Tel: 01744 678 030 cowleyinternationalcollege.co.uk
COWLEIAN TIMES
#6
COWLEY WINS TWO AWARDS AT PRESTIGIOUS EDUCATION EVENT A night of grandeur was enjoyed by Cowley students and staff at the annual St Helens Star Education Awards that took place on Thursday, 16 June at the World of Glass. Cowley were up for two awards: ‘Class of the Year’ and ‘SEN Pupil of the Year’ – we are delighted to report that we left the event with both. Cowley’s 8R1 class won the ‘Class of the Year’ award for their inspiring work on Tim Peake’s Rocket Seed Project – an out of this world experiment to see if seeds that have experienced zero gravity grow differently to those that have not. The ‘SEN Pupil of the Year’ award went to a thoroughly deserving student, Callum Chaplin. Callum was involved in a serious road accident when he was in Year 7.
Many people, including medical experts, thought that Callum would never return to mainstream education due to the extent of the brain injuries sustained. Fast forward five years and we find ourselves with a polite, dedicated and grateful young man, who is about to sit his GCSEs. Callum’s award was presented by local hero, Andy Reid. The presentation evening was attended by both Primary and Secondary schools in the local area and all schools proudly cheered on others as awards were handed out. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the St Helens Star for organising, The World of Glass for hosting an incredible evening and the event sponsors for supporting a wonderfully inspiring event.
SUMMER REVIEW AT LANGTREE PARK SET TO BE COWLEY’S BIGGEST SHOW TO DATE Talented singers, dancers and actors from Cowley are gearing up for what will be the biggest Summer Review show ever at Langtree Park on Thursday, 7th July. The review showcases a mixture of three disciplines within Performing Arts: acting, music and dance. Students ranging from ages 11 - 19 will step into the spotlight at Langtree Park as they perform highlights from different plays, concerts and dance recitals that have been shown at Cowley over this last academic year. The venue, the biggest that has ever hosted the Summer Review, will have a packed audience that includes the Mayor and Mayoress, Councillor Andy Bowden, local hero Andy Reid and headteachers from our feeder Primary schools.
QUINTA RESIDENTAL
The most popular activity that took place during the residential was the slacklining. This fun activity saw some spectacular comic falls into the water which had everyone laughing. The evenings were kept busy with a quiz on the first night and a disco on the second night when everyone swapped their wet and muddy clothes for some smarter evening wear and showed their moves on the dance floor.
Our annual Year 8 Quinta residential was one of the biggest for many years with over 120 Year 8s, 20 Year 10 volunteer helpers and 20 staff. The students took part in a variety of activities including: low ropes, climbing trees, raft building, field games, archery, orienteering, slacklining over a lake, ping pong and swimming in a newly heated and covered swimming pool (it used to be outdoors and freezing cold).
TAMPERING WITH BICYCLES
The only dampener was the England football performance and a few short bursts of rain. Overall it’s safe to say that a fantastic time was had by all. I’d like to thank the students for their excellent behaviour and all of the staff and volunteers for giving up their time and working so hard to make it all happen, you were great Thank you! Mr Healey Alternative Education Co-ordinator
Do you have/know a child aged 4-11 years? I’d like to introduce you to the ‘Big Friendly Read’ Summer Reading Challenge 2016. The reading challenge is the UK’s largest reading event for children, taking place in libraries all over the country. It is aimed at children aged 4-11 years and should be running at your local library. The aim of the challenge is for children to read 6 books during the summer holidays; special badges and rewards are given to those taking part. Every year there’s a different theme; this year it’s The Big Friendly Read - honouring the world’s no.1 storyteller, Roald Dahl. Unfortunately, most of our pupils are too old to take part in the challenge, but if you are a parent, auntie or uncle etc. of a 4-11 year old, you might like to sign them up. All you have to do is visit your local library and the staff there will enrol the child and provide them with some fun materials to get them started on the challenge.
Recently, we have received complaints from students that bike gears are being tampered when bikes are left unattended during the day. We would like to remind all students that there will be consequences for any person who is found to have purposefully tampered or damaged equipment that does not belong to them.
There is a website that allows children to log their reading achievements over summer and provides access to lots of reading resources and fun activities: http://summerreadingchallenge.org.uk Also, your local library will probably be looking for volunteers to help with the challenge. I am volunteering for a few hours a week at my local library to listen to children read, as well as reading a few chapters to the children to hopefully entertain and inspire them. If you’d like to volunteer, I’m sure that your local library would appreciate the support. As you already know, there are still many libraries that are under the threat of closure due to local authority/government cuts - therefore, we need to support them by using them and encouraging others to use them too. This is a brilliant challenge to become involved in over the holidays, either with a young reader or as a volunteer, and will help to entertain the kids over summer for free! Mrs Pennington Teacher of English & Literacy Co-ordinator
STUDENTS WOW WITH SOLID LOST PERFORMANCE OF GRITTY PROPERTY We have lots of coats, bags, trainers As the play progresses, we meet the desPLAY and shoes in our lost property. perately unhappy Jim, who was cruelly abandoned by his father as a child and is contemplating suicide.
Six Performing Arts students from Year 12 and Year 13 wowed audiences in their delivery of Enda Walsh’s chiller of a thriller, Chatroom. The play is a kind of technological Lord of the Flies, featuring six characters, all about 15 years old, holed up in their bedrooms conversing in online chatrooms.
STUDENTS ENJOY POLICE TRAINING DAY
Unfortunately, he connects on the net with the scarily articulate and mean William, who offers no end of forceful arguments as to why Jim should indeed top himself. The tension builds as the play progresses and the performances become edgier, more crisp and frighteningly scary; the acting is outstanding. Chatroom certainly fulfils its promise as stated in the programme of being “punchy and provocative”. Well done to our talented performers: Rob Hardie, Kiera Kenny-Jones, Brandon Fisher, Connor Lee, Farron Ronan and Charlotte Tonks.
The students got to view equipment that the Police use and to look around replica cells and staged buildings that the Police use for training purposes. After seeing how Police officers train and prepare for real-life scenarios, the students took part in a fitness test to see if they would make it as a Police Officer. Miss Quarry, Vocational Teacher at Cowley and organiser of the trip said: “The students were a credit to the school, they showed an abundance of enthusiasm and “can do” attitude throughout the day. We can’t thank the Police officers who led the training enough for an enjoyable and rewarding day; we can’t wait to return!”.
Earlier this term, a group of Year 9 Public Services students enjoyed an energetic and lively Police training camp day. The Public Services students had the opportunity to put their theory and knowledge of the Police service into practice as they learnt different commands and took part in a mock scenario involving mass public disorder.
The day was a resounding success; the well-thought-out activities helped to develop team building skills and meeting officers who spoke about the dangerous situations that they can find themselves in, instilled a renewed sense of respect in the students for the courageous officers who protect and serve in the local community.
Over the next few weeks these will be displayed during break and lunch-time on the wooden steps on the 11-16 site. Please encourage your daughter/son to check for any items which they may have lost or misplaced.
Q&A WITH PAUL WELLENS
Paul Wellens took centre stage during a Year 8 assembly and provided some words of wisdom for our young students on what motivates him and his career highlights to date: Q: Do you find it hard training when you’re tired? PW: Yes! But, I overcome these challenges by thinking about my team and not letting them or myself down. Q: What’s been the highlight of your career? PW: It has to be 2006 and the wins that Saints enjoyed, including the Challenge Cup. Getting BBC Sportsperson of the Year and ‘Man of Steel’ – this is a highlight for me. (Paul goes on to credit team and training personnel for achievements). Q:If you hadn’t gone into Rugby League, what would your career be? PW: A teacher! I am from a family of teachers. Q: Why did you join Saints? PW: I am a local lad and grew up watching Saints. To join a team that I found inspirational was fantastic.
HELP FOR YOUNG CARERS AT COWLEY
We know that young carers may need a little extra support to enjoy and do well at school. At Cowley we are committed to ensuring that all pupils who are young carers are identified, and supported effectively. If you think your child might be a young carer, please contact Mr Fairhurst, Access and Inclusion Manager at Cowley on 01744 678 030 or email: Andrew.Fairhurst@sthelens.org.uk Any information that is given to us will be treated sensitively and no information will be shared without your knowledge.
LIBRARY NEWS This term the reading group have been reading, discussing and reviewing the Carnegie shortlist books for 2016. As a reward for all their hard work and efforts, we were invited, along with De la Salle, to a Carnegie awards celebration day at Haydock Sports College to hear the winner announced and take part in a day of activities. Students were put into groups (two from each school) and they took part in an interactive, drama-style workshop based around one of the shortlist titles ‘Lies We Tell Ourselves’. All students enjoyed a buffet lunch whilst the national winner was announced (via live link). ‘One’ by Sarah Crossan is this years winner, this was voted in second place by our students with ‘Lies We Tell Ourselves’ by Robin Talley as our favourite.
After lunch the students enjoyed taking part in creative workshops designing alternative front covers for the nominated title of their choice. The students all integrated well and in some cases made new friends and arranged to keep in touch. Students involved: Year 7 Michael Dowd Alana Hinton Grace Kendrick Faye Langton Rebekah Robinson Year 8 Hannah Clegg Year 9 Leon Finnen Matthew Griffiths Luke Vose Year 10 Emily Boyd Chloe Keogh
CARNEGIE MEDAL TRIP By Faye Langton (7Y) and Grace Kendrick (7B) Cowley’s reading group visited Haydock High School for the Carnegie announcements. Before the trip, the members of the reading group had spent several weeks reading the books on the shortlist. They included: ‘Five Children On The Western Front’, ‘Lies We Tell Ourselves’, ‘Lie Tree’, ‘There Will Be Lies’, ‘Fire Colour’ ‘One’, ‘The Ghosts Of Heaven’ and ‘The Rest Of Us Just Live Here’. Our chosen book for the day was “Lies We Tell Ourselves” by Robin Talley. The book is all about racism and discrimination. When we arrived at Haydock High School, we took part in an activity de-
signed to make us understand the book more. We were separated into different groups (which group you were in was dependent on your eye colour). There was several plates of biscuits and some cartons of juice. The people with blue eyes were allowed to have the biscuits first. This was to teach us about the unfairness of what happens to Sarah and her friends in ‘Lies We Tell Ourselves’. After the first activity, we went over to the drama hall. When we got there, we split into multiple groups, with two from each school in every group. We then got to know the people before continuing with the activity. After the introductions, we found out more about Martin Luther King and did some work on famous black people who stood up for their rights back in the 50s.
After a nice lunch, we found out the national and regional winners of the Carnegie Medal. This year it was ‘One’ that won the national contest and ‘Lies We Tell Ourselves’ that won the regionals. For the final activity, we went to the drama hall and joined up with our groups. We then spent the rest of the time drawing new front covers for one of the shortlisted Carnegie books. We thoroughly enjoyed the day and we thought Haydock was a lovely school. The people were nice and welcoming and we all had a great time. On the topic of the Carnegie winner, we thought ‘One’ was very worthy of the honour. We were also very happy with the results for our area as well.
SPORTS DAY 2016
Cowley’s annual Sports Day 2016 took place on Wednesday, 22nd June. Students and staff enjoyed beautiful weather and our exuberant Samba Band performed for spectators as the athletes geared up to compete in various events, including: long jump, tug-of-war, discus, shotput and 800m track running. The day saw more records beaten than any other year! We take this opportunity to sincerely congratulate all those who took part, and in particular, to the winners on the day.
The overall House results are in and are as follows:
Vikings Romans Trojans Teutons Celts Spartans
437 419 382 367 366 314
RUGBY PRESENTATION 2016
The 17th annual junior rugby presentation took place in Cowley International Hall on Thursday, June 30th. Our guest of honour was former St Helens Rugby League Captain and current member of the coaching staff, Paul Wellens. The event was very well supported by both players, parents and Cowley staff and the hall was filled with over 180 people. After the traditional sausage roll and beans, guests made their way into the main hall closely followed by the players. Each coach gave a brief run through of the highlights of the season followed by the presentation of
AWARD WINNERS Year 7 Player of the Year Sam McGuiness. Year 7 Most Consistent Player Mckenzie Lee Year 7 The 3Cs Ellis Finney Year 8 Player of the Year Lewis Caine Year 8 Most Improved Player Joe Gilford Year 8 Most Consistent Player Connor Goldthorpe
the main awards (see full list of award winners at the bottom of this page). The Year 8 rugby team were awarded the ‘James Roby Trophy’ for Team of the Year, having won both the St Helens Town 9-a-side competition and the St Helens Schools Cup. ‘The Cowleian Award’ for services to rugby was presented to Mr Doherty who has been involved with Cowley rugby teams for over 35 years, and has been a huge support for all the staff coaches for the last 20 years. The big award of the evening was the ‘Junior Player of the Year’ award that was presented to Owain Abel,
the Year 10 Captain who has been outstanding all season. Owain follows some notable recipients of this trophy. namely: 10 England School Boy Internationals, 11 Saints Academy players, 8 Super League players, 2 Rugby League Internationals and 1 Man of Steel. The rugby staff would like to thank all the parents who supported the evening and give a special thank you to Paul Wellens who ended the evening by reminding all our rugby players of the massive positive impact that team sport had on his life, in particular school rugby.
Year 9 Player of the Year Jamie Pye
Junior Player of the Year Owain Abel
Year 9 Most Consistent Player Joe Spencer
The Cowleian Award Mr Doherty
Year 9 The 3Cs Ryan Smith Year 9 Player of the Year Connor Pilling Year 10 The 3Cs Bailey Dean Year 10 Most Improved Player Matthew Lowton
KEY DATES FOR YOUR DIARY 20 July 25 July - 3 August 19 August 25 August 25/26 August 7 September
College closes for summer Year 6 Summer Slam A Level results day GCSE results day Sixth Form enrolment College reopens after the summer break