CHORLTON HIGH SCHOOL MAGAZINE SPRING 2014
LITTLE SHOP WOWS THE BLUE BOX ALSO INSIDE CO-OPERATIVE ACADEMY DIGITAL SAFETY WEEK BOOK FESTIVAL NEWS STUDENTS IN BLUE PETER
HELLO... and welcome to the new look In the Spotlight. The autumn term flew by at Chorlton High School and as always it is good to reflect on the highlights and achievements. We saw over 200 students stand for election to their Year Councils which made for some exciting and competitive elections and we were delighted to elect both the Year Councils for Years 7-10, and the Whole School Council. A cast of over 60 Year 7, 8 & 9 students wowed audiences with their spectacular performance of Little Shop of Horrors and an amazing £992 was raised at the Winter Fayre which will be donated to our linked school in Zambia. Thank you to all students and staff who made last term such a success and we look forward to the successes and achievements the spring term will bring.
CHRISTINE TAGGART COMMUNITY AND MARKETING OFFICER AND IN THE SPOTLIGHT EDITOR
INSIDE THIS ISSUE... CO-OPERATIVE ACADEMY UPDATE
BATTLE OF THE BANDS, MANCHESTER UNIVERSITY MUSIC TRIP 10
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WHOLE SCHOOL COUNCIL 2
COMMUNITY CHRISTMAS PARTY & WINTER FAYRE
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CHISILA UPDATE
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RAMBERT DANCE DIGITAL SAFETY AUTHOR VISIT, COMPANY TRIP, WEEK 3 NATIONAL POETRY PRIMARY ARTS TOUR 11 DAY COMPETITION RESULTS 8 INDEPENDENT LEARNERS AWARDS, XAVERIAN HIGH ACHIEVERS TRIP 12 LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS 4
CHORLTON BOOK FESTIVAL EVENTS, INTERGENERATIONAL WRITING EVENT
BLUE PETER TRIP, UNDER 14 BASKETBALL SQUAD, GATEWAYS EXPLORATION VISIT 13 9
CO-OPERATIVE ACADEMY UPDATE
DINNER TIME We are pleased to announce that construction of the new extended dining room space is ahead of schedule and we hope to move in early next term.
Following our transition to a Co-operative Academy in January 2013 we have begun to develop our Co-operative Academy Trust this term. A big part of being a Co-operative Academy is providing a voice for the key stakeholders in the school: parents, staff, students and members of the local community. Throughout the term we have been focussing on developing our key stakeholder groups in order to ensure their voices will be heard in the future development of the school. Over the course of the term we have had a growing number of parents signing up to become members of the Co-operative Trust, providing them with an increased opportunity to directly influence the future of Chorlton High School. To further support and develop our engagement with parents we re-launched our Parents’ Association as ‘Parents’ Hub’ meetings which have been taking place each half term to give parents the opportunity to provide feedback and share ideas with staff and other parents on the future of Chorlton High School.
This term we held our School Council elections to elect Year Councils and the Whole School Council and we saw over 200 students stand for election during the course of the process. Our School Council allows all students a voice in improving our school and our current active School Council have already been directly involved in the planning and implementation of school improvements. This year we have invited the elected Chair and Vice-Chair of the Whole School Council to attend meetings of the school’s Full Governing Body to ensure that students are represented at the highest level within the school. In addition, we have held both Parent and Staff Governor Elections. Five parents stood for election for three positions, with Hilary Wood, Amanda Edwards and Saika
Ahmed elected by our parents. Three Staff stood for the one vacant Staff Governor position, with Darren Casey elected by our staff membership. We would like to say a big thank you to all the parents and staff who stood for election. We hope that all of you will continue be involved in our Co-operative development in the future. Next term we plan to start developing the core co-operative values with our student body and linking them into the curriculum and our Extended Learning Experiences. If you would like to become a member of the Chorlton High School Co-operative Academy Trust please visit www.chorltonhigh.manchester.sch.uk/ become-member
CHORLTON HIGH SCHOOL IN THE SPOTLIGHT
NEW SCHOOL COUNCIL ELECTED After a competitive election process which began at the start of the Autumn term, we are delighted to introduce the whole School Council for the year.
On Friday 25th October 2013 the newly elected Council met for their first meeting of the academic year. The meeting was very productive and the enthusiastic group discussed a range of topics on the agenda. During the course of the meeting Dylan Wimbury (Year 10) was elected Chair and Ronaldo Pearson (Year 10) Vice Chair of the School Council. As well as their Chair responsibilities they will also attend Full Governing Body Meetings which will give them the opportunity to present their ideas to the School Governors and have a voice in the strategic development of the school. Hope Lennox (Year 8) and Hashim Mukhtar (Year 7) came third in the voting and were invited to
YOUR COUNCIL MEMBERS 2013-2014
become Senior Leadership Team (SLT) representatives and will attend SLT meetings to provide an update on the key items discussed at each School Council meeting.
topics, from the development of an outside learning space, to looking at how to improve the school catering provision and the rebranding of the new dining room space.
Members of the School Council will have a responsibility to put forward the views of their tutor and Year groups. Rather than just presenting their own opinions, the students are encouraged to develop as effective leaders and ensure the voices of all students are represented. The Council members will also ensure feedback from the meetings is passed back to their Year and tutor groups.
In addition to the School Council, we now have active Year Councils for Years 7-10 which meet on a half termly basis with two representatives from each form group. We are very proud of the 200+ students who stood for election during the Council election process are delighted to have such an enthusiastic and motivated team of students on board. We look forward to seeing the positive impact that both the Year and whole School Council have on the future development of the school.
The group have already begun to discuss and take forward ideas on a range of
YEAR 7 Reeco Liburd Alex Barrett Hashim Mukhtar
YEAR 9 Izzy Hopwood Oscar McQuillan Khalid Kharufa
YEAR 8 Kaydiah Henry Hope Lennox Ayan Bukari
YEAR 10 Ronaldo Pearson Anissa Sullivan Dylan Wimbury
YEAR 11 Joe Breen Jibril Ahmed Kofi Antwi
DIGITAL SAFETY WEEK 14th-18th October 2013 was Digital Safety Week at Chorlton High School. Staff worked with students to understand the importance of protecting themselves, being digitally responsible and respectful and knowing how to report anything that they are not happy with.
At Chorlton High School we want to encourage our students to become digital natives in a safe and responsible way. We want our students to work together as a community to ensure that all students are successful, happy and creative in the ever expanding digital environment. Students were given a digital safety assembly, took part in form time activities and were given messages in their lessons across the school. They were also given the opportunity to discuss the key messages with their form tutors and friends and shown how to use our Sharp Reporting System. Two Year 7 students give us their response to the week.
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Chorlton High School’s main priority is to keep pupils happy and safe. Being safe online allows pupils in our school to be happy and safe. In ICT we looked at the SMART rules which are an acronym for SAFE, (being aware of what things you should click on what things you shouldn’t, MEET (when you are online do not arrange to meet with anyone or bring along an adult just in case), ACCEPTING (do not accept anyone you don’t know and don’t accept suspicious emails as they might carry a virus), RELIABLE (only go on reliable websites), TELL (if something is upsetting you or making you worried report it to a responsible adult that you trust or the share system).
Digital safety is what you need, I’m the poet here so I’ll take the lead.
When online make sure you follow the SMART rules and you will stay safe.
I don’t know about you but I don’t want them to know, about my personal info.
BY LILY NORREYS (YEAR 7)
If you don’t want your money to go missing, keep your bank details from companies phishing. Don’t accept a friend request from who you don’t know, because it will be a quest to strangers who make dangers. Be careful when you click on a site you might get a fright, when your pc gets infected, that is what’s suspected Don’t be a victim! BY MERLIN JARRALD (YEAR 7)
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CHORLTON HIGH SCHOOL IN THE SPOTLIGHT
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LITTLE SHOP WOWS T This year’s musical celebrates 10 years at the Blue Box Theatre. We revisited the classic musical; ‘Little Shop Of Horrors’ as a tribute to one of our first large performances in the wonderful Blue Box Theatre. Over 60 students made up the incredibly talented cast and they ranged from Years 7, 8 and 9. Audiences were wowed by outstanding vocals, emotive acting and vibrant dancing on our spectacular set which included a six foot plant. Feedback from the audience was the best we have ever received and they commented on the professionalism of the show. This year’s cast were a true ensemble; supportive, professional, creative and enthusiastic. Thank you to all the cast for their hard work and dedication to the performing arts. A huge thank you to all staff involved in making this show a possibility. It’s going to be difficult to better this year’s musical, however, the performing arts department are never afraid of a challenge. Watch out 2014!
THE BLUE BOX ’’ ‘‘ Like a night in the West End. A true pleasure.
TEACHING ASSISTANT AT CHORLTON HIGH SCHOOL
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We have been to see every show for the past five years and this was the most professional and well performed ever.
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YEAR 9 PARENT
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I was expecting a school show, what I got was a magnificent performance. I forgot I was in a high school. TEACHER FROM CHORLTON HIGH SCHOOL
CHORLTON HIGH SCHOOL IN THE SPOTLIGHT
COMMUNITY CHRISTMAS PARTY
WINTER FAYRE Chorlton High School hosted the annual Community Christmas Party on Tuesday 10th December 2013. The event was a huge success with over 50 guests from local care homes attending. The guests were greeted by Year 7 & 8 students and were shown to the Blue Box Theatre. A buffet lunch was provided with our students helping to serve the tea and coffee and entertain our guests. While they enjoyed their lunch the guests were entertained by a medley of Christmas songs performed by some of our talented musical students. To round off the party, they were then treated to a special matinee performance of this year’s school musical ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ which was performed by a cast of over 100 Year 7, 8 and 9 students. The performance was a big hit and everyone thoroughly enjoyed another Chorlton High School musical success. Before everyone went home there was a visit from Santa who had a gift for everyone. All of the guests said how much they had enjoyed the event and were looking forward to coming again next year. We hope everyone who came enjoyed the party as much as we did and we look forward to doing it all again next year!
On Saturday 14th December 2013 we hosted our annual Winter Fayre to raise money for our partner school in Chisila, Zambia. The Winter Fayre is one of a number of fundraising activities we undertake each year to raise much needed funds for Chisila Community School, including supporting a teacher’s salary for a year and funding a free breakfast club. Students and staff have been hard at work all term getting everything ready for the big day. Our Winter Fayre Planning Committee have been meeting every Monday throughout the term to plan their stalls, sort donations and wrap prizes.
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All students who took part did a fantastic job.
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We were overwhelmed by the support we had from students who took charge running stalls throughout the Fayre including a chocolate tombola, lucky dip, homemade cakes and a second hand book stall. All the students who took part did a fantastic job and all their hard work definitely paid off. We also welcomed over 20 local businesses and traders who ran stalls selling a wide variety of products including homemade Christmas decorations, knitted toys, handmade bath time products and photographic prints. There was also an opportunity for children to visit Santa’s Grotto where they were greeted by Santa’s little helpers before being shown into the grotto to meet Santa and receive a special present. To round off the event Santa drew the raffle with prizes including a whopping 4.5kg Toblerone, a family portrait session and a Unicorn Grocery food hamper. This year the Winter Fayre raised a fantastic £992 which was only made possible due to the generosity of staff, students, parents and the local community. Thank you to everyone who helped support the event and everyone who came along on the day!
CHISILA COMMUNITY SCHOOL UPDATE For the last three years PEPAIDS has been partnering schools in Zambia with Schools in the UK as part of our Schools of Good Hope Project. Our aim is to help improve the quality of education available to some of Zambia’s poorest children.
We want to give them a fighting chance to break free from poverty and have hope for the future. Our schools-linking programme is achieving exactly that! Chisila community school started as a mud and thatch hut with hardly any resources and just one community volunteer trying to teach 80 children. In 2010 we partnered Chisila with Chorlton High School in Manchester. Their story is inspirational and now, Chisila is unrecognisable! Today over 120 of Chisila’s children sit on chairs around proper desks. The painted walls of their brick school building have posters on them, some hand made in Chorlton by their UK partner pupils.
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One of the most lifegiving ideas came from the Chorlton pupils in the UK.
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Chorlton’s fundraising to buy cooking utensils and some start-up food. The parents have organized a cooking rota and each family contributes maize every month to keep the breakfast club running. Right now, Southern Zambia is facing a famine, after last years’ rains failed. The breakfast club means that children are getting at least one meal a day, when otherwise they might not get anything. Thanks to your on-going support and the hard work of Chisila Community and Chorlton High School, our Schools of Good Hope Project is, quite literally, a life-line out of poverty for children in Zambia! Thank you! HELEN ALLEN FOUNDER AND CHAIR OF TRUSTEES, PEPAIDS
Our partnership helped the school make such progress that the Zambian Government noticed and sent them some help. The school has four teachers now, two paid for by the government and two funded by the community. One of the most life-giving ideas came from the Chorlton pupils in the UK. They wanted Chisila to start a breakfast club, similar to their own. So this year Chisila used some of
CHORLTON HIGH SCHOOL IN THE SPOTLIGHT
STUDENTS MEET EOIN COLFER AT LITERATURE FESTIVAL Hysterically funny author of the best-selling Artemis Fowl series, Eoin Colfer talked about W.A.R.P: The Reluctant Assassin – the first thrilling book in his new steampunk, time-travelling, adrenaline-fuelled adventure series.
NATIONAL POETRY DAY COMPETITION
Twenty three Year 7, 8 and 9 students visited The People’s History Museum on Monday 7th October 2013, as part of the Manchester Literature Festival, to hear the internationally acclaimed children’s author Eoin Colfer talk to fans about his new book W.A.R.P. The Reluctant Assassin. Eoin regaled students with tales of growing up in Wexford, Ireland in the 1970’s and how iconic TV shows such as The Tomorrow People, Dr Who, Blake’s Seven and Logan’s Run fuelled his imagination and stoked his desire to write. Eoin spoke to students about his career as a teacher; his early books and how both of his sons are the inspiration for many of his characters, including Riley, The Reluctant Assassin, a Victorian boy who is suddenly plucked from his own time into the 21st century, accused of murder and sent on the run. All the students enjoyed his talk immensely. Oscar McQuillan Year 9 said, “We got to meet an astonishingly comical and intellectual author and got to hear about his inspirations, his books and his personal stories”. “He was really funny” said Raynnah Munye from Year 8 and Tia-Rae Barton, Year 7 noted, “He was funny, I got to meet an author, his books are amazing”. “It was a fantastic event” said Ms Hockey, Library Resource Manager. “Everyone had a great time and Eoin signed books for the students after his talk.” The library has all the Artemis Fowl books and Eoin’s new book W.A.R.P. The Reluctant Assassin. Why not come in and borrow one?
NEWS CHORLTON HIGH SCHOOL
To mark National Poetry Day, the English department launched a poetry competition. During form time Year 7 and 8 students were asked to focus their literacy skills and be as creative as possible to produce an imaginative and original poem based on the theme ‘water’. Chorlton High School students made a spectacular splash with their entries with an astounding 179 entries. After a tough debate amongst literacy staff, Cleo Smith-Prentice, pictured above, was awarded first prize.
CELEBRATING CHORLTON CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD Thirty excited students gathered in the library during Chorlton Book Festival in November to find out which book had won the very first Chorlton Children’s Book Award. There was everything a celebration needed, balloons, a cake, a special guest and an air of anticipation! All had been busy during the Autumn ghosts. This strange talent takes the story term, reading the eight books which had on many twists and turns and gets Sam been shortlisted for the Award, all had into all kinds of trouble. Nicole Maylett cast their vote and were keen to see if voted for Constable and Toop and said their favourite book had scooped the “The main thing that I liked about this book prize. Each book was celebrated in turn, was the perspectives of all the different with a dramatic reading by a member characters, dead and living. There was of Chorlton High School such a range, with their staff and a review of the own little stories and book, written and read backgrounds.” by a student. When the event ended with moment finally arrived to The main thing that I The Ms Hockey cutting the find out who had won, it liked about this book magnificent cake and was up to Ms Williams, was the perspectives sharing it with all the our special guest from students and staff who of all the different Chorlton Library, to open had helped make the characters. the envelope and finally event such a success. reveal the winner. Comments afterwards And the Winner was... included “I loved reading Constable and Toop, by the books, because of Gareth P Jones! the variety and how great they were.” Constable and Toop, a darkly comic Dickensian ghost story “It was exciting to see who won and features Sam Toop, who lives in a funeral the cake was very good”. “It parlour and is blessed (or cursed) with the was awesome and I really want unusual gift of being able to see and hear to do it again”.
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BOOK FESTIVAL INTERGENERATIONAL EVENT Chorlton High School hosted an Intergenerational Event as part of Chorlton Book Festival with six students from the Creative Writing Group and five elderly members of Chorlton Good Neighbours. Helped by some wonderful photographs, maps and memorabilia from Manchester City Archives, students were intrigued to hear stories of Chorlton and Manchester from many years ago. There was a real buzz as young and old shared memories and learnt new things. One student found out that her house used to be a Hair Salon in the 1970s and another was interested to hear that, within living memory, you could walk from Chorlton to Fallowfield along Wilbraham Road, with nothing but fields on either side. “It was wonderful to host the event” said Ms Hockey. “It was fascinating for the students to find out more about the history of the local area. Chorlton Good Neighbours are already planning a return visit at some point in the future.”
CHORLTON HIGH SCHOOL IN THE SPOTLIGHT
NO MAN’S BAND TRIUMPHS IN BATTLE OF THE BANDS We are No Man’s Band, the winners of Battle of the Bands 2013 judge vote. Firstly congratulations to Pillar Box Blue for winning the audience vote. We have been together for nearly a year now and we practice for around two hours a week. We have performed in other concerts so we were very prepared for Battle of the Bands. None of us were nervous apart from when Barney dropped his guitar after the first song, ‘Another girl another planet’ by The Only Ones, and we had to start the song again. Other than that the first song went perfectly. The second song we did was ‘Dreaming of you’ by The Coral and it went even better, and according to the judges it was the winning song. The bands we competed against were Pillar Box Blue, The Youth, Kiran and the Creases and Kapok. At the end the judges each said the bands they liked but not us, so we got really worried until they said “and the winner of Battle of the Bands is… (drum roll)... No Man’s Band!” All four of us stood up, turned around to face the audience and thrust our fists into the air with our mouths wide open. Our reward for winning was the opportunity to record in Airtight Studios! BY RAPH MCKINLEY, BASSIST (YEAR 8) AND CASEY BELL, GUITARIST AND SINGER (YEAR 8)
MUSICAL TRIP AND PERFORMANCE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER On 15th November 2013 both music classes (Mr Scott’s and Miss Cooper’s) went on a trip to The University of Manchester. When we arrived we split into our two classes. My class (Mr Scott’s) was first taken on a tour around the University which was really helpful as we got to see what it was like if we wanted to go there in the future. After our tour we were taken into a room where we talked to the students about what they thought of the University, and the courses there are. Meanwhile Miss Cooper’s class were in the performing hall having a go at a singing workshop which one of the students was running. We got to have a go after them which was really
NEWS CHORLTON HIGH SCHOOL
good fun. We were doing an a capella version of ‘Just the way you are’ by Bruno Mars. After lunch two bands from Mr Scott’s class, and one band and a solo singer from Miss Cooper’s performed in front of locals and students from the University. I was in one of the bands that performed. It was a little scary to begin with but really fun once we got into it, and everyone else who performed was great. When we finished we were entertained by two acapella groups from the University who were fantastic and great to watch. Over all it was a really entertaining and rewarding day. BY LOUIS WALKER (YEAR 10)
GCSE DANCE STUDENTS SEE RAMBERT AT THE LOWRY On Friday 11th of October 2013, Miss Carden, Miss Barber and Mr Raffells took an excited bunch of Year 9 GCSE dancers to the Lowry to watch the latest Rambert performance. Expectations were high and we weren’t disappointed. We watched three pieces: ‘The Castaways’, ‘L’apres midi d’un Faune’ and ‘What Wild Ecstasy’. The Castaways is a fast-paced, humorous piece preformed to a mixture of a Yiddish music and American Tunes. It was funny and exciting to watch and we are now developing the choreography we saw in class. What Wild Ecstasy is a Dance choreographed by Mark Baldwin, which used L’apres Midi as inspiration. It was fast and frantic and great fun to watch. L’Apres Midi d’un Faune was choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky and first performed by The Ballet Russe 100 years ago. It caused a riot at the time and we all found it to still be a challenge to watch. It was very slow and delicate, but very interesting and contrasted well with the first piece. Watching this famous Dance Company live was great entertainment and a real inspiration to work even harder in our lessons! BY ELLA MCKIE-CRANE (YEAR 9)
GIFTED AND TALENTED ARTS STUDENTS GO ON THE ROAD The third week in September is always our month to go ‘on the road’ with a company of Gifted and Talented performers to delight the pupils of our local primaries. We put together a performance, under the banner of the ‘Primary Arts Tour’, which included the amazing musical skills of our CHS X Factor winners - Jess Radcliffe and Lauren Egan, the powerful guitarist and singer Finn Watkins, the drumming skills of Miles Pillinger and the ukulele playing Chorlton
Young Musician of the Year 2013, Alec Waters. We threw |into the mix Ms Lunn’s Year 9 BTEC dancers, performing Bhangra – and we’d got ourselves a show! We visited pupils from Year 3 through to Year 6 at Barlow Hall, Brookburn, Cavendish, Chorlton C of E, Chorlton Park and Manley Park primary schools. A stage full of happy dancing audience members at the end of every performance proved it was a hit!
CHORLTON HIGH SCHOOL IN THE SPOTLIGHT
YEAR 9 HIGH ACHIEVERS VISIT XAVERIAN COLLEGE
Wednesday 23rd October 2013 saw twelve enthusiastic Year 9 students visit one of Manchester’s most popular sixth form colleges, Xaverian, to gain an insight into the different types and strategies of learning that one can expect to experience at A-Level. After getting (very) acquainted with the table of drinks, chocolates and biscuits available to us guests on entry, the friendly staff members at Xaverian introduced the event. Students began the day with an activity called ‘The Spaghetti and Marshmallow Challenge’, which involved them working in groups to create a structure made from twenty sticks of spaghetti, and one yard of tape and string that could hold a marshmallow. The team with the tallest structure would be named the winners. The catch was that students were only given eighteen minutes to complete the challenge! As the countdown began, dramatic, tense sound effects added to the humour of the task as all around the room spaghetti structures continually collapsed. Students had to act and think rapidly in order to repair their crumpled towers, staying resilient despite the setbacks they were facing. As the timer hit zero, it was clear that Chorlton High had been beaten by the other visiting school – but that’s okay because we only lost by a couple of inches! ‘Why do lions have manes?’ is the question pupils were presented with for the next section of the programme. This particular question was one presented to a Natural Sciences candidate at an Oxbridge interview. For the remainder of the day, pupils were left to consider the question, ‘Why do British schoolchildren wear uniform?’ CHS students were particularly passionate about this debate and presented interesting and controversial arguments to support their beliefs, including: “If students have to wear a school uniform, so should teachers!” CHS students left Xaverian feeling inspired and excited about their futures in education and they look forward to their remaining three visits to the college later this academic year. When asked about which aspects of the trip they enjoyed most, as well as mentioning (of course) the spaghetti challenge, the uniform debate and the interaction with college students, in true scholarly fashion the most popular answer was: ‘The food!
NEWS CHORLTON HIGH SCHOOL
CONGRATULATIONS TO INDEPENDENT LEARNER AWARD WINNERS The English Department have been focusing on Independent Learning in Autumn 1 and awarding raffle tickets for those pupils who have been demonstrating this during their lessons. This skill is extremely important to progress further and faster and one that Chorlton High School is embedding into its daily school life. The English Department would like to say congratulations to all the students who were given a raffle ticket for being the independent learner of the lesson, this highlights your focus and drive to succeed. Each raffle ticket was put into a Year draw and ONE winner was selected for each year group. Congratulations to the 5 lucky winners: Lydia Millington (Year 7), Tyrel Facey (Year 8), Owen Curtis (Year 9), Sadie Partington (Year 10) and Theo Brown (Year 11).
CHORLTON HIGH STUDENTS STAR IN BLUE PETER SPECTACULAR SPOT SHOW FOR CHILDREN IN NEED Thursday 14th November 2013 saw 62 lucky students from Year 7 & 8 visit BBC Media City to star on Blue Peter’s Children in Need live special. The students were chosen to perform a dance routine to feature in the Children in Need Spectacular Spot Show.
UNDER 14 GIRLS BASKETBALL SQUAD CROWNED MANCHESTER CHAMPIONS
Despite the cold weather the students spent the day rehearsing the dance routine outside in the Media City Piazza, working hard to perfect the steps ready for the live show. After a day of rehearsing it was finally time for the real thing. The students lined the entrance hall of the BBC ready to cheer and high five Blue Peter presenter Barney Harwood as he made his way from the Blue Peter studio, to the Piazza for the show. The students then took their places outside ready for their big performance. After some amazing drumming by the Highwayman Drum Corps it was our students turn to take to the stage. A big animated spotlight projection created from Blue Peter viewers’ artwork appeared on the floor and the students performed their flash mob style dance routine around the spotlight. The students danced amazingly, thoroughly enjoying every minute of the experience and couldn’t wait to get home to watch their performance. We would like to say a big thank you to all the students who took part and made it such a success!
YEAR 10 STUDENTS RESEARCH THEIR FUTURES On Thursday 3rd October 2013 a group of Year 10 students attended The University of Manchester’s ‘Gateways Programme’. This programme provides learners with the opportunity to find out more about Higher Education, including the range of courses available, and to develop their key skills in areas that will help to raise attainments and the probability of success in post-16 education. Our Year 10 learners participated very well in all activities and particularly enjoyed the ‘researching your future
On Thursday 24th October 2013 the Year 8 and 9 Girls Basketball squad played in the Manchester Schools Tournament. The girls played fantastically and finished in first place beating Parrs Wood (86), Loreto (10 -8), St Peter’s (6-2) and drawing with Whalley Range High School (4-4). They have now qualified for the county tournament and we look forward to hearing about more success! The winning team, pictured, are: Izzy Hopwood Claudine Banton-Ford Emily Connolly Sophie Tweedale Nina Slater Ella Mckie-Crane Rakaya Brown Cohen
options’ activity which gave them an introduction to the research process through thinking about their own options at age 16-18 and 18/19+. The learners also participated in ‘University type’ academic workshops run in collaboration with the Manchester Museum, based on subjects offered by the University. There were choices of Medical, Humanities, and STEM. Some of our learners participated in the DNA manipulation where they extracted DNA from cheek cells. Others enjoyed the Humanities where they enjoyed the debate on controversial topics like teenage marriage.
CHORLTON HIGH SCHOOL IN THE SPOTLIGHT
CHORLTON HIGH SCHOOL NELL LANE CHORLTON MANCHESTER M21 7SL Tel 0161 882 1150 Fax 0161 861 8753 admin@chorltonhigh.manchester.sch.uk www.chorltonhigh.manchester.sch.uk @chorltonhigh design manchesterdesignfactory.com 07884 427009