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. 

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

Scott and Alisha serve Mrs Thompson with coffee and cakes

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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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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