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Tuesday 12th July 2016 Issue 38 Key Stage 3 Presentation Evening Contact Details Reception: 01625 526191 Attendance: 01625 441089 Sixth Form Attendance: 01625 441070 Second hand uniform shop: 07807 070468 Community Liaison: 01625 444159 School lettings: 01625 441053 High Notes highnotes@wilmslow high.cheshire.sch.uk Over 80 students’ achievements across the full range of our ‘whole’ curriculum were celebrated on Thursday evening. The evening provided a moment for recognising students’ hard work, outstanding contributions and dedication to improvement. For many of our @wilmslowhigh students, the journey will not have been easy and behind the celebrations there will have been moments when they will have had to ‘dig deep’. wilmslowhigh.com Well done to all of our award winners and thank you to parents, carers and staff for their contributions and support. 1 Worldwide Skills Event As part of Whole Education Week, Year 9 language students had the opportunity to attend the Worldwide Skills Event at UCLAN (University of Central Lancashire). Students were given the opportunity to experience different methods of language learning and to see how beneficial languages are in the world of work and beyond. In the first activity, students used booths for simultaneous interpreting practice with a professional interpreter. Secondly, students had the opportunity to try out ‘Rosetta Stone’, a world leading language learning software in 21 languages. Some of the languages learnt by our students included Dutch, Italian, Portugese and Arabic! University College London Psychology Department comes to Wilmslow High After lunch, students took part in an exciting Around 60 student volunteers from activity that looked at Chinese calligraphy, Year 8 and Year 12 recently took part where they learnt about the ancient art of in a collaborative research project on Chinese calligraphy and wrote characters the psychology of learning. Acting as with traditional brushes and inks. Our participants and with full parental consent, students loved writing their names in the students were asked to engage in Chinese! activities to investigate the effects of distraction on cognitive processing in To end the day, our students took part in an school students. interactive Worldwise quiz using interactive handsets. They were tested on their The experiment was part of the research knowledge of languages and cultures which PhD for Michael Hobbiss from UCL. In had certainly flourished by the end of their order to complete the activities, Mr Hobbiss day at UCLan! also recruited 10 of our A level psychology students as assistants. The students were trained in the specific areas of neuroscience relating to the project and in psychological research methods. All those involved gained valuable experience towards psychology related university courses to include in their UCAS applications. His 10 assistants for the week were: Georgia Hulme, Lydia Caine, Gemma Dempster, Bethany Lewis, Isabella Hargreaves, Isabelle Reynolds-Duffy, Isabelle Whalen, Grace Finlay, Noor Nasseri and Josh Jones. 2 G8way Forest School Friday 1st July marked the end of a term for the first cohort of G8way Forest School students at Wilmslow High School, Knutsford Multi Academy Trust and Poynton High School. To celebrate the hard work that students have put into the project, the team, along with Sarah Clarke (G8way Coordinator), Lindsay Martin from the Handforth Youth service and Lauren Mullaney who are both Forest School qualified and ran the project, went to Pizza Express in Wilmslow for a pizza making session. As well as demonstrating their skills in making the perfect pizza, the team enjoyed eating the results of their hard work for lunch. Catherine Holyland, Assistant Head Teacher at Poynton High School said, “It has been rewarding to have students across Knutsford Multi Academy Trust, Poynton High School and Wilmslow High School come together via the G8way Forest School project and build their resilience, team-working, discipline and supportive skills via the outdoor forest learning environment at Wilmslow High School. Feedback from all of the staff and students involved has been tremendous and we are very much looking forward to assigning our next cohort to the project in September”. Big Bang Fair 50 year 9 students who will be following the separate science course next year visited the Big Bang Fair in Liverpool. The fair was aimed at encouraging students to consider careers in the areas of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). 3 the construct of identity. The talent and potential of these young philosophers was to be nurtured by Mr Pollock’s Philosophy Club. Each week students would spend their Wednesday afternoons questioning and critiquing western philosophy. Stretched beyond the national curriculum students utilised their skills of analysis and evaluation to greater depths. The young philosophers were tantalised by Cartesian scepticism, I think, therefore I am – Young philosophers questioning the problem of solipsism. While explore western thought some accepted Descartes’ dream argument Ultimate questions such as ‘why are we others were not convinced. here?’ and ‘does God exist?’ have captivated great minds for many centuries. When our The students have thoroughly enjoyed the Year 8 students explored personal identity in sessions, one stated that “philosophy club Buddhism, it was evident that philosophical allows us to have more of an understanding enquiry captivated the great minds of of life and our perception of life”. Next year Wilmslow High School. Through investigating Wilmslow will continue to inspire young minds Theseus’ ship students vociferously debated and enrich their philosophical wisdom. Whole Education Week Last week, students enjoyed a ‘collapsed’ time table week of activities. They enjoyed a variety of learning experiences linked to the school’s formal and wider curriculum offer. Activities ranged from ‘Reporting from Rio’ (English) and CSI (science), to ‘More than a Mill’ (history) and ‘Exploring Faith’ (social studies). All Year 9 students spent a day experiencing each of their Key Stage 4 option choices to whet their appetite and help prepare them for September. As always, the week ended with the annual walk to Alderley Edge and back. For some, the highlight was walking with friends, for others, it was the ice-cream! Please see photos overleaf. 4 5 6 Work Expereience 2016 Last week, all our Year 10 students had the opportunity to sample the world of work. Lots of the students found their own placements and worked in places as far apart as London, Hull, Hastings and Aberdeen while others found themselves working more locally in places such as Manchester, Stockport, Knutsford and Wilmslow to mention just a few. Other students were helped to find a placement but the final result was that everyone had a great opportunity to find out what it was like to go to work rather than school, wear one’s own clothes rather than uniform and finish exhausted after a day that was longer than school! The comments from students when staff visited or phoned were that it was an enjoyable if tiring week during which they had amazing experiences to try something very different from school. The employers were delighted with our students, making comments such as “best student we’ve ever had”, “they’ve been helpful and positive, willing to do everything we’ve asked and a credit to the school” and “some of the best research I’ve received from someone doing Work Experience. Brilliant”. Well done! 7 Eureka! On Friday 1st July the Skill Development Group visited Eureka! The National Children’s Museum, in Halifax. Students had the opportunity to visit galleries such as ‘All About Me’, where they immersed themselves in numerous activities designed to broaden their understanding in how their bodies work. They also enjoyed the ‘Global Garden’ gallery, where the students explored the deep dark oceans and the outside world. “The best day ever!” - Maddie Lingard However, a highlight for all was the ‘Working Together’ gallery, where students got to grips with working in a bank, garage and a shop. Accompanying staff: Mrs Lumley, Miss Raven, Mrs Sivner, Mr Cartner, Mrs Copley, Mr Pearson. USEFUL LINKS Sports X-tra: http://tinyurl.com/hoq2zvn Arts X-tra: http://www.wilmslowhigh.com/?p=265 X-tra – Xtra: http://www.wilmslowhigh.com/?p=269 Previous issues of High Notes: http://www.wilmslowhigh.com/?p=2239 Letters sent from school: http://www.wilmslowhigh.com/?p=2043 8 NOTES Wilmslow Business Group Wilmslow Business Group is recruiting for Please help! a part time Events Manager and a part time We are collecting small tins of Pringles Business Development Manager to help and AZERA coffee for a textiles develop and grow the Business Group and competition. arrange the events they stage such as the Motor Show, Art Trail and Christmas Lights The product has to fit in to a tubular tin that Switch On. is the same size as a 40g Pringles snack tin or a 60g Nescafe Azera coffee tin. Please If you would like a job description and send any tins to the food technology office or further details, please contact Sue at sue@ for the attention of Miss Speed. wilmslowbusinessgroup.co.uk Uniform and PE kit donations If you have any school uniform or PE kit that your son or daughter no longer needs, please consider donating any items of clothing to the PTA. The PTA offer an excellent second-hand uniform shop that relies upon the generous donations from parents/ carers. If you have any items that you are happy to donate, please drop these off at main reception before the end of term. The Thinkuknow website The parents’ section of the new Thinkuknow website provides information to support parents and carers to understand and respond to the risks their children may face as they grow into adulthood/young adults. It covers a broad range of online safety issues from nude selfies to what to do if you think your child is being groomed online.