The Blue Coat School

Proud to be p ar t o f The Cr anmer E duca t ion Tr ust

Spring Newsletter – March, 2016

Robotic’s Nationals – Design Award Winners Congratulations to our BlueBots!

Faith ~ Vision ~ Nurture Dear Parents, Guardians and Carers, This has been a short and very busy term! It is the business term, when students and staff are all focused on the exams to come, and the work that has to be submitted, marked and sometimes improved. Fortunately we haven’t had to contend with much snow (Friday, 4th March presented a few challenges with transport, but the Snow Zone Policy worked well. Thank you for your support), and good progress has been made.

The newsletter focuses, as always, on what students have been doing in different areas of the school, and it is staff who generally tell the story. But this year I have asked Rebecca Howarth from Year 7 to introduce the term’s news. As an introduction to Blue Coat, and to all those happy (but possibly slightly apprehensive) Year 6’ers who have just got their letter, it’s a gem! (See below, and thank you).

A Term in the Life at Blue Coat - By Rebecca Howarth 7B

“When I first came to Blue Coat it was quite a shock. My primary school, St Agnes C of E, was very small with 105 pupils altogether and 15 pupils in Year 6. So coming to Blue Coat, with 249 students just in my year felt scary at first. Still, I was excited too, and two of my friends from Primary, Zoe and Sadie, were in my Form. Friends I had known out of primary school, such as Esther and Naomi, also came to Blue Coat. Soon I had made friends with some girls in my Form and loads of people in my classes. Before long, after school I was meeting up with a few friends and walking through the gates with them. I still do now with Zoe, Esther, Becca, Izzy and Casey.

Before I came here, I imagined that all the classes would be extremely difficult, although I’d found lessons fine in primary. Actually though, the lessons are great and I like challenging myself with things I haven’t tried before. I can manage the homework I’ve been getting and bringing the right books for the right lessons in the day. My favourites are English and Drama, as they always have been, but I enjoy doing the things I wasn’t taught in primary school, like Food and Textiles. At break I usually go to the library with my friend Harriet, although sometimes I stay on the back pitch and talk with the friends I walk home with.

The school restaurant is a perfect meeting place for my friends and me at the start of the day, not to mention the school lunches! There’s always something delicious to tuck in to, and don’t even get me started on the dessert!

Overall, Blue Coat has been great. I am used to the bustling corridors and the rush to get to lessons, and have really enjoyed the time I have had so far, especially with my friends. Laughing with Ashley, having fun with Harriet, sitting with Martine at lunch and having fun with the usual group. Thanks to the teachers and friends that make Blue Coat amazing!”

We wish all our families a happy and peaceful Easter, and look forward to seeing everyone back, safe and refreshed, on Monday, 11th April.

Yours sincerely,

Headteacher School News

Oxbridge Congratulations to all our Oxbridge candidates this year, and especially to the students who secured places at these and other highly competitive institutions for courses which are heavily oversubscribed.

Aaron Hartnell-Booth: place at Wadham College to read Physics

Daniel McLoughlin: place at University College to read Physics

Changes To Curriculum Arrangements This affects all students, and especially Year 8, now and in the future. As a result of major changes that are being made nationally to the curriculum and assessment, we have decided to bring option choices into Year 8. All our students take EBacc (unless they have an additional learning need, or they need extra time for English and maths), and choose either History or Geography (or both), and either French or German (or both). They then have two choices from an extensive list and we encourage them to follow their interests and passions. The core of English Language and Literature, Maths, Double (or Triple) Science, RS, a Humanities subject and a language ensures that all bases are covered, so they can go for breadth and take creative or technical options, or a GCSE in PE, or Sociology, or computing, or one of the more applied options.

The GCSE work will not actually start until January of Year 9, as pupils will need to develop their skills and knowledge base first. But starting in Year 9 will provide more time which will enable pupils to cover the increased content, and develop the skills for the new assessments which all come at the end of Year 11. These require embedding, learning and practising for application. We believe that this approach will help us preserve a broad curriculum offer, where pupils have choice and ownership, and will support continuing high achievement and progress.

Snow We got off quite lightly in the end this winter (that is assuming there isn’t any more to come….)

The snow zone policy worked well on 4th March, and thank you to parents for working with us on this. We opened and got the site safe. Some pupils set off, but were defeated by traffic gridlocks and had to turn back. Other students made it, sometimes brought in by parents, and whilst it wasn’t entirely normal service, lessons were taught, learning continued, and those who got in had a good day. We had to release students early because of the forecast, and potential transport difficulties. In the event, the forecast changed, and the snow stopped not long after the final students were released.

For future reference: a tendency began to surface whereby some pupils in Zone 1 remembered that they were staying overnight with a pupil in Zone 4……. Or that they were not staying with parent ‘A’ in Zone 1 that night, but going to parent ‘B’ in Zone 4. Whilst I am sure that some of these late amendments to personal snow plans were entirely accurate and legitimate, nevertheless our policy needs to be clear, that students will be released according to their primary residence zone, and that private sleep-over arrangements cannot be factored in at short notice. I am sure parents will understand that this is necessary, so we know where students are, where they are going, and that they are safe. The Cranmer Education Trust Blue Coat has established a Multi- Trust which two primaries, East Crompton St. George’s, and Mayfield, have now joined. We are breaking ground because this Trust is cross-phase (it includes children from nursery to 18-and-about-to-go-to-univeristy) and both schools with a religious character and those with a community basis. Its rationale is the children and young people, and the best provision for them and their life chances.

At a time when education is changing rapidly, and coming under increasing financial pressure, the logic in schools coming together to create economies of scale has never been more powerful. And whilst all the admissions policies for the school will remain the same, and Blue Coat will continue to offer our places across the Diocese as well as the town, it makes sense to work closely with primaries as they develop their new curricula and assessment, so we can ensure that we are fully prepared for curricular transition at Year 7.

Admissions We continue to be a very popular choice when it comes to educating our children. We have been significantly oversubscribed in both Year 7 and Year 12. The Local Authority has now sent out the offer letters to current Year 6 parents, and admission appeals will soon commence. The good news is that all Anglican applicants who put us as their first preference have received a place, as have some applicants from other Christian denominations who worship regularly. There is a long waiting list, but we know from past experience that there will be movement between now and September 2016.

For Year 12 we have been delighted with the amount of external interest. Our first priority is to ensure our own students are accommodated, and throughout the year Mr Griffin and Mrs Murray from Connexions have been working with our young people to ensure that they are all signed up on the pathway that is right for them. Over 150 students want to come back to our Sixth Form, and they have all been interviewed to discuss their chosen pathway in detail. Currently we have interviewed 170 external applicants, and have made over 135 offers so far out of the 270 who applied. We expect this number to reach 150 from the remaining interviews. We wish we could accommodate everyone, but resources are finite, and we have to ensure we can provide a very good service for everyone concern. The curriculum, learning and achievement

World Book Day

To celebrate World Book Day the Library hosted a week of events including craft making sessions (bookmarks and book hogs), literary quiz bingo and the Big Read where we tried to get as many students and staff reading in the Library over lunch. Students could also enter the “Shelfie” competition guessing the teachers' identity only by a cryptic clue and a photo of their home book shelf.

During the week over 500 free World Book Day books were given out, along with book vouchers.

We also took the opportunity to have a half-way Most Words Read competition for Accelerated Reader to celebrate our first batch of millionaires, who will all receive a prize. So far the school in total has read a whopping 57,100,078 million words.

Year 7 Millionaires

Rebecca Howarth - 2,951,894 million words Ashley Idoko - 2,752,960 Oliver Irving - 1,690,161 Elizabeth Corps - 1,533,682 Benjamin Hughes - 1,553,311 Freya Linder - 1,402,236 Matilda Ferreira - 1,260,334 Amy Greer - 1,233,225 Thomas Bull - 1,197,322 Benjamin Slater - 1,193,244 Princess Balogun - 1,151,196 Imogen Tennent - 1,111,911 Amber Kay - 1,029,756 Amelia Crompton - 1,024,954 STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths

In January, the Engineering Education Scheme (EES) students attended a three-day residential held at the University of Liverpool. The group met with their industrial mentor, from local company, Innovative Technologies, and made excellent progress on their project - to devise a way of preventing the removal of notes from money validation units. To achieve this, the group were given use of all of the University facilities. The students also attended a number of sample engineering lectures, and presented their progress to the rest of the scheme participants.

The group are now working towards completing their product, written report and presentation, ready for the Celebration and Assessment day next half term.

Robotics

Congratulations to Nadia Edwards, Emma Hawthorne, Maia Lees, Zara Matthews and Sophie Temesi who recently took part in the VEX IQ Regional Robotic Competition and won the Award for Excellence.

After being selected for this process in October they designed, built and learned how to drive their robot both manually and autonomously, in addition to producing an engineer’s notebook and completing a science based research project. They went on to the National Championships in Birmingham, and won the Design Award! (See front cover).

Go4Set Project

Year 8 students working on the Go4Set Project - designing stations for the future - enjoyed their trip to Innovative Technologies.

They were shown around the factory floor learning about quality control and testing of manufactured validators used in cash collecting machines around the world. A whistle stop tour of the computer controlled storeroom introduced them to the world of 'the cube' used to store and organise thousands of machine parts shipped in every week from China.

Once inside the design building they were shown the prototyping workshop where 3d printers manufacture prototype parts for testing and re-design.

In the design suite they were introduced to mechanical and software engineers working on a range of design engineering projects for the company.

The students will be working in their teams with company mentors from Innovative Technologies over the next 10 weeks to design railway stations of the future that incorporate sustainable design strategies to make the journey experience for passengers more efficient and enjoyable.

The work will culminate in a presentation and celebration day at The University of Manchester in early June.

Science

This term has been busy in Science. Fly Club, which we started last term, has moved from the embryonic stage through the pupal phase to maturity. Eleven students (a mix of Years 12 and 13) attend every week and explore the genetics of the fly Drosophila melanogaster via a range of crosses. This was a steep learning curve, not just for the students but also for Dr Donnelly who co-ordinates the group and has never worked with flies before. Students soon became adept at sexing the flies (which involves the mysterious sex-combs, visible only under a microscope) and anaesthetising them. The first crosses are now coming to fruition so students will soon be in a position to analyse their preliminary results. News of Fly Club has also spread across the area, with Crompton House asking for advice on setting up their own group.

Dr Donnelly has also established the Biochemistry Reading Group which runs every ‘P’ Friday lunchtime. Each session, students are given a scientific article to read and digest before coming to the meeting prepared to discuss their views. So far, we've explored the controversy around the role of saturated fats in coronary artery disease. The next session will look at a newly discovered group of giant viruses which are making scientists rethink our understanding of how cells evolved.

This term saw the last meeting of Rat Club (like Fly Club but more gruesome) until next year. Every week, a hardy and strong-stomached group of Year 13 students meticulously dissected the organ systems of rats. Woe-betide the hapless Year 7 student who accidentally wandered into the room mid-dissection only to find their lunch revisiting them. Rat club will be starting again later in 2016. Thanks to Ms Ormisher for organising this.

The annual Chemistry Olympiad is a chance for Sixth Form chemists to pit their wits against the best and brightest students in the country. Following on from the success of our 2015 entry, in which Blue Coat students achieved four silver awards, 19 dedicated students from across the Sixth Form have entered the 2016 Olympiad, after spending five months preparing during lunchtime sessions. This year's paper was particularly tough, and all 19 students should be congratulated for attempting it. Six students have achieved a Bronze award and five have achieved a Silver award, two of whom are in Year 12. Daniel McLoughlin, our Year 13 highest scorer, narrowly missed out on our first ever Gold award. Congratulations go to all of the participants, and thanks to Dr Silversides for co-ordinating this.

The Sixth Form Chemistry community has been working hard together, with several Year 13 students continuing to volunteer their lunchtimes to help Year 12 students as they approach their crucial AS exams. This has been hugely successful and beneficial for both year groups. We thank every student who has taken part in these lunchtime sessions, and wish them good luck for their upcoming exams.

On the Physics front, Mr McGuinness met with the Cuban ambassador to share the Frogs and Physics activity we organise each year, (details in our Christmas Newsletter). This was covered in the last newsletter and will be running again this year. On the 16th March, 25 A level physics students will take part in a trip to a Particle Physics Masterclass to the University of Manchester. Students will participate in lectures given by scientists working at the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva before analysing results generated by particle collisions. This will then be reinforced by a lecture at Oldham Sixth Form College on the same subject on 17th March given by Dr. Yvonne Peters who is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Manchester. She works on the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider and is responsible for the admission of postgraduate students in Particle Physics. The lecture is aimed at increasing the number of girls that go on to take A-level Physics, but, of course, both boys and girls are welcome.

Finally, we've been awarded an Ogden grant towards the trip to CERN, so it'll be cheaper for our pupils and we will be able to organise even more trip activities.

Rocket Science At 0426 hours on Tuesday 2nd March, Commander Scott Kelly of NASA and Russian cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko and Sergey Volkov of Roscosmos landed safely back on Earth in Kazakhstan with a 2 kg bag of rocket seeds which have been held in microgravity for the last six months on board the International Space Station. The seeds then travelled with Scott Kelly to NASA in Houston on a charter flight from Moscow, and returned to the UK on Thursday 4th March.

We are delighted to have been selected to participate in 'Rocket Science', a UK-wide live science experiment that will contribute to our understanding of growing plants in space. On the 12th April, we will receive 100 rocket seeds that have been on the ISS and 100 seeds that have remained on Earth. The seeds will be in colour-coded packets so we won't know which packet contains which seeds. On Tuesday 19th April, we will sow the seeds and monitor their growth over the next six weeks. Our results, together with those from schools across the country, will be entered into a data collection website and the results analysed by biostatisticians. This is a fantastic opportunity for our students to work scientifically, to gain horticulture skills and to contribute to the work of scientists from the Royal Horticultural Society and the European Space Agency.

Computer Science, Business and Economics Department On Friday 4th March 10 A-level Economics students attended a lecture delivered by Andy Haldane, Chief Economist at the Bank of England, who featured in the top most 100 influential people in the world in TIME magazine in 2014. As an influential (and sometimes outspoken) member of the Monetary Policy Committee, Mr Haldane contributes to decisions affecting UK monetary policy, including the monthly decision concerning the Bank's minimum lending rate on which mortgage interest payments are based. Mr Haldane gave an interesting and wide-ranging insight into the current state of the UK economy, focusing on the consequences of the 2009 banking crisis and subsequent credit crunch. For those of you thinking of taking out or amending a mortgage, he predicted that interest rates will stay at the current historically low level for the foreseeable future. Not good news for the savers amongst us!

Food Technology

Who would think that the humble pizza, with some business acumen, creativity, flair, economic forecasting, planning and marketing could raise an amazing £633.92 for Water Aid and their GOAL 6 campaign: to deliver basic access to water, sanitation and hygiene to everyone, everywhere by 2030!

Year 8 did another brilliant job. Project managers in each group planned and executed their mini enterprise activity superbly and we raised the most we ever have in all the years we’ve run the business topic in Food Technology! The overall team with the most profit was headed up by Jacob Wood Doyle from 8AD with £28.75 and the most profit as a group was 8BE with £82.96. Well done and thanks to all the people who bought and supported. Maths

STEP Day On March 2nd Blue Coat hosted the third and final inset day of the year for students working towards the Sixth Term Examination Paper, in preparation for applying to one of the most prestigious universities in the UK. STEP Mathematics is a well-established mathematics examination (3 hours in length) designed to test candidates on questions that are similar in style to undergraduate mathematics, and is used by the University of Cambridge as the basis for conditional offers. Other universities sometimes ask candidates to take STEP as part of their offer. There are also a number of candidates who sit STEP papers as a challenge. We have 13 students taking the STEP 1 exam and 2 students taking both the STEP 1 and STEP 2 exam.

UKMT challenges This year we had an impressive 120 entries into the Senior UKMT mathematics challenge. This involved some of our finest mathematicians from across Years 9, 10 and 11 competing in an extremely testing individual examination.

Huge congratulations are due to Elliott Mellor, who – after spotting a computer error – had his paper re-marked and earned himself an entry into the Maclaurin Olympiad (the top 500 students in the country). This is the first time the school has ever had a student invited to such a prestigious stage of the competition and we wish Elliott all the best of luck with the result. Thankfully, the competition is so high at this stage that humans are required to do the marking!

Further congratulations are due to James Barker who has earned a place in the prestigious Pink Kangaroo challenge which will pit some of the best mathematical brains in the country against one another. Tom Simmonds, also of Year 11, achieved a gold award in addition to 6 students who achieved Silver and 11 students who achieved Bronze.

Results were also very strong in Year 10 with 10 students achieving a Silver award and 11 achieving Bronze - Lucy Kershaw taking the Best in Year Award this time around.

In Year 9, there were some fantastic results. An impressive score was achieved by both Rachel Diamond (Best in Year) and Manjaka Mananasy, both of whom not only achieved a Gold award but also made it through to the Grey Kangaroo round – very well done! 3 other students managed to obtain a Silver award and a further 10 made it to Bronze.

Music

Music is gearing towards the annual Easter Concert where over 150 pupils will perform in the school hall on Tuesday 22th March. This concert has been revamped and geared towards to the achievements and contributions of the Year 11 and Year 13 students. It will be a celebration of all of the musical achievements of our leavers and will feature many of them as soloists and in small ensembles. Year 13 music students, Sam Noden, James Atkins, Laurie Wood and Ellis Howarth are planning the concert, preparing a concert running order, approaching pupils to perform solos and designing a concert programme which will be used on the evening to accompany the music. The skills that the pupils are learning from this responsibility are invaluable for their future studies and it will be a valuable addition to their record of achievement. It also allows the ‘leavers’ to organise their own final farewell to school music and to have a real sense of achievement at the end of the evening. The concert will once again feature the Blue Coat School Performers of the Year and Musician of the Year awards. Pupils have been voting in the following categories – Brass Player of the Year, Percussionist of the Year, Jazz Performer of the Year, String Player of the Year, Chorister of the Year and the overall Musician of the Year. Last year’s winner of the Musician of the Year, Amy Ellershaw, has been asked to return from Huddersfield University to be our Guest of Honour, and to present the awards to this year’s winners. Pupils have been asked to think about the overall contribution the nominees have made to school ensembles and the music department in general. We will announce the results on the evening of the concert and they will be published in the next newsletter.

National Festival of Music for Youth On Saturday 19th March the music department will again be taking 2 ensembles to perform at the regional auditions of the National Festival of Music for Youth at Rochdale Town Hall. The Senior Choir, and a new ensemble, The Blue Coat Boys of Brass will be performing to 2 adjudicators where we hope to impress and to be invited to perform at the NFMY finals to be held in June at the Symphony Hall, Birmingham. The choir will perform modern and classical works by Rutter, Chilcott and John Farmer, whilst the Boys of Brass will be performing a new arrangement of the West Side Story Suite by Leonard Bernstein. The Senior Choir feature students from KS4 and KS5, whilst the Brass Quintet consisting of 2 trumpets (Adam Neild and James Atkins), French Horn (Ben Hartnell- Booth), Trombone (Sam Noden) and Tuba (Alex Cockburn) are boys from Year 11, 12 and 13.This is the most prestigious Youth Music festival in Britain where the cream of Youth Music is showcased and we are confident that the musicians of Blue Coat will produce some performances to remember.

Year 11 Performance evening On Tuesday 12th January, our Year 11 musicians performed in the school hall to parents and friends as part of their GCSE Music exam. The performance element consists of 2 live pieces of music which constitute 40% of the final mark so it really is very important that the pupils are as well prepared for this as possible. It was a lovely evening and the pupils performed very well indeed. Many parents and staff attended and the comments about the performances were fantastic. Particular standout performances were Imogen Sleith singing Dear Daddy, accompanied by her father on piano, and Luke Dood, performing on electric guitar, music by Jimi Hendrix and displaying some superb looping skills with a specialist loop/effects pedal. Very impressive indeed!

National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain Many of our pupils have been very busy over the past few weeks with their participation in the regional qualifiers of the National Brass Band Championships held in Bradford and Blackpool. Many of our musicians were performing with local bands such as Dobcross Youth, Stalybridge Old, Oldham (Lees), Lees, Hawk Green, Uppermill, Delph, Diggle and Fairey. Although there were no national qualifiers this year, the pupils gave some fantastic performances and were credited with excellent comments in the national band press and on social media. Drama What amazing and talented students we have in Drama. During this busy term we have put on superb productions, had successful moderations and hosted visiting companies.

Splendid –The Odyssey Early this term we hosted a performance of The Odyssey by ‘Splendid Productions’. All Year 9 Drama students were part of the audience for a Brechtian Performance based on Homer’s The Odyssey. Students have completed a series of lessons exploring Brecht’s techniques for political theatre. This will form another project for Part A of the Arts Award and also a review for Part B. Years 10 - 13 also watched the performance and took part in a workshop delivered by the actors from Splendid which has enabled students both to improve coursework and develop the curriculum enrichment so important for achieving high grades.

GCSE Showcase This year’s GCSE showcase “A Night of Dark Fairy Tales” was a huge success. Year 10 under the direction of Miss Smith performed a Physical Theatre piece based on Grimm’s tales “Iron Hands” and “Hansel and Gretel”, a very tight and impressive performance. Year 11 students performed a 45 minute version of the very dark Cinderella story – “Ash Girl”. The group consisted of 20 excellent actors, a set designer, lighting designer and 2 costume designers.

Bedbug- National Theatre Connections This year’s National Theatre Connections performance was exceptional. “Bedbug” was both a musical and a challenging political satire. Adam Neild (Year 11) provided accomplished musical director skills to lead the cast in often difficult and challenging musical numbers; he really controlled the piece and dealt with, at times, complicated underscoring.

Following feedback from the two National Theatre Directors who were assessing the performance we have just been informed that our company will transfer to the main stage at the Lowry Theatre on 13th May.

Coliseum Miss Smith has been working with enthusiastic and talented Year 8 students who performed their piece “When I grow too old to smile” based on “Our Gracie” performed on 14th March at the Coliseum Theatre. Religious Studies

Key Stage 3 Big Questions Club Since the last newsletter the Big Questions club has started which all Key Stage 3 students are invited to. The club discusses life's big questions such as Does God exist? Is there a life after Death? What it mean to be a 'good' human?

Students have the opportunity to explore these important questions in creative ways such as film, clay modelling and debate. The first questions being explored are the moral questions that arise from Toy Story 3 and the regular attendees of the club have enjoyed discussing whether the character Andy is like a God and whether the toy’s hopes and fears are similar to our own.

Year 9 and 13 work together to show compassion for our community In November, following recent news coverage and latest John Lewis advert, our form (6SY) felt the need to raise awareness for an issue we consider extremely important; loneliness amongst the elderly especially at Christmas time. After conducting research into charities and facilities dedicated to the cause, a team of Year 13 students delivered an assembly to various year groups lower down the school, informing them of the magnitude of the issue, unfortunately how common it is, but also how we as a school community, and as individuals can help.

In addition to this, we worked with a group of Year 9 students to actively make a difference to those in our local community potentially in this situation, by pairing up and writing letters in the form of a Christmas card, to residents of a local care home for the elderly, The Alexandra Care Home in Oldham. We explained the research we had been doing, as well as letting them know a bit about us, asking questions about them, and ensuring they knew they were being thought of. It was really nice to extend the hand of friendship to someone who may be in need of it, and we are all looking forward to receiving replies from the residents.

Written by Meg Bowler 6SY

‘All You Need is Love’ At the start of February, a group of our A Level RS Students attended an intensive full day lecture given by the philosopher Dr Peter Vardy in Manchester. The day was entitled ‘All You Need is Love’ and focused on The Bible, Christian Ethics and Love, and how these can be applied to modern ethical issues such as Genetic Engineering, Fertility Treatment and Sexual Ethics. Students were able to learn about the theory of Situation Ethics in more depth, a vital part of their A level course, and to consider some of the big ethical questions facing our generation.

They were also asked to consider whether everyone has the right to a child, and this culminated in an audience debate where some of our students articulated their opinions to students from a wide range of different schools. Year 12 student Olivia Mulvey said; “The day was really useful and enjoyable as it challenged me to consider different points of view and ethical theories in more depth. It also gave me a good taste of what lectures at university will be like.” English

This term has been a very important one for English, with changes being introduced nationally. We started our intervention programme, designed to remedy any problem areas seen in the Christmas mocks for our year 11 students. The intervention provided is bespoke; students attend only those sessions which will help to rectify an area for development arising from the mock. This maximises the use of teacher time but also appeals to the logic of the Year 11 student; if they’ve been selected to attend a particular session then it’s to put right a particular problem, and they can see the benefits of this. This year sees the last of controlled assessment. All students need to have complete folders which are representative of their work over the two year course.

Film Club Miss Wild has introduced a film club for Key Stage 3 pupils where interested film-buffs can watch a film, eat their lunch and then discuss the various strengths and weaknesses of the production. This club has been very well attended and Miss Wild has been impressed by the insightful and astute comments made by budding film critics.

Theatre Trips The most recent was organised by Mrs Hargreaves, Miss Nelson and Miss Charnock who took a group of students to see Macbeth. There is no greater study guide than to see the play performed. Miss Rothwell arranged for a theatre company to come to school to perform ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ for Year 10 students, a set text for the new exam. This was very successful, with both staff and students saying that the company really brought the story and the characters to life.

The Accelerated Reader programme continues to foster interest in reading as well as healthy competition as teachers and students fight it out to be the Biggest Reader in the year. The competitive element provides an edge to the programme but of course the real bonus is the pleasure to be gained from watching children enjoying their books, and to reap the rewards in terms of pupil progress; the students’ work inevitably becomes better as a result of their increased reading rates.

Social Sciences

Sociology Sociology support sessions, in preparation for the forthcoming examinations, have been running at lunchtime for those students aiming for A*/A grade, with the after school sessions trialling a gender- specific scheme to encourage competition between the boys and girls - Ms Coleman taking the girls’ group and Mr Casey takes the boys’ group.

Child development In Child Development, year 10 students got to experience trying out the pregnancy vest. This is a 12 pound virtual pregnancy “bump” which allows students to feel how difficult and cumbersome being pregnant can be. The students were challenged to complete a “daily chore assault course”. Students found simply getting up off the floor a challenge!

In Year 11, all students have now completed the Child Study component of the course. Students have documented the growth and development of a child over 6 months, producing a detailed report of how the child has progressed since the initial introductory visit in July 2015. Parents of the child being studied often request a copy of the Child Study for their own personal records as a result of the detailed work and photographic evidence collected for the portfolios. Health and Social Care At Key Stage 5 students have been completing work on their portfolios which make up a third of their final AS/A level. Year 12s have organised visits to both an early years’ establishment and residential care home for the elderly as part of their communication portfolio. All students have independently contacted the establishments, organised visits and organised activities to allow them to compare how communication skills differ when dealing with these two very different care client environments.

Year 13 students have completed their health promotion portfolios. This entails students researching a current health issue, creating resources and presenting information to a particular target group. Students have presented to the elderly, sixth form groups, and Year 7 and 10 forms with health promotions on obesity and healthy eating, the dangers of smoking and mental health awareness.

Citizenship Ms Ingham’s Year 9 classes have been taking part in the Mosaic Enterprise challenge, whereby students try to run a successful business, using a virtual computer-based business venture to achieve maximum profits. The highest profit one of our teams made was £2.5 million, (and this was despite glitches in the software that affected our teams) Considering this competition is open to older age groups our Year 9 classes performed extremely well.

Year 7 & 8 Youth Council Elections The Oldham Youth Council is an elected group of youth councillors who are involved in changing the lives of the young people in Oldham. Youth Councillors are elected to the Oldham Youth Council every 2 years and run a number of campaigns each year which affect the lives of young people.

This year Miss Richardson arranged for Years 7 and 8 to take part, voting for someone they felt would be appropriate. Would-be candidates volunteered, created a manifesto which was then sent to the Youth Council team to derive the list of candidates. The whole of Key stage 3 were then given the chance to vote in form time for the candidate they felt appropriate to "be the voice of the people". At the time of going to press, the votes are still being counted.

History Department It’s been a busy term in the History department with the lead up to mock exams starting and external exams around the corner. Our Key Stage 3 students have been getting stuck into engaging historical topics and developing key skills to ensure they meet or even exceed their target levels, in good preparation for our new history GCSE.

Key Stage Three Our Year 7 students have been enjoying learning about the Battle of Hastings and have recently completed a challenging assessment on ‘Why William won’. More recently they’ve been looking at how William kept control of Medieval England and have been investigating what it means to be a successful Medieval king, whilst continuing to develop their literacy skills through a ‘power write’ assessment where students created their own articles. Students will now be moving on to the Tudors, which ties in with our new GCSE topic on Henry VIII; they will investigate why and how Henry broke from the Roman Catholic Church, and how it changed England forever.

Year 8 students have been learning about what shaped the places around them with the Industrial Revolution and have recently investigated the workhouse and written a letter explaining why Blue Coat was better than the workhouse. Blue Coat opened its doors to pupils in the same year as the Poor Law Reform Act, which led to the opening of workhouses across England, the destruction of families and the abandonment of hope. Thomas Henshaw provided an alternative. Understandably all our students decided to argue that Blue Coat was a much nicer place for a child to be compared to Oldham Workhouse!

Soon pupils will be moving on to looking at the causes of WW1 and the key events and completing a homework project on the Oldham pals.

Our brand new Votes for Women unit has really intrigued Year 9. They have been completing an independent research project on Local Suffragettes, looking at the Suffragettes who lived in the local area and the links between Manchester and the key events of the campaign. Students produced some outstanding work with many students choosing Annie Kenney from Saddleworth. They now understand why our Humanities building is named after her, and we had some students making use of our local museums, archives and even Historians who are next door neighbours. Alongside the research project, Year 9 are focusing on developing key skills linked to our new GCSE, with a particular focus on historical interpretations. Next they will investigate America in the 1920s and will focus on exciting developments in America during this period such as the Harlem Renaissance.

We had a lot of interest from students at our Year 9 options evening and in our GCSE taster lesson last month. The course is changing from a Modern World 20th century study to a very broad spectrum and we are excited by the topics. There will be 3 exams all taken at the end of Year 11 with no coursework or controlled assessment sections. Paper one is a study of Crime and Punishment over 1000 years starting with William I and highlighting key events including smugglers, medieval judgements of guilt, witches in Stuart times, Jack the Ripper and the advent of modern policing. Paper two has two depth studies, the first looking at the politics of Henry VIII, and the second focusing on the Cold War. The final paper is looking at Weimar and Nazi Germany which will fit in well with Year 9s’ awareness of WW1 and the impact that this had on Germany.

Key Stage Four Our Year 10 students are onto their final topic of their first exam paper and are starting to make links between the units they have studied. They have learnt about the causes of WW1, the Treaty of Versailles and peacekeeping in the 1920-1930s and are now studying the causes of WW2 through analysing Hitler’s foreign policy in the 1930s. They will soon begin learning the key content and carry out their controlled assessment on Votes for Women and they will need to use all their skills that they have learnt so far in order to succeed. We know that our Year 10s will work extremely hard and are looking forward to some excellent work.

Year 11 students are working very hard on the final race towards their GCSE exams. They are studying for their final paper on British Society, 1939-1975 and they are currently investigating immigration to Britain during and after WW2 and how this has impacted on British society. History revision is well underway and students are working very hard to prepare for their GCSEs and are being supported by their teachers with afterschool revision sessions.

Key Stage Five Students studying A Level History are working extremely hard and have just completed their mock examinations. Year 12 have been investigating all the causes of the Civil War in America and look forward to learning about the Civil War battles that took place to analyse the reasons why the Confederacy lost. In their Tudor unit of study they are working towards their enquiry into the Mid Tudor Crisis. They are hard at work revising and refining their essay techniques and are taking their work very seriously. Year 13 are currently working on their final coursework piece on Bismark which will secure them 20% of their A Level, and in the Unit 3 they have been assessing the impact of Franklin D. Rooseveldt’s New Deal in America; with over 2/3 of the way through the course, they will have plenty of time for intense revision ready for their final examination. Extra-curricular Finally, Mrs. Gartside had the brilliant idea of launching the “brilliant club” on Thursday lunchtimes. This is for any Y7 and Y8 who love their Rubik's cubes and enjoy codes and problem solving. Students play chess, and also try to solve a range of brain teasers, from classic wooden puzzles, to planet’s triomino puzzle, all the way to the latest problem in the Alan Turing Cryptography competition! Students are about to begin a problem solving tournament devised by Elliott Mellor and Max Roberts, our resident year 11 expert cryptographers. If students want a challenge, and a chance to be “brilliant”, they need to visit the Brilliant Club in the extracurricular section of Bloodle and attend the sessions!

Art

As part of our preparation for Easter, Year 8 pupils have been working hard on a cross-curricular project with Religious Studies, exploring a variety of artists and religious themes to develop their understanding of symbols related to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. They have produced some fantastic art work including papercut stained glass windows and booklets, paintings and 3D sculptures. To celebrate the success and effort the pupils have put into the project their work will be on display around the school in time for the Lent communions and Easter service.

PE Department

Girls’ PE Netball across all year groups has been at a very high standard. The 7A team have finished second in division one, only losing one very close game against Saddleworth. They then drew against the same team in a friendly later on in the season. The aim now is to win the Oldham Schools rally. 7B also came second in their league and have gained promotion to division one for next year. Both the Year 8 teams will be in division one next year as the B team have had a successful year and gained promotion. The A team have also played some very good games and finished mid table overall. The Year 9s have also had a strong season and finished it off by narrowly missing out on winning the Oldham Schools rally, which came down to goal difference. U13 Handball For the Oldham Schools Tournament our girls successfully turned their hand to handball. They played against the schools across Oldham and only missed out on winning the competition due to goal difference. They won all of their fixtures apart from a 2-3 loss to and Crompton: a strong performance in a new sport and for a newly formed team.

Football Both the U13 and U15 girls’ football have had a good season so far with a large number of Y7s signing up to be part of an ever growing squad. The U15s are joint top of the Oldham Schools table for the second consecutive year, with one round left to play; let's hope their hard work pays off and they remain champions for another season. On the Futsal pitch they did not disappoint, winning the Oldham Schools Futsal Competition and qualifying for the next round representing Oldham in . The next big event for the footballers is the Premier League Tournament at Manchester City FC for the U13 team. They are hoping to match the success of last year’s team and represent City in the final.

U14 Girls Badminton The U14 Girls Badminton team qualified for the Greater Manchester School Games. Although they did not reach the finals, they came second in their group which is a highly creditable performance when up against many clubs, county and even regional players from across Manchester. A special mention to Millie Ravening, team captain, who went undefeated in both the qualifying stages and at the School Games.

Boys’ PE The Year 7 and Year 9 football teams are through to the Oldham Schools Cup Final. The finals are due to be played at AVROS just before Easter. The Year 9 team were involved in a close contest where they battled to a 2-1 victory away at Newman Academy, whilst the Year 7 team had a comfortable 6-1 win over Radclyffe.

The Year 8 team will play their semi-final against Hulme, in the hope we have all our KS3 teams competing in the finals on the same evening.

Ski Trip to Zell am See

53 students and 6 staff members went on the Ski Trip to Zell am See in Austria during February half term. After the 30 hour coach journey there, the students had an absolutely fantastic time learning how to ski. All the students who went managed to negotiate a red run which allowed all groups to make it to the top of the Kitzsteinhorn glacier at an altitude of 3200m. The weather that day was fantastic allowing for breathtaking (quite literally) views over Salzburg which will last long in the memories of all who were there! Their behaviour was immaculate and commented upon on numerous occasions from everybody that we met. They were a credit to the school and made all the staff proud.

We have also received some wonderful feedback from parents: “Our son has a wonderful time, and his memories of the week spent with yourselves and his friends will remain with him for many years to come. We really appreciate the time given up by staff members in order to make this happen.”

“My son has had a fantastic time. Without the commitment of staff members giving up their free time these opportunities would not be available.”

“Our daughter has just returned from Zell am See, Austria and we would just like to take the opportunity to say how much our daughter and her friends have thoroughly enjoyed the trip. Blue Coat staff made this a memorable holiday for the students, and we can only say a massive thank you. The teachers are a credit to your school.

The excitement has already started for Italy 2017.

BBC News School Report

The BBC News School Report team had a busy day on Thursday 10th March. They worked alongside Mrs Lane, Miss Spragg and Mr Protheroe on every aspect on the news, from researching local, national and international stories, to producing the final product: a report which was uploaded to the BBC news and school websites.

Taking on the role and responsibility of editors, researchers, scriptwriters and camera crew for the day, pupils to put together a news programme covering local, national and international news stories. Pupils were based in the library, but sent sub-teams to film across school. Students initially brainstormed stories which included Donald Trump, a breathing cobbled street and overcharging electric suppliers before making an executive decision on the four main stories that they wanted to report.

The final reports included a story on space travel to Mars, the death of George Martin and a penguin that thought he was a human being. We also had a special report on the school production of Bedbugs which allowed pupils to interview our very own Mrs Edwards Cotton.

The pupils got a real sense of what it was like to investigate news and the time pressure required for putting a report together. Whilst the day started calmly by lunchtime students were feeling the pressure of what it felt like to work against deadlines.

At the end of the day, we said goodbye to our longest serving member of the news team Humair Muir who has been attending BBC news club for four years. He has demonstrated fantastic enthusiasm and in more recent years been an excellent role model for younger pupils who have joined BBC School Report. When asked why Humair had decided to attend the club for four years he said “It is fun, I have learnt lots and I have learnt to work with other people”. Next year Humair will be sadly missed.

After a very exciting day, we now have a very professional looking news report on the school website.

Chaplaincy This term we have continued to focus on the school verse for the year:

“Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid of them and don’t be frightened, because the Lord your God will go with you. He will not leave you or forget you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6)

Form worship is both active and reflective with many students taking responsibility for leading form reflection. Students have been contemplating themes such as identity, injustice and temptation by looking at their own lifestyles and the impact they have on others.

During Lent, every form group has been challenged to complete some of the ’40 acts’. This is a challenge from the Christian charity ‘Stewardship’ that encourages us to do something generous during Lent. The acts range from making someone laugh, to sending an anonymous gift to someone who might be sad or lonely. Form groups have enjoyed the acts and have been challenged to live more generously.

In the Lenten house communions we will be following on from our Christmas theme ‘Immanuel, God with us’. As we consider the events of that first Easter, we will see that it is because of the cross that we now can have a relationship with God, so because of his sacrifice Jesus is our Immanuel, forever. Many students will be involved in the services in a variety of different ways such as leading the singing, presenting a reflective piece of music, reading passages of scripture, and presenting staged drama.

Christian union has grown in number with students from all year groups attending. There is always a lot of fun to be had, doing craft, drama, hot topic discussion or playing games. This is always linked to biblical teaching, allowing the students who attend to support on another in their walk of faith. The salt cellar youth project support the staff leading this club, and also run a drop in club on a Tuesday lunchtime for students to play games or just stop for a chat.

The worship band have been practising hard each week in proportion for the Lent communions and Easter services. They have chosen presentation song called ‘Forever’, which describes Jesus as a resurrected King and will be used as part of whole school worship at Easter. Duke of Edinburgh DofE is progressing well this term. We are unofficially the second biggest DofE in the country in terms of registrations. The Bronze groups recently had their annual team building session with Oldham Sports Development. This has proved to be very successful and gets students thinking about what it is to be a good leader and a good team member and the skills, such as communication, that are involved. Four members of staff, including the Head, have been invited to Buckingham Palace as part of the 60th anniversary celebrations. This reflects the size of our commitment to the scheme, and it would be lovely…but actually staff are needed in school, with pupils, so Mr Read will represent us.

Year Group and House News

Year 7 Year 7 pupils entered a competition, to see who could write the best description of their early experiences of Blue Coat.

The winner from BH House was Rebecca Howarth, the winner from LM was Amy Williams and the winner from RW was Samuel Cookson.

The overall winner was Rebecca Howarth from 7B. Her account has been embedded in the Headteacher’s opening letter. Year 8 The spring term has certainly been a busy one for Year 8, particularly seeing huge developments within the Junior Leadership Team, the Restorative Champions and the Advice and Guidance team, which looks at careers, progression and information.

The Junior Leadership Team have certainly got into the swing of leadership and have been chairing their own meetings once per fortnight. During their meetings, the team have been discussing key issues within the year group, such as improving social spaces and form time. As a result, they will be launching a film club for Year 8 students every Tuesday lunchtime, which will enable students to socialise safely and enjoy some community fellowship. During form time, team have arranged for each form to present an assembly based on a variety of topics ranging from diversity and culture, to the history of the Blue Coat School. We look forward to seeing the contributions each form makes to these assemblies next term.

The Restorative Champions have also made great start to their leadership this term in embedding Restorative Practice in the year group and have spent their first term gathering information from students in Year 8 about topics and issues which are affecting them and causing concerns at the moment. The Restorative Champions have since undergone training to lead restorative circles with each form group, to lead a discussion about how these issues might affect us as a school community and how we can overcome them. This is an exciting new venture for the school in terms of developing Restorative Practice approaches and creating opportunities for young people to talk openly about their feelings and working together to find solutions and strategies to manage their emotions.

In terms of individual success, Ben Marples and Matthew Reynolds have achieved a trophy for long term service to the Helen O'Grady Drama Academy, whilst Elisabeth Ashton and India Singleton have won a piano duet competition in Huddersfield for the 4th year in a row! Many congratulations to these students! As always, Year 8 is a busy and exciting year and we are looking forward to an equally productive and exciting summer term. Well done Year 8!

Year 9 Aim Higher – Manchester University As part of the Year 9 Interventions package, 25 students attended the Manchester University Open Day, which was held on the 2nd February at Manchester University. The places were offered to students capable of securing access to a degree course and who would benefit from the opportunity to look in more detail at what such an educational route might offer.

As part of the Manchester Higher programme, the Campus Visit provides learners with the opportunity to visit Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Manchester campuses. Learners were able to gain an insight in to student life and the courses available. Through a series of Workshops and a Campus Tour, they worked closely with current undergraduate students from both universities to obtain first-hand information about studying at university. There was also a performance from performing arts company “2Engage” about choosing relevant GCSE options. All in all students really enjoyed the day and appreciated the opportunities afforded, to look at education post Key Stage 5 .

Accelerated Learning Programme On the 21st March 2016 all 223 students and in Year 9, along with the Tutor team, will take part in an introductory session about Accelerated Learning, led by Karim Al-Abbas from Enlighten Education. Thereafter 3 workshops will run on Tuesday 26th April, Thursday 5th May and Wednesday 11th May after Easter. The focus will as always be: memory training techniques and the development of a positive mind set for the most effective learning and revision in the run up to the summer exams

Year 10 Congratulations to Eri-Be Doro, who in the field of Rugby League, has been selected for the Warrington Wolves Under-16 Academy. This is a tremendous achievement.

Eri-Be has shown real potential and commitment to get to this stage. He must now show disciple and dedication if he is to progress. A place on the Academy involves trips to Warrington twice a week and competing in matches.

Year 11 Year 11 students are working as hard, if not harder than ever, going to “Drop In” and Intervention classes in order to be fully prepared for their GCSEs. On Monday, 16th May normal lessons are suspended and their exam season timetable starts.

In order to help students prepare, a programme developed in school last year for “Elite Performers” has been adapted so that all students know the techniques used by the most successful students. They should all now know about “Task not Time” as a strategy, using past papers to identify their strengths and weaknesses and even what to look for in examiners’ reports.

Looking beyond the GCSEs, in anticipation of their longest ever summer holiday, some students have signed up for an amazing opportunity known as “The Challenge” with the National Citizen Service (NCS). “The Challenge” is a part-residential programme that takes place over 18 days, split into 3 parts over the summer, with breaks in-between. The first two parts are residential, with all meals, kit and accommodation provided. First, teams develop their leadership and teamwork skills by working with some of the best outdoor instructors in the UK, enabling them to create friendships and build confidence. After a short break, young people return for part two where they stay in university style accommodation and gain new skills in an area they are passionate about. Finally, teams have the unique opportunity to design, pitch and deliver their own social action project. Then they graduate, receive a signed certificate from the Prime Minister. The cost of all this to students is mere £30.

It looks like fun because it is. It’s exceptional value for money and truly developmental. The programme represents and exceptional opportunity for young people.

For more information and to book a place for a Year 11 or Year 12 student visit www.ncsthechallenge.org or contact Katy Robinson the local NCS Co-ordinator, at [email protected] or on 07880 038 106.

Sixth Form

UCAS Convention Thursday the 3rd of March saw Blue Coat Sixth form students attend the annual UCAS convention at Manchester Central. The careers event gave Blue Coat students the chance to meet with representatives of over 130 universities. The traditional Higher Education event is also well attended by big business with over 30 top employers there to meet students to dispense advice on apprenticeships, internships and sponsored degrees.

Duke of Edinburgh Gold. Congratulations to Sam Bamford, Siobhan Goudy, James Holderness, Hannah Lockett, Mathew Macdonald, Jonathan Oswald, Abigail Parkin, Bryony Rogers, Ruth Sinclair and Eleanor Sleigh who are the first ten students of the 2014-15 cohort to complete their Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award.

All ten have completed 12 months of continuous volunteering, 12 months of skill acquisition, 6 months of a physical activity, a 4 day 3 night expedition in the lake district and a 5 day residential setting away from home. University Survival Cooking Blue Coat Upper Sixth students prepared for life after Blue Coat by attending a university survival guide hosted by school caterers Mellors. The fun session included an introduction to nutrition and healthy eating, cooking on a budget, 15 minute meals, cocking with leftovers, essential shopping guide and the omelette challenge. Special thanks must go to Danielle Bretherton and Andy Hay nutritionist and development chef for Mellors for giving up their time.

EPQ – Extended Project Qualification The eleventh of February was a big night for our Year 13 Extended Project Qualification students as parents, pupils and teachers were invited to the EPQ showcase evening. EPQs allow students to choose a topic of their choice and do some extensive research into that field before compiling an extensive report on the subject.

This year’s cohort did not disappoint as guests were wowed by the Year 13 students research into a range of subjects from making money on stocks and shares using mathematical algorithms, to the contentious issue of fracking, to that of medical developments in the treatment of hand injuries. Special thanks go to all the students who took part, the EPQ tutors and Miss Elliot and Mr Nalborczyk who run the programme.

What Next Week? February saw Blue Coat’s annual careers extravaganza “What Next Week?” take place. The week- long event was kicked off by Newcastle University who gave an introduction to University life. Tuesday was apprenticeship day with Positive Steps and apprenticeship ambassadors arriving at Blue Coat. Wednesday was all about individual subject choices and careers with 10 different top universities

Gap years included former Blue Coat student Emily Dobson-Sharp talking to students about her experiences teaching in India on a gap year with Project Trust. The week was finished off on Thursday with no less than 10 University lecturers arriving to deliver sessions on studying individual courses at the UK’s best universities. House News

Senior Student Review - Blue Coat Swimming Gala 2016 And the winner of the Blue Coat Swimming Gala 2016 is……. Lord Mothersill. As a House Captain of the winning team I would like to start by congratulating everyone who took part in the event and thank you for making it such an amazing event.

We had an excellent evening’s entertainment in the new sports centre in Oldham with races from every year group and stroke. It was especially good to see swimmers of all capabilities and everyone supporting each other as the competitors swam the more conventional 25 metres to the finish.

The more professional length also opened up a new opportunity for the school which is to keep records of the fastest times of the swimmers. Here are just a taster to show how impressive some of our swimmers are.

Here are the fastest competitors by Year Group and Gender, across all strokes.

S Peacock (LM) Year 7 Girl J Williams (RW) Freestyle 17:06 Year 9 Girl 13:78 Freestyle T Hughes (BH) Year 7 Boy Abdul M (BH) Freestyle 17:22 Year 9 Boy 15:28 Freestyle

Year 8 Girl N Edwards (BH) Butterfly 16:66 Senior Girl B Wright (BH) Freestyle 16:19

Year 8 Boy Sam K (RW) Freestyle 16:19 Senior Boy Leo H (LM) Freestyle 12:87

These are excellent times and they are just the fastest for the year group, there are full records of all the fastest times available and they will be updated every year, although I imagine some of these times will be tough to beat.

Once again it was an awesome evening and thrill to watch my house win in a lively and close competition.

We’d like to add a quick footnote from House Captain, Rebecca Rees (Birley Hall).

“As a BH captain I was sad to come last, but I thought BH was the best at shouting encouragement for all the years and generally having the best morale. All three houses did brilliantly and I think everyone had a great time, including the sixth formers who got to swim while reliving old rivalries of house competitions.”

The event itself attracted over 75 participants and close to 150 spectators. It highlighted the sense of community that Blue Coat has, with parents, teachers and children alike all enjoying a memorable night in the brand new local facilities.

Tom Rosedale & the Senior Student Team. Fashion Show. Over 60 students entered the first ever Inter-House Fashion Show. They had to complete a full design brief considering in teams of three or four, which needed to include the full garment design, colours and materials with details of how they plan to create it. All materials had to be recycled and then upcycled, nothing can be bought and used as new.

48 students have been successful and will not embark on a two week making process in preparation for the event which will take place on Friday 18th March.

Teach Meet On Tuesday, 22nd February, we hosted a very successful and inspiring Teach Meet. This is a group of teachers and educators who get together to share good practice, practical innovations and personal insights in teaching. This particular Teach Meet focused on challenging and meeting the needs of our most able students. There was an outstanding turn-out with over 60 teachers from 16 schools attending the event. Shared ideas ranged from strategies to develop curiosity and higher order thinking in students to promoting independent learning and ownership of development. Teachers modelled innovative ways of encouraging students to think ‘out of the box’, putting themselves in the shoes of an inventor or a historian, gaining a fresh perspective on areas of the curriculum. 14 attendees shared a variety of ideas, both visitors and Blue Coat staff.

Mrs Gartside talked about creating a culture where students are encouraged to aim high and have self- belief, along with nurturing the notion that it is ‘cool to achieve’. Mrs Rutherford spoke about the use of video as a tool for teachers to assess and reflect on their own teaching and learning and the impact of strategies on the different abilities in the classroom. Feedback from attendees was overwhelmingly positive, with a large number of individuals contacting the school to give their thanks. ‘I would like to say thank you for the invite to the Teach Meet, it was excellent. I definitely got a lot out of everyone’s presentation and will be trying some of the initiatives in my own teaching’. This was an excellent opportunity for teachers to be engaged, inspired and simply to soak up the atmosphere created by the coming together of so many enthusiastic teachers.

Primary Outreach As a CAS (Computing At School) Lead School, we were approached by the Deputy Head of Burnley Brow Primary School in Chadderton to deliver a two hour introductory session on Coding. Mr Ballantyne, Ms Wright and Mr Lightfoot taught “Scratch”, a programming language designed for beginners, to two Year 6 classes.

Nicola Malone, the coordinator, emailed the following: "I just wanted to get in touch to say thank you and pass on how much the staff and children enjoyed the session on Tuesday. The Y6 children will be following up their learning next half term in their Computing sessions- the teachers have decided to swap their topics about so they can use your session as a hook into next term's learning."

Our intention is to maintain the contact and deliver further sessions as part of our outreach responsibilities

Teacher Taster Days The school has organised a series of Teacher Taster days. This gives those interested in starting a career in teaching an insight into what it is like. They get to observe lessons, speak to students, meet current trainees and understand the process of applying to become a teacher, and on the 24th February we welcomed 20 interested and talented potentials. We have further days on the 23rd of March and 6th of May.

Through the School Direct model we recruit, train and 'grow our own' future teachers to work in our school. The Teacher Taster days are an important way to attract the very best future teachers into our school.

Spread the word. Change lives. Teach!

School Direct The Blue Coat School is the lead school in The Northern Alliance, a group of schools that deliver School Direct teacher training. This term our trainees have been at their second placement schools and are now two thirds of the way through their course. Half of our fantastic trainees have already been snapped up for teaching jobs in September. We are proud of the quality of training we offer and the standard of our trainees, so wherever possible we seek to employ them within the Northern Alliance of schools. Three have gained jobs at Blue Coat School: Mr Rankin in Mathematics, Dr Higginson in Science and Mr Mkandawire in Computer Science. Others have jobs at Oldham Academy North, Wardle Academy, , King James School, Newman College and Oldham Sixth Form.

If you would like to find out more from them about what the year has entailed, you can read their inspiring blogs on our school website.

If you know of anyone who might like to train to teach with The Northern Alliance in September 2016, and gain a PGCE and QTS, they can find out more information here: http://www.northern-alliance.net/school-direct/

Staffing News This term we are sad to be saying goodbye to two members of staff who in different ways have been very important in the development of the school, and whose work has had a great impact on young people.

Mr Griffin, Deputy Head and Director of Sixth Form, has been at Blue Coat since September, 2007. He brought the perspective of a very large and successful Sixth Form College – how do you achieve the highest quality whilst working at scale. Under his leadership, sixth form numbers almost doubled, and Blue Coat now welcomes young people from across the town who want an academic education in a high achieving, multi-faith, multi-ethnic and multi-talented sixth form. Mr Griffin’s work developing the ethos of our sixth form, and (with Mr Oakes) VESPA – the Vision-Effort- Systems-Practice-Attitude methodology that underpins all our work – has made Blue Coat a national leader in post-16 provision. He leaves the strongest foundations for his successor, Mrs Justine Tipler, who joins us in May – and that gives us great confidence as post-16 education changes radically.

Mr Griffin is, outside teaching, a successful children’s novelist, and he is going to devote more time now to his writing, and to consultancy work. We wish him every success (and he will teach his Year 12 classes up to their exams!).

Mrs Caroline Lees joined us in February, 2003, originally as an Attendance Officer, but her job has changed over the years and she has become a specialist in provision for some of our more vulnerable students, and supporting their families. Some young people have a lot to contend with, and Mrs Lees has worked with students who have been bereaved, who are young carers, who have been very ill or in danger themselves, and those who need support beyond what the school can provide. A font of understanding, expertise, insight and compassion, Mrs Lees will be much missed, and we wish her success in whatever the next stage of her life and career brings.

End of Term Arrangements

During the morning of Thursday, 24th April we will celebrate our Easter services in school and at .

The Spring term will end on Thursday, 24th April at 1.20pm. The 700 bus has confirmed that it can accommodate the early finish. However, we are still awaiting information from other bus providers. Please continue to check the website for further information.

School reopens to all students on Monday, 11th April, 2016.

School will be closed on Monday, 2nd May, 2016 (May Day).

Faith ~ Vision ~ Nurture

Contact Details: The Blue Coat School, Egerton Street, Oldham. OL1 3SQ

Telephone: (0161) 624 1484 E-mail: [email protected]

Website: www.blue-coat.oldham.sch.uk

Headteacher: Mrs J.A. Hollis MA