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The Heath MARCH 2013
United Kingdom Mathematics The Heath’s Olympic legacy Trust Challenge 2013 continues this half term with Olympic Legacy @ The Heath
students going to Runcorn Rowing Club every Thursday on the indoor rowing machines. Hopefully, in a few week’s time the students will get the chance to row on the river once their technique is up to scratch. Also the selection process for t h i s y e a r ’ s O l y m p i c Ambassadors has begun. The Y10 students that take on the role as an Ambassador for PE are expected to lead form time activities, find out what students want from their PE lessons and also lead their form during sports day.
Two pupils from year 9 are in t h e t o p 4 0 % o f y o u n g Mathematicians in the country.
required to answer a set of intriguing and demanding multiple choice questions.
Ten pupils from year 9 & 10 have been working hard, challenging their mathematical skills to the maximum to participate in the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust Challenge 2013. This is a national competition that has 6 0 0 , 0 0 0 p u p i l s f r o m 4 0 0 0 secondary schools competing. P u p i l s t o o k p a r t i n t h e Intermediate Individual Challenge, open to years 9 – 11, and were
Congratulations to Alex Maddock and James Prescott for winning a Bronze certificate. This means that they are in the top 40% of all year 9 – 11 pupils taking part in the competition. An especially commendable reward as they would have been two of the youngest members competing in that category. Well done Alex and James, and good luck for next year’s competition!
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
Thackray Museum History Trip
On Friday 8 th February-‐2013, the History Department went on our annual visit to the Thackray Museum (Medicine museum) in Leeds. The trip is to help Year 11 pupils to revise for the ‘Medicine through time’ section of their GCSE. 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. It is a brilliant day out where pupils get to learn a n d d e v e l o p t h e i r knowledge of medicine t h r o u g h t i m e i n a n i n t e ra c t i v e w a y. T h e museum has a mock 19th century street with its filth and smells. Pupils get to follow Victorian characters around the museum looking at their living conditions, disease and weird and wonderful remedies they tried when they visited the quack, the pharmacist and the herbalist. All pupils behaved perfectly and showed a mature approach. They were a credit to The Heath School and themselves. Miss G Piggott Head of History
UK Mathematics Trust Challenge 2013 The Mathematics Department are keen to offer gifted and talented young mathematicians the opportunity to broaden their mathematical thinking, in an inspiring and challenging way. We are offering all pupils in KS3 the opportunity to practice and compete in The United Kingdom Mathematics Trust Challenge 2013. This is a national competition where they will compete against 600,000 young mathematicians in the UK. If you would like your son or daughter to take part in this competition then please do not hesitate in contacting us. The Competition date is on April 25th 2013 for the Junior Challenge (Year 7 & 8)
Handball Team
The Year 8 boys represented The Heath at the Merseyside handball tournament at Oldershaw Academy on the Wirral. The team bravely entered the tournament with little more than a crash lesson beforehand about the rules of the game. Oldershaw Academy and St Chads also took part and, with the effort and determination that the team demonstrated against their opponents, we were unlucky to come away empty handed. D e s p i t e t h e r e s u l t s t h e t e a m thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon and hope to build on their experience in the future. Well done team!
RAF Band at Halton Legion The Music department took GCSE pupils to Halton Legion recently to Watch The RAF Salon Orchestra perform a variety of well known Jazz and big band classics including ‘Mack the Knife’ and ‘Candy’ by Robbie Williams.
It was an excellent opportunity for pupils to experience a big band up close and to hear experienced musicians in their field perform. We are looking forward to next year’s concert.
PE News
Breakfast club continues and we have quite a few faithful followers. The group have been organising their own games whilst Mrs Wood prepares breakfast.
D u r i n g h a l f t e r m , T h e P E department linked up with Halton Council and British Cycling to host the Level 3 Cycling Proficiency Course. This training enables riders to make journeys in a variety of traffic environments and in all types of road conditions, competently, confidently and consistently. Here are the students who received their Level 3 award.
3 groups of GCSE PE students visited the Stobart Stadium, home of Widnes Vikings, for a GCSE revision day. They were looking at revision techniques in preparation for their forthcoming final exam. The students really enjoyed the experience and were a credit to themselves and the school.
March 1st was the Merseyside S c h o o l s At h l e t i c s t r i a l s a t Wavertree Athletics Track. Two of our students attended this event even and we await confirmation of their success at being selected for the county squad at athletics. Ben J a c ks o n -‐ S p r u c e a n d C a l l u m Doherty were put through their paces in a number of athletics disciplines, including track and field events.
Westfield Primary school visited the PE department to take part in a multi skills circuit. The event was hosted by the year 11 leadership group who designed the activities and supervised throughout. This year 11 group are nearing completion of their Junior Young Leaders’ Award. Well done girls! CONGRATULATIONS TO THE YEAR 7 NETBALL TEAM. Not only did they win the Halton schools tournament, they are now going on to represent Halton at the
Merseyside School Games. The girls played fantastically well and, despite the really cold weather, they kept going. They didn’t lose a point and beat Sts Peter and Paul in the final 7-‐2. Here is a picture of the winning team.
“The Heath Hurricanes have made a s t o r m s i n c e f o r m i n g i n September. They are looking amazing in their kit and are training to compete in the United Kingdom C h e e r l e a d i n g S c h o o l s Championships on Sunday 23rd June. They will be entering both the Stunt and Pom section as they have been learning the latest cheer moves along with the stunts. This month the Cheerleader of the Month Award went to Lauren Begley and Eve Groome for their “outstanding contribution to the cheerleading squad. “
ICT Learn for life day – New Technology On Tuesday 12th March year 10 had a Learn for life day, the day involved ICT work and creating an app that would be useful to help with everyday life. The first part of the day was in the library and we were taught about a variety of useful apps and how to use them by an apple expert who visits schools across the country to teach students how to make the most of the apps available on the App store. Then we headed down to an ICT room in order to take part in the “design an app icon” competition, choosing one of the following categories: Eat well, Save Energy, Be Active. The winning Icon will receive a new ipad mini. In the next session of the day we came up with possible problems and solutions to take into consideration when designing an app. We set off thinking of an app that can be used to help solve problems that we come across in everyday life, once we thought of the app idea and designed what it is going to look like we had to present it to our own forms and they were judged by teachers within the form. The best in form then went forward to perform their presentation in front of year 10 in order for the three judges; Mr Rogers, an ICT consultant and an apple educator to choose an overall winner. We were allowed to use our mobile phones and tweet to give feedback about the day that we had and the final presentations, using #ICTLFL. Our favourite part of the day was the role play within the presentation because it was something that you can have fun doing by over exaggerating and adding humour to the performance. Our form 10LSHG won overall and received £50, a certificate and a rosette. By Lauren Macdowall, Elle Goodwin and Tasha Williams
LIPA 4:19, a franchise of The Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts, has been established in Halton since 2009.
We are a part time performing arts academy for 4-19 year olds, and run classes on a Saturday during term time in singing, dance and drama. We have also performed several full scale shows in venues including the Brindley and across Merseyside, enjoyed thoroughly by performers and audiences alike. We also give the students opportunities to take part in performing arts examinations(dance/drama & singing) by accredited boards. For all age groups, classes are fun and stimulating and are carefully designed to reflect the correct stage of performing arts development. We recruit the very best staff and all our tutors have relevant qualifications in their discipline, alongside working in the performing arts profession as artists and performers. We also have a uniform dress code ( LIPA t- shirt and black leggings/trousers). We believe this allows students to focus on classes and friendship without worries or concerns. If you wish to find out more information or wish to apply for a place at LIPA 4:19 at the Heath, please contact: Kate Allerston, Principal of LIPA 4:19 at the Heath 01928 576664 or kallerston@heathschool.org.uk
The Heath - Closure Dates SCHOOL CLOSES
SCHOOL REOPENS TO STUDENTS
Thursday 28th March 2013
Monday 15th April 2013
Friday 3rd May 2013
Tuesday 7th May 2013
Friday 24th May 2013
Monday 3rd June 2013
Friday 19th July 2013
Inset Days Monday 22nd July 2013 Tuesday 23rd July 2013 Wednesday 24th July 2013