read those stories submitted. It’s also our aim to have a number of sixth- will help us form students proofreading and editing these texts so that they meet the strengthen ‘industry standard’ for publication. their e-safety The selected stories will appear on the school website over the next few provision. weeks, so please take a look. The biographies of most accomplished writers tell us that receiving encouragement was what spurred them on. At ABS we’re encouraging our pupils to write imaginatively, we’re encouraging them to find a voice and take risks with their ideas. You can support this scheme Golden Ticket for Excellent Attendance! by reading pupils’ stories and emailing your comments (details on website). THE GOLDEN TICKET Pupil comments about the scheme so far: Any pupil who has 100% attendance for half a term will ‘I enjoyed having the freedom to write about whatever I wanted to.’ be entered into a draw. If you are picked out you will ‘I most liked writing stories from random ideas and letting my imagination do the talking.’ receive a GOLDEN TICKET. ‘I liked the way that the most important thing was our ideas.’ This golden ticket is yours for 1 whole week. It gives you VIP QUEUE JUMPING PRIVILEDGES for yourself and one Because pupils enjoy reading their friend. There will be 7 tickets, one for each year group. stories aloud, we’re planning an Year 8 are starting first! evening event in the New Year when Then it will be your turn!! parents will be invited into school to Think of all the queues; lunch, money machine…bus! hear pupils bring their stories to life. Details will be published in the next edition of the newsletter but, in the meantime, you can find out what’s happening on a weekly basis by reading the ‘Writer in Residence Diary’ Our Year 8 winners are: 8V India Morgan - 8B Charli on the school website. Wright - 8L Letita Lowery-Lieb - 8E Ella Jackson - 8D Rhea Doyle Well done ladies! Air Cadets take to the skies! Year 10 Students Have Short On Monday 30 November Megan McColl and I had the privilege of Stories Published! being selected to take part in a helicopter flight as part of the Air Congratulations to 16 of our Year 10 students who have had Cadets.