We’re in the business of learning.....
The Heath
APRIL 2011
Academy Status Update
Comic Relief 2011 Just to let you know the total amount raised for Red Nose Day 2011 was £1330.30 This amount is made up f ro m n o n ‐ u n i fo r m , Office Cake and sweet s a l e , P E D e p t collection, Sweep Stake a n d P u p i l s p o n s o r money.
Well done all!
The Heath is currently consulting key groups over plans to become an Academy. The Heath was invited to transfer to Academy status by the Secretary of State for Education after receiving an ‘Outstanding’ Ofsted report last Autumn. The plans would see the school become independent of Local Authority control and be able to receive funding direct from central government funds rather than finance coming via local authorities. This will allow the school to direct spending to priority areas and implement future planning and strategy. Academies also have freedoms relating to curriculum, pay and conditions for staff and the timings of the school day and holidays though the Headteacher and the governing body are keen to stress that they do not intend to change the character or operation of the school in any way.
The Academies Act 2010 extended the Academies program enabling more schools to become Academies with Outstanding s c h o o l s l e a d i n g t h e w a y. Academies provide greater freedoms that support innovation and the raising of standards. We are very excited about the opportunity that becoming an Academy presents The Heath with at this time, we have set up a section on our school website containing all the information about what becoming an Academy means and will be consulting widely and thoroughly with stakeholders.’ Consultation meetings will now take place across the school community. A parent/carer consultation evening took place on 24th March and if you require more information please see our website www.heathtechnologycollege.co.uk or contact the school for further information.
If you know of anything happening in and around our school community, let us know, or if you have any comments about the newsletter email: stewartd@heathschool.org.uk
‘Everybody loves that man.............Bugsy Malone’ The Heath decided to take on a crowd favourite this year by tackling ‘Bugsy Malone’! The sellout show opened on Tuesday 22nd with a matinee show for six of our local primary schools. The children arrived and were wowed by the stunning set, real splurge guns and timeless tale of gangsters in New York. The set was once again stunning and commented on by audiences throughout the show’s run. Led by Mrs Wade and Mr Robson the GCSE Art students created the perfect backdrops for the sultry New York classic. Jaimie Monks oozed charisma as the loveable rogue Bugsy and Abbie Smith (last year’s Artful Dodger) showed her softer side as the naive and hopeless Blousey. Eve Worthington sizzled as the gorgeous Tallulah and was the perfect trophy girl for the unforgettable Fat Sam, played by Danny Adams. Tyler Mensah broke hearts as the adorable Fizzy and was accompanied by solo dancer Bridey Short for his memorable song ‘Tomorrow’. A live band this year brought a great sense of atmosphere to our school hall and people had to be stopped from dancing in the aisles. The dance troupes were fantastic and took on the jazz style with ease! With their New York accents perfected the actors thoroughly explored their roles as masters of the New York underworld. The show was a sell-out for the fourth year running and the cast would like to thank staff, parents, friend and governors who came to support!
We are busy planning for our trip to Cape Town in October 2011 at the moment. Ms Atkins from Weston Primary is visiting our twin school, The Alpha, in April and we are sending over loads of information about ourselves and our school to their AfriTwin group in preparation for our visit. Thanks to the improved ICT service that we have helped to provide them with, we hope to be skyping soon after Easter, ‘AfriTwin to AfriTwin’! There are still places on our trip – if you would like to get involved, come and see Mrs Segal in room 3. We are hoping to start a group for Y7 and Y8 pupils soon and Y9 meets every Friday lunchtime in room 3. What do we do? Well, we are learning all about South Africa – the country, the people and the history – and we are fundraising like mad for our trip. We hope to be bag‐packing soon, organising cake sales and even cleaning classrooms! (for a fee...!) For further information about AfriTwin see Mrs Segal or Miss Olden
A Royal Enterprise at Weston Its all systems go for 15 year 5 students at Weston Primary as they prepare for a right royal celebration. The year 5 party planning enterprise group are working flat out to stage a Royal Garden Party on 28th April for students, staff and local residents. Their activities to date have included planning all the activities for the day, designing and sending out invitations, researching the favourite drinks and sandwich fillings within the school and making a presentation to the head regarding the costs involved in food, decorations and party hats. Conference Manager and Chef Mr Alastair McLean from The Heath Business Park worked with the students recently making sandwiches which provided a surpise trial party for both year 5 & year 6 which was certainly hailed as a success. Following the Easter break the students will go shopping for the ingredients needed and spend an afternoon actually working in the kitchens at the Heath Business Park creating the food for an expected 200 guests. With royal parades, face painting, disco and a balloon race planned all we need now is the sunshine.
STEM Saturday The STEM team at The Heath welcomed a cohort of local Year 5 pupils, and their parents, on Saturday the 12th March to take part in a carousel of STEM activities. In conjunction with Techniquest, parent and pupil grappled with solar powered fairground attractions, tried to save a falling egg and even had time to study the stars. It is just part of The Heath’s ongoing commitment to develop and foster interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics amongst our own and partner pupils. As well as the STEM team (Miss Olden, Mrs Spencer and Mr James) thanks must also go to Mr Cooper from the technology department for helping in the successful running of the day and to the PTA for helping keeping us all refreshed. Finally, a big thank you to our year 9 STEM ambassadors Jack Brooks, Jess White and Kerry Edwards who gave up their Saturday lie in to make a massive contribution to the day.
Dance The Year 10 dancers were invited to perform two dance pieces choreographed by Miss Doyle at the Brindley Theatre for the Soroptomists Society. Their performance was fantastic and we received lots of great comments about our students. They have done the Heath school and the dance department proud! Also good luck to all the dancers in all years who are preparing for the Halton Dance competition. The Heath for the Champions!!!
Conway 2011! The third English weekend at the Conway Centre in Menai proved to be the best yet! 40 pupils from years 9,10 and 11 left school on a sunny Friday for two days of fun and English on Anglesey. Mrs Segal, Miss Thomas, Mr Cochrane and Mr Fildes led the group on a night line, canoeing, abseiling, on high ropes activities, raft building and kayaking. All of these exciting and exhilarating activities provided excellent stimulus for writing creatively; a host of ideas were generated in the classroom as we learnt how to get our ideas down onto paper in a way that would maximise marks in English.
One of the Chapelhows trying to ‘out do’ his brother
The clear highlight of the weekend was the annual Karaoke and Awards Evening on the Saturday. This year, awards went to several pupils, most notably; Daniel Adams – The Generosity Award (‘Does anybody want my potato skins?) Andrena Briers – The Sheer Strength Award (For canoeing with Mrs Segal – not easy!) Joe McGurty – The Bonkers Award (well....for a weekend of entertaining) Mr Fildes – The ICT Award (For Services to ICT in the classroom) Hope Owen – The Seamanship Award (For being a natural leader on the water) Jaimie Monks – The Strike a Pose Award (Speaks for itself, really)
Andrena Briers still smiling after hard work in the canoe
Liam Cato – The All-Round Superstar Award We look forward to visiting again and we are already planning our next trip, in March 2012. Watch this space for details......... Mrs Segal
Sporting one of our own T-shirts
Bidding a sad farewell to Menai Kyle Edwardson rolling down the hill
Jaimie Monks – the ‘Strike a Pose’ award
History The History department staff and year 11 pupils went on a trip to the Thackray Museum in Leeds on Friday 4th February. The museum focuses on the medicine through time element of the History GCSE. Pupils went on the visit to revise for their summer exam in an interesting and interactive environment. It was a brilliant day out and pupils and staff really enjoyed the 19th century street with its filth and smells. Pupils got to follow Victorian characters around the museum looking at their living conditions, disease and weird and wonderful remedies they used. They visited the pharmacy and the quack to look at the cures available and considered the problems of keeping healthy. We learnt about the problems and developments in surgery and saw a limb amputation in the operating theatre. We also got to watch a clip of a real amputation done without anaesthetics, the quicker the better. All pupils behaved perfectly and showed a mature approach. They were a credit to themselves and the school. Miss G Piggott Head of Humanities
Mock Trial Competition 2011! On Saturday 5th March, 13 students from years 8 & 9 at The Heath went to the Warrington Magistrates Court to take part in a completion against 3 other schools; St. Gregory’s, St. Edmund Arrowsmith and Bellerive to win a trophy and a place for the second round of the competition dealing with another law case for ‘Mock Trial Competition’. The Mock Trial competition is where you get the opportunity to take on different roles in the court, including magistrates, ushers, lawyers, defendants, legal advisers and many more. When The Heath arrived at the magistrate’s court, they were shown around the court and were told their schedule of the competition for the day. In the first round, the defence team played against Bellerive school and then on the second round, the prosecution team played St Edmund Arrowsmith school. After all the schools competed, the judges of the competition went away to decide the winning school. Certificates were given out to all the competitors involved on the day by the High sheriff of Cheshire and lead magistrate, Tony Clark of the Warrington Bench who organised the competition. The overall winners were St. Gregory’s, a school with a history of winning the competition. Although the Heath came 3rd, they were very close to be placed in second place by a few points. 3 students from the Heath were nominated for the best student award (Ben Jackson-Spruce, Sam Jones and Georgia Wrycraft), but a student from St. Gregory’s won the prize. Mr Young, who was in charge of organising for the Heath to participate in Mock Trial, said he would be delighted for more students to be involved in The Mock Trial competition in September for the 2012 Court Room Battle For any questions regarding Mock Trial, please speak to Mr Young in room 21. By Ellie-Rose Turner, 8ESB
ADULT COMMUNITY CLASSES STARTING SUMMER 2011
The
Heath Classes to include: Bootcamp
Floodlit Bootcamp at the Heath will help you get fitter faster…and it’s so much more fun than working on your own or in a gym. A positive mental attitude, team spirit and a commitment to hard graft is what’s needed to get you through, but you’ll feel superb after every session.
Zumba!
Starting Thursday 5th May 2011 Time: 6-7pm 10 week course - £2.50 per week or £20 for the course
Zumba! Dance Workout is a lively solo dance-fitness class for adults. Come along to a fun and effective class which will feel more like a night out than a work out! Starting Thursday 5th May 2011 Time: 6-7pm 10 week course - £2.50 per week or £20 for the course
Come Dine with Me
Our inspirational cookery course led by Linda Weaver (of Smooth Radio fame) makes it possible for everyone to recapture or ignite their passion for cooking. Book early as places are limited. Starting Thursday 5th May 2011 Time: 6:30-8:30pm 10 week course - £25
Ju Jitsu
Ju Jitsu is one of the oldest of the martial arts and is the forefather to some of the popular modern martial arts such as Judo, Aikido and some forms of Karate. It is an extremely effective form of self-defence and a good form of overall exercise. If you want to learn a new skill, develop your martial art skills, learn an effective self-defence method or just want to increase your self confidence, come along and join our class.
‘Sew’ Great!
Starting Thursday 5th May 2011. Time: 6-7pm 10 week course - £20
Do you have an interest in fabric and fashionable home design? Wanting to express your creativity through textiles? Then come along to our inspirational soft furnishings course, starting with customising cushions with your own unique designs using a range of techniques. Course level – Basic Stage One
Improve the Mind
Starting Thursday 5th May 2011. Time: 6-8pm 10 week course - £30 (includes materials)
Academic Courses in Maths, ICT, English and French are available to book at various times. Contact us for more details.
For more info on any of the above course contact Kate Allerston, Community Development Officer at The Heath Technology College on 01928 576664 or email kallerston@heathschool.org.uk
Thursdays 6-9pm - Enquiries: 01928 576664
Year 8 DJ’s Michael Jenner 8ESB and Marc Burnett 8PGR have their own Radio show on Monday at 4‐5 0n Halton Community Radio, you can listen Online or on 92.3 FM. They play music, have a Quiz, take phone calls and E‐Mails and also give out all the latest Sports news. Give them a listen!
T h e 2 0 11 D o f E season is now well under way with 80 Ye a r 1 0 a n d 11 students undertaking The Award at Bronze and Silver Level.
Liz Healey has landed
The Silver participants have already begun building up to their expeditions with their practice day walk in North Wales behind them and their practice expedition to The Peak District due in May. They will complete The Award with a 3 day assessment expedition in June where they are required to stay on 2 separate camp sites and trek between them carrying all the food, clothing and equipment that they need for the 3 days. The Bronze group have completed most of their training now and are well underway with their Volunteering, Skills and Sports sections. They will be completing their training in May ready for their Practice day walk and their expeditions due over the coming months. All looks set to be another fantastic year of D of E at The Heath; with extremely keen students and a group of equally enthusiastic staff and volunteers. All we need now is the excellent weather that we have come to expect on our expeditions!
herself her very own column for the Runcorn & Widnes Locals Magazine, going out to several thousand homes. Her c o l u m n ( e n t i t l e d , L i z ’s Column) is basically a full page to herself to write about any topic she wishes. So far she has written about moving to a new place and new school (comes from Devon originally) and also H e a l t h a n d w e l l b e i n g (pressure facing girls). Future topics include the Facebook phenomenon and The Royal Wedding.
The Heath - A Specialist Technology College Closure Dates 2011/2012 SCHOOL CLOSES
SCHOOL REOPENS TO STUDENTS Monday 5th September 2011
Friday 21st October 2011
Monday 31st October 2011
Friday 16th December 2011
Wednesday 4th January 2012
Friday 10th February 2012
Monday 20th February 2012
Thursday 29th March 2012
Monday 16th April 2012
Friday 4th May 2012
Monday 8th May 2012
Friday 1st June 2012
Monday 11th June 2011
Thursday 19th July 2011
Inset Days Thursday 1st September 2011 Friday 2nd September 2011 Friday 7th October 2011 Tuesday 3rd January 2012 Friday 30th March 2012