017_-_4th_july_2012

Issue 17 4th July 2012

Clifton High School

Clifton High Rose Day

The rain was mercifully absent as Clifton High School enjoyed its annual Rose Day service at Bristol Cathedral. The Reverend Rosemary Durward generously joined us to give the Thought for the Day. She talked about going in a hot air balloon with her family on holiday abroad and being struck that their guide so enjoyed what he was doing that it was scarcely a job at all. Reverend Durward went on to highlight the value in doing what you love and pursuing that which fulfils you. Dr Alison Neill, Head of School, gave an address in which she emphasised how important the acquisition of diverse skills is in preparing our pupils for the unpredictable 21st century world ahead of them. She praised the school's continued commitment to high standards and celebrated the outstanding calibre of

Clifton High staff recognised at a national level this year. Dr Neill acknowledged the benefits of life-long learning, as well as focusing on the ever-present need for emotional development and informed decision-making and then finished by wishing the leaving Year 13 students the best of luck in their future endeavours.

Following the service, a host of prizes was awarded to celebrate the many and varied achievements of Clifton High pupils. We were delighted that Dr Zoë Ellen Winters, Consultant Senior Lecturer at the University of Bristol, Consultant Breast Surgeon at the University Hospitals of Bristol NHS Foundation Trust and a trustee of Abreast cancer research, was with us to present the prizes.

The day culminated in a truly superb Rose Day Ball, beautifully organised by the P.A., ably hosted by Year 12 students and impressively catered for by parent Mrs Clarke. Our sincere thanks go to all who helped make this a very special day that will not soon be forgotten.


Outside, visitors could meet adorable felines of all ages from Bristol and Wales Cat Rescue, including very tiny kittens that drew many donations simply with their cuteness.

‘Beat the Goalie' carried on all day whatever the weather, and some brave volunteers (including Mr Richards) agreed to poke their heads through wooden cut-outs so people could sponge them - for a donation, of course! Wafting past all of this was the delicious smell of grilled sausages that were available throughout the day to hungry fair-goers. The day was a resounding success and over £2400 was raised for the school. Our sincere thanks go to all of you who came to take part and to all those who helped organise this wonderful event.

Clifton High Summer Fair

The whole school community - pupils, parents and staff included - turned out to enjoy the cornucopia that was the Summer Fair, organised by the Parents’ Association. Despite the weather, the covered courts at Coombe Dingle Sports Complex were turned into a veritable bazaar.

Included among the various stalls were face painting and a bouncy castle as well as places to buy cakes, sweets, cards, candles, toys and hand-sewn bunting. In the middle of the hall was a performance space that was occupied by choirs, dance troupes, taekwondo demonstrations and a Zumba fitness session!


House Challenge Day

On Tuesday 4th July pupils from Y3 to Y12 took part in House Challenge Day - a day of sport, music, activities and good-natured competition between our four school houses: Winkworth, Wollaston, Pears and Percival. In periods 1 and 2, pupils of various ages participated in

the Torch Relay, where they had to traverse an obstacle course as fast as possible, all while carrying a blow-up Olympic Torch. It was wonderful to see so many cheering each other on and representing their houses so confidently. While this was going on, others were busy learning a House Song, to be performed later on in the day.

After break came the Water Challenge. This was a brilliantly organised event that involved the transportation of water from one side of the grass area to the other by a variety of ingenious means. Pupils carried water in buckets with holes in, created an aqueduct with two pieces of guttering, suspended water between them on bin bags, poured it through a funnel into a hosepipe, scrambled under a tarpaulin with bottles and finally filled balloons with the remaining liquid and threw them through a hoop and into a box. Needless to say, a lot of water was lost along the way, but a great deal of fun was had. In keeping with the spirit of the day, everyone cheered each other on and collaborated in a fantastic display of teamwork and friendly rivalry.

Later on, junior pupils from different houses decorated huge cardboard cutouts of a house with their house colours. At the same time, senior pupils took part in a quiz where they had to go and tell answers to specific people within the school - which naturally turned into something of a moving treasure hunt.

Finally, everyone came together in the Main Hall to see the decorated cutouts and hear the House Songs, which were judged by Dr Neill and Mr Richards. Before the results were announced, we saw two films created by members of Year 6 - an interesting diversion that shows we clearly have some talented filmmakers among our pupils!

We look forward to the announcement in Final Assembly of this year's overall winning House. Many thanks to Mr Gunter and all of the staff and students who made this fantastic day such a success.


World Sports Day

We were extremely excited and honoured that Shirley Hume brought her Oympic Torch to show us on World Sports Day. Shirley said a few words to encourage us to take part in sport and to have fun!

To start off our Olympic Procession, Year 12 student Lucy Bryan, who had hot-footed her way back from the Olympic Trials, lowered the Olympic flag. Year 12 Senior Victrix Ludorum

winner, Vikki Jones, held a corner of the flag and pledged The Olympic Oath on behalf of all competitors. Shirley, holding her Olympic Torch, then joined Lucy, Vikki and the whole school on their lap of honour to celebrate World Sports Day.

Everyone from age 3 to 17 and staff waved their flags as we circled the track before making their way to our events.

The day was then taken up with track and field events spanning all ages: the javelin, the hurdles, and the 100m sprint, to name just a few. The houses were all in fierce but nonetheless friendly competition. The House Cups and overall winners were announced in Final Assembly.

Thanks to everyone who helped make this a reality: we all had the most fantastic day to remember and we can't wait for the London 2012 Olympic Games.


Year 13 were extremely creative in their final projects. Ruby Coates & Bex Staunton made very challenging tailored jackets (pictured above) .

Laura Baines designed an ice dance costume (pictured above left) for Caitlin. Maddi Watson (above right) used Lady Gaga as inspiration for a stage costume including a corset, wig, shoes & an aluminum wrap skirt!

Georgia Soteriou produced a range of wallets and travel items (pictured left) and finally Katy Pang made a convertible rain coat.

Congratulations to all of the pupils who made the whole process enormous fun and if you would like to see all of these projects there will be an exhibition of them at the beginning of the autumn term.

Design & Technology Textiles This year the quality and range of products made by the Design & Technology Textiles pupils in Years 11,12 & 13 was outstanding. All examination groups have to produce a product, an A3 portfolio charting the design process and they have to sit a written paper.

Coursework at GCSE is worth 60% and AS/A2 coursework is 50% of the final grade awarded. Each of the pupils have to write their own brief and spend between 45 & 60 hours on the entire project. GCSE pupils were highly imaginative with their ideas.

Phoebe Brown (pictured above) made this belly dancing outfit (which wouldn’t have been out of place at the Rose Ball!).

Alice Newton (below left) used 1940’s make do & mend to inspire her tea dress & bag and Connie English (below right) wanted to create a costume for Gifford's Circus.

Other products included Laura’s Harry Potter quilt, Ishbel’s children's coat, Lucy’s native American garments, Libby’s lace-covered corset dress, Becky’s Spanish dress and Georgia’s black swan ballet costume.

Year 12 made 2 products: a corset and a bag using ‘steam punk’, Moulin Rouge, and Coco Chanel as inspiration.


Biology Challenge

Every year the Society of Biology runs the biology challenge which consists of two papers, of increasing difficulty, which are sat online with the aim to encourage an interest in biology beyond the school curriculum and stimulate curiosity about the natural world. In March many of our budding biologists in Years 9 and 10 sat one or both of the papers and we are thrilled to be able to reveal the following results:

A big thank you to all those who took part; we look forward to the 2013 challenge! Anyone who is interested to take part and will be in Years 9 or 10 next year, please do not hesitate to contact Miss Jones.

CHS becomes CSI!

On Thursday 28th June Year 9 visited @Bristol Science Learning Centre to take part in a forensics themed day that brought together all of the work they have been doing in biology lessons during the summer term.

After brushing up on their skills in “forensics academy”, the students worked in teams to solve the case of the @Bristol murder! Using a variety of techniques including fingerprinting, chromatography, taking casts and DNA tests, all of our budding forensic scientists were successful in collecting enough evidence to decide which suspect to arrest so

@Bristol is still safe to visit thanks to our keen-eyed Year 9 sleuths! Year 9 would like to thank Miss Jones, Mrs Archer, Mr Gunter and Miss Brackenbury for organising the trip.

Student Award

Emma Hallam-Worrall Gold

Anna Richardson Bronze

Phoebe Langton Hewer Highly commended

Rhiannon Osborne-Tonner Highly commended

Hannah Smyk Highly commended

Maria Snell Highly commended

Helen Stanton Highly commended

Anna Freire Camacho Commended

Conor Hillier Commended

Harriet Murray Commended

Paige Tozer Commended


A Level Sculpture Workshop June 26-27th – Bristol Diving School

This year eight Year 11 and 12 art students worked together with an artist collective called Bristol Diving School. They are a group of graduate art students who take over the running of an art space (in the building of the old Bristol Diving School, hence the name) each year.

Initially, we were divided into two teams. One person from each team was blindfolded whilst the others directed them across the front lawn to collect five balloons of the team’s colour. These balloons contained either a dot or a dash code which were written down and used to find letters using Morse code. The letters we chose were then made into moulds for plaster casting. We did this by making the cardboard walls which we then filled with liquid plaster (with a layer of burlap in the middle) and left it to dry over night. The following day we took the letters out of the cardboard, created words from them and photographed them in various scenarios using a Polaroid camera. (See photos).

Using the same words we created ambiguous sentences to make two large text-based art pieces. We rolled ink onto our plaster letters and attempted to use that to print onto a piece of paper. However the letters had an uneven surface so we did not get the result we hoped for. We quickly solved this problem by laying all the letters out to create the sentences and flicked paint all over the paper. When we removed the letters it revealed the white negative space with all the paint around it.

We really enjoyed the workshop. It was reassuring to have younger people communicating their ideas to us and they gave us a lot of control of what we did.

Alicia Ogborn and Helen Milne (Year 12)

View more information and photos of the workshop at www.bdsworkshop2.blogspot.co.uk/

A taste of Japan

Mr and Mrs Sunayama came to do a Japanese cookery demonstration with Reception 2. They showed us how to make onigiri (Japanese rice balls with a filling inside).

The children were very interested in the sheets of seaweed that had been sent especially from Japan by Kazuma’s grandparents. “Did you have to go to the beach to collect that seaweed for us?” one of them asked. The children then had a chance to make them for themselves, choosing their own filling and then pressing them into special containers designed for the purpose.

They then had the opportunity to see an origami demonstration and look at a selection of origami shapes and animals made previously by Mrs Sunayama. They were very pleased to be able to choose one to take home alongside a gift to them of Japanese chopsticks.


On Thursday June 28th more performances enhanced the art evening and this time it was the singers who took to the stage. We heard a wonderful array of different music, some classical and some popular. Letty Caddy gave a passionate performance of ‘Legohouse’ accompanying herself. Billy Tonkin and Briony Wills performed ‘Count on me’ and we heard accomplished songs from Rhiannon Osborne Tonner, Olivia Tonkin, Morgane Sha’ban and Phoebe Ursell.

On Saturday June 30th it was the turn of Mr Cleaver’s ‘X choir’ who entertained the crowds at the Summer Fair at Coombe Dingle showing yet another aspect of music that takes place at CHS. At the end of another school year the music department is so proud of the achievements of our pupils and our thanks go to all our visiting music teachers who help to ensure that music goes from strength to strength.

Music at Clifton High The summer term has ended with a flurry of activity in the music department with several events taking place. Junior Chamber Choir, Cantata and Senior Chamber Choir sang some inspirational performances at the Rose Day service on June 23rd and the Cathedral resounded to their melodious sounds which culminated in an energetic rendition of ‘Look to this Day’ by Bob Chilcott.

Earlier in the week the junior pupils had taken part in several concerts under the skilful direction of Mr Andrew Cleaver and had delighted parents with their variety and talent.

Following this parents were then thrilled by the Drumming Soirée which took place on June 26th. Mr Matt Jones organised all his current pupils for an evening of performance with the aid of Mr Adam Chetland (electric guitar) and Tom Kuras (bass guitar).

Fifteen pupils took part from across the school and the concert ended with ‘Wipe Out’ in which all took part finishing with a virtuoso display by Mr Jones himself. Delicious refreshments were provided by Mrs Smithson and a good time was had by all.


Latin Trip to Caerleon The trip to Caerleon was great fun and very educational. First we went to the National Roman Legion Museum. We had some time to look around the museum and filled in a questionnaire about the displays. We saw models of legionaries, standard bearers and a centurion. After that we went into a reconstructed Roman school and a museum guide taught us about the differences between boys’ and girls’ education.

We also saw a replica of the Roman barracks! It was very small and had 4 bunk beds to fit 8 soldiers. While we were there, we also tried on the armour, helmets and shield. We were not allowed to try on the chain mail because it was so heavy! Poor legionaries, how did they carried all that weight?

In the afternoon we went to the amphitheatre and saw the remains of some real Roman barracks. The remains of the walls were only about 25 cm high marking out the rooms, one where the soldiers would sleep and one where they would keep their armour.

I really enjoyed the day and am looking forward to the Latin trip next year! So, thank you Mr Garland for organising the trip and Mr Psarros and Mrs Crossley for coming with us.

Louisa Bell (Year 7)

Bloodhound Project

The Year 6 children recently took part in the Bloodhound project which is a Bristol based initiative that is trying to produce a car that can break the land speed record.

First they interviewed M.O.D. graduates Tom Wilde, Jason Gillan and Chris Farrell to find out about their exciting engineering jobs. The graduates then worked alongside the pupils to make their own designs for the Bloodhound cars.

Rahul, Harry, Barnaby and Dan were then selected to represent Clifton High School with their unique car designs at the Bloodhound celebration event in the Bristol University campus. The day began with the time trials for the cars, where perseverance and problem solving, resulted in two good times being clocked up for both teams. Next came the intense interviews with the Primary Engineering panel for which team CHS received a special certificate. The fun event at the end of the day involved building the highest tower from paper and uncooked spaghetti!

Thanks to the M.O.D. graduates for enthusing the children to hopefully become the engineers of the future.


Hockey Development

A record number of Clifton High pupils have been identified as having County hockey potential and been nominated for County hockey training. The under 14s have been training on Friday evenings this term and include Louisa Bell, Laura Bentley, Carys James, Hannah Morris, Morgan Pepworth, Sophie Pyke, Oliver Valentine. Under 15s nominated are, Catherine Allin, Sophie Bell, Letty Caddy, Sophie Cotter, Bethan Evans-Brain, Olivia Harvey, Briony Wills. Commencing training in September are under 16s Christina Bendle, Anna Boyce, Nadia Clutterbuck, Isabelle Foreman, Alice Hoskins, Morgane Sha’ban and Gabby Valentine. In the under 17 age group also training in September are Phoebe Brown, Vikki Jones, Brett McCarthy Harrop. WELL DONE EVERYONE! (pupils in bold are already Avon County representative players)

Olympic Torch @ World Sports Day

Olympic Torch @ World Sports Day Many lovely photos were taken with Shirley Hume's Olympic Torch at World Sports Day. If parents know Olympic Torch photographs were taken by Mr Camp and have not seen them yet, please email him [email protected] and he will forward the photographs on to you. If you are delighted with any photographs that were taken of your sons and daughters and would like to make a donation by cheque to MacMillan, please send cheques to Miss K Price at Clifton High by the end of July and she will forward all the cheques to Mrs Hume.

It All Went Swimmingly

Once again Mrs Kingston’s organisational skills ensured a successful junior swimming gala. The spectators cheered and the swimmers gave their all in a spirit of friendly competition and camaraderie. Many thanks to all who made it a wonderful afternoon.

Rounders Results

The Lower school competed in 17 Rounders matches against the following schools, BGS, Silverhill, Redland, Red Maids’, Badminton, Colstons and Fairfield.

We won 11 of these games with the year 5 team being undefeated. The team showed great striking ability and as there was only one team; this meant that the team comprised different people so it was great to see such good support and team work.

The year 6 team made great progress as the season went on. Charlotte Jagger and Chloe Cotter scoring on numerous occasions and Lucinda and Georgia improving their fielding and hitting.

Won Drew Lost

U11 2 4

U10 8

U9 1 1 1

mailto:[email protected]


Clifton High Bees The bees are not enjoying this weather! One hive is going well and all happy. The other is interesting, it swarmed earlier as you know and the new queen was due to hatch around the beginning of June. Nett result is two colonies rather weak and two empty hives,

all this just as the limes are coming into flower. We managed to get a swarm from a garden in Clifton and put it into a third hive hoping that all would be well. We fed the bees and made it hard for them to leave hoping that they would enjoy the lovely new hive but it was not to be. The swarm we found was hanging in a tree doing nothing. The main reason is that the scout bees are out, looking for a place to make their final home. That's the beekeeper's tricky job, to capture the swarm before the scouts get back . We didn’t and they have left. PC Shaw – who is our beat manager – is often asked to help householders who find bees in their gardens. PC Shaw will call us when he is next asked for help. We tried to get to a swarm in Queens Road but the bees had gone before we could get there. There have been many tales of queens being lost with hives swarming so that is bad this year too. You might be wondering what a swarm is? Well in the natural world swarms are just the natural way hives multiply and find new homes. We have a bait hive at school which is just far enough away from the other hives in the hope that we can persuade some of these house hunters to pop in and become part of the CHS bee team. No luck yet though. Swarms are not aggressive; they usually don't sting because they are full of honey for their journey and they have no honey or brood in a comb to protect. April May June are the prime time for swarming. But why swarm in the first place? I’ll give a prize for anybody who can in no more than one hundred words tell me. We’ve been talking to the other beekeepers in Bristol. The weather this year means that July is the last gasp for the year, there will definitely be a shortage in 2012. Like us, some beekeepers are actually feeding their bees since the weather has kept them in and the forage has been bad. Hardly anybody has had honey so far.

Alumni News At the last Alumni committee meeting, the details for the autumn lunch were confirmed. This will take place on Saturday 20 October at School and the speaker will be Penny Porter, Alumna who works with England Rugby and the British Swimming team. Tickets have to be purchased by 20 September. Please email [email protected] if interested. The annual netball and hockey matches between school and alumni will take place on the morning of Saturday 8 September at Coombe Dingle - everyone is welcome to come along and watch. It is also hoped to hold an informal get together for the last 3 years' leavers plus the current Years 12 and 13 on the evening of Friday 7 September. This is at planning stage currently but will be notified by email and Facebook when confirmed. Finally, at the Summer Fair, many visitors tried to guess the number of 'sweets in the jar' competition run at the Alumni table. For those who were unsuccessful, the number was 219. The jar was won by the nearest guess, which was 210 and the winner was a visitor who is not at school.

Travel Assembly

Many thanks to Mr and Dr Parke, Izzy and Maddie who came to speak to the children in an assembly. The Parke family had just returned from a trip of a lifetime around the globe visiting Thailand, Indonesia, the United States, and Guatemala. The children followed the marvellous journey through wonderful photos and maps and learnt fascinating facts about some of the countries and creatures encountered.

Whilst on their travels, the family visited a child they sponsor through Plan International. Plan International works to promote children’s rights and lift millions of children out of poverty. The have programmes that focus upon education, health, water, protection and much more. If you would like to know more go to: www.plan-international.org


http://www.plan-international.org/


School Contact Details Tel: 0117 973 2010

For general communication: [email protected] To report an absence: [email protected]

Summer Cricket Camps

With Charlie Thompson and Gary Phillips

Week 1: 30th July-3rd August Week 2: 6th – 10th August Week 3: 13th – 17th August

Venue: Old Bristolians’ Cricket Club

Times: 10-3 each day

Ages: 6-12 years old (5 year olds on Friday only)

Cost: £25 a day or £100 for the course

Booking: [email protected]

We have recently subscribed to the website MyMaths, which is an exciting maths resource that all Clifton High pupils can access both in school and at home. It has plenty of online lessons, worksheets and even games for everyone from year 3 up to the sixth form (including GCSE & A level maths). Senior pupils have been given their individual logins by their maths teachers, but anyone can access the site using the whole school login (below). Use it over the summer and keep your maths brains in gear! Login: cliftonhigh Password: curve

Wedding Bells Chime!

Congratulations to Mrs Ottley who got married at the weekend and is now Mrs Ottley-Jenkins. Our very best wishes to the happy couple; we wish them a long and happy life together.

Please save this date to buy your Autumn wardrobe. More

details to follow next term.



017_-_4th_july_2012

Documents

special day

clifton high summer

high standards

annual rose day service

superb rose day ball

university of bristol

school community pupils

head of school