My Walney School Experiences of the Walney School Community Foreword- Mr Richardson I am immensely proud to serve the Walney community as Headteacher. Ours is a com- munity that deserves the very best for its children and families and we strive to provide that in everything we do in our school. I have now been a part of this school com- munity for almost seven years and during that time have been delighted to see the dedication of staff, the hard work of stu- dents and the strong community sense amongst our families develop outstanding opportunities for young people during their five years with us. The combination of high quality teaching, outstanding careers guidance, strong pastoral care for everyone and a sense of belonging to a very special community sits at the heart of ensuring that everyone within our school is: Proud of our achievements Proud of our school and Proud of our community I hope that you enjoy reading more about what it means to students, staff and our external partners to be a part of our learning community. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me if you have any questions or would like to know more about our school and the opportunities that will be offered to you and your child. 2 Students 3 Preston Gaitskell and Kayleigh Roberts My first day in Outdoor Education was amazing! We all went to the beach and found all sorts of things, such as massive rock piles that may have been monuments for a lost relative (maybe), all kinds of different wildlife like crabs, shrimps, fish and even jellyfish. I really like Outdoor Education because we all get to do really fun activities. Here are just a few activities we have done so far: nature walks, beach inspections, anti-litter campaigns and a survey of the school grounds. It’s grand. Preston Gaitskell At first, I thought it was going to be hard starting secondary school and I was worried that I would get bullied. But, it wasn’t what I expected at all. The teachers here are really agreeable and so are the pupils. I have been made to feel very welcome and I have really enjoyed my time here so far. There is a variety of subjects, such as Outdoor Education and Vocabulary and Culture, which I have never studied before. We are also taught the Walney Ways, which are basically golden rules and skills that you will need for when you leave school. Some of Walney Ways are resilience, self-motivation and curiosity. Kayleigh Roberts Lana Shand During my time at Walney School, the maths department helped me gain confidence in my maths. Before starting Walney school I really struggled with maths and didn’t enjoy it. However, since I started Walney I drastically improved and found the lessons so much fun. I have even gone on to do maths at A-Level. The starters really helped to build my confidence. As I entered the room it felt like a non-judgemental safe space and I understood the task fully. I could work through the starters with my friends and I felt more comfortable to grow. The constant practice of the consolidation lessons and the homework provided me with lots of feedback, giving me re-assurance that I was improving. Being able to write on the desk during the lessons, meant that I was not scared about making mistakes. Sir encouraged us to take good quality notes and this really helped with revision and for us to take pride in our learning. I would recommend Walney School to help you with your maths. 4 Alex Stephens My name is Alex Stephens, and recently I became a senior student. In this position, I’m being given many opportunities to help out, mainly with the new Year 7s this year, who are a delight to work with. I worked with a team of senior students prior to the Summer holiday on preparing and assembling packs to go home to them, because our school wanted to give them a taste of the Walney Ways, and some tasks to keep them occupied. We have also set up a rota of senior students to supervise breaks and lunch, and talk with the year 7s to ensure they feel welcome and included. Each senior student works with a form, and gets to know them, which is a lot of fun! Senior students are responsible and mature, and assist to make sure things run smoothly in school, and that our younger students feel involved. Already our school feels a great sense of pride having these students here, and I hope they will enjoy their experience as much as I have. Caitlin Lockrie Whilst the majority of my year group were at home during the Lockdown, I had to come into school with my siblings due to my parents both being key workers. In spite of the early mornings it was a good expe- rience. We worked with staff in the pupil support area and in the mornings we were expected to work through our home learning. But as soon as lunch started, we were able to have some fun. The staff even took us down to the beach and we collected shells, played dodgeball on the sand and even played with one of the teacher’s dogs! So, overall coming into school whilst most of my peers were most likely asleep, was a really positive experience. During my time at Walney School I have received so much help from so many teachers. I used to have a lot of trouble with my spelling, but English teachers have supported me in improving. In fact, they have supported and encouraged me so much that I won a short story competition for under 18s. However, teachers at Walney School haven’t just supported me academically. I’ve always had difficulties working in teams as I can be quite the control freak. But now, after all of the support I’ve have been given, I can con- fidently work with my peers. Finally, I’d like to mention the support I received with my work experience. I looked around for places to go for my week’s work experience, but I couldn’t find anyone who was able to take me. After a week or two I gave up and went to talk to two teachers who found the perfect placement for me at CANDO FM. The Coronavirus pandemic caused our work experience week to be cancelled. Buit with my new found confidence I pushed to go and organised my own work experience in my own time. I now go to CANDO FM once a week to work with the brilliant people there and learn skills that can help me achieve my future goals. 5 Cameron Linney and Abigail Hebden-Bundy Magistrates Court Mock Trial Competition I’m Cameron and I took part in the mock court trial against other schools across Cumbria. I loved every minute of it, I had a great experience. My favourite part was being able to stand up in front of the judges and the other competitors and play my role as I never thought I would have the confidence to do that before. I would definitely recommend it and would definitely do it again. I’m Abi, I took part in the Mock trial competition last year. My favourite part of the process was working with others in my year group as a team and how we all helped each other to gain in confidence to compete against the other schools. I liked that this was a different experience and I’m grateful we had the opportunity to take part. Since completing the competition, I have been successful in joining the police cadets where I am able to use some of the skills I learnt during the Mock Trial competition. 6 Sophie Mellen My name is Sophie Mellen and I’ve been at Walney School from year 7 to year 11, where I have just finished my last year in March 2020. I went to St. Columba’s primary school, so I know what it feels like having to decide and pick the right secondary school for myself. What I can tell you about my experience is that Walney School was by far the most welcoming and friendly secondary school that I went round when deciding in year 6. Walney school offers many different opportunities, whether that's trying new subjects or activities you didn't know about or knew you liked, or even getting the opportunity to represent your school in different extra-curricular events plus even going on trips away. I took advantage of as many things Walney school offered me as possible for example, a trip called the Infinity Festival which was a science event hosted by Professor Brian Cox. I also went to Italy skiing for a week and there was the numerous career events which helped many students with their future career paths. Overall Walney School are amazing at looking after their students and making their school life better, they always drive their students to do the very best they can. I have gained success throughout my time at Walney school whether that's from competing in netball and football games or going on to be Deputy Head Girl. This has all helped me with my future path now as I will be starting my apprenticeship with BAE Systems as a Technician-Site and Facilities. I couldn't have done this without the help and support of the Walney School staff for pushing me to go for it and even helping me get the brilliant grades to secure this position.