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BEST GCSERESULTS…AGAIN!

OLYMPIANNATASHA JONASTALKS BOXING

STUARTHOUSE

SPORTS DAY

CHAMPIONS

LETTER FROM THEHEADTEACHERA

The Autumn term at The Whitby High School, as in any school, is alwaysbusy as new students arrive, new courses start and we return to a focuson work after the summer break.

The start of this academic year has proved extremely busy as the new sixperiod day, fifty minute lessons and 3pm finish established itself withstudents and staff. I am pleased to report that the transition from old tonew has gone well allowing more curriculum time in English andmathematics, Sixth Form teaching time and additional curriculumchoice. extending opportunity for all our young learners.

As you take time to read this latest newsletter, I am sure that you will be impressed atall the varied experiences and achievements of the students. You will read about thecelebration of success at our Presentation Evening, the stunning achievements of thecast of the ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ and the commitment and endurance of our Gold Dukeof Edinburgh participants. Students have been fortunate to work with OlympianNatasha Jonas, World Champion Jenna Dowling and contemporary artist Priscilla Jones.Not forgetting, of course, meeting Granada News programme frontman, Paul Crone, ashe shared his experience with them.

We also continue to embrace the wealth of opportunity around us as students visitVauxhall Motors and take full advantage of what science has to offer through ourScience Day. This excellent day exploring how science impacts on our lives includedinputs from Innospec, Chester Zoo, Liverpool University and Daresbury Laboratories.

As a new year approaches, it is often good to reflect on the past year and appreciate thevery many things that have happened in the life of this large and busy school. New andrefurbished facilities, new specialist staff, visits, visitors, awards and ..... the best resultsyet, all work together to support your child to succeed.

I hope that you and your family can spend some quality time together over the holidayperiod and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a safe, healthy and happy 2014.

Mr B HeeleyHeadteacher

Prepare Achieve Care Enjoy

GLOBALFOOTSTEPS

INTERNATIONAL

LINKSDuring October half term 3 UK schools, 3 South AfricanSchools and 3 Zimbabwean schools met in Cape Town, SouthAfrica.

Many collaborative projects based around Global Enterprise,led by Design Technology teacher, Mrs Ballance took placeduring the week. Miss Kirkness and Miss Watson fromWoodlands Primary School were visiting for the first time.They were both very excited to be in Cape Town and to beworking with their Primary link school Sokhanyo PrimarySchool. Another new member of Global footsteps was also onthe trip, Mrs Griffiths an English teacher from The WadeDeacon Secondary School in Widnes. She was working withher twin school, Walmare Estate Secondary School in CapeTown. It was the first time we had all met the Zimbabweanteachers who are also amongst our global cluster schools.

Projects included poem writing: a book of poems will beproduced and sold through our Global Enterprise. MrsBallance helped to create circuits to make Docking Stationsusing sustainable packaging. The students’ faces lit up to hearmusic coming from their phones being played through them –what an achievement? We managed card printing using Linoblocks which is something we have also been achieving withthe Junior High at The Whitby High School Print Club. The aimfor this wonderful adventure was to embed a strong linkbetween nine schools with agreed projects to move forwardover this coming year. We are now looking forward towelcoming the Zimbabwean teachers in 2014.

Mrs K Ballance

Care

VAUXHALLINSIDEMANUFACTURING

As soon as the presentation was finished, our students werethe first to have a tour of the assembly line, which was an eyeopening experience for them. The size of the line, and theamount of technology on display was extremely interestingto witness. In addition, some students had the opportunityto experience the Dynamic Vehicle Testing (DVT) section.This involved them climbing into a completed car with aVauxhall employee, and putting the car through its paces ona rolling road. They managed to reach 120 mph whilststationary!

As well as being an enjoyable experience for students, thetour also had benefits for their exam preparation. TheProduct Design exam includes questions based on modernassembly line production techniques, so they now have first-hand experience of how this is done, which will be beneficialcome exam time. Once the tour was over, students had theopportunity to take part in some activities, such as trying tore-assemble a car dashboard from loose parts. They werealso given time to speak to employees and gatherinformation about apprenticeships, and other careeropportunities with Vauxhall.

The highlight of the day forsome though, was the chance tosit in the Top Gear ‘ReasonablyPriced Car’, which was back forrepairs due to a carelesscelebrity driver!

October saw our Product Design students fromthe Sixth Form given the opportunity to attend anopen day at Vauxhall Motors. The day was aimedat students interested in careers in Manufacturingand Design. It comprised presentations from sen-ior Vauxhall staff, trainee graduates, various activ-ities and a guided tour of the assembly line.

ENJO

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Vauxhall Astra 1.6 Tech Line 5d

Engine 4cyl 1598ccPower (bhp) 1150-62mph 10.9 secTop speed 118mph

The Science Day at The Whitby High School opened withwatching an inspiring science show of fizzes, bangs andbubbles! Nearly three hundred Year 9 students spentthe day in workshops with Scientists from local industryand Higher Education. Presenters from Innospec helpedstudents formulate their own shampoo; the SafariRanger from Chester Zoo talked about the rainforest andbrought in a visiting snake to look at how humans canmake an impact upon their environment. Other groupsvisited a planetarium brought in by Liverpool Universityand listened to talks about the power of light fromDaresbury Laboratories.

Students were heard to say they wanted to miss theirlunch to talk further with the visiting Scientists. To meetthe increasingly important STEM agenda (science,technology, engineering and mathematics) STEMAmbassadors from Mploy, Liverpool UniversityEngineering Department, Urenco and Plus Danedelivered sessions about ecobags, apprenticeships andstudying Engineering at University.

After having worked in teams to design and build aRobot, groups of students took part in their own RobotWars. Mr Ingram, Senior Curriculum Leader for Sciencesaid, “This is a great opportunity for students to see thevast choice of options a background in Science can openup to them.” The school would like to thank SharonVernon from Boost, the Local Education BusinessPartnership for helping to facilitate this event.

STUDENTSEXPERIENCEREAL WORLDSCIENCE

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“This is a greatopportunity forstudents to seethe vast choiceof options abackground inScience canopen up tothem.”

DUKE OFEDINBURGH  sAWARD

GOLD DUKEOF EDINBURGH’sCANOEEXPEDITION

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The aim of the expedition was to explore the wetlandenvironment of Lough Erne along with the culture andhistory of Northern Ireland. The setting was magnificent!16 students and 5 staff departed early on Saturday 6 Julyfor Birkenhead docks and the Stena Line ferry to Belfast.Night one was spent at Crom Castle in CountyFermanagh before loading up the canoes and setting offon Sunday 7 July.

Night two saw us staying on the uninhabited TrannishIsland in the middle of the lough. Despite no runningwater, composting toilets and no showers theremoteness and solitude of the island were truly magical.The following day saw the students and staff paddlingseparately from the more open upper lough into theriver channel system and moving slowly towards themetropolis of Enniskillen.

Night three saw us egress at Knockninny Jetty and wildcamp beside the lough. On the third day at BellanaleckMr Parker surprised the group with the prospect ofvisiting the Marble Arch cave system. The coolunderground air was a welcome change from the sub-tropical heat we had become used to (and indeed willexpect from now on in future visits); the tour was prettyspectacular too!

The final day’s paddling saw both groups paddle throughEnniskillen, cleverly (or not!) avoiding the fountains in themiddle of the lough before heading out into the middle ofthe much larger lower lough. A visit was made to DevenishIsland to admire the historic monastic ruins and climb theround tower before land was made for the final time atTrory Jetty.

Thursday 11th July saw us descend upon Enniskillen to visitthe castle, cathedrals, the Lough Erne Gold Resort (site ofthe recent G8 world leaders’ summit) and of course Sub-way and McDonalds for some well-earned fast food! Theovernight boat from Belfast to Birkenhead saw us arriveback in school on Friday 12th tired and sunburned but verysatisfied.

I have been lucky to climb, walk and canoe in many fantas-tic parts of the world however. This has to rate among mytop destinations because of the matureness and develop-ment of the students undertaking their expedition, thededication of the staff who trained, supervised, cajoled andhelped organise the expeditions, because of the tranquillityof this beautiful part of the British Isles.

Form tutors nominated over 50 students in Y8, 9 and 10in July for having excellent effort grades all year andgreat attendance. The reward to was to spend a day inthe wilds of the Cholomondely Castle Estate learninghow to survive outside of the urban jungle.

The highlights included lighting fires, using them tocook and then eat a whole trout and watching othersdare to eat the fish eyes! A great day was had by all andwell done to the students for being nominated in thefirst place!

Our Annual Duke ofEdinburgh’s AwardPresentation Eveningwas held on 31 October.

Over 70 participantsreceived awards at

Silver and Bronze level along with 15 students and MrParker and Miss Harrison receiving their British CanoeUnion 3 Star awards. School also presented a chequefor £500 to the MS Society Paul Airey, Local Authority’sLearning Outside the Classroom Adviser, whoentertained the audience with his inspirationaladdress. Many of the staff who work extremely hard toprovide the award scheme, along with representativesfrom the Senior Leadership Team, Governing Body andthe Local Authority attended the evening.

A great deal of thanks must go to the students whoreceived their awards for conducting themselves insuch a confident and professional manner.

DUKE OFEDINBURGH’SAWARDPRESENTATIONEVENING

STUDENTS REWARDEDWITH BUSH CRAFT TRIP

The expedition took 4 days and 3 nights of walking in wildcountry. This task tested our teamwork, organisation,navigation and camping skills. Day one and two were thegreatest challenges as we walked 25 Km in each dayrespectively walking up to 14 hours in a day startingwalking at 6:30am. Climbing mountains and walkingthrough old slate quarry our expedition then ended inBetws-y-Coed. The expedition was both mentally andphysically tough as many obstacles had to be climbedalong the way as first aid had to be administered and losingour way from time to time but partaking in the Gold Dukeof Edinburgh scheme is both rewarding and enjoyable.

Arthur Jones, Year 13.

WALKINGEXPEDITION

OFLITTLE SHOP

This year’s school production of The Little Shop ofHorrors was another great success, continuing ourtradition of producing high quality shows. With over65 students involved: acting, singing, dancing,backstage, light and sound it was a great team effort.The Little Shop took shape on the stage of OverpoolHall with the set built by Mr Morby and his intrepidcrew of budding theatre techies and multiplecordless drills, big bits of wood and magnolia paint.The production team and cast had been rehearsingtwice a week from September and all came togetherin the last week when the props, costume, lightingand sound were in place, not to mention theappearance of the fantastic dentist chair and themultiple Audrey 2s.

The cast were strong and everyone gave their bestperformance. Lead by Daniel Finlay (Seymour), AlexJones and Abbie France (Audrey), Alec Maxwell(Orin Scrivello DDS) and Bradley Bowckett (MrMushnick) were well supported by Emily McHale,Becky Baines, Amy Robinson and Ashley Wood (ourUrchins) and the rest of the cast and dancers topresent four nights of outstanding theatre. OnThursday afternoon, we performed to some of ourfeeder primary schools who were absolutely spellbound (if not a little scared of the Dentist), sat inwonder at the performances, and live music.

The show band, made up of students, staff andfriends of the Whitby, was outstanding, reallyadding to the professional quality of the production.

We would really like to thank the PTA for theirsupport with refreshments and a monetarydonation toward the production. Urenco alsosponsored the show and we would like to say thankyou to Neil Fagan and Urenco for their continuedsupport.

We are all looking forward to next year’s productionand preparations are already underway. We hopethat you take the opportunity to see the WhitbyHigh School students at their best.

PERfoRMINGARTS

Our annual Presentation Evening took place onThursday 21st November. It was a fantasticevening where we not only celebrated thesuccesses of our students but also heard aninspiring and humorous speech from Paul Croneof Granada TV. We were particularly grateful toPaul for stepping in at the last minute tocongratulate our students on theirachievements, as Gervase Phinn, our publishedGuest Speaker, was taken ill at the last minute.

It was a wonderful evening, enjoyed by parents,students and teachers alike.

PRESENTATIONEVENING

Stuart House continuedtheir recent Sports Daysuccess as they wereonce again crownedschool champions.

Toby Blease and EleanorLarkins, alongside a veryproud Stuart HouseProgress Manager Mr deWinton picked up theSports Day trophy forthe third consecutiveyear. There were anumber of outstandingperformances frompupils in both field andtrack events and bothP.B’s and school recordswere set throughout theday.

Stand out performanceincluded those by AliceBarnsley, BobbyThomas, Zak Barnsley,and Jai Cruickshank. Thetraditional awarding ofthe top athlete prizeswere presented by MrHeeley to Alice and ZakBarnsley.

STUARTVICTORIOUS ONSPORTS DAY

Whitby High School’s proud tradition of footballingachievement has continued this year. With each yeargroup represented by both boys and girls in the CheshireCup, it has been a busy start to the school year.

The most notable performances from the Year 11 boy’steam who booked their place in the quarter final with athumping 6-1 win against Bridgewater High School. TheYear 10 boy’s side have also progressed with a set offantastic results to reach the fourth round of theirCheshire competition.

FOOTBALL

PHYSICALEDUCATION

RUGBY Whitby entered a number of strong sides into theannual Tarporley Rugby Festivals that start off theCheshire sporting calendar. The Sixth Form team got theball rolling with a joint first place finish in their 7’stournament. The Year 7 side then matched theiraccomplishments despite some of the boys only havinga couple of rugby lessons before playing in thetournament.

The Under-14 Whitby High School netball team finishedfifth in the Cheshire round of the National SchoolsNetball Tournament. The competition involved all thetop schools in Cheshire competing on a cold winters dayat The Whitby High School. The Whitby side won 6games, beating Fallibroome, Alsager, Lymm, KingsChester, Upton and Catholic High School, drawing 1 toKings Macclesfield and loosing closely to Bridgewaterand Christleton.   This is a huge success for our girls! Abig thank you for the commitment and effort by all whocompeted on Saturday, Well done!!!

NETBALL

ACHIEVE

Natasha Jonas, a female boxer who represented team GBat the London Olympics visited The Whitby High School aspart of the Sky Sports Living for Sport Initiative. Natashastarted her visit with an inspirational assembly to Year 7students. Natasha highlighted the barriers and challengesshe overcame to become the first British female boxer toqualify for an Olympic Games. The students took away astrong message that dedication and commitment to bothsport and education is essential to gain success.

Natasha attended a number of different lessonsthroughout the day and provided A Level PE Studiesstudents with an insight into the training and lifestyle of anelite athlete. Natasha, a former European Champion alsoran a coaching session with a group of students whoattend Vauxhall Boxing Club. The boxers were put throughtheir paces on the pads and Natasha gave the pupils bothtechnical and tactical advice.Natasha spent the afternoon with a group of Whitby HighSchool’s able, gifted and talented female students.Natasha explained what it was like for her as a female tosucceed in what was a male dominated sport. The studentsasked a number of questions relating to Natasha’sexperiences, training regime and diet. Natasha thentreated the students to a boxing circuit lead. The studentsexperienced what it was like to train as an elite athlete andcame away from the experience with a new sporting rolemodel.

Mr B Heeley, Headteacher said ‘We feel very privileged tohave welcomed Natasha Jonas into school and have herwork with our young people. Everyone involved found herinspirational and gained a great deal from her input. Ithank her for her time and commitment to developingsport within schools’.

OLYMPIC BOXERVISITSTHE WHITBY

The Whitby HighSchool has been

developing sporting links withfeeder primary schoolsWhitby Heath, Woodlands,Meadow, Christ Church,Capenhurst and WilliamStockton. Part of the sportinglinks has been the work ofWhitby’s GCSE PE pupils, whohave been putting on tagrugby and indoor athleticsworkshops for WhitbyHeath’s year 4 pupils.

Whitby’s fantastic group ofsports leaders have also ran anumber of sportingcompetitions for localprimary school pupilsincluding tag rugby andfootball for years 3-6. Thesports leaders organise thecompetitions to allowprimary pupils to enjoy sport,take part in competitivesituations and allow primaryschools to qualify for theCheshire School games.

The sports leaders organisethe competitions from settingup pitches, designing theformat and rules, officiating,scoring and time keeping. Thetag rugby competition wasran by a group of pupils whoplay at Ellesmere Port RugbyClub.

The football competitions arealways well attended withplenty of talented pupils onshow. The year 5 and 6competition was won byWhitby Heath andWoodlands took the trophy inthe year 3 and 4 event.

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The Whitby High SchoolPE department wereawarded the Sainsbury’sSchool Games Goldkitemark award. Theaward is the highestaccolade available forschool sport and fewschools in the countryare awarded the goldstandard. The award isdesigned to recognise aschool’s hard work andcommitment to sportand this is certainly truefor the Whitby HighSchool PE department.

In order to achieve thekitemark the PEdepartment had toundergo a verificationprocess. This includedproviding evidence toshow the schoolssuccess in school gamescompetition,participation figures forsports clubs and showWhitby’s sports leadersin action. A big thank youmust go out to all thepupils who attend clubsand represent the school

with such distinction!

SCHOOLGAMESGOLDAWARD

PRIMARYSCHOOLSPORTINGLINKS

Nicole Clarke 8Y(centre) took part inthe Welsh CyclocrossChampionships onSunday 8 December atthe Welsh Show-ground, Builth Wells.She won U14 Girlscategory, winninganother Welsh Jersey.This is her first year of 2years in this age cate-gory.In the process she beatall the U16 girls as well,which we weren't ex-pecting, so a brilliantresult.

CYLCLINGSUCCESSFORNICOLE

World Champion Inline Skater Jenna Downing cameback to Whitby after last year’s successful visit. Jennawho works as an athlete mentor for the Sky SportsLiving for Sport Programme visited the school for aloyalty visit.

Jenna began her visit by speaking to the Year 8 pupilsduring an inspirational assembly. Jenna highlighted theimportance of setting goals, self-belief and hard workto succeed in both sport and school.

The purpose of Jenna’s visit was to use her story try andinspire pupils and raise attainment within GCSE lessons.Jenna worked with a group of year 11 GCSE PE pupils ontheir sports leadership skills. The sports leaders havebeen working with primary school pupils from WhitbyHeath. They have been tasked to lead a warm-up andput a small group of pupils through both tag rugby andindoor athletics activities. Jenna worked on the GCSEpupils communication, teamwork and leadership skillsthrough a range of problem solving and ice breakergames.

Jenna then moved on to work with a group of Year 10GCSE pupils. Jenna worked on a piece of courseworkwith the pupils titled ‘the unexpected’. Jenna told thestudents a few stories with unexpected endings fromher career. She talked about being the youngestprofessional female inline skater, competing at the Xgames, winning the world championships and of coursesome of the injuries she has encountered. With thepupils full of ideas they took part in a brainstormingsession before writing their written piece ofcoursework.

WORLDCHAMPRETURNS

Minor Boys Minor Girls Junior Boys Junior Girls IntermediateBoys

IntermediateGirls

1st Leo Young Georgia Bell Joe Tulleth Nicole Clarke Wesley Sinclair Laura Smith

2nd Matthew Vickers Millie Marsh Joe McKimmie Alice Barnsley

3rd Matthew Hickman Lucy Fawcett Ryan Douglas Lily Hamer

The Whitby High School hosted the Annual EllesmerePort and Neston District Cross-CountryChampionships in October. Students spent the firstmonth of the new school year training on the 1.7 milecourse both in lessons and at Cross-Country Club. Thecompetition was split into minors (Y7), juniors (Y8 &9) and intermediates (Y10 & 11). Students at TheWhitby High School made it a clean sweep with

victories in each category, anumber of students went onto represent the school in thefirst round of the nationalcross country championships.

DISTRICT CROSSCOUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS

STUDENTSREWARDED WITHUNITED VICTORY

Image courtesy of Football Federation Australia

The school has ran two reward trips for students of all year groupsto see Manchester United in action. This has involved nearly 30students.

In September, students attended the Champions' League gameagainst Bayer Leverkusen, which Manchester United won 4-2. On29th October another group  of students attended the Capital OneLeague Cup tie against Norwich City, which United won 4-0. So thestudents saw plenty of goals in the two games!

The students were chosen by staff for  making an excellent start tothe year.

A group Year 10 students were invited to workalongside contemporary artist, Priscilla Jones. The ArtWorkshop took place during Monday of the half termbreak! The group learnt new techniques for the ‘StillLife’ project. They enjoyed the experience and foundthe day to be very productive. It was a great success!

ARTIST VISITINSPIRES STUDENTs

ENJOY

www.whitbyhs.cheshire.sch.uk

THE WHITBY HIGH SCHOOLPresents

ChristmasEvening of Music

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Wednesday 18th December 7pm. SYCAMORE HALL

NEW

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WEBSITE

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( 0151 355 84458 www.whitbyhs.cheshire.sch.uk

The Whitby High School* Sycamore Drive. Ellesmere Port. CH66 2NU