Clifton High School Highlights
Clifton Highlights Issue 10
April 2015
Issue 10, April 2015
Good luck to the Sixth Form and Year 11! We had a busy Spring Term at Clifton High. The younger children took part in Easter themed fun—an Easter hat parade, egg hunt and picnic; a series of successful Junior School sports tournaments were held which many local schools attended, our annual Spring Concert took place celebrating the musical talents of our Senior School pupils, the Sixth Form enjoyed International Day where they experienced the food and culture of their peers, and the Parents’ Association raised money for the school through Nursery—Year 6 discos, a Boden party and a Quiz Night. Following a refreshing Easter break, we begin the Summer Term with important weeks of the academic year ahead of us. We wish all of our Sixth Form and Year 11 pupils the best of luck in their upcoming GCSE, AS and A level examinations. Our Year 13 students will enjoy their leaver’s day just before the half term break where we will say goodbye to all of our students, some who have been with us since the Nursery School, with great expectations for their A level examinations and their futures.
Inside this issue:
Sporting Achievements
Flying Start Final
The Arts
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International Day
Exploring Outdoors
Clifton High School Highlights
Issue 10
Sporting Achievements
April 2015
Sports Tournaments
A number of sports tournaments took place over the term, seeing many local schools visit CHS and enjoy our sports facilities both on-site and at Coombe Dingle. An Under 7 Tag Rugby Tournament took place on the lawn, two Netball Tournaments took place on the MUGA and an Under 9 Football Tournament took place at Coombe Dingle. Eight schools took part in the Football Tournament; Backwell, Bishop Road, CHS, Cleve House, Elmlea, Gracefield, Northleaze and Westbury Park. CHS came fourth in the competition, with Westbury Park victorious, Northleaze second and Backwell third. To read more about the other sports tournaments please visit the school website:- www.cliftonhigh.bristol.sch.uk/news
Juniors
More fixtures than ever—53 took place across all age groups Year 6 boys were undefeated in both rugby and football Year 6 netball team won 85% of their fixtures Year 6b netball team were undefeated at Red Maids’ Netball Tournament Record number of pupils—72—attended Tockington Cross Country Championships achieving fantastic results Year 3—6 attended ‘Team Bath’ to experience life as an Olympian
Butcombe Triathlon
On Friday 13th March 2015 two brave and determined Year 3 teams ventured to Clifton College to participate in the annual triathlon. They were very enthusiastic and competed hard in the swimming, relay cross country run and gym skills. Team Buffalo—Evie Edwards, Lucy Barker, Jessica Hogg, Alice Bratt, Jesper Ruigrok, Oscar Clark, Louis Lyall and Harvey Greenslade, were just outside the top five and Team Antelope—Leah Barrow, Emma Cheeseman, Ines Bickerstaffe, Max Lay, Danil Hettithuda, Oliver Bywater, Sam Harvey and Archie Walker, achieved an impressive fourth place out fourteen! Very well done to both teams. Thanks also to the Team Buffalo coach, Sixth Form student Catherine Allin, for her enthusiastic advice, support and leadership.
Seniors
More and more boys are playing sport out of school due to our new links with Bristol Rugby RFC, Bristol City FC and Gloucestershire County Cricket Club Eleanor Redman in Year 7 competed in the British Schools Modern Biathlon Championships in London at the end of March. She was ranked 91st in the country going into the U12 category and achieved a position of 51st; achieving personal bests for both her 50m swim and 600m run. Synchronised swimmer Isabelle Thorpe has become the Southern Champion in individual, duet and team events. A record number of pupils have participated in swimming galas, recording impressive victories against Clifton College, Badminton and Clevedon Swimming Club. Year 7’s Oliver currently runs for North Somerset. He also represented Avon in the South West of England Cross Country Championships after finishing 2nd for Clifton High in the Bristol Schools Cross Country Championships at the beginning of the year. In the upcoming Track and Field season he will compete in a range of competitions including the UKA Youth Development League and the South West Athletics League. Visit http://www.cliftonhigh.bristol.sch.uk/sports-results to take a look at the latest Senior sports results.
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Clifton High School Highlights
Issue 10
April 2015
Duke of Edinburgh Our former Head Girl and Deputy Head Girl achieved their Duke of Edinburgh Gold recently; a particularly impressive achievement whilst they are still in the Sixth Form as most students complete their award after leaving Year 13. Inspired by the older students, the Year 9 pupils enjoyed taking part in a DofE taster session this weekend and those who are taking part in the DofE Bronze Award will enjoy a practice hike in the coming weeks.
Flying Start Final
The Flying Start challenge aims to inspire young people to consider a career in the engineering industry, whilst teaching them about basic engineering concepts. At the beginning of the Easter break Clifton High took a team—The Washington Redskins—to the national final of the Flying Start challenge. Three of the team’s original members, Barney Picton, Emma Soppitt and Anthony Doubleday, attended the final and Jemima Dennis stood in for Seb Daniels. The team flew the glider which brought them success in the heats and regional finals, presented a poster and answered technical questions posed by a team of engineers. They also took part in two challenges. One was to make a vehicle slide down a zip wire using a propeller powered with elastic bands, in which they won their heat. The other was to build a bridge using masking tape and lolly sticks, in which their bridge held up the full weight it was required to carry. On top of these challenges, there was a quiz and the chance to look around the museum and a full size glider. Also an August Westland Wildcat helicopter was brought along to show them the latest technology. An engineer answered questions about the helicopter and the pupils had the chance to get on board. In the final glider fly-off, under the belly of Concorde in the main hanger, the team achieved the second longest glide and their overall placing was second. The team won medals, remote controlled helicopters and £500 of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) equipment for the school!
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Clifton High School Highlights
Issue 10
April 2015
Learning Languages German Quiz On Monday 2nd March, Mrs Harris and six brave Year 8 and Year 9 pupils from Clifton High visited Badminton School for a Quiz evening. It was carnival season in Germany, so the pupils and teachers dressed up in creative costumes for the occasion. Our teams were joined by about 100 others from QEH, Sidcot, Clifton College and Badminton. The pupils were quizzed about the German carnival season, had their general knowledge of music and other subjects tested, and one of our teams scooped up the second prize in their age category! On top of this, Alke from Year 9 won the best costume competition in the female category, for her very creative minion outfit!
Spanish Trip Year 7 visited a Spanish restaurant in order to be able to experience Spanish culture. Pupils watched a paella cooking demonstration, which they then ate. Their paella was followed by churros for dessert and the whole experience was accompanied by a live Spanish guitarist! The pupils were very enthusiastic about the whole experience, being open to trying new foods, asking for their drinks in Spanish and dancing to the Spanish guitarist.
School Discos Nursery—Year 6 all enjoyed the chance to have a dance in the Main Hall! Three discos took place, all organised by Parents’ Association. The Nursery School enjoyed the music first, then Reception—Year 2 and finally Years 3—6. There were lights, bubbles, toys, snacks and most importantly lots of music from DJ Disco Steve! A lot of fun was had by all of the children (and the staff and parents!) and the event raised £426 for CHS. Above and left: photographs of the Reception—Year 2 disco by Tom Weiss, Year 10 and CHS Photography Club member.
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Clifton High School Highlights
Issue 10
April 2015
The Arts Dance Ruby from Year 6 recently entered two dance competitions affiliated to the British and International Federation of Festivals for Dance. In both competitions she competed in the song and dance section with her dance partner, singing "If I only had a brain" from The Wizard of Oz, with Ruby playing Dorothy. Impressively, Ruby achieved first place in both competitions, winning gold medals. The girls have also scored highly enough to now be entered into the All England Dance competition in May. Congratulations Ruby on your fantastic achievements!
Mosaics During Marquee Week in October 2014 pupils from all year groups were invited to contribute to the making of mosaics for the Clifton High School Swimming Pool as a way of celebrating Art and Design at school. A team of volunteer parents namely Sarah Parsons, Sandy Hudson and Peter Goatman assisted Ms Sonya Nutter (Ceramics Specialist) and Mr Paul Ayers (Head of Art and Design) in delivering the project. Pieces of broken tiles were attached to pre-cut designs (some of which were cut using the school's new laser cutter) on marine MDF board. This allowed the children freedom to use their imagination by filling in the forms with different coloured tiles. They also used beads and pieces of mirror to create shine suggesting varying textures in the seaweed designs, fish and swimming figures. During the event excellent progress was made, and in subsequent months some members of the craft club helped to complete them. They can now be seen in prime position on the high walls either side of the shallow end of the swimming pool. Do go and have a look, we are so pleased with them! Many thanks to the Maintenance Department, who worked so hard erecting a scaffold tower to display the mosaics on the walls.
International Day
Sixth Form students shared their cultures with their peers for International Day. They brought in food, delivered Chinese and Portuguese lessons and everybody learnt a Chinese dance called the ‘Little Apple’ dance. Students and teachers experienced a taste of India, China and Brazil. The event, which took place at lunchtime, was an uplifting experience which provided everyone with some cultural insight .
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Clifton High School Highlights
Issue 10
April 2015
Exploring Outdoors Junior Forum The Junior Forum took part in a Photographic Treasure Hunt. Their goal was to take one photograph which fulfilled each of the following criteria:Ground Zero: frogspawn photograph. This photographer put the camera at water level (almost!) and set the camera in macro mode. People and plants: boy under tree photograph. The tree in this picture is lined up with a vertical line of thirds and the photographer has ensured that the sun is coming over their shoulder. CHS Rose logo: the remit was to photograph the logo in an interesting way. This photographer found the texture of the clothing interesting and found some low angled sunshine to bring it to life. Number ‘4’: the remit was to photograph this number somewhere in school. The photographer lined up the vertical part of the digit with a vertical line of thirds. This gives what might be an uninteresting picture artistic appeal.
Worcester Terrace Gardens Worcester Terrace Garden is within walking distance of the school gates and provides our boys and girls with another opportunity for exploration of the outdoors; on top of the multiple opportunities they enjoy on-site such as our eco garden and off-site at Forest School. Year 1 made their first visit of the year to Worcester Terrace Gardens at the beginning of March. Their learning theme for the term was ‘plants and growth’. The gardens were the perfect place to explore the different locations in which plants grow. In addition the children made detailed observational drawings of different plants and trees in their natural habitat. In the classroom they also learnt a lot of other facts about plants, for example, Year 1 learnt that some plants have edible parts and are grown for food. Nursery—Year 2 made an Easter themed visit to Worcester Terrace Gardens at the end of March. The Nursery children had a picnic and all of the boys and girls loved getting involved with an Easter egg hunt. A very exciting way to end the Spring Term and get ready for their Easter celebrations at home.
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Clifton High School Highlights
Issue 10
April 2015
Eco Pond The boys and girls have been enjoying meeting the inhabitants of the school’s eco pond. It is a hive of activity, full of living organisms including newts, frogspawn, a water louse, a dragonfly nymph and more! The pond is visited by a number of year groups every day at this time of year so they can witness this dynamic ecosystem first hand.
ECO-PHOTO Competition Clifton High’s Lead Specialist on Photography and the Environment, Mr Walmsley, is running a photography competition for all budding (and practising!) wildlife photographers in the Clifton High School community. Visit the school website for full details. Nearly £300 to be won in total prize money! a) Overall winner: £50 in vouchers and a one-to-one session with a specialist photographer about the power of their images and the photographer’s potential. b) Category winners: £10 in vouchers c) Special Award for Innovation from Art Department: £10 in vouchers d) Special Award for a single entry selected by Dr Neill: £10 in vouchers e) All winners and runners-up: an enlarged print of your winning picture f) All of the above will receive a certificate (suitable for résumés). Age Categories: Juniors Y1 – Y3 / Juniors Y4 – Y6 / Seniors / Staff + Parents + Alumni + Governors Subject Categories: Building our Future / Wildlife Behaviour / Natural World / Nature v. Nintendo / Natural Spark (series of 6) Your entry can be either a recent or a historic photograph that you have taken. Email all entries, with a caption to TWalmsley@cliftonhigh.bristol.sch.uk by 31st May 2015.
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Clifton High School Highlights
Issue 10
Parents’ Association
April 2015
Don’t forget…
As always, the Parent’s Association had a busy term contributing their efforts to supporting the school community. They organised a successful Boden Party which raised £200 for the school. Attendees of the party had the opportunity to try on all the latest styles, managed to purchase some ‘last-chance-to-buy’ items and enjoyed an exclusive CHS discount of 22%. The PA also organised the School Discos and an enjoyable Quiz Night as further fundraising endeavours. Their next event will be the Junior School Camp Fest on Saturday 9th May, where there will be a hog roast, games and activities, a camp fire and stargazing with the Bristol Astronomical Society. Please email CHSPA@live.co.uk to register your interest and for pricing information. Last but not least, organisation of the PA Summer Fair has begun and you can now make your application to attend the fair as a stallholder. If you require an application form, visit the letters section of the parents’ area of the school website, or alternatively contact the School Office who will be happy to help.
Thursday 23rd April Nursery School and Reception Open Morning Wednesday 29th April—Friday 1st May Years 3—6 PGL Barton Hall Thursday 30th April Senior Sports Lunch Friday 1st May Nursery and Reception Experience Sessions Tuesday 5th May Class Photographs Thursday 7th May Year 11 and 12 Study Leave Begins Saturday 9th—Sunday 10th May DofE Bronze Practice Hike Saturday 9th May PA Camp Fest Monday 11th May Public Written Examinations Begin Year 2 visit Forest School Monday 18th May Nursery Music Workshop Wednesday 20th May Year 4 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Performance Friday 22nd May Year 13 Leavers’ Day Term Ends
Contact us: Tel: 0117 973 0201 Email: enquiries@cliftonhigh.bristol.sch.uk To report an absence: absence@cliftonhigh.bristol.sch.uk
www.cliftonhigh.bristol.sch.uk 8
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