It’s been another busy and focused week for the Boroughbridge High School community. As you’re aware this week, having volunteered to do so, we’ve taken part in an Ofsted pilot inspection and were delighted to welcome five Senior HMIs and the National Director to look at all aspects of our school. Throughout the two days, Inspectors enjoyed visiting lessons, observing social time and speaking with our young people. As it was a pilot, we did not receive a judgement, formal feedback or a report, however the progress that we have made around behaviour, attendance and teaching and learning were certainly recognised. In conversations with Inspectors our young people said that they are known, felt valued and enjoyed coming to school, with genuine kind and caring interactions between staff and students being observed.
Mrs. Murphy held her Duke of Edinburgh Award parent/carer evening on Monday. The success of the award at BHS continues to increase and we’re delighted to have an even higher take up of students this year.
In Forest School this week, Mr. Woodward reports,
‘Autumn is now well and truly with us, so what better way to celebrate that with conkers and toffee apples (harvested from our own apple trees at BHS)?! Students worked together to use a traditional “bit and brace” drill to drill out the conker before the championship commenced, with James in Y9 being the overall champion of champions. We then moved onto siting and lighting campfires without matches (no mean feat after a weekend of heavy rain) before toasting our sugar-coated apples over the flames for a sweet autumnal snack!’
In sporting news, Mr. Field reports,
‘The York City Knights RLFC 9’s tournament took place at Fulford High School this week for the Yr11 boys. The squad was bolstered by some willing Yr10’s to help ensure that the team had the necessary strength in depth needed for this physically challenging event. The boys were in buoyant spirits after previous achievements in last year’s tournaments and were looking forward to getting involved in the games. Their first game saw them pitted against our Federated partners, King James’s School. A cagey start soon blossomed into a fantastic display of rugby as the Boroughbridge boys completed a 20-4 rout of the local rivals. Tries from King, Domleo, Bowes and Ramsden rounded off the superb display. The second group game followed straight after so the full squad was utilised to ensure fresh legs and sharp minds were present against Joseph Rowntree. The game shared moments of brilliance from both teams with scores being exchanged throughout the game and no team carving out a convincing advantage. The game finished as a 12-12 draw but the result meant that the Boroughbridge boys had won their group and were to face Archbishop Holgate’s School in the first place playoff game. The games had taken their physical toll on the squad and the remaining players put in a resounding display in their third consecutive game. The game was contested in good sporting spirit but unfortunately Archbishop’s edged the final in a 12-4 victory. The Boroughbridge team were the epitome of our school values throughout the tournament receiving positive comments from York City Knights’ staff and staff from opposing schools. Both myself and Mr Richardson, were exceptionally proud of their physical performance and their tactical awareness in the games. We look forward to the spring edition of this tournament and their last chance of playing at the tournaments organised by York City Knights.’
As part of our staff team, it’s not good enough just to support our school values but we also try to live by them. Mr. Field has demonstrated his resilience in, along with his friend, becoming the number one ranked male Swimrun team in Britain. The event was a 47km Swimrun from Coniston to Grasmere in the lake district. This incorporates alternating 9 runs (totalling 36km) & 9 swims (totalling 9km). The event is an adventure endurance race and you swim in your running kit and run in your swim kit, no changing – how you start is how you finish! Mr. Field says that this is without doubt his greatest sporting achievement and his advice is, ‘We always talk about the challenges faced during the event but none are as big as actually getting to the start line. Health, injuries and life logistics can often get in the way so if we make it to the start line we are assured our hard work in preparation will pay off and we’ll have a great day challenging ourselves.’ We can maybe see some parallels to a school day.
GCSE Geographers have been on location in Hornsea yesterday and today. The weather has been perfect for data collection! We’ll find out more about their fieldwork next week.
A reminder that it’s our Open Evening on Wednesday 8th October. As usual, we’ll be closing at 1.30p.m. to prepare and 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!

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. 
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 22nd September at 5.30p.m.
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.
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 22nd 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.
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 8th 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.
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.

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.
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.
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?
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.

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.
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.’
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.



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