Headlines March 2012

Headlines The Grange is forging links with schools across the world.

The Grange is one of a cluster of schools, including Wade Deacon and St Chads, which are forging curricular links with schools in Oman and India.

During the visit I was honoured to receive a friendship bracelet as did Assistant Headteacher Mrs Stagg. As is the custom, females wear the bracelet on the left hand and males on the right. I also received, on behalf of the school, a beautiful gift made by the students in Delhi.

On Tuesday 7th March the Grange played host to 4 teachers from the Maharajah Aggarsain School in Delhi. Our visitors were Mukta Misra (Headteacher), Anjna Arora (Deputy Headteacher), Tripta Sachdeva (Teacher) and Sonal Jain (Teacher)

Building Update The lighter mornings and evenings have coincided with progress on the building in such a way that the scale of the new building is becoming apparent. With just over a year to go before we move in, there is still much to do but the contractors are confident that they will meet the deadline comfortably.

The teachers were particularly interested in seeing our music and art departments. Links are already underway with our Year 10 music students who are studying Indian music as part of their GCSE course. They were really impressed with our students saying that they were pleasant and well mannered.

We have already started to make plans for the move to ensure that we are ready too.

March 2012 Issue The Monthly Newsletter for Parents and Carers from the Head of School, Mr B. Carney

Headlines World Cuisine at The Grange

Teens and Toddlers

From Monday 19th March 2012 we will be serving a range of curries.

Mrs Jackson, Catering Supervisor, said “A few weeks ago a representative came to the Grange and gave out samples of Curry & Rice. The feedback from the pupils was really encouraging so I decided that I would increase daily choice at the counters by combining the Pasta Bar with a Curry Bar.”

Eight Year 9 pupils recently received their National Certificate of Further Education Level 1 Interpersonal Skills Awards following the successful completion of the Teens and Toddlers programme. The girls spent one afternoon each week for eighteen weeks on the programme, during which time they were attached to a toddler at a local nursery. In addition they spent time in class sessions and completed a portfolio of work.

The girls are Jessica Finnety, Ruby McAdam, Kaya O‟Connor, Megan Reynolds, Rebecca Bellamy, Chantelle Richards, Jade Ryder and Katie Moore.

If pupils did not get the chance to sample the curry then as Mrs Jackson says; “Why not come along on Monday and give it a go. At £1.30 per pot, they are a bargain, not to mention delicious.”

The curries are provided by the same suppliers as our ever popular Italian Pasta Bar.

I was lucky enough to be around the kitchen a few weeks ago when we sampled the curries. My favourite was the Chicken Jalfrezi; the Thai curry was nice and so was the Chicken Korma, in fact they were all rather good!

The programme is aimed at encouraging young people to delay parenthood and continue their education beyond school. The pupils have gained so much from their interaction with “their” toddlers and also from working with the nursery and Teens & Toddlers staff. It has boosted their confidence considerably. “It has been lovely to see pupils join in group discussion and also to see how relationships within the group have developed” said Mrs Banner who coordinated the course.

I know that the girls became very attached to the toddlers and were very sorry to leave. We were all proud to see the students gain their awards at the ceremony but not nearly as proud as they were to receive them. It was a lovely end to the course for the girls and everyone who was involved.

Two different curries and two different pasta sauces will be served each day.

March 2012 Issue The Monthly Newsletter for Parents and Carers from the Head of School, Mr B. Carney

The girls are pictured with facilitators Zoe Spendlove and Michelle Farrell who is the North West Regional Manager.

March 2012 Issue The Monthly Newsletter for Parents and Carers from the Head of School, Mr B. Carney

Headlines Sports Relief

Any profits that the company make will be donated to charity.

We have a full programme for the week of Sports Relief ending with the mile run on Friday 23rd March 2012. Please see the back of this page for full details.

Wristbands are on sale from Mrs Hall’s office priced £1.50 with all proceeds going towards Sports Relief.

Young Enterprise Year 10 Young Enterprise Group have been learning valuable life and business skills by running their own company. The company, called ‘Personalised 4 U’, makes personalised items.

At Christmas the company did a roaring trade selling bags and T-shirts with personalised motifs.

Their Mother’s Day products include mugs with a personalised message for Mum and a handmade card.

Whilst running the company, students have learnt a range of new skills, including:  Financial management - buying and costing products and ensuring the company makes a profit.  Inter-personal skills - running board meetings and selling products at break time.  Marketing and advertising their products.  IT skills when creating new and innovative designs.  Production skills - learning to transfer designs to make the finished product.

The ‘Personalised 4 U’ team are: Jordan Danks, Thomas Furey, Letitia Looker, James Quick, Curtis Vose, Jasmine Crawford and Tony Crane.

Widnes Vikings We have been lucky enough to secure reduced priced tickets to see Widnes Vikings. Please see attached letter for more information.

You can also visit our website www.thegrange.com for further details.

March 2012 Issue The Monthly Newsletter for Parents and Carers from the Head of School, Mr B. Carney

Headlines Mr Burton’s visit to Oman I was amongst a group of four Halton teachers to have been invited by the British Council to visit Oman. The aim of the visit was to build cultural relations and create educational opportunities for students in both countries.

Visits were made to two Primary Schools (Years 1-4) and one Secondary School (Years 5-10). The Primary School, or „Basic Schools‟ as they are called, have mixed classes but only have female teachers. The secondary schools, or „Foundation Schools‟, are all single sex and the one that we visited was an all girls school , again with an all female teaching staff.

Meetings were arranged with staff from three of the four Halton schools in Oman and plans are already in place for projects involving all seven schools in the cluster. Miss Quigley and her Year 7 form are currently working on „our culture in a box‟ project whereby her pupils will be collecting items which are of particular relevance to our country and culture with pupils in Oman doing the same. The British Council will then send the boxes out to schools and video footage will be taken in each country as the boxes are opened.

Miss Slavin and Mrs Cavanagh are preparing to do some art work with Year 7 and 8 pupils in Art Club on the theme of „a view from a window‟ and again this will be mirrored by the Omani schools.

March 2012 Issue The Monthly Newsletter for Parents and Carers from the Head of School, Mr B. Carney

Headlines Visit to Oman There was some time for sightseeing during the five days and we were very fortunate to visit The Grand Mosque, the Mutrah Souq and the annual Muskat Fesitval.

During the latter we watched the filming of a TV talk show involving two Omani TV stars. On the final evening we were taken to a traditional Omani restaurant where we ate a lamb dish that had been cooked two metres underground for three days.

The four Omani teachers will be visiting our school in the second half of September this year and we hope to extend the same degree of warmth and hospitality which was shown to us on our visit.

The experience of visiting schools in another country was stimulating, fascinating and thoroughly rewarding. We were made to feel very welcome by the Omani teachers, students and Education Authority.

We are very hopeful that this will be the start of a long and rewarding relationship between our two countries.

I will be holding assemblies for all year groups after the Easter holiday sharing my experiences of a brief visit to the Middle East showing both slides and a short video.

Mr J. Burton.

March 2012 Issue The Monthly Newsletter for Parents and Carers from the Head of School, Mr B. Carney