SPRING 2017

CALDEW NEWS

Good luck to all our students taking examinations over the Summer months.

Dear Parents and Carers

I cannot believe the Summer Term is here already. Spring is definitely here andthere are many signs from lighter mornings to spring flowers that all help tomake us feel more positive. Having an agricultural unit at the school does haveits advantages at this time of year. The school’s small flock are currentlylambing and there is the bleating of multiple births to act as a distraction tootherwise busy days. It is always lovely to see students and staff being excitedby these new arrivals. That sense of experiencing something new is easy toforget too but very real when you see their faces, and it is also one that weseek to spark in our students both in lessons and through the wide range ofopportunities that we offer in school. As you will see from this newsletterstudents can get involved with a whole range of activities in and outside theclassroom. A wide range of activities have taken place this term including WorkReady Day for Year 11, Holocaust Memorial Day, Performing Arts clubs andSports teams. You will read about these and much more in this newsletter. Itis often easy to forget the importance of extracurricular activities, yet these areso important in helping our students develop the skills and confidence theyneed to be successful when they leave school.

In January we were very honoured to host a visit from Sir Ian McKellen. Sir Ianis known for his roles ranging from Shakespeare to modern theatre as well asstarring in films, including as Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films.Sir Ian was visiting in his role as Stonewall Ambassador and Caldew Schoolis proud to be a ‘Stonewall Champion’. Stonewall is a charity at the forefrontof ensuring equal rights for LGBT people living in Britain and Sir Ian is a

founder and high-profile supporter of the charity. Sir Ian gave a presentationto over 300 students and his message of tolerance and support was wellreceived. Our students found the talk inspirational and I was very proud of thethoughtful questions they asked. I was also delighted that Sir Ian made timeafter his speech to meet our students, chat, sign autographs and have hispicture taken. His visit will be a fond memory for the school community foryears to come.

For many of our students the focus is now on the Summer exams. I havespoken to students many times this year that the keys to being successful areconfidence, hard work and perseverance. They can all achieve amazing thingsif they believe in themselves and show determination even when they findsomething difficult. The thing for all students to remember is how important itis to plan and manage their time effectively. Revision timetables are beingwritten and students need to make sure they have started their revision toensure they have enough time to cover all their subjects. When we think aboutSummer exams are thoughts are on GCSEs, AS and A levels. However it isalso important to remember that all year groups have exams in the summer.Thorough preparation for these helps students consolidate their learning andensure they have secured the knowledge and skills they need to makeprogress next year.

Vicki JacksonHeadteacher

WWW.CALDEW.CUMBRIA.SCH.UK

Performing Arts News

Drama News

Music News

Both the school choir and the woodwind ensemble achieved ‘Commended’ in their performances. It was a tough competition and they represented the school extremely well to a packed audience.

A big congratulations to the following students who performed either a solo or duet and were placed either 1st or 2nd:

A big well done to the other drama students who also took part in the festival.

Congratulations to everyone who took part and showed off their talents. We really appreciate all their hard work and enthusiasm.

• Ingrid Messenger and Amy Lindsley got a Merit in the • Ellie Blackadder got a Commended in the Solo Acting Class, Duologue Class, 11 years and under 14 years and under

• Emma Wiles and Emma Watling got a Commended in • Grace McIntyre-Ward and Sophie Coulthard got a Merit in the Duologue Class, 14 years and under the open age Duologue Class

Other students who performed well were:

New Additions

CALDEW NEWS | SPRING 2017

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Holocaust Memorial Day

On Tuesday 24th January, we were very honoured to host a visit from Sir Ian McKellen. Caldew School is proud to be a‘Stonewall Champion’. Stonewall is a charity at the forefront

of ensuring equal rights for LGBT people living in Britain and Sir Ian is a founder and high-profile supporter of the charity. As a school, we are committed to working with Stonewall to tackle homophobic,biphobic and transphobic bullying. Sir Ian gave a presentation to over 300 students from Years 9, 12 and 13 and his message oftolerance and support was well received. Our students found the talk inspirational and we were very proud of the thoughtful questionsthey asked him. We were also delighted that Sir Ian made time after his speech to meet our students, chat, sign autographs and have his picture taken. This was really appreciated by everyone. Sir Ian isknown for his roles ranging from Shakespeare to modern theatre aswell as starring in films, including as Gandalf in the Lord of the Ringsand Hobbit films.

Former Student:Jacob PolleyFormer Caldew student Jacob Polley recently won the

prestigious and lucrative T.S. Eliot Prize for poetry. Jacob,who is featured on one of the school’s famous 50 boards

outside the theatre attended Caldew School between 1986-1993before heading to Lancaster University to study for his BA Honsin English and MA in Creative Writing. He has written a numberof poetry books and currently works at the University ofNewcastle where he lives.

Sir Ian McKellenAn Inspirational Visit -Acceptance Without ExceptionHolocaust Memorial Day events across the country were

held on 27th January 2017. Caldew School were invited byCumbria Police to take part in the 2017 Holocaust Memorial

Day commemorations. Along with St. Michael’s CE Primary School,some of our students participated in a service at St. Michael’sChurch Dalston in front of a packed audience.

Year 9 History students read extracts from Holocaust survivors, the choir gave a poignant and heartfelt rendition of Bob Chilcott’s“Like a Singing Bird” and Will Nixon a perfect version of SchindlersList on Piano. The orchestra ended the event with an upbeat Polishorchestral piece delighting the audience. Cumbria’s Police CrimeCommissioner, Peter McCall was also in attendance.

During the week leading up to Holocaust Memorial Day, there wasa display in school to raise students’ awareness of the events of the Holocaust.

His visit will be a fond memory for the school community for years to come.

The Stars Drama Club, having taken part in the festival, are now having fun making their own horror movie.

Spotlight Drama Club is thriving, as lots of students are getting involved with the Year 9/10 production of ‘The Crucible’. This will take place on in July in the school theatre at 7pm. Rehearsals are going well, and Mrs Openshaw is delighted with the students enthusiasm and commitment.

GCSE students have been working hard for their final scripted assessment on the texts ‘The 39 Steps’ and ‘The Donohue Sisters’. At theend of term they performed for family and friends before seeing the examiner the following day.

Well done to Year 13, whose devised piece of theatre was performed on March 23rd. Using the stimulus of old age, they developed a story about a young soldier in the war coming to terms with being gay. As an old man he hides his secret from his carer, and we learn of his heartbreaking story through a series of flashback scenes. Beautifully poignant and comic at times, the audience were visibly moved by such a powerful piece of theatre. Huge congratulations to Lucas Robinson, Claudia Greenaway and Bethany Livingstone. A real pinnacle of achievement for the end of their Drama course.

Year 12 are currently rehearsing for their exam piece ‘The Woman who Cooked her Husband’ which will be performed in the studio onThursday 4th May at 6.30pm. This will be alongside their monologue pieces. We would love people to come and support the students – tickets available on the door - £2 for adults £1 for students.

GCSE AND A LEVEL PERFORMANCESStudents are now preparing to record their recitals for their exams. This will take place during the last week of April. We are looking forward to hearing some very impressive and high quality performances.

CHOIR AND ORCHESTRAAfter a very successful appearance in the Carlisle Music and Drama festival the choir and orchestra are now preparing for the summerconcert in July. The theme is ‘Absolute 80’s’ and the students are enjoying learning the hits from this era! Any students who would like tojoin would be very welcome. Please see Mrs Cooper.

ROCK CLUBSYear 7 and 8 students are meeting up every Wednesday lunch time with Mr Connelly where they are also enjoying looking at 80’s music.Years 9, 10, 11’s and 6th form have been invited to join Ms Brownlee in the Upper School Rock to prepare 80’s songs for the summerconcert. Any students who would like to join would be very welcome. Please see Mr Connelly or Ms Brownlee for more details!

A big well done for all those students who performed in this year’s Carlisle Music and Drama festival.

We have had some new additions on our farm in recent weeks. Three sets of triplet lambs, four sets of twinsand a single lamb have been born.

We also were delighted before Easter that Dalston Pre-School Nursery visited our farm to feed the animals.They fed the guinea pigs and rabbits and bottle fed the lambs. The also collected eggs from the chickens.

• Will Nixon who came 1st in the Piano recital open class, 2nd in • Elisha Cuthbert and Nathan Coulson 2nd in the open age the Piano solo for 15-18 years and 2nd in Woodwind 15-18 Duologue Class (Drama)

• Holly Walker who came 2nd in singing over 16’s • Jack Edgar who came 2nd in Woodwind 11-13 years

• Caroline Wiles (Singing) Distinction (and special mention for such an expressive performance from the adjudicator)

• Alex Carruthers (Singing) Commended

• Charlotte Thomson (Singing) Commended

• Daisy Robert (Singing) Commended

• Lydia Richardson (Singing) Commended

• Paige Wilkinson (Singing) Commended

• Alex Gibbon (Saxophone) Commended

• Freya Taylor (Saxophone) Commended

• Emily Brown (Singing) Commended

• Macey Brown (Singing) Commended

• Heather Cartwright (Guitar) Merit

• Ombretta Crouch (Clarinet) Merit

• Ellie Carlton (Singing) Merit

Work Ready Day: Pathway to the Workplace

Caldew School Year 11 students moved from a day behind desks to learning about what businesses want from future employees during January.

All Year 11 students took part in a Work Ready programme with business leaders from across the county.

Local businesses recognise the need to support schools with many local businesses forging links with Caldew School to support us indeveloping a diverse workforce giving students the right employability skills that businesses require for the ever changing needs of today'seconomy.

The day will come as a reminder to all students that it is not just good exam results that employees seek, of equal importance are the skillsthat young people need for life and work.

Caldew School have developed the Work Ready programme over a number of years with key employers from the region taking part in theprogramme. Twenty-five businesses including Nestle, Innovia Films, Story Group, Burnetts, David Allen and Co., Cumberland BuildingSociety, NFU Mutual and CITB will take part in a work ready day.

During the morning all Year 11 students took part in a rotation of workshops looking at application forms, personal finance, team building andcommunication, interview skills and business view. Every student had a personal one-to-one interview with a major employer from the countyand be given feedback and guidance on their performance.

Caldew School Headteacher Vicki Jackson said on the day:

“Our students have so much talent it is essential we give them the guidance that allows them to decide on the mostappropriate route into employment where they can use it effectively. The Work Ready day helps focus their minds onthe choices ahead. Whether it is University, studying in our Sixth Form, college or an apprenticeship it is vital theymake the choice that is right for them.”

Beatrix College Visit

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Duke of Edinburgh

Caldbeck was the venue for this year’s DofE practice walk.Fifty eager students set off in high spirits and were treatedwith some glorious weather. No one managed to get

completely lost which bodes well for their full expeditions later in the summer.

The UK Maths Trust Intermediate Maths Challenge is aimed at students in Year 9 -11, involves answering 25 multiple choicequestions in one hour and is sat in school under normal exam conditions. The top 40% of students nationally receive a gold, silver or bronze certificate in the ratio 1:2:3.

The following Caldew students were awarded a certificate:

Gold

Silver

Bronze

Caldew School’s Young Enterprise Team have run a very successful business this year. The team of eight wowed judges recently at theNorth Cumbria Area Finals picking up awards for: Most Profitable Company, Best Trade Stand, Best Company Report andOverall Winning Company. They now go through to the next round of the competition during late April.

The business, named Twice Loved makes bespoke goods for the home from salvaged andrecycled goods. Primarily buying from salvage and home clearance yards they set abouttransforming old wooden chairs by rubbing down, painting and recovering them, turned chinaplates into cake stands and clocks, china cups and saucers into bird feeders and candles andmade cork boards and wooden crates.

The judges loved their range of products and that they listened to judges advice to improve theirproduct and trade stand throughout the Young Enterprise experience.

Out with the New, In with the Old

Loved

The team are: Elizabeth Read, Emilia Burbury, Hope Lawson, Hannah Smaile, Abby Watson, Rosie Steele, Francesca Grimshaw and Jess Hewitt.

Congratulations to our Year 10 students who took part in the County Maths Challenge. They were overall winners.

Daniel Potter, Freya Taylor, Maggie Ma and Jai Kenny (pictured with Mr Thomas). Well done to you all.

CALDEW NEWS | SPRING 2017

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On 30th March Caldew School hosted an ‘Oxbridge inCumbria’ event for Year 12 students. The event waspresented by representatives of Queen’s College

Oxford, including two current students of Queen’s Collegewho originally came from North Cumbria.

Students from Caldew, St. Benedict’s, Newman, and KeswickSchool attended the event, although Caldew studentsconsiderably outnumbered those from the other schools. The event included information about life as an Oxford student, the admission process for Oxford and Cambridge,and the students then attended workshops on writing personalstatements and preparation for interview. Students left theevent well informed about the possibilities of studying at Oxford and Cambridge, and the application process for each.

Sixth Form Oxbridge in Cumbria

Health and Social6

CALDEW NEWS | SPRING 2017

Dream PlacementRecently, Year 12 Student Caitlin Dunbar spent a week working at Carlisle City Council as part of the Dream Placement Scheme. Here she explains why:

I decided to apply for Dream Placement after a Year 12 had an assembly with Mrs Tate, she made the whole opportunitysound interesting and enjoyable and I believed that it would widen my knowledge about the ‘world of work’.I did my Dream Placement with Carlisle City Council, with the enforcement team who really made me feel welcome. They dealwith fly tipping, rubbish bins, fly advertising and stray dogs. When I was there I was assigned a project called ‘neat streets’ thisinvolved creating a questionnaire to find out what the public of Carlisle felt about the City and if they believed it was clean or not. This allowed me to interact with the public to find out all of their opinions on the city. I had to find out ways to keep the backlanes of Carlisle clean with the help of the publics opinions. This meant that I had to go round to look at the back lanes andlook around Carlisle to see what the enforcement team do. This all took place during February half term (Monday-Friday). I initially applied for a Dream Placement in October 2016 and I had an interview and ‘Development Day’ in November. This is where I joined many other people my age who were alsoapplying for a Dream Placement, I had two interviews, one with the NHS and the other with Carlisle City Council. In January we had a day in Workington at Energus to talk to our placement hosts about what we will be doing in our placement week, this also allowed us to do some team activities to make everyone feel more comfortable as no one really knew each other. During my Dream Placement the thing I enjoyed most was being able to find out what actually happens within the Council and meeting with the public, this is because I never really knew what the Council did beforemy placement and it really gave me an insight into their job.I would definitely encourage others to apply for Dream Placement as I believe it is a greatopportunity which will widen your knowledge on the world of work, it will also give you an idea of what you might like to do later in life, as it actually lets you look at what people do intheir job. For example, I thought that in the Council it was just constant office work however it isn’t. It involves going out of the office to look around and think of ways to improve theCity. After dream placement I am still not sure about what I want to do, however I know that I want to finish my A-levels and possibly think about working within the Council as it is a lot more interesting than it sounds. It has definitely widen my thoughts about what I want to do in the future.

If you get the opportunity - give it a go!

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National Citizen ServiceThe whole of 2017 has been a great year for Caldew School and Carlisle United’s Community Sports Trust, National Citizen

Service Programme. The programme has grown in both strength and size from our very first year in 2013. Our spring, summerand autumn cohorts were all a great success and all the young people appeared to love every minute of it. For many of the

students involved it was quite a journey! I would like to congratulate all of those involved.

The ability of young people to surprise me with their humour, commitment, openness, kindness and resilience and enthusiasm is trulyinspiring. From the sense of achievement they get by climbing up a rock face to falling in a lake of freezing cold water with a smile ontheir faces, nothing makes me prouder. To see these young people conquer their fears and successfully deliver their social action plan,it has been a real privilege to deliver the NCS programme.

My message to everyone who said “Yes to NCS” last year – you are amazing. Keep learning, exploring, growing, laughing but alsochallenge yourself as much as you can. You have seen what you are capable of, take what NCS has given you and be the best personyou can be.

As a local provider, the NCS has mixed the elements of fun, discovery, challenge, but also built confidence and prepared the youngpeople involved for their journey into adulthood.

The Social Action projects delivered by the young people from Caldew School have been exceptional. It has been great to see the Year11 and 12 students working alongside a range of organisations in their local community to make a major impact. Through hard workand planning you have raised money for local causes, rejuvenated local parks and hospices held sports and community days to bringthe community closer together. Pleasingly the young people have delivered lasting projects in partnership with Eden Valley Hospice,Yewdale Community Centre, Carlisle Key and The Eden Rivers Trust.

Congratulations to all our National Citizen Service Graduates in 2017 you have been truly inspirational – well done!

Geography Trip

The Year 12 and 13 Geographers enjoyed a fantastic trip tothe Lochranza Field Study Centre where in addition to thefield work they got to see a golden eagle, the Northern

Lights, seals, deer and red squirrels. The proximity and uniquegeology of the island make it an ideal location for trips and oneof the other schools at the centre while we were there had flownfrom Essex because of the educational opportunities which theisland has to offer.

The students developed their samplingtechniques and methods of presenting data;they carried out a comparison study of twoadjacent drainage basins; coastal study oflong shore drift and the raised beachesaround the King’s Cave; glacially modifiedlandscapes and rurality and sustainability.

John Sander, NCS Coordinator CUFC, said:

Caldew School has for the second year running been named a ‘Champion School’after being selected from thousands of schools participating across the country byNational Citizen Service, the UK’s flagship youth programme for 16 and 17 year olds.The school has excelled at motivating students to take up extracurricular activities,specifically encouraging young people to attend the programme during their termbreaks, leading to an increased interest in volunteering.

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Vicki Jackson, Headteacher said:

We are delighted that Caldew School has been awarded Champion School status for the second year running. This is a reflection of the students commitment to takingan active involvement within their communities and we are delighted that it has beenrecognised. The students have gained new skills that will benefit them both personallyand professionally as their futures unfold.A large proportion of our students commit to the NCS programme throughout the yearthat it has become part of the ethos of the school to take part. The credit lies not onlywith the students but with the enthusiasm of John Sander who runs the scheme.

“

“During February the Year 12 Health and Social students held an

awareness day for the school as part of their Promoting GoodHealth topic.

They were asked to come up with visual and interactive displays andstudents from different year groups throughout the school attended.

The students were judged on their communication skills and interactionwith the students.

Students then went on to vote for the most eye-catching display and theone with the most informative.

Most eye catching display won by:

Joanna Lewis Palou, Bethany Rutherford and Mia HarknessTopic:

Alcohol AwarenessMost informative won by:

Sarah Irving and Abbie JohnstonTopic:

SmokingThe topics covered were:

Alcohol, Smoking, Healthy Relationships, Healthy Eating, Drugs Awareness, Mental Health and Safe Sex.

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Primary School’s Cross Country

Michael Johnstone Cheque Presentation

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Year 12 student Michael Johnstone visited us in school recently. Michael lost his lower leg in an accident in January and the Sixth Form have been organising lots of fundraising events to

support the GoFundMe page that has been set up in Michael’s name to raise money for a prosthetic sports leg so that he can carry on with his love of sport.

Michael was presented with a cheque for from his friends who raised the money through a cake sale and a campaign asking for loose change.

£1,000

It was perfect Cross Country conditions for the Primary School’s Cross County Championships at the end of January. The field was wetand muddy and with 200 children taking part in the four races. Years 3 and 4 boys and girls ran one loop of the school field and theYear 5 and 6 boys and girls ran two loops of the field.

A huge thank you to all our Sports Leaders who helped on the day. We had many positive comments from teachers, parents and pupils.The leaders were fantastic at getting the teams warmed up and motivating them whilst the runners were battling the mud and cold wind.

If you would like to become a Sports Leader please let your PE teacher know.

Jack swims at Carlisle Pools three mornings and five nights perweek, a total of 16 hours per week of training.

Jack recently competed at the English School’s championshipsin Liverpool and was awarded silver medal in the 400m IndividualMedley, silver in the 200m Breaststroke and bronze in the 100m Breaststroke.

He is Junior captain for the North West team and his inspirationis Olympic athlete Adam Peaty.

Jack recently went on to the Scottish National Age Groups inAberdeen. He won three golds in 100 Breast, 200 Butterfly and400 Individual Medley to become 13 year old Scottish OpenChampion and a silver in 200 Individual Medley and bronze inthe 100 Butterfly. The hard work that Jack is putting in is nowpaying off!!

Year 8 student Jack Smith has been turning headsrecently with some amazing competition results.Representative Honours

The school is proud of the many students who represent our teams but we must also remember that many of these students are alsoattached to clubs and have gained District, County, Regional and National honours so far this year, there commitment in terms oftraining, competing and travelling is enormous with the added pressure of exams at school.

Nationally Megan Busby won the Scottish Indoor Championships in Long Jump and will be hoping to medal in the ESAA nationals thissummer, James Rowland was crowned national boxing champion, Joe Harland has been selected to play hockey for the North of England,Jack Smith in Year 8 won 3 medals at the National Swimming championships, Millie Bell finished 36th in the Year 7 NationalCross Country finals, Hannah Graves has competed at a National level in equestrian and Adam Willis has been playing forCarlisle United, Cumbria Rugby and Newcastle Falcons. In netball Gemma Harris, Holly Howson and Jessica Bulman haverepresented Cumbria Netball, Lucy Smith has represented the North of England in Gymnastics.

At a district level Lewis Cartwright, Liam Short and Robbie Cullen won football honours for the city.

Well done to you all - to get to this level takescommitment and hard work and we are all proud of you.

Swimming: Jack Smith

CALDEW NEWS | SPRING 2017

Year 8 Rugby

With the season coming to a close I wanted to say howmuch of a pleasure it has been coaching the year 8rugby team – they have reminded me of one of the main

reasons I became a PE teacher!

We have had at least 20 Year 8’s at training every week and ifsquad members can’t play they have come to see me or broughtin a letter explaining why they are unable train – just the way itshould be. When we have matches, the squad come prepared and organised and are actually quite good fun on the bus (andthey take all their litter away with them)!

When it comes to playing matches they live up to the rugby code of conduct. They play hard but fair, speak to the referee with respect and congratulate the opposition at the end of thegame. The teams performances have improved with each game – they have been trying new things each match, which often don’t improve our overall performance but over the space of time are developing the team in to a more expansive playing unit.Caldew year 8 rugby team can now not only ruck with the bestteams out there but they are now starting to run with the ball inhand and move it wide, creating space and opportunities to score tries.

There are too many players to mention, ALL have improved andmany are now training with Carlisle, Penrith or Wigton. I hope thatwe can continue this team ethic in to Year 9, when we may not goto Twickenham but will possibly go to Murrayfield and play a gameagainst Scottish opposition on the way up.

Year 8 Rugby

It’s been a busy time for the Year 8’s, lots of games, training and tournaments. I have to say they have been a real pleasure to coach and Caldew now have a strong

squad of 22 players who regularly train and play together.Recently they played Ullswater B. Ullswater wanted to getrevenge for a recent defeat to us that gave them a shock.Their training sessions have been focussing on “rucking likeCaldew do”. Well they have improved, but so have Caldew.This was a hard fought encounter that ended in a 20 - 20score line with both teams putting everything in to it.

At the Ullswater Tournament, Caldew played four games in the space of an afternoon and were happily subdued on theminibus on the way back! Some brilliant performances andwe are now starting to pass the ball more confidently throughhands. We won three of the four games and impressed withwins over Appleby, Ullswater B and William Howard.

There was a real test against Trinity as there are traditionallythe strongest team in Carlisle. For much of the match we held our own and had much of the territory in the first half.Some fine break away tries from Trinity gave them a lead but our heads did not drop and we kept plugging away and eventually we scored a fine team try, finished off by our Duracell bunny Kieran Peters.

Some of the boys are now training with Carlisle. HarrisonBenson and Niall Codona played their first games last weekand are enjoying the challenge and are improving as a result,well done. If you want to know what night our local clubs train,come and see your PE teacher.

Caldew FootballIt has been a brilliant season for Year 9, the team must be commended for their commitment to extra-curricular training with many of the

boys not missing a session at games night. This has created a brilliant team spirit and the teamwork shown against some high qualityopposition has been fantastic to see. The season kicked of with a solid 3 - 1 victory over William Howard school and the following week

a 2 - 1 victory over Trinity (the first team to beat Trinity in Cumbria). This put the boys top of the league and into the semi finals of the citycup however the one blip of the season came the week after crashing 2 - 1 to RRMA. The players rallied, composed themselves and havesince gone unbeaten again disposing of RRCA, Newman and then RRMA in the semi finals of the city cup. They will represent the schoolat Brunton Park in May at the city finals and have also finished top of the city league. Special mentions to Ethan Prescott, Lewis Cartwright,Sam Gill, Ryan Armstrong, Mark Watson and Brady Barker who have all excelled this season.

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CALDEW NEWS | SPRING 2017

Canterbury Shirts/Twickenham

D uring late February Caldew students went to watch England v Italy at Twickenham in the Six Nations competition. The studentswere invited as they all have shown a keen interest in rugby at Caldew, playing for the school team, training regularly and somenow playing for local teams at the weekend. Caldew are part of the RFU All Schools programme aimed at developing rugby in

schools across England. The school has already received rugby equipment and coaches have been coming in to school to deliversome high quality training sessions.

Back in October four Caldew students worked with kit designers from Canterbury clothing, who make the England strip, to create anew Caldew rugby kit. Billy Harding, a Year 9 student, was paraded on the pitch before kick-off to launch the new shirt with 99 otherschools from around the country. He was also on the pitch to sing the national anthem! Billy also met some England players and evengot Billy Vunipola to sign the new shirt.

The 12 students were superbly behaved. It was a long journey with ten hours spent on the train and for many it was there first time inLondon. The atmosphere in the stadium of 82,000 people was amazing and even more so when England scored try after try in thesecond half.

The new kit has been proudly worn by our Year 8 team who are developing in to a strong team. Next year we are looking at taking ateam to watch Scotland play and hopefully play a Scottish team on the way up!

Well done lads and thank you!!!Mr Burns

Year 10 Rugby:Country Plate Semi-Final vChetwyne School, Barrow

Year 10’s first match of the season saw them in semi-finalaction against a strong, well drilled side from Barrow.Caldew held their own for the first 10 minutes, almost

scoring in the first minute. We had Barrow’s defence scramblingfor much of the first half but they were able to score tries, mostlyfrom breakaway runs from their huge forward who has beensigned up by rugby league side Wigan Warriors. The rugbyleague star became their main outlet but Caldew did a good jobof getting in his way and doing their best to stop him with somefine tackling. The highlight of the game was a try by Adam Williswho made a jinking run from his own 22. Other standoutperformances were fine support running from Tinashe, goodrucking from Lewis Wilkinson, some good metres gained byDan Laval and Ben Brown is developing in to a good scrumhalf. We now have a base to build on but need the team to trainover the coming weeks.

Year 7 Rugby v UCC

Caldew gymnastics team competed, for the first time, in the North Regional Gymnastics competition in Hartlepool. Gymnasts gavean outstanding performance and the team, which included Zoe Campbell (Y7), Zoe Nicholson (Y8), Jessica Gilmour (Y8), MeganSteel (Y7) and Elle Boertien (Y9) received bronze medals. They competed against 10 other schools on both floor and vault.

31 Caldew students from Years 8, 9 and 10 completed their level one gymnastics judging qualification earlier this term. Along with some ofour previously qualified 6th formers the students then went on to judge the Key Steps County Gymnastics final in Penrith. This event waspart of the Cumbria School games and the students were outstanding ambassadors for Caldew School.

Gymnastics News

I’m really impressed with how the Year 7 rugby team isdeveloping. We had a squad of 17 for the visit of Ullswater.So that all could play we played two small sided games.

Ullswater are one of the strongest Year 7 teams in the county,with several students playing rugby for Penrith. Caldew boysforgot how to tackle for the first few minutes, but once they got hold of the ball their confidence grew by the minute. Our rucking in particular was very impressive, turning the ball over many times and some fine individual performanceswere made by Rhys Miller, Jordan Armstrong, Kyran Gillgrass, Rui Caig, Will Bullman, Zak Matthews and Bobby Irving. A massive well done to all.

We were excited when we found out that Craig Heap is our athlete mentor for this years Sky Sports Living for Sport project. Craig is aretired Commonwealth Games Gold medal winning gymnast who has represented England over 100 times in various internationalgymnastic competitions, including at the 2000 Summer Olympics.

He visited Caldew School on Thursday 2nd March to meet the project group. He met the selected dodgeball players, who have shown excellentcommitment and displayed a positive attitude towards PE. The aim is to inspire young people to work hard and set goals which will help pave thepathway to success, not just in PE but within education.

Craig was fantastic fun and very down to earth. His stories were interesting to listen to and the team building activities he lead were challengingthe boys to listen and work together.

The Y11 GCSE group were lucky enough to meet him when he first arrived. He gave them a motivational presentation about how he got to theOlympics and always strived to be better. The “marginal gains” idea of improving a few things by 1% made a lot of students think about how theycan make slight improvements in each topic to ensure they reach their target grade.

We loved having Craig in school and we are delighted to have him back at Caldew on Tuesday 2nd May.

Craig Heap Sky Sports Ambassador

Hockey Club and Joe Harland

Dates for the diary1st May – Bank Holiday

29th May - 2nd June – Half Term

28th June – Year 8 Parents’ Evening

29th June – Year 7 Community Day

3rd July – New Year 7 Intake Transition Day

12th and 13th July – Summer Musical

19th July – Awards Day

20th July – End of the Academic Year

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“The most exciting thing was the team building exercise, we all had a lot of fun and we all respected eachothers ideas and everyone helped each other out. A big shout out to Joe because he was so kind andrespectful and led the team.” - Owen Cogan

“I have really enjoyed Craig's visit to school, he was very inspiring and funny. I would advise other schoolsto take a chance at meeting him.” - Charlie Nichols

“Today was one of my inspirational daysmeeting Craig Heap. When I got the letter it lit up my day and I hope to meet him again as it was such a pleasure.” - Charlie Pearson

“When I found out I was one of the selectfew to spend the day with Craig Heap Iwas thrilled and shocked. It was a realprivilege. I took lots of new skills fromthe day that I will use for the rest of my life.” - Elliot Blake

Hockey has been going from strength to strength this year with practices well attended. Over 50 students have represented Caldewin matches against schools from North Cumbria and tournaments have been entered at Under 12, Under 13 and Under 15 levels.Boys have had their own training session on Monday evenings led by Tom Leach – a coach from Carlisle Hockey Club.

Joe Harland has been selected and played for the North of England team and is a regular for Carlisle Men’s first team.

It is great to see more girls attending Carlisle Hockey Club and playing for their third team. The final training session of the year was infancy dress!

Year 10 student Joe Harland has been selected to attend Team GB Hockey training. Only 24 players from the North West have beenselected for this so it is a massive achievement and just reward for all the hours of training and practice Joe puts in.