Helsby High School Newsletter HIGH SCHOOL A Specialist Science College

Artistic Alice runs superbly On behalf of all at 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 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 & 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 /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 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 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. When it was time to go home, all of us felt sad to leave as they had showed us a brilliant time and we all wanted to have a part of us stay in Lyon. Some of the French students are returning to England to stay with their English partners again and they are looking forward to revisiting their new friends in Britain. I am still in contact with my exchange partner and I am improving my French by exchanging emails and through Facebook messaging.

www. helsbyhigh.org.uk 4 Helsby High School Newsletter VISIT TO HELSBY HIGH SCHOOL BY ITALIAN GROUP

Helsby High School were very pleased to welcome 18 students and two members of staff, Mr Fioretti and Mrs Susina from the Antonio Pesenti School, Cascina near Pisa in Italy on Monday 23 April.

The Italian school were visiting North Wales and the surrounding area as part of an EU funded project to observe Science teaching in High Schools and Universities. The students follow an international programme at their school and are taught through the medium of English for Maths and Science. The group had all passed their GCSE last year in Maths and are about to start GCSEs in the three Sciences.

The students were given a brief introduction to the school followed by a tour. They were then invited to observe and encouraged to take part in Science lessons with year 11 and the Sixth Form. The Science staff were very impressed by their command of English and the Italian group were very impressed by our school and its many excellent resources and facilities. They were extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to join in Science lessons to see for themselves what GCSE Science would be like next year taught in English.

www. helsbyhigh.org.uk 5 Helsby High School Newsletter Helsby High School Basketball Season Review 2011-12 Sunday 20th May saw the final games of a long season for the Helsby High School basketball teams as the U15s competed in the Dynamik National Schools Final Fours in Nottingham. The U15s had reached the final fours by defeating St Columba’s School (St Albans) in the quarter finals 82-47 after winning the North of England Group. In the semi finals Helsby faced Barking Abbey (London), reigning champions and the first regional institute of basketball in England. After a slow start (22-6 down at the end of the first quarter) the Helsby team battled well but Abbey’s four scholarship international players proved too strong with the game finishing 76-54 in Barking Abbey’s favour. The team then had to pick themselves up to face St Benedict’s School (Derby) in the 3rd/4th playoff. An excellent defensive performance together with patient, well-executed offense saw the team achieve a 61-50 win to finish as the 3rd best team in the country. The tournament was won again by Barking Abbey who defeated local rivals St Bonaventure’s 91-68 in a mostly one-sided final. This 3rd placed finish was the highlight of a successful season for the Helsby teams which also saw the U17s reach the National semi-finals, the U19s and U16s reach the quarter finals and the U14s reach the last 16 as well as being crowned County Champions. There were also individual successes for Cameron Mackay (England U17), Arwel Goulbourne (Wales U16) together with a total of 12 players representing the region’s leading club Cheshire Juniors in National League competition. Overall Record: 40 wins - 13 losses Overall Record: 40 wins - 13 losses Home Record: 16-5 Away Record: 15-5 District Champions U14: 10-1 National Last 16 County Champions District Champions

Cellan Goulbourne (Yr9) - Cheshire Juniors, North-West APC, North-West U13 Chris Martin (Yr9) Cheshire Juniors, North-West APC Ross Frewin (Yr8) - Cheshire Juniors, North-West APC Louis Mackay (Yr7) - Cheshire Juniors, North-West APC

U15: 13-2 National Semi-Finalists (3rd) North England Group Winners

Arwel Goulbourne (Yr10) – Cheshire Juniors, North-West APC, Wales U16 Alex Jones (Yr10) - Cheshire Juniors, North-West APC George Metcalf (Yr10) – Cheshire Juniors, North West APC

U16: 7-2 National Quarter-Finalists North England Group Runners-Up

Cameron Mackay (Yr11) – Cheshire Juniors, England U17 Zac Baird (Yr11) - Cheshire Juniors

U17: 4-2 National semi-finalists (4th) North England group winners

James Faint (Yr12) - Cheshire Juniors Sean Martin (Yr12) - Cheshire Juniors Patrick Phelan (Yr12) - Cheshire Juniors

U18: 1-3

U19: 5-3 National quarter-finalists U15 team - North England group winners www. helsbyhigh.org.uk 6 Helsby High School Newsletter English Schools Athletics Track and Field Cup

Round 1 Cheshire County Competition

The Junior Girls (Years 7 & 8), Inter Girls (Years 9 & 10) and Inter Boys (Years 9 & 10) all came in first place at the Cheshire County Athletics competition. The event took place at Victoria Park, on Friday 18th May and victory means that all three teams have qualified for the North-West finals to be held in Blackpool in June. Inter Boys

Posn Points School 1 389 Helsby High School, Frodsham 2 365 , 3 354 , 4 343 Bridgewater High School, Warrington 5 319 High School, 6 304 High Voluntary Controlled School, Lymm 7 267 The King's School, Chester 8 227 Ellesmere Port Catholic High School, Ellesmere Port 9 199 Sir Thomas Boteler C of E High School, Warrington

Junior Girls

Posn Points School 1 303 Helsby High School, Frodsham 2 278 The Queen's School, Chester 2 278 The Whitby High School, Ellesmere Port 4 276 Lymm High Voluntary Controlled School, Lymm 5 275 Weaverham High School, Northwich 6 261 The King's School, Chester 7 243 Bridgewater High School, Warrington 8 239 , Chester 9 165 Ellesmere Port Catholic High School, Ellesmere Port 10 93 Sir Thomas Boteler C of E High School, Warrington

Inter Girls

Posn Points School 1 292 Helsby High School, Frodsham 2 280 Weaverham High School, Northwich 3 260 Christleton High School, Chester 4 244 The Queen's School, Chester 5 239 The King's School, Chester 6 222 The Whitby High School, Ellesmere Port 7 218 Lymm High Voluntary Controlled School, Lymm 8 192 Sir Thomas Boteler C of E High School, Warrington 9 184 Bridgewater High School, Warrington 10 124 Ellesmere Port Catholic High School, Ellesmere Port www. helsbyhigh.org.uk 7 Helsby High School Newsletter Theatre Review: Alice's Library 25, 26 & 27 April 2012

Alice's Library was a piece of promenade theatre; this meant that the audience followed the actors to different performance spaces around the school. This ambitious project was a great success and all the students that were involved both backstage and with the technical side, thoroughly enjoyed the process.

The cast was made up of students from all year groups from year 7 right up to year 13. We all auditioned to be in the play and were thrilled when we saw our names up on the final cast list. The cast became brilliant friends and everyone supported each other right up until the last performance.

Olympia Lyons from year 9 was quoted as saying "I'm so sad it's all over now, what am I going to do on a Tuesday and Wednesday after school?"

Mrs Cross and Miss Loudon were amazed by the levels of professionalism shown by the students of our school "without the hard work, devotion and talent of the cast, the show would not have taken shape".

As a cast we have received so many positive audience responses:

"The talent that was displayed at Helsby is remarkable and the show was brilliant and I am sure in years to come we will definitely see some of the stars from the show either on the television or the stage. Every person that took part in the production is so very talented and worked so very hard"

"Having had the privilege of attending two consecutive performances of Alice's Library I felt I must email you regarding this innovative and outstanding production. Promenade theatre with a 'free' script is a big ask of such young people and it is of enormous credit to both the immensely talented pupils and the skill and nerve of Mrs Cross and the other drama staff that they were able to stage such an outstanding and moving production. I loved it, as did everyone else I have spoken to."

"I feel that I have to put ‘pen to paper’ to say that I thought last night’s performance was absolutely outstanding. It was very well put together, intense and thought provoking. Congratulations to all those involved."

As a cast we loved every minute of the time we spent working on Alice's Library and we are sad it's now over, although we are looking forward to next years whole school musical!

Written by Alex Parker cast member of Alice's Library Year 11

www. helsbyhigh.org.uk 8 Helsby High School Newsletter

As you may remember from our previous newsletter, we are looking to collect any unwanted football kits, including shirts, shorts, shin pads, and boots. The items are then going to be sent to Marine FC who are working with the charity KITAID to send the items to places such as Africa, India, South America and Eastern Europe. The charity is looking to supply both adults and children in some of the poorest parts of the world with football kits and therefore we are collecting kits of all ages and sizes.

I have already received a number of very kind donations from staff and pupils within the school, but progress is very slow!!! With the end of the football season now upon us and a number of football clubs changing their kit for the new season, could you please have a clear out of wardrobes and cupboards and donate any unwanted football items to a very worthy cause.

Thank you to those of you who have already donated kit and I look forward to receiving much more!!! Remember there will also be merits given for each donation and with the merit tables being very close in all years this could help your form to win!!! Please bring any donations to Miss Wilkes in the PE office.

Orienteers eat cakes We had enough runners for one team in the Cheshire In other news, Dan Weaver has won a second British and Merseyside schools relays. Evelyn Elmes, Ben U13 bronze medal, racing long distance in the Lake Jones and Dan Weaver entered the Years 7 and 8 District a week ago, and his team placed 4th in U15 British relays. Dan has finished top 5 at all four British championship disciplines this year! Evelyn Elmes' U18 mixed adhoc relay team placed 6th in Britain. Helen Elmes claimed a Bronze medal, in Scotland in April, racing in the adult mixed relay category at the Jan Kjellstrom international festival of Orienteering.

It was great to see some new Helsby faces at a recent summer evening event. If anyone else is interested and wants to know more just ask one of us. Beginners can go round courses in a group. Being adventurous and self-organising is more important than running ability - although you may need to run if there is a cake stall near the finish!

category at Northop Hall on Saturday. All did not quite go to plan this time as we were one of 7 (of 11) teams punching a wrong control. Fortunately the speed of our team meant we got to the cake stall almost ten minutes ahead of our nearest rivals, and we were further consoled by collection of the medals our individual team members had won in the league. www. helsbyhigh.org.uk 9 Helsby High School Newsletter Lower School Table Tennis

Several lower school pupils represented Helsby at yesterday's tournament at Whitby High School where five schools took part. There was a girls and a boys competition The pupils who competed were:

Emily Woodward-Shaw 7AJA Lucy Singer 7AJA Charlotte King 7EMA Anna Ramsey 7RMC Abby Mae Kirk 7AJA Amelia Pendlebury 7RMC Lewis Cook 8LME Lewis Houghton 8KWR Lewis Dimelow 8REV Jenny Footitt 8MDA Kevin Mason 8KWR

In the girls' event, Helsby finished 3rd out of three teams, but individually we had the 2nd and 4th placed girls in the singles- Jenny Footitt and Lucy Singer. In the boys' event, Helsby finished 2nd overall with a 2nd place for Kevin Mason and a 3rd place for Lewis Cook in the singles.

The pupils' behaviour and commitment were exemplary. Particularly impressive was the attitude of the girls, who had to decide on three people who could not compete, and were extremely mature and team-minded in their decision. (As it happened, all were allowed to take part.)

Miss Alexander accompanied us, and the event was enjoyable all round.

Mr Higgins

Year 10 Citizenship

“Some of the year 10 Citizenship students have produced an eye-catching display promoting the benefits of multi-culturalism in our community, as part of their Citizenship Coursework. Students gave talks in assemblies and produced questionnaires for pupils in Years 7-9 to engage students in reflecting upon the benefits of multi- culturalism in foods, sport and music. All students worked well both individually and as a team. Well done! Mrs Penney

www. helsbyhigh.org.uk 10 Helsby High School Newsletter

Apprentice Scheme Success All involved in the selection process were very impressed by the enthusiasm and high calibre of Heat Trace Ltd is proud to announce the recent the candidates and after much deliberation Mike employment of two local students, Mike Gibbons and Shaun were chosen. Both successful and Shaun Bailiff under our first formal candidates had studied at Helsby High. apprenticeship scheme. Chairman, Neil Malone adds, “The objective is to The scheme is a 2- provide Mike and Shaun with training across all 3 year flexible areas of the business including production, system engineering design, sales and R&D to allow them to decide in apprenticeship which areas to pursue their careers. I look forward a i m e d a t to our apprentices becoming the next generation of delivering wide managers and directors of Heat Trace. reaching skills and has been chosen for knowledge to the administrative support and for the delivery of the apprentices with a NVQ courses. Mike and Shaun will study to gain view to developing Heat Trace‟s managers of the an Apprenticeship in Engineering - NVQ level 3 on future. a day release basis. This was achieved with the Chairman, Neil Malone says, “I was an apprentice help of Fred Snelson from the Employer Services, engineer myself and appreciate the grounding that who acts as a link between the college and Heat a good scheme can provide. The demise of Trace Ltd. the apprenticeship has recently been reversed; I‟m For the remainder of the week the apprentices will pleased to say. It‟s now our job to provide Mike and gain valuable work experience on the shop floor Shaun with an education both within and outside and in other areas of the business for a real „hands- the company that will persuade them to want to make careers with Heat Trace. This is an on‟ lesson in how Heat Trace Ltd operates. evolutionary step for Heat Trace and I hope to see Apprentice Shaun, “This is a very exciting the next apprentices enrolled next year.” opportunity that Heat Trace Ltd has provided for both myself and Mike and a fantastic progression It is important to Heat Trace to provide employment from completing my BTEC Level 3 in Engineering opportunities for young people from the local which I started in the lower sixth at Helsby community. To promote the scheme, HR Manager High School. I am certainly looking forward to the Nicola Scappaticci-Fletcher and Finance Director challenges of learning a trade, and the experiences Dan Berrisford visited the local secondary school, I will gain using the various techniques, machinery Helsby High. They were supported by Hayley and processes that the factory utilize to Sheen and Mike Byrne who were able to give the students a good flavour of what it‟s like to work at manufacture their very specialised product.” Heat Trace. Given the success of the apprenticeship scheme this year, Heat Trace Ltd will be rolling it out further More than 80 applications were received from to take on a third office based apprentice in 2012, across the North West for the two positions from with the possibility of another apprentice based in which Nicola and Dan selected 12 candidates to attend one of two assessment days at the Helsby the factory, so watch this space! factory consisting of a group exercise, a Note: The apprenticeship schemes are work-based factory tour, a question and answer session and an training programmes designed around the needs of interview. employers, which lead to nationally recognized qualifications. The apprenticeships are Apprentice Mike, “The whole process has been a designed by the Sector Skills Councils, while the great learning curve for Shaun and myself. I believe National Apprenticeship Service helps towards it has set in place the foundations for any funding the apprentices' training. apprentices going forward. I‟ve always had an interest in Engineering having completed a For further information visit: http://apprenticeships.org.uk GNVQ Level 2 in Engineering and attending work experience with a large corporate company. I‟m now looking forward to spending time within Heat Trace Ltd furthering my education and forming my career.” www. helsbyhigh.org.uk 11 Helsby High School Newsletter

Lower Sixth Outdoor Activities

The group have been busy on Wednesday afternoons throughout 2011 and 2012, challenging themselves by taking part in a selection of adventurous sports.

Hannah Marsden said she “really enjoyed the skiing, and I learnt how to improve”, in the sessions which started at the Dry Ski Slope in the autumn. In February, we visited Manchester‟s Chill Factore to stretch our ski legs on the real white stuff. “It was a great chance to ski on snow, which cannot be done easily in many places within the UK”, commented Simon Stubbs.

In March we kept out of the cold weather climbing on the indoor walls of a converted church building at the North West Face in Warrington. We then ventured back outside in April to brave the elements at the Aerial Extreme High Ropes Course at Knowsley. Daniel Delooze thought, “The High Ropes course was a challenge and I really enjoyed it”.

Since Easter we have visited Budworth Mere, near Northwich and tried a selection of Watersports. Sharna McClelland “enjoyed the sailing, canoeing and kayaking, as it works as a great releaser of stress”. Megan Johnstone said it was “a good way of team building and encouraging us to trust one another”. Unfortunately, the summer weather didn‟t arrive in time, but Lower Sixth enthusiasm was still there despite the rain and wind!!

Watersports sessions for lower school students take place after half term and all of the locations visited will run introductory sessions for students who fancy giving these adventure sports a go. Please speak with Mr Jankowski for any further information.

www. helsbyhigh.org.uk 12 Helsby High School Newsletter

familiarise themselves with the school in „A’ level Chemistry visit preparation for joining us in Year 7. Several Y12 and Y13 students helped out at a recent workshop and the photograph shows some pupils from Frodsham Manor House school being ably assisted by Y12 student Megan Johnstone. Mrs E Cullen Girls PE

Netball This has been a good season for netball, with pleasing commitment from the girls. We have been entered into the Ellesmere Port netball league where we have achieved some excellent results. At present we are Year 13 A Level Chemistry students recently awaiting the league results and are unable to gather this visited Shell, Thornton, to enhance their information in time for this publication. studies. Shell scientists showed students Chromatography, Infra Red Spectroscopy, Examinable PE Mass Spectroscopy and Nuclear Magnetic We are entering into the exam season with the year 11, th th Resonance Spectroscopy. Students need an lower 6 and upper 6 about to sit their exams. It has understanding of all four analytical techniques been a pleasure to teach these groups and I have been for their A Level specification and the visit impressed by the mature and diligent nature in which these pupils have prepared themselves for the exams. I provided a very worthwhile opportunity to see wish them all the very best for the future. the techniques in action and it supplemented extremely well the work covered in lessons. Football We really appreciated the time given up by all It has been a fantastic season for all year groups with a those involved at Shell to make the visit a series of English Schools cup games under their belts. success. This gave the girls the experience to endure a very successful cup run in the Cheshire Schools cup. All Mrs E Cullen three teams, U13, U14, U16, reach the semi-finals of the County cup, the only school in the county to achieve this. Unfortunately, neither of the teams managed to Primary Workshops make it to the final; however the U14‟s came extremely The Science department have continued to close and after being 2-0 up at half time, lost 3-2 in the deliver science workshops to our partner final minute of the game to an extremely strong primary schools. Most of these are carried out High School side. An exceptional performance in goal from Kate Lancaster (year 9) and goals from Annabel in the primary schools but a few, such as Kitchen (year 8) deserve a special mention. Player of the match for both netball and football will be voted for by the end of the year.

Athletics An extremely pleasing start to the athletics season with both the Junior and Inter-girls teams taking first place in the first round of the English Schools track and field cup. Both teams will now go on to compete in the North West finals in Blackpool in mid-June. Athletics club has been very well attended with large numbers of girls from all years turning out to develop their skills in time for sports day. Well done and keep up “Reversible and Irreversible Changes” need the hard work. specialist equipment and are best carried out in the Helsby High labs. This also provides Miss R Clarke Year 6 pupils with an opportunity to begin to www. helsbyhigh.org.uk 13 Helsby High School Newsletter

Football Visit to Bolton

During the Bank Holiday weekend, 32 boys from years 7 & 8 represented the school in a football tournament organised by the International Soccer School in conjunction with Bolton Wanderers FC. The weekend kicked off with a stadium tour at the Reebok and a behind the scenes visit to the away team‟s dressing room where the guide explained the psychology of the room‟s layout to the boys. The group was then taken to Bolton Arena for an hour‟s coaching with a BWFC coach as a warm up for the 6-a-side tournament. Each team played a series of short 6 minute matches throughout the day. Accommodation was at the De Vere hotel within the Reebok stadium and, after check-in and the chance to shower and change, it was time for a well-earned sit down to watch the FA Cup Final on a big screen in a private suite. The result did not please all members of the group unfortunately! Day one ended after a visit to the local retail park for some much needed food.

It was an early start on Sunday with a hearty breakfast at 7.30 am. Day 2‟s matches kicked off at 9am with some tired legs after all the efforts of the first day and little sleep in some cases! One of the year 7 teams narrowly missed out on a place in the final but all the boys competed very well throughout the tournament and were a credit to the school. The final part of the visit was the Bolton v West Bromwich Albion match where the boys saw Bolton squander a 2 goal lead to draw with West Bromwich. On the journey home, special awards were given to Harry Waring for his overall effort, Grantley Stening for his excellent leadership and motivation and Callum Madigan for his “wonder goal”. Thanks to Mr Bennett‟s organisation and the excellent conduct of the boys, the weekend was a great success.

www. helsbyhigh.org.uk 14 Helsby High School Newsletter International School Award

Earlier this month we were awarded the prestigious International School Award Intermediate Level by the British Council, in recognition of our on-going work to promote global learning amongst our students. Thanks to the hard work from students and staff we have been able to establish a number of international themes within our curriculum to encourage students to think of themselves as global citizens. One area we are looking at closely, is that of Sustainability. With our international partners in South Africa and France, we hope to put together a Manifesto for a Sustainable Future with agreed targets for our schools. Our thanks go to the Department for International Development who have funded our joint projects within the Afritwin exchange scheme, and also to Garry Charnock of for his invaluable and inspirational advice on how to improve our carbon footprint. Later this academic year, our South African colleagues will be visiting us to complete the next phase of our joint international work. We will then be ready to look ahead to gaining the full International Award. Garry Charnock of Ashton Hayes visits Year 11 Citizenship groups to talk about sustainable living

www. helsbyhigh.org.uk 15 Helsby High School Newsletter Lower sixth Chemistry students in Analyst Competition On 24th April, Helsby High entered a team of three lower sixth Chemistry students in the Manchester heat of the Royal Society of Chemistry Schools‟ Analyst Competition 2012. The students selected to take part were Helen Elmes (6LECU), Katie Reeves (6LSJA) and Mark Halliwell (6LJMA). The theme of this year‟s competition was drug testing at the Olympic Games and the students were required to carry out a variety of analytical techniques including titration, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and infrared analysis to determine whether or not an athlete was guilty of knowingly taking a banned substance. The team from Helsby High enjoyed the day and performed to a high standard. Mrs A James

Egg-cellent Science lessons Visiting Marine Biologist th Lecture to 6 form In March Dr Parkes organised for a talk from Reaseheath land based college to teach to some Year 9, 10 & 11 classes at Helsby High School. Dr Parkes organised one of the countries leading The topic being discussed was the biology of marine biologist, Dr Jon Green from the University „eggs‟. The college staff brought with them a variety of Liverpool to come and speak to our 6th form of egg laying animals which any willing pupils could Biology students in April. In his fascinating talk Dr freely handle and examine. The „menagerie‟ Green gave an insight into his work and showed included hissing cockroaches, giant snails, snakes, some of the „Biotelemetry‟ devices he attached to a chickens, owls and hawks! It was a really enjoyable variety of seabirds and seals to understand the and interesting session which helped support some biology and ecology of these marine animals. It of the topics being discussed in science lessons. A was also an important opportunity for the Year 12 terrific opportunity to get up close and personal students to speak to a university admissions tutor with a variety of creatures was enjoyed by all. with regards to improving the quality of their upcoming university applications.

www. helsbyhigh.org.uk 16 Helsby High School Newsletter

WHAT PARENTS SAID AT THE LAST PARENTAL FORUM:

“Access to pupils’ information e.g. reports, attendance etc would be useful”

Our response: The Parent Portal, where information will be able to be found about pupils’ attendance, progress, attainment, timetable etc is developing well and should be fully operational from September 2012.

“The Parental Forums are a good initiative”

Our response: We have planned two more throughout the “Planners are not regularly signed by academic year. Form Tutors”

Our response: We have introduced a fortnightly work scrutiny carried out by members of the School’s Leadership Team and planners are checked as part of this process. Form Tutors have been asked to ensure that planners are signed up to date. “More information is needed on the website e.g. details of after school activities, holiday dates, celebration of achievement, Parents’ Evening dates etc”

Our response: We have tried to improve the quality and the amount of infor- mation on the website and to update news more frequently. We have re- ceived very positive feedback from students, parents and members of the lo- cal community about this.

“A text service would be welcome”

Our response: We have trialled this with parents of current Year 8 pupils with a view to introducing a whole school text service as soon as possible.

“An electronic copy of the Newsletter would be a good idea to address paper costs”

Our response: We emailed the March Newsletter to all Year 7 & 8 pupils, where an email address has been supplied. The May Newsletter will be emailed out to the whole school. The Newsletter has also been emailed to all our feeder primary schools, unless paper copies have been requested specifically.

www. helsbyhigh.org.uk 17 Helsby High School Newsletter

Rowing Henry Pettinger-Harte is flying after November trials finishing 44th (he was not feeling well) and in February trials finishing 5th and at Spring Trials in 7th position. Henry is producing PB in all his assessments and is going from strength to strength every time he is on the water. Henry narrowly missed out in representing GB at Munich at the start of May but he is looking forward to Final Trials in July where he is pushing himself to make the GB team which is very strong this year. At National School he will be racing in his single and he is looking to win gold.

National Schools Head Fae Atkinson was in a quad which won the Women‟s 18 championship quad race at Dorney in London. Against fierce opposition Fae sitting a stroke set a fantastic pace that no other school or club could compete against, the girls rowed fantastically winning by 6 seconds. The girls are looking forward to the National schools regatta in June at Nottingham.

The junior men‟s race Henry and Sam Pettinger-Harte had a good race coming a creditable 9th place and the Junior women 15‟s Ellie Hayes, Nina Atkinson, Alyssia Hannah and Laura Gardiner did really well coming 13th. Fantastic rowing by all the competitors, out of a field of over 2000 athletes

Junior Inter-Regional at Nottingham In March Ellie Hayes and Nina Atkinson won the North west Time trial to represent the North West at the Inter regionals at Nottingham. The conditions were shocking and so only the first round of racing was done. There are 12 regions racing side by side with the fastest 6 from 2 heats going through to the final. Ellie and Nina won their heat but because the weather deteriorated they took the fastest 3 to win gold, silver and bronze. The other heat beat the girls by only 1 second and 1.2 seconds. Both Ellie and Nina were happy to survive but to have a medal as well was fantastic.

www. helsbyhigh.org.uk 18 Helsby High School Newsletter

Helsby High School Bands at Manley and Alvanley Village Spring Fair 2012

On the 7th May, bank holiday Monday, the school's Senior Band, Jazz Band and Saxophone Quartet set off to play at Manley and Alvanley Village Spring fair. We arrived in dribs and drabs, while a funny magician ran late and peo- ple started to wander around in the cold, wet and windy field eating ice creams. Soon enough, we had everything set up, apart from the two poor violinists who couldn't set their chairs up in front of the magician‟s things. The first part of our performance was a great success, featuring the Senior Band followed by the Jazz Band. „The Great Escape‟ and „The Flint- stones‟ went down particularly well. Then we had half an hour rest in which people went about eating burgers, hot dogs, mini hand-made cakes, chilli flavoured fudge and, yes, more ice cream. When the time came for the second half we had a few problems, such as out-of-tune bass guitars and no electricity! Once that was sorted (a while later), the second half was a good achieve- ment. The Saxophone Quartet grabbed everyone‟s attention again after the tug of war compe- tition, playing two really good pieces including Michael Jack- son‟s „Thriller‟. Next the audience were really impressed with the Senior Band‟s opening piece „Instant Swing Concert‟, and stood listening faithfully in the rain all the way through to the Jazz Band‟s performance of „Ghostbusters‟ which ended our second set with fantastic solos from Sam Rose (guitar), Nick Chambers (alto saxophone) and Jenny Murphy (baritone saxophone). Very soon afterwards people were packing away and heading home.

Once we were all packed away, we headed for tenpin bowling at Cheshire Oaks. Of course, it being a bank holiday Monday, there were not many spaces and queues that were, um, very long. I know that the 4 people in the Wells-Mobile had tremendous difficulty finding a spot. After a bit of a run to get the fairly long distance between the car parking space and the bowling alley, we were bowling away, apart from two very slow people. We had a platter of food that was maybe too nice. The rule seemed to be grab as much as you can before anyone else, which I hon- estly was not very good at. Soon after, when we were all sorted and mon- ey wasted on the 10p machines, we headed home. A quite enjoyable day, I'd say. by Evelyn Elmes (8GMC) www. helsbyhigh.org.uk 19 Helsby High School Newsletter

A-level Theatre Studies trip to Theatre Clywd BRUISED bruised bruised bruised bruised bruised bruised bruised bruised bruised Bruised By Matthew Trevannion Clwyd Theatr Cymru "Going somewhere are we? Anywhere nice? I hear Thailand‟s lovely. Here, now don‟t you worry about those two while you‟re away, alright? I‟ll look after your girls. And when you go this time, do us a favour will you? Just stay. Stay there." Bruised is a fierce, funny and beautiful play about family, courage and the legacy of violence. Director Kate Wasserberg. Laura-Jane Garvie was quoted as saying "it was a harrowing production in which I cried for the characters on stage". Jessica Moffat noted that the play provided her with a valuable experience: "it was dark play, which was staged extremely well, the production elements will provide us with a brilliant source of writing in our written Theatre Studies exam".

Helsby High School Chester Road, Helsby, Frodsham, WA6 0HY Tel: 01928 723551  Fax: 01928 723093 E-mail: [email protected]  www.helsbyhigh.org.uk www. helsbyhigh.org.uk 20