In The Spotlight #18 - Chorlton High School Newsletter, Sept 2019

IN THE

CHORLTON HIGH SCHOOL MAGAZINE AUTUMN 2019

OUTSTANDING EXAM SUCCESS ALSO INSIDE: #WESTANDTOGETHER MAYA JAMA & FRIENDS VISIT JO COX GREAT GET TOGETHER ELE WEEK

HELLO...

GCSE CELEBRATIONS BEST RESULTS EVER FOR CHORLTON HIGH!

Welcome to the latest edition of In the Spotlight. Inside, you will find a celebration of all the fantastic achievements and successes here at Chorlton High School.

A year of amazing effort, determination, energy and commitment from our Year 11 students and our staff has secured the BEST set of GCSE results ever! At a time when examinations continue to become increasingly challenging it is with great satisfaction that we see the hard work of our young people being rewarded so brilliantly.

During this term, we have celebrated our fantastic community with a series of brilliant events to explore the ways “We have more in common than that which divides us”.

We enjoyed our very first #WeStandTogether week, aimed at promoting our diverse local, national and worldwide neighbours. We organised an amazing ‘Great Get Together’ to help appreciate the richness of our community in memory of Jo Cox, and we announced our new CHS Sustainability Strategy during a Citizens’ Assembly, attended by the Lord Mayor of Manchester.

We also welcomed Radio 1 DJ Maya Jama to Chorlton High School in collaboration with Childline as part of a national awareness tour to support Mental Health Awareness Week. Maya and friends hosted a conversation to discuss the ways their mental health has been affected whilst growing up and as they worked to achieve their career goals.

Our sporting success continued to grow as three Year 11 students were selected to represent GBR at the recent Under 17 Water Polo LEN European Championship Qualifiers. Each of our students competed impressively, exemplifying perfectly our school ‘Qualities of Success’, Motivation, Practice and Resiliency, as they represented themselves, CHS and Great Britain so brilliantly!

I hope you enjoy reading about all of the exciting learning opportunities our students have taken part in recently. We now look ahead to a new successful, creative and happy school year.

To keep up to date with all of our exciting news, activities and updates, make sure to follow our CHS Twitter account: @chorltonhigh. You can also receive our fortnightly, bite size newsletter: CHORLTON CONNECTION. To subscribe, please forward your email address to: admin@ chorltonhigh.manchester.sch.uk RICHARD STOUT COMMUNICATION AND MARKETING OFFICER and IN THE SPOTLIGHT EDITOR

INSIDE THIS ISSUE...

CELEBRATING GREAT 1 WATER POLO STARS YEAR 8 HITS LONDON GCSE RESULTS

ASPIRATION AWARD PIE COACHING

6 TEACH SHARING 6 WORKING LUNCH 7 PARTIES 7

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Students and staff at CHS have been celebrating a fantastic set of GCSE results. We wish to congratulate all of the students who have contributed to the school’s excellent results. At a time when examinations are becoming more challenging it is with great satisfaction that we see the hard work of our young people being rewarded.

This is the second year where students have sat the newly reformed GCSEs in all subject areas; these examinations have been designed to ensure that students access a more demanding curriculum, and A*- G GCSE grades have been replaced with a GCSE grade scale of 9 (high attainment) to 1 which distinguishes the new GCSEs from the predecessor qualifications.

We are delighted to report that 70% of our students achieved the new Basics

#WESTANDTOGETHER 2 JO COX GREAT GET TOGETHER

CHS CITIZENS’ 4 ASSEMBLY

MENTAL HEALTH 5 AWARENESS WEEK

ELE DAY

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10

A WEB BUILT FOR CHILDREN UNICEF RIGHTS NIGHT

12 13

BERLIN 12 RESIDENTIAL

Headteacher Zoe Morris paid tribute to the great dedication and commitment of students, staff and parents.

“I wish to congratulate all students on achieving this year’s excellent examination results, which are a testimony to the hard work and commitment across the school community.

measure in GCSEs for Maths and English, securing for themselves brilliant springboards into further education.

Despite the new levels of challenge, the school has achieved its best set of examination results in its history. There were exceptional results, again, in Biology, Chemistry, Physics, History, Languages, English and Maths. We are also proud to say that we continue our strong Arts reputation with outstanding results in Drama and Music. On top of There have been phenomenal achievements with many students achieving at the very highest level, however what gives me the greatest pleasure is the consistent progress that our students make irrespective of their ability or starting points. We do not underestimate the pressure of these new GCSE courses. Many subjects have more exams than in previous years, and in all subjects, what is expected of students has risen. I am really proud of all of our

these results, our PE department also shone with their results for GCSE PE. The school has seen outstanding success rates for the highest grades. A grade 7 is equivalent to a grade A. We are extremely pleased that at Chorlton High School this year 154 of our students have received results at this level and higher. There has been a lot of news about the new grade 9, which will only be achieved by the top 5% nationally, and we are delighted to see 57 of our students achieve this grade! A phenomenal achievement.

There are some extraordinary examples of students whose hard work and effort has manifested amazing results including Emily Kennedy who achieved 7 grade 9s and three 3 grade 8s; and Lily Howard who achieved 7 grade 9s, 1 grade 8 and 1 grade 7. students’ achievements, and grateful for the unwavering belief from staff and such positive support from parents.

We endeavour to ensure that all students, at every level, have an excellent foundation for future success.

Our school is committed to and, as these results prove, succeeds in delivering, uncompromising academic excellence while enabling students to learn from the rich cultural experience embedded in the our community. Congratulations to all!”

CHORLTON HIGH SCHOOL IN THE SPOTLIGHT

WE STAND TOGETHER We celebrated our very first #WeStandTogether Week during the last week of the Spring Term, as a way to promote our diverse local, national and worldwide communities.

Inviting individuals, organisations and guest speakers to run workshops, learning activities and to provide a fantastic array of educational events and experiences for our students. Each activity was aimed at giving our students the opportunity to learn about what brings us together, think about what drives us apart and discuss the ways we can continue to grow together as a diverse, supportive and empathetic community.

The week began with a brilliant Year 7 inclusivity workshop organised and delivered by Year 10 members of our Gay Straight Alliance Club. This event encouraged students to take part in various scenarios whilst working in small groups to think about answering various questions surrounding inclusivity and equality.

We had the privilege to welcome, Holocaust survivor, Danny Herman, to deliver an incredibly moving and inspiring talk to our Year 9 students. Mr Herman discussed his life and early childhood, recalling family memories and his incredible journey, fleeing Germany to the UK just before the outbreak of WW2.

Year 8 students welcomed Jason Wingard, the extremely funny and entertaining director of ‘Eaten by Lions’ to deliver a narrative and storytelling workshop, helping our students to explore a range of diverse themes and ways to create, write and tell their own stories.

The inspiring Megan Marie Griffith from Girl Gang Mcr, provided a thought provoking empowerment workshop. Taking our Year 7 and 8 students through two sessions of powerful learning to uncover techniques to find and use their own ‘voice’ in a compassionate way.

er dTogeth n a t S e #W tanders #NoBys eLove #Choos n commo n i e r o #M n eopleCa P g n u o #Y

to build confidence and new friendships as each student takes to the stage to perform in front of invited parents, carers, family and friends.

Our Year 8 and 10 students enjoyed a fantastic Intergenerational Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) session with the Chorlton Civic Society. Retired Resuscitation Officer Catherine and retired Nurse Jenny proved entertaining guides as they led our students through vital first aid techniques before encouraging them to use and We have been absolutely blown embed their new skills during a roleaway by the amazing response, play workshop.

support and feedback from our students, parents/ carers, individuals and organisations to our first ever #WeStandTogetherweek

During the week our amazing ‘Young Interpreters Club’ held a charity cake sale to raise donations for @HelpRefugees, whilst also encouraging conversation, sharing and laughter during break and lunch times.

We also welcomed Year 6 Primary students to take part in a brilliantly entertaining production run of Macbeth held over two evenings. This event provides an excellent introduction to our school for the newest members of our CHS community, helping

We ended the week with an incredible presentation by the truly inspirational Figen Murray, mother of Martyn Hett who at 29 years of age was tragically killed in the terrorist attack at the Manchester Arena. Her talk captivated our Year 8 and 10 students with its message of hope, strength and courage, leaving everyone in the room truly inspired by Ms Murray’s enormous capacity to forgive.

We have been absolutely blown away by the amazing response, support and feedback from our students, parents/ carers, individuals and organisations to our first ever #WeStandTogether Week, you have all helped to inspire and grow our community.

A huge thank you to everyone who helped to make this such an inspiring series of learning events, we look forward to planning and organising our next #WeStandTogether Week very soon, please do get in touch if you would like to be part of it!

CHORLTON HIGH SCHOOL IN THE SPOTLIGHT

CHS CITIZENS’ ASSEMBLY FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

We welcomed the Lord Mayor of Manchester with invited guests to take part in our very first Citizens’ Assembly.

We wanted to use this fantastic community opportunity to launch our CHS Sustainability Strategy, outlining the ways in which we as a school, staff and students, will begin to affect the positive change we wish to see in Manchester and the wider world.

MAYA JAMA & FRIENDS VISIT CHS

The afternoon began with a series of welcome speeches, introducing each aspect of our strategy, Educate, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Re-Wild, Breathe and Plan, highlighting the key issues and areas of focus for our coming academic year.

‘I pledge to’ leaves created a brilliant community sustainability tree.

Our guests then broke off into smaller groups with tables made up of guests, CHS students and primary students to discuss an area in more detail. They explored as a group how they would look to lives are affected today by this issue and develop ideas around how they may work to collaboratively alleviate or ease this ecological problem. Each table then presented their findings to the wider group, their thoughts and ideas were recorded and will be used to provide further research and insight for our strategic goals.

Finally, we asked our guests to complete an ‘I pledge to’ leaf and these were used to create a brilliant community sustainability tree display, we will use this as a source of inspiration as we look to begin the first steps of our CHS Sustainability Strategy when we return in September.

During Mental Health Awareness Week we welcomed Radio 1 DJ Maya Jama to Chorlton High School in collaboration with Childline as part of a national awareness tour.

Maya, alongside plus-size model Felicity Hayward, celebrity hair stylist Aaron Carlo, and mental health advocate Penny Jarrett, hosted a conversation around their own life journeys and varied career paths. They discussed the ways their mental health has been affected, both whilst growing up and as they worked to achieve their career goals.

Our students were encouraged to ask questions during the event and our visitors took time to help and advise,

exploring issues such as being bullied socially and online, body confidence, diversity, inclusion and LGBT+ matters.

After the event, a selection of our students were interviewed

by Rowen Bridge, Reporter for BBC Radio 5live. They were asked to feedback on their session with Maya and discussed their thoughts and viewpoints brilliantly.

Huge thank you to Team Maya and Childline for organising this amazing event!

CHORLTON HIGH SCHOOL IN THE SPOTLIGHT

CHS STUDENTS REPRESENT GREAT BRITAIN

Keeley Crompton, star student, has been Highly Commended in the Learner of the Year – Against All Odds category of the NCFE Aspiration Awards, while completing her Level 2 Certificate in Food and Cookery.

We are incredibly proud to announce that three of our Year 11 students, Callum Fookes, Luke Roche and Tom Roche, were recently selected to represent GBR at the Under 17 Water Polo LEN European Championship Qualifiers.

The three-day tournament took place over the recent Bank Holiday (3-5th May 2019) and was incredibly popular. Water Polo fans, families and friends all travelled to the Manchester Aquatic Centre to cheer GBR on, providing excellent support as team competed at this high level.

After three hard fought games the U17 GBR team unfortunately did not qualify for the next stage of the tournament, but each player showed incredible effort and endeavour to experience some magical personal moments and three excellent performances to be proud of!

NCFE ASPIRATION AWARD WINNING YOUNG CARER!

they return to CHS to take on their next big challenge, beginning their GCSEs.

Keeley’s education was initially held back by her physical health along with a lack of confidence. Her engagement with secondary education has improved yearon-year, going from 56% attendance in Year 7 to 96% in Year 11. Keeley and her teachers believe this is due to a positive change in mind-set, which has helped her confidence and motivation to grow immensely, especially since beginning the Level 2 Certificate in Food and Cookery.

Well done to all involved, we look forward to reporting more Water Polo success soon.

Keeley commented: “I feel proud of myself for how I have turned things around at school as my attendance in

Photo @ENGWaterPolo

Each of our students competed brilliantly, exemplifying perfectly our school ‘Qualities of Success’, Motivation, Practice and Resiliency, as they represented themselves, CHS and Great Britain so brilliantly! They will now look to use this same ethos and dedication as

CHS ROCKS OUT IN LONDON! Forty of our Year 8 students descended on the bright lights of London to experience life in the Performing Arts Industry.

For our first activity, we took a backstage tour of the National Theatre where we heard all about the amazing history of the company, learning how it is grounded by the belief of being a theatre ‘for the people’, a sentiment very much close to our hearts here at CHS. We were excited to see where their props are created and watched as new and amazing sets were built for future productions! After a quick change in the hotel, we then experienced a tasty evening meal in the West End, followed by an outstanding performance of School Of Rock.

What an incredible show!! Afterwards, we waited at the stage door to meet the cast and were lucky enough to enjoy a moment or two with the amazingly energetic Mr Finn, played by the equally enthusiastic Craig Gallivan!

The next day we were up and ready to go, arriving early at the famous Pineapple Dance Studios for an amazing performance workshop. Students first explored the script of School Of Rock and took part in a range of trust exercises before performing to each other. Their workshop teachers were incredibly impressed with our talented students, their effort and especially their willingness to take risks whilst performing.

Students were also encouraged to ask questions during their time at the Pineapple Dance Studios and discussed a range of topics, focussing on the Performing Arts Industry and life whilst working in the West End. Our weekend concluded with lunch, shopping and sightseeing in Covent Garden, before making our way back to Manchester, very tired and extremely happy.

We would like to thank all of our amazing students for working so hard, for being exceptional team players and for representing our school beautifully. Each and every one of them are a superb credit to CHS!

PIE: PURSUING INDIVIDUAL EXCELLENCE Chorlton High School have been working with social enterprise PIE: Pursuing Individual Excellence for the last two academic years.

Founded by Beth Nunn, an ex-member of staff, PIE run a number of coaching programmes and longer projects that all involve working with young people to try and ensure they are prepared for life after school. They are offered experiences and opportunities to develop five main ‘slices’: communication, digital, project management, community links and cultural capital.

going and to trust those around you to support you.”

Mr Langstaff, Keeley’s form teacher said: “Keeley is a huge source of pride for me following 5 years as her form tutor. To have taken steps to change her own mind-set about education and to ensure she is being the best she possibly can be shows an immense maturity and will to succeed.

Year 7 and 8 wasn’t great, but I knew change was needed and that the change had to come from me.

It’s not always easy to change how you think about things and at times I still struggle and don’t always feel like I’m doing well. However, I think it’s important to have the ability to keep

Her engagement with school has improved year on year to the point where in Year 11 she has had excellent attendance and equipped herself well to tackle the exams she has prepared for.

She is funny, resilient and motivated to become a success in life.

I am delighted that Keeley has been recognised for this award, the culmination of five years of improvement and progress, often in the face of personal setbacks – well done Keeley!”

This week, 80 students from Year 10 were invited along to the library to take part in ‘Inspiring Female’ and ‘Inspiring Male’ events. This saw role models from the world of work coming in to speak to students about their careers, journeys and experiences. Speakers for the boys’ event included people from all different sectors, and included local gym owner Damian Coates, Duncan Swainsbury founder of Social Enterprise ‘Bounceback Food’, George Whalley from HOME Mcr and Lee Royle who is a member of Manchester band Prose. The girls’ event included Eleanor Riley, founder of charity ‘Made with Hope’, Lianne Sykes from GO:PR, Naomi Timperley co-founder of Tech North Advocates and Fiona Mulherin, owner of local hair salon Urban Angels.

The events were a huge success with both students and speakers learning from the experience. Thank you to all of the speakers for giving up their time to come and inspire Chorlton students!

CHORLTON HIGH SCHOOL IN THE SPOTLIGHT

JO COX GREAT GET TOGETHER

COOKERY WORKSHO

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CELEBRATING OUR AMAZINGLY DIVERSE COMMUNITY A huge thank you to everyone who helped to celebrate, laugh, sing, dance, eat and share with each other at our ‘Great Get Together’ on Friday 21st June 2019.

We celebrated the richness of our community in memory of Jo Cox with a fabulous cultural fashion show, showstopping singing and a wonderful Bollywood dance extravaganza. We warmly welcomed over 250 members of our school and local community into our Blue Box Theatre to enjoy the fantastic acts on show as well as sharing food, culture and conversation from around the world.

“I was so moved; I was literally wiping my eyes after every performance.”

“I loved learning a Bollywood dance routine, and we learnt the meaning behind all the movements. I learnt so much!”

“The atmosphere in the dining hall when everyone was eating was amazing. It felt like a real community hub.”

Opened by Year 9 student Tahaam

Sheikh, with a moving spoken word performance, this event encapsulated perfectly our school vision here at Chorlton High: inspiring students to become future leaders, who are successful, creative, happy, and who seek to support and celebrate our diverse Chorlton community.

“It was a real celebration of everything we are about.”

“It was a celebration of us all.”

We would like to thank everyone who helped to plan, organise and present this amazing event and to all who attended for making this a truly inspirational moment, celebrating everything that we have in common.

We look forward to welcoming you all to next year’s ‘Great Get Together’, planning has already begun!

Heart and Parcel, an organisation who wo rk to bring commun together by making ities dumplings and help ing to develop ESOL (English for Speake rs of Other Language s), ran an amazing workshop for studen cookery ts who have recently arrived at CHS spea little English. king This brilliant works hop combined the teaching of English and the process of through conversation cooking a range of fun and delicious sn as Additional Langua acks. Our EAL (Eng ge) students worked lish with their CHS Youn Mentors, bilingual g Interpreter students that are flu en t in English, to produce enjoyed and shared food that was at a special parent lunch event.

Our huge thanks to Heart and Parcel for your inspirational wo students and paren rk, and thanks to all ts for a fun filled lun ch!

OP H S K R O W G IN IT R W E IV CREAT es, inviting Year 4 iti ted bilingual commun We celebrated our talen our CHS library to to ol ho Primary Sc rk Pa ton orl Ch m fro s student Writing Workshop! take part in a Creative ts, whilst working

CHS studen re supported by bilingual ester.

Our Primary learners we Portico Library, Manch et and Mentor from the Po , their ms by llia ed Wi pir ece ins Re alongside to create poetry ir identity and culture the ed lor exp y the er Togeth . own lives and languages aging and fun activity. o took part in this eng wh all to you nk tha ge A hu und both Chorlton Park and communicated aro yed pla dis be l wil ms The poe S. Primary School and CH

“We have more in common than that which divides us.”

JO COX

CHORLTON HIGH SCHOOL IN THE SPOTLIGHT

ELE WEEK

EXTENDED LEARNING EXPERIENCE

This summer, students from Year 7-10 took part in our ELE (Extended Learning Experience) days and developed a range of personal and professional skills in a unique and interesting way. Students from Year 7-9 also got to take part in a Sports Day where they worked in their form groups to win best form!

YEAR 7 spent their ELE looking at how to use your voice for change by taking part in protests and workshops about famous people in history. Students also attended a trip to either the Peoples’ History Museum or Venture Out developing their cultural capital.

YEAR 8 celebrated moving, completing a successful Year 8 in an end of year Graduation Festival, CHS style! Students were lucky enough to choose their own ELE activity from Dance, Drama, Music, Art, Food Technology, Graphics and Jewellery. Students spent two days in their option and studied key skills in that subject area and created some excellent work!

Their week ended with a memorable festival experience. We had fantastic performances from Dance and Music students followed by an awards ceremony.

They were treated to an ice cream van, a photo booth, face painting by our talented artists, a henna artist and our very own personal DJ, ex-student Tyler Frankland!

YEAR 9 were incredibly impressive this year and took part in our Enterprise Challenge. They worked in teams to pitch their very own product to a panel of professionals. The students worked very hard to try and win the challenge and our visitors were impressed with their team work, creativity and professional skills.

They also had an opportunity to explore a range of careers available to them in the future, including sessions on employability and interview skills.

YEAR 10 took part in the Summer ELE for the first time ever and were lucky enough to experience a College trip to Loreto, Manchester College or Salford College to begin thinking about their future after high school. Students also spent valuable time writing their personal statements for college getting a head start for their Year 11 journey.

TEACH SHARING EVENT Over the course of the academic year, teaching staff have conducted academic research to explore and improve their professional practice to develop student outcomes.

Recently, we came together as a school community to meet, share and celebrate this best practice at our ‘TEACH Sharing Event’.

During this communal get together, our staff enthusiastically questioned new ideas and discussed innovative educational thinking to gain valuable learning insights and exciting new teaching methods. The session was a

fantastic success, allowing staff to both present their expertise and demonstrate their exceptional commitment to growth, not only as individuals but also as a whole school.

Our thanks to all of our hard working staff for their time to research, reflect and present their project findings. We look forward to organising more events next academic year.

It was a brilliant way to end the year for all our students!

WORKING LUNCH PARTIES During the last academic year, we ran a series of Working Lunch parties.

These sessions offered invited students an exciting opportunity to gather insight into their future career routes and hear first-hand accounts from successful key figures in the creative arts industry.

Held in our board room at Chorlton High School, the monthly lunches were developed alongside Jonny Kidd, Director and founder of Media Clarity Ltd, and enabled CHS to host a number of meaningful and empowering meetings.

Our students benefited enormously from the inspiring, and at times incredibly moving, guest presentations, life stories and conversations. Each guest promoted the advantages of balancing your passions with hard work, determination and focus to deliver a number of inspiring messages, encouraging our students towards a successful career and future happiness.

The students have enjoyed meeting a variety of people, including: Nathan Day – Director and owner of Manchester Tech Trust.

James Shannon – Director, Producer at Gate Films.

Nathan Quayle – Marketing & Advertising Manager at Fords of Winsford.

Jamie Taylor – Clockwork Automation Ltd. Jamie was behind the mechanics and lighting design for the National Theatres War Horse production among others.

Beth Stone – Business Development Executive ITV. Rufina Lawani – Sales Controller, Sky TV. Heather Corbett – Marketing Director of Hexbug.com.

We look forward to organising another series of our Working Lunch parties in September!

MRS RANSOME, ACHIEVEMENT TEAM.

CHORLTON HIGH SCHOOL IN THE SPOTLIGHT

BERLIN RESIDENTIAL

UNICEF RIGHTS NIGHT The event combined theatre, singing and Ignite speeches all centred around the United Nations Rights of the Child.

‘IMAGINING A WEB BUILT FOR CHILDREN’ This year, England was selected as the host of the spring gathering of the European Network of Children’s Ombudsman (ENOC) which took place at BBC Media City, Manchester.

ENOC brings together statutory children’s rights bodies from across the EU and beyond, with the purpose of understanding the experiences of children and promoting their rights. The conference will include commissioners and ombudsman from up to 40 countries, along with senior figures from the EU Commission, EU Parliament, academia, as well as the Government, Ofcom and the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Six Year 10 Chorlton High students were invited to attend a ‘young people’s

session’ entitled “Responding to children’s wishes” to present a statement to delegates and senior representatives of some of the biggest social media companies, regarding the way they would like their online world to be built. Each student took part in a special preparatory workshop, providing a fantastic learning opportunity as they met with fellow students from Manchester Communication Academy to think about and discuss the social media platforms they currently use. After their presentation our students were able to receive some incredible feedback from Google and Facebook, with each representative answering a range of questions, helping our students to explore their understanding of what may be needed to make an online digital experience fit for young people.

This interesting and enlightening discussion offered a fantastic variety of

views, ideas and insight to help stimulate our students digital thinking even further.

We are incredibly proud of our students, not only for their exemplary behaviour and conduct during this prestigious event, but also for their incredible attitude towards this fantastic learning opportunity to help shape their future online world.

Our CHS History and RE departments recently arranged a fantastic weekend residential to Berlin. This provided Year 9 and 10 students with an amazing opportunity to enrich their cultural experience and understanding to help develop their thinking towards becoming active and socially conscious members of society.

As part of their History studies, students learn about the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany, as well as the Cold War Period between 1943-90. This first-hand experience enables students to directly relate their knowledge with real life examples, engaging students’ learning far beyond the classroom and helping to deepen their understanding of the prejudice and discrimination affecting German society at this time.

Students took the opportunity to question the ways civil liberties and democracy were eroded through the Nazi dictatorship and the occupation of the USSR after the end of the Second World War. They also reflected upon the past choices made and effects created by those in positions of power, comparing and contrasting their reasoning to the decisions made by politicians today.

Ms Sanderson, Curriculum Leader for History, helped to curate a brilliantly thoughtful itinerary to help balance the challenging and difficult nature of historic sites such as the Stasi prison of Hohenschönhausen (where inmates were deprived of their human rights), and the Concentration Camp Sachsenhausen (which housed political prisoners), with

the many amazing sights and attractions Berlin offers, such as the East Side Gallery, DDR Museum, and the German Bundestag, where students enjoyed an amazing rooftop sunset! Students also enjoyed a traditional Berliner meal of meatballs and apfelstrudel with custard at the restaurant Nante-Eck. During their time in Berlin our students walked nearly 30 miles whilst experiencing this amazing city and embracing it’s difficult but rich history, and it’s freezing weather! We were so impressed with the way they took this opportunity to learn whilst growing their friendships with laughter and conversation over currywurst, pretzels and ice cream!

A huge thank you to our amazing tour guides of Anglia Tours – Roger Lye and Andy Lock, who were extremely impressed with all of our students, commenting:

Each aspect of the performance was devised entirely by the students themselves. They took their audience on a journey of Children’s Rights by re-enacting scenes from around the world, depicting the negative impact being denied such rights can have.

Next they gave a series of impassioned speeches about specific articles they felt strongly about.

Contrasting scenes were performed where a particular Article was being either denied or enjoyed. Then they used contemporary news articles to highlight how as a society we have far more in common than that which divides us and that our strength lies in our unity.

Finally, to end the performance, a rousing rendition of ‘Don’t stop me now’ was sung by the CHS choir to emphasise that there is no limit to a child’s potential, if they have access to all of their rights.

During the evening, we also organised and ran a mini charity event to support the UNICEF and Clarks #ShoeShare appeal, raising just over £100!

Our huge thanks to everyone who helped to make this such a fantastic and rewarding event!

‘You can understand the values of a school by their students, and your students are fantastic – they’re real characters, they’re personable, they’ve got something about them. You don’t get that with every school.’

CHORLTON HIGH SCHOOL IN THE SPOTLIGHT

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