Bowland High Issue 1 2019-20 Newsletter

Inside this issue: Dear Parents and Carers, I hope you enjoy reading our first newsletter of the year Bowland 2 and finding out about some of the main activities this half Buzz term, as well as the role of honour for ‘star pupils ’ who have really impressed their form tutors and pastoral leaders Summer 3 in school so far. Reads It has been a particularly busy term for Year 7: settling into Humanu- 4 a new school and its routines, joining new clubs and societies, trialling for sports teams and having two full days topia out of school on the Trig Point Walk and the Waddow Hall activity day. Fortunately we were blessed with good Geography 5 weather for one of these events, and even though the Day weather was against them at Waddow, pupils embraced Headteacher’s Message the full range of activities on offer with smiles on their Waddow 9 faces. Hall Years 10 and 11 have been focusing on those important next steps when they leave Bowland and developing the skills to interact with employers and make important Speed 14 decisions. This has been supported by ex-pupils sharing their experiences and insights Networking into the move from high school to sixth form. Ex-Pupil 16 It has been a very busy half term and I would like to say a big thank you to everybody Visit who helped to organise any of the special events over the last 7 weeks and to staff and pupils alike who have contributed to this newsletter. I would also like to thank those Inter-Schools 17 parents and friends of the school who X-Country helped to organise or who attended the PTFA fashion show. It was a great 100% Attend- 19 evening and has helped to raise im- ance Reward portant funds to support the education of pupils in school. Ex-Pupil 20 As I write this our group of Year 9 and Achievement 10 merry travelers have departed school on their way to China for their PTFA Fashion 21 China exchange. They have a fun Show packed agenda visiting Beijing, Shanghai and Fuzhou lined up with Collapsed 23 amazing opportunities to take in sights Timetable such as the Great Wall and the Events Forbidden City. Good luck to all of the pupils and staff on this trip. China 28 I wish you all an enjoyable half term Exchange CHINA EXCHANGE break and look forward to seeing pupils back in school on Wednesday 30th Star Awards 29 As I write this our group of Year 9 and 10 October. Events 36 merry travelers have departed school on Mrs Fielden Calendar their way to China for their China exchange. Bowland Buzz’s purpose is to support every member of the school community’s well being needs. We have formed a staff development team who have and are implementing various initiatives for pupils, staff and carers in the local school community. One of which was to create a staff well being area at school where people can relax and take time out of their busy schedules to recharge. A new group of well being ambassadors completed some training throughout enrichment week and created a well being garden where pupils can go to take time and contemplate. The group offer support during form time to all pupils and they also work one to one with any pupils who may be struggling with their well being. They meet as a team twice every half term to discuss how school can improve and enhance well being. It was Mental Health Week recently and our focus was this: ‘Health does not always come from medicine. It comes from peace of mind, peace in the heart, peace in the soul. It comes from laughter and love’. The staff were also treated to a cake bar freebie courtesy of @TheWorkPerk Please see the new section on our website where parents and carers can find a variety of the current support available for themselves and their family. https://bowland.atctrust.org.uk/information/well-being-support/ Please also see our new Bowland well being twitter account - search @bowlandwell

Part of Bowland’s Well Being Ambassadors Group

All pupils were invited by the English department to submit a photo reading a book in an interesting place. Isobel managed to finish this book ‘Switched’ by Jan Calonita before the end of her Leeds and Liverpool Canal boat holiday! What incredible weather you were having Isobel. Year 9 Year 9

Year 9 have spent a day working with Humanutopia. The 'Who am I?' programme addressed many personal and social barriers to learning and in doing so helped raise aspirations. Key focus areas included personal and social development. Miss Kellow

Since 2004 Humanutopia have been developing their school workshops to provide world class courses to students and teachers internationally. All of their courses are built around their unique product ‘Who am I?‘ where they challenge students to open up and be honest with both the team and themselves. In one inspiring day, they target hope, confidence, happiness, relationships and employability, leaving everyone involved feeling great and ready to tackle the daily challenges they face. Over a series of three contrasting days, all the key stage 4, second year pupils of geography, embarked on a tour of the Fylde coast. There were 4 main locations stretching the 20 miles of the coast line. The objective of the day was to experience the variety of coastal management techniques employed along the coastline. St Anne's demonstrated some excellent soft engineering with its sand dune structure and wide flat beaches. On one of the days the pupils were able to witness the extremely impressive kite-surfing club as well as the environment team of the Fylde council planting trees in the sand dunes. In the shadow of the 's ‘Big One’, the pupils observed the hard engineering, and one lucky group actually manged to feel the sand under their feet as the tide retreated. has recently been refurbished to high standard and the pupils were able to experience what they had been taught in lessons. The main visit though took place at , at the Point Observation Tower. The Wrye Council Rangers kindly gave us exclusive access to the viewing platform. This allowed some pupils to record the groyne measurements whilst the others made observational recordings before swapping. Over the three days the pupils could see the Lake district, Heysham Power Station, the Irish Sea wind farm, as well as the speed and movement of the tides on those days. The pupils themselves were also treated to a visit to Rossall School. The 1844 school buildings and site, as well as their exclusive promenade and grounds meant the pupils could experience a different educational environment and have lunch with many of their international students. As you can imagine the lunch was a three course affair which all the pupils and staff didn't struggle to finish. Many thanks to Mr Bradley and Rossall for their kind hospitality as a well as Mrs Burns and Mrs Lord who accompanied the Geography Department. Mr Spencer

One Friday in September, our entire Year 7 cohort were taken to Waddow Hall for a day of team building and bonding. Students were in mixed groups not necessarily from their own form, so that hopefully they would make new acquaintances outside their existing friendship groups. Unfortunately, it had rained heavily on previous days, so the river was very high and too dangerous for us to participate in water based activities. However, the leaders had replaced water with other exciting activities such as the zip wire. After being shown how to land safely, students were fitted with special sturdy harnesses and helmets and our plucky Year 7’s gamely scaled a high tower to access the ropes and a series of safety clips, before leaping off the platform onto the wire and the speedy return to solid ground! Each pupil had two goes on the zipwire and they didn’t seem to be nervous about the rapid descent at all. After lunch which was thankfully under cover, students took part in other highly challenging activities including the Jacob’s ladder. This involved getting a team of 3 to the top of a horizontal row of logs hung between trees, and the crate tower which saw pupils stacking crates as high as possible in 10 minutes. During both these activities the students were clipped onto a safety rope with a harness, which was good news, as many students lost their hand or foot holds and were left dangling in the air until the rest of the group lowered them to safety. There were a number of other activities which required students to work as a team and help each other out, and although some pupils found this very difficult, we were very pleased that all the students were extremely encouraging towards each other and everyone joined in enthusiastically. A highlight of the day was the cake sale. The Year 7’s had embraced the Macmillan big coffee morning theme and created a huge selection of delicious cakes. Mr Procter who organised the cake sale reported a grand total of £143.00, well done everyone. Mrs Cox

One Friday afternoon, Year 10 and 11 were given the opportunity to meet the professionals through Speed Networking. Each group of pupils had a few minutes with each professional and asked questions about their career story, the organisation and how to get into that particular career. A big thank you to all our visitors who gave up their time to help our pupils explore all the different career paths. Mrs Burns

Ex Bowlander, Helen kindly visited school to share her advice and revision tips for Year 11 Science pupils interested in studying A levels. It was a great insight into how to manage revision time for GCSE’s as well as a brief overview of A Level study at Clitheroe Royal . Helen is studying maths, biology and chemistry and is hoping for a career in Veterinary Science. She recommended visiting a range of colleges and sixth forms to find the one that suits the individual pupil and urged Year 11 to study what they enjoy in a way that suits them. Great Advice Helen. Thank you for sparing your time to give invaluable and much needed advice. Mrs Burns Fantastic performance from all participants, we had some brilliant results. A special mention to Tom who came eleventh and Imogen who came 7th. Imogen received an invitation to run for the district in February. Well done to all the pupils that took part and thank you to the staff who accompanied them.

31 pupils who achieved 100% attendance in the academic year 2018-19 were rewarded today with a trip to the Matrix Superbowl in Skipton. There were some amazing strikes, a lot of spares, a few gutter bowls and even a turkey! The pupils enjoyed two games with a range of mini competitions along the way. Who would get the next strike? Who would get the highest points in the game? Which team would get the most points overall? All the pupils had great fun and Miss Yates, Mr Higham and I were all very proud of their behaviour, their competitive spirit and their camaraderie. Well done on a fantastic achievement and thank you for a great afternoon! Mrs Robertson Gregor, a former Bowland pupil has achieved exceptional results in his studies at Sixth Form Centre and has progressed to the Northern School of Contemporary Dance, taking the next step towards a successful career. Gregor turned his hobby into a passion as he transferred to Vocational, being challenged by working with some of Burnley College’s very technical dancers and developing his skills - he had never tap danced before! He participated in Dance Academy, attended Salford University, worked with UCLAN and took part in UDANCE at The Lowry, Manchester - and was a positive, enthusiastic and great addition to the course he completed at Burnley College. Gregor was honoured recently at Burnley College’s Sixth Form Centre Awards for Excellence. This was a very prestigious occasion, attended by students, families, tutors and dignitaries, to recognise the exceptional achievement of A Level and Vocational students progressing to universities, degree apprenticeships and successful careers. Gregor’s love of dance was nurtured at Bowland and we are so proud of his achievements. The first PTFA event of the new school year got underway on Thursday 10th October. Christine Crook from ‘So2You’ brought all her fashion buying experience into school, with a lovely range of high street brands at very low prices. Christine’s real life models showed a selection of popular Autumn/ Winter outfits in a range of styles and colours, to around 100 parents and friends of school. Following the show everyone was free to try on clothes and make purchases. It was a very relaxed and fun evening and a fantastic way to raise funds for school projects, as the PTFA received 10% of all clothing sold. All the fashionistas were extremely generous with their support of the raffle and the licensed bar, and there was a great atmosphere in the hall despite the terrible weather outside. There was also jewellery, handbags and fun winter accessories on sale. Watch out for ‘So 2 You’ in school again next year with a Spring/Summer collection. Thanks to everyone who bought tickets and helped to make the night such a fabulous success, you all raised a considerable amount for the benefit of Bowland students. Mrs Cox

We couldn’t have asked for better walking weather for the Year 7’s walk around the picturesque country- side surrounding . It would be fantastic to tell you that pupils, in their groups raced to the Beacon Hill Triangulation Pillar but unfortunately there were definitely too many steep hills and mud for that! It was surprising that nobody left their walking boots behind, stuck in the mud! Thankfully, after refuelling themselves at lunch time they all managed to arrive back in one piece, although exhausted and spent the rest of the afternoon designing wonderful posters of their adventure. Mrs Armitage

We recently held our annual enterprise day, ‘The Apprentice’ as part of the year 10 enterprise curriculum. Held at the St Mary's Centre in Clitheroe, a series of tasks were completed by the teams competing against each other to avoid being fired by our fantastic Lord Sugar - Adrian Hirst. Many thanks go to him for giving up his time to support the event and for giving the pupils a grilling - there were some nail biting times in the boardroom! After creating outfits for an air steward, completing a financial task selling cakes and setting up a produc- tion line to produce rainmakers, teams were then required to use their innovative and promotion skills to remain in the competition and to be in with a chance of being ‘hired’. After a very difficult interview session, team ‘Empire’ were hired, and team ‘Skirts and Shirts’ won the points competition. Lord Sugar was very impressed with the levels of confidence and the ideas generated by all the pupils - well done to you all! We're looking forward to seeing if any of you make the TV show in the future! Mrs Robertson The nature of the day covered topics such as sexism, racism, homophobia and religion. The pupils challenged the various panels who were local members of different churches and denomina- tions about their views on the topics mentioned above. There were many positive things said about the pupils’ involvement to the day and a special mention goes to Tilly for her thoughtful nature and her personal contribution. Mr Simmonds The Bowland China exchange students reached Helsinki. You can see them below waiting for their connection to Beijing. All smiling! Miss Yates

A very successful first day in Beijing. All tired but full of adventurous spirit.... even for tasting local delicacies on the night market Miss Yates

7B Emma 8B Ebony 7C Sophie 8C Finley 7L Orla & Orla 8L Harry 7W Emma 8W Sophie

9B Levi & Jem 10B Mo 9C Sadé 10C Luke 9L Freya 10L Florence 9W Libby 10W Annabelle

11B Jasmin 11C Isabella 11L Erin

11W John Star Pupils KS3 KS4

Ruby Charlie Charlotte Alistair Sam George Elizabeth Amelia

Star Forms KS3 KS4

7 Walker 9 Walker 8 Curnock 10 Curnock 11 Lister

Date Event Wednesday 30th October School Reopens

Thursday 31st October Year 7 Halloween Party

Tuesday 5th November BGT Preliminary Round @ Bowland High

Monday 11th November Anti-Bullying Week

Wednesday 13th November Y7 Parents’ Evening (Form Tutors)

Friday 15th November Bowland’s Got Talent @ The Grand 7pm Y7 Skipton Castle Trip, Y10 RE Day 1, Wednesday 20th November Y12 Awards Evening @ The Grand 7pm Wednesday 4th December Y8 Parents’ Evening

Thursday 5th December Y11 Poetry Live, Ski 2019 Presentation Evening 7pm

Monday 9th December Y7 star award assembly

Tuesday 10th December Y8 star award assembly

Wednesday 11th December Carol Concert @ Bowland High 7pm

Thursday 12th December Y9/10 star award assembly

Friday 13th December Y11 star award assembly

Tuesday 17th December Y7 Volcano Day

Friday 20th December Arts Festival Whole School @ Colne Municipal

Monday 6th January School Reopens