Headlines November 2011

Headlines Science Award

Head boy and head girl

Each year Daresbury Science and Innovation Centre ask schools across the northwest to nominate a student from Key Stage 3 who has made an outstanding contribution to their learning over their three years of science.

A few weeks ago I was approached by two Y11 students asking me if I thought it would be a good idea to have a Head Boy and Head Girl. I didn’t need much time to make up my mind about this and promptly invited them to attend one my Senior Leadership Team meetings to present a proposal.

The chosen individual is asked to represent their school and to attend an award ceremony at the Daresbury, accompanied by their science teacher and parents/carers.

This year, Richie Redmond from 10RBN was selected to receive this award.

Richie was awarded a £30 book token and Certificate by Professor Colin Whitehouse, Deputy Chief Executive & Director of Campus Strategy, Science & Technology Facilities Council. Before the award ceremony the award winners were given a tour of the facility and then attended a fantastic buffet supper with parents and teachers.

What a brilliant way to end a super day! done Richie for all your efforts!

Well

The proposal was unanimously supported and thanks to Mr Burton plans have been put in place very quickly to enable Y11 students to step forward as candidates. Voting by all Year 11 and all staff will take place on Friday 18th November and the results announced at 2.45pm that day.

The candidates for Head Boy are Barnaby Byrom, Craig Goulder and Luke Turner; and for head Girl they are Hollie Bousefield, Tessa McMillan and Lauren Peate.

Schools Fantasy Football The new season is underway with a massive 109 entrants this year. October’s manager of the month was a parent, Mr Myers, who amassed a total of 49 points to head the table.

A Musical Evening Our Christmas show this year is simply titled “A Musical Evening”. It will consist of a variety of traditional and contemporary Christmas music and dance and an opportunity for our GCSE students to showcase their compositions through solo performances and Ensembles.

The show lasts for one night only, Thursday 8th December 2011 starting at 7.00pm. Last year’s show was a great success and rehearsals for this year’s show bode very well indeed. Tickets will be on sale from Wednesday 23rd November priced £3 for adults and £2 for children.

November 2011 Issue The Monthly Newsletter for Parents and Carers from the Head of School, Mr B. Carney

Headlines New Building Update The first signs of a building rising from the ground have started to appear this month as builders poured 410m3 of concrete into the primary section ground floor slab. Last month I mentioned the huge crane that had arrived on site: we have an even bigger one now!

Project Underdog Project Underdog is an exciting project which stems from the recent riots and devastation that hit many city centres across the UK. Its aim is to raise funds for those communities that are still recovering from the riots and for local communities to help reach out to the youngsters who have been affected by the devastation. A group of unsigned creative artists and bands from across the UK, including our very own Alisha Nutall, have joined together with InScreen Ltd to raise money by producing a charity single for a fantastic cause.

“I hope we raise a lot of money for charity because that’s what it’s for. It’s about this Summer’s riots and getting kids off the street. I loved this whole experience so much and feel like the luckiest girl in the world”, said Alisha.

The single is out on 27th November in all shops.

You can find more information about the project at www.projectunderdog.com November 2011 Issue The Monthly Newsletter for Parents and Carers from the Head of School, Mr B. Carney

Headlines Standards There is absolutely no doubt that standards at the Grange are rising. The past six sets of GCSE results have risen year on year, in fact they have gone from 23% to 45%, almost doubling in just six years. Sustained improvement in the measure that matters most - 5 or more A*-C including GCSE English and maths.

Attendance Attendance too has risen significantly over the same period; from 89.6% in 2006 to 93.9% in 2011. Attendance for the first half term this year was 95.2% compared to the same period last year which stood at 94.8%.

Behaviour

Parents were invited along to the presentation and the event was well attended with lots of mums, dads and family members present. It was a very relaxed and informal atmosphere as parents were looked after and provided with tea, coffee and biscuits prepared by the pupils.

The pupils had worked cooperatively with staff throughout Year 10 to achieve a 100% success rate with a number of pupils achieving as many as 9 certificates!

Mr Carney and associate Governor, Mr Gandy presented the AQA certificates to the pupils and all involved said that they had enjoyed the presentation and were looking forward to acknowledging further successes as the pupils progress through their final year at The Grange School.

Behaviour is also improving.

In our Ofsted monitoring visit last June, Inspectors reported that “Students engage very well with each other, staff and other adults; they are keen to learn and make the best use of the opportunities the school is offering them.”

This is backed up by the reduction in the number of behaviour incidents, fixed term exclusions and the days lost through exclusion which have dropped significantly.

100% examination success

Sophie Sloan and Melissa Locke

The first ever Grange School Year 11 AQA Unit Award Scheme Certificate Presentation was held on Friday, 21st October just prior to the half term break.

Mr Woods, AQA Co-ordinator, said “I am very proud of the achievements of the Year 11 AQA unit award scheme pupils. The group have been pioneers of the AQA scheme at The Grange School and have, through their hard work and the support, guidance and assistance of Mrs Connor and Miss McCann, achieved great results whilst having some fun along the way!”

November 2011 Issue The Monthly Newsletter for Parents and Carers from the Head of School, Mr B. Carney

Headlines

The A Team A huge haul of “A” grades were achieved

by Y11 students in ICT who are taking the OCR National Qualification at Level 2.

Mr Hutton, Curriculum Leader for ICT said of his top performing students: “Congratulations to Y11 students who have successfully achieved distinction criteria in their ICT coursework”.

Pictured above are: -

Charity Walk

Stacey Anderson, Macauley Astles, Richard Baker, Jamie Berry, Kalan Bird, Mark Birkenhead, Hollie Bousfield, Robert Bromfield, Andrew Burgess, Barnaby Byrom, Liam Chadwick, Anthony Delahunty Shauna Finn, Craig Goulder, Thomas Grave, Kieran Gresty, Robyn Grey, Kerys Hitchmough, Stan Houghton, Helen Howard, James Jacobs, Lewis Jones, Hannah Kenna, Connor Maguire, Tessa McMillan, Callum Moore, Matthew O’Carroll, Jack O’Neill, Carla Ormond, Corey Price, Gemma Rees, Sophie Sloan, Daniel Southern, Jessica Story, Calum Thornley, Karl Toole, Luke Turner, Jamie Weeder, Keiron White and Kyle Wright.

Congratulations to Hannah Bennett who spent part of her summer holiday walking the 89 miles of the Kintyre Way in Scotland helping to raise funds for the charity Epilepsy Action.

Hannah raised a whopping £1,184 through sponsorship and donations.

Hannah herself says…

“Epilepsy is a condition in which a person’s brain produces sudden bursts of electrical energy causing them to experience strange sensations and to sometimes lose consciousness. Epilepsy Action provides help and advice to people with the condition and the money I have raised will go towards funding the free phone helpline and future research.

The Kintyre Way was a once in a lifetime experience that I will never forget. I was so proud of myself when I received my certificate” . And so are we Hannah.

For more information about the charity go to www.epilepsy.org.uk

November 2011 Issue The Monthly Newsletter for Parents and Carers from the Head of School, Mr B. Carney