Summer Edition 2012

Inside this issue...Olympic Torch Relay...

...School Council Capital trip...

...An Enterprising Day...GCSE Art & Technology...Pathway to University...and Much, Much More

House Nations Football

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Y11 have left us for pastures new and we will miss them greatly. It is fair to say they were a tremendous year group and worked extremely hard in the classroom as well as representing the school to the highest standard in many public events. We look forward to their examination results with anticipation as they deserve to do well.They will have had their Leavers’ Ball by the time you read this and the tradition of this event remains a strength of the school. Watch out for the photographs. There will be a display in school after the event.Can I thank you for support with the uniform, which is looking very good at present and ask you to read carefully the letter that went out last week regarding expectations for September. The new tie has been a success and we want to roll this out to the whole school in September. I believe it is very important to present the right image in the community and set standards in presentation as well as having high expectations in the classroom. Can I also ask for your help in ensuring mobile phones are used responsibly. We have clear guidelines for their use and have always maintained

that the advantages of allowing them to be brought in outweigh the disadvantages. Can you please emphasise to your children that they are not to be switched on in school at all and they are not to use them to contact parents about matters that should be communicated through staff channels. We want this to work and pupils’ cooperation is essential if we are to maintain the current policy.A group of parents worked with school staff to analyse your comments from the survey we did and you will see action as a result of this. Details of the next meeting of the working party will be circulated in due course. There are a number of staff leaving us in Summer. Miss Wyatt and Mrs Cunningham are taking early retirement and we wish them both well. They have been great servants of the school over many years. Mr Cooney is moving to a school in Bolton and Mrs Macey to another school in Wigan. I am sure they will both have great success and hope they enjoy their new challenge. Mr Johnson has been successful in gaining promotion and will start at his new school in September. He has done a lot for the school and we wish him all the best for the next stage in his career...

TheHEAD’S Comments

...Enjoy a restful and refreshing Summer break.

SchoolOn 30th March 2012, the School Council took a day trip to London as a reward for all their hard work and effort throughout the year. They caught a train from Wigan North Western station at 7.10am and arrived at London Euston station at 9.10am. On arriving in London, the School Council took the tube to Knightsbridge, where they went to see various landmarks such as Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey and Big Ben. After this, they headed to Covent Garden to have lunch, look around the shops and watch street performers. They then went on the tube to Oxford Street where they were given two hours to shop before walking to Leicester Square where they had tea. The School Council took the tube back to London Euston station and caught the train back to Wigan North Western station. They arrived in Wigan at 9.30pm and they all agreed that it had been a very enjoyable day. Pictures from the day are displayed outside The Learning Resource Centre.

By Lizzie Lever Year 9

Dear ParentsPeter Burt, Chair of the Golborne and Lowton Cooperative and Learning Partnership presented the RoAs this year. His speech was well received by the school and he had a thoroughly enjoyable day.

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Council London Trip

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Olympic Torch Relay

On May 31st 2012 Golborne High students got British Olympic fever. Hundreds were present as Torch bearer Eddie Johnson started his leg of the torch relay through Wigan. The community gathered outside the school to welcome the torch on its journey to London 2012 displaying Olympic banners and enjoying the festival atmosphere provided by the school band and entertainers.

In March we welcomed a visit from Collingwood Learning who delivered their new theatre based education programme ‘Smashed’. Smashed focuses on enabling young people to understand the facts, causes, and consequences surrounding alcohol misuse.

The story follows Michelle, Scott and Lee. They are friends of differing ages, backgrounds, and academic ability, each with their own aspirations and goals. Alcohol forms a key part of their day to day activity, and we saw their justifications for its use, the powerful social pressure they inflicted on each other, and the varying outcomes it had on their lives.

The performance highlighted the reality of alcohol misuse and culminated in an accident which affected the direction of each of their lives forever.

The performance and workshop provided pupils with a powerful and participatory experience which challenged their perceptions on alcohol.

Smashed

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8 teams of 20 students took part in enterprise activities on Friday 18th May 2012. The Alternative Curriculum Company certainly kept them busy as the students were required to make decisions throughout the course of the day. Activities included a mobile assault course, a giant ski race, shelter building and lots of thinking puzzles. The students were involved in problem solving, team work, risk taking and had to display good communication and organisational skills to solve the problems set. Expertise shown by the students was enough to rival Sir Alan Sugar Apprentice candi-dates. Year 10 had a very entertaining day.

The winning team members were.

Team 7WORKMAN Matthew

LAMB Nathaniel

JONES Dan

REDDING Emily

KREINER Christine-Jayne

WRIGHT Kieran

EAVES Harry

MCKENNA Ben

SMITH Matthew

ASTON Mia

FELTON Naomi

MALLALIEU Kane

GASKELL Rachel

Enterprise DayThe whole of Year 10 took part in the Alternative Curriculum Enterprise Day on Friday 18th May 2012

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The annual GCSE Art Exhibition took place on the 20th June. The presentation represents the mixed creativity of Year 11 GCSE Art work from the last 2 years and shows how hard the students have worked to achieve their expected grades within Fine Art, Art & Design and Digital Photography.

GCSE Art & Technology

Art Exhibition

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At GCSE level, coursework is a significant part of the assessment in Design Technology. This is the most challenging as well as often being the most enjoyable part of the course.

Resistant MaterialsIn Resistant Materials pupils are required to design Street Furniture and produce a scaled prototype. Pupils also manufacture personalised DVD Storage Systems utilising different materials.

GraphicsWithin the Graphic Products coursework pupils are asked to design and make a project of their choice such as an advertising campaign for a new perfume.

Once again, the high quality of work produced is a credit to both the teachers and pupils’ efforts.

Food TechnologyFood Technology products produced investigated the ‘Party theme’.

TextilesIn Textiles projects illustrate the careful design, flair and the varied techniques employed to produce quality products.

GCSE Art & Technology

Design Technology & Graphics

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Year 10 pupils had the opportunity to sample what University life is like with a visit from the Pathways team at Chester University. During this fun and interactive day, pupils learnt about finance, courses, social elements and qualifications needed. The day gave the pupils time to ask questions, raise aspirations and work as part of a team. The focus on raising aspirations will be developed further and all Year 10 will be sampling a taster day at one of the local colleges before the end of term. This will hopefully provide the pupils with an informative learning experience from which they can make future choices.

Thanks

Pathways

“This was a fun learning experience

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“The presenters were excellent and engaging

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“I enjoyed the games and learnt about University options

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“I now know more about University and want to go

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“I found out about University fees

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A group of 43 children and 5 staff visited France and Spain in the June holiday. They visited Paris first and spent the day at Park Asterix. We had a few stops on the way including an unfortunate incident of a flat tyre but the children were brilliant and eventually arrived to some beautiful weather. They had a really fun time at the theme park and then returned to the hotel for an evening meal. After the evening meal, they visited the sights of Paris by night including the ‘Tour Eiffel’ (Eiffel Tower) and also the Arc de Triomphe. On Sunday they travelled to the Costa Brava where they arrived late at night. The party stayed in the resort of Calella close to the beach. They visited Barcelona on the Monday and saw the famous Gaudi buildings and the also the Statue of Christopher Columbus. They walked down Las Ramblas and admired the fantastic street artists. A group of Year eight visited the Boqueria market and asked in Spanish for certain items. On Tuesday they visited Port Aventura where the children had the opportunity to ride on the highest roller coaster in Europe, alongside many other scary rides. They returned home on Thursday after a 27 hour coach journey. It was good fun but everyone was very tired. Hopefully a similar trip will run in the next 2 years.

SPAIN FRANCE TRIP

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On Friday 22nd June, 42 enthusiastic Year 10 prefects and 6 staff left Golborne High School for a Team Building weekend at Low Bank Ground in Coniston. The coach departed from school in the middle of a torrential down pour which persisted throughout the weekend. However spirits were not dampened. The pupils and staff took part in a wide range of activities including a self led candle lit walk through a mine, canoeing, kayaking and raft building. At the end of Saturday, everybody was saturated but happy and sat down to a very healthy meal of burgers and sausages, cooked by our very own Mr Johnson and Mr Daley. On Sunday everybody returned home exhausted but very happy after a very wet but very positive weekend!

Prefects ResidentialRain did not call off play!

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Lowton West Primary School holds an annual Arts Week and we were fortunate to be invited to give a 45 minute concert to the whole school. There were a mixture of soloists and groups from year 7 – 11 who performed a variety of music from Jessie J to Bob the Builder.We were received by a very enthusiastic and appreciative audience. Mrs Davenport from Lowton West said “over the last ten years or so we have been lucky to have groups of high school pupils perform for us, but I have to say that the standard of playing and the mature attitude of Golborne High School was outstanding”.

Many thanks to the following performers: Joseph Peacock, Andrew Gaskell, Megan Simpson, Jonathan Jackson, Megan Ashbrook, Bethany Dilworth, Rebecca Waterworth, Hannah Eckersley, Kathryn Webb, Tommi Boyle, Alistair Davies, Callie West, Emily Dobbie, Lucy Fisher, Liam Taylor.

DRAMA PRODUCTION

Golborne High musicians visit Lowton West Primary

After the huge success of We Will Rock You in 2011, The drama and music departments are planning a brand new and exciting production of...

...We HAVE AUDITIONED talented singers, actors and dancers for this exciting team.

Performances December 2012

Primary IntakeIn anticipation of the new school year, Year 6 pupils were given the opportunity to experience what high school life will be like when they start the next chapter of their education in September. Pupils from junior schools around the local area came together for the first time to experience classes in English and Maths as well as hands on lessons in Art, Science and Technology.They got to meet their future Heads of House and were able to introduce themselves to other pupils who will soon become their class mates.

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To celebrate this years London Olympics I had the idea of running our own mini Olympics in school. The competition was run over 5 weeks in total with 29 events, over 100 competitors taking part and 87 medals awarded. The House Olympics has come to an end. The competition saw years 7, 8, 9 & 10 select their own teams from their Houses to compete in the following disciplines:

Badminton • Table TennisRowing • Triathlon FootballThe competition which initially was an idea just to get the pupils excited about the 2012 Olympics soon

England V ExilesRugby League International Origin MatchENGLAND vs Exiles Saturday 16th June 2012 at Langtree Park, St Helens17 of our pupils were selected to be a match day mascot at the International Origin match between England vs Exiles. All the pupils involved got to go behind the scenes at Langtree Park the home of St Helens RLFC in the build up to the match and walk out with the England team and stand with them as the teams national anthems were played.

The House Nations Football Tournament is a lunchtime tournament were each of the 5 houses take on each other over 7 days. Teams are made up of 10 pupils with a mixture of all year groups and compete against each other in a league and knockout format. With no Austin House anymore to defend their title the championship was up for grabs. The final saw League winners Picasso take on 2nd place Fonteyn.Fonteyn were quick out of the blocks racing into a two goal lead through Ryan Speight and Alex Le Put. Picasso then rallied and brought it back level with a brace from Joe Coveney. Fonteyn was under pressure from the Picasso attack when a long clearance fell to Ryan Speight who was left un-marked and unchallenged to complete his hat trick. Picasso again levelled through Jonny Wood but the team was left deflated when Fonteyn scored. A “unbelievable teckers” free kick from Joe Redford on half way sailed into the top corner. Picasso began to chase the game to force the equaliser but with having Jack Kidman sent off they fell to a final counter from Fonteyn which was finished off by Michael Speight.The House Nations was won today by FONTEYN House. PICASSO, who played a man down due to no year 11 turning up, battled well but the counter attacking force showed by FONTEYN proved the difference in the end.

House Nations Football

The 2012 House Olympics

erupted into a huge competition. Pupils, staff and Heads of Houses were all talking about it and eager to view the results as they came in.Picasso eventually took the over all gold collecting in total 23 medals, closely followed by Fonteyn with 17.The competition exceeded all expectations and has gained recognition in the form of Wigan and Leigh College wanting to sponsor a trophy to be awarded at this year’s sports assembly and used each year of the competition. Next year will see the competition grow with more events to be added and in turn more pupils taking part.

Mr Hind