Weather Report Autumn 2017

Weatherhead High School

WEATHER REPORT

A high performing academy providing excellence for all

Autumn Term 2017

RECORD BREAKERS!

Weatherhead students outperformed expectation, celebrating outstanding A Level results with a 98% pass rate. 42% of students achieved A*-B grades and a record-breaking 25 A*s! Almost 100 students have secured places at university, many at leading Russell Group universities. Setting a new Weatherhead record, eight students achieved A* or As in all subjects.

Congratulations to Jessica Hesketh, Stephanie Goodsell, Charlotte Egan, Lucy Emery, Eleanor McCarthy, Alexandra Collins, Jacey Hesketh and Elleanor Lloyd - an exceptional achievement! We wish all our students the best of luck on their next stage of life whether it be at University, on an Apprenticeship schemes or employment.

GCSE Success

STUDENT

GRADES SUBJECTS

DESTINATION

Jessica Hesketh

A* A* A

English Literature, Spanish & Geography

English - York

Stephanie Goodsell

A* A* A

Biology, Psychology & Chemistry

Chemistry - Bangor

Charlotte Egan

A* A A

Sociology, Mathematics & Psychology

Law - Leeds

Lucy Emery

A* A A

Sociology, Health & Social Care & Religious Studies

Philosophy & Religious Studies - Lancaster

Eleanor McCarthy

A* A A

Sociology, Dance & English Literature

Practice -Gateshead Dance College

Alexandra Collins

A A A

English Literature, Media & Physical Education

Gap Year

Jacey Hesketh

A A A

Chemistry, Mathematics & Psychology

Chemistry -Manchester

Olivia Whetnall

A* A* B

Further Maths, Mathematics & Physics

Mathematics - York

Year 11 celebrated excellent GCSE results, with 77% of grades at C or higher. Miss Whelan was delighted with how students coped with the new and more challenging examinations in English and Mathematics.

In English, 83% of students achieved grade 4 (equivalent to a grade C under the old system) and above, and in Mathematics 61% achieved a grade 4 and above. The performance of all our girls was impressive, with record levels of attainment in many subjects, and our top ability students excelled.

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Nicole Marnell

7 A*

grade 9

grade 8

grade 7

Elissa GrifďŹ ths

5 A*

3A

grade 9

2 grade 8

Sarah Taylor

5 A*

3A

2 grade 9

2 grade 8

Katie Mann

5 A*

2A

grade 9

2 grade 8

Katrina Woolley

5 A*

2A

2 grade 8

grade 7

Abbie Lorimer

4 A*

3A

grade 9

2 grade 7

Georgia Williams

4 A*

2A

1B

2 grade 7

grade 6

Chloe Etherington

3 A*

3A

2B

grade 9

grade 7

Erin Stock

3 A*

2A

2B

grade 8

2 grade 7

Morgan Flude

2 A*

5A

2 grade 8

grade 6

grade 6

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Headteacher’s Welcome I am delighted to introduce this edition of Weather Report in my first term as Headteacher. Weatherhead once again celebrated a highly successful Summer term winning Secondary School of the Year and culminating in outstanding GCSE and A Level results. I am very proud of all our students and staff who have worked so hard to achieve these results and whilst we are renowned for our academic and teaching excellence, we stand by our ethos of “excellence for all” instilling ambition and aspiration in all our students. I would like to extend a warm welcome to our new Year 7 students, there can be no better introduction to the school community than this celebratory read.

Secondary School of the Year 2017

Key Dates for Your Diary Thursday 28th September Open Evening Friday 29th September Open Morning Friday 13th October Open Morning Thursday 19th October Senior Awards Evening Friday 20th October INSET Monday 23rd Friday 27th October Half term Monday 30th October School opens Saturday 18th November PTF Craft Fair Thursday 7th December Christmas Concert Friday 22nd December School finishes for Christmas Monday 25th December Friday 5th January Christmas holiday Monday 8th January School opens

We were delighted to win ‘Secondary School of the Year’ and ‘Headteacher of the Year’ at this year’s Wirral Globe School Awards. The awards celebrate all that is good in the borough’s schools and aims to seek out the best pupils, schools, teachers and support staff as well as highlight innovation and best practice across the area.

The nomination for ‘Secondary School of the Year’ came from Ms Jones, whose daughter Sofia is in Year 7. In her nomination, Ms Jones said that Weatherhead “provides excellent learning opportunities for all pupils and allows them to achieve their full potential regardless of their starting point” and went on to say “I believe they fully deserve this award”. A Level student Dan Richards championed Mr Dyment for ‘Headteacher of the Year’.

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SUCCESSES

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KS3 Awards Evening

Over a hundred and twenty students from Years 7 to 9 were rewarded for their academic achievements, hard work and effort at KS3 Awards Evening. With performances from Chamber Choir and Year 9 dancers and readings by Year 7 student, Jess Lawlor and Amber Gallagher from Year 9 the evening was a real celebration of our girls’ successes. The girls were captivated by ex-student and guest, Dr Caroline Cotton who spoke of her tales from her school days, university life and her journey to becoming a doctor. Margaret Smith, representing the Old Girls Society joined us to see the first Patricia Igoe Choral Award (funded by the Old Girls Society) awarded to Rebecca Isaac in Year 9 for outstanding achievement within Music and Performing Arts.

Congratulations to 43 Year 9 and 10 students who achieved their Bronze Arts Award during Performing Arts lessons and four Year 13 students who completed their Silver Arts Award as part of their enrichment option - this is the biggest cohort of Silver Arts Award we have ever achieved. The Arts Award encourage young people to embrace the arts, set a challenge to learn a new skill, complete a leadership task and research the arts.

Students get their dancing shoes on Following on from their success in Grade 1 and 4,Year 8 and 9 students completed their Grade 3 and Year 12 girls completed their Grade 6 NATD Contemporary Dance exams. As we await their results we say a huge well done for all their hard work and preparation.

SHE’S A POET AND SHE KNOWS IT!

The Early Bird Catches the Worm!

Seven students from Year 9 took GCSEs in French, German and Latin two years early with some excellent results!

Elodie Dubuis

Latin

A

Anna Hayes

Latin

A

Hafina Thomas

Latin

B

Francesca Beaumont

Latin

C

Izzie Janaway

Latin

C

Elodie Dubuis

French

A*

Mathilde Lichfield

German

A

Year 9 poet, Lia Pulford won the 11- 16 age category in the Chris Salmon Poetry Extravaganza whilst Tasya Hoyle’s entry was Highly Commended. This year’s theme was ‘Space’ with over 800 entrants in all categories.

Part of Lia’s prize is to act as Wirral Poet Laureate 2017-2018.

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Music Grades Well done to our talented Music students for their fantastic exam achievements, including two Grade 8s (the highest possible award) and seven distinctions!

Congratulations to Becky Barrow who has been successful in auditioning for the prestigious Hallé Youth Orchestra, which offers talented young instrumentalists the chance to experience playing in a full symphony orchestra supported by professional musicians.

Becky Barrow

(Year 12)

Grade 8

Merit

Trumpet

Maisy Foulkes

(Year 7)

Grade 1

Distinction

Vocal

Emma Jackson

(Year 9)

Grade 4

Distinction

Vocal

Megan James

(Year 13)

Grade 8

Distinction

Vocal

Rebecca Isaac

(Year 9)

Grade 4

Distinction

Vocal

Poppy Lawson

(Year 8)

Grade 4

Distinction

Vocal

Marnie McDowell-Daly

(Year 7)

Grade 1

Distinction

Flute

Nina McDowell-Daly

(Year 9)

Grade 3

Merit

Piano

Alice Mathieu

(Year 9)

Grade 4

Distinction

Vocal

Rewards for All 60 students from Years 7 to 10 with 100% attendance and no behaviour points for the academic year were treated to a day off timetable in non-uniform, a morning of activities with the Magical Circus, pizza lunch and a film in the theatre.The highlight of the day was when an ice cream van arrived in the afternoon to surprise the girls with a complimentary ice cream!

Year 11 students were invited to take part in this year’s GCSE Revision Reward Card Scheme. Each student, who had their reward card stamped five times for attending GCSE revision sessions, received a chocolate treat and the cards went into a prize draw. 393 reward cards were collected over seven weeks, resulting in 1,965 revision sessions being attended. Well done to the winners, who each received Liverpool One shopping vouchers.

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End of an Era

From September, Mr Dyment will become Director of the

Weatherhead Teaching School Alliance and CEO of the developing Weatherhead Multi-Academy Trust. During his 12 years as Headteacher at Weatherhead he has driven many changes and new initiatives. Under his leadership he procured an ‘Outstanding’ Ofsted, secured Teaching School and Academy status, overseen the Leadership and Media Arts specialisms, championed the Duke of Edinburgh and NCS schemes, culminating in winning ‘Headteacher of the Year’ and ‘Secondary School of the Year’ at the Wirral Globe Teaching Awards 2017. From all the students, staff and parents (past and present) we thank Mr Dyment and wish him all the best in his new role.

SUCCESSES

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International Dance Day As part of Weatherhead’s first ever celebration of International Dance Day, the Dance department held a variety of events which students were involved with.

Students from Years 7 to 12 attended a CAT workshop (Centre for Advanced Dance Training) led by Sam Broadbent, a dancer with Phoenix Dance Theatre and youth dance choreographer.Year 12 A Level Dance students also took part in a workshop with Joanne Loftus who helped to create a quartet that students will perform in their Year 13 exam

Dance Ambassadors spent weeks planning and preparing for a lunchtime Neon Disco. Students boogied with friends at the fun filled dance-extravaganza, sporting glow bracelets, neon leg warmers and took part in a flash mob, with a little bit of help from Beyonce!

Medal winners

Last but by no means least, we held auditions for the International Dance Day competition. After many difficult decisions, successful students made it through to the grand finale. The standard was high and the performers were fantastic, but our judges Miss Egan, Chloe McIntyre (Year 8), Amelia Pickford (Year 8), Megan Cook (Year 12) and Miss Gould crowned Emma Jackson and Erin Thurlow our International Dance Day Competition winners! Almost £200 was raised which Dance Ambassadors chose to donate to Magpie Dance, a dance company that helps to unlock individual potential and ability for people with learning disabilities.

Winners Erin & Emma

The Cornflakes

Schools Sizzle!

Wirral Youth Theatre once again worked with five local schools (Egremont, Foxfield, Mount, Park and Somerville) to run eight weeks of dance workshops. The pupils performed their piece at the Summer Sizzler event at the end of June together with dance and choir acts form Weatherhead. Under the theme of ‘Musical Theatre’ the audience enjoyed fantastic performances to musicals new and old including Singing in the Rain, The Lion King, Beauty & the Beast, Cats, Phantom of the Opera and Matilda.

Cats

Matilda

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Belfast Calling In the Spring term, Weatherhead welcomed 28 students from Belfast Model School for Girls to Weatherhead for the day as part of their Sports Tour to Liverpool to compete in netball and football matches.

Our Year 9 netball team took an early lead and kept ahead throughout, with a final score of 8-6. During the Year 8 game, Weatherhead took a few minutes to settle in and were drawing 0-0 but after some tactical positional changes, the team stormed ahead and finished with an impressive 11-0 win!

The Football tournament saw two Belfast teams competing against Weatherhead’s Year 9 and Year 10 teams. The standard of football was outstanding from both schools, all the matches were close with only one or two goals in it! Belfast finished 3rd and 4th, our Year 10 team came 2nd and the Year 9’s were unbeaten throughout the day and overall winners of the tournament.

After lunch, the Belfast Sports Leaders joined up with some our Sports Council and CSLA Leaders to share leadership ideas and lead a class of Year 8 students. It was a fantastic day and the students worked hard, showed huge sportsmanship and enjoyed themselves. The atmosphere was great throughout the day and that can only be a result of the enthusiasm and effort put into the tour by Weatherhead and Belfast students.

The Great Wirral Conversation Members of the School Council took part in the Great Wirral Conversation organised by AgeUK Wirral. The girls spent an afternoon talking to elderly members of the community about loneliness and how to tackle it as part of the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness. Conversation soon moved on to WW2, school and fashion! The event was a great success and we were delighted to welcome some of the participants to our Afternoon Tea.

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DO SOMETHING FUNNY FOR MONEY!

Girls from all year groups donned red accessories for the day to celebrate Red Nose Day and raised over £650. Together with a cake sale (organised by Year 9 students Becky Isaac, Emma Jackson and Erin Thurlow) and a lunchtime show with choir and dance performances, another £200 was raised for Comic Relief.

EVENTS

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Anyone for Tea? After months of planning by the School Council and staff, we welcomed 40 elderly members of the community to Weatherhead for traditional Afternoon Tea. Our guests enjoyed sandwiches, cakes, cups of tea, a game of bingo, raffle, dance and choir performances and a poetry reading. School Council representatives mingled with guests, helped serve tea and made their debut as bingo callers! It was a wonderful afternoon, enjoyed by all and something which we hope to make an annual event. The event even made it into the AgeUK newsletter!

Mad Science Day Year 7 students were treated to a day off timetable to experience Mad Science! The girls enjoyed Professors Mealor’s and Glazier’s ‘Potions Class’ - making potions and dragons eggs, ‘rocket power’ with chemical and water rockets, bangs and burning discovering the science behind fireworks, ‘bubble magic’ creating giant bubbles and flame bubbles, a nitro-tastic show with liquid nitrogen and a mad science show finale in the theatre.

Year 10 Lead by Example In the penultimate week of term, our Year 10 girls were joined by students from Calday, Bebington High, Woodchurch and Oldershaw to take part in the Leadership Challenge Day. Students worked in groups of 10 to complete a range of physical, strategic and mental challenges, aiming to achieve the most points in order to win the cup which was won by 10MTA. Highlights of the day were the inflatable assault course and Zorb football. It was a fantastic day for all of the students involved and the external schools are already looking forward to returning next year.

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TRIPS

Year 7 trip to the Conway Centre

Year 7 trip to the Conway Centre

Rainforest Roadshow

Year 7 trip to the Conway Centre

Geographers Have a Field Day! KS3 students visit Stratford-Upon-Avon

Year 12 Geographers had a busy Summer term with three field trips to complete their AS studies.

They visited Liverpool to investigate tourism and retail. The group enjoyed a tour of Liverpool1 and carried out questionnaires, pedestrian counts, noise pollution and environmental surveys.

At Formby, they looked at a destructive coastline, visited Ainsdale Beach to look at sand dune succession, measure beach profiles, vegetation cover and type and soil pH. For their final visit to Preston Montford in Shropshire, the group went to Carding Mill Valley to measure river discharge, infiltration rates and rates of interception.

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TRIPS

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Careers Award Congratulations to our Careers Guidance coordinator, Miss Smith who has secured the Quality in Careers Standard until 2020.The national quality award recognises excellent provision of careers education, advice and guidance in schools. A representative from the governing body, Career Connect, commented, “we have absolutely no doubt in the high quality provision and support you and the school provide to students, partners, parents and carers.You are very deserving of this Award!”

What’s Up Doc? Year 12 students, Abisaliny Arunpraksah and Ellie Rhodes enjoyed a week of work experience with Intromed at Arrowe Park Hospital, to spend time in the hospital to gain a further insight into a career as a Doctor.

The girls spent time shadowing a doctor and were lucky enough to watch a number of surgical procedures. The week was an eye opener for the girls, highlighting the expectations and challenges faced by doctors.

Apprenticeships Congratulations to Deputy Headboy, Kieran Murphy on securing a three year Engineering apprenticeship at Airbus. Kieran will receive world class training combining university studies with practical training.

Daniel Richards secured a higher level apprenticeship with Arqiva, combining on-the-job experience with formal, accredited training to gain the knowledge and skills for a career within broadcast and communication services.

Both programmes offer a ladder of opportunity and the chance to take the first steps towards their chosen careers.

We wish them well on their journey.

Nuffield Bursary Year 12 student, Elisha Tompkins, completed a six week Nuffield Research placement during the summer holidays with Dr John Gamble from pharmaceutical giant, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals. Nuffield Research placements provide over 1,000 STEM students with the opportunity to work alongside professional scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians.

International Women in Engineering Day Students were invited along to a drop-in session run by Joanna Bateman from Mouchel to talk about careers in Engineering. Students had the opportunity to learn more about the wide variety of roles within this growing industry and ask questions to a professional civil engineer.

It’s Your Future Guidance Coordinator, Miss Smith took a group of Sixth

Formers to attend the Your Future Careers Fair at Tranmere Rovers.

Organised by Young Chamber, the fair offered a platform for students to talk to representatives from a variety of organisations and attend interactive workshops. The event aims to bridge the gap between school and employment and helps to prepare young people for their next step and the world of work. Students were able to interact with businesses, including representatives from Unilever, Jaguar Land Rover and the NHS, who offered honest career advice and highlighted the breadth of options available including work experience and apprenticeship schemes.

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Return to

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After last year’s washout, students in Years 7-10 came together to compete in ‘the Return to Rio Olympics’ themed Sports Day. The event began with a parade of countries with flags and national anthems followed by an energetic opening ceremony with over 60 Year 7 dancers performing their Olympic routines. Students competed in badminton, rounders, netball, duathlon, trampolining and athletics events showing great strength, determination, talent and fantastic team work. Well done to all the girls who competed, especially those who broke Weatherhead records.

Record Breakers

Final Positions

YEAR 7

1st

Brazil

Hattie Bell

High Jump

1.18m

2nd

Australia

Anya McCready

Long Jump

3.90m

3rd

Ireland

4th

Great Britain

5th

Italy

6th

USA

7th

Jamaica

8th

France

9th

Germany

10th

Greece

YEAR 9 Melissa Molyneux

Shot Put

8.40m

YEAR 10 Lauren Ayers

High Jump

1.38m

Sophie Weedall

Long Jump

4.10m

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ATHLETICS

NETBALL

Everybody Dance Now!

Year 7 - 10 Netballers

Year 7 & 8 Athletes

YEAR 7 - 9 WIRRAL SCHOOLS’ ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS Hattie Bell

2nd

200m

Mya Rogan

2nd

200m

Erin Mulvey

3rd

100m

Emily Burdett

3rd

200m

Anya McCready

2nd

100m

Ava Beach

5th

800m

Year 7 relay team

3rd

Weatherhead Year 7 8 - 0 Birkenhead Park High School Player of the Match - Jen Dodd for her speed in the attacking circle Weatherhead Year 9 3 - 4 Birkenhead Park High School Player of the Match - Erin Mulvey for impressive court play and shooting Weatherhead Year 10 and 11 10 - 4 Woodchurch High School Player of the Match - Abbie Lorimer for her control of the game as Centre and Captain Weatherhead Year 7 14 - 2 Birkenhead Park High School Player of the Match - Ellie Frost Weatherhead Year 8 and 9 10 - 5 Birkenhead Park High School (Year 9) Player of the Match - Jess Boote

ROUNDERS

YEAR 7 WIRRAL SCHOOLS’ ATHLETICS COMPETITION Hattie Bell

1st

150m

Anya McCready

1st

75m

Macy Farrell

2nd

150m

ONE MILE SHORT COURSE CROSS COUNTRY

Year 9 Rounders

YEAR 7

Anya McCready

7th

Ava Beach

16th

WIRRAL SCHOOLS’ ROUNDERS TOURNAMENT Weatherhead 11 - 0.5 Plessington Weatherhead 11 - 0.5 Kingsway Weatherhead 4 - 3.5 Hilbre Weatherhead 4 - 3 Wirral Grammar C Prenton 10 - 4 Weatherhead Wirral Grammar B 2.5 - 1.5 Weatherhead Wirral Grammar A 8 - 2 Weatherhead Player of the tournament - Anya McCready

YEAR 8

Emily Burdett

10th

Jasmine Elliott

15th

Daisy Kitto

20th

Olivia Koumas

21st

RUGBY The Year 7 and 8 Touch Rugby Squad won the Wirral Schools’ Touch Rugby tournament and went on to represent Wirral in the Merseyside School Games with the following results.

Cross Country

Weatherhead 1 - 1 Stanley Weatherhead 2 - 0 Woodchurch Weatherhead 1 - 0 Prescot Range 2 - 1 Weatherhead Haydock 3 - 0 Weatherhead Player of the tournament - Hattie Bell

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ART

Pop Art Year 10 Fine Art and Textiles students visited the Lady Lever Art Gallery to view the ‘Edo Pop’ Japanese woodblock prints exhibition, which are on loan from Frank Milner.

The girls also viewed the museum’s world class collection of Victorian paintings, sculpture, Oriental ceramics and a huge collection of Wedgewood pottery.

Lord Leverhulme was an avid collector of art and objects d’art. Information gathered on the visit will be used by the students to inform their forthcoming mock exams and provided inspiration for their own artwork.

Making an Exhibition of Themselves!

Eight A level students from Years 12 and 13 had work selected to show at the prestigious National Students’ Art Exhibition in London. The exhibition invites students from around the country to submit work under the patronage of the Royal Society of British Artists and only the best artwork is selected. We were delighted that 10 pieces survived the rigorous selection process and Head of Art, Mrs Freckleton, was proud to attend the exhibition in the Mall Gallery and see our students’ work alongside other outstanding pieces. This is a fantastic achievement and they were awarded certificates to mark the occasion. Well done to Samantha Butterworth and Phoebe Disley (Year 12), Amber Blair-Keyes, Cody Doran, Ella Griffiths, Emma Leech, Leila Peckham and Megan Walsh (Year 13).

FOOD TECH

Gourmet Gatherings As a reward for

Creative Showcase The Art department exhibited GCSE and A level coursework and exam pieces from Fine Art, Textiles and Photography work to students, their family and friends. Work ranged from landscapes, portraiture and 3D to fabric garments. The standard was extremely high with many students gaining A and A* grades - the diversity of styles and approaches was exciting to see.

their endeavours and being awarded ‘Star Baker’, Key Stage 3 students earned an invitation to a ‘Gourmet Gathering’ in the Food Technology department.

The girls have appreciated being treated to pizza lunch with a celebratory atmosphere, staff commented that they have been a pleasure to host.

Caring is Sharing

Our Year 9 Young Carers hosted an event under the theme “young child’s party” as part of their course.The girls decorated and created place settings for the event and made all the party food; which included cakes, pizza and fruit kebabs.The girls were able to enjoy the fruit of their labours, as they were able to enjoy the party and eat the food!

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MATHS

UKMT Challenge An amazing team of Year 8 and 9 students competed in the regional final for the UK Maths Team Challenge. The team comprising Emma Baldwin-Quirk, Amy Dunderdale, Polly Knapton and Erin Mulvey had prepared for the event all year and placed a very pleasing ninth - beating all Wirral schools bar two - an excellent result, well done team!

Since then, girls completed the UKMT Junior and Intermediate Maths challenges. 14 of our students received awards for placing in the top 40% of entries, achieving an impressive haul of 11 Bronze, one Silver and two Gold.

Congratulations to Gold Award winners, Claire McGeoghegan and Lucy Cook, whose scores fell in the top 7% of entries, closely followed by Amy Morrison achieving Silver. Lucy performed so well that she has been invited to participate in the Pink Kangaroo Challenge later this year which is a real honour.

PERFORMING ARTS - DANCE

Dancing Through Time

Our A level dancers were delighted to be invited to Bridgewater High School for a workshop with renowned dance company, Rambert.

The workshop was won in a competition, run as part of Rambert’s 90th birthday celebrations. The aim of the day was to discover the background of the company in the 70’s and learn some repertoire from Christopher Bruce’s Cruel Garden. The day also gave staff and students lots of ideas, encouragement and support to take back to the classroom. The group helped to create an infographic poster for the 70’s, contributing the colour, text and key information about the company. The posters will be used on the Rambert Dance Company website to aid students with the new A Level specification.

Upcoming Events...

Nikki O’Hara will be coming into school to work with our Year 11 GCSE Dance students in January 2018. Nikki has created the Set Phrases for the GCSE Dance syllabus and we are very lucky to be able to work with her directly.

PERFORMING ARTS - DRAMA

Blood Brothers Workshop Miss Elliott organised a practical Blood Brothers workshop for GCSE Drama and Year 9 students (who have chosen GCSE Drama as an option). Alison Crawford, who plays Linda in the stage version, ran an energetic workshop which provided the girls with access to an experienced practitioner, allowed them to understand the play in more depth (which is part of the GCSE Drama syllabus exam) and develop their performance skills. The girls thoroughly enjoyed this once in a lifetime experience.

Year 7 Get Sports Day Off with a Bang!

Students from 7C and 7L performed some of their classwork as part of the opening ceremony for Sports Day.

Lights, Camera, Action, Dance!

As part of our curriculum development, students in Year 8 have started to learn about how dance can be performed in different performance environments. Students have been adapting choreography for different spaces which have included areas all around school. Students have enjoyed performing, filming and taking the role of director!

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To Read or Not To Read?

To Read or Not To Read...that was the dilemma posed by Último Productions, as our Year 11 students performed to friends and family for their GCSE Performing Arts exam. The exam focus was a literary exhibition, celebrating imaginative fiction which the girls fully embraced. To Read or Not To Read was an original musical performance about a young girl, called Sophie, who hates to read until she meets the characters from Matilda, Alice in Wonderland and Harry Potter in her dreams. The girls performed brilliantly ensuring some outstanding GCSE grades were in the bag.

SCIENCE

Physics Olympics Ten Year 7 students visited to Hilbre High School to take part in the Physics Olympics.The girls were placed in mixed teams with students from with other schools and some of them won prizes. There were four different Olympic events: Tower Building, Creating a Lighthouse, Designing a Marble Run and an Egg Drop.

PERFORMING ARTS - MUSIC

Subject Ambassadors

Music Workshop Composer, arranger and producer, David Lowe, visited the school in March. Best known for his compositions of the BBC News jingle, Grand Designs and Country File theme tunes, he gave students an insight into how he got into the business, his experiences and his work. He showed them how a jingle or theme tune can be built up from a few simple notes, he even took the time to play the piano and the students asked lots of excellent questions.

Over the course of the year, students have been working hard to achieve their Bronze and Silver Subject Ambassador badges. This new scheme requires students to complete a range of tasks in line with leadership skills in a subject of their choice. In total, 69 students have received their Bronze badge in subjects Drama, Maths, English, History, PE and Computer Science. Tasks completed included supporting Open Evening, creating presentations and quizzes to deliver during class and form time, monitoring ‘Word of the Week’ and some students even ran a week of assemblies!

Four students from Year 10 also received their Silver badge in PE by leading a class warm-up, monitoring equipment, a high of commitment and routinely attending extra-curricular clubs.Year 7 students, Ellie Forrester and Chloe Rigby, were the first students to receive their awards - a fantastic achievement for their first year at Weatherhead!

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English department on WBD

World Book Day A variety of activities and events were held to celebrate World Book Day. As well as the English department dressing up for the day as their favourite literary characters, the LRC ran writing and drawing competitions. Miss Grainger assisted the Performing Arts department with the GCSE exam performance helping with plot development and providing props. On the night I ran a book sale/ swap (also continued the following day in the LRC), and put up displays of books, quotes and competition entries.

15 pupils from St. George’s Primary School joined us in the LRC for some WBD themed activities. The pupils enjoyed creating their own Roald Dahl inspired characters and making up their own story using story telling software with LRC Manager, Miss Grainger.

World Book Day Year 7 winners

World Book Day Year 8 winners

World Book Day activities in the LRC

Leadership Project eight As part of their Silver Arts Awardd Leadershi hip P roject j t ei ight ht Year 13 students coordinated a lunch time of activities and games in the LRC. Using the themes of Roald Dahl, Harry Potter and Alice in Wonderland, students designed a word search, book review sheets, a crossword, a word scramble and a game to match characters to famous books. The LRC was busy all lunchtime, with just under a hundred Year 7 and 8 students attending, prizes were given for the best book reviews and creative stories.

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Competitions World Book Day To Read Or Not To Read Writing Competition Winner: Katie Burgess 7KML Runners Up: India Chase 9JT Maddy Cloy 7KML +DƈQD 7KRPDV &.

Charlotte Wright 7BBU

Scholastic Book Fair As part of the World Book Day celebrations, we held our annual book fair which was the most popular yet, with queues into the LRC every day! Students were able to use their £1 WBD tokens to get money off books and spent over £850 - a new Weatherhead record, earning over £500 worth of free books.

World Book Day To Read Or Not To Read Drawing Competition Winner: Erin Thomas 7BBU Runners Up: Katie Berry 7AMP Mollie Johnson 7KCL Chloe Rigby 7SHO Tamzin Sherlock 7SHO

Here Comes the Sun Writing Competition Winner: Mithujhana Nagenthiran 8SFU Runners Up: Jess Cardus 8REG Megan Chaderton 7KML Anna Chapman 7KML Emma Dacosta 8AEL Charlotte Edwards 8AEL Libby Evans 8AEL Zoya Haadi 9SEV Molly Nash 7AMR Chloe Price 7SHO Sophie Scarisbrick 8SS Erica Whitby 7BBU

Wirral Book Award Author Event 19 students from Years 8 and 9 visited Wirral Grammar School for Girls to take part in the Wirral Book Award Author Event. Having read the shortlisted books, the girls had the chance to listen to and meet the authors, as well as mingle with students from other schools. The girls were given the chance to cast a vote for their favourite book on the shortlist and the winner was The Art of Being Normal by Lucy Williamson announced at a celebration lunch in July.

Winning entry by Mithujhana Nagenthiran 8SFU

Here Comes the Sun Drawing Competition Winners: Polly Knapton 8HCR, Grace Payne 7AMR Runners Up: Holly Bee 8REG Jess Dutton 8AEL Miki He 8JMI Marnie McDowell-Daly 7KCL Lottie Mercer 8SFU Lia Smith 7SHO Charlotte Wright 7BBU Winning entry by Polly Knapton 8HCR

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SSLT After a stringent application and interview process, the new Student Senior Leadership Team (SSLT) was announced in June. Congratulations to the successful candidates! Head Girl, Deputy Head Girl and Deputy Head Boy have already performed several duties including speaking at KS3 Awards Evening and Open Evening.

Head Girl

Chloe Hunt

Assistant Head Girl

Poppy O’Brien

Deputy Head Boy

Scott Henderson

Assistant Head Girl

Sophie Steele

Deputy Head Girl

Abisaliny Arunprakash

Assistant Head Girl

Erin Taylor

Assistant Head Girl

Amelia Adley

Head Sports Ambassador

Georgia Hepke

Assistant Head Girl

Millie Marshallsay

Head Arts Ambassador

Becky Barrow

Africa Oyé Sixth former Becky Barrow spent three weeks in Uganda during the Summer holidays with the Rock of Joy charity. Along with dozens of young volunteers, Becky taught local children about dental hygiene, malaria and healthy living. As well as volunteering in Kampala, Becky attended a huge church service for over 7,000 people and enjoyed white water rafting! Becky hasn’t stopped talking about this once in a lifetime experience and hopes to forge further links with Weatherhead and Kampala.

So Long, Farewell, Au Wiedersehn, Goodbye It is with much sadness that we say goodbye to two of our favourite Year 13 students, Leah Sage and Liv Asterley. Leah has been with us eight years, since Year 7 whilst Liv joined Weatherhead three years ago. The girls will be greatly missed by staff and students and we wish them all the best as they embark on their next adventure to Derwen College in Shropshire.

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Sixth Form Prom at the Shankly Hotel

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PRIMARY LIAISON

Lights, Camera, Action Mrs Joynson ran a ten week Film Makers Club with pupils from Somerville Primary School. The group enjoyed making their own animation which included designing characters, creating backgrounds, learning to film and edit. The film was premiered at Weatherhead as part of our Creative Showcase to all of the pupils involved, their friends and families.

Pupils Are Hands On! As part of their Science week, Year 6 pupils from Liscard Primary School visited our Science department to experience hands-on, laboratory-based Science activities including exploring Heart and Circulation, Electricity and Light.

The Art of Science We were delighted to welcome 36 pupils from our feeder primaries to Weatherhead for an ‘Art of Science’ workshop to experience some of the highlights of Science in secondary school. Staff ran three sessions throughout the morning including Electrical Circuits, Hands on with Organs and the Chemistry Behind Fireworks.

The workshop was part of our Key Stage 2 Gifted Programme, which aims to challenge and extend able primary students.

What pupils and parents said: One thing you really enjoyed about the session? Hands on, practical science experience such as using bunsen burners and making ‘fireworks’.

What do you most value in events of this type? I most value the experience and knowledge my son gains from attending the events he is very eager and willing to learn more at his age and is interested in all of the programmes that are available.

Crystal Maze The Maths department ran a transition project with Year 6 pupils from Liscard Primary School. The pupils were put into groups and had three sessions to plan a puzzle to add to the Crystal Maze. For the final session, Liscard Primary School pupils came in to Weatherhead to play the Crystal Maze game. The groups collected ‘crystals’ by solving puzzles and traded them in to solve a final Maths puzzle. The five winning groups all received a certificate and medal.

The Typhoo Tea Challenge Year 10 and 12 students helped host the Typhoo Tea Challenge Final for pupils from Egremont and Bidston Avenue Primary Schools, organised by the Young Chamber. We saw lots of entrepreneurial talent displayed by the Year 5 pupils and it was great to collaborate with our local primaries on such a great opportunity for them to learn more about how to run a business.

Weatherhead High School Breck Road, Wallasey, Wirral CH44 3HS Tel: 0151 631 4400 Fax: 0151 637 1805 Email: admin@weatherheadhigh.co.uk Website: www.weatherheadhigh.co.uk 611_WR_Summer17_v5.indd 20

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