Category : Headteacher’s Blog

Leadership opportunities have been at the fore in assemblies this week as students across the year groups have been invited to put themselves forward as Form Representatives to make up our Student Council. It’s a democratic process with students voting for the people who will best share their views. Alongside that students in Years 10 and 11 have been invited to apply to be a Prefect. Our Prefects get involved in many aspects of school life and will play an important role in our Open Evening on 8^th October.

Forest School has got off to a great start this term. In the first week, it was sunshine all round with Mr. Woodward reporting ‘Glorious weather graced us in the BHS woodland as students got to grips with some Forest School Fundamentals: Species identification, knot tying and shelter construction, alongside developing communication and problem solving skills..’ Last week, they weren’t so fortunate,  ‘With the rain beating down on Monday afternoon we needed shelter in Forest School. 1 tarp, 4 pegs and a length of cord was all each group needed to keep dry once they’d learnt a few important knots…’ It’s certainly an opportunity for our students to demonstrate their resilience.

Yesterday the GCSE Business Students were out on location at Alton Towers carrying out primary research by looking at many aspects of the theme park as a tourist attraction whilst also, of course, trying out the rides and facilities themselves. They had a great day and learnt a great deal.  Mr. Grierson reports, ‘The GCSE Business Studies students had a wonderful time taking the classroom to  Alton Towers to experience first-hand how a successful business operates.  They had prepared for the trip by researching business ownership, objectives and how Alton Towers is impacted by external factors such as legislation, technology, the economy and environment. 

Whilst at the park they evaluated customer experience, value for money and how the trip could be improved.   The students were respectful and polite on the trip and managed to get on lots of the attractions with Smiler, Nemesis and Wicker Man proving really popular.’

Thank you for your contributions to the Bake Sale today which raised more than £100 to support the Duke of Edinburgh Award which gains in popularity year on year. Speaking of which it’s the Duke of Edinburgh information evening for Parents and Carers of students in Years 9, 10 and 11 on Monday 22^nd September at 5.30p.m.

Have a lovely weekend.

Now, at the end of the first cycle of the timetable, we’re all fully back into routine and making good progress. It’s hard to believe that Year 7 have only been with us for a couple of weeks as they confidently approach their new learning. In English, with Miss Bargewell, they’ve been exploring what the sea symbolises in literature – and Moana! Over in MFL with Madame Reed and Madame Cave, the focus was on greetings, introductions, asking questions and cultural context (France/French culture) e.g. How many baguettes are produced a day/per year? Would you believe it? 10 billion per annum!

On the Humanities corridor, in RE with Mr. Woodward, students were exploring Nietzsche’s claim that “God is dead” and debating whether an omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent God would allow natural disasters to occur. In History with Mrs. Ennis, students were exploring historical skills including chronology and looking at their first topic, a local history study of the Vikings. In my Geography class, students were classifying human and physical features and using their confident atlas skills to locate them on a map.

Number operations, multiplying and dividing integers and decimals and order of operations were the focus in Maths with Mrs. Murphy whilst in Music with Mr. Jackson, students were exploring ‘what is music?’ using echo games, how sounds are represented on paper and learning a song in order to compose new words to fit.

In Science with Mrs. Salter, one class learnt about the different forces and balanced and unbalanced forces whist the second class carried out their first practical on microscopes, making their own onion skin slide.

Finally, 7B familiarised themselves with our library as they took part in a ‘scavenger hunt’. They had to find characters with unusual names and books with interesting titles.

In assemblies this week, Mrs. Murphy has been speaking to students in Years 9, 10 and 11 about how they can get involved in the Duke of Edinburgh award. Students in Year 9 will be able to complete the Bronze award and Years 10 and 11, Silver.  We’ve been delighted at the number of student who’ve participated in previous years and I’m confident that we’ll have a great take up this year. If your child in interested then you are warmly invited to find out more at an information evening at 5.30p.m. on Monday 22^nd September. We try to keep the cost as low as possible and, with that in mind, we’ve got a Duke of Edinburgh fundraiser cake sale on 19th September.

Thank you to those who’ve been able to attend Expectations Evenings this week. It’s been great to share what we’ve got in place in school to ensure student success and to hear feedback from parents and carers. We’ll send out summaries of the evenings to all at the beginning of next week.

Next week, GCSE Business students will be going on their study trip on Thursday. Looking forward, preparations for Open Evening are underway. This year it’s on Wednesday 8^th October. As usual, we’ll be closing at 1.30p.m. to prepare and we will look forward to welcoming back many students to talk to Year 5 and 6 students and their parents and carers about their experience of Boroughbridge High School.

Have a lovely weekend!

Following a successful summer at Boroughbridge High School, we were delighted to welcome students back into school on Tuesday. It’s always lovely to see students again and hear about their Summer adventures and this year was no exception. Uniform standards were high, as ever, with students arriving well prepared for learning. So all round, we’ve had an excellent start to the term supported by our early start of our timetable in June. Thank you for the contribution that you have made to this.

The Expectations assemblies on Tuesday enabled me to share our GCSE and BTEC success with students. We then talked about the part that our school values, that we are ambitious, resilient and respectful, have in securing success. For example, it will come as no surprise to you that students with the highest attendance had the most positive outcomes. We’ve also enjoyed welcoming our new Year 7 students who, after only four days with us, look like they’ve settled in extremely well, quickly becoming familiar with our routines and expectations and already making a positive contribution to our school community.

In Year group assemblies this week Mrs. Godsell-Wright has been talking with students about safeguarding including how to keep themselves and others safe both in and beyond school, along with the actions that we take in school to support all to be safe, happy and successful. Students have been brilliant in answering questions and in demonstrating their understanding.

We had great fun on Thursday morning when school photos took place for all year groups. They’ll certainly make an excellent Christmas present!

Next week, we have Parent/Carer Expectations Evenings where we outline key information including curriculum, phases of learning, behaviour for learning, attendance and using My Child at School. You will also have the opportunity at these evenings to ask questions about any aspect of school life. These will be held at 6p.m. on Monday 8^th September for Year 7, Wednesday 10^th for Years 8 and 9 and Thursday 11^th for Years 10 and 11. It’s not too late to book a place. If you wish to attend, please e-mail schooladmin@boroughbridgehigh.com.

Have a lovely weekend!

And so the Summer Term comes to an end. We’ve had another busy week as we’ve completed the second cycle of our new timetable with students and teachers settling into it well. This will help to secure a smooth start in September.

Our service students have had a fantastic opportunity this week to visit Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge organised by Inspiring Choices. Mrs. Murphy reported on the first day, ‘Everyone is doing well and enjoying the residential.  We had a really interesting tour around Anglia Ruskin Campus after some thought-provoking sessions on transferable skills yesterday.  The students then had a bit of time to explore their accommodation and chill out before heading out for pizza. We got there in the nick of time as it started pouring down.  Luckily it mostly stopped by the time we finished, so we got to go on a really interesting tour around Cambridge, some highlights were the richest college, Trinity College and also Kings College. There were a lot of very impressive buildings and architecture.’ During the second day, students were involved in  a stop motion workshop to create an animation showing the advantages of University. They’d clearly had a fantastic time and a great opportunity to consider their possible futures. Inspiring Choices commented that the success of the trip was ‘due mainly to the enthusiasm, interest and participation from the young people.’ Our thanks go to Mrs Murphy and Mr. Lough for accompanying the students and to Inspiring Choices for giving our students this opportunity.

 

Our Duke of Edinburgh students were delighted to receive the gift of some new tents from a grant from the Fortus Foundation secured by The Friends of Boroughbridge High School. This will give our expeditions a real boost next year.

 

 

 

Today we’ve had our end of year whole school assembly, celebrating achievements across our whole school community. After our usual look through the year in images, we announced the winner of our Reward Trip photography competition, Amelia in Year 7. The 35 students who broke school records at Sports Day were also recognised before the winning form classes were announced. They were 11SF (for the fourth year running!), 10DG, 9AB and 8SA. There was all round applause.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your ongoing support and wish you and your family a great Summer break. Students return to school on Tuesday 2^nd September.

We were treated to a musical extravaganza on Tuesday evening at our Summer concert. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening with excellent solo vocal performances from Olivia in Year 9, Larissa in Year 11, Darcy in Year 9 and Ruby in Year 11. Charlotte and Rosie (formerly Year 11!) also returned to give us one last superb performance. Denis played a moving version of Prelude Op. 28 No.4 by Chopin and The Keyboard Club impressed with Everybody wants to Rule the World. Having opened the concert with two rousing numbers, the Pop Choir finished with a version of I’m Still Standing, complete with actions, and Hit the Road Jack. Supporting throughout were the talented technical team James, Stan, Conner, Antonio, Bodie and Luke. Our thanks go to Mr. Jackson and to the parents, carers, students and staff who supported the event. It is genuinely heart warming to see how much our students enjoy performing and how much progress they’ve made.

This week, we’ve been delighted to welcome Year 6 from Boroughbridge Primary School to BHS for a DT and Maths workshop. In DT, precise use of tools and creativity was at the fore as students created their own spinners. Once constructed they then had competitions to see who could keep spinning for longest. This morning, in Maths, they explored Happy Numbers. Next week, we’ve got a Geography session to look forward to.

 

 

With the Summer holidays on the horizon, this week Mrs. Godsell-Wright has been exploring with students how to take care of themselves and keep safe. These assemblies will continue through next week.

There was much excitement from both students and staff on Thursday morning as everyone congregated for our annual rewards trip, this year to the Yorkshire Wildlife Park. Students enjoyed seeing 42 species of animal from polar bears to giraffes and lions to wallabies. It was lovely to welcome students off the coaches laden with fluffy toy versions of the animals they’d seen and full of stories of their great day out. To capture it, we’re having a photo competition with the winner being announced at our whole school assembly next week.

Today has been our annual Sports Day with some field events taking place earlier in the week. As usual, we’ve had a joyous day with students showing great amounts of ambition and resilience as they completed events keen to gain points for their form class. Spectators showed great respect for those competing, cheering and supporting whilst motivational music was played throughout. With Mr. Field’s usual perfect timing, just as the relay finished, the final bell rang and students made their way to the buses or to walk home. It was the perfect end to an excellent week.

Thank you to those who have completed our Parent View survey. This is a really important part of our self-evaluation and helps us to chart our progress from your perspective to inform our planning for next year. It helps us to have as many responses as possible. The link has been sent to you on Parent Mail. The survey will take around 5 minutes to complete and will close on Friday 18^th July.

A reminder that school will close at 1.30p.m. on Friday 18^th July for the Summer break.

Have a lovely weekend!

Whitby was the destination for our Year 8 Geographers last Friday. Mrs. Gomersal reports ‘, ‘Year 8 students recently took part in an exciting Geography fieldwork trip to Whitby, where they investigated the key question: Should Whitby be protected from coastal erosion?

Blessed with glorious sunshine, the students carried out a range of fieldwork tasks including a land use survey, environmental quality assessments, and a field sketch—completed while sitting on the pier overlooking the River Esk and Whitby’s picturesque East Cliff.

Everyone showed excellent focus and teamwork throughout the day, with students behaving impeccably and showing great determination as they climbed the iconic 199 steps to Whitby Abbey.

 

To round off the day, everyone enjoyed a well-deserved ice cream in the sunshine—a perfect end to a successful and enjoyable field trip. Well done, Year 8!’

 

 

 

 

 

The weekend then saw our Bronze Duke of Edinburgh students on their qualifying expedition. Mrs Murphy reports ‘On Saturday 23 year 9 students commenced the Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Qualifying Expedition. The weather conditions made the expedition particularly challenging, although not as hot as was predicted, it was very muggy and it made the walking hard work. The students worked well as teams and with all but one group having some navigational challenges it really tested their resilience and ambition to succeed. There was a little shower in the afternoon which helped cool the students down and everyone utilised the lovely showers at the campsite after a long day walking. The students were up pretty early on Sunday; the windy start to the day meant the tents were all dry, but it was a bit more interesting packing them away. All groups managed better on the Sunday and were very relieved at seeing the coach at the car park at the end of the day. A great success for all. A special thanks to Stan, who is a Duke of Edinburgh Young Leader and supported the participants throughout the weekend. He was absolutely brilliant helping advise and support the students and really helpful for all the volunteer staff on the trip. We also had a number of adults who commented on what lovely, polite and respectful students we had. Thank you to Mr Lough, Mrs Bauwens, Mr Groves and Mrs Webb for their support on the weekend.’ Our thanks go to Mrs. Murphy too, not only for the expedition but for her work on the Duke of Edinburgh award throughout the year.

 

 

 

We must also congratulate all our Duke of Edinburgh Award students for the amazing community contribution that they’ve made throughout this year with the recognition that they have, in total, spent 1144 hours volunteering between 1st April 2024 and 31st March 2025 with a social value of £7320. We are, indeed, very proud of them.

 

 

 

 

And so to this week where we’ve started our new school year with our new timetable. As usual, it’s created a high level of focus with classes meeting new groups and new teachers. GCSEs and BTECs have been started and new options begun. We have the opportunity to experience two cycles of the timetable before the end of term, therefore securing a smooth start in September.

In assemblies this week, Mr. Field has been looking forward with students to the excitement of Sports Day which, weather permitting, will be on Friday 11th July. Each form class will be choosing their team with the clear understanding that points are not just awarded for being placed in a track or field event but also for participating. The overall winners are usually those who work best as a team so we’ll see how our teams perform this year.

We’re also now taking payments for the Rewards Trip to the Great Yorkshire Show on Thursday 10th July where the vast majority of our students, due to their commitment to our values, being ambitious, respectful and resilient, have been invited. We’re looking forward to a great day out.

 

 

A date for your diary, it’s our Summer concert next week on Tuesday 8th July. All are welcome.Next week we look forward to welcoming our new Year 7 students and their parents and carers.
 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, we thought you’d like to see a Prom photo of the Class of 2025. A lovely photo capturing a great evening. We wish them well for the future.

Have a lovely weekend!

With the final GCSE exam on Wednesday, it’s been another eventful week for our Year 11s. On Monday, the end of year traditional football match between Year 10 and Year 11 boys, affectionately known as ‘El Classico’ took place, ending in a thumping 5-1 win for the departing Year 11s. Then last night we had the Prom in what has become our favourite venue over the years, the Bridge Inn. Students arrived in many modes of transport, all looking incredibly smart and ready for the red carpet. Following a lovely meal, there was much dancing, laughing and hugging. As a year group they have always been kind and supportive of each other and this was very much in evidence last night, And so we say our farewell to the Class of 2025, the year group who began their life at Boroughbridge High School in a pandemic ‘bubble’ and leave ready to make their mark on the world. We wish them well.

Year 10 had been showing their commitment earlier in the day by arriving in smart business dress ready for their annual careers networking event. It was a very productive and successful day with Mrs. Town reporting, ‘Yesterday, all year 10 students were involved in our annual careers day where we welcomed 9 local and national employers into school. As they begin to consider their post-16 pathways, students were able to find out about a range of different careers and interview the employers before learning more about the world of work, interview skills, post-16 pathways and career planning. The students were a credit to the school and many of the employers commented on how mature their questioning had been. We would like to thank the employers who came in and, in particular, our Enterprise Adviser, Mrs Lorraine Kirbitson who organised the event. Lorraine has worked with the school for many years and is stepping down from the role this year so she will be sadly missed.

With the new timetable almost upon us, in assemblies I’ve been reinforcing our values with students and revisiting the routines that we have in place to ensure that all are safe, happy and successful.

In Forest School this week, Mr. Woodward and his class learned valuable lessons in outdoor survival, building camp fires to cook nettle fritters and pan-fried cookies.

In sporting news, Miss Robson reports, ‘Last week a Year 8 girls team played a hybrid rounders friendly with Ripon Grammar School. They joined forces to create two ‘Ripon-Borough’ teams to compete against RGS. In one match the Hybrid team won 11.5 rounders to 11 and in the other match RGS won 15.5 to 5.5 rounders. Highlights included Daisy’s bowling and catches out, Anabelle’s speed when running from base to base and Ava’s quick and effective fielding skills around 3rd base. A fun-filled afternoon out, demonstrating our values of ambition, respect and resilience, as well as a creative team photo.’

On Wednesday, it was the Year 8 boys turn to face Nidderdale High School. The boys were incredibly ambitious with high expectations of a win, to which they succeeded, 15.5 to 4.5 rounders! MVP was Max C, fearlessly cruising around the bases to score multiple rounders. Several outstanding catches were made throughout the game from multiple players. The boys were treated to a very high standard of umpiring from Nidderdale’s PE teacher who is a qualified regional umpire and England Rounders player.’

 

 

 

 

Year 8 have been out today on location in Whitby for their Geography fieldtrip. I’ll tell you more in the Blog next week.

A date for your diary, it’s our Summer Concert on Tues 8th July at 6p.m. 

We wish our Year 9 students well as they set off for their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh expedition tomorrow.

Have a lovely weekend!

We’ve enjoyed hearing about the Year 9 Bewerley Park trip this week. Mr. Field reports, ‘The trip proved to be a great success. The pupils fully immersed themselves in the experience from the moment they arrived at the centre and quickly began to impress the Bewerley staff with their enthusiasm and their budding resilience.  Comfort zones were challenged from the offset but the pupils rose to the occasion and showed great ambition in their endeavours.  The range of activities satisfied the pupils’ appetite for adventure with mountain biking, ghyll scrambling, climbing, leap of faith, Jacob’s ladder and canoeing amongst the day activities undertaken.  The pupils were also kept busy in the evenings with orienteering, team building initiatives, walking to explore the local countryside and a games night including the traditional country sport of Welly Wanging.

All pupils faced some very challenging situations throughout the week, most of these were within the activity sessions but lots were learning to work with others, learning to take responsibility for themselves and their belongings so prepared for each day, learning to live with peers who they might not have spent much time around.

The reflective written work completed on return to school clearly showed how much the pupils had each taken from the experience, hopefully the amazing stories have already been shared with parents and family members to show how valuable the week was.

The photos taken help to document the week and provide some evidence of the personal journey undertaken.  The memories will last a lifetime and hopefully inspire them to explore more of what Yorkshire and big wide world have to offer.’

Our thanks go to Mr. Field, Mrs. Cummins and Mrs. Murphy for ensuring that students had such a fantastic time.

 

In other active opportunities, our Silver Duke of Edinburgh Award students gave their presentations and answered insightful questions posed by the group of parents, carers, siblings and staff in attendance on Monday evening. It was great to hear not only how many skills the students had developed but also how much fun they’d had along the way, working impressively as part of a team. Their photos and video gave a great insight of the commitment and resilience needed for them to secure this success.

 

 

On Wednesday morning, our Service students were in action as they participated in the Armed Forces Day for Children which was held at Catterick Garrison. This event brought together Service Children from primary and secondary schools across the County. They participated in activities such as assault courses, mine clearance, first aid and engineering. Our students had a great time.

 

 

In assemblies this week, Mr. Grierson has been exploring the importance of different mindsets in helping us to achieve goals. His starting example, which may not surprise you, was the approach of Celtic when they won the European Cup in 1967 by being coached not only on physical improvement but also in having the correct mindset for victory. Students left the assembly aware of the impact of positive thinking and belief in success.

 

With the exams almost over, we had our Year 11 Leavers’ Assembly this morning. It was lovely to get students and staff together to reflect on and celebrate their time at Boroughbridge High School. When students join our school I say to them that the school should be a better place because they are a part of it. Our Year 11 students have certainly made this a reality. There were lots of smiles as photos of times gone by were shared, shirts were signed and form tutors shared their most special memories. It all concluded with a rendition of ‘I’m gonna be (500 miles)’ led by Mr. Grierson with 100% participation. We’ll look forward to further celebrations at the Prom next Thursday.

 

Our thanks go to the Friends of Boroughbridge High School who were raising money for school funds at Tractorfest last weekend. Thank you to you too if you were able to support.

Have a lovely weekend!

It was great to welcome students back from the half term break on Monday. This week has certainly been one of high activity. We’ve had a group of Year 9 students at Bewerley Park pushing their ambition and resilience to the limits. From mountain biking to ghyll scrambling, they’ve been making the most of the great outdoors. We’ll tell you more in the Blog next week.

On Thursday, 64 students across Years 7 to 9 took part in the Colour Run as part of the third annual Wellbeing Festival at Dalby Forest organised by North Yorkshire Sport. Alongside the Colour Run, there were a number of activities with the aim to build confidence, resilience and teamwork. BHS had the greatest number of students at the first of these events and we were delighted that, this year, some of our Sports Leaders were invited to lead the an element of the festival and prepared by attending a Kin ball training session the previous day. Our congratulations go to Millie, Alice W, Alyssa, Summer, Freya, Beth, Kyla, Chloe B and Evie B who all received certificates for their Kin-Ball Activator Award.

 

In assemblies this week, Mrs. Godsell-Wright focused on our school values and why these values are important for all aspects of student life, helping students to be successful. Everyone was also excited to hear of the reward point winners of the rewards points issued by teachers. These are

Year 7 – Mr Atkinson (3781), Year 8 – Mrs Gomersal (3490), Year 9 – Mr Scott (2632) and Year 10 – Mrs Murphy (2305). Well done to all.

Every two years since 2006 North Yorkshire Council has done the Growing Up in North Yorkshire survey with children and young people in schools across North Yorkshire to find out what they think about various aspects of health, wellbeing and learning/education. You can look at the main findings here and you can also find out information, support and services that may be helpful.

If you’re at Tractor Fest at Newby Hall this weekend, look out for the Friends of Boroughbridge High School tuckshop. Any proceeds will directly benefit our students.

Have a lovely weekend!

It was commitment all the way last weekend when the Duke of Edinburgh bronze practice expedition took place. Mrs. Murphy reports,

‘All 25 Bronze D of E participants completed the practice expedition! They were very fortunate with the weather which started off a bit chilly in the morning but the sunshine was out by lunchtime and there was a still good breeze preventing anyone from getting too hot.  All groups worked on their navigation skills and lots of lessons have been learnt regarding packing and their kit.  We look forward to them all putting it into practice in June on the qualifying expedition.  A big thanks to Mr Murphy, Mr Groves, Miss Robson, Mr Lough and our young leader Stan in Year 10 who supported all the groups with great navigation knowledge and tips to help them better succeed.’

 

Our thanks go to Mrs. Murphy too for making the expedition possible.

As it’s Safeguarding Awareness Week, Mrs. Godsell-Wright has been leading assemblies on this theme. Students have had the opportunity to reflect on how they use the internet i.e. through social media, online gaming, messaging apps, YouTube and TikTok. With 2 in 3 children nationally reporting experiencing online harms, they explored how to stay safe.  You can see top tips for staying safe online here.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/zl7tRKFhe1Q

Thank you to the many Year 7 students, parents and carers who attended Parent/Carer evening on Wednesday. There was a real buzz in the Hall as we shared the progress that our students are making, what’s going well and what actions they can take to make further improvements. It was lovely to hear how pleased our families are with how well Year 7 have settled in. In only a few weeks’ time, we’re looking forward to welcoming our next cohort of young people.

As you’re aware, we have been working on reinforcing our school values and we thought you’d enjoy seeing the photo from our ‘Respectful’ assembly last week.

A reminder that Boroughbridge Lions are holding their Summer Fete on Monday from 11a.m. to 4p.m. on the Sports Association Field, Aldborough Road, Boroughbridge. Look out for the Friends of Boroughbridge High School stall.

Have a lovely Bank Holiday weekend and we wish our students a happy half term break!