Blog: 24th January 2020

On Monday morning, up in Science, the atmosphere was quite literally electric as Year 7 used the Van de Graaff generator to explore static electricity. With students being an integral part of the experiment, the braver scientists amongst them took hold of the generator and used their finger to light the Bunsen burner. Impressive stuff.

Down in Food Technology, this week, Year 9 have been making cottage pies whilst in GCSE Music students have been putting together a group performance of ‘We can work it out’ by the Beatles. On Thursday afternoon, Year 7 were coming to the end of their Dance topic in PE. In their final routines they showed the progress that they’ve made demonstrating skill, technique and great team work.

Over in the Sixth Form, Mrs Lake reports that ‘Year 12 Psychologists have been learning about the formation of attachments in children this week as part of developmental Psychology. They had to look after their ‘egg babies’ for one week, keeping them with them at all times! Those who survived could ‘eggs-change’ their babies for a creme egg today. Here is a link to a page we created as a class so we could see the progress. https://padlet.com/alake9/qtwf4zy4w8oi Some were very reluctant to hand their egg babies over this morning!’

Assembly for Years 7 and 8 this week focused on the power of writing with students being introduced to the BBC Radio 2, 500 words competition. We did an activity to generate creative thoughts before listening to a winning entry from last year. Students were encouraged to take part and further details can be found at www.bbc.uk/500words Other year groups listened to the 90s track Sunscreen by Baz Luhrman (you may remember it!) with the theme of thinking very carefully before taking advice and making decisions.

In sporting news, Martha (Year 7) came 4th across North Yorkshire in Cross Country and will now go on to represent the county. Following on from their success in Year 8, the Year 9 football team have reached the quarter finals of the ESFA Small Schools’ Cup. We’re the last state school in the competition and our next match will be on home turf so we’re looking forward to supporting our team.

Thanks to those parents who attended Year 11 Parents’ Evening on Wednesday. Year 11 students will now be very clear about the actions that they need to take to get the best possible results in the summer. Thanks also for your feedback on the questionnaires which will be published on the school website. Next week, it’s Year 10 Parents’ Evening on Wednesday 29th.

Next week will also see the start of many lunchtime clubs run by the Student Council. From Media to Music, Art to Debating and Kahoot, students are invited to come along and make the most of their lunchtimes. There’s also the opportunity to get involved in netball after school on Monday evenings. Have a lovely weekend!