Headlines March 2014

GRANGE SCHOOL

Headlines

Table Tennis Local lad, Jack Hunter-Spivey, visited Year 10 GCSE PE to talk to students about what has influenced him and how to excel in sport. Jack, 18 from Widnes and former student at St Chad’s, is currently ranked 25th in the world and has his sights fixed on reaching the 2016 Paralympic games in Rio.

Maths Problem Last month’s maths quiz answer:

Jack has cerebral palsy and is wheel chair bound and has been playing Table Tennis with the GB team since he was aged 11. Miss Ellis, Curriculum Leader for PE and the Creative Arts, described Jack’s talk to the students as “inspirational”. Students agreed and were captivated by his level of skill and mastery of the table.

I am grateful to Jack for visiting us and I wish him well in his quest for a place in the GB squad for 2016.

This month’s maths question:

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

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

July 2013 Issue

GRANGE SCHOOL

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Maths camp at Colomendy Conquers Calculations

Attendance Matters

At the end of February, 30 year 10 students descended on Colomendy Activity Centre, in Mold (North Wales) to participate in a ‘Maths Camp’ weekend designed to improve their performance in Maths. Students took part in a number of workshops with Maths staff, and completed a mini assessment at the end of the weekend to show-off all the skills they had learned.

We are delighted to inform parents that student attendance at The Grange is higher than it has ever been...95.2%, which is above the national average and also remains one of the highest overall student attendance rates amongst Halton secondary schools.

In addition to this, students participated in a number of team-building activities which encouraged them to work with people that they may not have worked with previously. Sessions included orienteering, problem solving, building a rocket, and being led through the woods blind-folded!

The students very much enjoyed the weekend, benefiting from the extra support that was available for them and one student commented: “I didn’t think I was very good at Maths, but I have really enjoyed the weekend and feel a lot more confident about it now”. Mr Liptrot, Curriculum Leader for Maths, said “I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the students who gave up their weekend to participate in this extra Maths study. Students have returned to the Grange a lot more confident in their mathematical ability and are now raising their aspirations when it comes to their progress in Maths”.

Students can look forward to more revision opportunities appearing in the coming months. In addition, there will be one final visit to Colomendy for students in Year 11, taking place in May.

Why is good attendance important?

As well as good attendance at school being a legal requirement, research has also shown that students with good attendance (95%+) are more likely to reach their full educational potential.

Good attendance benefits students in the following ways:

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Helps continuity of learning which helps progress in lessons.

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Improves performance in coursework tasks.

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Enhances student performance in tests and examinations

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Helps continuity of friendships and relationships which helps students to feel a sense of belonging.

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Enables staff to include ‘Good/Excellent Attendance’ in references for prospective employers and further education institutions.

Unsurprisingly, there is a clear link between poor attendance at school and low levels of achievement. Of those students who miss between 10% and 20% of school (attendance of 80% to 90%) only a third manage to achieve five A* to C GCSEs including English and maths. This compares to three quarters of students with over 95% attendance achieving five A* to C including English and maths. (Department for Education 2011)

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

GRANGE SCHOOL

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Important Notice Recently, we have noticed a number of students bringing e-cigarettes into school. These devices will be covered by age restriction legislation. The Government announced last month it is to bring in new legislation to ban under-18s from buying electronic cigarettes. An amendment to the Children and Families Bill, will also mean the ’proxy purchasing’ - knowingly buying tobacco on behalf of someone under 18 - will also be banned.

We are concerned that e-cigarettes may encourage young people to start smoking, particularly because of their novelty value and the common assumption that they are safe. I am concerned that the increased public use and marketing of e-cigarettes may be sending the wrong message to children and young people that ‘vaping’ is a safe recreational activity.

Therefore I have decided to ban e-cigarettes from school and place them on the list of prohibited items in the school rules. Any e-cigarettes seen will be confiscated in line with our school rules.

Of particular concern is the promotion of flavoured e-cigarettes, which may be particularly appealing to children. My concern is that they are a prelude to smoking, also the medical impact is not fully understood or collated. Ecigarettes can produce toxic chemicals and the amount of nicotine and other chemical constituents and contaminants, including vaporised flavourings, varies between products meaning they could be extremely damaging to a young person’s health. I would like to send a clear message to students and parents that the use of any kind of cigarette, electronic or otherwise, is not acceptable on school premises.

World Book Day Last Thursday (6th March), the Grange School celebrated World Book Day. World Book Day is a nationally sponsored event which promotes reading and gives out more than 14 million book tokens every year. Year 7 and 8 pupils from the Grange took part in the event by entering the ‘Design a Bookmark’ competition, spending time designing a book-themed bookmark. Mrs Shargool is currently collating all of our pupils’ efforts. Prizes include £250 in National Book Tokens so we’ll be eagerly awaiting the announcement of the winners in summer!

On Wednesday 12th March, a group of our Year 11 students took advantage of the wonderful opportunity to attend a writing master class at Cronton College. The session was designed to support our young scribes achieve A*/ A in the written exam that is part of the overall G.C.S.E. All pupils whom attended were unequivocally enthusiastic about what they’d learned. The Grange remains committed to encouraging the next generation of Norman Mailers and P J O’Rourkes’.

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

GRANGE SCHOOL

Headlines

Connecting Classrooms - February 2014 Over the February half term holiday, two members of staff from The Grange, along with a colleague from Weston Primary School, visited our linked schools in Cape Town, South Africa as part of the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms programme. The aim of the programme is to add an extra dimension to the schools’ curriculum by sharing ideas and projects in order to enhance the learning opportunities for all pupils.

Adam Davis, Head of Science at the Secondary School, and Mike Shepherd, Year 5 teacher at the Primary School, met students and staff from South Africa and also Zimbabwe. During the time the members of staff were in Capetown, they planned the projects they will work on, shared good practice with the teachers and also took the opportunity to teach the pupils.

Mr Davis was hosted by the Principal of West Cape Sports School which, as its name implies is a centre of excellence for the teaching of sport and PE. West Cape School teaches sixteen different sports to National level as well as ensuring all the academic subjects are delivered.

Mr Shepherd linked with Bardale Primary. This is a very large primary school with 1300 pupils in the middle of a township. Some of the pupils experience real poverty. Mr Davis felt that it was a real privilege to see that, despite the economic difficulties, the pupils were determined to learn and make progress. This photo shows the students of Western Cape Sports School wearing Widnes Vikings; Runcorn Linnets and Grange PE kits.

As part of the next stage of the programme, teachers from the linked schools in South Africa and Zimbabwe will, hopefully, visit The Grange in the summer. They are all very excited at the opportunity of coming to England and finding out more about our country and, in particular, the work that goes on in The Grange.

This photo shows the students of Western Cape Sports School wearing Widnes Vikings; Runcorn Linnets and Grange PE kits.

This photo is of Mr Shepherd teaching Maths in Bardale Primary.

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

GRANGE SCHOOL

Headlines Getting ready for the 1st event.

The Mond Science Challenge Wednesday 5th March 2014

Ashley looks trepidatious!

Mr Murray coordinated our team and reports below on our valiant attempt to lift the trophy.

This is the 2nd year in which we have taken part in the Mond Science Challenge.

The challenge itself consists of six rounds with questions and practical work on Maths,

Physics, Animal Management, Biology, Applied Science and Chemistry.

This was an exciting evening of head scratching, brainstorming and endless discussion as our four intrepid scientists sought to overcome the competition from all other schools. Ashley, Emma, Marc and Steven worked as a very effective group (no ‘lone grangers’ here) and took on every challenge with enthusiasm and efficiency.

Three hours later to our delight we learnt that we had won the Physics component of the Challenge (Thanks Mr Talbot!). Unfortunately, we failed to win the main trophy

Waiting (with course organiser

(that was won by Great Sankey) but came a very creditable 3rd in a tightly fought

John Hatton ) to test

competition.

themselves in the Animal Management component

Congratulations to our four gallant competitors—they did not let us down.

Congratulations also to Cronton College who, as always, organised an event which

really challenged the confounded all who took part. A message now goes out to Year 9 Scientist - Do you fancy following in our competitors footsteps for the

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

Headlines

GRANGE SCHOOL Dates for your diary Monday 17th March

Year 7 Curling Competition (12:45pm)

Tuesday 18th March

Year 6 Curling Competition

Wednesday 19th March

Year 6/7/8/9 Inter House Swimming Gala Staff 5-a-side Challenge Football Match (3:00pm)

Thursday 20th March

Year 6 and 7 Inter House Football Competition (3:00pm) Year 9 Parents Evening

Friday 21st March

Year 7 Curling Competition (12:45pm) Whole School Fun Run (3:00pm)

Monday 24th March

Year 10 Practical Art Exam (five hours)

Tuesday 25th March

Year 11 Practical Art Exam (five hours)

Monday 28th April

P.E Moderation

Term Dates Finish

Return Easter Holiday

Friday 4th April

Tuesday 22nd April

May Day Bank Holiday Friday 2nd May

Tuesday 6th May

Summer Half-Term Friday 23rd May

Monday 2nd June Summer

Friday 18th July

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

Tuesday 2nd September

Inset Days Monday 21st July 2014 Tuesday 22nd July 2014 Wednesday 23rd July 2014