Rhyddings Circular

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Rhyddings Business & Enterprise School Newsletter

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Winter 2017 - www.rhyddings.co.uk - Facebook: rhyddings - Twitter: @rhyddings

MOST IMPROVED SCHOOL in HYNDBURN

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“We work continuously to ensure each individual student’s needs are met and that they are pushed and encouraged in option subjects just as much as they are in English and Maths.

“There is no doubt anywhere in life that achievement only comes through hard work and dedication, which both staff and students have clearly demonstrated over the last 12 months.

“At the beginning of the 2016/17 academic year, Mr Trickett & students we set ourselves and celebrate the news! our students ambitious targets, then monitored them closely to ensure Headteacher at Rhyddings. It is the journey to improvement was once again an honour to oversee on track. a school that sees amazing value “I am extremely proud to be added to our students’ results.

as Ha m p e

Once again, Rhyddings has joined forces with Hyndburn Homes, in a bid to help the borough’s most lonely, vulnerable and those who may find it difficult to go out and shop over the Christmas period.

The project, now in its sixth year, receives food donations from our students, staff and Hyndburn Homes, who identify those in the community who would benefit most from a hamper.

“This would certainly not be possible without the continued efforts of my extremely conscientious, professional staff.”

Matilda & School of Rock in the West End

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Rhyddings is celebrating a significant upturn in results which has meant we are the most improved school in Hyndburn and second most improved local authority school in Lancashire!

Rhyddings’ Progress 8 score has improved by 0.5 points over last year, which is the equivalent to five grades per student. This is a significant achievement in a year where more than half of schools’ progress fell, some significantly.

Progress 8 measures a student’s progress between Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 4 across eight key subjects, including English and Maths.

Headteacher Paul Trickett attributes the improvement to the school’s principles of a broad and balanced curriculum.

He said: “In education, one size certainly does not fit all.”

In preparation for our upcoming performance of the Tim Minchin musical, ‘Matilda’, 26 students and four staff visited London earlier this month to see the West End show and take part in an exclusive workshop with one of the supporting cast.

Staying at a hostel within earshot of the bells of St Paul’s Cathedral, the students took in the sights of

the city, including art at the Tate Modern, a walk along the south bank of the Thames and a meal in China Town before heading to the Cambridge Theatre to see Matilda.

The following day, the students took part in a Matilda dance workshop with one of the show’s supporting dancers at the worldfamous Pineapple Dance Studios.

After the workshop, there was just enough time to catch a matinee performance of Andrew LloydWebber’s fantastic School of Rock musical before heading home.

Our production of Matilda is on 5-7th February, tickets are on sale now for £3.50 - available from Miss Booth.

CONTINENT PRESIDENTS We recently took to the polls to select student Presidents for each of our Continent Houses.

Students from Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe filled in a detailed application and a shortlist was drawn up.

Successful candidates from each House then made a speech to the other students about why they would make the best President for their continent.

Students and staff members were invited to use their democratic right to vote in free elections that

Demi-Leigh, Ciara, Jake and Tyree (above) have been duly elected to serve as Continent Presidents for the next 12 months.

Jordan, Reece and Mr Finnegan (right) take part in the democratic process!

Meeting Iby Knill Rhyddings students recently had the rare and humbling experience of meeting and listening to the story of Holocaust survivor Iby Knill.

Iby spoke to an audience of Y10s, staff and parents about her experience as a political prisoner at the AuschwitzBirkenau concentration camp.

Born in Czechoslovakia in 1923, she lived in Bratislava until fleeing to Hungary in 1942 before being rounded up and transported to Auschwitz in 1944.

She was able to survive thanks to her ability to speak six languages and was given work as a nurse despite having

no medical training. Freed by Allied Forces in 1945, she later married a British soldier and moved to England. Iby featured in the BBC series ‘My Story’ in 2010 and has since written two books and spoken about her life to thousands of people at various events.

Also in attendance at the talk was Karen Handford from the charity Wil’s Wishes, who fully funded our trip to Auschwitz in Poland.

Wil’s Wishes was set up after Karen lost her son William to bowel cancer aged 24. The charity aims to raise awareness of bowel cancer in young people and honour Wil’s zest for life by providing opportunities for students that they may not otherwise get to experience.

Auschwitz-Birkenau Visit Last month, 10 Y11 students were accompanied on a visit to Poland by Mrs Crawshaw, Mr Trickett, Kare​n & Cat Handford from Wil’s Wishes.

They stayed in Krakow, taking a tour around the old town, the Ghettos, the Castle and main square.

The group visited Auschwitz 1 (the Polish prisoner of war camp and now the museum) which they found to be a humbling experience, seeing some of the horrors that prisoners had been subjected to.

On the final day they visited Auschwitz-Birkenau in the morning and then took part in a workshop back at Auschwitz 1.

Our students were praised by the museum staff for their behaviour and for their interest and participation in the workshop.

Students felt that the whole experience was one that would live with them forever and were grateful to Wil’s Wishes for this amazing experience.

were held during form time.

Once votes were counted, the winners were Demi-Leigh Jeal (Asia), Jake McAvoy (Africa), Ciara Hatch (Americas) and Tyree Walsh (Europe) who will now head up the new-look Student Parliament for the next year.

As part of their duties, they will listen to any concerns and issues from their peers before taking them to our student parliament meetings as well as representing their continents at school events throughout the year.

(Above) Our Year 11 students with Iby Knill , Mrs Crawshaw and Karen Handford from the charity Wil’s Wish es.

Year 11 Leavers’ Awards

The achievements of Rhyddings’ recent Y11 leavers were celebrated at our annual awards ceremony at the Hope Centre, Oswaldtwistle.

Our winners with Mr Trickett & Chair of Governors.

Headteacher Mr Trickett told the students that they were a year of firsts recognised their effort and commitment and lasts. The first year to be affected by to specific subjects. the new GCSEs and the 9-1 system, but Special trophies were awarded to despite this, they had coped admiraAmeera Kerkhi for outstanding bly with the pressure and exceeded all academic achievement in her GCSEs, expectations.

Emily Berry for her achievement during They would also be the last year group her five years at school, Saliha Maqsood he would see at an awards ceremony for exceptional effort and Amanda like this as he publicly announced that Capstick for her service to the school. he will be retiring at the end of the Daisy Clemson and Josh Haworth were academic year. jointly awarded the ‘Mim’s Trophy’ for As well as their GCSE certificates, several their commitment to extra-curricular students received individual awards that activities.