AUTU MN
Calderstones School
2015 NEWSL ETT ER
A Specialist Science College
Welcome to our newsletter
Once again I can reflect with pride and pleasure on the successes of last year, and I also have the opportunity to give you an insight into some of our plans in progress. Our students who said goodbye in the summer left us armed with great results, and they are now embarking on their university courses or careers. Almost every student in year 11 and year 13 was successfully guided onto their next step, and left Calderstones with their next destination secured. They have very bright futures ahead of them, and we wish them the best of luck. I am sure you will enjoy the snaps of their celebrations below.
Hannah is off
to Cambridge
ish
to study Engl
Jah achieves A’s & A*’s at AS level
Claudia achi eves top resu lts and secures her place to stud y medicine
I am also proud of our continuing success at sport. The school received honours in football, rounders, netball, athletics, tennis, swimming, cricket, and even in a new sport; dragon boat racing! Amongst our teams we have many individual champions and city or county representatives across virtually every sport. Of particular interest to you will be our new focus on student leadership. Students can become leaders in a diverse range of activities. In order to be recognised as a leader, students have to go through a rigorous selection process, and be able to demonstrate passion and commitment for their chosen interest. I very much look forward to hearing their ideas for the school, as they develop essential skills for the future. I hope that you enjoy browsing the newsletter. It provides much more information than is possible in this brief introduction. I would also recommend that you visit our website which is updated weekly; and for a look inside the buildings, please see our link to our CBBC production. Mrs Russell
Student Leadership An exciting student leadership project has been launched across the entire school providing the opportunity for students to be involved in various leadership roles and ‘have a voice’ with regards to their school and local community. Pupils chosen will wear a ‘student leadership’ tie, designed by the pupils themselves. The new student leadership team 2015 consists of: w
Headteacher Ambassadors
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School Council
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Form Captains
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Student Ambassadors
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Student Leaders : Subject Leaders, ECO Leaders, Media Leaders, Language Leaders, Charity leaders and Sports leaders
Headteacher Ambassadors Our five Year 13 pupils who were chosen by Mrs Russell to be her ambassadors have had a busy start to the year. Following their successful interview they have ran parents evenings, presented the student leadership awards, led the school council and were ‘front of house’ at our annual open evening.
School Council
GLOBAL SCOUSE DAY
Form Captains 2015
Our new school council has made a fantastic start to this school year. The Form Captains have been regularly gaining feedback from their forms which has, and will continue, to shape School Council discussions. The first lunch with the School Council and the Year 8 Form Captains went fantastically well with all pupils bringing some fantastic ideas. The lunch really allowed all levels of Student Leadership to share ideas and gain a wider cross section of pupil voice; from Headteacher Ambassadors, to the Council, to Form Captains. The School Council also had their first official meeting where they received training and came up with their first project focussed around Mental Health. The minutes for the meeting were taken by students and fed back to the leadership group who have all commented on how great the ideas seem. September also saw the council attend the first meeting of Liverpool Schools Parliament where they were involved in debates about conflict, the environment, economy and health. They made some mature and intelligent contributions to discussions with members from various political parties and were a credit to the school. The meeting was also chaired by our very own Ciara Brodie who managed a challenging and lively debate brilliantly. In addition to this, some of our Key Stage 4 members of the council also organised a debate team who attended the Athenaeum Debates. They debated various issues including refuges and the living wage. All pupils involved were articulate and passionate and the chair noted who impressive the students arguments had been.
Eco Leaders ECO News – June 2015 A huge thankyou to our governors for their ongoing support of our school apiary. Our hive will be in situ this coming weekend (20th June) as our new Queen Bee has successfully mated and is laying eggs. The Junior Beekeeping club has a regular attendance of KS3 pupils all of whom wish to partake in the Junior Beekeeping certificate. Pupils will get a chance to do their first hive inspection in about two weeks’ time when our colony of bees are settled in. Weekly classroom sessions have been held and pupils have made brood frames, viewed a demonstration hive, learnt about honey bees and their life cycle and much more. Very enriching stuff! Liverpool University Green Guild held another great workshop with our Eco Leaders and new beekeepers this half term. The session, run by an Echo Environment award winner Stephanie Lynch, focussed on honey bees and how important a role they play in our lives. She donated additional bee friendly plants for our GC, and provided display material for our school ECO enterprise. Pupils enjoyed a thoroughly enjoyable and educational session. Students from the Guild have volunteered at our site on a couple of occasions too, and have also planted bee friendly plants with our Eco Leaders. The Guild continue to support us with our sustainable projects – a great community partnership.
We won the School award at the Echo Environment Awards ceremony. It was a wonderful event and hosted by Diane Bradbury who also told the story about Connor Hannaway’s discovery of the bird on the Calder Stones. She clearly was very impressed by him and our school and chose to tell the audience about the story – an additional proud moment for us on the night. We were in very good company at the event surrounded by individuals, groups and community projects who are all doing their bit for our wider Liverpool community. It was a proud moment being part of such a warm, friendly crowd. Our DT department have recently donated two lovely pupil-made bird boxes and a bird table to our Green Corner following a project led by James Gray and his year 11 pupils. Cross-curricular activities and opportunities continue as our English department are also still using the plot for creative writing inspiration. Year ten DoE pupils have enhanced their volunteering efforts at the GC by putting up fencing and signs for our apiary, building the bug hotel, and generally maintaining the allotment site. The site currently has more wild areas, as they have been left untouched by our school contractors – this is fantastic as it will further enable our wildflowers to grow, support the bio-diversity of little creatures and bird life in the area and provide extra learning opportunities for our pupils who visit. With thanks Emma Taylor Our Junior Beekeepers opened our school hive for the first time and the pupils couldn’t have been more calm and engaged during the lesson. They had to don bee suits, use a smoker and hive tool to open the hive, and then look for a number of things within the colony including: Honey stores, pollen being brought in, brood, eggs and Queen cells. The most magical experience this morning was watching four bees hatching while we watched - a rare moment, but fantastic for all of us today.
Charity Leaders “The CLG raised money last term for many charities through countless bake sales! They also raised a lot of money for a school being built in Mukuru, Kenya through fundraising and an amazing selection of stalls that they set up during our summer concert. This year, they have created a timetable of charities they are going to support, including MacMillan, Mind, Save The Children and Marie Curie. They are planning to spend more time in our local community raising money in imaginative ways!”
Language Leaders In July, the language leaders organised an ‘Arabic Week’ where pupils had the opportunity to learn about Arabic culture through a wide range of exciting activities. Year 8 pupils Mohamed Osman, Hassan Al-Sawafe and year 9 pupil Sam Al-Selwi planned and delivered an Arabic Handwriting lesson where pupils were introduced to the Arabic alphabet. Leila, a parent governor and Arabic teacher at the school also held a beginners Arabic lesson where pupils learned how to write their name in Arabic. Later on in the week, a Ramadan craft session and Arabic Art lesson were also on offer, giving pupils the chance to try their hands at mosaic painting. Many of our Arabic speaking pupils were excited to get involved and were proud to share their culture and language with fellow pupils. This fantastic week ended with a screening of an Arabic language film called ‘Wadjda’. The language leaders are already looking forward to their next event which will take place at the end of this term.
Awards Evening
Summer Concert / Calderfest at the Cavern Our performing Arts department provided wonderful entertainment to end the school year.
We celebrated the achievements of pupils in years 8-10 with an awards ceremony. Pupils were awarded for attainment, diligence, sporting success and outstanding results in particular subjects. Special awards were given to the following students: The Paul Reeve Award for overcoming adversity – Jake McNeillis Arthur Emmet Award for team of the year – Year 8 Netball Team Marianne Billington, Daisy Cornell, Mimi Harvey, Emily Hindley, Megan Hubbard, Ayesha Kalirai, Sassy McCarthy, Tia Rey Philip Hammond Award for outstanding achievement in sport - Cole Fowlis
Healthy School Award Calderstones was awarded with the Healthy School Award for the third year running.
Mersey STEM Ambassador Scheme On 13th May, Nuclear Physicist Graduates, part of the Mersey STEM Ambassador Scheme came into School to deliver some exciting activities to our students who regularly attend Science Club on a Wednesday afternoon. The students took part in a 1 hour session beginning with a short introduction and instructions, followed by a team activity and a discussion. The activity involved engineering a transport container and a method to move an egg from one side of a room to the other. Teams first answered quiz questions (based around relevant curriculum topics) and were awarded a budget with which they ‘bought’ a choice of materials e.g. a paper cup, string, newspaper, sellotape. They used these materials to construct the solution and when complete, testing took place. After testing the solutions the students were asked questions, and encouraged to discuss and attempt to link the activity to real-world examples e.g. transport of nuclear materials, delivery of humanitarian aid etc. The students involved had lots of fun and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Mother Tongue Other Tongue A group of pupils visited Manchester Metropolitan University to celebrate the Mother Tongue Other Tongue poetry competition. Cindy Kim, in year 11, won the prize for the Mother Tongue part of the competition - pupils had to analyse their favourite poem in their mother tongue. There were over 4000 entries for the competition so an excellent achievement for Cindy. Several other Calderstones’ pupils also took part either in the same competition or they created poems in French. This is the second year we have entered the competition and both years we have had winning pupils! The competition was supported by boxer Amir Khan and Poet Carol Ann Duffy who were both in attendance on the day. The day also included a cultural market with food from around the world, Punjabi dancing and henna tattoos. Our pupils behaved brilliantly and were a credit to the school. The pupils involved were: Mohamed Osman, Adam Musleh, Hope Lindley, Charlotte Littler, Nidal Abdullah, Sam Al Selwi James Kim, Ali Mohammed, Abdulhalim Ghaleb, Cindy Kim.
Pupils on TV – TWICE!! A group of pupils were filmed by radio 1 and CBBC to feature on radio 1’s first ever TV show. Yet again our pupils really did us proud and were very entertaining. There was no ‘prepping’ for the event due to the last minute request and our pupils had no idea what questions they were going to be asked. They ALL did very well indeed and the radio one team even encouraged some of the pupils to give performances during their interview! The radio 1/CBBC team were really impressed with our pupils and commented on how ‘lovely’ our kids were; mentioning in particular how well behaved and talented they were too. But we know that…. In June Calderstones pupils will featured in a lipdub for the official chart show on the CBBC channel. The team from CBBC had a brilliant couple of days here filming and had the following to say about the pupils: “We are so proud of all of your pupils! We have edited the lip dub together and it looks absolutely incredible - the pupils have all put in outstanding performances and have done the school proud. We are so excited to broadcast it! You have the loveliest pupils and you should be so proud of them. We are looking at the clips now and think this is our the best yet. Thank You and well done”.
Calderstones Pupil makes an amazing discovery Connor Hannaway has made history after discovering a carving which had somehow escaped the notice of archaeologists for hundreds of years. Connor spotted the etching during a school trip to Calderstones Park.
Sports Success Romelu Lukaku visits Calderstones We were delighted to welcome Everton player Romelu Lukaku to school to a selected group of pupils. Powerful discussions took place on many issues including race, religion, gender and sexuality. Our pupils were fantastic and really did the school proud. It just goes to show what excellent work staff at the school do in terms of making our pupils aware that it is ok to be different.
Swimming Success Liverpool City Swimming Championships: Swim teams from years 7, 8 and 9 competed in the Secondary Schools Swimming Championships at the Liverpool Aquatic Centre. It was a highly competitive gala, with lots of strong teams and swimmers. Calderstones did incredibly well and managed to come 2nd in the boys and 2nd in the girls competitions. This is a brilliant achievement. Results: Boys Girls 1st St Edwards - 129 pts 1st St Edwards - 123 pts 2nd CALDERSTONES - 118 pts 2nd CALDERSTONES - 115 pts 3rd St Margarets - 108 pts 3rd St Hildas - 113 pts I am pleased to let you know that we also have some individual City Champions: Criosta Hayden Callen - Year 8 50m backstroke Martha Charnley Collins - Year 8 50m breaststroke Sam Caton - Year 9 50m breaststroke & Year 9 50m butterfly Marshil Neville - Year 9 50m frontcrawl Year 9 Girls frontcrawl relay team - Amy Turnbull, Lucinda Van Steen Shannon, Tilly Wman & Martha Charnley Collins Mark Riley – Swimming Coach
Tennis Success Year 8 pupils took part in the Liverpool Schools Tennis Competition at Wavertree Tennis Centre. The boys team performed superbly throughout with a convincing win over St.Edwards being the highlight of the day. After some challenging games they finished 2nd overall which was a fantastic achievement. The girls team however, completely blew away the competition! They won every game with each individual singles and doubles game being a win for Calderstones. The quality of the tennis played from the girls proves what a talented year group we really have. The girls can now officially call themselves City champions in tennis! (https://twitter.com/CaldiesPE ) Boys team: Ben McQueen, Sam Billington, James Connolly & Josh Edgar Girls team: Emma Gordon, Emily Hindley, Marianne Billington & Tia Rey
Dragon Boat Racing A team of 15 pupils took part in Dragon Boat Racing. It was a great day and the pupils actually did very well despite never having done this before. After winning both their heat races they qualified for the major final to contest the medals. After a close race we came 3rd picking up the bronze medals. The pupils enjoyed their new challenge and were very well behaved, so much so that one of the instructors went as far to say, it was the best group he had ever worked with. Year 7 - Nathan Byrne, Arley Colclough, Sam Lomax, Holly Newsham, Erin Bradshaw, Liset Ceballos, Allanah Parsons, Faye Oglethorpe, Grace Norfolk. Year 8 - Criostai Hayden Callen, Eliado Hoxha, Alfie Latham, Daisy Cornell, Emily Hindley and Marianne Billington. Mark Riley
Year 8 Netball team Our Year 8 netball team performed at the Merseyside youth games. In the group stage of the competition, the girls played 6 twenty minute games against the best schools from Sefton, Halton, Knowsley, Wirral, Liverpool and St Helens. They won all games. As group winners they progressed to the semi finals where they faced The Heath School from the Halton area. The girls really raised their games and beat them 11-6, The standard of play was fantastic to watch, considering they had played all day and were extremely tired. They then came up against Wirral Grammar School in the Final, unfortunately the grammar school (who were National finalists) outplayed the girls. So our girls were crowned Merseyside Youth Games runners up, which is an amazing achievement, they were beside themselves with excitement, and were over the moon with their medals, which was lovely to watch, and a very proud moment. The girls did an excellent job of representing both Liverpool and Calderstones, so a huge well done to them all. Coaches - Mrs McDonnell & Mrs Cotrell
City Athletics Our city medalists were: • Emma Gordon - 2nd in the 1500m • Thaimunatau Sesay - 2nd in the 100m & 2nd in the Long Jump • Jenni Welch - 2nd in the 200m • Lucinda Van Steen Shannon - 1st in the Javelin • Taddy Smart - 2nd in the Discus • 4th in the Relay - Thaimunatau/Jenni/Lucinda/Taddy
Rounders League The final night for the Yr7 and Yr8 City Rounders League was held at the Phil Gibbons Fields. Our Yr7 Rounders team have been crowned City Champions after winning all 10 games in fantastic style! Last night was a nail biter as 2 of the remaining 3 games were against schools who also regularly turn out outstanding teams. 1st up was St Edward’s - tough game but our excellent fielding kept them at a very low score and despite nerves our batting gave us a win of 4 - 1.5. 2nd was Liverpool College, always great rivals and my biggest worry - we batted 1st and despite nerves managed to outwit their excellent fielding and then fielded outstandingly ourselves for a win of 10 - 5.5. 3rd Fazakerley - often surprise tough games - again we fielded outstandingly and batted well to win 10 - 2.5.
Our previous wins: Calderstones 7 - 1 Bellerive Calderstones 8.5 - 1 Childwall Sports & Science Academy Calderstones 7 - 4 St Hilda’s
Calderstones 9 - 5.5 Belvedere Academy Calderstones 8.5 - 1.5 North Liverpool Academy Calderstones 8.5 - 1.5 St Julie’s
The girls have been superb in every element of the game - proud of their skills, tactical play and most importantly, their manners and attitude towards others. Renee Wood - bowler - batter - Captain Holly Newsham - backstop Rona Jago - 2nd base - batter Amani Day - 4th base - batter Rowan Tookey - fielder - batter Evelyn Driver - Fielder - batter Aimee Holstren - fielder - batter Nyssa Coker - Fielder - batter Megan Wells - fielder - batter Grace Norfolk - batter Lauren Burgess - batter Year 8 Calderstones Yr8 Rounders team earned a superb 2nd place - City Champion Runners Up! - after winning 9 and drawing 1 out of 11 games. Last night was nail biting for them - they knew that with a previous draw against Bellerive they had to beat our great rivals Liverpool College in order to hold onto their City Champion title from Yr7. Liverpool college knew if they lost to us they would come 2nd in the City. 1st up was St Edward’s - a tough game but a good win of 4.5 - 3.5. 2nd was Liverpool College - we batted 1st and scored very well but nerves of the crunch game got to them in their fielding and unfortunately they lost 8 - 10.5. 3rd was St Hilda’s - showing what they are really capable of was a superb win of 14.5 - 7.5. Our previous wins: Calderstones Calderstones Calderstones Calderstones
5 7 5.5 4.5
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5 Bellerive 3.5 Childwall Sports & Science Academy 4.5 King David High 3.5 St Edward’s
Calderstones Calderstones Calderstones Calderstones
3.5 6 7.5 9.5
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2.5 5.5 1.5 3.5
Belvedere Academy Fazakerley High North Liverpool Academy St Julie’s
The girls have been superb in every element of the game again - skills, tactical play and attitude. Amelia Greeney Marianne Billington Ayesha Kalirai Ciara Millican Daisy Cornell Emma Gordon Mimi Harvey Emily Hindley Megan Hubbard Tia Rey Sassy McCarthy Martha Charnley Collins
Football Success Our Year 8 football team played in the Everton 7 aside football tournament at Finch Farm , the Everton FC training ground. The boys qualified for the finals day after winning the South Liverpool event earlier in the season. During the qualifiers we saw off teams such as St.Margarets and SFX comfortably, scoring 30 goals and conceding none. On the day of the finals the boys were placed in a group alongside other regional winners, St Edmund Arrowsmith (SEA), Stanley High School and Blacon High School. Game 1 The boys encountered an extremely physical SEA side in their first group game and despite several early chances couldn’t get the important first goal. That was until Jawad Jebrin popped up at the back post to finish a superb Bobby Carroll cross. After the first goal, the game opened up and Sam Billington scored the second after a mazy run and unstoppable finish straight into the top corner of a helpless SEA goalkeeper. Final Score: 2-0 win. Game 2 The second game was to be the toughest of the group stage, as we faced Stanley High School. Stanley started brightly but could not get any real chances to test our keeper Sonny Mitchell-Johnson due to smart defending and key interceptions from Remi Savage, Jo-Elle Ndukwe and Mo Abdi. As the game wore on we put more and more pressure on the Stanley defence with their keeper making the save of the tournament to deny the dominant Bobby Carroll. The deadlock was crucially broken however, by the illusive James Connolly who’s right foot thunderbolt beat the impressive opposition keeper. Luke Saunders, Mo Abdi and Sam Billington also had opportunities to make sure of the win but were all denied by either the post or the organised Stanley back-line. Final Score: 1-0 win Game 3 At this stage the boys knew that a draw would be enough to put them through to the final but were not prepared to rest on their laurels. Unfortunately for Blacon High they came up against a Calderstones team who were keen to make a statement and the game was completely one sided. From start to finish the Caldies dominated with Josh Edgar controlling play from the back and Bobby, Jawad and James causing the Blacon defence all sorts of problems. The Blacon goalkeeper will be having sleepless nights following the ruthless finishing from Jawad (2), James (2), Luke, Bobby and Remi. The pick of the goals was a stunning curled effort from Jawad who was played through by the impressive Luke. After the final whistle all teams had taken note of the professional display that they had just witnessed from the boys in black and yellow. Final Following our uneaten run, Calderstones were faced with a tie against fellow group winners Neston High School. Neston had also been unbeaten on course to the final and were clearly not going to be a walkover. Fortunately the boys were unfazed by the occasion and again lived up to their professional and competitive nature on the sports field. Led by Captain Bobby Carroll and the supreme Remi Savage the pressure kept on mounting on the Neston goal, with chance after chance going by. Finally, the deadlock was broken and there was no surprise at who had converted the crucial opportunity. Man of the moment Bobby Carroll danced out of 2 challenges and slotted past the hapless goalkeeper, exciting both the Calderstones players and supporters in attendance. Neston never recovered after the early set back as they had set up to prevent us from scoring with a defensive approach from the get-go. As the game wore on the confidence of our boys grew and grew and it was only a matter of time before the second goal came. It was delivered by Sam Billington who capped a hard-working afternoon off with an impressive finish. The final noticeable moment of the game was when Jo-Elle chased back to catch a quick opposition player and put in the challenge of the tournament which prevented Neston from registering their only shot of the match. Carragher-esque! Final Score: 2-0 After the final whistle the boys were delighted that they finished their football in year 8 with a huge win and were presented with their medals and trophy by Everton FC officials. A superb achievement to now be (in theory) the best 7-aside team in the North West and again not concede a single goal in the competition!
Calderstones Culture Festival The 2015 Culture Festival was a very successful event which brought together Calderstones pupils from many different countries, parents and members of the local communities with an amazing showcase of food, music and cultural displays. Organised by Darren Crosdale and assisted by Syma Effendi and Sue Preston the aim was to involve the school and wider community to highlight what a multicultural and diverse school Calderstones is and how this should be celebrated. Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, France, South Korea, Yemen, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Spain, Sudan, England, Ireland (all countries to which many of our pupils have connections) and the culture of the ‘outdoors’ with Emma Taylor, were celebrated with displays of artwork and facts about each country, which had all been produced by the children. Parents and pupils (some of whom were assisted by Ann Lawes) made an array of tasty food for visitors to try. Food was really the selling feature of the event and was massively enjoyed by all the visitors! The school also provide some lovely international food for everyone to try. Visitors were encouraged to get mini passports signed and gather facts about each country (which were displayed on the boards) so it was a learning experience for all. Chris S led many of our pupils, singing wonderfully and playing instruments, whilst our Year 7 star pupil performed some Irish jigs! Thank goodness for Niamh M! Pupils could try on clothing from Pakistan and India, get henna tattoos or smell scents from Yemen and try different teas. Members of the Al Ghazali centre, Kamal and Leyla Mashjari also helped out by bringing along some wonderful, traditional items from Yemen. Many of the visitors and parents commented on the fantastic atmosphere in the room and all the children involved were constantly smiling from the camaraderie that was generated by everyone working together that afternoon!!
UK Military School A group of our year 9 pupils at Calderstones School have been working on a weekly basis with UK Military School. The aim of the project is to raise each pupil’s self esteem and personal expectations. The former soldiers have delivered challenging activities to enable the pupils to develop individual strengths such as confidence, leadership and team working expertise. So far the pupils have engaged in classroom and practical activities, learnt numerous new skills and are thoroughly enjoying every minute! Although early days, the impact of the work by the UKMS team is vast... the boys are eager to succeed in the challenges of the programme and already a noticeable improvement in their aspirations is apparent. The pupils involved are also extremely excited about the UKMS residential, where they can put all their new skills to the test!
The Residential The intervention culminated in a 3 day residential camp in North Wales. During this camp the boys had the opportunity to put to the test their skills they had been developing over the previous 12 weeks. We had to make a shelter and set snares in the wild, start a fire and learn to work and move like a Army platoon on a Army exercise. Plus 6.30am morning P.T runs. The highlight of the trip was when the boys had to perform a night time CTR (close quarter tactical reccie) mission. This involved the boys having to sneak into a guarded enemy bases to retrieve information. Using all the team work, camouflage and stealth work they had developed. All the boys were a credit to themselves and the school throughout the programme and on the residential they commented how they felt it was a ‘life changing’ trip. Pupil Comments “Our instructor taught us about discipline, respect for each other and also to have trust each other, it was amazing” “We became better friends doing the activities and learnt how to trust each other” “Our Instructor helped me to be more confident and not to be scared of difficult things” “The camouflage lesson has been my favourite lesson so far” “I now get on with the other pupils so much better” “The UKMS lessons have helped me improve my behaviour and attitude in school and I now realise that alongside my grades, these things are important too, if not more so” “Before the course I didn’t really enjoy school and I didn’t think I was good enough to succeed in anything, my instructor has taught me that if I believe in myself and try my best, anything is possible
Harry Potter Trip Please see the @CaldiesWTennis twitter page for all the photos/videos that were taken on the recent Wimbledon/Harry Potter Studio’s trip It was a fabulous weekend and the 36 pupils were an absolute credit to themselves and the school!
Rewards Trips Year 8 end the year with a super rewards trip to London
Athenaeum Debates Schools from across Merseyside took part in ‘The Athenaeum Debates’ a day of non-competitive debates held in conjunction with Liverpool Schools’ Parliament at the famous Athenaeum Library. The topic of debate were: Following the Government suggesting the introduction of a Living Wage in the UK a maximum wage should be introduced to promote a fairer society. West European Countries have a moral obligation to accept refugees from t he Middle East and North Africa. The present Conservative Government should reverse its decision to hold a Referendum by 2017 on UK Membership of the EU. Students from Calderstones School, Birkenhead School, Notre Dame, King’s Leadership Academy, West Kirby Grammar School, St Margaret’s and Sandfield Park gave arguments that were passionate, articular and challenging. It was a fantastic day showcasing the talents of so many of our students with the chair noting how outstanding the students arguments had been.
World Mental Health Day: Calderstones pupils were involved in a recent CAHMS competition to design Inspire Cards to celebrate World Mental Health Day. The competition involved pupils across the city creating an InspireCard with a positive thought or image that would be used as part of Liverpool’s celebration of World Mental Health Day. There were over 900 entries and I am pleased to tell you that 6 Calderstones pupils were some of the lucky winnersPhoebe Cowin, Ellie Power, Francisco Montano (moved back to Brazil), Faye Mills, Nyree Richards and Kaitan Fenn. It is a fantastic achievement and the pupils should be extremely proud. The InspireCards will be used in schools across the area during the month on October and will be used in an event on 10th October in Williamson Square where they will be displayed. All winners received a £10 Liverpool One voucher, a certificate and a copy of the cards produced. There will also be a press release of the winner’s achievement.
Primary School Awards Young Citizen of the Year Award – Calderstones school also annually sponsors an award for each Year 6 presentation ceremony. This award is presented to a pupil who is a fantastic role model and someone who always gives their time and energy to help peers, staff, the school and local community. We feel it is important to acknowledge this achievement and is reflective of our positive ethos here at Calderstones School 2015 winners: Young Citizen of the Year (Dovedale Primary School) - Josie Theobold Young Citizen of the Year (Mosspits Primary School) - Edmund Smith Commitment Award for Outstanding Attendance (Booker Avenue Junior School) - Hana Ahmed
Primary Partnerships Another successful transition project took place this summer. In July year 5 pupils joined is for ‘BIG school week’ where they visited the school and tried ‘BIG’ school lessons. In August we welcomed our future Year 7 students to a Summer School where they met their future classmates and teachers, and enjoy a range of activities and events. Activities were delivered by staff and UKMS and were based around team building, making friends, getting to know their form class and addressing any fears about the move to secondary school. Pupils thoroughly enjoyed the week.