PRIESTHORPE SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
JULY 2004
HEADTEACHER'S INTRODUCTION
If schools are judged on exam results and league tables then the 'results'
season has got off to a fabulous start. Year 9 SATs scores have just
arrived in school. They are collectively our best-ever results. Last
year, 76% of our year 9 got level 5 in English, 67% in Science and 67%
in maths. Those were good results. This year we again got 76% in English,
72% in Science and 77% in Maths. My congratulations to year 9 and my
thanks to their excellent teachers. We await with interest our post-16
results at AS and A2, which are available on Thursday 19th August, and
our GCSE results which come the following Thursday, 26th August.
Our much-delayed new build is almost ready for us to move into. We take possession next week, which does give us a problem and impacts on the arrangements for the end of the school year. We have to move out of the 'temporary' huts and into the new rooms before we break up. Year 10, currently on work experience, will finish for the year on Monday. Years 7, 8 and 9 will finish on Tuesday at lunchtime. We traditionally finish early on the last school day to say our farewells to staff who, for a variety of reasons, are leaving.
Mr Milne is leaving to go to a promoted History post in Leeds. Mrs Din has also got a promoted post in ICT; she is moving to Cheshire. Miss Sherratt is moving to Lancashire and Miss Morgan is touring around the world on a bicycle. We have two maternity leaves. Mrs Carr has this week had a baby girl and Mrs Boulter leaves at the end of term for her maternity leave. Mr Blackburn is taking up a post as a deputy head in a primary school. Finally, the editor of this excellent newsletter, and my deputy head, Mrs Bavage is leaving us. We are not allowed to call it retirement (she is too young) but she really will be seriously missed. She is a warm and caring professional, and has been my 'right-hand man' throughout my period of headship. I will miss her, the school will miss her, but I am sure our paths will cross again.
The new academic year starts on Thursday 2nd September but this is a training day. On Friday 3rd September we have a partial opening for the new year 7 and years 12 and 13. The rest of the school starts at the usual time (8.45 a.m.) on Monday 6th September.
We look forward to the next academic year with real confidence. Priesthorpe is a thriving Sports College on an upward track. We will go from strength to strength as we work together to provide a first-class education for your children.
Please find time to read our newsletter and have a good summer holiday.
Clive Pickles
Headteacher
CURRICULUM NEWS
We are busy planning our courses for September; as always there are
some new ideas to introduce, some changes to make, to continue our modernisation
of the curriculum we offer throughout the school.
What follows are just some brief notes written by busy staff trying to complete all paperwork procedures at the end of a long year. A largenumber are with the year 8 residentials all this week, some are preparing for days out on Monday 19th with year 7 or year 9 or preparing the projects for year 8 back in school next week. Others are visiting nearly 200 year 10 students out on work experience - oh, and quite a few staff are involved in moving from our 'temporary' huts to the new building. This will be a short newsletter!
Sally Bavage
Deputy for Curriculum
BEING CREATIVE
Following the completion of her, as yet, unpublished novel, Ms Stein
has been successful in passing her MA in Creative Writing. She hopes
to run a creative writing workshop next year, so hopeful authors should
watch this space.
MATHS FUN WEEK
Yes, it really does happen! All of years 7, 8 and 9 took part earlier
this term and we have awarded lots of prizes and certificates.
Ms Baldwin
Head of Maths
GEOGRAPHY UPDATES
Year 7 have done some super ICT work about Europe, linked in with the
Euro 2004 football championship.
We are planning to take next year's year 9 on a fieldwork visit to the Yorkshire Dales National Park.
GCSE students are looking forward to the residential fieldwork taking place in September. It will be an enjoyable 2-day trip and allows students the chance to complete coursework projects to the highest standards.
Year 12 students have just been on a visit to Bradford University, where they were given the opportunity to do research work for their coursework.
We are grateful for these opportunities to enhance the coursework that our students can produce - there is no doubt that it helps to improve results.
Mr Hutson
Head of Geography
TATE GALLERY TRIP
Some students from year 10 were invited to the Liverpool Tate Gallery
in June to attend a morning workshop and a talk on how to use clay in
the afternoon. This trip was part of the 'Aim Higher' programme which
is supported by Education Leeds.
Although it was a long coach trip there and back in one day, both the collection and the exhibition were excellent. From the permanent collection of artworks students saw works as diverse as paintings by David Bomburg and Peter Howsen, to Jake and Dino Chapmans' horrific models about war.
The Clay Exhibition contained rare pots by famous artists such as Paul Gauguin and Marc Chagall. One of the most spectacular pieces was Anthony Gormley's 'Field'; a room full of clay people where each figure was the height of the hand of the person who made it.
However, the title of 'the most amusing piece of art' goes to the 'precious' plate which is hung on the gallery wall. Twice daily it is knocked on to the floor - much to the horror of the gallery-goers standing nearby! This is an example of conceptual art, which plays with the idea of the fear people have of breaking valuable ceramics!
Ms Benson
Art Department
Editor: In my house, it would be a well-founded fear!
DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY WEEK 21-25 JUNE
Activities which took place during week included daily quiz questions,
a competition to re-design the packaging for Lion's Sports Mixture wine
gums and the visit from a real-life designer who worked with some of
our year 8 students.
Congratulations to the following students who entered the competition
and won prizes:
1st Abbey Bottomley in 8S designed a digital radio alarm clock with
earphones and won 1 kg bar of Dairy Milk
2nd Danny Taylor of 8Bu designed a digital organiser
3rd Selina Ahmed of 8H designed an electronic diary
Well done to all who tried the competition.
Mrs Mumby
D & T Department
UNDER-12 CRICKET
If enthusiasm and desire to practise were the only criteria for success,
these boys would be world champions; they wear me out! They have skill
too. We have won 3 out of 4 matches (as of July 9th). In the last match
we played, all but the wicket-keeper bowled. We were in a very strong
position owing to an excellent knock by Scott Driscoll, who ended on
49 not out. The opening bowlers, Umar Mirza and Nauman Rauf, each got
2 wickets in their opening over, leaving the opposition on 0 for 4 wickets.
So everyone else got a bowl, too.
We have qualified for the West Leeds cup final, which is being played at Pudsey St Lawrence on Wednesday 14th July. We are playing Crawshaw, who are rumoured to be quite useful. We would have played more but for the fact that it appeared to rain every Wednesday in June. The team seemed to hold me personally responsible.
Mr Pickles
Headteacher
EMAG PROJECT
The staff involved in trying to raise the aspirations and achievements
of our ethnic minority students work in the Ethnic Minority Action Group.
We try to mentor students at risk of under-achieving, run a Culture
Club to try and give students a place to 'feel at home', have completed
an exchange visit to India this year and have just started a long-term
project on looking at racism in society with the help of outside visitors.
The team has recently been strengthened by the addition of Manjit Rauni, who brings with her a wide range of skills, including speaking both Panjabi and Urdu. She will work on trying to develop the English skills of some students for whom it is an additional or second language.
Mrs Bavage
EMAG
PERSONAL, SOCIAL HEALTH AND CITIZENSHOP EDUCATION (PSHCE)
This is a rapidly-developing area of the curriculum, driven partly by
the government's agenda and partly by our own ideas on how to improve
the personal effectiveness of our students.
Year 7 are busy fundraising for SightSavers and Action Aid.
Year 8 entered the Arts and Minds competition to look at racism.
Year 9 have worked with Leeds University medical students on a sex and
relationships unit. Other students entered a mock trial competition
in Leeds, organised by the national Citizenship Foundation where they
did very well. Year 10 students have also entered a law competition
and will appear at Leeds Crown Court in November.
Stacey Leslie and Laura Stephenson were elected to the Leeds Youth Council as a result of a whole-school election in March.
Ms Cowan
Head of PSHCE
TRIPS AND VISITS
There have, as usual, been a large number of opportunities for our students
to get first-hand experience of education in the world outside these
buildings over the last term.
A lot of effort has gone into ensuring that the year 8 residential programme is fully planned and risk-assessed; the paperwork for these visits fills two large ring binders and has to be fully approved by health and safety officers at Education Leeds.
The planning is now complete for the year 7 trip to Disneyland Paris which Mr Saimbhi is leading in late July, assisted by a now-fit Mrs Ineson, Head of Year 7.
Students from year 9 returned last week from a 4-day trip to the trenches in France and Belgium; you can read their stories following this item. The length and strength of their writing is argument enough for continuing to put in the amount of hard work to enable these trips to continue in an era when many schools and their staff have given up the workload they necessitate.
We have had sixth-form business studies and geography students out on research visits, drama students on theatre visits and sixth-formers visiting universities to get a feel for the student life and to help them decide on whether to apply to university. Art students have been on gallery visits near and far, English students spent a day at Howarth for a 'real experience' of Wuthering Heights and Victorian literature, outdoor pursuits students were offered chances to go kayaking, canoeing, sailing and climbing, design technology students raced their F1 model cars in competition and visited the Leeds Metropolitan University end-of-year show, and leisure and tourism students have visited visitor attractions such as Blackpool, Alton Towers, Flamingoland, Salts' Mill and Tropical World. Year 11 students worked on study skills at a venue outside school and, of course, students of all ages have been on visits to local sporting venues as diverse as South Leeds Stadium, Halifax Ski Centre, and snowboarding and ski-ing at X-scape near Castleford.
Mrs Bavage
Visits Co-ordinator
THE TRENCHES TRIP
Year 9 History trip to the Trenches Ypres/Somme July 4th to 6th 2004
The Cast
Mrs Hart, i/c all matters legal, paperwork, passport, sick children,
tour organiser, E111s, Risk Assessments
Mr Williams, i/c First World War poetry, literacy links
Mr Naylor, i/c bin bags, crowd control, litter, jogging, all things
geographical
Mrs Bentley, i/c headcounts, language development officer, shouting,
shopping
Mr Richardson, i/c jokes, crowd control, directing the bus, orienteering
+ 45 excited year 9 students
+ Murray McVey, Tour Guide extraordinaire
The trip highlights:
Ypres
Flanders Field museum, Cloth Hall, Ypres
Tyne Cot British cemetery
Hill 62 and the actual trenches
Caterpillar Crater
Vancouver Corner
Langemark German cemetery
Menin Gate and the Last Post ceremony
Somme
Lochnagar crater
Fricourt military cemetery
Thiepval memorial
+ lots, lots more
Also
Chicken 'n' chips at Den Anker restaurant, the Ypres car rally, a visit
to a Belgian chocolate shop, Eurotunnel and le Chateau Ebblingham where
we stayed (all rooms ensuite) which had a games room with TV to watch
the Euro 2004 final, entertainments put on such as the crepe demo.
Verdict overall
Great trip, which packed in an awful lot as the guide likes us to get
value for money. It might take a long time to get down to the Eurotunnel
but the experience is really worth it. We have booked again for next
year!
Mrs Hart
Head of History
Comments by some students now follow.
On the 4th July - 6th July Mrs Hart took 45 year 9 pupils to Belgium/France. We set off at 00:30am on Sunday morning. We spent hours on the coach. The teachers were all snoring at the front.
When we got there we went to Flanders Field museum and some cemeteries. We also went to hill 62, which is where we got the chance to go in some underground trenches. We did. It was pitch black.
We went back to the hotel. We had enjoyed the day, but we were all shattered. We were sent to bed at 11pm, but we could not get to sleep as the teachers were laughing.
The second day was just as good. We went to some memorials and some cemeteries. We got back to the hotel, and Emma played table tennis with Mr Milne. Mr Milne cannot accept defeat.
The third day was just as good. We thought this of the teachers:
Mrs Hart = serious
Mr Milne = loser
Mr Nayler= cheesy (long story)
Mrs Bentley = serious
Mr Richardson = loud
Mr Williams = poetic
Mr McVey = very, very loud.
Charlotte Maude, Rachael Warwick, Harpreet Sandher, Charlotte Naylor
All in 9Mi
The trenches trip was a great experience and really helps you realise
the number of people who gave their lives for their country - British,
French, Germans and people from all countries. When learning about World
War One in school, the trenches were mentioned, but I always found it
hard to get an image of what it was actually like. But whilst in France
there was a place we went where they were restored. We went to a place
where the British front line was and there were holes all over the place
where shells had exploded. It makes you think about what it would be
like if you were in the trench next to it. The accommodation was fun
and the teachers were all helpful and the guide Murray knew almost everything.
Thank you for the great trip.
James Bright, 9S
On the 4th of July we set off from Pudsey Civic Hall to go to France where we would stay for the next two nights. We went to see the World War One trenches and memorials. Whilst we were there, the best parts were going into the actual trenches and communications tunnels and getting really muddy!
Also, we visited another trench that was closed off to the public by an electric fence, so everyone was touching it to get shocked (like you would do!)
The bad points of the trip were not getting to watch the rally in Ypres
and all the travelling we had to do going, during and coming back.
Alex Kettle, 9H
On Sunday the 4th of July we set off towards France in the middle of the night at the Civic Hall. When we arrived at the Channel Shuttle we picked up our tour guide from his hotel, then we drove the coach onto the Shuttle. It takes about half an hour. Everyone sat on the floor of the Shuttle as everyone's legs were aching after the journey down to Kent. When we arrived in France we had to drive through France to get to Belgium where we would be spending the next few days looking around cemeteries and also trenches.
The thing that I enjoyed about the trip was that we learnt a lot of new things that we never knew. The first trench we went in was great. We were running through the dark and dingy tunnels finding the exits, splashing through all the sloppy mud. We obviously had to wear our Wellingtons.
The second trench we went to wasn't as good as you did not get to go in as it was fenced off using electric fencing. We also went round a lot of cemeteries, where we tried to find some of our relatives that died for our country.
On the second day, at about 8 o'clock we went to a wreath-laying ceremony at the Menin Gate. After that we went to a Belgian chocolate shop, where the man who owned the place gave our school an offer, so nearly everyone bought the offer chocolate for their families. Every morning we had a hot chocolate, which was very nice as the milk in France was absolutely awful. The place we were staying was nice and it had a games room which was very good fun.
On the last day, we went shopping and bought lots of things for the
family, then we had to set off home, which took a long time.
Thomas Chester 9H
I thought the trip to the trenches was very interesting and I learnt a lot from it. We went to the 'Last Post' on Tuesday night to remember all those people that died. I found this very moving .We visited lots of cemeteries, which were also moving. . My favourite part of the trip was visiting the trenches and finding out what it was like. I really don't know how they lived in there!. I didn't have a worst bit. After the trenches we were able to look at some photos from the Great War. These were really horrific, but interesting to look at.
We went to lots more interesting places as well but it's all too good
to mention!!! Murray was very helpful throughout the whole trip, and
the teachers were fantastic. We thank you all for the wonderful time
we had. I would love to do that again.
Melissa Roberts, 9R