SOUTH HUNSLEY NEWSSummer 2012

An Academy of Excellence

THE

OLYMPICISSUE

INSIDEMaths GCSE Success

Primary TransitionOlympic Events

New Politics A LevelSixth Form Bus Passes

Personal Development Week

SOUTH HUNSLEY NEWS

PRINCIPAL’S WELCOMEIt feels like

this academic year has flown by and it is hard to believe that Year 11 and Year 13 students will be collecting their GCSE and A Level results only next month.

In fact, it doesn’t feel like that long ago that these groups of students were starting their education with us. A scary thought to think our Vision 2018 will also creep up on us just as quickly!

I hope you felt just as excited as we did, when we published our Vision 2018 for consultation. This piece of work has enabled us re-emphasise that it is the people who are at the heart of South Hunsley and it is our shared belief in the limitless potential of people which makes us strong. We are now in the

process of refining our vision to help us clearly state our promise to all in our South Hunsley community. This will be launched in September and we feel it will place us in a really positive position for the future.

2012-13 is certainly shaping up to to be a key time for South Hunsley. We are facing a changing educational climate as well as an expanding catchment; celebrating our values and strengths will no doubt provide the foundation for us all to embrace these changes and turn them into positive developments for those connected to South Hunsley.

However, our expansion hasn’t even really started yet and though there may not be much evidence of change next year it is a key time for us as we plan for the growth that we anticipate in 2014 when the Brough South housing will start to be built. Hopefully you picked up on our key priorities in the recent update on our strategic developments. Next year we will review the pastoral structures in the school to make sure that as year

groups increase in size each student can still get the individual attention

that they need to thrive. We will also be reviewing our

educational facilities to make sure our students can feel comfortable, secure and safe in their surroundings and can have an enjoyable and challenging education.

We know that we will need additional classrooms and

next year time will be spent planning site developments

and looking at our subject provision. One thing you may note in this magazine is that we have already introduced A Level Government and Politics and GCSE Photography to help widen students’ choice and help them achieve their career ambitions. Having been approached by Horncastle as a potential lead educational partner for the Brough South primary school, we will also be giving time to investigating this in detail so that we can play our part in maintaining and securing the education provision for all the parents living in our catchment.

At the same time, of course, all our students will still have the usual high quality South Hunsley experience and hopefully won’t even notice that work is taking place behind the scenes, as has been the case this term. The one thing they may notice is that I seem to be around a lot more. Our contract with The Market Weighton School will end in August now it is out of Special Measures and we have decided not to work with other schools next year to give us time to focus on our own developments.

Can I also just take this opportunity to focus on our staff whose hard work and commitment is so valuable and also celebrate the on-going support from staff, parents and our wider community which is so vital in building the culture of respect, honesty and high aspiration that supports our youngsters to thrive.

Finally, can I end by wishing you all a lovely summer break and I hope you enjoy reading about just a few of our achievements and opportunities within this magazine.

This year’s transition students will be among the first to benefit from our 2018 Vision

SOUTH HUNSLEY NEWS

PRIMARY TRANSITION

Primary students in Year 6 have been given plenty of

opportunity to experience life at South Hunsley this term.

Summer is a key time for us to get to know our newest students before they start in September. We want to make sure they settle in quickly and are confident about how to get the most out of their secondary education experience. There are so many opportunities for students at South Hunsley that we like to make sure they get a taster of the kind of things they can get involved in as early as possible.

One of the key differences for our new Year 7 students is being taught in subject areas, having to move around our site and having lessons with different teachers. We like to give students an introduction to as many subjects as possible and get

them used to the change in their learning experience. This year, we have seen students take part in Technology, Maths, English, Science, Creative Arts, Sports and Food subject activities to help give them an idea of the programmes of study they will follow. This culminates in a full day at South Hunsley to give them a real introduction to the next stage in their education.

This year, we have also received funding to deliver a summer school for selected students. Events will include raft building at Welton Waters, outdoor adventure and sports taster days, food technology, rollerball challenge and a drama day. In addition, we will continue to run our popular transition days in the summer holidays, activities include a sports taster day, pizza making and an arts and craft day making a wet felt mural.

SOUTH HUNSLEY NEWS

SIXTH FORM Our Sixth Form College has grown

in strength over the last few years.

More and more courses are offered and students can now choose from 40 level 3 courses; opportunities outside of the classroom are also well established with large numbers of students being employed in our Sports Centre or School and enriching their education through our mentor programme or

student leadership experiences. The breadth of opportunities is no doubt a contributing factor to our increasing academic success and reputation for excellence.

Over the last couple of years, we have been welcoming a significant number of students in our neighbouring schools to our Sixth Form College and we are proud of how they have been embraced as part of our community.

With the increasing Year 11 students coming into our Sixth Form College, we are now heading towards a college of 450 students and we feel this is an appropriate time to reflect on our provision to make sure we can continue to build on our strengths and thrive in years to come. Thank you to all our sixth form students who have given their time to work with us this term to help us improve their learning experience.

We have seen our Sixth Form numbers grow significantly

over the last few years and our students have asked if we could develop our facilities to offer them a more adult/university environment.

We have been able to accommodate some of their suggestions and our improvements

will mean that students will have access to expanded study / break out areas, when not in taught lessons, as well as an improved social and cafeteria area. We are extending the Learning Resource Centre to give students access to more computers for independent study and introducing a new study area for group work as

well as giving the common room a more sociable and adult atmosphere introducing sofa seating and benching suitable for laptop use. We hope that these developments will help support students with their sixth form education and enhance their learning experience.

FACILITIES

SOUTH HUNSLEY IS A

SOUTH HUNSLEY NEWS

From September 2012, students will be able to travel to our Sixth Form

College for only 70p per journey. Our Year 12 students have supported

us in a really key piece of work this term and have given their time to developing a student questionnaire to help us understand their needs.

To address this, we have purchased a number of East Riding season bus passes and will make these available for

students to purchase for a full half term. This will mean that students will only pay approximately 70p per single journey which is a significant reduction to the current £1.50 per single journey they are currently paying.

Passes will need to be purchased for a full half term and we will need 2 weeks’ notice before the end of previous term of the student’s intention to use a pass as these will have to be made available on

a first come first served basis. However, at present, students are being asked to take a small survey to help us identify interest in the passes so we can try and accommodate demand.

We feel that it is really important that students are not held back in their sixth form choices due to cost and we don’t want any student to feel that they have had to limit their options. We hope the new bus passes will be a real success.

SIXTH FORM BUS PASSES

FOR THE FUTURECOLLEGE

SOUTH HUNSLEY NEWS

EQUESTRIAN CLUBEquestrian enthusiasts from all

year groups were invited to join and sign up to the National Schools Equestrian association.

Students will train regularly as a team and will enter NSEA organised competitions. The NSEA organises interschool showjumping and dressage competitions across the country which operate from introductory grass roots level to National Championship Standards.

The Equestrian Club operates

in two strands, students who have their own horses and are interested in training and in representing South Hunsley at competitions and secondly, students who are interested in equestrian activities but do not have their own horses. Students without horses can attend riding and horse management training at a local riding establishment with the possibility for them to gain British Horse Society certificate qualifications.

Preparations for the start of the competition are already underway with the team training hard in

both disciplines and they are also currently seeking sponsorship and fundraising for their team colours. Any

parents or students who wish to become

involved should email equestrian@southhunsley.org.uk .

SOUTH HUNSLEY NEWS

Matthew Elvidge of Year 11 has recently achieved great success as a

long jumper. He competes for Kingston upon

Hull Athletic Club and also represents Humberside at a national level. In a recent senior league match he finished second, with a jump of 6.69m – the winning jump was by a 23 year old, 7 years Matthew’s senior. Over summer he will be competing in the English Schools competition, and currently ranks as the top long jumper for his age group in Humberside, third in Yorkshire and seventh in the UK. Well done Matthew.

As usual South Hunsley’s sports teams have been having great

success over the past few months. Our Year 9 Basketball team made

it through the East Riding and Humberside rounds of their tournament to represent Humberside in the regional competition in Bradford. The girls all played very well, finishing third in Yorkshire overall.

Our Year 9 and 10 hockey teams pooled their resources to play in an under 16 tournament at Driffield. They won the tournament easily, beating Driffield and Market Weighton in the finals.

South Hunsley’s Year 7 netball team recently came second in the East Netball Tournament, only losing out by one goal in the final to Hull Collegiate. They are hoping to represent South Hunsley in the next round, the regional tournament. Our Year 8 and 9 team finished third in their competition, this time being beaten by Hull Collegiate and Wolfreton. They narrowly missed out on a place in the regional tournament due to their goal difference.

Alice Thane, of Year 7 is a rising star in the tennis world.

She is currently ranked number 1 in Yorkshire for her age group of 12 and under, and 6th in the UK. She reached the quarter finals of the Top 10/12 Bressuire tournament in France for Team GB, and was part of the Yorkshire team that won the AEGON 14U (14 and under) County Cup Finals in Nottingham at the end of May.

As well as competing at an extremely high level, Alice has also qualified for the LTA (Lawn Tennis Association) National Talent funding in band A. This is the highest band, based on performance on National ID talent days. This funding should ensure that she is able to continue competing and developing her skills. We wish Alice the best of luck.

It seems like every time we publish a South Hunsley News we have an

article about how well one of the Dales sisters has done in a show jumping competition, and this issue is no exception.

Hettie Dales of Year 8 competed in the Children’s Horse Grand Prix over the jubilee weekend, on her horse Arabella the Fourth. She finished a commendable sixth over the three different courses she competed in over the weekend.

One of our Sixth Form students, Harry Jewitt has left us for the

beginning of what should be a very exciting career.

At the end of May, Harry began his apprenticeship as a Race Mechanic for an endurance racing team. After a busy first four days preparing the cars and lorries he set off for Le Mans in the cab of one of

the team’s two huge juggernauts, taking on co-pilot and navigtional duties.

Harry is loving becoming an expert on the complex workings of high performance cars, and hopes to progress one day to working as a team engineer for one of the large racing teams. We wish Harry all the best in his chosen career.

HARRY JEWITTRACE MECHANIC

HETTY DALES

MATTHEW ELVIDGE

ALICE THANESPORTS ROUND UP

A team of our Year 10 girls are currently in the process of raising

money so they can compete in the Gothia Youth World Cup in Gothenburg.

The girls need to raise £15,000 to cover travel, accomodation and entry to the competition. The tournament is played to FIFA international rules, and would be an incredible opportunity for the girls.

So far, they have raised almost £3,500. £1,000 of this came from a quiz they organised at Blacky’s in Brough, and they raised a further £1,800 packing bags at Morrisons in Brough and ASDA on Hessle Road. A 12 hour sponsored badminton rally raised £450 and their manager, Tony Grunill, has completed a sponsored slim over six months, losing 34lbs in weight.

To reach their total, the girls have yet more events planned. They’ve organised a sponsored walk around the Wolds in July, and they’ll be attempting to repeat the success of their quiz and bag packing over the summer months too. In September they’ll be running a car wash day.

We wish the girls the very best of luck, and hope that they make it to the tournament in 2013.

GOTHIA WORLD CUP

SOUTH HUNSLEY NEWS

Adam Waterhouse, Luke Ward and Kieran Guilfoyle have been

busy meeting at lunchtimes to plan, research and prepare for the Cook for the Queen competition.

They have also been staying after school to experiment and prepare suitable dishes fit for the Queen.

Cook for the Queen was organised by Love British Food, at the suggestion of the Duchess of Cornwall as a tribute

to the Queen in her Jubilee week in June.

They have used locally sourced products and worked with local chefs and manufacturers in the food industry. Using the feedback they received, they planned, prepared and tasted their menu; titled The Taste of Yorkshire.

Some of the dishes they prepared were:

• The Full English – a traditional English breakfast in one mouthful. Inside a herb pastry tartlet nestles finely chopped bacon, a morsel of pork sausage and scrambled egg garnished with a slice of cherry tomato, all of which are locally sourced.

• Yorkshire Roses – a rich buttery shortbread biscuit cut into the shape of the Yorkshire rose (using a cutter designed and made with our school CAD CAM machine) and topped with a petal paste white rose.

• Yorkshire curd tartlets made to a traditional recipe.

COOK FOR THE QUEEN

Following the sterling fundraising efforts from the Year 11 students

earlier this year, three eco benches have been purchased and sited on Kingston Field underneath the trees in memory of Ben Madden.

Fundraising for the Daisy Appeal is still on going with students selling wristbands over lunch and break times.

MEMORIAL BENCHES

Year 10 students received a judges commendation in a competition developed and supported by Panasonic.

The competition, called Kid Witness News (KWN), is structured to develop students’ self-confidence, creativity, communication skills and teamwork through the use of digital video technology.

The students, inspired by the starting point of ecology and communication, produced a short film based around diaries, and how people with dementia use them to structure their day to day lives.

As part of the programme, the group received tuition on film making skills both here at South Hunsley and at a conference on Birmingham. They then storyboarded the video, and scripted the voiceover sections.

Whilst filming and editing the interview sequences, they found that

they had to be quite fluid in their approach, as sections were longer or shorter than they initially expected.

The film was awarded a special Judges Commendation.

The students, who all plan to take their studies in media further, have also been invited to the KWN Global Award Ceremony in London in August.

KWN FILM SUCCESS

SOUTH HUNSLEY NEWS

On Tuesday 19 June two of our students, Jack Franklin and Harvey

Jackson had the honour of being torchbearers for the Olympic flame carrying it through Hull and Brough respectively.

They were both very lucky with the weather, enjoying clear skies and a complete lack of any rain.

Jack and Harvey’s torch bearing was just the beginning of South Hunsley’s Olympic celebrations. Over the next few pages you’ll find some more examples of how we have involved both our own students and those of our feeder primary schools in the build up to London 2012.

BEARING THE FLAME

OLYMPICSSPECIAL FEATURE

SOUTH HUNSLEY NEWS

On Monday 25 June South Hunsley was proud to support

World Sports Day. This day commemorates the

beginning of National School Sports Week, nationally recognising Sport across the World.

South Hunsley’s PE department and Sports Ambassadors took this opportunity to link World Sports Day with our Olympic celebrations and organised a day to involve our associated primaries as well as our own students.

Students across the school participated in Olympic related activities in all subjects, from Olympic logo and animation design in Business, to the study of timing in Science with the construction of sand timers.

Outside of South Hunsley, a myriad of Olympic related activities were organised for our feeder primaries,

which were all linked by our very own Olympic torch relay.

Earlier this year students from our feeder primary schools were asked to design a South Hunsley Partnership Torch. We had hundreds of entries, but the innovative winning design was by Isobel of South Cave School and has been created in house by our talented Design and Technology department. The torch was carried to all the feeder primary schools as well as St Anne’s Special school, leaving South Hunsley in the morning to return later in the afternoon amidst a Paralympics Festival and closing ceremony, where students recreated the Olympic Rings in the sports hall.

The Paralympics Festival in PE was run by the Year 10 Sports Leaders, who together with the Year 12 Sports Ambassadors also organised the whole event.

Following their appointment as Sport Ambassadors at the beginning of the year, George Hinson, Ben Coletta and Rosie Greenfield have made a substantial contribution to both South Hunsley and our associated primary schools. Promoting the Olympic Values, raising awareness and increasing participation in sport, their focus has been to develop the multi skills of Key Stage 1, working with Year 1 and 2 classes across the cluster. Since January, the Ambassadors have led weekly activity sessions, accumulating over 48 voluntary hours, and will be organising and hosting a Key Stage 1 Multi-Skills festival in July, with the support of the other CSLA students.

We would like to congratulate the Ambassadors for all their efforts and hard work, making this year the most successful sports leadership year to date.

WORLD SPORTS DAY

SOUTH HUNSLEY NEWS

On Wednesday 9 May eight students took a trip down to

London to watch the School Games at the Olympic Park.

Students were selected to attend based on their contributions to the Sports Leadership Programme.

Following a very early start and a long four and a half hour journey, students were rewarded with a fantastic experience including entry to the athletics in the Olympic stadium and the cycling event at the Velodrome. Following a chance meeting with world record triple jump holder Jonathon Edwards, they watched the closing ceremony in the new Basketball Arena, entertained by X Factor winners Spellbound and various songs performed by Coverdrive. It was an opportunity of a life time which the students will never forget.

OLYMPIC PARK VISIT

LAURA HOLNESSAn ex South Hunsley student,

Laura Holness is taking part in the Olympics working on data entry in the Taekwondo competition.

Whilst points are scored electronically the equipment does not distinguish between different types of strike and counter, and it is Laura’s responsibility to ensure that all points are logged correctly in what can be a very fast moving and complex sport. She is looking forward to the opportunity, and trying not to be daunted by the responsibility.

SOPHIA TAYLORSophia Taylor of Year 11 is one of the

youngest stewards taking part in the Olympics.

She will spend a week of her summer holidays in London helping to run a visitor information station in Covent Garden with Team London. So far her training has covered customer service, knowledge

of London and how to spot suspicious behaviour.

To finish National Sports Week on a high, we held our annual South

Hunsley Festival of Sport. Fresh from the excitement of

Induction Day, Year 6 students from all of our feeder primary schools converged on our playing fields in the morning. They were arranged into groups, each themed around a country, with each group containing students from every primary, helping to promote social interaction throughout the year group.

Each group then took part in a number of sport challenges and games, loosely themed around the number 2012. For example, each group had to run 2,012 metres between them as quickly as possible, and the various games - which included football, rounders, volleyball and team based challenges - each lasted a very precise 20 minutes and 12 seconds.

The Year 6 students had our Year 10 Sport Leaders to support them as well as to act as officials and referees where neccesary. A great day was had by all despite the changeable weather.

FESTIVAL OF SPORT

Our yearly arts based transition activity, designed to help ease primary students into life at South Hunsley gradually, had an

Olympic theme this year. Time for Arts encourages students from South Hunsley

to mix with younger students from our primary schools. Activities are run by South Hunsley teachers, both in the primary schools and around South Hunsley itself.

This year, students were able to enjoy a variety of media, drama, music, art and dance.

In the media activity pictured, students are using South Hunsley’s cameras to produce a stop-frame animation of Olympic sports, and in dance they came up with a routine in groups to reprasent different countries whilst drama students devised a performance based on an Olympic Poem.

Time for Arts has always proved a useful

part of our transition process and this year

was no different.

TIME FOR ARTS

SOUTH HUNSLEY NEWS

Summer is a time when we have to say goodbye to some our

teaching and associate staff as they look for promotion in other schools or are reaching the end of their careers.

Mrs Dow is planning to retire this summer after 15 years at South Hunsley and we are sure that all the staff and students will agree that this is going to be a particularly significant loss for the school. Mrs Dow joined South Hunsley in 1997 and has become an integral cog in the South Hunsley wheel having first led the Sixth Form College through its early developments and then the school as a whole in her capacity as Deputy Headteacher and Affiliate Headteacher.

It is difficult to put into words the impact that Mrs Dow has had at South Hunsley and it wouldn’t be the school we know and love today without her passion and enthusiasm and her championing of South Hunsley. Mrs Dow is an outstanding teacher and her passion for improving the learning experience for students cannot be more evident than in the passion she has brought to her leadership responsibility for leading, managing and evaluating the curriculum and teaching and learning provision. There is no doubting her dedication to education and Mrs Dow has always given substantial time and considered thought in her dealings with students, staff and parents alike; always holding

the good of the individual and the school in her heart. She has played a key role in making us consistently the highest performing school in the East Riding and her departure will be a sad occasion for us all.

In fact, we couldn’t quite bring ourselves to say goodbye and we are delighted that Mrs Dow is going to continue to work with us to deliver the Oxbridge programme to our most aspirational and brightest sixth form students.

Of course, Mrs Dow isn’t the only member of staff to leave our community this summer. Mr Foster and Mr Ollerenshaw will also leave us to take up leadership posts in other schools. Mr Ollerenshaw will head over to Bridlington whereas Mr Foster is going slightly further afield having accepted a post in Thailand! Mrs Trainor will take over

responsibility for pastoral care from September, moving from her current role in data and assessment. Mr Witts will also have been a familiar face to many of our students, having led the non-teaching IT Team for the last 8 years. Mr Witts was successful in gaining a Director of Digital Strategy position at a school in York and, by the time this magazine has gone to print, we will have welcomed Mr Windeler to the school to carry on his work.

We have successfully recruited teaching staff to all our vacant posts

and have also been able to invest in additional staffing in ICT, Maths

and Geography. It seems our reputation spreads far and wide with our new Teacher of Physics, Mr Loynd, joining us all the way from Tobermory on the Isle of Mull. We look forward

to welcoming all our new recruits to South Hunsley

and wish all those staff who are moving on to ventures new

the best of luck.

SOUTH HUNSLEY NEWS

FAREWELLS AND WELCOMES

Deputy Headteacher Mrs Karen Dow will retire this summer

SOUTH HUNSLEY NEWS

MATHS GCSESUCCESS

Year 11 students were celebrating their GCSE results early this

term. Nearly all students in Year 11 were entered for their GCSE Maths exam in March 2012 and the results gave a promising glimpse of what the summer exam results could have in store.

70% of South Hunsley Year 11 students have now achieved an A*-C grade in GCSE Maths. Almost a third of these are made up of A* and A grades with 31% of students achieving the highest grade and 50% of the year group achieving the top grades of A*-B. This is really delightful news and, for many students, means they have secured the minimum entry requirements to progress their studies in our Sixth Form College if they so desire.

John Loftus, Director of Maths, is thrilled by the efforts of the students:

“This is an exceptional achievement and our students have really done us

proud. The students have put in a lot of hard work over recent months and the whole Maths Department is delighted for their success. Students, parents and members of the Maths department alike have a lot to celebrate.

Maths is such a popular subject at South Hunsley and we see large numbers of students wishing to progress to the A Level course in our Sixth Form College every year, entering students early for this exam meant they can plan for this progression earlier and spend a bit of time during the summer term preparing for AS level study. Of course, it also means that they can focus their revision on other GCSE subjects and secure the very highest grades across the board.”

Year 11 students had the chance to sit either the Foundation or Higher paper in Maths and there were some remarkable individual achievements. Out of these, there was notable achievement from India Brattan and

Callum Hartley. India sat the Higher paper and obtained at least 90% on both papers which of course meant she very comfortably achieved an A*. Callum sat the Foundation paper and has received a very secure C grade, the highest grade attainable at this level, having achieved 89% and 93% in the two papers that he sat.

These are just a couple of the really remarkable results from our Year 11 students, congratulations India and Callum.

Of course, Year 10 students also received their Maths results from the first GCSE modular maths paper. 78% of students achieved an A*-C grade and again a third of these were made up A* and A grades with well over 50% achieving A*, A or B grades. This suggests we could see a very promising final set of GCSE results in Summer 2013 and we wish our Year 10 students continued success with their studies.

SOUTH HUNSLEY NEWS

We are proud to announce that from September South Hunsley’s ever expanding Sixth Form will be running an A Level in Government and

Politics. South Hunsley is always striving to offer new opportunities to students, and

Politics is a long standing, academically accepted A-Level that is well liked by the high tariff universities. The course will be taught by Head of School Jonny Uttley, who came to us with a long record of successfully teaching Politics.

A great deal of work and preparation has already gone into the course to make sure it is ready to begin in September. A group of Year 11 students considering taking Politics in the Sixth Form were invited to meet local MP David Davis, and had the opportunity to question him on his policies and views. Forging links with local politics is an important element of the course and we were grateful that our local MP could offer some time to help inspire our students.

During July, 11 of our top sixth form science students took part

in Hull York Medical School’s Making Connections project.

Making Connections focuses on problem based learning, and South Hunsley is one of the first school based sixth forms to be enrolled. The project aims to foster in students the higher level thinking and problem solving skills that are essential for top level universities, in particular medical courses.

The project took place on a four week cycle, including a number of elements. Students were introduced to problem-based learning, via a

carefully-chosen virtual patient scenario whereby they had to examine the symptoms of a case study, then use the experiences of the following few weeks to slowly put together a diagnosis. This included a visit to the HYMS multi-function laboratory for some related practical work using professional equipment and a series of virtual patient scenarios reflecting the A level Biology curriculum. These were complemented by a series of team building exercises and research projects, which took place both here at South Hunsley and at Hull University.

Students found the whole experience extremely beneficial.

POLITICS A LEVEL

MAKING CONNECTIONS

As usual, our Sixth Form Charities Group has been hard at work

raising money for their chosen charities.

Over Easter they held a successful Easter Fayre, with face painting, bun stalls and many other attractions. This raised almost £300 for Love You 2 Appeal, Teenage Cancer Trust and Hope HIV.

They worked hard during Sport Relief Day, collecting money in buckets and helping to organise the Sport Relief Mile over lunchtime. They also entered a Fun Run in fancy dress, and to date this year have raised almost £1,300 in total. We would like to say well done to the Charities Group for their ongoing success.

CHARITIES GROUP

SOUTH HUNSLEY NEWS

During May and July a number of our Year 9 and 10 students took part in Bridging the Gap at Bishop Burton College, a project set up to support

East Riding schools and to help engage students with Maths, English and the Sciences.

Students of varying abilities were selected, and spent a day engaging in a variety of interesting activities. These included archery, a crime scene room investigation, where they had to practically investigate a simulated crime using up to date forensic tools and destructive testing of a crane They designed and manufactured a crane jib in a workshop then incrementally increase the stress on it until failure, taking data readings throughout and a construction task, where they used levelling equipment to simulate laying the foundations of a house. We hope that this experience will help our students to develop their skills further.

On Wednesday 13 June a group of Year 9 students from South

Hunsley took part in a Construction Day at Sewell Skills Academy in Hull as part of Biz Week.

Biz Week is an initiative set up to encourage local businesses to engage with schools and enable students to gain a useful insight to the world of work.

The day gave them the opportunity to sample some of the essential skills used in the building trade, including brickwork, joinery, plastering and plumbing. They also had workshops on interview techniques and spent time learning about renewable energy sources.

The Innovation Team, which formed as a business in early September

making customisable phone cases, reached the Humberside Sub Regional Finals which took place at Forest Pines Golf Club in Scunthorpe.

At this event the team were invited to present to 8 judges the successes and failures they had encountered during their first year of trading as a limited business.

The students were successful in this heat and invited to the Humberside final which took place at Bridlington Spa. The Innovation Team were asked to present in front of around 200 people that included local entrepreneurs from the Humber region. The lavish final included a pre exhibition meal and delivery of their presentation as well as an awards ceremony.

The innovation team managed to bring a trophy home for the best customer service award and we would like to congratulate them on their success.

As usual this year our Venture students have being working hard

on a number of projects. They recently completed their walk

planning course, which culminated in a hike across the Wolds in the pouring rain, and a number have passed their ICT based CLAIT qualification. As well as studying at South Hunsley, the students are also able to participate in vocational courses at college, such as construction or motor maintenance.

BRIDGING THE GAP

CONSTRUCTION DAY VISIT

VENTURE

INNOVATION

SOUTH HUNSLEY NEWS

A group of Year 9 students are currently working towards their

Sports Young Leaders Award. This qualification is based around

encouraging and instructing sport

to younger students, particularly in primary schools. They have spent time in the gym learning how to put together training programmes designed to achieve specific goals as

well as looking at the planning and health and safety issues that must be addressed to allow the successful delivery of their instruction.

As part of their Enterprise and Employability course, the

Venture group set up their own business scheme.

After a planning meeting in October, they came up with the idea of making and selling their own range of greetings cards.

All through the process they

worked as a group, holding team meetings to discuss roles within the scheme as well as important things such as the business name – Funky Junk.

They made the cards by hand and sold them at a number of events in and around South Hunsley over the next few months, including the

whole school production of Oliver, the Christmas Concert and parents evenings, as well as at lunchtimes and in staffrooms.

They used South Hunsley’s VLE to help with promotion and when the project ended in Spring the group had made a profit of over £70.

SPORTS YOUNG LEADERS

ENTERPRISE CARD MAKING

SOUTH HUNSLEY NEWS

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT WEEK

One of the most popular options during PD week, with an air

of mystery surrounding it is the Forbidden Corner.

The trip is for 40 students and is run during PD week.

The Forbidden Corner itself is located in North Yorkshire and is inspired in part by great works of literature. Students are split into groups of 6, each with an adult supervisor, given a leaflet with tasks and challenges on it and sent off into what is essentially a huge secret garden, replete with ruins, tunnels, follies and many other surprises. They have to employ all their cunning as well as using teamwork and communication skills to complete as many challenges as they can to try to unravel the mystery of the Forbidden Corner.

Once a year, towards the end of the summer term, South Hunsley

students cast aside their timetables and engage in Personal Development Week.

Students from Key Stages 3 and 4 can choose from a wide range of activities and trips designed to help

their development into young adults. There are residential trips including the legendary outdoor adventure that is Ribblesdale, day trips to places such as the Forbidden Corner, the Thackray Museum, the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and Dalby Forest, the yearly Interform competition as well as workshops

and tutorials in school including Employability Skills, STEM, Enterprise workshops, African Drumming, Henna Painting and many, many more.

As well as being great fun for the students, the week also helps to broaden their social and personal awareness and to bond with their peers.

THE FORBIDDEN CORNER

SOUTH HUNSLEY NEWS

LITERACY BOOSTER PROGRAMMEIn September 2011 Gill Ambrose,

a Higher Level Teaching Assistant (HLTA) specialising in literacy started the Literacy Booster Programme.

Gill designed the programme to focus on basic literacy skills, such as punctuation, sentence structure, grammar and spelling and to quickly and efficiently increase students’ ability over a 12 week intensive course.

At the beginning of the programme, all students undertake a blind writing assessment and a reading comprehension assessment to determine base levels and areas of weakness. There are further assessments throughout the course, ensuring that is it tailored to the needs of each student.

The programme is designed to be fun and engaging for the students, and encourages teamwork and discussion. It consists of a series of activities designed to increase

literacy skills in a fun way, including mini writing tasks, word games and open group discussions. At the end of each 12 week course the students have a “graduation ceremony” with certificates and party food.

Our data shows that the programme is having a clear impact, especially in Year 7. So far 112 students have undertaken the programme, and over 80% of those have made good progress, enabling them to access the wider curriculum with much greater ease, and engage fully with lessons. This has had a positive impact on behaviour, attendance and classroom learning.

The programme also helps to build students self confidence and communication skills,

Students who have taken the programme are generally very positive about the experience and we are planning to deliver a similar programme for numeracy.

At the end of the course, students are encouraged to write down

their feelings and opinions. Below are just a few exerpts.

I have enjoyed the literacy programme with Mrs Ambrose. I have improved my writing. I now write in full sentences. I also answer in full sentences.

I now know what onomatopoeia is, it is an adjective eg. boom, crash, bang, wallop, zoom.

In my opinion I thought the English Literacy Booster Programme helped me with my punctuation, writing skills and spellings...

STUDENT VIEW

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At the end of every academic year we watch students as they reap the rewards from their hard work. Students in Years 10, 11, 12 and 13 will receive exam results during August and it is always a delight to see students realise their ambitions. For students in Years 11 and 13 it is also their final exams and the opportunity to move on to the next stage of their education. We have an exceptionally strong success rate of Year 13 students moving on to university and we have no doubt that this year will be no exception. We are also delighted that our Year 11 students recognise the strength of our Sixth Form College and that so many choose to stay with South Hunsley for their A level studies. Key dates are detailed below and please look out for our achievements in the August edition of our South Hunsley News.

Thursday 16 August 2012

• Year 13 will collect their results from Melton 1 at 9.00am

• Year 12 will collect their results from Melton 1 at 11.00am

Thursday 23 August 2012

• Year 11 will collect their results from Melton 1 at 9.00am

• This will be followed immediately with “fast track” enrolment. Any student with changes to their choices will be enrolled from 11.00am onwards.

• Year 10 will collect their results from Melton 1 between 10:30am and 11.30am. After this time they will be given them on their return in September by their form tutors.

• External Sixth Form applicants will be able to meet Mrs Moran and enrol between 9.00am and 1.00pm in the Hunsley Suite.

Friday 17 and Friday 24 August 2012

from 9.00am – 12.00pm• Mrs Appleton will be available in the

main office for any post result queries.• Mr Jacobs will be available in the Key

Stage 5 office for any enquiries.

EXAMRESULTS

As usual this year South Hunsley will be operating a staggered start for the Autumn term, to help new students to ease into their new routine.

Tuesday 4 September 2012Year 7 and 12 students start the Autumn term. Year 13 students will be invited to individual interviews.

Wednesday 5 September 2012All students start the Autumn term

Thursday 25 October 2012Last day of school before October half term

Monday 5 November 2012Students return following half term

Friday 21 December 2012Last day of Autumn term

Tuesday 8 January 2013Students return for Spring term

Friday 8 February 2013Last day of school before February half term

Monday 18 February 2013Students return following half term

Friday 22 March 2013Last day of school before Easter break

Tuesday 9 April 2013Students return for Summer term

Friday 24 May 2013Last day of school before May half term

Monday 3 June 2013Students return following half term

Friday 19 July 2013Last day of school before Summer break

TERMDATES