The Eagle p High School Issue 78 – April 2018

Dear Parents/Carers

It is officially the summer term and in a few weeks, our Year 11 students will be starting their GCSE exams. I know that the Easter ‘holidays’ have been a very busy period for many students and staff, with a very busy Key School Dates

Easter Revision School and our older students busy preparing for their impending exams.

This year’s GCSE examinations are the second year of new specifications with the final year of new specification exams in summer 2019. It has been a period of turbulence for schools and students preparing th th 30 April – 4 May for the new rigorous reformed GCSEs. Year 9 PPEs I am sure you will join us in wishing our students the very best of luck as they embark on a very important period of their education. The students are receiving the best possible support not only in their lessons, but 10th May 2018 through additional classes at lunch time and after school and we also have a planned May half-term revision Year 7 Parents’ school. For GCSE students, details of these revision classes are on our website. Evening (A Side)

Mr C P Hunt, Headteacher 17th May 2018 Year 7 Parents’

The World’s Biggest National Indoor Rowing Competition Evening (B Side)

On Friday 9th March, Elle Kadir, Jacob Sherwin and Keith Newby-Stewart were amongst selected students 14th May 2018 GCSE Exams from the Oarsome Project to represent Youth Row, competing at The National Junior Indoor Rowing Championships. The event caters for over 2500 young people aged 11-18 and acts as the finale to the Commence indoor rowing year. WYR were one of the very few northern-based rowing teams to enter the event and let me tell you, we caused quite a stir! 25th May 2018

A special mention must go to Elle Kadir, who came away with a bronze medal from the Girls’ Junior 14 Year 9 PPE Results

rd th Day event finishing 3 out of 214 competitors. The girls placed an amazing 14 out of 110 in the Girls’ Sprint Relay, nd with the boys placing a solid 22 out of 88 in the Boys Sprint Relay. NJIRC was a great opportunity, one we are certain the students will remember for a long time. It was a thoroughly enjoyable day for all involved and, for many, their first visit to London. We were even lucky enough to meet and greet Triple Olympic Gold Medallist, Andrew Triggs Hodge OBE.

Exciting times are ahead as we now begin preparations for the next event, which is the Schools’ Regatta th on the banks of The Mersey on Thursday 12 July 2018. Publication Dates

th 8 June 2018

th 13 July 2018

GCSE History Visit to Thackray Medical Museum

On Wednesday 14th and Friday 16th March 2018, our Year 10 GCSE History students visited Thackray Medical Museum in Leeds as part of their GCSE Medicine in Britain, c1250–present and the British sector of the Western Front 1914–18: injuries, treatment and the trenches. The purpose of the visit was to reaffirm subject content and for students to engage in a range of interactive activities relating to the development of medicine over time. One particular activity that students thoroughly enjoyed engaging in was the injury sustained by 11-year old Hannah Dyson in the factory where she worked. Through the activity, students discovered that Hannah had her leg amputated but unfortunately died from infection after the operation, due to poor operating sanitation. The students watched a very authentic re-enactment of her operation, that had them on the edge of their seats and it generated lots of discussion. They could empathise with Hannah being even younger than themselves and yet forced to work at such a young age, due to the growth of the Industrial Revolution. Another key area of interest for students was the development of prosthetics that was encouraged as a result of the devastating impact of WWI on British soldiers on the Western Front. From the wooden stump to the titanium prosthetic leg amongst the most significant progress, it demonstrated how far technology has developed as the need for prosthetics grew after 41,000 British soldiers had lost limbs during key WWI battles. The visit was a great success with students highlighting how it helped to reaffirm their subject knowledge but in a way that isn’t always possible in the classroom.

The Rating Game

We recently had the New York branch of the Pure Creative Arts company come to perform their production of the Rating Game. It was a little touch and go as we were the first school they were performing in and they had literally landed at Gatwick airport at 2am that very same morning. The team of actors, dancers and singers drove up from Gatwick and arrived just in time for the first of three performances. Phew! A synopsis of the show is as follows (taken from their website): Our newest production focuses on the theme of identity. The question of ‘Who am I?’ is crucial in the development of teenagers and so often they are looking to define themselves by what they see in the media, peer pressures, or other damaging stereotypes. By addressing this issue with young people – helping them ask the right questions – we can begin to see a shift in the trajectory of their lives. In the midst of a fledgling romance that begins on their daily commute to school on the subway, Cate and Xavier find themselves flung into a rating game where the guys grade the girls out of 10. The rating provokes questions in each character which make them delve into the perception of perfection. What does it mean to be face-to- face with our true selves? “Will he still like me?”, “Will she still want me?”, “Will I even like who I am?” We are able to dive into the minds and hearts of these characters and process alongside them. All of these questions are addressed using an innovative blend of spoken word, rap, song, dance and film. In the midst of the game, the subway car that they are in comes under a security threat, locking the passengers between platforms. This new twist puts the whole game into a different perspective, forcing each character to truly look at themselves and their identity. Will they cling to a life of seeming control or is it worth the adventure of discovering their true selves? Our Year 7, 8 and 9 students were fantastic and really enjoyed the performances. Some of the feedback from our students was as follows: "The songs and words by Kate were very emotional and represented the struggles they faced trying to find their true identity." "I was amazed and they were mesmerising to watch. You could tell they had put effort into their routines." "Thanks for coming all the way from New York to perform at our school."

Parking Around School School Uniform 2017-18

A note for parents who drive students to school and use the Please be advised that from September 2017 all school socks will school car park, Withington Avenue and Culcheth Hall Drive. need to be black. Girls will need to wear their socks below the If you drop your child off or collect them from school, please use knee. A full updated version of the school uniform guidelines is on the drop-off bay in the school car park or, if using Withington the school website. Avenue or Culcheth Hall Drive: The rest of the school uniform for 2017-18 has not changed in - please drive slowly – children are crossing to and from essence, however there are a number of points that parents/carers the ginnel need to be aware of: - please park considerately so that driveways are not blocked and grass verges are not damaged. 1. The ‘School Shoe Guidance’ that remains applicable for - Please do not use Primary School Car Park September 2017 is available on the school website, along with the 2017-18 uniform statement. 2. Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9 students must wear school School Gates ‘clip-on’ ties from September 2017. 3. Year 10 and Year 11 students can still wear their regular A reminder to all parents/carers that the school gates open at ties, however replacement ties are now ‘clip-on’ ties 8am. Students arriving on site before 8am will be unable to enter only, as stock of regular ties has now run out. the school site.

. Focus on Staff

Wanting an adventure over the Easter holidays, a friend and I decided to walk from coast-to-coast following the World Heritage Site of Hadrian's Wall, past Roman settlements and forts. There was history every step of the way; cosy pubs, bustling market towns and spectacular views too. It took us six days to walk 84 miles with two dogs and has to be the toughest thing I have done, to date. If you want a challenge I would definitely recommend anyone to give it a go. Starting at Wallsend, near Newcastle-upon-Tyne, we walked across beautiful landscape to Bowness-on-

Solway, Cumbria. Of course, it wasn’t as easy as it sounds; it was hard work and very challenging with the weather. We walked in the rain, the sleet and across snow-topped hills, slid down mudslides and waded through flooded paths. We laughed our way through it and the sense of achievement when we reached the end was awesome, moving us both to tears. Mrs C Maudsley, Senior Admin Assistant

.

National Careers Week – 5th-9th March 2018

During this week, all students were delivered an assembly by Mr Groves explaining the importance of adapting to change within our current employment climate. During the assembly, staff shared their previous ambitious from when they were younger before stepping into the teaching profession. At Culcheth High School, we feel it’s a valued lesson for all of our students to understand jobs available today won’t entirely disappear, many will be simply redefined, and it’s ours and their job to adapt to this. Students were reminded that knowing what to do after your GCSEs can be tough but it is valuable to have a starting point of the career pathway that interests you the most and to look out for this in the Careers Fair later on in the week.

Tuesday 6th March involved Year 8 students in the ‘meet the professionals’ event. Students worked on a carousel basis visiting different professionals via a presentation followed by a Q&A session. The professionals came from a range of backgrounds and industries such as; Catering, Music Production, Sports Coaching, Pharmacy, Industrial and Robotic Engineering. The students had the opportunity to listen to the journey the professional had been on to get to where they were today and asked questions about their rise to the top.

Thursday 8th March saw us host our annual STEM and Next Steps Careers Fair. Students from all year groups were welcome to attend at varying points of the day with Years 8, 9,10 and 11 given specific time slots during the school day. Parental access was allowed this year for the first time from 3-4pm and due to the success of this, we will continue this next year. A wide variety of companies, independent businesses, colleges and universities attended the fair making it the biggest Careers Fair we have hosted with over 60 employers. There were a range of stands that students could attend, where they could seek advice and guidance of how to enter into the career pathway. All students who attended have now gained a key insight into the options available to them once they leave Culcheth High School and the expectations of them to succeed once there. They also now have a better understanding of the workplace and the expectations placed upon employees. Culcheth High School would like to extend its thanks again to all those in attendance on the day and for their continued support with our CEIAG programme. Special thanks goes to: Air Cadets, Army, Arup Town Planners, Bents Garden Centre, Biograd, Birchwood College, Cambridge University, Chester University, CiTB, Digitech, Environmental Agency, Gleeds Construction, Kier Environmental Services, Knowsley Safari Park, Liverpool John Moores University, , Mott Mac, Mploy Solutions, Royal Navy, NHS, NHS Apprenticeship Scheme, NHS Audiology, NHS Cardiorespiratory, NHS Pharmacy, NNL, o2, Priestly College, RBS, , RPS, Salford City College, Sellafield, SGI, St. John Rigby College, University of Bangor, Warrington Youth Club, Waterside Training, Wigan and Leigh College, Winstaley College, Wood PLC, WVR College.

.

FFOOCCUUSS OONN SSPPOORRTT

Football

In the last edition we reported that the Year 11 boys’ team had won their quarter-final tie in the Cheshire Cup, with an excellent 3-2 victory over Brine Leas High School, from Nantwich. The semi-final draw pitted us against local rivals Bridgewater, who had beaten us in the Warrington Cup Final in each of the last two seasons and in our league fixture earlier this season, so it was certain to be a tough game. But this cup run had seen our boys raise their performances to a totally new level, so we approached the tie with a good degree of optimism. Both sides battled like their lives depended on it in a very closely contested first half, and by half time neither team had managed to break the deadlock. In the second half however, we stepped up the pressure and finally made the breakthrough to take a 1-0 lead midway through the half. This gave the boys further confidence, and by fulltime we had scored two further goals to run out dominant 3-0 winners and take our place in the final for the second year in succession. The final was held at the Cheshire Sports Club on Monday 26th March, against local team Upton High School. Unfortunately, the boys didn’t quite manage to match the excellent performance levels they had produced in the previous rounds, and we suffered a heart-breaking 1-0 defeat. What made matters even worse was that Upton scored from a somewhat controversially awarded penalty; we had a goal disallowed through a dubious offside decision, and in the dying minutes we hit the bar with a stunning strike from Luke Monaghan. So we definitely had it within ourselves to have forced a different outcome, but we just didn’t quite do enough to make it happen. Despite the disappointing outcome, the boys have clearly done both themselves and the school proud with their great run to the final and hopefully, they will all have some great memories to take with them as they move onto the next stage of their education this summer. Our league football programme, although severely affected by last half term’s poor weather, was also very successful, with the Year 7, 8 and 9 teams all undefeated in matches against Cardinal Newman, Kings and Beamont Academy. This week see the final fixtures of the season against Sir Thomas Boteler, so hopefully we’ll have some good news regarding our final league positions in the next edition.

Extra-Curricular Clubs

Football and Badminton clubs continue this half term, with trampolining at lunch on Wednesdays and Fridays and basketball on Thursday lunchtimes. Girls’ football is now on Wednesdays after school and fitness training and hockey continue on Thursday afternoons. After the summer half term break, there will also be cricket and rounders clubs, so with all these activities to get involved in come along and don’t miss out.

GCSE Physical Education Revision Sessions

Revision sessions, aimed primarily at Year 11 students but also open to Years 9 and 10, are now running on Wednesday lunchtimes in S013 and Thursdays after school in S010. These sessions will focus on both solidification of knowledge and development of exam technique, and will form an important part of the students’ preparations for their final theory exam. In previous years, the correlation between students who have regularly attended these sessions and those who have gained the best grades has been high; something that I do not believe to be a coincidence.

PPEERRSSOONNAALL DDEEVVEELLOOPPMMEENNTT

DisrespectWarrington Nobody YouthCampaign Service

The Home Office Disrespect Nobody campaign will run from 29th March, to the beginning of May 2018. The aim of the campaign is to prevent young people, both boys and girls aged 12 to 18 years old, from becoming perpetrators and victims of abusive relationships by encouraging them to re-think their views of abuse, controlling behaviour and what consent and sexting mean within relationships. For 2018, the focus of the campaign will be consent, sexting and personal boundaries, which are the issues many young people need more education and information on. All campaign advertising directs young people to the website www.disrespectnobody.co.uk where they can find further information and the details of organisations which can provide help and support.

Campaign key messages (for young people);

Consent •Understand the meaning of sexual consent, which is mutual agreement without pressure. •Understand and act on signs of non-consent which include non- verbal signs such as body language. •Check your partner has consented to sex every time; just because they have agreed once, it doesn’t mean they will again. •Sex without consent is rape. Rape is a crime.

Sexting (explicit image sent from a phone or via email) •It’s never OK to pressure someone to send a sext. •No one should make you feel like you have to send a sext. •You can’t control who sees or shares a sext, once it’s been sent. •Protect yourself online, don’t share sexts with people you have only met online; they may not be who they claim.

Personal boundaries •Consent is about more than just sex; it’s about knowing what the other person is happy with and respecting that. •Groping or touching someone in a sexual way when they don’t want you to is sexual harassment. Is it not acceptable. •Making sexual comments about someone or touching them in a sexual way when they don’t want you to is sexual harassment. Is it not acceptable. •It’s never OK to make sexual comments about someone or call them names in way that makes them feel uncomfortable. •Making someone feel uncomfortable with sexual remarks about their clothes or appearance is not OK.

Year 8 Visit to

A selected group of students visited Priestley College to take part in the ‘making choices’ event. The students were given a tour of the college which provided an insight into college life and how high school helps to prepare for this. The sessions provided by Priestley College gave our students access to 1:1 advice and guidance about subject choices from subject specialists and current students at the college, followed by workshops to guide them to opt for a subject that will lead them on a pathway that suits their future ambitions. Our students in Year 8 have had extremely important decisions to make and here at Culcheth High School, we continually aim to ensure every student gets tailored support when making decisions that will impact their future study options, employment and happiness. Our thanks are extended to Priestley College for their support with this tailor-made event for our students.

Culcheth High School in the Community – Year 11

Congratulations to Year 11 student Maddie Irwin, who has successfully secured a ballet scholarship for next year. Maddie has immersed herself within our school community, whilst balancing a busy academic schedule with her commitment to dance. Following a rigorous and highly competitive audition process, Maddie received the fantastic news that she will be studying at Elmhurst Ballet School; Birmingham Royal Ballet next year. Maddie is a huge advocate of ballet and from her involvement in the Culcheth-2-Soweto exchange project, she managed to even instil her passion for ballet within one of the South African students. Maddie took him to her ballet class whilst over here, something that he would never have experienced in his culture and then went one step further and sourced a ballet school in Johannesburg for him to attend upon his return home. He has attended ballet ever since and even performed in front of the entire school and local community on Cultural Day when we visited last year- all as a result of Maddie’s influence.

Pi Day

If one day of the year screams "Party!" in maths classes across the world, then that day is 14th March. Each year on this day, teachers in classrooms take a break from the normal routine to plan a special celebration in honour of Pi, or the number 3.14. This year at Culcheth High School, there was a dingbat competition around the school that engaged all of the students, along with the staff too. Our KS3 students designed bunting and paper chains to decorate the maths corridors, and there was one student who even recited Pi to 42 places!! 14th March also happens to be the birth date of Albert Einstein -- which makes the day an extra special one for planning maths challenges and maths fun! All of the students engaged well in the day and were eager to know what would be planned for next year’s Pi Day. This year, we would like to thanks all students who took the time and effort to participate in this year’s Pi Dingbats Competition, especially the two winners of the competition, Ethan Anderson and Joseph Sinclair.

Attendance Update

The time is going so quickly! In the last newsletter, we marked the half way point of the school year and now, we are two thirds of the way through our year. Thursday 29th March was the end of our fourth half term out of six. We still have 183 students with 100% attendance for our Autumn and Spring Term, from September until the Easter break. Unfortunately, this is a decrease on this time last year when we had 201 students with 100% attendance. At our Biscuits at Break celebrations, week commencing 30th April, those 183 students will be joined by many more students who managed to achieve 100% attendance for our Spring Term, from January until the Easter break. Fingers crossed, this number will not have dropped too much from the total of 322 in our March newsletter. The students achieving 96-99.9% since January will also boost the attendance at this popular celebration. We hope that many more students will join us in September as we celebrate both excellent attendance for the full school year and for the Summer Term, from April until July. Now is a good time to remind ourselves of the importance of achieving a high attendance percentage. Places on further education courses, both academic and vocational, are highly competitive. Often, attendance percentage and punctuality records are the differentiator between candidates. This is particularly evident for students in Year 11 applying for apprenticeships and college places as this information is required on the reference requests that we receive. So many candidates now strive to achieve 97% that the bar is raised each year. Truly excellent attendance is now more like 98%. With the exception of our 100% attenders, everyone can improve and try to raise their percentage into our top category. Whatever your child’s attendance percentage, please encourage them to either maintain excellence or improve during half terms 5 and 6. It’s never too late to make a fresh start and improve. The POP Chart continues to be very competitive. The tables below show the variety of winners and there is a photograph of Miss Murtagh’s tutor group, 7M, one of the Highest Climbers in half term 4.

Top of the Pops, Spring. Half Term 4 Highest Climber, Spring. Half Term 4 7Y, MR UTTLEY 7M, MISS MURTAGH 8I, MR NOLAN 8H, MISS JOHNSON 9N, MR HEATON 9T, MISS LONGDEN 10I, MR SIMMS 10U, MR MORRIS 11I, MRS SPREADBURY 11N, MS COOKSON

Top of the Pops, Fortnight ending 29th March Highest Climber, Fortnight ending 29th March 7T, MISS LEPETIT 7N, MISS SHAWCROSS 8A, DR BIRCHALL 8Y, MISS HOLT 9M, MR BOLTON 9Y, MISS FLAHERTY 10H, MRS MORTIMORE 10Y, MISS PRINCE 11I, MRS SPREADBURY 11Y, MISS TONDZIEL

Metacognition and Revision

I know that a good number of my contributions to our Eagle Newsletter has been around the way in which students best learn and predominantly around effective revision techniques that students can do at home. Recently, I have become more and more keen to find out from the students how they think they best learn and whether they think their revision techniques are effective. I have been inspired by a good number of ‘blog’ posts that circulate around the need (lack thereof) of revision for students as a way of preparation for their exams. Alex Quigley, Head of Huntington Research School believes that “A successful approach to revision needs to be deeply rooted in subject knowledge, and sustained over time, so subject teachers need to explicitly teach the strategy, model it, and offer guided practice before we expect our students to use them effectively.” Reading Alex’s blog about effective revision strategies got me thinking more deeply about what students themselves felt about revision, how this helped their confidence levels and whether they felt confident that their chosen revision strategies were having an impact on them. This led to me asking my students to complete the metacognition reflection task illustrated right, in order to encourage them to think about their own thought processes.

This enabled the students to actually stop and think about the way they were currently engaging with their revision (if it all!) and why they felt these strategies were effective. Of course, the answers ranged dramatically but this exercise allowed us, as a class, to have an open discussion about what effective independent learning / revision may look like. I took this opportunity to re- introduce the students to the ‘Six Strategies for Effective Learning’ (see http://www.learningscientists.org/ for more information) and encouraged the students to re-think what they are doing at home by establishing the impact that their strategies are having on their memory, knowledge and confidence. I learnt a very value lesson from my Year 11 students; so many of us do not feel confident about our independent style of studying and yet this does not mean that it is completely ineffective. So many students shared a range of useful, practical ideas that should be an effective aid to their learning. This has sparked a further interest for me to continue this ‘research’ with the rest of my KS3 and KS4 students, ensuring that I deliberately plan learning opportunities where I can model the most effective strategies for them to then use at home. I have started by producing the below grid for KS4 students that encourages effective independent study for their GCSE RS course:

My intentions are to continue to work with my students and the students across the school to establish their views on the best way to study independently and work more closely with them, to give them the practical tools they need to ensure that any independent study they engage with is not wasted.

Sporting Success Community Day

The PE department would like to congratulate Jemima Dahou (7M) on her continued sporting success that led to her being selected by FA Talent Coaches to take part in a Regional Camp on Wednesday 4th April 2018, which certainly kept her busy during the Easter

Break. Jemima, not only pulls out a stand-out performance on both the boys’ and girls’ school football team, but also plays outside of school at Manchester City Academy. We would like to wish Jemima continued success in her future football ventures.

Uniform Sales

Please visit our new and improved online uniform shop, now with added benefit of paying via PayPal http://shop.culchethhigh.org.uk/

Substance Misuse Policy

We want to make Culcheth High School a ‘healthy’ school; free from the misuse of alcohol, drugs, tobacco and other substances which have a harmful effect on you and our local community. For this reason, CHS implements and adheres to a SUBSTANCE MISUSE POLICY. We operate a zero tolerance regarding illegal drugs and will take action in relation to any drug related incident.

This includes the following circumstances: • Suspicion • Observation • Discovery

Mr Hunt, and staff authorised by him, have a statutory power to search you or your possessions, without consent, when they have reasonable grounds for suspecting that you may have a prohibited item.

Prohibited items include: • alcohol • illegal drugs • vaping paraphernalia (e.g. e-cigarettes) • tobacco and cigarette papers • any item that the member of staff reasonably suspects has/may be used to commit an offence • any other item identified as being banned by Culcheth High School

Actions taken by Culcheth High School: • These items can, and will, be taken from you and safely disposed of • Your parents will be informed, along with the Police if necessary • The incident will be kept on your file and you could be temporarily or permanently excluded from school • Juvenile Cautions imposed by the Police stay on Police File FOR LIFE and may affect your future career prospects • Criminal convictions also affect your travel plans to certain countries including the USA, Australia and New Zealand • School may decide that some substance misuse, alcohol or drug incidents warrant a temporary exclusion. The most serious incidents (such as possessing, selling, supplying or consuming illegal substances on or in the vicinity of the school site) will result in permanent exclusion. The school follows the Warrington Borough Council guidance when making exclusions from their school (see recent WBC exclusion guidance).

Support from Culcheth High School: • Following any alcohol or drug incident your parents/carers will be asked to come into school to discuss an action plan • You will be screened by Warrington’s ‘Young Person’s Substance Misuse Team’, and given information, advice and support from the ‘CHS School Health Team’ • An Individual Behaviour Plan (IBP) or a Pastoral Support Plan (PSP) may be put in place

Your mental and physical health is as important to us as your grades!

Focus on Year 7 – 7I’s Got Talent

From kickboxing to raft building to acting – what a bunch of talented students we are lucky to have in 7I: Archie Calley, Jakub Kocis, Lucas Higham, Alex Leavitt, Reece Naylon, Matt Watkins and Ben Wild play for a variety of school and local football teams; Jess Firth, Olivia Hilton and Isabella Shaw are our water polo specialists; we have netballers Gabby Bowers and Ellie-Mai Logan; actresses Mia Hancox and Evangeline Taylor who have recently performed in ‘Oliver’ in Manchester and the BBCs ‘The Worst Witch’ respectively; Paige Raftry who attends Guides; Nhi Lu who is learning piano; Kian Williams who has tried his hand at Rugby, Darcy Nelson who plays badminton and Amber Jones who participates in show jumping. We have gymnasts Maisie Holt and Amelia Malec and also Lila Howard who has recently won two golds and a silver in acrobatic gymnastics. Thomas James takes part in cross country running; Ethan Goodban and Lucy Thorne are part of a team shadowing the Carnegie Book Awards. Tom Connelly has designed and built his own raft not to mention Jimy Ratcliffe who is going to represent the England Team at the International Kickboxing Association World Championship which will take place in Jamaica during September this year! Last but certainly not least, a big well done to all members of 7I for their excellent fundraising efforts for Children In Need; we raised over £340 as a tutor group! Mrs Spencer and Mrs Core

BBC Schools News Report

Since the start of the New Year, Media students in Year 9 have been investigating topics they felt are important to young people to create a range of written and video-based news reports to be included in the BBC School News day on 15th March. Topics ranged from the addictive nature of the video game Fortnite to animal testing to body image to mental health, with some amazing articles being produced. Students researched information, interviewed people both in and out of school and compiled their findings into articles worthy of publishing. Some students also picked up cameras and spent time putting a TV piece together. A range of the best work can be found on the BBC news website https://sites.google.com/culchethhigh.net/chsbbcsnr/home

Nepal Training Expedition Weekend

Towards the end of the Easter holidays, our students, who are travelling to Nepal on their World Challenge Expedition this July, went to The Lake District for their training weekend. Over the weekend, the challengers completed mountain walks, various scenarios including some in foreign languages, cared for their camp, as well as cooked and prepared all of their own food which included a chicken curry on the Saturday night. The whole team performed excellently, building their teamwork skills and independence as they worked through the various obstacles and physical and emotional challenges that were faced throughout the weekend. We are all looking forward to our visit in July where students will be completing a five-day trek, as well as working with a school charity in Kathmandu to improve the quality of life for children affected by the earthquake in 2015.

Culcheth-2-Soweto – Apprentice Stars Shine Brightly

In October 2018, the school set Year 8 and 9 students a truly international challenge. We needed new South African apprentices; new recruits who could join the Culcheth-2-Soweto project. Over 100 students turned up to the initial meetings and the excitement was high. Since this point students, friends, families, next door neighbours and the whole community have been supporting their charitable work. All students had one aim: to raise the required funds to pay for a visit of students and teachers from Matseliso High School. I am pleased to say that alongside the work of the older students and staff, we have nearly reached our target. All is still on track for a visit of 19 South African students and four teachers arriving on 9th July 2018. While the whole project is a team effort, and would never be achieved without the full team, the following individual stories and events are truly amazing and deserve their own recognition. Over the next couple of months we would like to share some of these with you.

Victoria Bond 8H

Hello, my name is Victoria Bond I was inspired to join the Culcheth 2 Soweto team due to an older sibling’s extremely positive experience. Initially I found the fundraising very difficult because I struggled for ideas for how to make the money. I decided to join my friends on a onesie walk up Rivington Pike. Soon after that I started to think of ideas of my own. Overall I have raised £249 by doing a sponsored onesie walk, serving afternoon tea to Barclays client service team in Northwich and cleaning ridiculously messy rooms for my brother and sister. I found preparing the afternoon tea the most challenging because I had to make six dozen cakes in just two hours. Good job I love to bake!

Keira Sharples 8H

My name is Keira and I am a Culcheth-2-Soweto apprentice. I was first inspired to be an apprentice because of all the displays around school and everyone who had previously been part of it, had loved it! However, to begin with, I wasn’t really 100% sure what it all was and what you had to do. Consequently, I have been to every meeting and I know that it isn’t just about going to South Africa. It’s a lot of fundraising and it all goes towards a good cause of helping bring students over from South Africa. At the start, I found that the most challenging part was coming up with ideas that could be done and would help raise money towards my first fundraising target. After consideration, I realised that rain and the cold December weather was not the best time to start asking people if they wanted their car washing. However, after thinking of ideas that I thought had the potential to raise a lot of money I enjoyed organising them and gathering the supplies that I would need. My first idea was to make festive hot chocolate stirrers as it was nearly Christmas. I decorated them with crushed candy canes and mini marshmallows, wrapped them in gift wrap, ribbon and labelled them “Christmas Eve Hot Chocolate Stirrers.” I thought this was a good idea because they could be sold and given as gifts. Soon after, I circulated two football cards. I sold “teams” to family and friends. The idea was that there were 40 teams per card and you could buy one, or preferable more, teams for £2 each. Once the cards were filled, half the money earned was given as a prize to the winning team and the other half was given to the Culcheth -2-Soweto fund. I found that because it was quite a big prize, people were willing to buy some, and the cards filled up quickly. At the start of February, I completed my third fundraiser with my friends. We did a sponsored onesie walk up Rivington pike. I set up a JustGiving page and made a sponsor form. This fundraiser was my biggest project as lots of people were very generous with donations to sponsor me and it didn’t cost anything to organise. However, this was also my favourite fundraiser so far as even though we had separate sponsor accounts, I enjoyed working as a team. Overall, I have loved every part about fundraising; coming up with the initial ideas, organising them, doing them and finally collecting the money to then be put into the school account.

Lauren Jesse 8H

Hello, my name is Lauren Jesse, my form is 8H and I am an apprentice to Culcheth-2-Soweto. I love being a part of Culcheth-2-Soweto because it makes me feel good about myself because I’m helping children from another country experience the way that we live. To raise funds, I wrapped presents for my family at Christmas; I think that I wrapped over 40 presents and I raised £30. Then on the 4th February, me and my friend Issy Dean 8T did a three- legged walk up Rivington Pike which was tough but we really enjoyed it. I am so happy that we managed to reach the top and I raised £121.