The achiever issue 6

Issue 6

Name:

C Vale The offic e l d n e P ial magazine of

ollege

in this issue...

Annual Evening for Year 6 Students and Their Parents Spotlight on English Charity Choices

plus much more...

Think Pendle Vale, Think Achievement

We are feeling particularly chipper and upbeat because this year we were successful in attaining our ‘best ever’ examination results. This personal best saw:

5+A* - C Grade with English & Maths

51% 75%

5+ A* - C Grade Overall

I firmly believe that we have developed a ‘culture for learning’ here at Pendle Vale that is reaping real benefits for our students. Our hard work continues as we strive for even better results in the future. This year we have welcomed a number of new colleagues to ‘Team Pendle Vale’ and I can categorically state that the quality and professionalism of staff is, without doubt, the best I have ever worked with.

Once again we are oversubscribed and we are pleased to welcome our new year 7 students, they have already acclimatised to the high expectations that we have of them. We have high hopes for these young people with a particular focus in reinforcing their Literacy skills that will enable them to access significantly higher levels of achievement in the future.

Enjoy what will be a fascinating, enjoyable and rewarding read.

My very best wishes 

Steve Wilson Headteacher

To get my GCSE’s and get a good job.

I want to learn a lot more and make new friends.

I have been able to make lots of new friends.

It is a lot bigger and there are more activities to do.

I’ve found doing new subjects really interesting and you get a lot more independence.

My sister came here and said it was brilliant and fun and the teachers were nice.

I live near the school and loads of my friends come here.

My brother came here and said it had good facilities and nice teachers.

There are lots of lessons which means I get to learn more.

I have been able to make lots of new friends whilst still keeping my old ones.

To get good grades to lead to a good job.

The best possible grades I can.

There are loads of good opportunities with lots of clubs and things to do.

You have more responsibility to do things and have more independence.

My sisters come here and they said it was a good school, lessons were fun and the teachers were nice.

What do you want to achieve at Pendle Vale College?

The teachers listen to your ideas and thoughts for lessons.

How is Pendle Vale different to being at Primary school?

Why did you want to come to Pendle Vale College?

What’s the best thing about being a student at Pendle Vale College?

The school productions and the things they do in Art, Music & Drama.

I am looking forward to the trips and work experience.

Learning new things and going on trips.

Learning new subjects which will help in the future.

What are you most looking forward to doing at Pendle Vale College?

Making the Right Move

I sincerely hope that this magazine will give you a feel for the many and varied things going on here at Pendle Vale that makes it such an exciting and vibrant place to work in for staff and students.

Making the Right Move

A very warm welcome to everyone to another issue of The Achiever.

Learning Leadership Through Literacy

We have lots to celebrate at Pendle Vale College having achieved our best ever examination results this year. The results have surpassed all targets set including estimates using Fischer Family Trust D, where progress would reflect the top performing 25% of schools nationally.

Targets

Actual achieved

5A*-C

73

75

Inc English and Maths

46

49

Capped Points Score

328

338

75% of our studen ts achieved 5A*- C with 51% achieving this in cluding English and Mat hs at grade C or bette r.

These results p ut Pendle Vale Coll ege amongst the highest achievin g secondary scho ols in this area rewarding stude nts and staff alike fo r the hard work that went into y et another stunnin g examination performance.

51%

5+A* - C Grade with English & Maths %5 A*- C inc E&M

A special well done should go to top performing students Muhammed Aqil and Qamer Ilyas for their 13 A/A* grades, whilst Jake Abrahams, Ameena Bibi, Billie Howarth, Andleeb Shah and Rizwaan Daar also put in outstanding performances.

A special mention should go out to the boys who have continued to buck national trends by outperforming the girls based on estimated performance.

Well done to the class of 2011 and best wishes for the future. All eyes are now on future cohorts as the hard work is once again well and truly underway.

75% 5+ A* - C Grade Overall

Pendle Vale year 10 students have been working towards their Literacy Leader award.

This is a programme administered by Sports Leaders UK and has been part of the work of our specialist college status.

The aim of the programme is to provide one-toone reading support for year 7 students whilst also giving a leadership opportunity for some of our most able and articulate year 10s.

Breeze Bowker, a year 10 literacy leader, is clear about her reasons for being involved. “I am part of the programme because I want to help the year 7 students with their reading. It is good to be able to meet them regularly. Getting excited about literacy and being able to read better and get will really help them when they get to their GCSEs.” “It is also good to be a positive role model to younger students,” adds Chloe Bell, another literacy leader.

So how is the programme helping? Year 7 students meet their buddy leader on two mornings a week when they eat breakfast together in the canteen. Then it is down to the serious business, with a session of reading in the LRC. “The training we had really helped,” says Holly Mayor. “We have been able to record words that our year 7s are struggling with, we then help them break them down and we practise them in the next session.” James Brett agrees “I got involved because I wanted to help. The training helped me to plan my sessions, and I am confident that I can support my buddy now.” Hamza Nazir, James’s year 7 buddy, is equally enthusiastic. “James has helped me a lot! He listens to me

and helps me on words when I am stuck.”

Tyler Fallows and Corey Edmondson, two of the year 7 readers, put their experience quite simply. “It is encouraging me to read more,” says Tyler. Corey agrees.

“I am enjoying this book, Chloe helped me make a good choice.”

The programme is growing, with 23 buddy pairs meeting regularly. The year 10s will receive their awards in the summer and the year 7 students’ progress is being monitored closely. To sum up the programme, Mr Wilson has the last word. “It’s great to see so many enthusiastic youngsters reading together, there is a real buzz about reading.”

Annual Evening for Year 6 Students and their Parents

Pendle Vale College is hugely proud to have received its best ever GCSE results this year, an achievement which we are planning to surpass again next year.

To facilitate this goal we have recently subscribed to an exciting new GCSE resource: GCSEPod. GCSEPod provides revision podcasts which our students can watch through the Pendle Vale College VLE, Moodle, or download to play later on their iPods, iPhones, Blackberry and Android devices. All podcasts are enhanced with text and images and are designed to support students in the classroom, with their homework and during exam time.

So many students at Pendle Vale already have mobile technology in their pockets and we hope to harness this existing technology to engage students with their studies in an innovative way. GCSEPod has already been proven to have a significant impact on A*- C performance.

By appealing equally to high achievers and to those in the C/D borderline area we aim to make GCSEPod an integral part of learning and revision for every GCSE student studying at Pendle Vale.

With support from staff and parents, we will become one of the most technologically advanced Colleges in Britain for the way in which we engage our students using technology.

You can access GCSE Pod by following the barcode opposite or through the Whole School section of Moodle.

Try it for yourself scan the barcode

In October we hosted our annual evening for year 6 students and their parents.

This gave everyone the opportunity to: • Experiment with exploding Jellybabies in Science.

• Play games invented our by students in Maths.

• Test their literacy skills in English using active learning techniques.

• Try out computer games in ICT devised by primary school students during a liaison project.

YEAR

• Make a key ring, puppet and biscuits in Technology.

• Join in and try lots of new sporting activities. And lots more.

A constant stream of visitors created a vibrant atmosphere throughout the evening and we now look forward to seeing everyone again in September as new year 7’s.

Bali Rai

BLOG ON!

During the Summer Term of 2011, Year 8 students were treated to a workshop with author Bali Rai. The session, organized by our LRC manager Anita Vine, was enjoyed by all students, many of whom joined a very long queue to have his latest book signed.

The session focused on cultural issues raised in his new novel, “Killing Honour”.

le College and y left Pendle Va ad re al g ve ha 7 Year et and explorin rfing the intern su e, ? er og th t bl a ou are what is e. Our first job: the blogospher the internet on y ar g, or a di lo eb w a is og A bl an internet by anyone with ad re be n ca that to say what’s using our blog re e’ W n. tio ec conn we’re getting lege, show how ol C in g in en happ lish lessons, to hool and, in Eng sc w cs ne r ou in on eas about topi ork and leave id ew lf? m se ho ur r yo ou do look Why not take a s. as cl ss. re in d dp re or cove ng.w tp://jat2011y7e ht – h lis ave le ng E se 7 ea Year sts, pl joy any of our po en ally u re yo e If w / – m co you like telling us what t en m m co a us appreciate it!

Literati: [noun] [plural] Intellectuals and the educated who read and comment on literature.

Glitter: [verb] Shine with a bright, shimmering light.

Gliterati: [noun] [plural] Able, Gifted & Talented students studying at Pendle Vale College who meet to embrace, share and develop their love of literature. The Gliterati are here.

We share a love of classic literature and are trawling the annals of literary history to take the best and the brightest, and read the best and the brightest books with which the English language has been graced.

Our first book, Harper Lee’s wonderful account of life in a southern state, To Kill A Mockingbird, is a rich account of Scout’s young life as she grows into a young woman in a small town blighted by poverty and racism.

Reading without reflecting is like eating without digesting – Edmund Burke You can see how we’re getting on, and leave us a comment if you’d like, on our blog at http://pvcgliterati.wordpress. com/about/

ndle Vale Once again, Pe 7s have College’s Year with a d been presente e some ar e er free book. H reading of our students ok. their chosen bo

Holiday Boxes As part of the Literacy strategy focus, Year 7 English students enjoyed a Speaking and Listening activity based on holiday boxes which they prepared during the summer holidays and brought to school. On Intake Day they had been asked to place small items, which would remind them of their summer break, into an empty box. Working with a partner, they shared their “treasures” as part of getting to know each other.

Superstars Students who did especially well in English last year were rewarded for their outstanding efforts with a special English Superstars certificate presented in assembly.

Well done to all of them!

Listen Up! Year 7 got their Pendle Vale careers off to a flying start by investigating the importance of being a good listener. In school, work and everyday life, listening is a vital skill, and we all know that to be the best you can be and learn as much as possible, you must listen and listen well.

And what did Year 7 discover? That concentrating on who’s talking, keeping eye contact, and thinking of your own questions make a great listener... and that those who listen well, learn well.

for OXF AM

High ence at Walton ci S f o d ea H d ails teacher an ut how quickly n In 1978 Mr Bell, o d fin to t en im exper The first School set up an ent conditions. er iff d to d se o p ater, ex posed to just w ex would rust when e b tu st te ed d air in a seal nail was placed the third water an d an r ai to ly n o osed is now a lead the second exp ars and Mr Bell ye 33 d ar rw fo llege. combined. Fast Pendle Vale Co at r to ila g vi d in s examination n he discovere

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Last Term Year 8 collected unwanted books from family and friends to send to the OXFAM as part of their BIG BOOK CHALLENGE. Soon all of the school wanted to get involved so we set a target to collect 1000 books.

We easily surpassed this target, in fact we filled the school minibus!

Ms Hayes, Mrs Sutcliffe and Mrs Hesketh took 6 Year 8 students and a FULL minibus to the delight of the Oxfam bookstore in Skipton, where they are on sale to the public raising money for good causes.

on ey

Big Book Challenge

l o o h c S t s e g n Is this the Lo ? d l r o W e h t n i Experiment

in s i Ra

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surprise whe ’s ll e B r M e in g in room 461, Ima n o g in o g ll ti s ent is have been y a that his experim m g in d il u b l ar schoo the old gramm t the nails have demolished bu survived!

The Year 7s chosen charity for this year is the Muscular Dsytrophy Campaign – a charity whose main aim is to raise money to fund research to find the causes of and cures for over 60 muscle-wasting conditions.

Year 7 voted on Moodle to decide between 4 worthy causes. Muscular Dystrophy was by far and away the most popular choice with the pupils.

We are all really looking forward to the challenge of raising money for this fantastic charity this year!

Year 8 were asked to suggest Charities they would like to support. This was done through the 12 Form Representative on Student Voice who then went back to their forms to gauge the response. From this a list was prepared of possible Charities that Y 8 would like to support. There was then an Assembly where all the Charities were discussed. The Students then voted for their favourite Charity via Moodle.

The Charity we chose was “Save the Children” whose slogan is “no child is born to die”. After each Assembly there is a collection and all monies collected go toward our chosen Charity.

In Year 9 each form discussed which charity they would like to support.

When all the form groups had decided upon their choice the PDL for Year 9 met with elected form representatives to discuss which charity to choose for the year. The final decision was made to support Cancer Research, a very popular choice amongst our students.

Students from Years 10 and 11 are currently deciding which worthy cause to support, so watch this space!

Year 7

This year each year group at Pendle Vale College has chosen a charity to support. Throughout the year there will be opportunities to raise funds and learn about the difference that they will be making.

Year 8

e

ch r a

Britain has had 6 Prime Ministers.

Abba and the Bee Gees were ‘Top of the Pops’.

The world’s first test tube baby has been born and petrol was 19p per litre.

Year 9

Ca nc er Re s

hy Dyst r op Muscular

hildren Save the C

r Dys trop hy

Ca nc er Re se ar c

h

So, what has changed in the world whilst Mr Bell’s experiment has been going on?

Exploring Space Students from Pendle Vale College had a once in a lifetime opportunity to attend a lecture delivered by Professor Brian Cox at the University of Manchester. The students were really excited and could not wait to see the genius who has presented television programmes such as The Wonders of the Solar System. There were over 500 students attended from all over the North West. Professor Brian Cox talked about the Universe, life at the start of the Universe, how old it was, the Hubble constant and about galaxies before answering questions from students. We had a wonderful day and felt privileged to be involved.

By Syed Ashir Sajid and Ifzal Qamar

DRAGONS’ DEN Year 9 students took part in an Enterprise Activity throughout the summer term.

They created a business and chose a product they believed they could sell to make maximum profit. After making a prototype and conducting market research they had to pitch their product to the Dragons. There was a mixture of jewellery, board games and recycled products on show.

The students were very nervous but this did not affect their pitches as they demonstrated their hard work and effort with wonderful products and excellent research. The Dragons were a tough bunch but the students were ready for them, we even had a few investments made based on the success of the pitches!

Miss Davies

Visit to

Morocco

for the first annual “International Conference of Youth”

Remembrance and Armistice Day Pendle Vale College marked Remembrance and Armistice Day with a series of events designed to raise the awareness of our students of the ultimate sacrifice made by others. Assemblies delivered by representatives from the Royal British Legion focused on the Poppy appeal and its relevance in the modern day.

On the 11th November all members of our community observed a two minute silence whilst a wreath was laid at the school memorial.

In the summer of 2011 I led the Pendle delegation of young people on a visit to the city of Dakhla in the Western Sahara region of Morocco. In total 51 young people and 7 youth leaders from France, Germany, England, Senegal, Morocco and Palestine attended the conference. The idea of the conference was to bring together young people from around the world under the banner of “Youth for Peace”.

During the week we had the opportunity to meet some amazing people, people who I hope we will remain friends with for life. We learned about different cultures and countries and also experienced a series of trips and visits. The highlight of these visits was a trip to the “Duna Blanca” a stunning area of natural beauty.

The delegation from Pendle had an amazing time at the conference. We learned that although there are many differences between cultures, young people have much in common. Despite the differences in language and beliefs these young people came with open minds and left more knowledgeable.

They now have a better understanding of issues facing their new friends around the world, and will stay in touch to help each other strive for equality on a global scale.

As a direct result of the visit we are now in the process of setting up links with a high schools in Dakhla (Morocco) and Marl (Germany).

Mr Sergeant.

New in student support this school year is the ‘Nurture Room’. This is an area where identified students will spend a period of their school life being educated. We will deliver a carefully designed day where there is a balance of teaching and learning, affection and structure within a home like environment. Time in the Nurture Room will enable students to return to class with greater social skills and confidence when tackling school work. Our goal is to break down barriers to learning, improve literacy and social skills, resulting in improved achievement.

The young people at the Conference Centre

The “Duna Blanca”

Our New Nurture Room

Coaching and Leadership

Results

Football Refereeing Course 5th and 12th November.

As part of Pendle Vale’s commitment to create more opportunities in Pendle for young people to develop leadership skills in sport. 20 students from across schools in Pendle took part in a football refereeing course. They learned many of the qualities and skills necessary to referee football games and will qualify as Junior Football Referees.

Once again our annual superstars competition was held in the summer term. Approximately sixteen students from each year group were given the opportunity to test their physical endurance, speed, agility, strength and coordination against each other. Well done to everyone who took part, the winners were: Zoe Parkinson, Ryan McGinty, Aneila Afshar, Scott Wilkinson, Chloe Ashworth, Matthew Dutton, Jordan Weatherby Green, Rachel Barnes, Frankie Parkinson.

Girls Tag Rugby – RFU development officer for the area Chris Lowden has been helping to develop the skills of our year 7 and 8 girls, helped by aspiring coaches Holly Mayor and Natalie Hopper.

Over the summer New Zealand international cricketer Luke Woodcock worked with a select bunch of our gifted and talented cricket players. This was a scheme set up in conjunction with Nelson cricket club and was an excellent experience for the students involved.

Climbing Club

Girls football has taken off really well this year and the girls have shown great commitment. The U14s Lancashire schools cup game brought girls from year 7, 8 and 9 together as a team to play together for the first time in an 11 a-side game on grass. The students despite being thrown in at the deep end worked really well as a team, were well motivated throughout and enjoyed the experience despite the horrendous weather conditions.

The first 7 weeks of the school year have been jam packed with football fixtures. The standout year group has been year 8 they have been on a 3 game winning streak, including a 14-0 victory over West Craven. All that remains is to say a big than you to all the teachers who have been involved with the teams, a big well done to all the lads who have been training and represented the school in one of the teams, and good luck for all of the remaining fixtures.

Finally, well done to all who took part in another successful Pendle Vale Campus sports day. This year we adopted a Rugby World Cup theme which saw all students taking part in a wide variety of events. Once again the support from form groups was particularly impressive with students really getting involved by dressing in national colours with form groups representing competing nations.

Year 9 Lancashire Schools Cup Football – We travelled to Blackburn to play QEGS in late September. The weather was perfect and so was our start to the game going 3-1 up in no time at all. However we struggled to hold on to that magnificent start and QEGS fought back, ending the game stronger eventually winning 7-5. Our lads can hold their heads up high as they played with a magnificent team spirit.

runs every Friday after college and is open to all students. This year we have trained a number of year 10 students who help to lead the club. Worthy of particular mention are Sarah Rowland and Jennifer O’Hara, both in year 10, who have been setting up and running the sessions for younger students under the supervision of staff. This is real leadership in action and we hope more of our youngsters will get involved in this type of activity.

Tracey Neville

Pendle Vale netball teams welcomed Tracey Neville, ex England netball player and England coach to our college. Players from years 7, 8, 9 and 10 were invited to participate in this master class. Tracey put the players through their paces, working them hard on fitness, spatial awareness and game play. We are now hoping to see further improvement in the girls performance in their competitive matches.

Everyone including staff had a fantastic afternoon.

Congratulations to Aqib Ashraf for his fantastic achievement as the only representative from Pendle to achieve success in Playground to Podium sport. Playground to Podium is a sports programme designed to identify disabled students who are talented in a variety of sports. They are then fast tracked for training and coaching to a level where they may be selected for the Paralympics.

Well done to all the athletes who took part in the interschools athletics. Most notable achievement was Rhea Jackson for winning the Junior Girls A event for 100m, 200m and Long Jump.

Shooting Stars -

Sporting Achievements

The R.A.P.S.

(Read and Picture this Summer)

other good books to read at the same time. Students were on top of wardrobes reading, on trampolines, climbing mountains…the list goes on!

It is well known that reading is the key to unlocking future success and as part of our work to support literacy development at Pendle Vale College we launched an exciting competition for students and staff at the end of the Summer Term whilst at the same time making reading fun.

Our lucky winner, Ryan McGinty, managed to snap himself whilst scuba diving and has earned himself the first prize of an Amazon Kindle; another

fantastic way of motivating students to read. Runners up have received book tokens which they will hopefully use to further develop their The R.A.P.S. (Read and enjoyment of reading. One Picture this Summer) of the best ways for children competition asked students to understand why reading is to photograph themselves reading a book of their choice important, is for them to see those around them reading in either the silliest pose or so along with our staff at the furthest location from Pendle Vale and then upload Pendle Vale, please continue to encourage your child to their photo and write a blog read and talk about what they about the book. There were might be reading as well as some excellent responses demonstrating students were sharing what you might be not only reading and enjoying reading too. books but finding out about

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de y – d stu r l a u n sC Jan staff a ma h t t s i 4 r ay s to Ch – esd open n d ary ay e e u r n W e Ja nt D lleg 3rd veme Co 2 – ie ay ary ing nd Ach u o n M sing Ja ven i 1st nts E Ra 3 y e sda Par Tue afety E S .00pm at 7 1 ose

Tuesday 7th February – Dance Festi val – 6pm Thursday 9 th F Year 11 Pare ebruary – nts Consult ation Evening 4.3 0pm – 7.30 pm

Pendle Vale College. Oxford Road, Nelson, Lancashire BB9 8LF Tel: 01282 682240 Fax: 01282 682289 Email: reception@pendlevale.lancs.sch.uk Website: www.pendlevale.lancs.sch.uk Headteacher: Mr S Wilson, BSc

Thursday 8th March – Year 10 Parents Consultation Evening 4.30pm – 7.30pm Tuesday 27th March – Raising Achievement Day Thursday 29th March – Year 9 Parents Consultation Evening 4.30pm – 7.30pm