A Year of Achievement 2012 - 2013

COWLEY INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE A YEAR OF ACHIEVEMENT 2012 - 2013

celebrating

the

2012

-

2013

academic

year

Our Mission Our mission is to create independent, considerate, healthy and aspirational people who communicate well.

Through teaching and providing an environment that is stimulating, safe and caring, we encourage all to develop themselves and to support each other to achieve their full potential.

Our mission statement is shaped by our vision for all Cowleians to achieve the highest standards together, articulated by our College motto: Non sibi seb omnibus Which translates as

“Not for oneself, but for all.�

Cowley Houses Celts

Romans

Spartans

Teutons

Trojans

College Prayer Bless, O God, the life and work of our college.

Help us in all things to serve the needs of all its members.

Make us gentle, brave and loving, always respecting ourselves, each other and the world in which we live.

Grant that we may be thankful for all that we have received, and generous in using our talents for the good of all.

In all our learning may we gain wisdom and knowledge of your truth.

Amen.

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A YEAR OF ACHIEVEMENT | 2012 - 2013

Vikings

Contents A message from the Principal

4

A message from the Chair of Governors

6

The Governing Body

7

Staff list

7 - 10

Fond farewell

11

Prize winners

12 - 20

News review

22 - 25

Comenius Utopia

26 - 27

2012 - 2013 Charity work

28 - 29

Out and about

30 - 31

Subjects review

32 - 57

A year of sport

58 - 61

Duke of Edinburgh’s award

62 - 63

Year 13 destinations

64 - 67

A YEAR OF ACHIEVEMENT | 2012 - 2013

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Mr Sheeran Principal

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A YEAR OF ACHIEVEMENT | 2012 - 2013

A message from the Principal Another wonderful year at Cowley.

Congratulations to all students who have made progress this year; your success is due to hard work, enthusiasm, commitment and a determination to succeed.

The self-confidence which characterises Cowley students comes in part from the encouragement they receive in so many activities beyond the taught curriculum and we believe passionately in offering such opportunities. These opportunities occur for students in all years at Cowley and the learning which transpires in the classroom is complemented by rich enhancement opportunities both in this country and beyond; in Europe and as far afield as Asia. This year we celebrate visits to Italy with the Comenius Utopia project, a Cricket tour in Malaysia and numerous field trips at home, including well supported Duke of Edinburgh hikes.

With a very structured focus on learning, I believe the future will continue to be a very exciting one and I look forward to reporting next year, an even greater range of achievements and further developments.

Mr Sheeran Principal ‘Look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist.

Be curious.’ Stephen Hawking

You will read in this book how our students and staff have supported many charities. I continue to be astounded by the commitment, dedication and compassion that staff and students give to so many worthy causes.

I hope you enjoy reading this superb book and may I take this opportunity to thank staff for their hard work and commitment, the College Governors for their guidance and support, parents and carers who have to play so many roles as counsellor and enforcer, the Local Authority for their vision and support for Cowley, enabling us to create a 21st Century learning environment and most importantly, the students for their hard work.

A YEAR OF ACHIEVEMENT | 2012 - 2013

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A message from

the Chair of Governors She believed that all children had the right to go to school.

Cowley International College is the legacy of this remarkable woman and it is our privilege to fulfil her wishes and to offer today’s children all that is best in education.

In the course of this school year, we celebrate the 300th anniversary of our founder, Sarah Cowley.

The St Helens that Sarah Cowley knew has changed dramatically, but we still benefit from her vision for the future.

The College offers its students many opportunities and challenges and encourages them to develop life skills in a caring and safe environment. No one can be sure what the future holds but of one thing we can be certain – education is never wasted.

The Governors wish to thank the staff for their hard work and commitment and, more importantly, their pastoral Sarah did not have a great care for the needs of all deal of money, but when her students. They provide the small environment holding in No one can be sure what in which Shaw Street learning can the future holds but of was sold, take place. one thing we can be £23 was All their left to fund certain – education efforts are a school. appreciated is never wasted. for they have Her wish made the was to provide a basic College a great school. education for the children of the town and to buy them suitable clothing.

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A YEAR OF ACHIEVEMENT | 2012 - 2013

Finally, congratulations to all the prize winners. May you go from success to success and fulfil all your dreams and ambitions for the future.

Mrs Bellis Chair of Governors

The Governing Body 2013/2014 Mrs Bellis (Chair of Governors) Mr Appleton (Vice Chair of Governors) Mrs Griffiths Cllr Baines Cllr Rimmer, CBE Mr Watkins Ms Campbell Mr Fairclough Mr Lawton Mr Arnold Mr Bowling Mrs Deveney Mrs O’Donnell Mrs Pye Mr Chambers Mr Fairhurst Mr Livesey Mr Sheeran

Community Governor Community Governor Authority Governor Authority Governor Authority Governor Authority Governor Community Governor Community Governor Community Governor Parent Governor Parent Governor Parent Governor Parent Governor Parent Governor Staff Governor Staff Governor Staff Governor Headteacher Governor

Staff list 2013/2014 Senior Leadership Management team Mr Sheeran

Principal

Mr Cormack

Mrs Callaghan Mrs Connerney Mr Dickinson Mr Hesketh Mr Howarth Mr Leadbeater Mr Livesey Mr Gordon Mr Hines Miss Hale

Associate Principal

Business Manager Assistant Headteacher Assistant Headteacher Assistant Headteacher Assistant Headteacher Assistant Headteacher Assistant Headteacher Assistant Headteacher Assistant Headteacher Assistant Headteacher

Teaching staff Art Miss Kay Miss Cook Miss Winder Community And Beliefs Mrs Reed Mrs Connerney Mr Baxter Miss Houghton English Mr Hines Mr Betts Miss Dale Mr Dunford Mrs Edwards Mrs Gorman Ms Gwynn Mr Hewlett Mr Lilley Miss Massey Mrs Pennington Mrs Silverstone Mrs Storch Mrs Tolson Mr Torn Mrs Williams Miss Williams Film Mr Harrison Food Studies Mrs Doherty Miss Mason Geography Ms Francis Mrs Reid Miss Senior Miss Mercer History Mrs Williams Mr Edwards Mr Middleton Mrs Smith

ICT Mr Alston Mr Jones Mr Burrows Mr Ellis Mr Gaskell Miss Hoult Mrs Nelson Mr Raines Mr Ruddy Law Mr McKeown Mathematics Mr Howarth Mr Baron Mrs Bessant Miss Dutton Mrs Burrows Mrs Clayton Mr Fearn Mrs Frohwein Miss Hallmark Mr Hammersley Mr Kenrick Mr Livesey Mrs Lloyd Mrs McKeon Mr McLoughlin Mr Mercure Modern Languages Miss Hale Miss Banks Mrs Cottle Mr Leadbeater Miss Mitchell Miss Peacock Mr Platt Miss Wharton Performing Arts Mr Chambers Mr Dutch Miss Lewis Mr Watkins

Physical Health Miss Aspin Mr Gordon Mr Evans Mrs Cookson Mr Foster Mrs Irwin Ms Smith Science Mrs Sullivan Mr Irwin Mr Brooks Mr Bennett Mr Cormack Mr Coulson Mrs Davies Mr Dickinson Mrs Dickinson Miss Forrest Mr Grimshaw Mr Hargreaves Mr Hesketh Mr Marsh Mrs Norrey Miss Rigby Miss Ronald Mr Wrangles Technology Ms Griffiths Miss Harvey Mrs Brown Mrs Chapman Miss Davies Mr Purcell Vocational Studies Mr Willis Miss Bradbury Mrs Finnigan Mrs Hughes Mr Illidge Mr Llewellyn Miss Moneypenny Mr Potter Mrs Robinson Miss Smart Ms Ward Miss Williams

Support staff Education Support Mrs Basinger Mrs Burrows Mrs Corbett Miss Forrest Mr Griffiths Ms Halligan Mr Healey Miss Lawson Mrs Littler Miss Malone Mr Mason Mrs Mason Mrs Plunkett Miss Swaby Mrs Wright

Librarian Senior Learning Assistant (English) Year Co-ordinator (Y12) Senior Learning Assistant (Science) Learning Mentor/Cover Family Liaison Officer Alternative Education Co-ordinator Year Co-ordinator (Y8) Senior Learning Assistant (Mathematics) Minibus Driver Year Co-ordinator (Y10) Year Co-ordinator (Y8) Year Co-ordinator Year Co-ordinator (Y9) WRL Manager/VI Form Learning Mentor

Learning Support Mrs Ascroft Miss Box Mrs Burrows Miss Cotham Ms Critchley Mrs Ferguson Miss Gordon Miss Hughes Mrs Livesey Mr Livesey Ms Lowe Mrs Moran Ms Murphy Ms Parylo Mr Prendergast Mr Speakman Mrs Strange Miss Swift Mr Westhead Mr Wood

Learning Assistant (SEN) Learning Assistant (SEN) Senior Learning Assistant (SEN) Learning Assistant (SEN) Learning Assistant (SEN) Senior Learning Assistant (Literacy) Learning Assistant (SEN) Learning Assistant (SEN) Learning Assistant (SEN) Learning Assistant (SEN) Senior Learning Assistant (Numeracy) Learning Assistant (SEN) Learning Assistant (SEN) Senior Learning Assistant (Literacy) Learning Assistant (SEN) Learning Assistant (SEN) Learning Assistant (SEN) Learning Assistant (SEN) Learning Assistant (SEN) Learning Assistant (SEN)

Inclusion Mr Fairhurst Ms Henshaw Mrs Farrell Mrs Foster Mrs Brown

Access and Inclusion Manager Senior Learning Mentor Senior Learning Assistant (Inclusion) Senior Learning Assistant (Inclusion) Learning Assistant (Inclusion)

A YEAR OF ACHIEVEMENT | 2011 - 2012

Administration Mrs Bailey-Meagher Mrs Chuard Ms Costigan Mrs Cunliffe Mr Doherty Mrs Halley Mrs Hodgetts Miss Holden Mrs Joinson Ms Moorst Miss Ratcliffe Mr Richmond Mrs Smith Mrs Stead Mrs Tonks Mrs Wright

Clerical Assistant Administrative Assistant Administrative Assistant Clerical Assistant Examinations Officer Administrative Assistant Cover/Timetable Officer Finance Assistant Principal’s PA (Sixth Form) Administration Manager (11-16) Website, Publications and Marketing Manager Data and Assessment Manager Administrative Assistant (Sixth Form) Clerical Assistant Clerical Assistant Finance Manager

Technical Mr Carberry Mrs Cheetham Mr Cheetham Miss Collins Miss Featherstone Mr Holland Mr Pemberton Mrs Rickards Mr Roberts Mr Wellens

PE Technician Science Technician Technology Technician Senior Science Technician Technology Technician Science Technician Science Technician Science Technician Technology Technician Performing Arts Technician

Premises Mr Finney Mr Boardman Mr Stanley Mr Taylor

Midday Supervisors Mrs Yates Ms Beirne Mrs Edwards Ms Featherstone Mrs Kilburn Miss McNamara Ms Murphy

Facilities Manager Grounds Assistant/Caretaker Senior Site Technician Caretaker Senior Midday Supervisor Midday Supervisor Midday Supervisor Midday Supervisor Midday Supervisor Midday Supervisor Midday Supervisor

Fond farewell This year, Cowley bid goodbye to several staff members and two Governors.

Closing the door at Cowley for the very last time as they have decided to retire at the close of the 2012-2013 College year are: Mrs Prescott Mr McNamara Mrs Hull Other staff who are leaving to pastures new are: Miss Ball Miss Callaghan Mr Cammann Miss Exton Mr Finnigan Miss Littler Miss Sullivan We would like to thank these staff for their devotion and enthusiasm, hard work and commitment. Without them, Cowley would not be the success that it is.

RECOGNISING EXCELLENCE

Congratulations to you all and good luck in your new ventures.

We also say farewell to two of our Governors, Mr Narayanan and Dr Clegg, who between them have over 42 years of commitment and service to Cowley. They both have fond memories of staff and students alike. We would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their hard work and dedication and wish them a very long and happy retirement.

A YEAR OF ACHIEVEMENT | 2011 - 2012

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Prize winners Form certificates

RECOGNISING EXCELLENCE

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Form

Achievement

Progress

7R

Kelly Buckley

Ellie Rankin

7O

Nicole Burrows

Bethany Munro

7Y

Georgia McInroy

Tanya Gerrard

7G

Chloe Frodsham

Tanya O’Brien

7B

Emily Tye

Abby Gregory

7I

Laura Taylor

Abby Chan

7V

Ben Scott

Rebecca Blakemore

7W

Emily Boyd

7P

Shauna Verey

Ellie Farrell

8R

Ben Preston

Amy Cropper

8O

Ellie Caine

Heather Orford

8Y

Katie Ellis

Alysha Critchley

8G

Jamie Ellis

Taylor Reed

8B

Emily Metcalfe

Kieran Shirley

8I

Charlotte Riley

Shannon Oakshott

8V

Megan Evans

Matthew Webster

8W

Teona-Mica Beckett-Barron

Alex Hewitt

A YEAR OF ACHIEVEMENT | 2012 - 2013

Chloe Keogh

Form

Achievement

Progress

9R

Charlotte Doyle

Yasmin Ali

9O

Owen Gannon

Ellie Greaves

9G

Christopher Follin

Nikita White

9B

Connor Robertshaw

Chloe Hattersley

9I

Carys Quinn

Emily Birchall

9V

Rebecca Hardy

Rob Haunch

9W

Georgia McClymont

Samantha Melling RECOGNISING EXCELLENCE

10R

Sophia Stephenson

Mathew Horton

10O

Stacey Kennedy

Amber Maddox

10Y

Adam Dyer

Charlotte Tonks

10G

Harriet Harmon

Jordan Spencer

10B

Ameen Suleiman

Joshua Swindells

10I

Sophia Palin

Charlie Dwyer

10V

Alexander Miller

Wesley Atherton

10W

Joshua Flanagan

Courtney Traverse

A YEAR OF ACHIEVEMENT | 2012 - 2013

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Prize winners Outstanding results at GCSE Sophia Stephenson

Rhiannon Glynn

Yasmin Litherland

Daniel Smith

Nathan Yong

Amber Heyes

Eleanor Aster

Jessica Phillips

100% attendance for 5 Years Jamie Doyle

Esther Fabiyi

Adam Hill

Louis Jackson

Special Year 11 Prize RECOGNISING EXCELLENCE

Computer Games Development

Tyler Graves

Year 12 Prizes

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Art

Jemma Hughes

Art and Design: Textiles

Kimberly Wildman

Biology

Imogen Barwick

Business

Zoe Troilett

Childcare Single

Natasha Harrison

Childcare Triple

Jessica McGuire

Computer Games Development

Peter Fisher

English Language

Georgia Litherland

English Literature

Abigail Craig

A YEAR OF ACHIEVEMENT | 2012 - 2013

Film Studies

Barry Southward

French AS

Amy Paton

Geography

Oliver Mackenzie

History

Shannon Delaney

Health and Social Care Single

Danielle Webster

Health and Social Care Dual

Bethany Graves

Hospitality

Chloe High

ICT Single

Joshua Marsh

ICT Dual

Thomas Sankey

Law

Mancyia Uddin

Mathematics

Victoria Ribton

Further Mathematics

Adam Stout

Use of Mathematics

Melissa Mason

Media Studies

Zoe Arnold

Physics

Victoria Ribton

Psychology

Imogen Barwick

Public Services

Hayley Clarkson

Religious Education

Georgia Litherland

Science

Danielle Webster

Sociology

Melissa Astell

Sport

Steven Buckley

Travel & Tourism

Elyse Martindale

A YEAR OF ACHIEVEMENT | 2012 - 2013

RECOGNISING EXCELLENCE

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Prize winners Year 13 Prizes

RECOGNISING EXCELLENCE

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Acting

Nicole Fagan

Art

Annalise Herd

Biology

Matthew Connor

Business

Sehriban Yurdakurban

Business Studies

Thomas Docksey

Childcare Single

Lauren Case

Childcare Triple

Katie Hampson

Dance

Nicole Fagan

Design and Technology: Product Design

Rebekah Grayson

English Language

Lauren Tunstall

English Literature

Rebekah Grayson

French

Joanna Wilson

Film Studies

Nicola Lyon

General Studies

Kiah Brownbill

Geography

Scott Rowson

German

Joanna Wilson

Health and Social Care Single

Carla Disley

Health and Social Care Dual

Jennifer Swift

ICT Single

Katie Gabbitas

ICT Dual

Sehriban Yurdakurban

A YEAR OF ACHIEVEMENT | 2012 - 2013

International Baccalaureate

Jenna Thackray

Law

Stacy Kinsey

Mathematics

Jessica Hughes

Further Maths

Joshua Bridge

Media Studies

Luke Jones

Music

Jack Dean

Physical Education

Katie Gabbitas

Physics

Scott Gordon

Psychology

Joanna Wilson

Public Services

Jamie Henderson

Religious Studies

Nicola Lyon

Science

Joanne Crooks

Sociology

Melissa Atherton

Sport

Jack Leyland

Textiles

Lauren Hide

Travel & Tourism

Leanne Radford

A YEAR OF ACHIEVEMENT | 2012 - 2013

RECOGNISING EXCELLENCE

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Prize winners Special Prizes Achievement in Science

Good Citizenship

Liam Dodd

Bernard McDonald Prize for Sport

Adam Dyer

Services to Netball

Rebecca Catton

Enid Oakes Cup for English

Rachel Unsworth

Sports Personality of the Year

Michael Stark

Outstanding Achievement in Sport

Adam Hill

Gordon Benzie Prize for Geography

Jessica Jones

All Round Achievement in Year 11

Esther Fabiyi

David Dickson Cup for a True Sportsman

Jack Gerrard

Originally awarded by John Moores University in recognition of a good citizen.

Bernard McDonald, our former caretaker and a great supporter of sport.

RECOGNISING EXCELLENCE

Enid Oakes is a former teacher at Cowley. This Cup is given to a student with a genuine love of English.

Gordon Benzie was head of department for many years.

Gordon enjoyed fieldwork and the prize provided in his name is for a first class GCSE project.

David Dickson was a very friendly student who sadly died in the Sixth Form some years ago. This prize was presented by his family in his memory for being a true sportsman himself.

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A YEAR OF ACHIEVEMENT | 2012 - 2013

Molly Thair

Christine Fazackerley Memorial Prize for Music

Lauren Tunstall

Helen Marie Lower College Prize

Hannah Fabiyi

Christine Fazackerley was a former head of Music at Cowley Girls’ School. This prize was presented by her family.

Helen Marie was a student at Cowley. This prize is presented to a student who has helped the Lower School.

Nesta Jones Prize for Services to Performing Arts Melissa Mason This prize has been given by Mrs Clegg, wife of Governor and former Chair of Governors, Dr Clegg, in memory of her mother.

Tony Narayanan Prize for Mathematics

Luke Doherty

John Clegg Prize for Physics

Jenna Thackray

Alice Wood Prize for French

Jessica Jones

This prize is sponsored by Tony Narayanan, a former Chair of Governors, who has a passion for Mathematics.

The prize goes to a student with great promise in this subject.

This prize is sponsored by John Clegg, a former Chair of Governors, who has a passion for Physics.

The prize goes to a student with great promise in this subject.

Alice Wood, a former deputy at the Girls’ School, created this prize.

Nadine McDonald Prize for French

Esther Fabiyi

Tanya Dootson Memorial Trophy for Hockey

Natasha Sephton

McCooey Prize for Art

Annalise Herd

Eric McDonald Prize for Outstanding Contribution to the College

Bethany Cammack

Eric McDonald, former headteacher, donates this prize in memory of his French born, late wife, Nadine.

Tanya was sadly killed in a road accident. This prize was sponsored by her hockey team.

This prize, the handiwork of Mr McCooey, was the brainchild of Mrs McCooey, who was a long standing Governor of Cowley.

RECOGNISING EXCELLENCE

Eric McDonald established this prize on his retirement from the headship at Cowley. The prize is given to a student who, in the opinion of staff, has made an outstanding contribution to the life of the College.

A YEAR OF ACHIEVEMENT | 2012 - 2013

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Prize winners Dee Griffiths Prize for Outdoor Education

Jemma Hughes

Spanish Prize

Kayleigh Perry

German Prize

Maria Chean

Language Learner of the Year

Erin Lever

Willmott Dixon Prize for Sustainability

Jade Scott

Very Disco Prize for Key Stage 4 ICT

Jack Garner

Dee Griffiths was, for many years, a senior teacher at Cowley.

This award is for the student who has demonstrated excellence in outdoor education.

RECOGNISING EXCELLENCE

Congratulations to all our Prize winners

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A YEAR OF ACHIEVEMENT | 2012 - 2013

News review Top press releases from 2012 - 2013 Cowley introduces ten defibrillators

ognise the emergency, dial 999 and start CPR. “In additional to this, the most effective treatment is to use an AED.

Students head out on Ecuador mission

“The machine is so simple to operate, it tells the user exactly what to do, and it cannot harm the patient by unnecessarily shocking them.”

It is estimated that 270 children die of a sudden cardiac arrest while at school in the UK every year – and there are those who believe that figure would be dramatically reduced if all schools had defibrillator machines on their grounds.

Cowley has a pupil with Long QT Syndrome, which can cause an irregular heartbeat and ultimately sudden death.

The school believes a defibrillator, which restarts hearts that have gone into cardiac arrest, could mean the difference between life and death.

The defibrillator delivers an electric pulse through the chest, in an attempt to restore normal heart rhythm.

Mr Sheeran cited figures which suggest survival decreases 10 per cent for every one minute that passes without defibrillation.

However, if the machine is used within five minutes of collapse the best possible chance of survival is maintained.

He added: “The introduction of AEDs at Cowley will provide immediate care and potentially save a person’s life.”

Paramedics paid a visit to Cowley to train staff to the use the equipment and deliver CPR. The skills will be passed on to other school employees and pupils.

Mr Sheeran said: “It is impossible to put a price on the life of a child.

“When someone goes into cardiac arrest - it is vital to rec22

A YEAR OF ACHIEVEMENT | 2012 - 2013

A team of students are spending their summer break helping native communities of Ecuador, trekking up a volcano and canoeing down the Amazon.

The seven-strong squad will spend four weeks exploring South America. They will work on projects to improve the standard of living for communities in the Andean Highlands.

Tasks will include rebuilding the dilapidated sites or improving schools.

Ms Sullivan, Cowley’s Head of Achievement for Year 11, said: “We will be working for three weeks in three different areas of Ecuador - with a final week spent in the Amazon rainforest.

“We will be learning Spanish, talking with locals and helping to preserve the Andean and Amazonian wildlife, including the Spectacled Bear.

“We’ll also be trekking the largest volcano in the Ecuador, canoeing down the Amazon river, and camping overnight for a week.”

Cowley pupils get a lesson in global business

A global business leader spelled out the hard work which is required to become successful as he addressed hundreds of secondary school pupils.

Jeremy Bentham, Vice-President of Global Business Environment at international oil and gas company Royal Dutch Shell, gave a motivational talk at Cowley International College.

Cowley students set to stage ‘dream show’

THE heart-breaking love story Miss Saigon is being brought to a school stage.

Cowley International College believes it will be one of the first schools in the country to perform the musical, rights for which were released to education venues in August.

It was part of the Speakers for Schools initiative, which was set up by Robert Peston, the BBC’s Business Editor.

Last year, Cowley staged The Phantom of the Opera over four sell-out performances, and teachers are boldly predicting this show promises to be even better.

Addressing more than 200 students and staff, Mr Bentham focused on topics such as economics and the business environment before offering students an insight into his academic and career highlights.

Written by the same composers of Les Miserables, Miss Saigon is a love story set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, and is based on the tragic opera Madame Butterfly.

The talk ended with a lively question and answer session involving students.

Mr Sheeran said: “All young people need inspirational role models, and it was a privilege for our students to meet Mr Bentham and to hear first-hand that success is a result of overcoming challenges, working hard and striving for the best. We hope it will encourage our students to aim higher and believe anything is possible.”

Cowley’s Head of Performing Arts, Shaun Chambers said: “We were amazed by the response of the public to last year’s production of Phantom, and we hope the community will turn out in force again to support our students as they tackle another ground-breaking show.

“It promises to be magnificent.

“We have been waiting for the rights to become available for more than 10 years, so staging this show is a dream come true for us here at Cowley.”

Boots helps with safety message

A SET of students saw at first hand how crash victims are rescued from mangled wreckage following a traffic collision in a demonstration by firefighters.

Saints mascot Boots took part, playing the victim of a road accident.

The ‘rescue’ took place in the grounds of Cowley International College and involved students who had to be cut free from a car.

Fire crews from St Helens and Newton visited Cowley along with police, to hammer home the message about road safety.

Sixth Form students were told about the dangers of drink-driving, not wearing seat belts and possible distractions in the car.

St Helens Fire Chief, Chris Case said: “Events such as this are a very good way of engaging young people and giving them an idea as to how emergency services work together when responding to a road traffic collision.”

Cowley’s Work Related Learning Manager, Julie Wright, added: “We appreciate that young people enjoy the freedom to drive.

“We hope that this display acts as a timely reminder for students to be safe behind the wheel.”

A YEAR OF ACHIEVEMENT | 2012 - 20132

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Cowley goes for Gold

Three pupils from Cowley have been presented with the Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award by Mr Sheeran.

At an awards night, held at Ruskin Drive on Wednesday 6th March, the Gold award pupils were celebrated for their incredible accomplishment.

Each recipient had achieved all parts of the much sought-after award, showing commitment over a number of years - completing a residential course, a physical activity and last year undertaking a gruelling 5-day kayaking expedition around the south coast of Menorca.

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Calvin Healy, Co-ordinator of The Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme at Cowley said: “The young people honoured at this year’s ceremony, should be very proud of their achievements.

To achieve an award, whether at Bronze, Silver or Gold level takes an incredible amount of effort and dedication. I am extremely proud of these students who worked hard to achieve the award.”

This is a record for Cowley and further testament to the dedication and hard work invested by both staff and students.

A YEAR OF ACHIEVEMENT | 2012 - 2013

The gold award winning students are now looking forward to visiting Buckingham Palace to receive their award by a member of the Royal family.

Cowley cooks up a storm

Building strong foundations

Cowley is gearing up to take part in a national healthy cooking challenge – with the goal to get more than 100 students, parents and local sports persons cooking the same healthy meal on the same day.

Cowley was delighted to welcome back PLACED, an organisation that is passionate about teaching young people about architecture, design and the built environment.

Pupils, parents and teachers will be joined by members of the community as they battle it out against other schools in the national Let’s Get Cooking BIG Cookathon contest.

Karis Mason, the school’s Let’s Get Cooking coordinator, said: “Cooking healthy food together in one place is not only beneficial to the participants who learn about preparing and cooking a healthy meal from scratch, but it’s also about bringing the local community together for a great cause, and that’s what the BIG Cookathon is all about.”

Led by the School Food Trust, Let’s Get Cooking provides training, resources and support to help set up healthy cooking programs for people of all ages

Budding entrepreneurs

PLACED challenged our students to redesign a classroom to make the ideal learning environment. The participating students had fantastic ideas and worked exceptionally hard, developing well thought out 3D classrooms.

Julie Wright, Cowley’s Work Related Learning Manager, who organised the event said: “The engaging and creative workshop has given Cowley students a wonderful insight into architecture and the built environment.

The cross curricular workshop supported key aims in Art, Design Technology, Enterprise, Geography and Mathematics.”

Year 9 students from Cowley made it to the regional final of an enterprise competition that saw students pitch their business idea to a panel of experts at a Helena Partnerships Dragons Den-style event.

Cowley’s budding young entrepreneurs (pictured) impressed the judges with their well thought out idea of ‘Do’s, Discos and Dates To Remember’ personalised items, such as key rings and mugs at pocket money prices.

The students confidently presented their business idea and were praised for their marketable product range, that demonstrated a good balance of creative, financial and marketing skills.

The Starship Enterprise competition is part of a five year initiative by Helena Partnerships to support work, learning and training opportunities for young people.

Let’s Get Cooking has established England’s biggest network of healthy, school-based cooking clubs for children and families and studies show that more than half of people taking part in this schools-based initiative reported eating a healthier diet after the event.

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Departures When I was young I saw only homelands, borders, flags, cultures and history, now I often go towards horizons: open spaces and dreams, light and unstable like winds or clouds in spring, human wagers of various colours that I live as mine, a little hidden.

Many pieces of my puzzle, are scattered along the way, in everyday places, others I meet by chance throughout the world: I recognise them like old friends, because over time they’ve taken my image and their shapes adapt to thousands of others, not mine, not all along, even if in all of them there is a familiar air.

But each one is valuable, because life isn’t measured in years, but in meetings, in pieces to collect and spread, paint or copy, following the heart, the river of life, of friendship.

A poem written for Cowley, by our Comenius Utopia friends from Fumane, March 2013

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A YEAR OF ACHIEVEMENT | 2012 - 2013

Comenius Utopia Cowley International College is proud to be involved in a three year, British Council funded Comenius Project, named Utopia. The project involves Cowley and partner schools from Germany, France, Italy and Turkey exploring what schools may be like in the future.

School today is faced with enormous technological and global challenges. Subjects and methods that are currently taught often date back to 19th and 20th century requirements, which often do not meet the questions and problems our students and societies face in a globalized world in which technological advancement is exponential.

The basic concept for the Comenius Utopia project is to develop utopian ideas in selected areas for school as an institution and a place to live. This comprises the idea of learning and teaching for a future life, whilst not exactly knowing what the problems of the future may be.

The aim is to apply some changes to our respective schools and to present a vision of the utopian school our students/staff dream of.

Cowley International College hosted the second of four workshops in March this year.

The week commenced with a civic welcome in Cowley Hall, attended by staff, students, Governors and local dignitaries, including Cllr Rimmer. Following a traditional English breakfast on arrival, the former Mayor, Cllr Almond, formally welcomed the group to St Helens.

The work at Cowley built on the foundations which had been laid when the topics were discussed in October 2012 at the first workshop, hosted by the Italian school. During that visit, nine Cowley students had the opportunity to visit the beautiful wine making region of Valpolicella.

A farewell meal was held at the Park Inn and each school presented their ideas about what schools of the future may hold in store for their students.

The evening culminated in the whole group playing Samba live on percussion instruments which had been learned in a 45 minute session the previous day. Mr Sheeran hailed the week’s events as a great success, stating: “Our visitors were amazed by the quality of Cowley’s accommodation, the use and availability of technology, innovative teaching and the uniqueness of the Saints Partnership.“ The third workshop is currently being planned and we would like to invite all Cowley staff, students, Governors and parents/carers to follow the project by searching for ‘Comenius Utopia’ on Google+.

The project can also be followed on Twitter: @ComeniusUtopia

31 students and 12 staff from schools in France, Germany, Italy and Turkey, along with Cowley students, took part in a packed programme of thought provoking workshops and events.

Workshops took place throughout the week investigating school environments, teaching and learning, technology and guidance.

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2012 - 2013 Charity work Charity work is a core part of College life. We are proud of the contribution that students and their families have made to the wide range of events that took place during the last academic year. We believe that through charitable work, students will further understand the types of need that exist on both a local and global scale.

The following are two great examples of outstanding charity work undertaken by Cowley students: Connor’s Hair-raising adventures Earlier this year, Sixth Form student Connor Wright, followed in the footsteps of pop star Jessie J, to cut and donate his waist length hair to The Princess Trust – a charity that provides real hair wigs to children that have lost their own through cancer treatment and other illnesses.

Connor received cheers and ear deafening clapping on standing to show the audience his newly cropped locks.

Monica Glass, Charity Manager at the Little Princess Trust said: “On behalf of everyone connected with the Little Princess Trust, I would like to thank Connor sincerely for doing so much to help others. To have your hair cut and to donate it is a truly selfless act and he should be commended.

Donations such as these help the charity provide even more wigs to children with cancer.

Thank you Connor!”

A packed auditorium, including Connor’s nervous family, watched with bated breath as Mrs Hughes and Mrs Plunkett eagerly worked scissors and hair clippers cutting Connor’s long luscious locks until a short (but impressively tidy) hair style was achieved.

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find an effective set of treatments to combat this condition.

Joining Jack Year 8 students chose Joining Jack as their primary charity of focus and throughout the 2012 - 2013 academic year students diligently applied themselves organising various events in an attempt to raise money and the profile of the charity.

The first fundraising event that was organised in aid of Joining Jack was the World Marathon Challenge that saw 40 Year 8 students clock an impressive time of 2 hours, 2 minutes and 58 seconds to beat the world marathon record set by Patrick Makau.

Each student, on average, ran eight legs of 200 metres and they were helped along the way by Saints players Paul Wellens, Jonny Lomax and James Tilley.

Other activities that took place to raise money for Joining Jack include: a cake sale, a sponsored silence challenge and the creation of a music video.

Recently, Amy Hilton, Events and Fundraising Co-ordinator for Joining Jack, visited Cowley to accept a cheque for monies raised throughout the year and to talk about Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (the condition that affects Jack Johnson, whom the charity is named after) and the work that the charity is doing to raise money to fund research to

Testimonial from Jack’s mum, Alex Johnson Andy and I have been completely overwhelmed by the support that the students of Cowley International College have shown us.

They have all worked so hard helping to raise funds for Joining Jack, and we are so thankful for everything they’ve done for us to help raise awareness of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

The support of people like these students is absolutely invaluable to our cause.

We’re massively grateful to the school and to everyone involved who has donated their time and money for us - all the funds raised will go straight into the hands of researchers and academics who specialise in DMD and have the best chance of developing a treatment for Jack and the thousands of others like him who suffer from this terrible condition.

I also hope that the fact that the students have worked so hard doing such a varied selection of fundraising activities proves to be an inspiration for other people to do the same.

We really need more people like the students at Cowley College, and we’d like to say thanks again for all the support that they have shown us.

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Out and about

Educational excursions, visits and sports tours

Bon appétit Holy Cross Primary School Cowley maintain close links with local primary schools and organise activities and events throughout the year to help strengthen relationships and to assist students with the transition from primary to secondary education.

Earlier this year, four students from Year 7 organised a French breakfast for Year 1 at Holy Cross Primary School to help the primary school students make a connection between learning languages and enjoyment.

The French breakfast, made up of croissants, fresh fruit and pains au chocolat, was well received by the class, with most trying new foods and flavours for the first time.

Following the breakfast, the students were treated to a lively and engaging French culture presentation by Cowley students, followed by an introduction to the French language, where they got to learn greetings and to show off their new language skills to the group.

The breakfast was a resounding success and both Holy Cross and Cowley students went away full of enthusiasm for French culture and cuisine.

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At Easter, 32 students took part in a ski trip to Val di Fiemme, Italy.

The trip didn’t have the best start as the coach encountered traffic on the way to Dover, which resulted in missing the ferry. Then, the coach was pulled over by Police in Switzerland due to the level of emissions coming from the engine. A 26 hour coach journey became a whopping 32 hours.

The group began lessons on the beginners slopes and by the end of the week everyone had progressed enough to complete a Red (advanced) run.

For those that really wanted to test themselves, the charismatic ski instructors organised races, which certainly brought the competitiveness out in some participants.

There were, of course, plenty of falls, bumps and bruises, but fortunately no hospital visits.

Before the coach had arrived back home, students wanted to know when the next ski trip was planned for – certainly the sign of a great week.

Quinta Residential During the Summer term, approximately half of Year 8 travelled to Quinta Hall in Shropshire for the College’s annual Quinta residential trip.

Malaysia Cricket Tour Cowley has been running cultural cricket trips to exotic destinations for over 20 years and this year the cricket team enjoyed a tour in Malaysia.

The fun-packed, three day trip provided an abundance of activities for the students to take part in, including: archery, arts and crafts, climbing, field games, low-ropes, orienteering, raft building and swimming.

The tour started in Kuala Lumpur, where Cowley won their first international match victoriously against Kuala Lumpur Indian International School at the Kinrara Oval.

Everyone swopped their wet and muddy clothes for something smarter and danced the night away in the disco on the final evening – if the students weren’t tired out after the activities, they were after this!

Mr Healey, Alternative Education Co-ordinator, thanked the students and staff who made up the support team that helped to ensure another hugely successful Quinta trip.

After Kuala Lumpur, the party travelled to Ipoh, where they lost narrowly to a strong team from Anderson’s Academy.

A change of climate was appreciated on arrival at the island of Penang for the two final games.

Cowley were narrowly beaten by a strong team from Penang Free School – the oldest school in the country. The final scheduled game against Penang Cricket Club had to be cancelled due to heavy overnight rain in Georgetown, the capital of Penang state.

Throughout the tour, Cowley players were complimented on their excellent sportsmanship.

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Art We are proud to report that this year, Art achieved its best results to date.

Key Stage 3 results are continuing to get better year-on-year. This year’s GCSE Art results were the best ever achieved, with 100 per cent of students achieving grades A* - D. A staggering 51 per cent achieved grades A* - A, made up of 8 A*s and 14 As. 88 per cent of students achieved grades A* - C, which is 26 per cent higher than the 2012 results and well above the national average.

Sue Kay, Subject Leader of Art said: “Art students have provided us with our proudest moments as teachers. We have been here to educate, support and encourage our students to become independent learners and artists. This year, Annalise Herd and Rachael Pritchard were offered university places at Manchester Metropolitan University – the only two students that have been accepted into the university for a BA Honours Fine Art degree without having completed a Foundation Course first, demonstrating just how strong their portfolios of work were.”

We wish all past and present Art students a very successful year – and we hope to be a part of that success.

The A Level results were even more impressive with the Art This year, the Art department Department has provided a achieving its first course rich in Art students have ALPS grade 1 experiences and provided us with our (Outstanding) for opportunities. proudest moments AS and an ALPS Students grade 2 (also Outvisited London as teachers. standing) for A2. to see the Roy 100 per cent of AS Lichtenstein students achieved A - D grades, exhibition at The Tate Modern. In with 91 per cent achieving A - B College, the department played grades. 100 per cent of A2 Art host to several artists’ workshops students achieved A* - C grades, and lectures. with 60 per cent of those being A* - B grades.

Congratulations to students, Annalise Herd and Erin Lever, We are also very proud to who were employed by St Helens announce that Sixth Form Council to photograph St Helens student, Annalise Herd, achieved at Christmas. Erin, currently a an A* - our 3rd consecutive A* GCSE Art student, was awarded a grade at A Level and Jemma commendation in the Summer St Hughes was the first student at Helens Schools Arts Competition Cowley who has achieved 100 for one of her Christmas photoper cent in her coursework for graphs. both GCSE in 2011 and for GCE in 2013.

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Art piece ‘Circle’ created by Sixth Form student, Rachael Pritchard

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Art and Design: Textiles The 2012 - 2013 academic year saw an impressive 100 per cent of GCSE students achieve grades A – C in Art and Design: Textiles; A Level students performed equally well with 100 per cent of students achieving a pass rate.

This year, a project that took textiles students beyond fabric was the Mini Monsters challenge that saw Year 8 students integrate electronics with textiles to create light-in-the-dark soft toys.

This innovative project required students to design a toy from the inside out, taking into consideration the functionality and aesthetics, without compromising on either.

The hard work and commitment shown by the students involved was exceptional and the Mini Monsters created were of a very high standard, both from the design and the quality of finish.

Integrating social issues into textiles projects creates a platform that allows students to think about issues that affect local and global communities and how they can create something tangible to deliver an important message.

This year, Year 9 students took part in a citizenship project titled ‘Helping Others’. Each student worked independently to research and choose a campaign/cause of their choice from which they then created a T-shirt design that acts as the medium to deliver their message.

The Alexander Rose campaign* was the inspiration for this project as this highlights what can be achieved with a simple, effective T-shirt design.

Textile design briefs this year have spanned decades, from the swinging sixties to punk. But it’s not only eras that students have been challenged with to design fashion items around as cultures and modern classic literature have also been themes used as part of major textiles projects for both GCSE and A Level students.

In December, textiles students visited The Clothes Show Live in Birmingham. This annual trip gives students the opportunity to network with textile graduates and to speak with university personnel regarding textile related degree courses. The show also provides students with inside knowledge on current and forthcoming season looks to help ensure their final textile project will be on-trend.

The night was a resounding success, raising just over £500 for local charity, The Willowbrook Hospice. *About the Alexander Rose campaign Alexander Rose, a 21-year-old art student from London runs a campaign against gun and knife crime. Through a range of posters and t-shirts, which he has designed and produced, he hopes to offer young people an alternative fashion to the gangster culture that is consuming so many youngsters.

One of Cowley’s most highly anticipated events is the annual charity Fashion Show.

This year, students from across all year groups got involved to design, develop or model for the sell-out runway show. The theme this year was festivals and students worked together for many weeks producing fantastic outfits, using techniques such as tie dye, transfer print, appliqué, collage and patchwork, amongst others.

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Business Studies The Business Studies department have had another excellent year filled with an abundance of events and activities, including networking with the CEO of Saints RFC and meeting with representatives from global corporation, Pepsico.

GCSE students completed their Controlled Assessment at Langtree Park, home of Saints RFC and enjoyed a talk from Saints’ CEO, Mike Rush, who described the importance of ensuring a business anticipates and meets the needs of its customers.

A Level students took part in a series of business conferences offered by the online education community, Tutor2U. The conferences took place at The Lowry in Manchester and were attended by hundreds of Sixth Form students from across the North West.

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The day included interactive presentations and students had the chance to put their questions to speakers.

As part of the BTEC National Business course, eight Year 13 Business Studies students experienced a full mock interview programme by global food and beverage leader, Pepsico.

Five managers and an international HR representative from Pepsico delivered a programme that included a formal interview, aptitude tests and a group task.

On programme completion, each student was offered individual feedback so that they could take away some valuable advice and tips on how to prepare for future interviews. Pepsico also discussed the students’ performance in detail, as they would in a reallife interview situation and after careful consideration, appointed Aimee Farrar as the

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successful candidate.

So impressed were Pepsico with Aimee that they offered the student a job working for Pepsico on completion of her studies.

Feedback from the students about the Pepsico interview programme was extremely positive, here are a few sound bites: “I enjoyed taking part in the programme, it has helped me gain more confidence.”

“Taking part in the group exercise made me realise that I need to be clearer and take charge when in a team leader role.”

“The feedback given after the interview will help me when I go for an interview in the future.”

“Through the feedback given, I have identified my weaknesses and know what to do to improve.”

Health and Childcare 2012 - 2013 proved to be another outstanding academic year for the Health and Childcare department as 100 per cent of students from both subject areas achieved their target grades or above in both Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5.

Educational outings this year have included a visit to the Eureka museum in Leeds, which gave students an opportunity to discover state-of-the-art educational resources that they may use within their future practice.

Year 10 students planned a visit to Blackpool Pleasure Beach to evaluate the different skills needed to arrange an activity for children and also to see first-hand the expectations and safety needs involved in outside activities.

Year 12 Childcare students completed a two-week block placement in local Childcare practices that the College has long-standing relationships with. The feedback obtained from the placements this year has been of a very high standard, illustrating the dedica-

tion and commitment of the students and the positive light they are held in.

The department took part in a very successful applied learning day with Year 9 students. The day involved students learning how to deal with a series of life threatening situations, such as cardiac arrest, choking and major bleeding.

Building relationships with local health care providers has been a key initiative for the team this year, as we want students to have an understanding of the health care bodies that are responsible for key decision making and that could provide employment opportunities in the near future.

This year, Cowley has formed a Youth Forum with the St Helens Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), the new NHS body responsible for planning, buying and monitoring local NHS services and financial decisions around patient care. As part of the Forum, students put forward their opinions and ideas

relating to their local health providers and they have been able to impact on planning and the allocation of resources within the local community. Students have volunteered to continue to support this initiative by becoming Ambassadors for the Youth Forum, providing an excellent opportunity for students to gain further insight into how the NHS allocates funding and resources.

The Health and Childcare team have also forged exciting new links with St Helens & Knowsley NHS trust and students have been able to undertake work experience within local hospitals by volunteering their services out of College hours.

Many of our students have progressed their Health and Childcare studies, either by studying this subject at degree level or by moving directly into employment.

We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate each of our students who excelled in this subject.

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English Another excellent year for the English Department.

There have been a plethora of events and developments of which the department are justly proud. World Book Day in March was a particular highlight with over 70 students and 20 staff coming to College dressed as characters from their favourite books. A veritable menagerie of characters turned up; from The Queen of Hearts to Harry Potter. Staff also managed to get into the swing of things.

Throughout the year the library has played host to the usual array of visiting authors and poets; Dave Cryer’s sessions on the Carnegie selection of novels continue to inspire the students and Curtis Watt brought his own brand of syncopated inspiration with his Poetry Slam and drumming. The BASH awards were once again well attended and Spellathon saw whole year groups pit their wits against each other in cunning battles of spelling derring-do.

The Year 6 G & T students from 6 feeder primaries, completed an arduous yet rewarding day of news gathering under the watchful eyes of inspirational editors-in-chief Miss Willams and Mr Lilley.

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News gathering on a slightly grander scale took place this year too as students from Year 10 were invited to BBC Salford to act as journalists for the day, gathering news stories from schools around the country - many of our students’ stories were published on the BBC website as live feeds. The students were a credit to the school as they took phone calls from a whole host of places.

Roly’s List received its Premiere in March with a packed out Cineworld in the town centre thrilling to the exploits of the cast; the sell-out audience were bowled over by the results.

Pulse TV continues to broadcast its informative and lively half-termly bulletins with over 100 of our students featured in news stories over the year.

The Accelerated Reader system (AR) in the library has just completed its first year and has reported stunning successes. The whole of the Year 7 went through the AR system under the careful and expert guidance of Miss Massey, Mrs Basinger and Mrs Burrows and we are proud to announce that 9 students read over 1 million words each in the year.

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196 students in Year 7 achieved above their expected reading levels; the scheme now runs in both Year 7 and 8.

Food and Hospitality The new Level 3 qualification in BTEC Hospitality commenced in September 2012 and had its first cohort of students, all of whom achieved excellent results at the end of the academic year. Two students, who opted to study over the course of one year while in their final year at Cowley, have achieved a grade Distinction, and a third student achieved a Distinction*. Chloe High, a Year 13 student who has continued onto the second year of the course, said: “I have been so happy to exceed my target grade in Hospitality and I am sure I will continue to do just as well this year with the excellent support and guidance I receive from my teachers. The course has been interesting and stimulating and I am looking forward to a rewarding career in the Hospitality industry.”

The culture part of the BTEC Hospitality course included a visit to a local Indian restaurant, where students tasted a variety of authentic Indian foods and watched a demonstration of cooking techniques, which included how to make onion bhajis and baking naan bread in a traditional tandoor oven. Every student who attended reported trying a food for the first time.

Students also visited a local pub, to learn about the relevant laws and legislations, as well as the logistics of operating a busy food and beverage business.

The Food department joined forces with the Sports department this year, to help further promote healthy lifestyles. On Sports Day, BTEC Hospitality students prepared an array of colourful fruit kebabs, which were distributed to all participants. The official Sports Day event programme included information about the ‘5-A-Day’ campaign, which addresses the importance of combining an active lifestyle with a healthy diet.

A new government policy, which places a fresh emphasis on practical cooking and healthy eating, states that all 11-14 year olds have a statutory entitlement to learn to cook at some stage during Key Stage 3. Cowley International College has always known the importance of giving students excellent food education that will benefit them for the rest of their lives. Extra funding to subsidise ingredients has ensured more students are involved in learning the valuable life skills taught in Food and Hospitality. We intend to eliminate all barriers to obtaining a first-rate food education. We share the vision of the Children’s Food trust; “all children have the balanced diet, cooking skills and food education they need for good health and to reach their potential”.

with real-life food and hospitality experiences.

We endeavour to provide innovative food education and will continue to adapt our resources and schemes of work to reflect current trends as well as considering topics that will influence our future, such as last year’s introduction of the ‘Grow Our Own’ food project.

Overall, we hope to achieve as much success this year as we did last.

Looking to the year ahead, we hope to build on relationships with businesses in the local community to enable our students to expand on their knowledge A YEAR OF ACHIEVEMENT | 2012 - 2013

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Games Development Another excellent set of results topped off a busy 2012 - 2013 year for the Games Development team.

100 per cent of Year 12 students achieved their target grade or above. Year 13 celebrated some exceptional results; two outstanding students of note, Sheriban Yurdakurban and Andrew Kerry, managed to achieve the highest accolade of a Distinction * at Level 3 BTEC National.

The subject itself had cause to celebrate on achieving an excellent ALPS grade 2.

To give students a broad understanding of the games industry from product to generating profit, an enterprise project was developed to challenge students to design, develop and produce a game to sell.

The project was a huge success and not only helped 44

the students to think about Games Development from an entrepreneur prospective, but also helped local charities – as all monies raised from sales was donated.

A visit to The Gadget Show Live at the NEC in Birmingham, provided an engaging environment for students to learn more about computer game design and to speak with experts about computer game engines.

Students had the opportunity to test and play unreleased computer games and to speak with professionals about the process involved to produce new computer games. The trip is linked to the Games Engines, 3D Modelling and 3D Animation units of study in the Games Development course.

Sixth Form student, Daniel Thompson said: “It was an awesome trip, I want to go again next year!”

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Each year, the Games Development department invest in new essential resources to ensure that students have the most up-to-date software available. 3D game engine - First Person Shooter (FPS) and 2D game engine – RPG Maker VX Ace has already been purchased and installed in preparation for the 2013 2014 academic year.

It’s not only new advancements in technology that have been invested in.

We believe that to move forwards, you need to look back at products that have experienced unprecedented success and we have recently expanded on our collection of retro gaming consoles to enable students to see firsthand how quickly gaming has developed in a relatively short space of time.

History We saw some excellent grades at GCSE, notably Esther Fabiyi, Mica Howard, Abigail Miles, Hannah Reynolds and Reece Storey, who all achieved grade A. Exam success continued for A Level with students obtaining top grades. We are pleased to report that student, Kevin Finch, who worked hard to achieve good A Level grades, has chosen to continue to study History at the University of Chester.

Year 8 students worked exceptionally hard to produce some very interesting board games as part of the ‘World War 2 Home Front’ module.

This was set as half-term homework and on their return to College, students were able to play and judge games in lessons. We saw creative versions of Snakes and Ladders, Monopoly, Cluedo and Trivial Pursuit as well as some very innovative games, including a Rationing game and a Dodge the Blitz game.

The Year 7 cohort produced some wonderful family tree research projects back in October, with many students researching over 100 years of their family background. Students were able to find out not only when family members were born, but also where.

There were many interesting finds, including a discovery for one Year 7 pupil that one of his family members had been Prime Minister in Australia in the 1850s.

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Geography This year we have celebrated a number of outstanding achievements and impressive exam results which we attribute to the unfaltering determination of staff and students to succeed, both in and out of the classroom.

The exam results achieved this year were cause for celebration; 100 per cent of A Level students passed, with 88 per cent achieving grades A – B and two students, Jessica Jones and Rachel Unsworth, achieved top A* grades in their GCSE’s.

Throughout the year, all year groups have enjoyed field trips to both local and national places of interest. Some recent educational excursions include: Year 7 - Llandudno Students visited Llandudno to research tourism through asking visitors to partake in a short questionnaire. Students were extremely well behaved and had a great day taking in the sights and sounds of the coastal resort.

Year 9 and Year 10 - Blackpool In preparation for Controlled Assessments, students carried out a range of data collection techniques, including pedestrian counts, land use surveys and field sketches. The aim of the day was to evaluate whether Blackpool is a thriving coastal resort. The weather was beautiful and after a well-earned lunch (almost stolen by the Blackpool seagulls), students were given the opportunity to visit some of Blackpool’s famous tourist attractions.

Equipping our students with the skills they need to carry out fieldwork for their GCSE and A Level studies has resulted in students achieving outstanding grades for their Controlled Assessments and AS fieldwork examinations.

exotic creatures.

The Bug Man took the year group on a fascinating journey through a Tropical Rain Forest, presenting animals and creatures from the mystical layers of the forest.

Some of the creatures that the students got to meet and handle included giant cockroaches, giant African millipedes, a tarantula, a snake and a bird of prey.

Earlier in the year, the Geography department joined schools throughout the country to take part in UNICEF’s ‘Day for Change’. The campaign provides an opportunity for students to learn about children in other parts of the world, as well as to raise funds for UNICEF’s international work.

Incorporating hands-on workshops in the classroom provides students with memorable experiences to encourage learning and interaction. This year, Year 8 demonstrated nerves of steel when visited by the ‘Bug Man’ and his unusual selection of A YEAR OF ACHIEVEMENT | 2012 - 2013

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ICT The 2012- 2013 academic year saw the introduction of the next generation of BTEC courses, with a move away from the traditional ‘Information and Communication Technology’ to the new specification entitled ‘Information and Creative Technology’. As the name suggests, students now have a more challenging and creative course content that focuses more on the development of products and applications used in the real world.

The course engages students in new areas of study including: digital animation, digital graphics and web design. For the first time in BTEC, this course introduces an externally assessed exam.

Year 9 ICT students rose to each challenge put before them and 81 per cent of students entered for the BTEC qualification achieved a Level 2 Pass grade or higher.

The introduction of GCSE IT into Year 10 in September 2012 allowed students to opt to study GCSE as well as BTEC IT. 48

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A number of students exceeded expectations in this first year, with some excellent summer examination results; Denton Arnold, Thomas Travis, Charlotte Wharton and Nathan Yong all achieved grade A. In January 2013, 30 Year 10 students attended a computing workshop at Edge Hill University. The workshop included the use of media and developing computer games using ‘Alice’ (a free scripting and prototyping environment program for 3D object behaviour). Students also attended workshops on communication skills and presentations on the opportunities that lie ahead of them in education.

Year 13 continued to shine throughout the last academic year, proving that they have the determination and drive to succeed in their chosen progression route, whether that is to continue with their studies or to move into employment. All students successfully passed the BTEC Subsidiary Diploma (Single

Award) and the BTEC Diploma (Dual Award). We saw some impressive grade statistics, including: 34 per cent of students achieving a Distinction* (Grade A* equivalent) and 30 per cent achieving a Distinction (Grade A equivalent). The BTEC Diploma (Dual Award) fared equally well, with 45 per cent of students achieving a Double Distinction grade.

Mathematics Cowley, once again, entered a number of its best students into The United Kingdom Mathematics Trust (UKMT) Junior and Intermediate Mathematics Challenge, with considerable success. In Year 11, Jessica Dodds, Michael Hughes and Callum Leyland were awarded Silver certificates. Jessica Banks, Liam Dodd, Jessica Jones, Thomas Lea and Chelsea Roberts gained the Bronze award.

From Year 10, Charlie Dyer, Amber Maddox, Josh Pilkington and Emma Whittaker were awarded Bronze certificates, whilst Jack Huang secured a very impressive Silver award.

The star of the show, however, was undoubtedly Luke Doherty, who whilst still in Year 10, gained a Gold award and was subsequently invited to take part in tests for the British Mathematical Olymipad in which he was awarded a Merit.

This is a very rare achievement and suggests a really talented Mathematician is in our midst.

Of the Year 7 and 8 students, Silver certificates were presented to Zac Martindale and Franklin Whiteman, whilst Charlotte Barton, Abigail Case, Matthew Hill, Bradley Lloyd, Emma Mercer, Emma Metcalfe, Ben Preston and Connor Wainwright from Year 8 achieved a Bronze award.

Likewise, Olivia Garratt, Ryan Houghton and Tyler Mather from Year 7 were awarded a Bronze certificate.

A select number of Year 11 students were given the opportunity to develop their understanding of Mathematics and prepare for their GCSEs at a weekend residential dubbed ‘Mathematics Camp’, but this was not your average Mathematics. Students visited the Barnstondale Centre on the Wirral for a weekend of engaging Mathematics

outside of the classroom environment.

Students took part in Mathematics treasure hunts, pyramid building and relay games, as well as outdoor activities including camp fire building, abseiling and archery.

Mathematics students have attended a number of events, including: •

a Mathematics inspiration day which included a demonstration by Colin Wright on how he had used Mathematics to model juggling and to create new ways of juggling;

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a talk on infinity given by Katie Chicot for the Liverpool Mathematical Society at Liverpool University.

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Modern Foreign Languages

Students at Cowley are becoming more skilled at communicating in French, German and Spanish (with sometimes a bit of Italian, Arabic and Chinese thrown in) and improving their understanding of our increasingly multicultural world.

This year, we have created a special MFL Primary Network group to support our local partner primary schools in delivering languages education. Staff from Cowley have delivered lessons to young learners throughout the year and this has been a great experience for all involved. With poems, songs and the occasional dance, the message about the importance of languages has been well received, especially in the light of new initiatives in the primary sector with the reintroduction of compulsory Modern Languages from Year 3 in 2014.

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In Key Stage 3 this year, the curriculum has been enlivened through the use of innovative techniques as a context for learning. In Year 7, ‘Green Screen’ technology was used to create a ‘Live from Paris’ broadcast and board games were made as a homework project then brought in for everyone to play together.

After all the hard work of summer examinations for Years 8 and 9, students used some of their lesson time to explore the fun side of learning a language by participating in various projects, covering all kinds of interesting cultural aspects.

In French, students produced Paris collages in the style of Henri Matisse and took part in a virtual tour of the Futuroscope Theme Park. In German, a project on Anne Frank was followed by preparing a film critique of ‘Lola rennt’ (Run Lola Run) –

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a fast-paced action film with five star rating. In Spanish, a whole range of special festivals have been investigated – such as La Tomatina, Dia de Meurtos (Day of the Dead) and Feria de Sevilla (The Seville Fair).

A particular highlight of the year was the Year 8 version of the Tour de France. After learning about the famous race in lessons, a Cowley version of the course was set up (including a miniature Eiffel Tower) and after time trials, the final race was run – complete with yellow jersey and fizzy water for the winner.

In Spanish, lessons have been brought to life through salsa dance classes and tapas tasting. Year 10 GCSE students celebrated their excellent Controlled Assessment results with a meal in Liverpool at a tapas restaurant.

Throughout the year, we have had many visitors to the Languages department. The Stuttgart Exchange students visited once again, collaborating with our pupils on a fabulous architecture project, comparing the buildings of St Helens with Stuttgart (our partner town in Germany).

In addition, we were very fortunate to be able to welcome a colleague from a school in Germany to work with the staff and help out in lessons – this was organized with the help of UK Connections, an organisation which supports teacher exchanges across many countries. Ms Oelenberg was very impressed with the College and our pupils during her time here and we hope to keep the connection going.

We also had a visit from our friends in Bad Pyrmont, Germany and from Sweden.

In March, a group of students flew to Berlin as part of an annual visit and found the experience both exciting and educational.

Particularly, we look forward to hearing from Joanna Wilson, who has gone on to study French and German at King’s College, London.

The languages department has collaborated with other curriculum areas, including Food and Hospitality (for the ‘Cookathon’) and Art (to create cultural collages).

Exam successes this year include Ester Fabiyi and Lilian Ukwuomah who both gained A* at GCSE Italian. French and German results were at their highest this year, with virtually all pupils leaving Year 11 with a qualification in a language at either GCSE, NVQ or FCSE.

As always, the Café Europa at the College Open Evening was a great success – with our pupils serving much needed refreshments with a smile and a phrase in French, German or Spanish. The Christmas Market stall sold Lebkuchen (German gingerbread Christmas biscuits) which was as popular as ever, selling out in record time!

Our Sixth Form students are always a credit to us, supporting lessons in lower school on a regular basis and we wish them well in the future.

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Performing Arts Review

September Year 13 Music soloists perform at the ‘Annual Open Evening’.

October The Senior Choir are selected as just one of two acts to represent St Helens in ‘The Chief Constable’s Challenge’ and win 3rd prize.

‘An Evening of Disney Music’ – Cowley musicians perform a range of music from Disney films past and present to a packed audience in Cowley Hall.

Cowley singers perform at St Helens Town Hall in a joint concert with St Helens Concert Band to celebrate their 40th Anniversary.

November The Senior Choir perform at The Park Inn, St Helens at a charity event for local charity Tunza’s Pride.

‘Stars in Their Eyes’, the 19th and last ever competition.

Winners – A02. Over the years, ‘Stars in Their Eyes’ was one of Cowley’s most popular events and must have raised over £10,000 in its 13-year existence.

The Senior Choir perform at the annual Presentation Evening.

Year 12 BTEC Musicians present ‘An Evening of Pop Music’.

December The Senior Choir perform at the Windle Christmas lights switchon.

Year 13 Band ‘The Four Kicks’ perform at The Park Inn for a Christmas Party for St Helens Young Carers.

Year 10 BTEC Performing Arts Students present their ‘Christmas Gig’.

Year 13 BTEC Acting students perform an original devised Christmas Pantomime called ‘Is This The Way to Santa’s Grotto’ in three of Cowley’s feeder primary schools.

Year 11 BTEC Performing Arts students organise ‘The Crimbo Disco’ for Year 7 pupils.

The Christmas Dance Show.

Christmas Concert – A packed hall was treated to a range of festive music from the College’s musicians and singers.

Sixth Form residential theatre trip to London’s West End to watch two shows.

February Year 12 BTEC Acting students present ‘An Evening of Contemporary Drama’.

Miss Saigon – the hit musical finally came to Cowley and wowed audiences over four sell out performances. The students performed with great maturity and professionalism.

March Comenius Project – the Performing Arts department runs a Samba workshop for students from schools from five different European countries resulting in a performance at The Park Inn, St Helens.

April Cowley’s Got Talent - round 1.

Year 10 Performing Arts students present a ‘Music Showcase’.

Year 13 BTEC Actors present two performances of their final assessed play ‘Vinegar Tom’ by Caryl Churchill. This complex play explored the concept of witchcraft in the 1700s.

May Cowley’s Got Talent Grand Final.

Winner – Drummer Liam Hodson (Year 11).

Year 13 BTEC musicians present ‘Rock Paper Scissors’ - An Evening of Live Music.

Year 13 Band ‘The Four Kicks’ present ‘Best of British Music’ at The Rockware Pub, St Helens.

Year 13 BTEC Music students Lucie Brookes and Nicole Fagan present ‘Bel Canto’ – an evening of beautiful singing at Bella Roma Italian Restaurant, Billinge.

Year 13 BTEC Music students present ‘The Singer-Songwriter Showcase’ at Haresfinch Social Club.

Summer Dance Show.

Year 13 BTEC Music student, Chrissie Hall, presents ‘Unplugged’ at The Gerard Arms.

Year 11 BTEC Dance students organise ‘An Evening of Dance’.

The Senior Choir perform at Mr Dickinson and Miss Peacock’s wedding ceremony.

The Big C Night – Year 11 BTEC Performing Arts students organise a charity music night in aid of Cancer Research.

June Year 12 BTEC Music students take part in a series of performance workshops with internationally renowned singer Caroline Lowe.

Year 12 BTEC Music Students present ‘Going Solo’ - two separate evenings of Solo Performance.

Year 12 BTEC Acting students present ‘An Afternoon of Comedy and Farce’ to Year 7 pupils.

Cowley Samba Band perform at Sports Day. July Annual Summer Concert.

Many Cowley students past and present take part in a production of Les Miserables at The Brindley Theatre, Runcorn which showcases some of the best up and coming young talent in the North West.

Religious Education 2012 - 2013 was another highly successful and enjoyable year for the RE department at Cowley. Tremendous examination results were gained by Year 10 students, 90 per cent of grades achieved at GCSE were from A* - C. Five GCSE students, Eleanor Aster, Yasmin Litherland, Daniel Smith, Sophia Stevenson and Nathan Yong worked incredibly hard to score an impressive 100 per cent in their exams.

In May, 54 Year 10 and Year 13 students visited the Anglican Cathedral and the Al Rahma Mosque in Liverpool. The visit was designed to help students brush up for their summer GCSE and a great time was had by all; a highlight was experimenting with the whispering gallery in the Cathedral and joining in with the prayers at the Mosque.

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The ‘Mystery Projects’ investigated by Year 8 made for a fascinating journey into various paranormal phenomena such as ghosts, werewolves and aliens. This year, two pupils chose to venture deep below the waters of Loch Ness and to bring back striking evidence that Nessie is actually still in there…

Sadly, we said ‘Good bye’ to Miss Exton. After eight tremendous years teaching, Miss Exton has moved to be the Head of Department at a school near to Bury. Miss Exton still emails each week to say how much she misses Cowley students’ warmth and sense of humour. However, every cloud has a silver lining and we now have an excellent teacher, Miss Houghton, who has already been a great hit with our pupils.

A YEAR OF ACHIEVEMENT | 2012 - 2013

Science To give students a real understanding of science related careers and progression routes, the Science department regularly arranges visits to universities and scientific study centres.

This year, AS Physics students visited Daresbury Laboratories to see a life size model of a section of the Large Hadron Collider.

Year 12 International Baccalaureate students and Year 11 Environmental Science students completed a one week residential at a field studies centre in Betws-y-Coed in July. Here, they undertook four projects, ranging from the study of Biodiversity in a Sand Dune System, to the identification of feeding relationships in freshwater ecosystems. They then produced an independent report, analysing and evaluating their evidence that was collected.

This gave them a unique opportunity to see how organisms interact with their environment.

In June this year, four Year 7 students were invited to take part in the annual Festival of Chemistry at Manchester University.

The festival involved two practical competitions. The first was a forensic science challenge, where the team had to use their chemistry skills to identify the chief suspect in a murder enquiry. The second challenge was to devise a method of cooling a solution to exactly 10.5°C using just two simple chemicals and water.

The pupils thoroughly enjoyed their taste of university Chemistry and through their enthusiasm and behaviour, they were a real credit to Cowley.

Two Year 10 students were selected for showing interest/enthusiasm and good understanding in separate science Chemistry lessons to complete a week Chemistry Camp.

A group of four Year 8 students took part in a special girls only Robotics day. The aim of the event was to inspire and excite young students’ interest in science.

During the day, the girls had to work as part of a team to build and complete a robot. They then had to compete against other schools to instruct the robot to complete a range of activities against the clock.

During the summer, two Sixth Form International Baccalaureate students took part in the prestigious Nuffield Research programme gaining invaluable work experience within science laboratories. Only 130 Year 12 students from the whole of Merseyside and Cheshire were successful in receiving a research placement, so it was a great achievement for our two students. One project involved investigating the localisation of the immunoglobin Basal Cell Adhesion Molecule (BCAM) in normal and diseased human endometrium. The other project involved using different methods of making perylene bisimide hydrogels.

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A year of sport Sports Day Cowley’s Sports Day took place on a gloriously sunny June afternoon at the Hard Lane fields. Students from Years 7 – 11 took part in track and field events, including long jump, shotput, relay racing and the ever popular 100 metre race.

The field was decorated with bunting and the athletes were played onto the sports field by the College’s sensational Samba band. The sun shone throughout the day which encouraged parents and people from the local community to stay and cheer on the competitors and further added to the fantastic atmosphere.

Throughout the day, Miss Mason, subject leader of BTEC Hospitality and her team provided students with a range of freshly prepared fruit platters, to encourage participants to refuel on healthy snacks.

The standard of athleticism was outstanding and both students and staff were praised by Mr Sheeran for their hard work.

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Sports Day Results Spartans 447 Vikings 436 Romans 425 Teutons 381 Trojans 379 Celts 362 Year 10 Sports Makers A group of Year 10 GCSE PE students undertook a 12 week programme of Sports leadership, in order to achieve their Sports Makers qualification.

Sports Makers is aimed at young people who want to make a difference to others by making sporting opportunities happen. It is a follow on from the very successful Games Makers at London 2012 and is part of the 2012 Olympic legacy.

The Cowley students are the only U16s qualified Sports Makers in St Helens. They achieved their qualification by leading and refereeing small groups of primary school students as well as helping to run the recent St Helens Schools’ Girls’ tag rugby tournament.

A YEAR OF ACHIEVEMENT | 2012 - 2013

Cricket Presentation 2013 This year, the Old Boys’ game and cricket presentation was held at Hard Lane. Both sides in the game remarked on the quality of the wicket prepared by Mr Boardman and the high scores reflected this. Although the Old Boys’ won, a close game enabled many of the College side to excel.

The season was highly successful with many weeks of rain free cricket. However, it was noted that many local schools, even those in the independent sector, were now struggling to raise sides or staff to manage them.

The Year 7 (U12) and Year 8 (U13) cricket teams enjoyed a successful tour to Loughborough, stopping off at Headingley, Leeds to watch a 20:20 game and to take part in training with professional coaches.

Cricket Awards U12 Ben Scott U13 Luke Gregson U14 Adam Leivesley U15 Connor Glynn 1st Team: Tom Reid and Shaun Hanley.

A certificate and trophy were awarded to Jack Gerrard for Services to Cricket. This was to reflect Jack’s exceptional commitment to cricket over seven years, as well as his truly outstanding captaincy for three of them.

The ‘Colours Tie’ went to Shaun Hanley.

U13 Rounders After the freezing temperatures endured on the hockey pitch last year, many students decided to join the rounders team to enjoy playing in the sunshine.

Training was always ‘good fun’ and because of this, the team played really well together, winning the St Helens Rounders Tournament and going on to represent St Helens in the Merseyside Youth Games.

Player of the Tournament was awarded to Laura Rainford for her calming influence and controlling the game from backstop position.

Year 10 Cycle Leaders As part of their GCSE PE leadership course, several Year 10 students followed a six week cycle course led by “Bike it” leader Annie Cousins.

On completion of the course, Cowley students took their newly acquired knowledge into St Teresa’s primary school to lead a group of Year 5 and 6 students in the basics of cycle safety.

The girls were excellent with the younger students and the St Teresa students had a fun, informative day.

Year 10 Cycle Leaders: Natasha Atherton, Abby Barlow, Rebecca Cunliffe, Megan Lloyd, Shannon Ribton, Rebecca Witter and Katie Wood.

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U12 Hockey Although the team have faced strong opposition this year, they developed great team spirit and worked together to enjoy a successful season.

Most Improved Player of the Year Runner up: Natasha Sefton Winner: Faye Harrison

The season finished with Cowley entering two teams into the St Helens Schools’ Hockey Festival. Cowley’s ‘A’ team fought hard and their unrelenting force led to their victory in winning the competition. A fantastic way to end their first season of hockey.

Player of the Year Runner up: Beth Shepherd Winner: Lucy Robinson

Most Improved Player of the Year Runner up: Kayleigh Heyes Winner: Shauna Verey Player of the Year Runner up: Chloe Orrick Winner: Chloe Hewitt U13 Hockey The team, once again, found themselves fighting for positions as early morning training sessions proved popular. Cowley played a great season, and only lost twice. The team enjoyed some great wins against: Bluecoat, St Mary’s (twice), Archbishop Blanche, De La Salle and St Cuthbert’s.

Year 11 Rugby 7s The Year 11 rugby team took part in the Merseyside schools 7-a-side rugby union tournament.

The squad consisted of Bexley Ashcroft, Josh Dyer, David Eccleston, Jonathan Hateley, Jack Lathom, Kiye Rigby, Liam Riley, Tom Taylor, Jack Towey and Paul Turner.

The team played some fantastic rugby in both attack and defence. The team finished the tournament undefeated and were rightly crowned Merseyside school U16s 7-a-side champions.

Outstanding players on the day included top try scorer Bexley Ashcroft, David Eccleston and Tom Taylor.

A superb season with some great player of the match performances by Sadie Atherton, Sasha Hornby, Kelsey Hull, Emily Metcalf, Lucy Robinson and Holly Wilkinson.

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A YEAR OF ACHIEVEMENT | 2012 - 2013

Year 7 North Wales Rugby Tour Twenty three Year 7 students took part in a two-day rugby tour in North Wales.

Owain Abel was the stand out athlete with victories in the 4 lap and 6 lap races, but all squad members played their part in the victory.

The team played well, but narrowly lost both games, the results were: 10-7 against Bishop Heber and 38-34 against St David’s School.

As a result of their success, the squad qualified to represent St Helens in the Merseyside event. Once again, the team did themselves proud by gaining the bronze medal and 3rd place position overall.

There was presentation ceremony at the end of the tour, James Ratcliffe was awarded Man of the Match for the game against Bishop Heber and Ross Ashby was awarded Man of the Match for the game against St David’s. Owain Abel was awarded Overall Player of the Tour.

Boys’ Indoor Athletics The annual St Helens Schools’ Indoor Athletics Championships took place at Sutton Academy.

In the Year 8 event, the Cowley team came third overall. Captain, Callum Cooke, was outstanding in several events including sprints and the standing triple jump.

Well done to all those involved.

Ten Pin Bowing A Year 11 student, Harriet Harmon, recently competed in the 2013 Junior Triple Crown in Dunfermline, Scotland. The national event saw Harriet face competitors from Ireland, Wales and Scotland.

Harriet played very well and won gold in the mixed doubles event, with fellow England bowler, Dom Bond.

The team consisted of Brad Bailey, Callum Cooke, Liam Hudson, Liam Kenyon, Ben Musker, Connor Wainwright and Jack Unsworth.

In the Year 7 event, Cowley were crowned champions.

The team consisted of Owain Abel, Leon Arnold, Ross Ashby, Travis Grace, Lewis Hampson, Connor Pilling and Ryan Walker.

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The Duke of Edinburgh’s award 2012 - 2013 was another busy and successful year for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award at Cowley. 58 students took part in their Bronze Award, 20 their Silver and 17 in their Gold.

It was a very chilly start to the year with winter woollies and extra layers needed for several early walks as students (and staff) braved sub zero temperatures and icy conditions. The last day of the Silver practice expedition had to be cut short with snow and ice on the ground and ‘white out’ conditions starting to envelope the Yorkshire Moors. However, as we moved towards summer, most groups were swopping winter wear for shorts and T-shirts.

Cowley students could be spotted locally walking around Crank, Rivington and Parbold and further afield in the Lake District, the Yorkshire Dales and North Wales. A couple of day walks (or

cycles for some) prepared the group for their practice expedition and their unaccompanied, self-sufficient final expedition.

Our Gold groups, as ever, had grand plans – one group has already completed their cycle through Holland and Belgium.

On this 150 mile journey from Rotterdam to Zebrugge they investigated the differences in cycling provision in England and on the continent. Another group chose to kayak for their expedition but after months of training, various problems saw the group reduced to two, which is too small. However, they remain committed and intend to join another group this year. Serious amounts of training and planning goes into completion at this level, so well done to the cyclists and good luck to our kayakers.

and celebration ball, where everyone (even Mr Healey) exchanged muddy boots to dress up for a fun evening that recognises everybody’s hard work. Certificates and awards were given out and last year’s Gold groups gave a presentation.

The year was rounded off at an annual awards presentation night

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Year 13 destinations

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Emily Ablett

Edge Hill

Children & Young People’s Learning

Robert Adams

Edge Hill

Physical Education & School Sport

Liam Andrews

Leeds Metropolitan

Music Production & Performance

Victoria Aspinall

Salford

Nursing (Child)

Melissa Atherton

Edge Hill

Nursing (Adult)

Kezia Atherton-Davies

Salford

Television and Radio

Joshua Bamford

Chester

Biology

Emma Barrow

Liverpool John Moores

Film Studies

Joshua Bridge

Manchester

Mathematics & Financial Mathematics

Shannon Broadhurst

Liverpool John Moores

Forensic Psychology & Criminal Justice

Anna Brogan

Liverpool John Moores

Applied Psychology

Melissa Brown

Liverpool John Moores

Tourism & Leisure Management

Lauren Case

Edge Hill

Early Childhood Studies

Matthew Connor

Sheffield Hallam

Sport and Exercise Science

Benjamin Cooke

Glamorgan

Mechanical Engineering

Joanne Crooks

Chester

Animal Behaviour and Welfare

Kirsty Cunliffe

Liverpool John Moores

Forensic Psychology & Criminal Justice

Jack Dean

BIMM

Professional Musicianship

Tess Denton

Liverpool John Moores

Dance Practices

Carla Disley

Edge Hill

Childhood and Youth Studies

Thomas Docksey

Northampton

Computing

A YEAR OF ACHIEVEMENT | 2012 - 2013

Marissa Donnellan

Edge Hill

Media, Film and Television

Katherine Duffy

Sheffield Hallam

Sport and Exercise Science

Emma Dyas

Edge Hill

Media, Film and Television

Nicole Fagan

Manchester College

Musical Theatre

Aimee Farrar

Central Lancashire

Nursing

Kevin Finch

Chester

History

Stephanie Finney

Derby

Psychology

Daniel Foster

Manchester Metropolitan

Popular Music

Katie Gabbitas

Central Lancashire

Sports Therapy

Kyle Goodier

Bradford

Interactive Systems & VG Design

Scott Gordon

Aberystwyth

Astrophysics

Rebekah Grayson

Salford

Graphic Design

Shannon Green

Liverpool John Moores

Natural Sciences (+ Foundation)

Andrew Haddock

Edge Hill

Computing

Christine Hall

Birmingham City

English Language

Demi Harrison

Central Lancashire

English Language

Jessica Harrison

Central Lancashire

Forensic Chemistry

James Henderson

Liverpool John Moores

Science and Football

Annalise Herd

Manchester Metropolitan

Fine Art

Lauren Hide

UCA

Fashion

Simon Holland

Bradford

Film Studies

Jessica Hughes

Edge Hill

Business and Management

Joshua Hull

Liverpool John Moores

Sport and Exercise Science

Katie Johnson

Liverpool John Moores

Zoology

Andrew Kerry

Central Lancashire

Games Design

Stacey Kinsy

Liverpool

Law

Hannah Lea

Liverpool Hope

Education and Information Technology

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James Lee

Leeds Metropolitan

Music Production

Georgina Leith

Liverpool Hope

Education and Information Technology

Jack Leyland

Edge Hill

Sport and Exercise Science

Rachel Lowry

Liverpool Hope

Primary Teaching & ICT

Kirsty Lyon

Edge Hill

Media, Film and Television

Nicola Lyon

Edge Hill

Secondary Religious Education QTS

Danielle Martin

Edge Hill

Early Childhood Studies

Jack McLoughlin

Loughborough

Civil Engineering

Tyronne Miah

Liverpool John Moores

Sport and Exercise Science

Daniel Molyneux

Staffordshire

Web Programming

Amy Paton

Central Lancashire

Forensic Psychology

Anna Pettit

Manchester Metropolitan

Sociology (Foundation)

Lewis Pickavance

Liverpool John Moores

Quantity Surveying

Hannah Powell

Lancaster

Film Studies

Rachael Pritchard

Manchester Metropolitan

Fine Art

George Quinn

Liverpool Hope

Computing

Leanne Radford

Manchester

Fashion and Textile Retailing

Jessica Reddaway

Chester

Child Nursing

Thomas Roughley

Edge Hill

Sport and Exercise Science

Scott Rowson

Edge Hill

Human Geography

Lorna Sephton

Edge Hill

Web Systems Development

Bethany Sharrock

Edge Hill

Early Years Education QTS

Adam Smith

Edge Hill

Computing

Drew Smith

Edge Hill

Early Years Education QTS

Kristan Smith

Liverpool John Moores

Quantity Surveying

Liam Smith

Liverpool

Geography

Kay Jan Song

Manchester Metropolitan

Events Management (Foundation)

Emilee Spencer

LETAS

Magazine Journalism

A YEAR OF ACHIEVEMENT | 2012 - 2013

Lauren Stanworth

Central Lancashire

Dance, Performance & Teaching

Jennifer Swift

Edge Hill

Child Health and Wellbeing

Hollie Sykes

Salford

Exercise, Physical Activity and Health

Holly Talbot

Northampton

English Language Studies

Samantha Taylor

Edge Hill

Business and Management

Shauna Thompson

Liverpool Hope

English Language

Christine Tolsone

Liverpool John Moores

Tourism & Leisure Management

Lauren Tunstall

Manchester

English Language

Stephen Tyrer

Edge Hill

English and Media

Kieran Wardle

Liverpool

Computer Science

Carla Waring

Edge Hill

English Language

Jonathon Wharton

Edge Hill

Business and Management

Matthew Wharton

Edge Hill

Business and Management

Natasha Whittle-Morley

Bradford

Biomedical Science

Lauren Willetts

Manchester Metropolitan

Criminology/Psychology

Joanna Wilson

King’s College London

French and German

Nathan Witter

Liverpool John Moores

Quantity Surveying

Sophie Worthington

Hull

Human Geography

Man Kit Wu

Lancaster

Film Studies

Sehriban Yurdakurban

Edge Hill

Web Systems Development

Ryan Ackerley

Looking for an apprenticeship

Neil Carter

Armed Forces

Ashleigh Finney

Employment

Matthew Fozard

St Helens RLFC

Matthew Gee

Salford RLFC

Jack Gerrard

Employment

Robert Lever

Leigh RLFC

Melissa Mason

Year out/employment A YEAR OF ACHIEVEMENT | 2012 - 2013

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ACHIE V ING

THE

HIGHE S T

S TANDARD S

T O GETHER

Cowley International College Principal: Mr C Sheeran Hard Lane, St Helens, Merseyside, WA10 6PN Tel: 01744 678 030 Visit: cowleyinternationalcollege.co.uk