Category : Headteacher’s Blog

And so there’s been another first for Boroughbridge High School this week as we’ve proved that we can cope with a heatwave! The relaxed uniform has certainly helped and everyone has worked together to keep our school community safe. Thank you for your support with this.

With the Summer holiday almost upon us, Mrs. Godsell-Wright has focused on safety in assemblies this week, following on from the information shared with students earlier in the term and during PSHCE lessons. In particular the focus was on Safety around Water. You can find out more at

https://rnli.org/safety/know-the-risks/cold-water-shock

https://rnli.org/video-player/D98BB773-9556-4A0D-8AA8D2790D512E64

Online safety was also addressed with students being given top tips about how to ensure they stay safe when using social media.

 Year 8 assembly this week also included a presentation from Mrs. Bauwens to the winners of the Geography in a Box competition. As the name implies, students had to create a model (in a box) of something geographical that interested them. Entries included volcanoes, geysers, 3D- maps, waterfalls, meanders, landslides and a water cycle to name but a few. The quality was so high that it was impossible to have an overall winner so the winning three were George, Neve and Annabelle with runners up Freya, Beth, Will and Joe. Congratulations to all!

This morning, for the first time since December 2019, we’ve had a whole school assembly, bringing together all staff and students to celebrate the achievements of the 2021-2022 academic year. The event began with live music and then, following our usual photo celebration, students were presented with certificates from Departments to recognise the good progress that they’ve made and how they have demonstrated an excellent attitude towards the subject or to extra-curricular life. Sporting awards followed and then came the moment that we’ve been waiting for since our superb Sports Day last Friday – the big reveal of the winners. Here they are, 8SF, 9LJ, 10JF and 11CL. The finale was a whole school rendition of YMCA! All in all, an excellent way to end the Summer Term.

Today we said farewell to Mr. Inglis (Science), Mrs Johnson (Maths), Mrs. Langford (Pastoral Manager and History/English teacher), Mrs. Price (Maths) and Dr. Roberts (Science). We thank them for the massive contribution that they’ve made to Boroughbridge High School and wish them well for the future.

With thanks to you for your support throughout the year, all of the Boroughbridge High School staff team wish you and your families a very happy Summer break!

There was magic in the air on Monday when we welcomed 45 Year 5 students and their teachers into school for the return of our ever popular Harry Potter Day. Mrs. Town reports that ‘The students immersed themselves in a magical Hogwarts experience where they took part in workshops that saw them making magic potions in Science, wands in DT, spells in RE, writing about their Hogwart adventures in English and fine tuning their wand skills in Drama. Everyone agreed how much they had enjoyed the day and the Year 9’s who volunteered to help were a credit to the school. We look forward to welcoming more Year 5 students next year for a range of activities.’

Tuesday and Wednesday saw the return of Geography fieldtrips. Mrs Bauwens says ‘The GCSE geographers had beautiful weather for their fieldwork this week when they visited Leeds – something we are not normally used to!  Pupils collected information at four different areas of the city in order to study inequalities in housing in an urban area.  We finished the day near the Royal Armouries Museum looking at how the waterfront area has been redeveloped.  Back in class we will use this data to complete a fieldwork project.  There was a great deal of hard work which was also recognised by members of the public.’

On Thursday 57 girls went to Dalby Forest for the inaugural Girls’ Well-being Colour Run. The event, hosted by North Yorkshire Sport, created an excellent opportunity for girls to complete well-being and physical activities with their friends. They heard inspirational talks from leading sportswomen before completing the 2km Colour Run course set within the forest, starting at Adderstone Field, with obstacles and challenges to complete. The theme throughout was enjoyment and, as you can see from the photos, there is no doubt that it was achieved!

Before

 

Quite obviously, after!

 

And today has been our long-awaited Sports Day. We’ve been very pleased to have a day where the temperatures have dipped to support an excellent day of track and field events. With all staff and students either participating or supporting we’ve seen some excellent achievements and some excellent efforts. Points have been awarded for places and for taking part and completing an event. So, whilst there may be many predictions of winners, the official announcements will not be made until our whole school assembly next Friday.

You’ll have received the message today about our approach to uniform next week with extreme temperatures forecast for Monday and Tuesday, students can either wear the modified uniform that we’ve had this week, i.e. no blazers and ties or can choose to wear their school P.E. kit. We’ll make sure that students are able to fill their water bottles throughout the day.

A reminder that school closes for the Summer break at 1.30p.m. next Friday (22^nd).

Have a lovely weekend!

We’ve had a great time this week, welcoming Year 6 students who will be our new Year 7 in September. It was fantastic to welcome new families, along with those who have older siblings in school, to the very well-attended Parents’ Evening on Monday. It’s been our final day of three transition days today and we’ve been so delighted to have Year 6 students in school, following the last two years where the majority of communication has been virtual. Students have experienced a wide range of subjects, met lots of staff, got to grips with the routines of the school and experienced lunch in the Dining Hall. We’re confident that this will have prepared them well for the start of the Autumn Term in September.

Older students have formed an important part of the three days with Sports Leaders leading PE activities and former Year 11 students accompanying groups as guides. All in all it’s been an incredibly successful week and we’re looking forward to working together in the years to come.

In other news, Mrs. Town reports that ‘Year 11 started their post-16 careers journey on Tuesday. They had an assembly on post-16 routes and options and then took part in a ‘Meet the Employer’ networking event where they interviewed local, national and international employers to find out about a range of different careers and employment sectors. Employers included Reed Boardall, NYCC, Green Tech, The Army, The RAF, Warner Leisure, ISG, Danford Brewer and Ives and Intuitions. Students said they found it very helpful and informative.  If you are an employer and would like to take part in this event or support the school in their careers programme in other ways next year please contact ptown@boroughbridgehigh.com

 

Also looking to the future this week have been Year 8 Scientists. Mr. Errington reports, “We need to stop using fossil fuels and use renewable energy resources such as wind and solar. This means we need better batteries to store energy so we can use it where and when we need it. Year 8 scientists are working on creating batteries that are efficient and made from materials that are easy to source.”

 

The Monster Kickabout has taken place at lunchtimes this week with the winners to be announced.

We’ve got much to look forward to next week too. Year 5 students will be joining us on Monday for a Harry Potter day, some students will be going to Snozone on Tuesday whilst GCSE Geographers will be carrying out fieldwork in Leeds. On Thursday, a group will be attending the Girls’ Well-being Colour Run at Dalby Forest and on Friday we will all be involved in our long awaited Sports Day! Mr. Field has taken the opportunity in Assemblies this week to explain how points can be gained, not only from taking a position in an event but, also, by taking part and completing an event. It’s going to be a great whole school event and, as it currently stands, the long range forecast is looking positive!

A reminder from Mrs. Wellock that there are only 3 days left to order from our latest Scholastic Book Club. Just go to https://schools.scholastic.co.uk/boroughbridge-yo51/digital-book-club to browse the latest books and place your order. Every £1 you spend on this month’s Book Club will earn 20p for our school in Scholastic Rewards.

Good Luck this weekend if you’re putting in an entry to The Aldborough & Boroughbridge Agricultural Show which is on Sunday 24th July at Newby Hall & Gardens. All schedules are currently available at www.boroughbridgeshow.co.uk

It’s been a week of mixed emotions as Years 13 and 11 have sat their final exams and attended Boroughbridge High School for the final time. On Thursday, following the Science exam, the traditional shirt signing for Year 11 took place with students and teachers writing inspirational, kind or funny messages. Students then went to their Leavers’ Assembly where messages from staff, present and past were played, all reminding students of what they have achieved and wishing them success for the future. (Thanks to Amelia for pulling the video together.) There was then some amusement as photos from Year 7 to 11 were shown, reminding students of how much they’ve grown both physically and emotionally in the last five years. We’re looking forward to celebrating their time at Boroughbridge High School at the Prom this evening.

Year 13 have celebrated the end of their exams with a trip to Snozone this afternoon.

Above all, after the challenges of the last couple of years, Year 13 and Year 11 have shown great resilience in their preparation for the exams and the way in which they have conducted themselves throughout the exam period. We wish the class of 2022 well for the future and will look forward to hearing about their future successes.

As is the nature of school communities, as Year 11 and Year 13 leave we move to our new timetable on Monday and the new school year begins. In assemblies this week, I’ve celebrated with students all that they have achieved in this academic year before reminding them of our school expectations to secure future success. We also talked about learning and building knowledge and, in particular, about the Ebbinghaus forgetting curve which shows that without recapping and retrieving knowledge, after 1 day you will have retained only 33% of the knowledge, after 6 days only 25% and after 31 days only 21%. So, as a school we are using the strategy of retrieval grids to ensure that students retain and then build upon this knowledge. Mr. Errington reports that ‘Following the assembly on Tuesday morning about the science behind how we learn, some of my year 7s wanted to investigate further.  Now that they know how learning works, they went straight back to re-visit the learning they did back in September so that they are in top-form ready for Year 8.  Well done year 7.’

We’re also introducing Curriculum Progression maps so that students have a visual representation of what they’re learning, when and how this builds knowledge and skills over time. I’ll be writing to you soon to give you further details.

Yesterday, the next round of the Harrogate and Craven District Athletics Championships took place at Giggleswick School with 24 of our students competing. There were 8 places available in each event and when asked to summarise our performance Mr. Field exclaimed ‘absolutely brilliant’.  We had five 4^th places, eight 3^rd places, two 2^nd places and one 1^st place (James in Year 7 in discus) so, as you’ll have calculated, 11 podium finishes. An impressive performance indeed and against schools much larger than Boroughbridge High School.

Today the Rewards Trip to Flamingo Land has been a great success with students from Years 7 to 10 enjoying both the rides and the zoo. Everyone had a great time and staff were, as always, impressed by the excellent behaviour of students. This is one of the Rewards events that take place across the school year.

Staff and students have been talking today about the fantastic first night of the Grease production at Coronation Hall starring many of our students. Mrs. Macadam reports that ‘The opening show was first class and it is a must see for everyone – you certainly won’t regret it!’ It’s not late to see the production as it continues tonight and tomorrow.  Looking in lessons this week, I thought you might like to see the completed spaghetti measurers which Year 7 have been working on in DT, demonstrating how to combine creativity and technical skill.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Advance notice of The Big Book Swap: 

Mrs. Wellock reports that ‘Students and staff have been donating books over the last few weeks and we are now ready to hold our Big Book Swap. Students should come to the library at lunchtime on Friday 1st July to take part where they can purchase second-hand books with cash (prices from £1 to £3) or use book tokens (if you donated your own books to the swap). We have so many great titles including Ben Davis’ The Private Blog of Joe Cowley, RJ Palacio’s Auggie and Me, and a signed copy of Andy Seed’s The Silly Book of Side-Splitting Stuff.  You can expect to find lots of other books by some of our favourite authors: Malorie Blackman, John Green, Michael Morpurgo, Terry Pratchett and Jacqueline Wilson to name a few. If you still have spare books at home that you’d be happy to donate then it’s not too late to bring them in – please drop them off at the English office to collect your tokens!’

A reminder that new Year 8 and new Year 11 need to bring their PE kit on Monday morning.

Have a lovely weekend!

I hope you had a lovely half term and Jubilee Bank Holiday. It was great to welcome students back to school this week for the last few weeks of our 2021-2022 timetable. You’ll be aware that we move to our new school year and new timetable before the Summer break, to maximise our learning time. This year it will be from 27th June.

Assemblies this week, led by Mrs. Knock, have focused on the life and talent of Alan Turing showing how he developed a number of techniques for speeding the breaking of German ciphers, including devising an electromechanical machine that could find settings for the Enigma machine. His code breaking work is reported to have reduced the Second World War by up to two years. Students then heard about Turing’s contributions to Artificial Intelligence and the pivotal impact of his work on our current technology.

With the athletics season underway, Wednesday saw the Harrogate & Craven District Athletics Championship return to the sporting calendar for Boroughbridge High School.  Mr. Field reports, ‘We took a strong team of 62 pupils to compete in track and field events at Queen Ethelburga’s College.  The pupils represented the school in an excellent manner both on and off the track.  Results are yet to be confirmed but initial calculations indicate that 16 of our pupils have qualified for the next rounds of the Athletic Championships to be held on 22nd June.  We hope that they use their remaining athletics lessons and the after school athletics club on a Thursday to further hone their skills and performance.  We are very proud of their achievements and hope this opens the door to future sporting success for more of our pupils.’

If you’re not already aware, we thought that you’d be interested to know that, after two years of absence due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Aldborough and Boroughbridge show is back for 2022. Further details can be found at https://www.boroughbridgeshow.co.uk/#OurStory 

Have a lovely weekend!

As we come to the end of the half term, highlights this week include 9WS getting fully immersed in the world of work by carrying out interviews during form time. Mrs Skilbeck reports that, ‘Last week they spoke to a fast jet pilot, Tony, finding out about his career and working week. His advice to them all was to find a job that you love doing and then it never feels like work! This week they chatted with Doctor Dan, an anaesthetist, and found out how he copes with all the gory bits of surgery. They also learned that the hardest parts of his job are both dealing with emergencies in the operating theatre, and the emotional challenge of looking after the most poorly patients and their families in intensive care. The students are practising communication skills and it’s making us all think about different people and their lifestyles.’

 

Meanwhile in the Digital World, Mrs. Knock reports that ‘In Code Club, students have started to explore ‘Cyber Explorers’, a platform aimed at building knowledge and skills in cyber security for 11-14  year olds.  This exciting initiative is led by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), where students play games and solve problems, whilst learning about the basics of digital security.

Y7 students have  been exploring programming with Microbits, small pocket size computers. In their first lesson they looked at the features of the microbit which include an accelerometer, inputs and a screen made up of LED lights as you can see.’

 

In Geography, Mrs Bauwens reports that ‘Year 7 have been looking at the water cycle and getting to grips with lots of key words this week.  Year 8 have been starting their new topic on Coastal Landscapes and will be using what they have learnt about how the sea erodes to make flip books showing how stacks are formed.  Year 9 have been cooling off by studying how ice ages have affected the British Isles and will go on to study glaciers.’

In assemblies Mr. Grierson, in preparation for the week ahead, has been looking at the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, describing the significance of the event and the history that lies behind the celebration.

This morning Years 7 and 9 have had an extended assembly led by The Inspire Youth Project exploring the challenges of growing up and keeping yourself safe.

Have a lovely weekend and Bank Holiday Jubilee weekend!

Year 7 have been having an exciting practical time this week. In Food Technology, different flavoured flapjacks have been in abundance. You may have enjoyed one when it was brought home. Meanwhile in Science, at the end of last week, students combined their IT skills from their spreadsheet knowledge with their scientific knowledge to make their very own jumping bean, impressing Mr. Errington with their expertise. Races were then held  with Alf winning the competition.

This week they’ve been investigating the products produced when an acid reacts with metals producing hydrogen gas. They then tested the gas getting the familiar squeaky pop.

Down in Art, Year 7 have been producing their own Raku Inoue portraits of insects and other animals using natural art materials only i.e. flowers, twigs, leaves and stems. Raku was inspired by the ancient and traditional Japanese art of flower arrangement. Mrs. Hunter says,’ I’ve really enjoyed making this with students. They did so well and are a talented bunch.’

                               

The Year 10 Handball team had a great match earlier in the week. Although the score didn’t go our way, we’re looking forward to seeing how they get on in their next match.

In assemblies this week, Mrs Skilbeck and Mr. West have explored the theme of resilience. They talked about the challenges facing our young people before looking at the three stages towards resilience,

1. Acknowledge the challenge
2. Look for and accept the good things (accept the things you can’t change too!)
3. Ask yourself, is this working for you?

For inspiration they then explored examples of people who have shown extraordinary resilience.

Have a lovely weekend!

At last the Year 11 Leavers’ Hoodies have arrived signifying an important stage for Year 11 as they move towards their exams. In their assembly this week, we talked about their achievements at Boroughbridge High School to date and how this should reassure them that they can approach their exams confidently, along with discussing how to make revision time most effective. We took the opportunity to remind ourselves of notable achievements  including the boys’ football team reaching two semi-finals this season and the remarkable performances of the BTEC Performing Arts group whose final piece was enjoyed by their audience on Wednesday evening.

For other year groups, assemblies have focused on our Climate for Learning strategy underpinned by our commitment as a community to ensure that we all act in a way so that everyone is safe, happy and successful. Students were reminded of how they can gain reward points, with a promise of a possible rewards trip to Flamingo Land coming up towards the end of the Summer Term. We then revisited our Behaviour for Learning strategy which supports students in maximising learning.

Prizes were presented in Year 7 assembly to the Science Rocket car teams including the winners from the team with the fastest car (87.2mph) from Dr Lefley’s groups, Millie, Elliot and Neve with group winners for best designs going to 7SCA1’s Piran, Spencer and James, 7SCA2’s Toby, Oliver and Ralph, 7SCB1’s Alex, Mia, Brandon and Brody and 7SCB2’s Oliver, Nathaniel and Will.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Wellock is in the process of organising The Big Book Swap. We haven’t yet set a date but it’s never too early to start finding any children/young adult fiction books (suitable for 11-16 years olds) that students have at home that they would be happy to donate and bring them into school in the next week or so. They will need to give them to their English teacher who will exchange them for tokens that they can use at the book swap event.

Next week it’s the turn of students in Years 7 and 8 to take their exams in the Sports Hall.

Have a lovely weekend.