NewsletterPrudhoe Community High School

Autumn 2015 Part 1

Results Days

Year 10Careers Week

Tour of Britain

A Visit from our Tibetan Friends

Courtesy of the Hexham Courant

Introduction from Mrs Reeman

A warm welcome to our first newsletter of the new academic year, we hope you enjoy reading it.

Prudhoe Community High School has a great deal to celebrate from this summer. Our A level and GCSE results are much improved in many key areas. At GCSE, attainment and progress in English and Maths has improved with 75% of our students achieving A - C grades in English and 77% in maths. At A level we recorded our best ever average points score per student and achieved 45% A*-B grades at A Level.

A huge well done to all our students and to parents/carers who supported them, we are delighted with this set of results. Students from our Year 13 are off to a range of universities including Oxford, Cambridge, Warwick, Loughborough and Aberdeen to study courses from Medicine to Music, and from English to Engineering. Some students are taking up Apprenticeships, one student locally at SCA, whilst others will take up employment. We wish them well for the future.

Over the summer our new build has really taken shape. With the majority of the steel work in place, we can now see quite clearly just what our new school is going to be like, and the Site Team are on schedule for completion next summer!

Term has started very smoothly, our new Year 9 have settled in really well, and Year 12 have begun their Post 16 studies with a ’30 day make-over’ to support their transition into Sixth form. As a school we were delighted to be able to support the Tour of Britain last week. Sixty lucky students, our Sports Leaders and PE staff were able to watch the start and meet many of the cyclists, a memorable morning for them all.

Finally as a school we have worked hard on communication with our parents and carers, if you have not yet signed up for SchoolComms please can you do so by contacting the school. Reminders and invitations for events are sent out regularly, so we need as many parents/carers as possible to sign up.

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Prudhoe Community High School Autumn 2015

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A Visit from our Tibetan Friends

Since PCHS hosted the first ever international visit by Tibetan students and performers in

2005, we have maintained a strong friendship and encourage students in all year groups to take an interest in human rights and multicultural issues. On the 4th September we were delighted to welcome our good friends from the Tibetan Tashi Lhunpo monastery in South India. This was their third visit to the school, coming to us direct from performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and they led two workshops explaining aspects of their Buddhist culture and traditions. Year 9 students were able to learn a sequence from the Black Hat dance, count in Tibetan, learn some of the mudras hand gestures used in kunrik meditation, and try out a wide range of Tibetan musical instruments. Mr Lewis proved to be an excellent player of the Tibetan trumpets! We watched a stunning performance in the afternoon, guided through the stories by group leader Jane Rasch, where the elaborate costumes and masks were spectacular. We were so honoured that they were able to visit, and they in turn were deeply impressed and moved to see their Tibetan flag flying on the school flagpole. We look forward to further Tibetan events.

Angus Coe - " Mint - they let me try out all of the musical instruments!"

Ben Masters - "It was really good!"

Evan Heal - " I really enjoyed playing with the musical instruments in the classroom workshop"

Courtesy of the Hexham Courant

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15Year 10 Careers Week

During the last week of the summer term Year 10 students researched potential careers, met with employers and visited local businesses. The activities culminated in a Careers Expo managed by the students and

attended by a large number of parents. The school is very grateful to all the employers who gave their time and helped to make the week such a success.

Opening my own

business will be hard but there are people out there to

help. Sam

I have learnt

that I would still like to do something with sport

or beauty. I know what skills I would need to be confident,

outgoing, encouraging, friendly and motivate others to achieve their goals in sport. I now know what an employer is looking for when

you are being interviewed. Nicole

Don’t be scared to

climb the ladder of work. You have to start

at bottom but always pitch yourself higher. I want a job

where I have nice things, good pay but always pitch yourself

higher. Luke

I have learnt

that I’m good and actually quite confident

whilst talking to employers. I’ve also learnt that I think the competitive media industry is

for me. I am now looking into journalism and art.

Amy

I know it

takes lots of different people to make up an organisation. Charlotte

I've developed

lots of team work and independent working skills. I also learnt a lot

about how to get jobs and apprenticeships and will look

to get a part time job. Alex

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I

have learnt

a lot about my

chosen career path and

I even narrowed down my

thoughts on what I would

like to do in the future.

Emma

Overall,

careers week

has been helpful for

me because I have an idea

of what I can do the future

and I have an idea of what it is

like working in that area. I’ve

developed my skills in leadership

and working as part of a team

and communicating with one

another.

Adrian

After this week

although I enjoyed it, I wouldn’t become a farmer, I don’t the smell and I don’t like doing the dirty part of looking after

animals. Jay

I would like

to look more at self-employment

with a food business. I have also learnt I’m more confident than I

thought. Olivia

Good work in the community!

As part of the Year 10 Careers Search my group

attended Redbrick House Residential Home. This trip was interesting as we talked to the staff about their job and had a tour of the home. We also got to meet some of the residents. After our trip we decided to do some fund raising for Redbrick and we managed to raise £70 for the residents to go on a trip. Myself, Mya, Olivia and Hollie took the cheque down to Redbrick

along with Mrs Ford and we presented the cheque to Rob, who is the Activity Coordinator at the home. Rob was very surprised but very grateful that we had raised so much money for them.

Alice Richardson

Alice, Maddison and Olivia have been regular volunteers at Redbrick House since first visiting during Year 10 Careers week. Well done girls!

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Duke of Edinburgh Award

It was great to welcome back Joey Wynne who has just finished his first year at university to collect his Silver Duke

of Edinburgh Award. Two other students; Beth Handyside and Jonny Drake have also completed their Silver awards and we are awaiting certificates and badges to recognise these achievements. Several others have nearly finished their Silver award, and with the completion of some additional paperwork they too can receive this worthwhile award.

Mitochondria - the powerhouse of the cell!

Six lucky A'level Biology students had the fantastic opportunity to visit the Institute

of Genetic Medicine based at the Centre for Life in Newcastle. Students completed a series of workshops looking more closely at genetic diseases affecting mitochondria. Workshops allowed students to try out new scientific techniques, meet patients being treated for genetic diseases and discuss the ethics of laboratory based medical research. The day allowed students to get a real feel for what studying a science based degree would be like and was greatly enjoyed by all of those that attended.

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Year 9 Activities Week 13 – 17 July

After a long and hardworking start their High School careers, students in Year 9

ended the summer term with the traditional “Activities Week”. We are grateful to all staff, and indeed some volunteers from the wider community, who assisted with sessions.

There was a varied programme of events to choose: the ever popular Carousel which included Lightwater Valley, Broomley Grange, Wet n Wild and two trips to different Leisure centres, the Paris trip, Northern Adventures had five trips to different locations in the north via public transport, fashion fix, model making, “Get Lost”, which was a navigation course, cooking, a craft workshop, digital animation and engineering. On the final day, a large number of students watched a film in the Fuse, followed by a choice of activities around school and finishing with a quiz in the hall where too many sweets were eaten.

All in all, it was a great week. We hope the students enjoyed their activities, but I can guarantee that the staff had a great time.

Payments by cheque

When making payments to school for school activities please do not abbreviate Northumberland County Council to “NCC” as unfortunately we are unable to bank

them or they will be returned by the bank and we will be charged a fee. Cheques for Catering and Music Tuition should be made payable to Northumberland County Council and cheques for school trips should be made payable to Prudhoe Community High School. If in any doubt please do not hesitate to contact the school’s finance department.

The Tour of Britain arrives in Prudhoe!

There was excitement around the corridors of PCHS during the lead up to the Tour of Britain starting in Prudhoe as it was

announced that there were 60 places available for students to spectate.

Sports Leaders and PE staff managed to get involved and brush shoulders with Tour cyclists including Bradley Wiggins.

Prudhoe Community High School, Moor Road, Prudhoe, Northumberland, NE42 5LJTel: 01661 832486 Fax:01661 832859

E-mail:Admin@prudhoe.northumberland.sch.uk Web:www.pchs.org.uk

Courtesy of Moira Wooldridge Community Photographer