The Eagle Newsletter July 2019

The Eagle p

Culcheth High School Dear Parents/Carers Culcheth High School has been busier than ever this year, and as we approach the final weeks of a very long summer term, there is so much going on in school, which is a testament to the hard work, and dedication of everyone in the school community. It has been a good year for the school and it has been great to reflect on the achievements of our students and staff in 2018-2019.

As we look back over the year and celebrate achievements and accomplishments, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the students, staff and governors for their hard work and commitment to making it all happen. I would also like to thank all parents, carers and members of the local community for their continued support in everything that we do as a school.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish staff, students and their families a happy, restful and safe summer break and look forward to seeing you all in September, fully refreshed, for the challenges of a new academic year, full of opportunities.

Mr C P Hunt, Headteacher

Staff Leavers It is always difficult to say goodbye to staff but especially when they have been at Culcheth for many years and contributed so much to the school community and the lives of many young people over the years. I would like to thank Mrs Doyle (Mathematics) for all her work in leading the Mathematics Department and wish her good luck in her new role at a school in Stoke. I would like to wish Mr Hadfield (Science Technician) all the very best in his retirement. We also say goodbye to Mrs Unwin (TA) and Mrs Lagar (Reprographics) and we thank them for all of their great work within the school community as they leave Culcheth High School for new challenges.

Head Students 2019-20 On Thursday 20th June, twenty-four Year 10 students went through a tough selection process to determine who would be our Head Students next year. Every candidate had already taken the time to write a detailed letter of application, all of which were excellent. All students performed impressively in the group task. A smaller number of students were then taken through to interview and, once again students’ performance in these interviews was of an exceptionally high standard. Their performance at all of these points was considered alongside the results of a whole-staff vote. Full behaviour and attendance records were also considered.

Mr Owens, Mr Cushing and Mr Dugdale found it incredibly hard to make a final decision given the strength of the field, but a decision had to be made, and in the end only one-in-six could make it through. After a long and difficult deliberation, the successful candidates were selected. Congratulations to our new Head Students for 2019-20: Abigail Brighton, Head Girl; Oliver Mellows, Head Boy; Lucy Burnham, Deputy Head Girl; and Harry Anderson, Deputy Head Boy.

Issue 89 – July 2019

Key School Dates

19th July 2019 School Closes for Summer 22nd August 2019 GCSE Results Day 2nd September 2019 INSET Day 3rd September 2019 INSET Day 4th September 2019 Autumn Term Commences

Monday Week 2 9th September 2019 23rd September 2019 7th October 2019 21st October 2019

Publication Dates 13th September 2019

Year 11 Prom On Tuesday 2nd July, Year 11 students celebrated their Prom at the Hallmark Hotel in Warrington. They arrived in style and were certainly dressed to impress.

Everyone enjoyed It’s been a very busya three-course meal followed by lots of dancing! A fantastic evening was enjoyed by all.

The Prom is always something that students look forward to; we hope the Class of 2019 enjoyed their evening, and look forward to seeing them back in school on Thursday 22nd August, when they collect their GCSE results.

.

Parking Around School

School Uniform 2019-20

A note for parents who drive students to school and use the school car park, Withington Avenue and Culcheth Hall Drive.

If you drop your child off or collect them from school, please use the drop-off bay in the school car park or, if using Withington Avenue or Culcheth Hall Drive: Please drive slowly – children are crossing to and from the ginnel Please park considerately so that driveways are not blocked and grass verges are not damaged.

Please do not use residents’ driveways to turn Please do not use the Primary School Car Park

Please be reminded that, girls’ socks should be of a length whereby they are unable to wear them above the knee. Knee high socks turned down are not deemed acceptable. A full updated version of the school uniform guidelines is on the school website.

The rest of the school uniform for 2019-20 has not changed in essence, however there are a number of points that parents/carers need to be aware of: 1. The ‘School Shoe Guidance’ that remains applicable for September 2019 is contained in this newsletter and is available on the school website, along with the 2019-20 uniform statement.

2. All students must wear school ‘clip-on’ ties from September 2019. .

School Gates A reminder to all parents/carers that the school gates open at 8am. Students arriving on site before 8am will be unable to enter the school site until this time. to all parents/carers that the school gates open at 8am. Students arriving on site before 8am will be unable to enter the school site.

School Gates Business and Media Studies Visit to London A reminder to all parents/carers that the school gates open at 8am. Students arriving on site before 8am will be unable to enter the school Year 9 and 10 Business and Media site.

Studies students had a fun-packed educational experience in the city of London towards the end of June.

School Gates The first day involved a walking tour of the sights including the British A reminder to all parents/carers that the school gates open at 8am. Students arriving on site before 8am will be unable to enter the school Museum, Leicester Square, site.

Piccadilly Square, Westminster, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square as well as many of the public parks in the capital.

Day two saw a visit to London Zoo and the Warner Brothers Harry Potter Studio Tour. The visit was concluded on the Friday with a visit to Harrods, a cruise up the Thames to Greenwich and lunch in Borough Markets. The students and staff thoroughly enjoyed the trip and the great weather before returning late Friday evening.

Ride 4 Darbs On Saturday 15th June the 8th Annual ‘Ride 4 Darbs’ bike ride took place. Cyclists took part in either a 1, 30, 50 or 100-mile bike ride all in memory of Paul Darbyshire, late father of Jack Darbyshire in Year 10. Weather forecasts leading up to the day were not great but, either way, there was no chance that any of the Culcheth Year 10 pupils or Mr Owens were planning on giving up.

Thankfully the weather conditions were, on the whole pleasant, (apart from the torrential downpour for an hour or so). The Culcheth High representatives took on the 50-mile bike ride having conquered the 30 mile the year before. A fantastic and challenging day was completed with over £15000 raised for Motor Neurone Disease Association in the eight years that the event has been running.

Summer GCSE Exam Results Year 11 GCSE Exam Results will be available for collection from the School Hall on Thursday 22nd August 2019 from 8.45am If a student is unable to collect their results and wishes someone else to collect them on their behalf (e.g. a parent or a nominated representative) they must provide the following: Proof of the student’s identity i.e. passport, driving licence or birth certificate A signed letter of authorisation from the student Proof of their own identity Results CANNOT under any circumstances be given out over the telephone or via email. If for any reason a student cannot collect their results personally or send in a nominated representative, we are able to post out results upon receipt of an A5 stamped self-addressed envelope (please ensure the correct postage is affixed). This must be left at the main reception and given to a member of the administration team.

Examination Certificates Examination certificates will be available for collection for 2019 Year 11 leavers from school week commencing 18th November 2019.

Certificates can be collected between the hours of 9.00am and 4.00pm from the main school reception. Students must bring identification with them upon collection.

Certificates belong to the student and therefore cannot be issued to any other individual without the relevant documentation which includes proof of student identity i.e. passport, driving licence or birth certificate, a signed letter of authorisation from the student and identification of the person collecting. It is extremely important that examination certificates are collected as they are required for Higher Education and future employers often request them.

Culcheth High School Ladies Completed the Starlight Walk Five years ago a group of ladies from Culcheth High School completed the Warrington Starlight Walk to raise funds for our lovely colleague Sue Broome who had made use of the St Rocco’s Hospice during her struggle with cancer.

This year I wanted to do the walk again as my lovely Mum had recently passed away, after her battle with cancer came to an end. Many of my friends at work have also had relatives who have fought, won and lost their fight as well as some colleagues who have been directly involved in their own battle with cancer.

So….. on the 21st June, a group of us set out to complete the 13 miles (half a marathon).

Easy, it sounds?! Starting at midnight and walking through the night was the challenge!

WE DID IT in just under four hours and have raised more than £2000. Thank you to all of you who donated loose change, money, bought a book or a cake!

Hospices like St Rocco’s rely on funding. I know that the nurses and hospice staff who cared for my Mum in Somerset were unbelievable and they made her last few days so much easier. It was a brilliant experience and we are so grateful for all your kind donations to help raise this wonderful amount.

Mrs P Tanner, Progress Leader Year 8

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT Warrington Youth Service National RSE Day 27th June

National RSE Day is an annual celebration of excellent Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) that helps to educate children and young people about healthy relationships and positive sexual health. At Culcheth High School, we are preparing for ensuring that we are fully conversant with the new Department for Education framework on RSE and Health Education, and are currently training our new cohort of Youth Health Champions (more on this to follow in the Autumn Term) to help support our whole school community in engaging with the new content.

As a precursor to this, we marked National RSE Day by highlighting to students the range of support and literature available to them both in our ILC and via online Apps, and hope next year to have even greater coverage!  Wud U? is a free educational tool that aims to show young people the behaviours that could put you at risk of being sexually exploited, through illustrated, interactive stories.  You will be able to discuss the decisions you would make if you were in the same situations as the characters in the stories. The app also offers advice about these decisions.

The Wud U? app will help you to:  think about how you can make safe decisions.  provide you with more information about sexual exploitation, from a trusted source.  raise awareness of sexual exploitation.

FOCUS ON SPORT Warrington Athletics Championships We have a proud history of strong performances at the Warrington Town Athletics Championships, and this year’s event, held on 6 th June at Victoria Park, was our most successful yet!

On the track, Christy Edwards was crowned Minor Boys 100m Champion (13.45s) and Alex Leadbeater took the Junior Boys 100m title, with a fabulous time of 12.1s. Not to be outdone, Scarlett Moss Turner won the Junior Girls 100m (13.89s) and Maddie Henderson took the Inter Girls 100m title (13.81s).

Ethan Woodward continued the sprinting triumphs by winning the Junior Boys 200m title (24.93s), and with all these great sprinters, the Junior Boys & Inter Girls relay teams also took the titles.

Moving into the field events we had even greater success, including from some familiar names! Christy Edwards (4.06m), Alex Leadbeater (4.92m) and Maddie Henderson (4.37m) all won their respective long jump titles to become double town champions! We then dominated the Shot Putt, with Rowan Grundy (8.90m) and Molly Johnson (6.60m) taking the minor boys and girls titles, and Keith Newby Stewart (10.15m) and Ellie Kadir (7.10m) winning the inter boys and girls titles. Further success was gained by Ella Wall (1.20m) and Oliver Mellows (1.60m) in the minor girls and inter boys high jump events, and Cameron Johnson took 1st place in the inter boys discus, with a throw of 20.13m.

By the end of the day, our students had won almost a quarter of the events on offer, quite a return when you consider that there were 11 other schools also competing at the Championships!

There were also a number of other very fine performances that deserve recognition, with the following students all recording top three finishes in their events.

2nd Place –

Ailsa Dunlop - 100m Caden Scott – 200m Charlotte Cunliffe – 200m Mikey Wilkinson – High Jump Taylor Field – Jong Jump Sophie Tanner - Discus Scarlette Moss-Turner - Javelin Tom Standish – Shot Putt Ailsa Dunlop- - High Jump

3rd Place -

Eleigh-Mae Wood- 200m Adam Akgun – 400m Tegan Fadil – 300m Jake Sergent – 800m Pat Irwin – Triple Jump Victoria Bond – Triple jump Lucy Burnham – Triple Jump Charlotte Bate – Discus Jake Sergent - Javelin

These fantastic performances, backed up by a number of other high placed finishes by their team-mates, saw the boys’ team placed 1st in the overall championship standings, (the first time this has happened in my 16 years at Culcheth!!) and the girls’ team finishing 2nd overall, just 6 points behind the winners.

Definitely our strongest showing at the Warrington Championships for many years!

Attendance Update The school year is nearly over and we hope to be able to maintain our current attendance percentage of 95.5%. This is not our ambitious target of 96.9%, but we still have a lot to be proud of. 628 of our students in Years 7-10 have managed to achieve an attendance percentage of 96% or higher. This is an increase on last year’s number of 593. 102 of those achieved 100% attendance, which is also an increase on the last school year when the total was 96.

Special mention should be given to the fifteen Year 8 students, nine Year 9 students, one Year 10 student and six Year 11 students who have achieved 200-500% respectively. Those six Year 11 students are listed below and we hope to bring you a photograph in the next newsletter of them all receiving certificates from school and the local authority at Celebration Evening. Let’s hope all of our twenty-six Year 7 students with 100% in year 7 can become 200% next year. Out of last year’s twenty-four Year 7 students with 100% attendance, five have managed to be in our 200% category this year. Let’s hope more of the current twenty-six Year 7 students can achieve 200% next year.

The table below shows the latest winners in the POP Chart (Promoting Our Percentage) and there is a photograph of 10H who have frequently been Top of the Pops this year. Impressive numbers of our students will receive both a congratulatory email over the summer holidays and attendance certificates on their return to school in September. Again this year, we have really tried to focus on both individual and team achievement, enabling our students to see that their absence not only has an impact on their own progress, but also that of their team and we are thus preparing them for their future work places. We will also be sending out letters to families of all those students whose end of year attendance is below 96%.

We now need to look ahead to next year. Our aim will be to increase our percentage and thus the percentage of all of our students even more. We have to ensure that our students’ attendance percentages and punctuality records are able to support them as they apply for places in Further Education. In the next newsletter, we will remind ourselves of some of the basic things we can do to support excellent attendance. In the meantime, I wish all of our students and their families an enjoyable and relaxing holiday. See you in September, ready and raring to achieve!

Top of the Pops, fortnight ending 28th June 7I, MISS BROCK 8Y, MR WELSFORD 9U, MRS McGHEE 10H, MRS SHAW

Highest Climber, fortnight ending 28th June 7Y, MR UTTLEY 8M, MISS HARRISON 9N, MRS KEENE 10Y, MISS FLAHERTY

Year 11 500% Attendance Students are as below. Many congratulations to them all.

Abigail Chambers, Seb Dean, Danniella Glenn, Lily Hope, Alexander Kilheeney-Ball and Catherine Lewis

Welcome to Will Hill – the Therapy Dog

Oarsome Regatta

‘Paws’ for thought….. Will Hill is a new member of the team in school. The mentors and pastoral support staff have been trialling a community dog since March this year.

Will enjoys walking with the students, doing art work and tricks for treats. Will is used as an incentive to learning and to calm students if they are feeling anxious. Will is in school on Tuesdays and meets 1:1 with the students and Mrs Hill.

On Tuesday 2nd July, Warrington Youth Row held their Annual Summer Regatta. This is our second year competing at the event.

Both Culcheth crews stepped up to the occasion performing at their best racing amongst eight other Warrington secondary schools.

As expected, there was definitely some tough competition. The boys held their own in the heats with the girls making it into the finals.

It was great to see so many friends and family spectating on the banks of the River Mersey. I know the students really appreciated the support and extra cheering.

I just want to take this opportunity to say how proud I am of Reece Naylon, Reece Farley, Elijah Lindsay, Jakub Kocis, Frank Sergent, Missy Osmond, Alexi Behan, Tiana Harris, Maisie Holt and Grace Sherwin. Top effort throughout the year. Such a pleasure.

Miss Creighton, PP Achievement Mentor

C-2-S Fundraiser at Croft Carnival On Saturday 6th July the Culcheth-2-Soweto team set up camp at Croft Carnival, once again, to raise vital funds for the impending visit to South Africa in October. The sun shone down on us from the start as we began to set up the stall and decorate, ready for the onslaught of visitors. We had a slight change of approach this year and introduced some fun and interactive games such as ‘Duck Pairs’, a counter sinking game and a chance to win a giant bear as people could ‘guess the name’ of the teddy.

As always, we ran our alcohol tombola which was very well received by the adult visitors! Prizes of premium branded alcohol, luxury sweet cones and some extra special hampers on the day brought lots of smiles and attracted plenty of attention – a great way to raise the profile of this wonderful cause. Our C-2-S Apprentice team did a wonderful job of greeting the crowds and guiding them through the many games and activities and getting them to part with their change. Overall, after a long and busy day in the sunshine, we raised around £950.

A huge ‘well done’ to all involved and those supported.

Coaching at Culcheth High School “In the same way that teachers cannot do the learning for their learners, leaders cannot do the learning for their teachers” (Dylan Wiliam, 2010) We are all learners at Culcheth High School. Every single one of us. As the year draws to a close, it is important to reflect upon the past academic year and consider the opportunities that we have been given, as a body of staff, to continue our own learning in a way that supports students with theirs.

Collaboration is key to successful professional learning and being provided with the time and resources to engage with our peers has afforded us all with continued opportunities to learn. This year, alongside learning through engagement with research and collaborative lesson study, we have introduced peer-coaching into the professional development programme, guided by our wonderful Assistant Head Teachers, Mrs Lakin and Mr Brown. Peer-coaching has been very well received by colleagues and it has provided us with an opportunity to deliberately engage in professional dialogue and reflective practice.

Coaching is “a process that enables learning and development to occur and thus performance to improve” (Parsoe, 1999. P8).

Coaching differs from mentoring because it eliminates the need for the coach to be an expert (or very knowledgeable) about the coaches role. Mentoring is defined by Gibb as “someone who is an accomplished and experienced performer, taking on a personal interest in helping to guide and develop a junior or more inexperienced person”. The roles are very different, but both can be incredibly powerful in improving performance and supporting the learning the process. The role of the coach is not to give answers or solutions to problems, but to guide and facilitate the coachee in finding their own solutions through a process of skilful questioning. A good coach treats individuals as partners and there is a mutual respect and understanding demonstrated between the coach and the coachee.

Mrs Lakin and Mr Brown delivered coaching training to staff at the start of the academic year, considering the benefits of coaching and helping us to understanding the fundamental differences between mentoring and coaching. This, along with creating a ‘coaching contract’ has been incredibly helpful in supporting us to develop these skills. However, what has been apparent to me as a coaching facilitator is actually how difficult coaching actually is. The natural instinct for us as teachers is to help and support colleagues, which can certainly be achieved through coaching, however there are many times I have slipped into a mentoring role without even realising it! Despite this, the level of conversation and collaboration that has taken place has been amazing and we are very much looking forward to seeing how this develops and evolves over the next academic year.

Miss J Lomax, Research Lead

GCSE RE Buddhist Centre Visit Last month, many of the Year 10 students taking GCSE RE went on their educational visit to the Manjushri Kadampa Meditation Centre and Temple in Cumbria. The huge, historic centre, which was originally a Priory, is home to a Buddhist community who learn and worship together, dedicating their lives to their religion.

By visiting this place of worship, our students were able to develop their knowledge and understanding of key Buddhist teachings and beliefs that are held by these peaceful people. The Temple is a very impressive place to visit, with an ornate shrine and many Buddha rupa statues covering the great expanse of space where the Buddhists come to meditate frequently throughout each day. All of the students that attended the visit commented that it was great to experience such a peaceful and relaxed place and also it was beneficial for their studies, to engage in some meditative mindfulness with the Buddhist nun, who gave a great talk to the students during the morning session.

Focus on Year 7 – 7T We all wish that we had a passion for something that would make us happy. Well, 7T have that in abundance. We have volunteering heroes, singing stars and football gods!

Indeed, Renée Horrocks-Pygott filled in a full enormous box of toys and toiletries on her own to send to those who were in need at Christmas time. Her generosity in showing such kindness towards others reflects our school values at Culcheth High School. As well as this, Renée is not only a charitable soul; she has also been gifted with a fantastic singing voice. It was such a delight to hear her singing during form time and we all know that she belongs on stage. We are hoping to see her in the school production next year.

Renée is not the only one with artistic talents in 7T. Isabella Moss has a wide range of artistic abilities from stage coaching to being a guitarist and a singer. It will be such a pleasure to see her on the school production. Malakai Skull is also a talented songwriter and musician who can play the piano and the guitar. The future’s stars are in 7T. In addition to those superstars, we also have many sportsmen and sportswomen from footballers to athletes. Just to give some example of our future champions, we have Jana Abu Ta’a who is a talented, hard-working swimmer as well as Sophie Gorman, Kate Bewley and Lena Brooks who is also a contortionist and brilliant gymnast.

Football is in the heart of many of us in 7T and we are proud to have such brilliant football players in our form such as Dominic Smith who plays for Winwick Wild Cats, Ellis Rushton, Carlie Cooper and Joe Duncan.

7T is full of passionate, kind and fascinating personalities, which makes this form group exceptional.

Mrs C Lepetit, 7T Form Tutor

Focus on Year 7 – 7Y Well where did that year go? This time last year 7Y were all waiting for the Induction Day at their new school and now they are Year 7 veterans of Culcheth High School. What a successful year it has been too for the vast majority of 7Y. Three students, Imogen Crinnion, Alex Lafferty and Cole Maketo-Baines have all achieved 100% attendance and 14 other students have an attendance average of above 96%. Two students, Caitlin Monks and Samuel Thomas have achieved only 1s and 2s all year while a further 22 students have managed less than ten 3s and well done to Samuel Wardle who has achieved 63 1s.

Bethany Meulman has been very active in helping out with money raising for the school “Eco Club “and is the proud owner of a Blue Peter Badge. James Barker is always active outside school with his swimming, gym work and karate; we hope the black belt is achieved soon. Ella Wall is off to Austria soon to compete in the world Gymnestrada and we wish her all the best.

Good luck 7Y in Year 8 I know you will continue to be successful and a credit to Culcheth High School.

Mr C Uttley, 7Y Form Tutor