Newsletter July 2010

From the Headmaster

Staff
At the end of the current academic year, Mr Thomas will be ending his time in Calder House, and Mr Western will be moving in.
Miss Choudhary has begun as visiting Assistant Boarding House Mistress in Wheelwright House.

New Building Developments
Subject to planning permission being re-confirmed for the adjusted plans and to revised costs being acceptable, we are hoping to replace, next academic year, the existing Pavilion with a new and more practical one.

ICT Systems
The School will be upgrading to Windows 7 during the Summer Holidays.

EFL Summer School
This will run towards the start of the Summer Holidays for those existing and external students who have enrolled for the course, details for which are available from Mrs Keeble.

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On May 13th the Art and Design Department held its annual exhibition of work by Year 11, L6 and U6 pupils for their public examinations.  The event was well attended by parents, pupils and invited guests, and many compliments were paid regarding the standard and variety of work exhibited. It was particularly pleasing to see so many Year 9 pupils who have opted to take the subject for GCSE next year, in attendance with their parents. Many thanks to staff, pupils and guests for making the event such a success. Mrs Shelton
		Isabella Ching with her stunning artwork

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Duke of Edinburgh’s Award

Gold Final Expedition May 1st - 4th.

Completing the expeditions section of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award at Gold level has always been a major challenge, but after the evening rain on Day One of this expedition, a steep climb to come and not all in the team in the best of health, a successful finish must have seemed a particularly long way off for them at their campsite in Langdale.  Nonetheless, with admirable resolve, determination, and not a little skill, Beth Wallis, Alex Smalley, Alex Lopacki and Erkki Antonkov proved just how much they had learned (quite a lot) and what kind of characters they were (best not to elaborate too much).
The expedition started on the shores of Lake Windermere with an afternoon meeting with the expedition assessor at which the group had to convince that they had the knowledge, skills and equipment to at least start their journey through the Lake District. Against expectations they were actually quite convincing.  At one point I felt quite proud.  I am not sure quite what their assessor made of the large Union Flag erected at the group campsite, or its presence tied proudly to Alex Lopacki’s rucksack for the entire journey but it did help spot the group from some way off at checkpoints along the way.
The route from Low Wray, near Ambleside, to Great Langdale then Eskdale, Coniston and finally to the finish at the Bowness Ferry across Windermere was a journey of contrasts, taking the group to some of the Lake District’s most visited spots such as Stickle Tarn and Grizedale Forest, but also to the lesser known Duddon Valley – a challenging area for navigation, as the group managed to demonstrate very effectively.
However, minor errors aside, theirs was a considerable achievement.  Far greater than mine in supervising a group that arrived on schedule each day and, for the most part, avoided mishap.  Apart from requiring me to take the new school minibus over Hardknott Pass a couple of times, they made my job an easy one.  I very much hope that all four of them go on to complete their Gold Awards in the near future.

Mr Ogden

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Heathfield pupils visit Rishworth.........

The Languages Department played host to Year 6 pupils and teachers Mrs Kiy and Mrs Wilby from Heathfield who joined Mrs Arbelo-Dolan and Sixth Form student Sophie Marshall for an hour’s taster session of Spanish. The main objective was to inspire enthusiasm for languages using as background the character of ‘Dora the Explorer’ and a whole range of interactive resources to learn basic greetings and numbers from one to twenty in Spanish.

With music and games ranging from ‘Jump to the Number’ and a  whole-class ‘Mexican Wave’ to having eighteen pupils fighting frantically to get in the right numbered position to the tune of ‘Mission Impossible’, the hour of fun soon passed.

It was equally rewarding to see Mrs Kiy and Mrs Wilby joining in enthusiastically, counting the numbers forwards and backwards.  Our new Head of Department, Mr Smith, popped in to see us while Sophie became our official photographer and right-hand ‘buddy teacher’.

We ended the session with a lot of rattling of bags and exchanging of goodies from the Dora bags which were given to each pupil.

Their ‘mission’ was to not eat the goodies before lunch….. I wonder if it was an impossible one?

Mrs Arbelo-Dolan

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Miss Pots was very pleased to once again welcome Heathfield Year 5 pupils into the Home Economics Department.  It is a wonderful opportunity for the young pupils to experience the Department and get a hands-on feel for what goes on at the ‘big school’.
Miss Pots demonstrated how to make scones with safety, cleanliness and the ability to follow instructions high on the list of importance.  Once pupils had seen the demonstration and asked all their questions it was straight off to work with great excitement and expectation.  The children worked hard and did themselves proud; a wide selection of shapes and sizes of scones were produced with none burnt and no accidents!  Miss Pots was most impressed by the way in which pupils conducted themselves.
A lovely morning was had by all and hopefully some scones made it home for parents to try!

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Year 5 pupils from Heathfield took part in an exciting Ceramics Day at Rishworth.  They had been working on a mythical beast project as part of their Art and Design Technology lessons, creating individual photo-montages and working collaboratively to produce junk model beasts. The pupils used this work as inspiration when creating creatures from clay during their day in Rishworth Art Department.  Mrs Fraser and two Sixth Form students, Ella Li and Isabella Ching, worked with the class, teaching them a variety of ceramic techniques and giving them a taste of life as a Rishworth School art student.

...............and vice versa

As soon as we got to Heathfield we went to the hall and watched the pupils sing.  Then with Year 1 we used paper to make a plane which in French is ‘un avion’.  After that we were with Year 2 making a land yacht, which in French is ‘un char à voile’, and with Year 3 we made ‘un bateau’ (a boat ).  The last class we worked with was Year 4 when we made a different type of plane. As well as learning how to make origami models for different types of transport, the pupils also learned ordinal numbers in French.  Finally they had a competition with their models. The best part of the day was when we got a chocolate croissant which in French is ‘un pain au chocolat’. It was a very memorable experience and I hope to do it again. Ashleigh Walker   9R

I am sure all the pupils enjoyed our visit as much as I did
James Kenny  9S

I think the whole day was a lot of fun and I enjoyed it.
Anna Brierley   9I

I think both schools thoroughly enjoyed this experience and it gave all of us many benefits.
Katie Pritchard  9R

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Peregrine update - June 20th.

Great news!  The three Peregrine chicks most local to the School have fledged in the past week, and are now being taught how to hunt by their parents. They’ll soon be flying the nest to make their own way in life.

		Less good news is the fact that, due to software difficulties, the camera on the other nest from which it was hoped live footage would be streamed was not commissioned.  In the interim, that nest has been predated but the nature of the predation is uncertain.  Unfortunately a lot of time and expense put in by volunteers proved to be for nothing this year!  It is hoped that the system can be transferred to a badger sett, and should be able to provide some footage in the fullness of time. By the end of the breeding season, the Rishworth three were the only chicks raised in what has been a disastrous year in Calderdale.  The security systems at Rishworth played a vital part in the protection program.
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Sue Higgins and Bobby Burton from the Ripponden in Bloom group presented Community Awards to Jason Hui and Michael Chan for the work they have done tidying and maintaining public areas in the village.

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Rishworth Open Morning
Saturday October 16th
9.30am - 12noon

Heathfield Open Afternoon
Monday October 18th
1.15 - 6pm

Rishworth Open Evening
Monday October 18th
6 - 8.30pm

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Due to popular demand another Science Day was organised, this time for pupils from Farrowdale, Heathfield and St. John’s, Rishworth. The day followed the same format with exciting practical demonstrations based around the concepts of physical and chemical changes, culminating in a controlled ‘rocket launch’. The Maths session focussed on the use of codes and the Semaphore system of communication. As usual the visitors thoroughly enjoyed this dynamic and stimulating experience and went away realising how exciting science can be.

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Teaching and Learning

Teaching and Learning continue to be an important focus at Rishworth with the Learning Team meeting regularly to share ideas of best practice. At the start of the academic year colleagues met to discuss effective and purposeful starter activities to use in lessons.  This was a very productive meeting where members of different departments were able to learn from each other and offer new ideas to increase the impact of lesson beginnings.  These meetings are an opportunity to share resources and highlight best practice.
The Learning Team have also met throughout the course of the year to look at ‘Getting the most from Lesson Plenaries’, ‘Using Film to enhance the Learning Experience’ and ‘Self Evaluation, Departmental Management, Efficiency and Effectiveness’.  These meeting have been very well attended and have been an opportunity for colleagues to develop their own teaching.
Lesson observations have continued throughout the whole School and within departments.  This year we have seen further observing of our Learners and their experience in the classroom.  As more and more staff make effective use of the lesson observation facilities in School we are looking forward to delivering INSET next academic year to colleagues using lesson footage from the observation room to highlight best practice and continue in our own learning as ‘teachers’.
We are currently developing links with universities to make effective use of our facilities for research purposes as well as to develop effective teaching and learning techniques.  Next year we will continue with our focus of departmental efficiency and effectiveness and ensure that Rishworth is at the cutting edge of best practice.

Mrs Rhodes & Mr McGarry

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Forthcoming PTA events

Thursday September 9th 
PTA Meeting in School at 8pm. We’re always looking for new faces to join the team to bring fresh ideas, inspiration and enthusiasm.  Can you spare any time to join us? Without your support there would be no PTA within school - please help whenever you can.  Either follow the link on the school website or come along to any of our meetings - everyone is welcome.

Friday September 17th
New Parents’ Evening.  All new parents are invited into school for an evening of introductions - meet the PTA, other new parents and some of the teaching staff.  Refreshments will be served.

‘Test Your Tastebuds’
Challenge your sense of taste and your knowledge of geography with an event for both the connoisseur and novice which is geared towards identifying the country of origin of wines, cheeses and even water! The date is to be arranged and more details will be published next term.

Patricia Fielding, Chairperson

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Music Festival

I am continually amazed that the musical performances get better and better each year. The students, with tremendous support from the instrumental music staff, continue to astound me with their talent.

The finals of the Young Musician of the Year were again very exciting particularly the Intermediate competition which was very close.  In the Senior and Intermediate competitions we were treated to an outstanding performance by Sam Tse on the Piano and an engaging and atmospheric performance by James Sexton of one  of his own  compositions for Piano. In the Junior and Primary competitions we heard a delightful and expressive acoustic guitar solo from Harry Hayes  and a lively and technically accurate performance from Edward Walton on the Piano. Mr Chris Binns and Mrs Joan Zarney were our guest adjudicators and I must thank them for their positive, encouraging and sensitive comments which were very refreshing to hear.  Heathfield hosted the Primary and Junior Festival and I would like to thank in particular Mrs Jo Bradley and Mr Chris Bouckley for making it such an enjoyable day. The culmination of the two-day festival, which featured over 140 musical performances, was two Festival concerts, one in the Performing Arts Centre at Rishworth and one in the main hall at Heathfield. The whole event was a wonderful celebration of live music and congratulations go to everyone who took part. Many thanks to the instrumental music staff for their continued professionalism and dedication. Mr Lynch

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Competition Week

We had a touch (yes, just a touch) of madness in the Library May 10th – 14th when the famous annual Competition Week took place.
Battle commenced on Monday with a Noughts and Crosses knockout which ended in victory for a jubilant James Field.  This was followed the next day by a Treasure Hunt.  The clues were cryptic, the students enthusiastic, most of the answers correct and the winner was Alex Brearley.
Wednesday was the Sudoku challenge which had a surprisingly exciting finish.  One young man who thought he had finished, was found, on checking, to have made a single mistake and whilst frantically trying to find the error was pipped at the post by Simon Bartolo.
Thursday’s competition was a puzzle sheet I had typed up a few days previously.  On reflection I realised I had probably made it too hard as even I couldn’t remember what the answers were.    

Most of the other competitors were equally nonplussed, so a very special ‘well done’ must go to Isaac Marsh and Connor Sexton who somehow managed to unravel all the clues.
The highlight of the week was the Paper Plane Competition on Friday which attracted almost twenty entrants all determined to make their weird and wonderful designs fly as far as possible.  Some planes immediately nose-dived, some looped-the-loop and some even managed u-turns and ended up behind the starting point.  Abigail Fletcher-Savage’s plane went furthest with a flight of 9.6 metres - still a long way short of the record which stands at 19 metres.
Many thanks to Mr Siggins who stood, tape measure in hand, ready to chase any planes which actually flew forwards and thanks, of course, to all the pupils who took part and helped make the week a success.

Mrs Sheppard

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After a good start to the summer and a week of continuous sunshine, the Geographers were quietly confident that they would be able to forecast ‘sun cream and shorts’ for their latest field trip. The day actually started quite well. The field trip demonstrations began and everyone was soaking in the summer feeling………and then the skies burst open and we experienced the heaviest showers we can remember! Poor Mr Ogden was beside himself, Mrs Stamp looked down at her drenched shorts and I had to wipe my damp sunglasses. The wind blew and the rain continued…and continued…and continued.  Sun-drenched turned into just drenched!

At the second site the sun made a welcome return and the boys enjoyed wading about in the water.  Site three was at Kebroyd and the students happily worked away until they came upon the ‘Slimy Leech’.  We had plenty of screams but all the pupils rose to the challenge in the end.
All in all, a very interesting and enjoyable day, and the pupils were a credit to the School.

Mrs Aujla

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To be guilty or not to be guilty?

For months, thirteen pupils from Year 8 and Year 9 have been working on, and preparing for, the Magistrates’ Court Mock Trial.  After much blood, sweat and tears, it finally took place on June 12th at Bradford Magistrates’ Court.  Some of the team had taken part last year, so we were even more determined to come away with a victory, this year. If you read on (and why wouldn’t you?), you will find out if this was, indeed, the case.
As competitors, the school had to choose and allocate to PAMA students and others the roles of court: witnesses, lawyers, magistrates, a legal adviser, an usher, and, of course, a defendant.
The case we were given was an interesting one; the defendant had been charged with carrying a knife, knowingly, in a public place, and the witnesses were a superstore worker in his forties who happened to observe the fight the defendant had just been in, a police officer called to the scene, and a friend of the defendant’s.  It’s safe to say that the mix of witnesses was… well, interesting, to say the least.
We arrived at the Magistrates’ Court ready for action and dressed for our roles, then we waited… and waited… and waited… until finally realising that the members of the team we had been waiting for were upstairs in the café (and I’m looking at you Ruth, Henry and Charles!).  After being reunited with the rest of the group, we had a brief introduction, then went into our first round, in which we were defending against Hipperholme. In this trial, the defendant was found not guilty, and all three judges decided we’d been the better team.
However, in the second round, we went into our prosecuting case against Bradford Grammar - the team that won last year. This case was also found not guilty and, although one judge awarded us a win, the other two gave it to BGS - and we had wanted to beat Bradford so much!
Possibly the worst part was waiting for the final decision: who had won, overall?  The result turned out to be QEGs (who had been the runners-up last year), which was disappointing, especially as Bradford Grammar came in second.  However, we came third, which was… well, not as good as first, but better than last, as I’m sure everyone will agree.
Luckily for next year’s Year 8 and Year 9, they will be taking part in 2011.  We can only hope that they realise how much we want to see Rishworth win this time!
And, of course, we have to say a huge thank you to Mrs Meredith and all the legal professionals who came into school and helped us to give it the best shot we possibly could.

Lucy Schofield 9S

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Sports Dinner

We joined the Sports Dinner at 7pm when most of the parents were already in the Sports Hall.  First we had a photograph taken with all the students.  This didn’t take us very long and we went to join our table for the first course which was melon, or liver pâté.  Our main course was a buffet with a variety of meats such as chicken, beef and ham. Different desserts such as cake and apple crumble followed.
When we had finished eating the captains of the sports teams gave speeches.  Victor was the first and he delivered a brilliant speech about the last basketball season and the success and failure of his team.  He was followed by Charlotte who spoke about the netball team.  You could see that she was nervous but she still managed her speech very well indeed.  Now it was Michael’s turn to tell us in a very funny way about the ups and downs of the football team.  After he finished, Beth spoke about the hockey team and how much she enjoyed the hockey social events!  The speeches were brought to an end by Oliver who talked about the rugby team and gave special presents to some of the first team players.  Finally the Andrew Curwell Award was given to George Ford and Beth Wallace for their superb sporting performances this year outside school.
After the ceremony, a live band played and the fun part of the night started with dancing and a few drinks.  The evening finished at 1am and everyone left for home or went back to the boarding house.  It was a really enjoyable night, I think,  for everyone involved.

Florian Grutzmacher

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Boarding News

Ripponden Children’s Day On Saturday June 19th thirty-two boarders helped at the 40th Ripponden Children's Day.  The boarders have been an invaluable help for the last six years and the day certainly could not go ahead without them.  Some students help set up in the morning but the majority enjoy the activities of the afternoon when they sell ice-cream, candy floss, burgers and raffle tickets.  The more ambitious (or hardy) run the games stalls, are race officials or goal keepers.  A big ‘thank you’ goes to them all for making the day another success. Mrs Thompson

Cosmic Golf

We went to Xscape to play cosmic golf. which was in 3D so we had to put on special glasses.  It took a little while for our eyes to adjust to the glasses as they made everything look really fuzzy and blurry, so it was very hard to see where the hole was and where the ball was going.  Joakim was hilarious.  It was his turn first and he smacked the ball on the corner of the course, then the ball just rolled back at him. I didn’t do too badly.  I reckon I was one of the most controlled with the ball.  After the golf we all went shopping and just chilled out in the Outlet Mall.
I thought that it was a  fun day out and we would all like to go again.

Jack Tickle

Driving Range We left the school at lunchtime and drove about twenty minutes to the Huddersfield driving range.  The sun was shining and everybody was looking forward to a game of golf on a nice warm day.  The group of eight boys and Mr Bullock were mostly inexperienced at playing golf, which made it quite hard at the start, but after a while everybody got better.  We soon realised that concentration and precision were more important than just hitting the ball as hard as you can.  The buckets with the golf balls emptied really fast because everybody was determined to hit the targets.  Suddenly the weather changed and it began to rain.  Fortunately, where the tees were was kept dry so we didn’t get wet.  It was a really nice, enjoyable day and we all liked the driving range a lot.  It was a good experience to see what concentration and precision can achieve and I would like to go there again. Malte Mahl

Calder House Supper

The Calder House Supper this year was another great night for me.  The people, food, drink and games were all fantastic.  This is the one night of the year in boarding that we rightly celebrate the bond that the young men in this school have.  It “kicked off” in the bar and the theme was the World Cup.  We were all assigned to one of six tables which represented various countries in the competition. The dining hall was filled with all sorts of football apparel, from Chocolate Balls to flags of all the countries playing in the World Cup on the ceiling . The meal was nice, as always, and soon it was time for the speeches.  After all of that, we went outside to the main courtyard. There were football-themed inflatables and games. They were brilliant, especially the inflatable Sumo Football!  It was a great night and I think we all really enjoyed it!

Erkki Antonkov

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Sports News

Golf

Richard Butterworth, Henry Butterworth and Harry Wade, who are all members of Hebden Bridge Golf Club, participated in a Junior Golf Championship at West End Golf Club in Halifax, organised by, and in support of, the British Heart Foundation. The day was one of twenty-two similar events in the North of England and the Midlands. In mixed weather of rain and wind fifteen teams of three (boys and girls up to 18 years old) competed in a Stableford format competition with the best two scores to count for the chance of going through to the final at Alwoodley Golf Club. Unfortunately, the boys did not win but performed very creditably both for the School and their club in a close competition.

The event raised £1540 on the day for the British Heart Foundation with the Rishworth boys raising £285 in sponsorship money.

Rounders
The U14 team won the Calderdale Rounders tournament.

Fencing
Sadie Greetham was runner-up in the Under 15 Girls Epee at the England Youth Championships. She was also awarded the prize for the fencer who demonstrated the best technique over the competition as a whole.

Hockey
The U13s finished 14 points clear of their nearest rivals to win the Calderdale League.
Annalea Staples has been selected to attend the U14, and Nancy Moore the U17, GK Hockey Junior Regional Performance Centre.

 Calendar

Sept  8      Term begins
                Year 10 GCSE Parents’ Information Evening
         9      PTA Meeting  8pm
       17      PTA New Parents’ Buffet 7pm
       28      ‘Reads United’ author visit  1.45pm - 3.40pm
       30      Year 7 & Year 9 Parents meet Tutors
Oct   1       Absit from 4.40pm
         2      Absit
         3      Absit
       16      Rishworth Open Morning  9.30am - 12 noon
       18      Heathfield Open Afternoon  1.15pm - 6pm
       18      Rishworth Open Evening  6pm - 8.30pm
       21      Prize Giving  2pm
       21      Half Term begins at 3.40pm