We continue to deepen our values; ambitious, respectful and resilient. Part of our focus on resilience is around taking on learning challenges, ‘We try our best and persevere when things are difficult.’ Examples where students have shown their resilience this week include in Computer Science with Mr. Sands where Year 9 were grappling with html code development, using their skills to develop their own webpage. In Art with Mrs. Hunter, Year 9 began their dog building. We’ll look forward to seeing the transformation.
In English with Miss Kelly Year 7 had to come up with a different way to communicate with each other and problem solve without using language (spoken or written). This is a part of the novel being studied, Girl.Boy.Sea in which a Berber Girl and an English Boy find themselves alone at sea together and have to find a way to overcome their language barriers.
Then, imagine the scene on Monday morning when, with torrential rain, everything in the woodland was soaked as students in Years 8 and 9 started their Forest School session. Mr. Woodward reports, ‘Despite this after lots of failed attempts but always one more try all groups managed to light (using flint and steel) and sustain (using fuel from the woodland floor) a campfire to heat water to make a warm drink.’
You’ll be hearing more about our values in the coming weeks.
Last week, William in Year 8 was invited to take part in a concert to raise funds for Dementia Forward. The concert was to highlight the challenges faced by Duncan who appeared on the Channel 4 programme ‘The Piano’. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tv/article-13366373/amp/Channel-4s-Piano-star-Duncan-gushes-wife-Fran-moving-viewers-tears-heartbreaking-struggle-dementia-emotional-performance-pair-softies.html
The Military Wives also sang and it was an all round wonderful concert. William’s performance was particularly impressive as he played with no music to read as he was playing his own interpretation of Cornfields (Hans Zimmer) from the movie Interstellar. Willaim received a huge applause with many positive comments of how controlled and soft his playing was.
The School Council is now up and running and Miss. Kelly is already impressed with the commitment of the team and the quality of the ideas being discussed. We’re looking forward to using this team’s feedback to make improvements.
Following our successful recruitment for the Duke of Edinburgh Award our young people have shown great initiative in coming up with the idea to have a Bake Sale to fundraise to support the Award. The theme was hiking, camping or nature and, as you can see there was much creativity shown and £152 raised. The Gold Award for the most humorous cake affectionately named ‘Roadkill’ went to Jacob (Year 11) with Ava (Year 7) taking the Gold award for the most realistic wildlife cake, Nina (Year 7) taking the Gold award for the best campsite and Darcy (Year 8) taking the Gold Award for the most realistic environment. Rosey (Year 11) took the Gold Award for the best decorated buns (superb highland cows) but unfortunately we didn’t get a photo! Mrs. Macadam and Mrs. Murphy also wanted to congratulate and thank Rosey and Freya (Year 9) for their help with the organisation and sales on both days.
It’s been European Day of Languages so, in Form Time, students have been getting involved in a mutli-lingual celebratory quiz.
The Wellbeing in Mind team have been leading assemblies this week. It’s been great for our students to explore what we mean by our mental health and how we can look after it. If you’d like to know more, then one of the videos used can be found at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxIDKZHW3-E
It was also helpful for students to think about how looking after our mental health can help us to be more resilient.
Our extra-curricular programme is continuing to increase and, next week, Mrs.Macadam’s Year 7 Film Club is starting on Monday with the first film being Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief’.
In Sporting news, Mr. Field reports that ‘Another great week for extra-curricular in the PE department. 120 pupils have attended one or more of the activities on offer this week, an improvement on last week’s total. This week also saw the start of a busy fixtures period with three games of football being played at our school. The Yr9 boys played Vale of York in the County Cup on Tuesday after school. The game did not start as planned and the boys were 3-0 behind within five minutes. Showing true resilience, the boys pulled the fixture back in the favour of Boroughbridge by leveling the game shortly after half time,making the last twenty minutes a tense encounter. Unfortunately, two late goals from a game weary York team conceded the Yr9 boys to a defeat but they were able to hold their heads high as the performance was very encouraging as they still have the District Cup to compete in.
The Yr10 girls played their first game of the season Thursday against Ripon Grammar School in the ESFA Girls small schools 9v9 Cup. The girls showed great resilience in unpleasant weather conditions and played some great football but were beaten by RGS in a well contested game. They too have more matches coming in the near future.
The Yr8 boys team also played Queen Ethelburga’s in the ESFA small schools trophy Thursday night in what was a busy evening of sport at Boroughbridge High School. The boys played some very attractive passing football and dominated the game across all areas of the pitch. Two goals from B. Godley before half time gave Boroughbridge a deserved lead at the halfway point and ensured their tails were up for the second half performance. Soon after the break A. Farnworth scored from a freekick to put the fixture further out of the reach of the QE team. QE then pulled a goal back after a quick break, this reignited the Yr8 boys and it wasn’t long until W. Burrell curled a fine effort into the far corner after a splendid galivanting run down the wing. The boys were deserved winners and the opposition staff commended the boys on their commanding performance. They now progress to the next round which will present a tougher challenge, we are sure their footballing talents and ambitions of reaching the latter stages of this national competition will lead them to future successes.’
A reminder that it’s our Year 5 and 6 Open Evening on Wednesday 9th October. We’ll be closing at 1.30p.m. to prepare for the event and we’re looking forward to welcoming many students back to represent our school.
Have a lovely weekend!
Our BTEC Travel and Tourism group were carrying out some primary research, travelling across to Blackpool on Thursday. Mr. Grierson reports, ‘The sun shone brightly on the BTEC Travel and Tourism students on their visit to Blackpool. The bulk of the day was spent at the Pleasure Beach, experiencing the thrills of the roller coasters. Mrs Bradford was brave enough to do the Pepsi Max Big One and Mrs Webb got drenched on Valhalla, the Waterslide. The students will use the experience to support them to complete their coursework unit around customer service and why tourists visit certain locations.’
The joy from more than 330 students going to the Great Yorkshire Show was carried into this week with many stories of fun times being shared on Monday. Whilst we were all looking forward to Sports Day on Tuesday, the weather dictated that Wednesday was the day for our inclusive sporting extravaganza. We’ve had field events taking place across the last couple of weeks and during the morning session. Then the whole school congregated on the field on Wednesday afternoon for the track events. Along with some serious sport, with many records being broken, there was also some serious supporting, resulting in a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon. Reflected throughout were our newly defined school values; ambitious, respectful and resilient. Patience was then required as students had to wait for the whole school assembly for winners to be announced.
We’ve been part of Operation Traffic this week as part of the Harrogate Outer Neighbourhood Policing team initiative to have a week of action focusing on safety around schools and, in particular, parking awareness and speed. As you can see our Year 8 students were keen to get involved and delivered some powerful messages to drivers.
Our GCSE Geographers set off on their first fieldtrip of the course to Leeds this week. Mrs. Gomersal reports, ‘The purpose of the trip was to investigate inequalities in housing across Leeds. Tasked with the job of collecting primary data in the form of bi-polar surveys, field sketches and car surveys, come heavy rain or glorious sunshine, all students showed huge motivation and resilience to get the job done! Well done Geographers, a fabulous start to the course. Roll on October when we visit Hornsea.’
On Tuesday evening we experienced an excellent Music concert with performances of an eclectic mix of pieces from Oasis to ELO. Along with soloists Charlotte, Rosey, James, Austin, Larissa and Ruby, the Pop Choir and Keyboard club entertained the audience of parents, carers, staff, governors and students. Technical aspects were taken care of by James and Antonio resulting in an all-round excellent evening!
Some of our students have been away on a military service children residential at Hartington Hall. Last night, Mrs. Murphy reported that ’Everyone has had a really good first day, climbing, abseiling, scrambling and squeezing themselves through gaps in rocks.’ We’ll look forward to hearing what they got up to today.
We’ve now completed one full cycle of the new timetable with students getting used to new classes, new teachers and, for some, new subjects. This, as ever, will enable us to have a productive end to the Summer Term and a smooth start to the Autumn Term. One addition to our Key Stage 3 curriculum this year is ‘The Child:ReWild project’ led by Mr. Woodward which follows Forest School principles and gives a group of our young people the opportunity to work on a skills-based curriculum for a session each fortnight, learning a range of outdoor skills, getting a practical and first hand understanding of the natural environment whilst also developing resilience. As you can see, the first few sessions are going well!
Our Year 10 students who have been working with the Yorkshire Ambulance Service on the Sustainable Futures Careers project finished their work today by presenting their projects and research to Alexis Percival, Yorkshire Ambulance Service’s Environmental & Sustainability Manager. Mrs. Town and Mrs. Morgan report that ‘The students did a fantastic job and showed great awareness of how different businesses are having to adapt their practices to consider a sustainable future. Presentations included a range of topics from how to engage teenagers with the environment to how to design a green ambulance station of the future.’ Well done to all.
Oh what a night! Celebration has been in the air as we’ve reached the end of the GCSE and BTEC exams this week. To mark the end of their time at Boroughbridge High School, in usual tradition, we had the Year 11 Prom at The Bridge Inn last night. An eclectic range of transport was used to arrive and, after recent dubious Summer weather, the sun finally started shining. It was a family event as parents and carers came to see students arrive and many group photos were taken. It was an all-round fantastic evening with everyone thoroughly enjoying spending some quality time together. Our thanks go to our Year 11 students who have made a hugely positive contribution to our school community, playing an important part in our school improvement journey and acting as positive role models to younger students. We wish them every success and will look forward to welcoming them back into school for their results in August.
Earlier in the week, Year 8 had been putting their Geography skills to the test in a field trip to Whitby. Mrs. Gomersal reports, ‘Year 8 visited sunny Whitby on Wednesday in order to carry out Geography fieldwork. The purpose of the trip was to collect primary data in order to help investigate whether Whitby should be protected against coastal erosion. Students carried out various different data collection methods including a land use map, bi-polar surveys of coastal management and a field-sketch of the striking East Cliff of Whitby. The sun shone and students enthusiastically completed their work in this beautiful coastal location. It was a first trip to Whitby for the Geography department but one that we definitely wish to continue to run, providing the glorious weather can be repeated again next year! What a treat!’
Ms. Camy reports that the last Science club of the year went out with a bang as students watched the screaming jelly baby experiment.
It’s been action all the way for some of our Year 9 students who have been getting to grips with the great outdoors at Bewerley Park this week. Experiences were varied including gorge walking, sailing and mountain biking. We’ll look forward to hearing about all they’ve achieved when they’re back in school next week.