Helsby High School Newsletter HELSBY HIGH SCHOOL A Specialist Science College Artistic Alice runs superbly On behalf of all at Helsby High School I hope that you enjoy a pleasant and sunny „Diamond As another very busy and successful half term Jubilee‟ half term. comes to a conclusion I hope that you will Mr J Dowler - Headteacher enjoy reading the latest edition of the Newsletter. It includes some of the many Congratulations to Jessica Parsons who after activities our students have been involved with. finishing 12th in the English Schools‟ Cross We are extremely proud of how our young Country National Finals in Somerset, qualified people work and learn together by events to represent England on 31 March in Perth, outside the classroom as well as in subject Scotland. lessons. As part of the England team, Jessica competed against other athletes from the If you were fortunate enough to attend the Welsh, Scottish and Irish teams. She finished recent performance of “Alice‟s Library” I am 4th in the 4K race which meant she was a sure you would agree that it was a truly counter in the team total which contributed to magnificent production. The way the students England winning gold. supported each other, worked as a team and We continue to wish Jessica every success created innovative contributions, was awe with her running in the future. inspiring. The performers were a credit to the school, their families and in particular the Drama team, led by Mrs Cross. More details of In this issue the production can be found via the school website www.helsbyhigh.org.uk. I would also 1 Message from the Headteacher like to draw you attention to the photograph of the superb art work of our students (found via 2 Helsby & Frodsham Lions „Curriculum, Art & design and clicking on the Tom Stockton 100 Hours of Community Service iweb link on the bottom of the page). I am sure 3 School Games Partnership 2012 that you will agree that the standard of work on display is absolutely outstanding. 4 French Exchange 5 Visit to Helsby High School by Italian group In April our musicians gave two wonderful concerts in school and more recently they have 6 Basketball season review been performing at the Alvanley/Manley May 7 English Schools Athletics Track & Field cup Fair. They are also due to take part in the Diamond Jubilee celebrations in Helsby and I 8 Review: Alice‟s Library, April 2012 am sure that they will give their usual high 9 Kit Aid quality performance. Orienteers eat cakes Equally outstanding has been the recent 10 Lower School Table Tennis performances of our Athletics teams at the Year 10 Citizenship Cheshire round of the English Schools‟ 11 Apprentice Scheme Success Athletics Track and Field Cup. The Junior Girls, Intermediate Girls and Intermediate Boys 12 Lower Sixth Outdoor Activities teams all came first! We wish them well in the 13 „A‟ level Chemistry visit North West finals to be held in Blackpool next month. Primary Workshops 14 Football visit to Bolton These three examples are just a small part of International School Award life at Helsby High School. We are proud of the 15 holistic achievements of our young people as 16 L6 Chemistry students in Analyst competition well as their academic successes. Such successes are made possible through the 17 Parental Forum update dedication and hard work of our staff and the 18 Rowing support we receive from families. Thank you. 19 School Band at Manley & Alvanley Fair May 2012 20 A-level Theatre Studies Review - Bruised www. helsbyhigh.org.uk 1 Helsby High School Newsletter Letter to Mr Dowler from Helsby & Frodsham Lions Helsby & Frodsham Lions visited the school this morning to present a "Young Leaders in Service" Gold Certificate to one of your 6th Form Pupils, Tom Stockton at the 6th Form Assembly. This was in recognition of him achieving 100 hours of Community Service with our YLIS project. This Certificate is recognised internationally, like the Duke of Edinburgh Awards. We are delighted with the connection with Helsby High School. There are another 34 pupils taking part in the YLIS project, co-ordinated by Mrs Robinson. We have also sponsored Lucy Doherty and an ex-pupil Rosa Atkinson, in their efforts to be part of Team GB for 2016. Another star in your midst is Ben Clarke, who we sponsored in his journey to South Africa with Youth Mission Project, to help build a school out there. We look forward to visiting again, to make more presentation to the pupils. Regards Margaret Marsh Secretary Helsby & Frodsham Lions Tom Stockton receiving his certificate Tom Stockton - 100 hours of Community Service with YLIS I started my 100 hours of volunteering work with no idea that I would end up doing so much. It began when I joined the AfriTwin charity at school. With weekly meetings, fundraising events and assemblies the hours soon began adding up. I spent 10 days in Cape Town in February 2011 with the AfriTwin group teaching at various schools and sampling life as an African student at high school. The volunteering continued when I came back; I became a Charity Prefect at school meaning I was involved in many charitable events from a Fairtrade shop to an Eco-Schools „dig‟ at the school, whilst also maintaining the healthy balance between AfriTwin and the other charities that Helsby High takes part in. November saw the Poppy Appeal come round again, a cause I had volunteered with before 2011. This year I sold poppies outside of school after contacting the Royal British Legion directly, I was stationed at Morrisons in Frodsham. I also organised the poppy collection scheme inside school with some Community Prefects, going round forms and selling at break and lunchtime. We went to Hapsford services for a few weekends, even meeting some celebrities! Overall, I was completely surprised at how many hours I‟d managed to total up when calculating all the volunteering work I had done, I feel very pleased to have been a part of some fantastic organisations and proud to have raised so much money and helped to make the community a better place. I encourage anyone to join their local charitable organisations and to contact The Royal British Legion who are always looking for collectors. The „Lions Young Leaders in Service Gold Award‟ is equivalent to a Gold Duke of Edinburgh award, which looks fantastic on your CV or University Application and is a very commendable achievement. Tom Stockton - Year 13 www. helsbyhigh.org.uk 2 Helsby High School Newsletter Cheshire Oaks 2012 Many thanks to Helsby HS for allowing us to present our sport to the youngsters - a marvellous opportunity for us to forge links with many local School Games schools and to strengthen our links with Helsby. Partnership Thank you for the invitation and an enjoy- able day. The children and staff from the schools that visited our area seem to en- YRS 5 & 6 CLUB/SCHOOL LINK joy themselves and take away literature DAY with the intention of contacting us. Overall I thought it was a very well organized day. CASTLE PARK EIP HELSBY HIGH SCHOOL Thanks for yesterday morning at Helsby Thursday 22nd March 2012 High. Great experience for all my Year 5 & 6. 9.00 – 3.00pm A keen interest in all sports and I am sure that some of the children will surely Artie Senior have more of a look into the facilities available. SSCO Helsby High School - was the “Absolutely great” feedback from our staff. “Brilliant”. I asked if there was anything that could have been better but have had nothing but positive spontaneous feedback. We‟ll be booking some sailing! www. helsbyhigh.org.uk 3 Helsby High School Newsletter French Exchange I would highly recommend, not only the French Exchange, but any school exchange as it gives you the chance to make new friends and to see The French Exchange was one new places and new cultures. of the best things I have ever done. Not only has it improved my skill and capability with a Cameron Steen 10MBE foreign language it has forged new friendships with people across the Channel. We arrived at school at seven o‟clock in the morning, which was tiring for everyone. Then after a coach ride to Manchester Airport we caught our flight to Lyon, most of us having last minute panics about our levels of fluency in French. Upon arrival, we caught yet another coach into the city where we arrived at the school. It was very warming to see our exchange partners again after their visit to England last October. They waited for us at the school gate and were eager to take us home and show us around their city. Throughout the duration of the following six days, I had a marvellous time, making new friends with French and English students alike. We did several activities, such as the French variant of Go Ape and walked the footsteps of those in the French Resistance in their secret tunnel systems as part of our walking tour of Old and New Lyon. We also went to film and car museums and solved murders in a medieval French village in the hills. We also had fun with our host families during the evenings and at the weekend. We went karting, watched England beat France in the Six Nations, went shopping, not to mention the parties! Some were even lucky enough to stay the weekend in their host family‟s second home in the alps and ski and others went to Paris for the weekend too.