Newsletter 24

Ashton Highlights Newsletter 24

Friday 17th April 2015

Dear Readers Welcome back ! I hope you enjoyed the Easter break and managed to get some time to spend with the family. The clocks went forward whilst we were off and so the days feel brighter already and also longer. We are particularly pleased about this because it means there is even more time to do things with the students now that the nights are lighter, especially with regards to sporting fixtures!

Thursday evening was our final parents’ evening of the school year and was our best attended to date. Year 7 students and their parents received lots of positive feedback regarding how well they have done in their first year here at Ashton and I am pleased to tell you that once again, the feedback we received from parents was overwhelmingly positive.

You can read the feedback from all our parents evenings on the school website and I am grateful to you for taking the time to complete the exit questionnaires and to speak to me and my colleagues because we really do value what you have to say. I remember seeing an advertising slogan that said “if you like what we do, tell others, but if you don’t like what we do, tell us!” I think that’s good advice and would like to reassure you that we always take on board the feedback you give us as we strive towards making Ashton an outstanding school that we are all PROUD to be part of.

We also held an event for parents of year 10 students on Thursday evening, which focused on the routes young people can follow beyond year 11. Mr Wallis hosted this and gave out a great deal of valuable information. If you missed this event, you missed a cracker, but the slides are available on the website in the parents area. You can contact Mrs Evans (Progress Leader for Year 10) or Mr Wallis if you would like further information.

As always, if you have any hesitate to get in touch.

news items you would like to share with us, please don’t

Best Wishes Sharon Asquith

Follow us on twitter @ashtoncsc

Year 11 Countdown to Exams In preparation for the GCSE exams which begin in May, all subject areas are offering a series of revision sessions for students. Here is the timetable of sessions.

12 School days till the May Exams

WEEKLY LITERACY AND NUMERACY CHALLENGES Congratulations to last week’s Literacy winners: Jessica Melia 7T Joe Porter 8S

Congratulations to last week’s Numeracy winners: Millie Kellet 7H Megan Goulding 11H

Select the correct homophone in each sentence.

Write the correct homophones on your paper.

1. I wasn’t sure whether/weather I’d done enough revision.

2. Your/you’re work is amazing!

3. There was a long queue/cue for break snacks.

4. Their/there/they’re often late for lesson.

5. I ate too/two/to many chocolate eggs.

Numeracy Puzzle 26

This riddle describes a 2-D shape, which one?

TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE …….

28th & 29th April

MAMMA MIA rehearsals are gaining momentum and even staff are getting involved, so be sure to get your tickets as soon as possible. £3.00 per person with family concessions available. Contact Miss Ascroft via the main reception for tickets and more details.

@ACSCNumeracy It’s been another busy half term for Numeracy with a total of 2290 form time puzzle entries handed in over the 5 weeks which takes us to a grand total of 12048 since September. We’re already well above last year’s numbers.

After missing out on top spot last half term, year 7 were determined to reclaim their crown and they did it in style with 90.2% of all possible entries handed in. Year 10 have shown a huge improvement this half term (with 4 forms in the top 8!) and finish 2nd. Last term’s champions year 8 recovered from a shaky start to come 3rd with year 9 in 4th and year 11 limping along to 5th, their race is now run.

1 2 3 4 5

Year 7 Year 10 Year 8 Year 9 Year 11

The form prize was, as ever, very competitive with the lead changing hands in the last week. The end result means that the trophy will have to be prised from Mr Barrow’s grasp. The top 5 (in reverse order) are: In 5th place 10H who are definitely most improved. Then there are 3 previous winners all lined up: 4th goes to 7T; 3rd is 7O (outgoing champions); and 2nd are 8S which leaves our winners 10S at the top of the pile, well done to Miss Lindley and her form. Here’s the top 10: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

10S 8S 7O 7T 10H 7H 10O 10N 7S 8T

The Spring term ended with the second Numeracy event of the year “Our World in Numbers” where over 200 pupils came to the sports hall to take part in themed activities. The activities included building an octahedral globe (which proved to be tricky for some but ultimately satisfying) and competitions to estimate various world statistics, match the country with the mountain, population and capital.

There was also a World in Numbers treasure hunt around the sports hall and the entire wall was transformed into a timeline featuring events from the last 1000 years of the UK. Thank you to everyone who helped out and came along to take part.

YEAR 10 CHALLENGE DAY SUCCESS Year 10 Challenge Day took place on Thursday 19th March. The theme was ‘Revision techniques/ Exam preparation’ and the A*shton learner foci for the day were: Self managers, Independent enquirers, and How do I learn best?

During periods 1 and 2, year 10 students were in Science completing a crossword that involved understanding key words. In period 3 in Maths, the students brainstormed how to ‘problem solve’ and worked in groups to tackle difficult past exam ‘problem solving’ mathematical questions. Period 4 in English students investigated the exam AOs and applied these to the given questions along with understanding timing, marks and skills. It was essentially a problem solving activity similar to the Maths session, that helped them learn about the exam, ready for their mocks after Easter.

After lunchtime, year 10 students looked at the different ways to revise such as re-writing notes, summarising information, designing flash cards, creating mind maps, fact cards etc. and put these techniques into practice during the revision over the Easter holidays. Each table focused on a different revision technique and there was prepared revision from the different faculties. The students had the opportunity to try each revision technique and then discover out which ones worked best for them.

UKMT INTERMEDIATE MATHS CHALLENGE

On Thursday 5th February 30 pupils in years 9 and 10 took the UKMT Intermediate Maths Challenge. This involved answering 25 multiple choice questions in one hour. We are pleased to have received the following results. Certificates have been awarded to the students…and well done to everyone else who took part.

Best in School – Dane Evans Best in Year – Jordan Kay and Dane Evans Gold - Dane Evans who qualified for the following Grey Kangaroo round

Silver - Andrew Vevers Bronze - Jordan Kay, Samuel Marosics, Jasmine Critchley, Jodie Moon, Daniel Whitehead, Emily Drummond

Dane Evans

Jordan Kay

Andrew Vevers

Daniel Whitehead

Jodie Moon

Emily Drummond

Jasmine Critchley

SKI TRIP 2015

On the 27th March 2015, the Ashton Ski trip set off in the early hours of the morning for their 27 hour journey to Zell am See in Austria. The full article can be seen on the website,

www.ashtoncsc.lancs.uk which includes the full story of why Eddie Spall had sore feet, why Sam Maddox found himself back to front and why Nathan Blakeley thought he was stuck thousands of feet above sea level and trying to contact Mrs Brown in reception back in England.

The group had a fantastic time and Mr Waring was extremely impressed with the way the boys behaved. Not only representing the school, but also their families and the community. Well done boys and well done Miss Ascroft, Mr Murray, Mr Clare and Mr Waring for taking them all for what seems to have been the trip of a lifetime.

Photo by Holly Mawdsley 11S

Over half a million people in the UK have Autism. Some members of our sch oo l co mmunity h ave b een diagnosed with an autistic spectrum condition or live with people who have been diagnosed. We need to make sure that these people get the level of help, support and understanding they need. We can only do this by the raising awareness of autism. In order to do this we decided to celebrate National Autism Day on Thursday 26th March as we were on our Easter holidays on 2nd April.

Teachers were asked to show their support by wearing blue. Form tutors showed their forms a set of slides containing information about the condition and then were given the time to ask questions. Students were given the opportunity to buy a blue balloon which had a tag on explaining one fact about autism. The school choir adapted the lyrics to the song ’99 red balloons’ by Nina to ’99 blue balloons’. While the choir sang the song in our 6th form garden, 99 children released their balloons into the very windy sky. The finders of the balloons are asked to let school know how far the balloon has travelled by logging onto our Twitter account or phoning school The student who owns the balloon which travelled the furthest will receive a prize.

13th April 16th April 20-24 April

Return from Easter Break Year 7 Parents’ Evening Year 10 “Next steps” evening Year 10 mock exam week

28th & 29th Mama Mia Production April

FILM CLUB

Film Club is in Room 2 (auditorium) on Mondays - 3.00 to 4.30 pm (approx.) and Thursdays - 3.00 to 4.00 pm prompt . ALL year groups are invited to come along.

If anyone is interested, particularly Year 7. You will be given a letter, which will be a parental consent form for every new member. This needs to be signed and returned.

There is a wide range of film genre to be watched.

ATTACK THE BLOCK (15) COMEDY/ SCI-FI FANTASY