Issue 10 • February 2016 What’S Happening at BCHS with Crosshill
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Issue 10 • February 2016 What’s happening at BCHS with Crosshill Head Over Heels As Headteacher of BCHS with Crosshill, one of the best parts of my job is getting to watch our students grow and mature into hardworking and determined young people. I like to impress upon our students how important it is to aim high, have goals and follow their dreams. It’s important for them to ‘carpe diem’ or ‘seize the day’, to grab opportunities as they come their way. Our students shape their journey by the decisions they make and the opportunities they take. Our jobs as teachers, parents and family is to prepare them for their next steps, to support, help and encourage them along the way. It is very easy to take for granted all the positive and successful things that happen in a school, but this newsletter is an opportunity to reflect on some of these achievements. Last year our attendance was an outstanding 95%, which was above the national average, and for the first time since opening BCHS with Crosshill are now fully subscribed in Year 7, with only a few places available for mid-term transfers in Years 8, 9 and 10. In the sporting arena we have competed in the Blackburn with Darwen leagues for boys and girls football, netball, cricket, rounders and basketball with great success. Our Under-13s girls’ team won the Blackburn Rover tournament and we came second in the Lancashire Youth Games, which was another fantastic achievement. BCHS with Crosshill is at the heart of the community and represents diversity in a range of different events, such as the Physics Olympiad, Maths Challenge, Science Technology Engineering and Maths (STEM) events, poetry competitions, and others. Our students and staff have worked to help the greater community by working on a community cohesion art project, hosted Interfaith Forums, and provided help for families who use the neighbouring Blackburn Royal Hospital. BCHS with Crosshill regularly host events for the women and elders of our extended community, and last year continued to organise many charity fund-raising events. The culmination of the last academic year saw some fantastic examination results; progress in English was significantly above the national average and Maths was in line with the national average. There were many successes including 100% pass rates in Additional Maths, RE, Urdu and Music; in addition many subjects exceeded the national pass rates at GCSE. This was a phenomenal achievement from students who worked tremendously hard to overcome barriers, and push beyond expectations. Like you, I am proud of these achievements and results, the students made this happen due to their hard work, plus the support of families and staff. - Mrs Atkinson Headteacher 2 Mock Exam Top 20 Communities Visit In January our Year 11 students had an assembly BCHS with Crosshill recently hosted a visit from where they received their mock exam results. Anna Wojtowicz and Pasha Shah, Senior Policy The top 10 students who had achieved excellent Advisors at the Department for Communities exam results, and the top 10 students who and Local Government, and Ismail Hasham, had made better than expected progress were Cohesion Advisor for the Community Safety handed their results by Mrs Deaville, the Pastoral Team at Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council. Manager for Year 11, in special golden envelopes in front of their peers. The theme of the visit was around integration, and was a good opportunity to discuss our vision, Congratulations to Aya, Sarah, Khadija, Ali, Dennis, British Values and Spiritual, Moral, Social and Ayesha, Wasim, Saarah, Farhana, Shoaib, Asma, Cultural development, as well as giving the visitors Yasmin, Tasneem, Haleemah, Fatima, Natasha, a chance to tour our award winning school building. Sufiyan, James, Faizah and Hadia. The Department for Communities and Local Government’s job is to create great places to live and work, and to give more power to local people to shape what happens in their area. They are responsible for supporting local government by giving them the power to act for their community; helping communities and neighbourhoods to solve their own problems so neighbourhoods are strong, attractive and thriving. The team from the Department for Communities and Local Government enjoyed their visit to Blackburn Central High School and were very impressed with how integrated the school community is, and our implementation of Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural development. New Deputy Headteacher We’d like to extend a warm welcome to Mr Braithwaite, who has joined BCHS as Deputy Headteacher. The staff and students of BCHS with Crosshill would also like to wish Mr Ditta well on his new venture as Headteacher for the Tauheedul Education Trust, his dedication and commitment to the students and community will be missed. 3 BCHS Awards Evening Blackburn Central High School honoured our former Year 11 GCSE students in November with an awards ceremony hosted at Blackburn’s King George’s Hall. Among the guests was Colonel Myszka Guzkowska, a senior officer in the Army Reserves and Deputy Vice Chancellor of Manchester Metropolitan University, who gave a speech about not being afraid to grab opportunities and finding balance in your life. Courtesy of Lancashire Evening Telegraph In her speech headteacher Diane Atkinson said: “The awards evening is a very special occasion in the school year. It is an opportunity to focus upon and celebrate the achievements of the work of the students and the school as a whole. As your headteacher I have watched you grow and mature into the young people you are here before me. “I was so proud of how hardworking and determined you were to do your best. Many of you were in school late in the evening attending extra sessions including regular Saturdays. I admired how supportive you were of each other and how you came together as a group. “When I first met you I remember telling you how important it was that you aim high, and have goals and follow your dreams. I made reference to ‘carpe diem’ ‘seize the day’ grab opportunities as they come your way, don’t let them pass you by.” The last academic year saw some fantastic examination results: Moaaz achieved 9A*/A grades and a B, Sara, Asad, Maryam and Miryam all achieved 6A*/A grades plus some other grades. Their combined efforts have significantly improved the results at BCHS. There were many successes including 100% pass rates in Additional Maths, RE, Urdu and Music. In addition many subjects exceeded the national pass rates at GCSE. This is a phenomenal achievement from students who worked tremendously hard to overcome barriers, push beyond their ceiling and expectations. Bible Project Winners Last term students from RE7a1 entered the Christian Bible Project; a competition where they were asked to rewrite a Bible story with as much detail and passion as possible. This competition was very popular with entries from all over the country, and three students from BCHS were awarded with prizes for their high standard of work. Congratulations to Zahra, Marcel and Yasmeen seen holding their prizes. 4 Junior Leadership Team Appoints New President A huge congratulations to Rumana, who has been appointed as Blackburn Central High School’s Junior Leadership Team President for the academic year 2015/16. Over the past few months, Ms Rathore and Mr Robertson have been challenging Rumana with a variety of tasks; testing her organisation skills, her ability to talk in front of peers (across different year groups), e-mailing teachers with a professional level of decorum and delegating given tasks to other Junior Leadership Team members to perform. I am pleased to say, Rumana handled each task with a maturity beyond her years and has been outstanding. She is extremely excited to begin her new role. The following students were also successful with their applications, and are the Junior Leadership Team for 2015/16: Aaminah, Alenah, Alliyah, Anisa, Aya, Aysha, Charlie, Connor, Demi, Faheema, Farhaana, Farhana, Humaira, Julia, Kashif, Kasim, Khadija, Khadijah, Lara, Mohammed, Husnain, Naazima, Natasha, Raqiba, Raya, Rumana, Salma, Sanaa, Sanah, Shiraaz, Wassi, Yaseen, Yasmin, Zainab, Zuelekha. The JLT represent the diversity of BCHS students as they come together to share and discuss ideas about their education whilst representing our students’ interests. The team will be provided with opportunities to display responsibility, develop leadership qualities and their understanding of citizenship, while acting as the main body of communication between students and the school’s Senior Leadership Team. Shevington Grandparents Shevington High School Visit As part of the National Grandparent’s Day Shevington High School welcomed some of our celebrations, a group of BCHS students visited Year 7 students into their school recently. BCHS Shevington High School in Wigan. students attended lessons with Shevington’s wonderful Year 7 students and then shared stories The Shevington students had been baking all over a delicious lunch. morning, so our students were presented with a lovely afternoon tea, consisting of scones and Their first lesson was a fantastic Maths lesson where cream, cakes, tea and coffee. All of the students pizzas were used to learn about fractions. The mixed with the grandparents of Shevington High students then enjoyed a PE lesson in the sports hall School and discussed their respective schools, and fitness suite, which they enjoyed so much they favourite lessons and hobbies. chose to do it again. Luckily the weather brightened up and there was time for a quick play outdoors The afternoon tea was followed by a musical after the amazing lunch, before heading home to performance by three talented Shevington Year 11 Blackburn. students, who played piano and sang a selection of Beatles songs. Our students made some very good friends and we plan many more exciting links between BCHS with The students from both schools enjoyed the Crosshill and Shevington in the future.