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Newsletter - March 2008
From the
Headmaster
Staff News
Mr. Housecroft will
be leaving at the end of the academic year to
join Stover School.
Appointments in
Science and Boarding, consequent upon his
departure, are under consideration.
More
Developments to Boarding and Day House Areas
Rishworth’s success
in boarding continues apace: so popular have we
become that not only have we been full in
boarding this year but also we were set to be
full next academic year too – until a further
boarding expansion plan, to be realised for
September, was introduced that will provide
another whole boarding house.
Slitheroe is to be
(re-) converted into a boarding house (which,
some decades ago it once was). Years 7 & 8, who
currently use Slitheroe at lunchtimes as a day
area, will, as will Year 11, benefit from new
day-house areas to be created from further
conversions made in our beautiful Old Court.
Apart from the Chapel itself (the original
school building, dating from 1724), Old Court is
Rishworth’s most historic set of buildings.
These are major
development projects and will, apart from
Slitheroe itself, which will be ready for
September, require between one and two years for
completion, so some transition arrangements for
the day-house areas are anticipated.
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Teaching and
Learning
The term began with
a whole staff INSET on Lesson Observations. The
series of sessions aimed to further attune staff
to the process and standards of lesson
observations and to refine lesson observation
skills. Based on the various sessions, all
staff were able to devise points to act upon and
consider for the future. These will help to
improve still further our own teaching and, as a
consequence, enhance student learning.
Department Self
Review and Work Scrutiny are two areas of
continued focus. The main aim is for continued
development and improvement of teaching and
learning across all subject areas.
Miss Bradberry
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Science Club and
Science
Communicators
After the Easter
holidays Miss Chatwin will be running a Science
Club on Thursday lunchtimes for Year 7 and Year
8 pupils. This will provide Rishworth students
with the opportunity to carry out Science
projects and investigations that they would
normally not have time to cover during lessons.
The aim of the club is to explore the nature of
Science and make it fun and accessible to all.
Trinity term will
also see the beginnings of a new scheme called
Science Communicators which will run alongside
Science club and will eventually be open to all
Rishworth pupils to carry out bronze, silver and
gold awards in Science. This is a nationally
recognised Science awards scheme (similar to The
Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards) which will enable
pupils to get credit for the Science projects
they complete outside of lessons under the
guidance of Miss Chatwin.
Keep you eyes open
for more information which will be appearing
around school in the near future.
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It’s
one thing learning about homelessness in your
PSHCE lessons, but quite another living out in
the rain, hungry and cold, with nothing but a
cardboard box to shelter under as Year 11 pupils
found out when they skipped their breaktime
snacks and drinks to experience a little taste
of what life is like out on the streets. The
exercise was designed to help them empathise
with others less fortunate than themselves and
understand how some people have to live.
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Boarding News
Go-karting
A group of nine
Sixth Form boarders went go-karting with Miss
Bradberry at Raceway Karting in Wakefield.
It was a wet and
rainy day, but that didn’t affect us because it
is an indoor race track. When we arrived we got
changed into racing suits and were given
helmets. We watched a safety video and then we
were ready to jump into our race karts. The
track was well built, new and challenging.
There were not many places for overtaking, which
meant that it required driving skill to move up
the race order.
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The karts
were fast and easily controlled. People
were trying hard and pushing hard during
the race.
Fortunately
there were no big accidents and
everything went nice and smoothly. We
had half-an-hour race time in which we
could do forty to fifty laps. The
kart’s top speed was about thirty to
forty miles per hour. I was the fastest
on the day and Emily Naden gave the boys
a run for their money. It was a very
enjoyable day for us and we learned a
lot about racing and the skills
required. We are all looking forward to
our next opportunity to go again. |
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Terence Tam
Quad biking
At the end of
January a group of boarders and house staff set
out to go quad biking. On the way there we were
given a detailed description from Mr Drowley
about how he would beat us all in the time
trials!
On arrival we were
amazed by how big the area we would be riding on
actually was. We were given a brief talk about
how the place used to be a limestone quarry
making it perfect to ride the quad bikes. Then
we were told the function of the bikes, what we
were going to do for the day and the safety
aspects etc.
Once the briefing
was over we set out in two groups. The first
group got straight into action and started with
the training course just to get to grips with
the bikes, then we set out onto the proper track
which was a really good experience. There were
puddles, hills, rocks, dirt, and land rover
tracks everywhere making it a really bumpy but
fun ride.
It didn’t take us
very long to get used to the bikes and we were
soon picking up speed on the straights and going
up hills that little bit faster in an attempt to
make the slightest jump if possible.
As soon as we
finished on the course we readied ourselves for
the moment we had been waiting for, the time
trials when Mr Drowley would have to back down
and admit that he doesn’t have anything on us
when it comes to a race, and that is exactly
what happened. Mr Drowley barely made it off
the starting mark before he over-revved and the
chain came off.
All-in-all we had a
very good day, it was an excellent experience
and I can’t wait till the next session!
Ryan Sheehan
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Chad is ready for the off |
Team building
On February 3rd the
Rishworth School boarders went on a
team-building trip to Buxton. The weather that
day wasn't very good - in fact it was very bad.
Windy, cold and wet because of the melting snow.
Nevertheless, the trip was exciting.
We were divided up
into six groups with each group allocated to a
trainer, then we walked to the activity area.
The first activity for my group was to retrieve
an item out of a little tarn, only using a
board, a stick and a rope.
After having done
this we went on to the second activity in which
we had to put water in a little barrel to get an
item out that had been placed in there. The
trick was that the little barrel had holes on
it. To get enough water in the barrel, we had
to build a chain of people passing the water
along.
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Next was
climbing. After we had done the safety
precautions, we had to climb up big
poles and then jump down. Some people
were really scared of heights.
The last
activity of the day was on a climbing
wall where everyone had a lot of fun and
supported and encouraged each other,
which made us feel more like a team.
Martin
Huber
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Chinese New Year
For one of our
Chinese New Year celebrations we were given
money to go out and buy the ingredients for a
cooking competition. There were five groups and
each group had at least four people in it. We
worked together and cooked lots of food and
although we spent a lot of time cooking, we were
satisfied with the result.
My team won the
first prize. It was not only us that enjoyed the
evening; when we shared the food our guests said
that it tasted really delicious. I thought that
it was a good experience for everyone. I look
forward to doing it again and hope that we will
cook even better next time.
Yvonne Hu
On February 6th
we celebrated the Chinese New Year. This year is
the Year of the Rat. There were lots of
different events going on that night to
celebrate this.
The kitchen
staff had cooked us some traditional Chinese
food such as spring rolls and noodles… the food
was delicious. After dinner we all went outside
and the sky was lit up by all the different
fireworks.
At eight o’clock
the bar was opened up for us and Mr Housecroft
put on some karaoke discs. There were only a
few singers at the beginning, but eventually
there were more boys and girls who started
singing together and competing with each other.
It was great fun!
Even though we
didn’t get to spend the time with our family we
certainly enjoyed the night.
Kelvin Cheung
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Four Sixth Form
students visited Copley Primary School to talk
to the children about the traditions and
celebrations of the Chinese New Year and the
gifts people exchange at that time.
They tried to
teach the children how to eat fried rice using
chopsticks, with varying degrees of success.
The visit was
great fun and enjoyed by both the Rishworth and
Copley students.
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Speakers
from different faiths have been invited into
school to speak to Year 9 pupils.
Rajinder Singh
Panesar gave a presentation about Sikhism and
spoke about the origin of the religion, its
basic principals, the festivals, dress and
culture.
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Reece and Abbie
model traditional Sikh headgear |
Amani
Loubani visited the School to speak about
Islamophobia and give a presentation entitled
‘Arabs and Islam: Addressing the Stereotypes’.
The talk involved consideration of where many of
the negative ideas about Muslims had come from
and the forms of prejudice surrounding Islam.
Difficult issues such as the role of women and
the use of violence by extremists were tackled
to give our pupils a better understanding of the
true tenets of the religion.
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Year
7 have recently re-enacted the Battle of
Hastings. This is part of their studies in
medieval history. Students made their own
swords and shields in Saxon or Norman designs
and we then endeavoured to re-enact the story as
told in the Bayeux Tapestry. A day’s battling
was condensed into about ten minutes, but we
still managed to experience the rigours of
conflict. Thankfully, all soldiers were
accounted for after the battle! We all had a
fantastic time!
Mr
Davidson |
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On February 6th
Year 10 pupils hosted the ‘One Big Coffee
Morning’ to raise over £200 for the Macmillan
Cancer Support Fund, a charity they had chosen
as a focus after studying the disease in PSHCE
lessons. They sold cakes and drinks in various
locations around the school and even invaded the
staff room to serve their teachers with coffee.
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Scott and Alisha
serve Mrs Thompson
with coffee and cakes |
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The Year 11 GCSE Drama option group bit the
bullet and produced a pacey and vibrant
production of Shakespeare’s
A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
This was performed on two evenings at Rishworth,
and a matinee was staged for Years 5 and 6 from
Heathfield.
It
took six months of rehearsal to reach the stage
and the students made a successful rendition of
Shakespeare’s verse. The set was constructed
with over 50 metres of brightly coloured
material which was kindly provided by Mrs Aujla.
The students are able to use sections of the
play as their final GCSE performance if they
wish.
Mr
Bullock
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Nathan Dixon
qualified to compete in the Future West Indoor
Supercross Series at the 02 Arena in London
where he came 12th. |
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Casino Night |
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Australia ‘08 Sports Tour Fundraiser
Free entry
Roulette Blackjack Pony Racing Dice
Fairground Games and BBQ
Friday April 25th
7pm in the Sports Hall
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Calendar
Apr 1 Term
begins at 8.40am
8 PTA
meeting 8pm
19
Heathfield PTA Ball
25
Casino Night 7pm
30 Year
10 Parents’ Evening
May 2 Absit
from 4.40pm
3
Absit
4
Absit
5
Bank Holiday Monday - School Closed
7 PTA
meeting 8pm
9
Music Festival - all day
9
Music Festival Concert 7.30pm
11 Founder’s Day Service 10am
11 Old Rishworthians AGM
14 Year 7
Parents’ Evening
19 Year
11 & L6 study leave begins
22 Music
Festival (Heathfield) - all day
22 Music
Festival Concert (Heathfield) 7pm
23 U6
study leave begins
23 Half
Term begins at 3.40pm
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