Category : Headteacher’s Blog

It’s been an exciting week for the students of Boroughbridge High School with Year 7 discovering the delights of Normandy and Year 9 taking on the outdoor challenges of  bewerley Park. From Year 9, we’ve had animated reports of activities from canoeing to caving, scrambling to skydiving and climbing to cycling. OK, I’ll admit it, one of these activities didn’t take place but I’m trying to impress Mr Cockerill with my use of alliteration.

Meanwhile, back at base, Mr James decided to train students to make both their right and left brain work by teaching Year 9 a spot of juggling. Most could master the motion of two balls and, as the lesson drew on, many more could juggle three. We’ll look forward to seeing the impact of this new brain engagement in the lessons to come!

Heather, Amara, Clarissa, Phoebe, Abi, Thomas and Adam in Year 8 were engaged in the somewhat important matter of trying to save lives by investigating natural alternatives to antibiotics. Along with Mr Inglis they’ve been preparing the presentations that they’re  delivering in a couple of weeks at the Lab Coats and Blazers Conference in the National Stem Centre in York. Whilst you may recognise the healing qualities of vinegar, tea tree oil, honey and castor oil, you may be less familiar with ellagic acid!

Over in Workskills, it was my pleasure to present Charlotte, Hannah, Archie and Joe with  their Young Leaders Service Awards to Community Service. This was for the time they’ve given to the community through activities such as the soup run, litter picking and supporting the residents of Gwendolen Court. Well done everyone.

Thanks to those parents who attended Parent Forum. We had a really good discussion about Reports and other associated matters! We’ve identified some things that we can put in place immediately to make the reports more ‘parent-friendly’ and other areas which we will consider in our longer term planning. Your next opportunity to contribute to future strategic development will be to respond to the ASPIRE questionnaire which will be coming to your Inbox soon.

And so at BHS on Monday it’s ‘Happy New Year’ as we flip our timetable forward so that Year 7 start Year 8, Year 8 move to Year 9 and so on. We started this last year and found that it helped to maintain critical focus in the final weeks of the Summer term. It also means that the new Year 10, 11 and 13 students will gain more than 20 hours of GCSE or A-Level learning time, along with the opportunity for teachers to set meaningful holiday homework over the Summer.

Should you happen to have a spare minute this weekend why not enter the competition at http://po.st/schools18. You could help us to win £5,000 of National Book Tokens for the school library and get £100 for yourself.

Have a good one!

Having had a lovely half term, staff and students returned to BHS on Monday refreshed and ready for the challenges of the seven weeks leading to the Summer holidays.

Wednesday morning saw more than a hundred students from Years 7, 8 and 9, along with Mr. Grierson, armed with spades and endless enthusiasm for tree planting. More than 25 trees, donated by The Woodland Trust, were planted at the front of school to mark World Environment Day as part of The Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy. You may have seen the documentary ‘The Queen’s Green Planet’ on TV on Tuesday evening. Generations to come will be able to enjoy their ever increasing impact.

Meanwhile, down in Food Technology on Thursday, Year 8 were icing novelty cakes. As you can see, great skill and creativity was demonstrated along with innovative ideas and use of resources. All of this created within an hour and maybe a little preparation at home! The winners were Sam, Mia, Theo and Henry.

Year 11 (and indeed the staff team!) have had a week of mixed emotions as they’ve moved towards their study leave. After much shirt signing, the year group congregated in the Hall for the Leavers’ Assembly on Thursday afternoon. There was a great deal of cheering as images of students from their time over the last five years scrolled round on the screen. Tutors paid tribute to their form classes and we were also treated to a musical extravaganza with performances from Todd, Nile and Aimee accompanied by Bertie (Year 10) and Eliza (Year 9). A very fitting tribute to a year group who’ve made a significant contribution to the BHS community. We wish them well for the future and look forward to welcoming many of them back in the Sixth Form.

We also say goodbye and thank you to Chris Harter, our Head Chef, who has been making sure that students have been well fed for the last six years. We wish him well for the future.

And so to the weekend! Much packing will be taking place in homes across the Boroughbridge area as Year 7 prepare for their international trip to Normandy. Bon voyage tout le monde! Year 9 will be closer to home at Bewerley Park, getting involved in lots of outdoor activities.

An exciting week ahead!