ST SAMPSON’S HIGH SCHOOL

PARENTS’ NEWSLETTER

October 2014

Our school Facebook page for parents/carers is: St Sampson’s High School, Guernsey.

We aim to keep Parents/carers up-to date with all the latest news and events, posting any last minute messages where possible. Parents/carers may find it useful to ask non urgent questions on here, of a general nature, which staff may be able to answer.

Our Facebook page for parents/carers now has PE department Twitter feeds.

epartment Twitter feeds.

A Message from our Headteacher

Dear Parents/Carers

Dear Parents, We started back this term with news of some excellent results at GCSE, 53% of our students achieved 5 A*-C+ English and Maths, 64% 5 A*-C, we were 10% above our predictions. These results were the best of all the high schools and we are very proud of our students who worked hard, attended well and were great role models to the rest of school. Our new Year 7 students have settled in well, we are getting to know them and Mr Isabelle thinks they are a very promising year group. We had a very busy Open Evening earlier in the month. Our students and staff were happy to show off their work and talents and escort visitors around our outstanding facilities. We have had a large number of new staff at St Sampson’s this year, almost all new to the Island, they are quickly settling in and getting to know everyone, helped by our new catering specialist Mr Phillips, who threw a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party during book week with some very strange tastes indeed! With best wishes Yours sincerely

Mrs A Bolt Headteacher

Staff news We welcome new members of Staff to the School Ms G Laird as Assistant Headteacher, Ms S Jacquemart as MFL teacher, Ms E Borda as MFL teacher, Ms D Hollingworth as English teacher, Mr P Giles-Phillips as Food Technology Teacher, Ms J Roberts as Science Teacher, Ms K Norman as 2nd in Maths, Ms G Wright as Maths teacher and Ms G Howe as IT teacher. We wish them every success in their new appointments.

Headlice Could we please remind all parents to check their child’s hair on a regular basis. We have had a number of cases reported this term. If you do find lice please treat immediately, comb through the hair with a headlice comb ensuring all lice and eggs are removed before sending your child back to school. It is imperative that the hair is treated one week after the initial treatment and the hair combed regularly to ensure all lice and eggs are removed.

Swimarathon Our annual involvement in the Swimarathon has proven a success again with students in all five year groups

taking part. As per usual we combine the raising of funds, for local charities, with an inter-house competitive

edge. To date monies to the sum of £1,111.30 have been handed over to the organisers, from our student

competitors, with just a few individuals expected to pay their outstanding contributions imminently. Well done

to all those who chose to swim in the Baubigny pool on the morning of Friday 10th October. They helped

Autism Guernsey and Channel Islands Air Search through the generosity of their time and the much

appreciated contributions from their sponsors. Brecqhou House appear to have come out as the winning

house, not by completing the most laps on the day rather by raising the most money, but the biggest winner

is our community spirit. Please get all money into Mr Nicolle as soon as possible.

Science Homework Facebook Pages for Parents Research has frequently shown that students who regularly complete their homework get higher GCSE results than those that do not. In the past many parents have asked for more information about homework. To this end we have set up Facebook pages for each year group on which all Science homework set will be logged. These logs have been set up to provide information for parents however there is absolutely no requirement for parents to make use of the facility. Year 10 and Year 11 students who may have Facebook accounts and wish to view this homework page may do so at their parents’ discretion. We will still ask students to make note of homework in their planners. We also display sheets in our teaching Labs with the homework which has been set each week. If you wish to use Facebook to access this information, search for the page that applies to your child's year group, for example, ‘SSHS Year 7 Science Homework 2014-15’ and “like” the page. All homework applicable to that year group is logged on the page so you will need to know your child’s teacher in order to identify which homework is relevant to them. We ask that you please do not post questions via these pages as they may not be seen by the appropriate member of staff. Instead please email the teacher directly.

English Department News The following Year 7 students took part in the competition finale of ‘What makes a good story?’ Abigail Wherry, Caitlin De La Mare, Ella Ozanne, Rhys Hewitt and Alex Kaill As part of the year 6-7 transition project, year 7’s prepared a presentation about ‘What makes a good story?’. Each school then selected their top 3 groups to attend the finale at Le Rondin. The event was attended by students and teachers from Les Beaucamps, The Grammar, La Mare de Carteret, Ladies College and St Sampson’s High School. The event was a showcase of the best presentations but not a competition for an overall winner. However, St Sampson’s students did an excellent job and after the event, teachers from the other schools came over to congratulate them on their spontaneous and confident delivery. Alexander Kaill made a big impression and is a future candidate for Youth Speaks! Each student received a Certificate recording their efforts.

Staff dressed up for Book Week .

Maths Report

Groups of Year 6 students from both Amherst and Hautes Capelles Primary Schools have been visiting the

Maths department at SSHS this term. Mr Ferbrache and Mrs Chamberlain have been challenging the children

with some GCSE Grade C work on Speed, Distance and Time. They have also achieved the Four 4s Challenge,

using Factorials!

REMINDER

Maths Revision Sessions are still running every Thursday from 3:05 – 4:05 in AG34. If your child needs any

support with homework, revision for exams or help with a class work topic, the Maths teachers are here to

help!

Tweet Tweet! Maths has joined the Twitter craze. Mr Ferbrache (@SSHSJFE), Mrs. Poole (@SSHSSPE) and

Mrs Chamberlain (@SSHSRCN) are regularly updating their accounts with Tweets to remind students about

homework deadlines, upcoming tests and links to useful online resources. Students and parents may find this

very useful so get following!

Maths Challenge

A great way to earn house points is to participate in the Maths Challenge every fortnight. One house point is

given for every correct entry and five for a lucky winner. Names go into the hat for a lucky draw later in the

year. Our first challenge this year was won by Bethany Honey. Tutors give out the challenge in tutor time

and give the students the opportunity to participate. Entries are posted into the big red letterbox in the maths

corridor, which cannot be missed. So make sure that you are ‘having a go’ for your house!

Work related learning – Careers Department

You can search information about lots of things relating to careers; how to apply for a job, finding a job and help with CVs to name but a few. Contact details below:-

The St Sampson’s High School website also has a careers section that will keep you up to date with information about what’s going on at school and any local jobs available! www.stsampsonshigh.com/careers

Contact: Sean Parry, Careers Adviser for St Sampson’s

T: 733024

E: sparry@education.gov.gg

W: www.careers.gg New and Improved website!

You will find us in the Education Department at the top of the Grange.

Opening hours: Monday to Friday 8.30am – 5.00pm including school holidays

PTA News

BAUBIGNY SCHOOLS PTA

TABLE TOP SALE

Sunday 30th November 2014

St Sampson’s High School 2pm to 4pm

Sellers from 1.30pm - £5 per table

Call Jo 07781 122498 or Mrs Clark 07839 109006 to book

School Brass Ensemble

Refreshments - Tea, Coffee, Soft drinks, Cakes & Mince Pies

All Proceeds to Baubigny Schools PTA

The Chairman of the PTA is Katy Davey and she can be contacted on 07781 115870 or by e-mail at katy.davey@cwgsy.net . The AGM will also be held on Tuesday 29th September 2015 at 7pm in Le Murier School Hall.

PE Department

All students who participate in After school sports and who represent their school.

Boys PE Year 7 Football The new year 7's have made a fantastic start to the football season; at the time of writing this they have won 3 out of 3 games, beating Elizabeth College 7-0, La Mare 9-0 and Les Beaucamps 5-3. If they win their final fixture against Grammar they will be crowned champions. The squad has been made up of Zac Gilbert, Alfie Bentley, Harry Sykes, Reese Jackson, Jake Elmy, Harvey Lihou, Callum Cherry, Charlie Platt, Aaron Chatfield and Josh Crocker. All of these boys are very able footballers and we are hopeful of more success in the years to come. Aaron Chatfield and Charlie Platt are our top goal scorers. Keep up the great work boys! Year 8 Football A win against Elizabeth College 2-1, La Mare 9-1 and a draw against Les Beaucamps 2-2 also means that a win against Grammar will see SSHS champions. Joe Welsh has been superb throughout the season with his ability, work rate and attitude. If he continues to work hard he will be a very talented footballer indeed. Special mention to our keeper Curtis Davey who played out on pitch during the second half against La Mare and scored 3!! Year 9 Football These boys continue to impress with their attitude and keenness to work hard. An early cup win v Elizabeth College 1-0 set up a semi-final with La Mare and although going into extra-time SSHS came out on top, winning 3-2 with Jacob Masterton-Pipet scoring the winner. This means a final v Les Beaucamps to look forward to in November. In the league, the boys have beaten Elizabeth College 2-1, drawn 0-0 with La Mare and beaten Les Beaucamps 3-2 which (yet again) means a win v Grammar makes us champions! Year 10 Football After 3 consecutive losses to Elizabeth College we were not too hopeful of a victory this year - however a result of an 8-0 WIN was fully deserved. These boys have improved more than any school team and are a credit to work with. They followed this up by beating La Mare 4-1 and have yet to play Les Beaucamps and Grammar. Sammy Archenoul at the back, Zac Felbabel and Jacques Wilcox in midfield and Tom Walden and Corey Leaver up front makes a formidable spine to the team. Year 10/11 Football 1 game - 1 win. Semi-final v Elizabeth College winning 4-3, goals from Sam Mahy, Oli Salmon and Brad Foss x2 sees SSHS make the Spiller Cup final for the 4th year in a row having previously won 2 out of the last 3. The final will be v Les Beaucamps and in November. In conclusion - if the year 7's, 8's and 9's beat Grammar, St Sampson's are league champions in all year groups. The year 10's have to beat Les Beaucamps and Grammar to be champions. We also have 2 cup finals to look forward to with the year 9's and the years 10/11. Cracking effort by all involved - potentially our most successful football season ever! Twitter and Facebook – Please follow us on twitter @sshspedept or search St Sampson’s PE and check the school Facebook page for regular updates. In other PE news… Lily Harris won a trophy for being the youngest walker on the Itex this year – what a great achievement. Jake Fletcher (y7) and Leonie O’Regan (y9) both won their respective boxing bouts on Saturday 4th October. Year 8 Netball The year 8 netball team have had a very successful start to the season beating Les Beaucamps High School and Ladies College.

We have had record numbers of year 8 girls attending netball training so have managed to field two netball teams this year. It has been great to see so many girls working so hard during training at lunchtimes and afterschool. Star players this half term have been Phoenix Blackwood, Halle Villanueva and Juliet Martel. Well done girls! Keep up the good work. Year 9 Netball The year 9 netball team is getting stronger with every game. They have already played Les Beaucamps and La Mare High Schools and Ladies College. All of the Year 9 girls have been really committed to training this year and their attitude during matches has been fantastic. The girls have improved so much this half term that they were all invited to attend Nerine netball squad training on Monday evenings. Congratulations girls. Keep working hard! Star players this half term have been Lauren Smeed, Saskia Bessin and Lauren Le Page. Netball by Khiasten Henry-Marquand (Yr 11 NCE)

The netball season started off great this year! We had lots of Year 7s with some great new talent to offer.

The other years have shown commitment as usual and lots of passion towards school netball. Every team has

had at least 2 competitive games so far, many to come along with the final tournament. Year 11 have had

some amazing results over the years and I’m sure this final year will be just as good or even better. We have

played Les Beaucamps High and won 26-8. For this we trained so hard and worked so well as a team. Our

communication was great and the play was amazing, we put everything we knew about netball into our game.

This just proves that if we train hard, we get great results. The next game we played was against Ladies

College, who we beat in the tournament last year, unfortunately we didn’t beat them this time we lost 14-11.

We never stopped trying in that game and played to our capabilities. Due to some players not being present,

we had to switch up our defence and attack to make the best team out of the players we had. We played so

well, our teamwork was incredible and we just didn’t give up. We took so many positives away from that

match, it was great! We look forward to our other matches in the future!

Netball write up helped by Georgia Dame (7THT)

Netball has been incredibly well attended by the year 7 girls. So many people have been training as well as

playing matches.

Our 3 results so far are:

SSHS vs LBHS = 4-2 to SSHS SSHS vs LMDC = 3-1 to SSHS SSHS vs L.C. = 30-2

If you fancy playing netball then it’s not too late. Come and get involved.

Year 10 Netball by Megan Hockey

So far this season, the year 10 netball team have played extremely well. We won our first match against Les

Beaucamps High 6-3, although we lost to Ladies College we learnt a lot from the occasion. Even though

Ladies College beat the team by quite a lot the team played well and didn’t give up, each person played a vital

part of the team and everyone showed great skill and commitment. This year there are a few new players in

the team, each individual has developed well and are continuing to play well at their particular positions. With

there still being lots of matches, I hope our team can play better each match and I am sure this year we will

do better than we have ever done in netball. Team Members: Utopia Blackwood, Lauren Draper, Britney

Exall, Chenelle Lowery, Danni King, Demi Grogan, Destiney Smith, Hannah Sarre, Sharna Leaman and Megan

Hockey.

Compliments from the Grammar School “Morning PE Department I just wanted to say what an absolute pleasure your girls were at netball yesterday. I thoroughly enjoyed the matches and the spirit in which they were played. The standard of the year 8 match was incredible! They all worked their socks off and really pushed each other! I suspect both teams have had fairly comfortable wins against the other schools so it was nice to see such an evenly matched game. It was exactly what mine needed to get them training a bit harder! The attitude and determination of your teams was a great advert for school sport and a credit to you guys!”

Island Schools’ Cross Country St. Sampson’s fielded a good size team at the Island Schools’ Cross Country this year. Lots of year 7 boys and girls attended cross country club in the lead up to the race. The effort they applied in training was evident in their performance with many of them finishing high in the field. Both the boys and girls Year 7 and 8 teams were very strong with Callum Cherry, Joe Welsh, Reece Jackson, Alex Webb, Natalie Le Page, Delilah Winterflood, Seanna Hainsworth and Olivia Thompson all finishing in the top 20 runners. We were not quite as strong in the Year 9 and 10 age group but notable performances came from Jessie Staples, Bryony Bailey, Utopia Blackwood and Miles Davey.

Please make every effort to attend these clubs – you will have fun, make friends and

develop your sporting ability.

If you are a GCSE PE student – attending as many clubs as possible will improve your

GCSE practical grade.

If you are in years 7, 8 and 9 and wish to choose GCSE PE – you must be attending extra-

curricular clubs.

DAY 8:00

–

8:25

am

LUNCH

12:30 – 1:10pm

AFTER-SCHOOL

3:10 – 4:10pm

MONDAY

Bas

ket

bal

l S

hooti

ng

All girls Netball in the Sports Hall

Y7 boys Basketball fixtures

Cheerleading 3.30 – 5pm @ Les

Beaucamps High School

All Boys and girls swimming

TUESDAY

Le Murier

Girls and Boys Fitness in the Gym

All years Badminton

All boys Hockey on the astro

All years Climbing club 3:00 –

4:30pm

WEDNESDA

Y

All girls Basketball in the Sports

Hall

Y9 boys Basketball fixtures

Girls Basketball in the Sports Hall

THURSDAY

Y7/8 boys Basketball in the Sports

Hall.

Y10 boys Basketball fixtures

Central venue Girls Football on the

astro (SSHS)

FRIDAY

Y9/10/11 boys Basketball in the

Sports Hall

All girls and boys Swimming

Y8 boys Basketball fixtures

School Dates 2014/2015

Autumn Term 2014

Thursday 13th November Works Experience

Achievement Evening

Friday 14th November 2014 Children in Need Charity Day

Thursday 20th November 2014 Class of 2014 Presentation

Evening

Tuesday 25th November CFE Coutanchez Campus

Open Evening

Wednesday 26th November CFE Les Ozouets Campus

Open Evening

Thursday 27th November CFE Delancey Campus Open

Evening

Year 11 Student Conference

Friday 28th November Year 11 Subject Reports to be

sent home

Thursday 4th December Year 11 Consultation Evening

Thursday 11th December Carol Service at Vale Church

at 7.30pm

Friday 19th December Years 7, 8, 9 & 10 Subject

Reports to be sent home

Term Ends for Christmas

Holidays

Monday 5th January 2015 Staff Return to school

Tuesday 6th January Students Return to school

Friday 9th January to Friday 16th January Year 11 Mock Exams

Monday 19th January Rehearsals for Soloists’ Studio

Evening

Tuesday 20th January Soloists’ studio evening in the

Drama studio

Wednesday 28th January Year 9 Option Choice

Sessions

Thursday 29th January Year 9 Option Fayre

Tuesday 3rd February CFE Student guidance

discussions

Thursday 5th February Year 10 Consultation Evening

Monday 9th February CFE Progression &

Information Evening

Friday 13th February Year 9 & 11 Tutor Report to

be sent home

Monday 16th February to Friday 20th February HALF TERM

Monday 23rd February SFC student guidance

discussions begin

Thursday 26th February Year 9 Consultation Evening

Wednesday 4th March to Thursday 5th March Year 11 Art Exam

Thursday 5th March to Saturday 7th March Everest Challenge

Wednesday 11th March to Thursday 12th March Year 11 Art Exam

Week commencing Monday 16th March Drama GCSE Exams

Thursday 19th March Year 8 Consultation Evening

Friday 27th March Years 7, 8, 9, 10 & 11 Subject

Reports to be sent home

TERM ENDS FOR EASTER

HOLIDAYS

Monday 13th April Staff return to School

Tuesday 14th April Students return to School

Thursday 16th April The Careers Show

Monday 4th May Bank Holiday

Monday 11th May to Tuesday 23rd June GCSE Exams for Year 11

Friday 15th May 2014 Sports Day

Thursday 21st May 2014 Year 7 Consultation Evening

Monday 25th May to Friday 29th May Half Term

Monday 29th June MAD Night Rehearsals

Tuesday 30th June MAD Night

Wednesday 1st July Year 6 Induction Day and

Parents’ evening

Friday 3rd July West Coast Challenge

Monday 6th July to Friday 10th July Year 10 Works Experience

Year 11 DofE Expedition New

Forest

Wednesday 8th July to Friday 10th July Opportunities Week

Monday 13th July to Friday 17th July Year 10 Dof E Expedition

Jersey

Friday 17th July Year 7, 8, 9 & 10 Subject

Reports to be sent home

TERM ENDS FOR SUMMER

HOLIDAYS

Wednesday 2nd September Staff return to School

Thursday 3rd September Students return to School

Tuesday 29th September PTA AGM in Le Murier