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The Whitby in africa

FeaturingANNUAL SKI TRIP

Liverpool hope university visit

WORK EXPERIENCE

Sports update

World book day

CLEAN For the queen

Able, gifted and talented

Connecting through classrooms

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throughconnecting

classrooms

Details of The Brilliant Club visitto Manchester University, charitywork, excellence in Attitudes toLearning scores, World Book Dayand much more are all containedwithin this edition highlighting themany things our students involvethemselves in on a regular basis.Well done to them all!

This time of year is also a good timeto remind parents of some of theaspects of school that are vitallyimportant to your child’s futuresuccess. Attendance andpunctuality, standards of behaviourand dress all support us in buildinga community that works together toenable your child to reach their fullpotential.

Finally, this edition alerts parents torefurbishment work to theOverpool building that will startover the Easter break. The nextphase of window replacement willsee a further reduction in the oldmetal frames offering moreclassrooms a dry and draft freelearning environment.

FROM THE HEADTEACHER

As we now move into Spring, it isalways a good point to take a look atall the things that we have doneduring the dark, cold months behindus. Like previous years, it alwaysamazes me that during such a shortterm the students involve themselvesin so much.

Please take some time to read thisSpring Newsletter and enjoy thereports on how our students gave uptheir half term holiday to work inSouth Africa. Spending a week in thetownship of Gugulethu supporting aPrimary and a Secondary school willlive with these youngsters for the restof their lives. An experience thatenabled everyone to appreciate thebeauty of the Capetown area but alsosupported young learners indeveloping opportunity whilstworking together.

Opportunity to develop new skillscame once again, as a selection ofstudents from across year groupsjoined staff on our annual Ski trip toItaly. A wonderful time was had byall with no broken bones or injuries,including the staff!

In the summer edition, I hope to beable to inform parents of thecontinued redevelopment of theschool following the £2.6m ofCapital Building Funding fromCheshire West and ChesterCouncil. This will see somesignificant changes to the school forcompletion by summer 2018.

Please enjoy this Newsletter and themany things our young learners,your children, have been involvedin. I wish you an enjoyable breakover this Easter period and lookforward to welcoming everyoneback into school on Monday 18thApril 2016

Thursday 3rd March was World Book Day and as usual,The Whitby High School celebrated in style! 250 balloonsplus 250 excited children equalled a lunchtime of joy andcelebration as our students released the myriad of colour intothe sky. As with previous years, our Year 7 studentscompleted a balloon tag, which detailed their name, theschools’ address and their favourite book. In the hopes thatour balloons would travel far and wide, the children alsoasked what the recipient’s favourite book was. Attaching thetags to the balloons, we prepared for take-off!

On Thursday, the majority of the year group gathered onthe grass by the Sycamore gates and on the count of three,freed the balloons from their excited grasps. In the past wehave had tags returned from as far as Finland! Who knowswhere our roaming balloons will end up this year...HappyWorld Book Day!

On Saturday 6th February, Miss Mitchell and Mr Perretttook a group of enthusiastic Year 11 Literature students tothe Liverpool Playhouse to see Lord of Flies. The majorityof GCSE Literature students study the text, written byWilliam Golding and this was an ideal opportunity tofurther their understanding in an enriching manner.

The excursion began with a much-needed visit to CostaCoffee! After the caffeine fix was had, the teachers andstudents headed to the Playhouse and it was not long beforethey took their seats. The play itself was magnificent andreally developed their understanding. Following theperformance, it was clear how much the students hadenjoyed it, by the excited discussions that they had on thetrain journey home.

WORLD

DAYBOOK

Lord of the flies

Following the successful window replacementprogramme in 2014, we are pleased to inform youthat we are about to commence a further phase ofwindow replacements in the Overpool Building.

Work is expected to commence on 4 Apriland continue through to June. As a result ofthis, some lessons will be relocated todifferent classrooms during the projectbut disruption for students will be keptto a minimum. We are hopeful thatwe will be in a position to phasefurther replacements over thecoming years, and will keep youinformed of progress with this.

We apologise for anyinconvenience this maycause but we hope tohave your support incontinuing to improvethe learningenvironment forour students.

Window replacement

Art, Drama, Design Technology, Modern Foreign Languages (French or German)

Are you interested in becoming a secondary school teacher?  Would you like to betrained by experienced subject mentors committed to developing and supporting

the next generation of teachers?  Would you like to feel part of the school fromthe very first day?  Then apply to train with The Port Alliance, working in

partnership with The University of Chester.

Please look at our website or contact Miss H Speed atSchooldirect@whitbyhs.cheshire.sch.uk for more information

The Port Alliance School Direct Secondary programme is still accepting applications for2016/17 in the following subject areas:

Do you want toBecome a teacher?

Brilliantclub

A huge congratulations to 11 graduates of The BrilliantClub, a new programme started at The Whitby High Schoolthis year.  Eleven Year 8 students attended university styletutorials during the course of the Programme Building andProgramming a Mini Robot.  They all completed a 1500word assignment, a huge academic challenge for thesestudents.

At the end, they were rewarded with a graduation ceremonyat the University of Manchester and got to experience a dayin the life of a university student.  The Brilliant Clubprogramme aims to give young students an experience ofuniversity learning to help them make an informed decisionin the future.  Well done!

Ten of our  Able, Gifted and Talented Year 9students have been involved in setting up andrunning the BIG maths quiz for our local primaryschools in connection with the LiverpoolOutreach Team.

They spent two days in December runningpractical mathematical events in the OverpoolHall for Year 6 pupils.  It was a tiring two daysfor them but they enjoyed it. They also ran quizheats in February and the final is due to take placeat the Ellesmere Port Civic centre on the 15thMarch.

The PTA group meets regularly and are alwayslooking for new members.  It is a committedgroup, which does some great work to raisefunds. All of the  funds raised go back into theschool. At the moment, £2000 has been madeavailable for  departments across the school tobid  for. More will follow on this in the nextnewsletter. Last time we did this, there were somefantastic events put on in school. The ScienceDepartment ran a themed day and the'Sanctuary Room' benefited from somerefurbishment. Some of our most vulnerablestudents use this room regularly.

punctualityThe current school attendance is around 95%. This is thehighest level since we began monitoring attendance andcollecting figures some years ago. However, there is stillroom for improvement. All students with less than 95%attendance for the year will be receiving a letter home inthe summer term. Remember good attendance pays andit has been proven that children with good attendance are

more likely to succeed in their exams.

Could we remind you that holidays in term timebe authorised and to send a note in to explain any absencedue to illness.

We have also seen a sharp drop in the number of latemarks this year. The school will continue to monitor andtackle this issue. Just a reminder that students who are latewithout good reason have to stay for 10 minutes on theday in question. More persistent late comers have extra30-minute detentions on a Wednesday and Friday. Onthe last week of every half-term, we run 30 minutesdetentions every day for those students who are late.

We thank you for your support on these crucial matters.

Friends of the whitby

In February, a group of Sixth Form Students madethe long journey out to South Africa accompanied byMrs Ballance, Mr Morby and Mr Heeley. Theyarrived in Cape Town after a long flight to receive avery warm welcome from the South African teachersfrom our partner township schools.

To start the visit off and before the hard work beganthe group enjoyed time sightseeing around the Capeexperiencing Boulders Bay, playing amongst thepenguins and taking in the amazing view of the mostsoutherly point of Africa. The group even went on aSafari seeing majestic animals in their natural habitat.But by far the most amazing experience the groupwas honoured to have was meeting ArchbishopDesmond Tutu who chatted to the group andthanked them for the work they were planning to doin South Africa.

students

In africaconnect

@Global_LinksWHS

During the week, the plan was to work with studentsfrom ID Mkhize School and Mutendi High School,Zimbabwe to rebuild a playground at SokhanyoPrimary School, Gugulethu and to work alongside aCape Town Muralist to brighten up the outside of theschool.

There was plenty of work to do from painting avegetable garden wall to painting a huge externalclassroom wall with inspiring, creative, colourfulartwork. Students and staff planted trees whilst a localconstruction company built the wooden play structure,a balancing beam and a sunshade shed. Mr Morby andMr Heeley used their creative practical skills turning olddesks into seats and plant holders.

At the end of the week, the playground was officiallyhanded over to Sokhanyo Primary School, it was anemotional experience but a wonderful celebration of allthe hard work that the three schools had put in togetherto build a lovely colourful, safe play area for the studentsto enjoy. As the partnership goes from strength tostrength, The Whitby High School is proud to work onjoint projects with our African schools. This will be onetrip that will not be forgotten in a hurry.

Year 10 Students have taken full advantage of theopportunity to experience the World of Workthrough a two-week Work Experience Placement.Many of our students took the initiative and foundtheir own placements engaging with employers in avariety of skills sectors such as engineering, retail,construction and health. Staff visiting the studentsand their employers have been impressed by ourstudents’ mature and enthusiastic approach tocarrying out their tasks and duties.

Comments from employers have been very positive.‘It’s been great having Ben work with us, he’s veryhelpful and has fitted into the team really well’ and‘Tyla has been a pleasure to have in the class, she ispolite and professional and a real credit to the schooland her family’.

WORK experienceStudents shineAt woodlands

Four of our students represented The Whitby whileon placement at our partner school Woodlands Pri-mary. Staff found our students to be very enthusiasticand helpful with an array of tasks. One student said“I’m enjoying myself here which is great because thisis what I want to do when I finish school”

Students themselves realise the benefit of having workexperience as part of their Key Stage 4 studies. OneStudent said ‘I now realise how competitive the worldof work is and why I need to study hard to get goodqualifications’. Comments like these only reinforceour commitment to providing our students with thisvaluable introduction to the world of work andlifelong learning.

housekeeping

Congratulations to the pupils who scored the topATL scores in Windsor house. They haveconsistently got 1 or 2 grades for every lesson. Welldone to Ben Davies who achieved the highest ATLscore in Windsor and 2nd overall highest in theschool!”

Also well done to Brooke Smith who evenutallyraised over £200 by cutting her hair off for charity.

Tudor have now raised over £500 for theirHouse Charity, Hospice of the Good Shepard.This has been done through sponsored silences,candygram sale, sweets sale and a cake sale. Thefundraising is continuing. A special shout out to7T who have raised over £300 from theirsponsored silence.

7T were form of the half term last half term.They are maintaining excellent attendance,punctuality and ‘Attitude to Learning (ATL)grades. Also, they have gone above and beyondwith their fundraising.

A special mention for Heather Beeston of 9T. She hasachieved the highest number of ATL grade 1's in the wholeof Tudor three half terms in a row. She has received a £5voucher every time. Congratulations!

Well done to Polina Matvejeva, Georgia Caine, Tom Chris-tian, Holly Hughes and Lucy Murray for getting ‘1s’ foreffort from all of their teachers. This is an excellent achieve-ment and Mr Heeley recently met the students and present-ed them all with a rewards voucher.

@WhitbyHigh

Perfect

School skiersIn Pila for

We departed school at approximately 12:30 pm onSaturday 27th February, waved off by lots of parents,on our impressive Sharpes coach and there was an airof excitement amongst the group. Mr Heeley came tosee us off – it was really kind of him to wish the staffand pupils a fantastic and safe trip.

The Whitby High School Ski Team arrived at Aostaready for boot and ski fit at approximately 1:00 pmlocal time on Sunday 28th February. We were met byour fantastic Interski Representative, Lucia Fergusonwho proved to be a great help throughout our stay.Then it was off to Hotel St Nicholas for the last part ofour journey. The proprietors, Roberto, Miranda andtheir team were all very accommodating and nothingwas too much trouble. Our lunch was very tasty andfilled with carbohydrates to prepare us for the slopesthe next day. Later, in the afternoon, we were allallocated our rooms and given time to unpack andshower.

On Monday the pupils were woken up at 6:45 for abig breakfast and our journey down to Aosta tocollect our equipment. We then had a 15 minute tripin a gondola up to the pistes of Pila. The groups mettheir instructors at 10:00 am and the weather waslooking quite good with a mixture of sun and cloud.

The instructors proved to be very popular this year,particularly Mike, Marco, Elisa and Les. Pupils hadtheir lunch in one of the piste side restaurants e.g.The Yeti bar or La Maison.

The weather deteriorated in the afternoon and visi-bilty was greatly reduced to near white out. Despitethat, all the groups still made the desired progress anddid not complain when they returned to the meetingpoint by the gondola station at 3 pm. Dinner was atasty three course meal each night, which we allneeded after expending so much energy skiing.

After dinner each evening, Mr Millington passed onnominations for ‘crash of the day’. The winner hadto wear a fluorescent bib for the next day’s skiing. MrMillington also passed on a doll to look after, toindividuals as a result of having been careless in someway.

Monday evening’s activity, ice-skating in Aosta, wasgreat fun and we were the only school on the ice rink,which gave our pupils lots of space to practise theirmoves! Several pupils stood out for their skatingprowess.

Friday dawned another good day for skiing, withamixture of sunshine and cloud. This was the day theinstructors graded skiing competency in their groups.By lunchtime the snow had begun to fall andconditions became trickier. On Friday evening theinstructors came to the hotel to award certificates andprizes. In addition, Mr Millington awarded prizes inmany different categories to all pupils.

On Saturday, our last day, we all woke up to asubstantial covering of snow. The coach drivers had toput on snow chains to drive us safely down themountain to ski hire. This caused the first of a fewdelays that day. It was so good for our pupils to ski inall different conditions, including the fresh powder!The GCSE group was filmed by Mr Millingtonperforming the techniques they had learned, which willcount towards their practical sport qualification. Aspupils said goodbye to their instructors at 3:00, therewere lots of sad faces as it had been such a great learningexperience and lots of fun.

Following a very quick shower and a meal we allboarded the coaches for the long ride home. We left theAlps at approximately 7:30pm and depsite delaysentering the Mont Blanc tunnel and at the ferry port inCalais, we arrived back at school at approximately 4:20pm. The ski trip was a really memorable experience forall involved. Well done to all pupils for being suchdetermined skiers and having so much positive energy!A big thank you should go particularly to MrMillington for all his efforts organising this fabulousexperience.

On Tuesday the beginners’ groups began to executecompetent snow plough turns and the intermediategroup worked on parallel turns and stops. Theadvanced group, with Claudio, practised some jumpsin the snow park. The pistes were in fantasticcondition, the sun was shining and the sky was a deepblue. The interski representatives call these days‘Bluebird days’, when everything is just right.Tuesday evening’s activity was the disco and it wasn’tlong before we saw some great dance moves from theWhitby Ski Team, most notably from the sixth form.

The conditions on Wednesday began well, with goodvisibility and some dramatic cloud formations. Thiswas the day that every group really pushed on. It wasgreat to see all beginners’ groups make it up the cablecar onto Grimod, an extensive blue slope up themountain. The intermediate group was becomingcomfortable on a variety of red slopes, whilst theadvanced group tackled their first black run. At 3 pmwhen we all met again the pupils were all delightedand excited by their day. The aprés ski activity onWednesday was bowling. There were some very inter-esting bowling styles amongst the pupils! Luke Mar-tin was the highest scoring pupil.

On Thursday staff noted that the 6:45 wake-up callwas getting harder as the pace was beginning to showon pupils’ faces. Once we got up to the slopes werealised we would be skiing above the clouds in thevalley. What a sight! All groups pressed on, learningmore new skills. Thursday evening saw almost 40pupils opt to go out sledging on the slope outside ourhotel. What a fantastic time we had. Ross Hethering-ton won the mass group race at the end. Lucia, ourInterski Representative, was brave enough to stand inthe path of the sledgers to get some great film footage.That evening was Pizza night and Roberto hosted thisin our hotel. The pizzas were delicious and everyoneate as much as they wanted. Jay Eastwood particularlyenjoyed his pizza slices!

students

PRISTINE sitePUSH FOR

This year there is a national campaign called ‘Cleanfor the Queen’ in which we are all encouraged to dowhat we can to keep Britain’s streets tidy. This pastmonth our students have been making efforts to ridthe school site of litter.

As part of the campaign a group of students kindlygave up their lunch hour to volunteer as part of aclean-up crew. These students braved the rain to pickup litter from the yard as well as the corridor and thedinner hall. Their kind work was most appreciated bythe site team and the lunchtime assistants.

As part of our link with the Teenage Cancer Trust,we are going to donate £5 per day to the charity forevery day the site is kept clean. We have got concernsabout the amount of litter around the site andhopefully this will motivate the students to keep thesite clean. Potentially, £950 could be raised for thisworthwhile charity over the course of a school year.

Mr Gray presented a cheque for over £500 to SianDay from the Teenage Cancer Trust. This wassome of the money raised during the recent non-uniform day. We are planning to link with thischarity and hold fund-raising events during theschool year.

Non-uniformFund raiser

Year 12 Media Studies students were invited to anafternoon of tutorials and talks from the Media depart-ment of Liverpool Hope University. One of the seniorlecturers of the faculty introduced students to a profes-sional software package that is used to create the verymagazines and newspapers we read on a daily basis. Thiswas especially useful as the students are currently learn-ing the skills to develop their own professional levelmagazine.

The trip also allowed pupils to ask current studentsabout life at the University. The day concluded with atour of the Campus. All students enjoyed the trip andagreed how useful it was, we must have impressed themwith our skills as they have invited us back for more.

Hope forMedia

students

The vast majority of our students arrive to school properly equipped,on time, with a good attitude  and ready to learn and we thank parentsand carers for your support with this.  It is essential  for the happinessand academic progress  of  all in school that we have a calm and orderlyenvironment and in an organisation with 1600 students this requiresconsistency and a firm approach with regards to the rules.  Below  are  afew  reminders of some of our key expectations. Should you have anyquestions about our standards please seek further information from ourwebsite or contact your child's House Progress Manager or Mr Gray - DeputyHeadteacher.

Students are expected on school premises at 8.25 ready for registration at 8.30prompt.

Correct uniform must be worn daily, including school shoes.

Students should be properly equipped for school including house card, planner, PEkit, general stationery and other specific subject specific items.

Home learning plays a significant role in your child's academic progress. Check theirplanners and talk to them about their learning. Planners should be signed regularly byboth school and home.

Students are expected to speak courteously and respectfully to each other and to staff at alltimes.

Any behaviour which disrupts  learning or the smooth running of the school willnot be tolerated.

Thank you for your support and cooperation

Keeping upappearances

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Congratulations to the boys who competedrecently in the district final against Wood-church and won convincingly 27 – 14. Theywent into the game as underdogs having pre-viously been beaten by Woodchurch in thepreliminary rounds.

sportsupdate

Weeks of training on Friday nights however paid off as Whitbydominated the opposition from start to finish. Pictured from left toright are Josh Cooke, Conner Cadwallader, Joe Melville, JoshuaDavies, Tyrese Providence, Ben Davies and David Walker. Specialmention also goes to George Johnson who missed the final due toinjury.

The PE Department would like to thank all of the staff and students who turned up for theAnnual Sport Relief Mile on Friday 18th March. Well done to those who ran, walked and evencart wheeled the mile, all in aid of a very worthy cause.

We managed to raise over £160 which equates to approximately 70 Malaria nets. That is apotential 70 lives saved just by your donations. Well done again everyone! The staff and pupilshave an excellent track record of charitable giving and long may this continue.

W* SYCAMORE DRIVE

ELLESMERE PORT CH66 2NU

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