July 2019 Edition Welcome to the July edition of Beverley Highlife. I hope that you enjoy reading about what has been happening at Beverley High School this month. On this final day of the school year, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a good summer. Sharon Japp, Headteacher National Finals of the Foreign Language Spelling Bee Competition This month Year 7 pupil Isobel Pape (left in the picture) fought off all of the competition to become the BEST speller in German in the WHOLE COUNTRY out of the initial 33,300 that entered! A phenomenal achievement. The Spelling Bee is a long running competition created by Routes into Languages to encourage pupils to see, not only the purpose of learning languages but also the fun in learning them with a healthy bit of competition thrown in. All Year 7 pupils take part in the first round in which they have to learn the spellings for 50 words in the language that they are learning. They then have to spell as many as possible correctly in 1 minute. The winners then move on to the school competition, adding a further 50 new words into the mix. Our school winners then compete (with another 50 new words) in the Regional Finals against all those competition schools in Yorkshire and the Humber. The successful pupils then move on to the National Finals at Cambridge University, now competing against the very best of all those who initially entered. This year we had three competitors in the Nationals, Hallie Twidale, Isobel Pape and Angelina Huang. Amazingly we have 3 national German Spelling Bee winners in school, Isabel Pape 2019 winner, Edie Mayes 2018 winner and Hannah Wookey 2014 winner. National Final of the Translation Bee Competition This month Scarlett Harrison (pictured) took part in the National Final of the Translation Bee Competition at Cambridge University. The competition was tough, Scarlett had a tie-break in the first round but was then knocked out. This meant that she is the 5th best translator in French in the country out of a staggering 62,000 students that entered the competition! An amazing achievement. Translation Bee is a long running competition created by Routes into Languages to encourage pupils to see, not only the purpose of learning languages but also the fun in learning them with a healthy bit of competition thrown in. All Year 8 pupils take part in the first round in which they have to learn a set of translations in the language that they are learning. They then have to translate as many as possible correctly in 1 minute. The winners then move on to the school competition, adding a new tense into the mix. Our school winners then compete (with another new tense) in the Regional Finals against all those competition schools in Yorkshire and the Humber. The successful pupils then move on to the National Finals at Cambridge University, now competing against the very best of all those who initially entered. Well done Scarlett, your school is very proud of you. Eurofest This month two teams competed in Eurofest, a competition in which Year 8 pupils are encouraged to become potential business leaders of the future. Students design and make their own French or German inspired products which they then have to ‘sell’ to their customers in the target language. Each year we are amazed by the variety and creativity of all those involved, getting better and better each time. After a class competition it’s onto the whole school competitions and then those lucky winners go off to complete at Hymers College against other schools in the East Riding. One of our teams, Connie Bennett and Clara Adams won two awards, one for ‘Best use of French Language” and the other for “Creativity”. Well done! Sommerfest der deutschen Sprache at the German Embassy In early July, Mr Young and Mrs Lawrence were invited to the German Embassy and the “Sommerfest der deutschen Sprache and National German Teacher Awards.” The two were invited by the German Ambassador, Peter Wittig for the work that they have done in setting up and establishing links and an exchange with our partner school Gymnasium Am Kothen in Wuppertal, Germany. As part of the event in London, Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, author and illustrator of ‘The Gruffalo’ spoke about how their love of languages stemmed from their lessons in school and from their pen pals and exchange partners. Mr Young and Mrs Lawrence were treated to a short production of ‘Der Gruffalo’ by Julia, Axel and others. A fabulous event to celebrate the hard work of German teachers across the country and pay thanks for their efforts in keeping Anglo-German links strong. Paris Trip In July, just before the end of the school year, a group of students and staff travelled to the ‘City of Lights’, Paris. An amazing trip which included an array of excursions and immersion onto Parisian life. The trip is jam-packed with activities and visits, the students have an amazing time and manage to fit in many visits including the Louvre museum, Notre-Dame Cathedral, Sacré Coeur and many more. The girls really enjoy a walk in the Catacombs, a series of underground tunnels lined with millions of skulls and bones! Girls experience shopping on the Champs-Elysées, a broad tree-lined avenue of luxury shops. We are always grateful for a rest in the Tuileries Gardens, as the weather is usually hot and sunny. A boat cruise on the River Seine provides the perfect opportunity to see many of Paris’ other famous sights from a different perspective. It is always rewarding to see and hear our pupils using their French and learning about and commenting on life in France and its customs. Congratulations Jessica Jessica Wilson in Year 12 has achieved distinction in her Grade 8 double bass exam. A fantastic achievement, well done Jessica! Marvellous Music The music department ended another year of fabulous performances with the Summer Concert in St Mary’s Church and the East Riding Showcase Concert in Hull City Hall. 240 pupils perform in the school’s orchestras, bands and choirs including the Senior String Orchestra, Junior String Orchestra, Concert Band, Junior Wind Band, Brass Ensemble, Percussion Ensemble, Advanced Wind Ensemble, Chamber Choir, Lower School Choir and Year Seven Singers. All the young musicians should feel immensely proud of themselves for working so hard to learn difficult music and for performing it with confidence and assurance. Thanks to Miss Ward for leading so many activities. Senior String Orchestra in the Summer Concert Junior String Orchestra in the Summer Concert Members of the Concert Band in the Summer Concert Year Seven Singers in the Summer Concert The Lower School Choir in the Summer Concert The Choir in rehearsal for the City Hall Showcase Thirteen BHS students will accompany the East Riding Senior Wind Band and Youth Jazz Orchestra foreign tour to Belgium and Holland from 18-25 July. We hope that they have a wonderful time making music in Europe. Sports Report End of season Rounders Our Year 9 & 7 teams competed in the East Riding rounders end of season competition and both teams performed really well. The Year 7 team came second overall only losing narrowly to Wolfreton School; the students displayed some excellent tactical awareness and superb hitting to come second – they are hoping to be the winners next year! Annual Sports Day Sports Day was a fantastic day with a lovely atmosphere and even the weather was perfect for us. In the field events this year two school records were broken: Year 7 Javelin by Z. Can and in the Year 10 Shot put by L Bailey- Dalton. The staff obstacle relay was a popular race again, one of the favourite events as voted by the students. Here are some of the achievements/awards from the day: Overall winning house was Norwood. Students with the most athletic points from lessons: Year 7 – R. Nuttall; Year 8 – E. Harriott; Year 9 – L. Richardson; Year 10 – A. Thompson. Pictured: Year 7 students with the highest points scored in athletics lessons This year we introduced a new award – ‘Sports Superstar’ given to students who have shown an outstanding attitude to sport throughout the year. The winners were: Year 7 – K. Broom; Year 8 – N. Maniakowska; Year 9 – K. Burgess; Year 10 – N. Evison Thanks to our GCSE PE students for all their help in running and organising the day, they were great role models for the other students. East Riding Athletics Championships On the last week of term, we had our annual athletics fixture at Costello Stadium in Hull. We took 27 students from Years 7-10 to compete in a range of track and field events & finishing with the 4 x100m relays. This year we had an amazing number of students finishing in 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in their event out of 21 schools in the East Riding. Overall we had five 1st place, eight 2nd place and eight 3rd place medallists. Our 1st place winners were: L Cockerill scoring 1m 23 in the High Jump (Year 7), H. Laycock scoring 3.94m in the Long Jump (Year 7), M.Hewick throwing 15.25m in the Discus (Year7), R.Preston scoring 7.79m in the Shot (Year 8) and I. Walby running the 1500m in 5.37 minutes. All the students were impeccably behaved and showed great determination, courage and team spirit throughout the day. Individual Sporting Achievement Gracie Wilson (pictured right) who, you may remember, featured in December’s Beverley Highlife winning a Silver Medal at the British Judo Championships has added another Silver Medal to her collection representing the Yorkshire and Humberside region at an International competition in Germany this month.