Category : Headteacher’s Blog

25 Year 9 students set off for their Duke of Edinburgh Bronze expedition last weekend and 25 returned having had a great time and learned a great deal! Mrs. Murphy reports, ‘Our Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award participants completed their practice expedition in the countryside around Pateley Bridge last weekend.  We were very fortunate to have dry weather, but it was very cold overnight.  Some of the students also had the opportunity to have a guided tour around the dairy farm, where we were staying.  The 25 students learnt lots about navigating, camping and also themselves over the weekend and they all know what to change or improve for the qualifying expedition in June.’  We give a big thank you to Mrs Murphy, Mrs Bauwens, Mr Lough, Mr Groves and Mr Murphy for supporting the students throughout the weekend.

On Monday, in annual tradition, Year 11 received their hoodies, marking the fact that we are hurtling towards the start of the exams. With their focus firmly on this, the Primary School Sports event held at Kirk Hammerton on Wednesday was led by our Year 9 Sports Leaders, showing that they have what it takes to lead, support and encourage the next generation of students.

Back in school on Wednesday, the Science Department and Year 7 were revving up for the Rocket Car Challenge. Mr. Scott reports, ‘Students designed the shape of their car and then spent the morning with saws, files and sandpaper seeing their vision of the fastest car come to life.  In the afternoon all of the cars were sent down the track with the speeds being recorded. Speeds ranged from 50mph up to the winning speed of 72mph. All of the students really got involved in the day and produced some fabulous cars.’

As part of our Quality Assurance, over the last two weeks, we’ve been carrying out lesson observations with a focus on the areas that we’ve been developing. This has included routines for the beginning and end of lessons, targeted questioning and engagement of students. Across the school we can clearly see the impact of our work around learning phases including selecting students to answer questions. I’ll give you further details in my next Headteacher’s Update.

Retrieval practice continues to be a focus and, in History, Year 9 were retrieving their knowledge of the Holocaust whereas in Maths, they were using a retrieval grid to cover a range of topics, including converting measures and using angle facts. In RE, students took on a new, challenging take on retrieval grids based on “the wall” from the TV show “Only Connect” when reviewing their unit of work on evil and suffering. Year 7 have been using retrieval grids for the Living Together topic in Science, positive relationships in PSHCE and earthquakes in Geography. Meanwhile, in DT, Years 10 and 11 were analysing and connecting images to retrieve knowledge.

As April 22^nd marks Earth Day, in assemblies this week, Mr. Grierson has been talking about the impact of plastics on ecosystems along with what we can all do to make a difference in the amount of plastic we generate with the aim to build a plastic-free planet.

Last week, you’ll have received the invitation to the Federation reading event hosted at King James’s School, Knaresborough. You still have time to book your place at Reading Evening Form The link will close on Monday 29^th April.

Have a lovely weekend!

We are certainly in the Revision season, with practical formal exams already underway. With this in mind, our focus in lessons is to ensure that our Year 10 and 11 students not only have the subject knowledge content that they require but also the skills to be successful. So to give you a flavour of what has been happening around the school,

In Science, students have been completing past paper questions and getting feedback on exam technique. As you’d expect, each week the questions have been strategically selected so that key areas of content have been revisited and where there are gaps in knowledge, retaught.  In particular, in Biology, students have been revising diseases and how we can prevent infections. There has also been the opportunity to redo the required practicals. In Chemistry, students have been looking at the language used in the question before identifying the scientific language needed in the answer and looking at how to answer extended questions.

In English Literature, students have been Revising the Power and Conflict poems using strategies for learning quotations off by heart, reading model essay responses written by examiners and deconstructing model essays to write their own plans. They’ve then had the experience of writing a timed essay using revision grids and learned quotations, comparing Exposure and Remains. Meanwhile, in English Language, students have been focusing on Paper 1 looking at 8-mark questions examining language and structure and revising terminology.

Up in Humanities, in History, students have been working through past papers for the Early Elizabethan England topic which is on Paper 2. They’ve looked into the language of the questions and techniques used to answer the questions. In GCSE RE students were “Brain vomitting” everything they knew about various moral issues and then playing a game of last team standing to see who could recall the most before then structuring their learning into knowledge organisers which focused their revision on the themes that may arise in the summer exams.

In DT, students are covering materials and processes at using tabulated worksheets and image sorts with Powerpoint whilst in Music, students have been working on exam technique and how to structure responses for 8-mark questions for the Set Works.

In MFL, students are preparing for the different elements of the speaking exam, honing speaking skills by reading out loud and self-correcting pronunciation using the phonetic spelling. They also practised using prompts and the first letter of every word to learn a sentence, using timers to develop fluency and practice preparing role plays in 4 minutes! Finally, they used hot seating where you speak in French for as long as you can, getting a partner to time you!

Alongside this, there are revision and intervention sessions at lunchtimes and after school and we’ve also developed a Form Time revision programme where students look at generic revision techniques during one tutor time with further tutor times on Maths, English and Science.

Looking to the future, Year 11 students who have applied to King James’s School in Knaresborough for their post-16 studies had an interview with Mr. O’Hara, Director of Sixth Form this morning.

In assemblies this week, Miss Kelly, a member of our English Team and leader of PSHCE talked with students about the Growing up in North Yorkshire survey, a Health Related Behaviour Survey, which you’ll have received a letter about this week. The survey is completely anonymous and has proven, over the years, to be a valuable way of finding out the views of our young people to enable us to ensure that they get the support that they need.

The Month of the Military Child, in April, is a campaign to raise awareness about the important role Service Children play in the Armed Forces community. As part of this, this afternoon, ten of our students, created a tile each, as you can see, which will be used, along with contributions from other local schools, to produce a piece of artwork of 100 pieces to raise awareness.

You will have received a letter about a Federation reading event hosted at King James’s School in Knaresborough on Tuesday 7^th May where you will have the opportunity to hear from Gervase Phinn, a local author, along with how you can support your child with reading.

This weekend, 25, Year 9 students will be carrying out their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh expedition. We wish them well for a successful weekend.

I hope that you have a lovely weekend too!

I hope you had a lovely Easter break. It was great to welcome students back into school on Monday and hear about what they’d been doing over the holidays. Uniform standards have remained impressively high and our thanks go to parents and carers for your support with this.

Year 7 returned to their first set of formal exams at Boroughbridge High School. We do exams for each of our year groups so that they get into the routine of exam hall conditions so by the time they get to Year 10, they feel confident in doing so. Year 7 have certainly risen to this challenge this week arriving fully equipped, entering and exiting the Exam Hall silently and carrying out each exam in full exam conditions. Over the next few weeks they’ll be getting their results, receiving confirmation of things that they do well and identifying areas for improvement.

Remaining on the focus of exams, with the GCSE and BTEC season rapidly approaching, Mrs. Bauwens, our Exams Officer, has reminded Year 11 students of the JCQ regulations and Year 10 will have a similar session next week.

Across the year groups, students have quickly settled back into school life and routines. We were pleased to welcome our Local Authority adviser on Thursday for a visit focused on Behaviour for Learning. We had a full day with visits to many lessons across the curriculum and year groups, along with observing Year 7 entering the Exam Hall at the beginning of the day, watching assembly, walking around at social times and speaking to groups of staff and students. It was a great opportunity for us to demonstrate the progress that we’ve made with high standards of uniform and behaviour being consistently observed. We will, of course, as I outlined in my Headteacher’s Update, continue on our improvement journey.

In assemblies this week, Mrs. Godsell-Wright has focused on resilience, talking with students about how they can develop theirs whilst using inspiring examples such as Russ Cook who, you may have read, completed a gruelling feat of running the length of Africa whilst facing many challenges along the way. Students were invited to give their own examples and, this morning, Year 7 students described how Greta Thunberg in her environmental campaigns and Marcus Rashford with his Free School Meals campaign had shown great resilience.

As part of their fundraising efforts, the Friends of Boroughbridge High School are organising the School Lottery. If you’d like to take part, please click here.

On Thursday, a group of Year 11 students took part in NYBEP’s employability skills scheme, learning all about the employment application process from CV writing and how to stand out from the crowd, to interviews and employability skills. They took part in activities that they might face at assessment centres and completed group challenges to develop their team work skills, critical thinking, planning and resilience.

We were delighted to welcome back Madame Reed from maternity leave before the Easter break and this week we’ve welcomed to the staff team our new Attendance Officer, Mr. Hepburn.  

For next week, a reminder that we will be holding a Scholastics Book Fair on Thursday 18th and Friday 19th April in the school library. The book fair will be open 1-1:30pm and 3:45-4:15pm for students to browse and purchase any books that they would like. Parents and carers are welcome to call in to the after school sessions too – please sign in at the main reception. The fair will be cashless and so students will need to either complete a ‘wishlist’ and purchase books online at home or pay via debit card.

Have a lovely weekend!

You may remember the weather last weekend. It wasn’t great but, whatever you were doing, you’re likely to have been warmer and drier than our Year 10/11 students out on their Duke of Edinburgh Silver Practice expedition. But, as ever, they showed remarkable resilience. Mrs. Murphy reports,

‘The 10 Silver Duke of Edinburgh participants successfully completed their practice expedition at the weekend.  We travelled straight from school on Friday in the glorious sunshine, but unfortunately when we made camp in Settle it had started to rain.  This changeable weather continued throughout the weekend including a very wet overnight stay in a campsite in Malham on Saturday.  Mr Lough and Mr Murphy supported the groups navigating via checkpoints throughout the two days.  The students did brilliantly and remained positive throughout despite the tiredness, sore feet and backs.  Everyone was ready for a well-earned shower!’

Our congratulations go to our students for a successful expedition and our thanks to Mrs. Murphy, Mr. Murphy, Mrs. Macadam and Mr. Lough for making the expedition possible. We’ll look forward to the Silver Qualifying Expedition in May.

 

Year 9 were supporting their learning in English with a viewing of The Crucible with Mrs. Macadam on Monday evening whilst parents, carers and staff were treated to the Musical Showcase with Mr. Jackson on Tuesday.

Year 8 exams have taken place this week with students arriving well prepared and showing a clear understanding of exam room expectations. Year 7 will be having their exams on our return from the Easter break.

In Science Club this week, students made a rainbow in a burette! Adding acid and alkalis together in the same burette results in a solution with different pHs whilst adding universal indicator means they could see the pHs in different colours!

In assemblies this week, Mr. Grierson has explored how being creative and ‘The Arts’ can help our mental health and well-being. He talked about the power of mindfulness and using activities such as colouring or dancing to support positive mental health. Staying with the creative theme, in Art over the last couple of weeks, Year 8 have been looking at the illustrations of Tim Burton and layering whilst Year 9 have been exploring using acrylic paint and blending with great success.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s been an important week for William in Year 7 who has juvenile arthritis and was invited to be the first ever child guest speaker for Versus Arthritis at their annual Arthritis Fellows Conference. William prepared and presented his own PowerPoint describing what it is like to have juvenile arthritis at the age of 11. His audience was over 100 adults comprising of consultants, scientists, fellowship students, researchers, Versus Arthritis staff and campaigners. William described what it is like to have arthritis as a child, what his pain is like, how it affects his daily life, how he sometimes has to use crutches and the help he needs.

William explained how friends at school help him and described how singing helps relieve his pain. In fact, he is a Chorister at Ripon Cathedral and has been since he was 7 years old. There are now 70 members in the Choir of Choristers and Scholars and last term William was selected from the choir to be awarded the Dean’s medal for his leadership skills in mentoring new choristers. Excellent achievements indeed.

 

The Sports Leaders were involved in Primary sport on Wednesday morning and it was great to then see the next generation of leaders, the Year 9 Football activators, carrying out an assembly to Year 7. Mrs. Godsell-Wright says, ‘The leaders did fantastically well in delivering the assembly and they have inspired over 35 young people to take part and then join an after-school club after Easter.’

 

 

There is much research about the value of the natural environment in supporting positive mental health and wellbeing and, if you’ve visited the school over the last couple of weeks, you can’t fail to have noticed the beautiful blossom. Spring is certainly here!

Have a lovely weekend and Easter break!

In preparation for World Book Day next week, in assemblies, Mr. Cockerill has been talking about the value of reading in supporting positive mental health and wellbeing before looking at some of the books which have had a significant impact such as ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ and ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’.

Last night we were treated to the KS4 Performing Arts Showcase, which was a thought provoking piece of Theatre in Education about truancy. It had a strong message that really made the audience think about the importance of regular school attendance and how it can affect your life as a result of making the right choices in these formative years. The students’ performance was excellent and feedback received from students and parents was lovely to listen to. Mr West said “I couldn’t be more proud of every one of them. They have worked so hard to make this an energetic, vibrant and colourful performance, that sent an important moral message, and that is exactly what they delivered. They richly deserve the praise and results they have worked so hard to achieve”.

Rugby has been the focus for 30 students this morning as they headed off to the LNER Community Stadium in York to watch the England rugby team train in their preparations for the Six Nations match against Ireland. The training involved the full England squad led by Steve Borthwick. Students had a great time watching international level sport in our locality.

Earlier in the week Mr. Field reports that ‘The Year 8 and Year 9 rugby teams took their chance to shine in the recent York Schools’ 9 a side rugby tournament.  The boys impressed the York Knights’ staff with their resilience and positive gameplay throughout all of the games.  The boys played games against King James’s, Manor, Tadcaster Grammar, York High and Joseph Rowntree. There were some positive results for the boys in some tough competitive matches against strong competition.’ We are really proud of the commitment shown by the boys and by the fact that we were the only school to field two teams in the tournament.

We’ve got an exciting couple of weeks coming up for Year 9 as they personalise their curriculum further by choosing their GCSE options. The whole process starts with their Taster sessions on Monday and Wednesday morning.

Meanwhile, continuing to support Year 11 with their post 16 choices this week we had visits from Ask Apprenticeships. On Monday, in assembly, they explained a little bit more about apprenticeships for both post-16 and post-18 pathways. Then on Thursday, during PSHCE, they helped those students interested in apprenticeships to sign on to the National Apprenticeships website and begin searching and applying for their next important step.

In Science club this week, Miss Camy reports that students tried a little bit of levitation! They placed slices of lemon in a bowl of floating water, stuck 3 matches into the lemon, lit them and placed a beaker over the top and, hey presto, floating lemons!’

You’ll be aware that next Friday is our BHS Big Quiz night, the first event organised by the newly formed Friends of Boroughbridge parent/carer group. Tickets are available on Parent Mail and at Reception for £10. We hope to see you there.

Other upcoming events include our Parent Information Evening on Thursday 7^th March at 6p.m. which has a focus on Wellbeing and supporting students with exams. This will be most appropriate for parents and carers of students in Years 10 and 11. As usual, there will also be an opportunity for you to ask general questions about any aspect of school life. A reminder that our next Professional Development Day is on Thursday 14^th March when students do not attend school.

Finally, if you haven’t completed the Behaviour Survey that we circulated a couple of days ago then please look out for the link that we resent today via Parent Mail. We have had 78 responses so far. We’d appreciate your responses by Wednesday 6^th March. Thank you.

Have a lovely weekend!

Students have returned, happily talking about the things they’ve been doing over the half term break and ready for the half term ahead. It’s looking like it will be another busy one with much to look forward to.

In Science Club this week, students have been testing their designed and constructed parachutes. The winning parachute was made by Cole, Ethan and Connor! Miss Camy was very pleased with their efforts commenting that ‘It worked so well due to the large surface area of the parachute slowing the fall of our plasticine models.’ Science Club takes place every Thursday lunchtime in B9 at 12.45p.m. and is open to students in Years 7, 8 and 9.

We were delighted to hear that, over half term, Alice in Year 8 who is a keen bell ringer has become a qualified member of the Yorkshire Association of Change Ringers, one of the youngest to do so. To do this she had to ring a quarter peal which took the team of six ringers 43 minutes and involved 1260 changes. A superb achievement indeed. Following this, Alice was asked to do a Radio interview with BBC Radio York on Thursday morning.

Our work with the Behaviour Hub continues at pace with a visit this week to our partner school, Dixon’s Trinity Academy in Bradford. We’ve also now completed our staff and student surveys which reflect the progress that we’ve made along with giving us a really clear steer on areas of focus for the next part of the journey. I’ve shared some of the results of the student surveys in Assemblies this week. What is really clear is the impact of the introduction of the Learning Phases in ensuring that our learning expectations are clear. A high proportion of students state that ‘I know how my school expects me to behave.’ It also gave me the opportunity to revisit our core values and our commitment to all acting in a way which ensures everyone in our school community is safe, happy and successful.

We were delighted to welcome Amanda Newbold, our North Yorkshire Assistant Director for Education and Skills, on Wednesday. After discussing the actions that we’ve taken over the last few months, and the positive impact of them, we had a tour around the school visiting classrooms, the Intervention Room and Reset room where we saw how our strategies are creating high quality learning and engagement.

 

It’s one of our favourite events in a couple of weeks, on 7^th March, World Book Day. We’ll be carrying out activities in lessons and having a Bake Off Competition with all proceeds going to the Read for Good charity. (Please bear in mind that we are a nut free school.)

Upcoming events include our Parent Information Evening on Thursday 7^th March at 6p.m. which has a focus on Wellbeing and supporting students with exams. This will be most appropriate for parents and carers of students in Years 10 and 11. As usual, there will also be an opportunity for you to ask general questions about any aspect of school life. Our BHS Big Quiz Night is at 7p.m. on Friday 8^th March. You can buy tickets on ParentMail or at Reception for £10. Finally a reminder that our next Professional Development Day is on Thursday 14^th March when students do not attend school.

Have a lovely weekend!

Year 9 have impressed us this week with their calm, organised and positive approach to their exams. There will be lots of marking now taking place so that students can receive their results along with feedback about what they’ve done well and what they need to do to make further improvements.

It was also great to discuss Year 7 progress with parents and carers on Wednesday evening during our online Parent/Carer evening. I’m well aware that there are mixed views on the online approach to these evenings. I will, similarly to the last two years, in the Summer Term, ask for your opinion about whether or not we should continue with this approach.

In assemblies this week, Mrs. Godsell-Wright has focused on Equality and Diversity celebrating with students the strength that we have as a school and wider community because of the varying experiences, skills and abilities of each and everyone of us. It was also a good opportunity to remind students of the Equality Act including how we all need to act to ensure that we are safe, happy and successful.

We had a visit on Wednesday from our Local Authority Adviser to evaluate our progress against our Ofsted and whole school priorities. I’ll include more detail in my Headteacher Update which will be sent out during the week after half term.

On the same day, some of our Year 11 students went across to King James’s School, our federated partner, for the Sixth Form Induction Day. Responses on their return showed that our students are getting themselves fully prepared for both the months ahead and their longer term futures.

This week Year 7 have been completing their Blockbots project. Mr. Groves and Mrs. Hunter have been impressed with their hard work and their results.

 

A reminder that the Friends of Boroughbridge are supporting a Boroughbridge High School Quiz Night on Friday 8^th March. You’ll be able to purchase tickets after half term on ParentMail or from Reception for £10 each.

Finally, upcoming events include the Parent/Carer Information evening on Thursday 7^th March at 6p.m. focusing on Wellbeing and Supporting Students with exams and the Year 9 Parent/Carers Options Evening on Wednesday 13^th March at 6p.m.

Have a good weekend and we’ll look forward to welcoming students back into school on Monday 19^th February following the half term break.

Students have been invited to ‘Make their Mark’ in assemblies with Mr. Grierson this week. UK Youth Parliament’s Make your Mark gives a unique opportunity for all young people aged between 11-18 to have their say about the biggest issue facing our young people. It is the only national vote available to under 18s in England. You can find out more at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cy56TGslDNY

We’ve also been able to celebrate students’ success in assemblies by awarding certificates to those students who have done consistently well in their Attitude to Learning, Behaviour for Learning and Homework, as shown in their recent tracking.

Following our focus in previous weeks on group work/pairwork and individual work, this week we’re looking at our final phase of learning, whole classwork.

Examples of this in the last week are, in Maths, Year 9 have completed whole class work to recap and retrieve prior learning of a range of topics in preparation for their progress exams next week whilst during other lessons, students built on their knowledge of circles and volumes of pyramids to find the volume and surface area of cones. Students’ contributions were helping to pull their learning together.

GCSE Historians, in whole class discussion, have been drawing comparisons between current tensions and the start of the Cold War after World War II.

Meanwhile Year 7 have been learning the sound en / an in French, which is the same sound but very different than in English. Students were required to repeat some of the most common words in French with that sound before writing down the meaning in their book.

And in Geography, Year 7 participated in whole class discussion around the factors which affect a microclimate.

A reminder that our Curriculum Progression Maps can be found at https://www.boroughbridgehigh.com/curriculum/subjects/ where you’ll be able to see how your child’s current studies fit into their longer-term curriculum and build upon previous knowledge.

You will be aware that Boroughbridge High School and King James’s School federated in January 2021. Governors and senior leaders have recently reflected on our shared vision and values and agreed the statements below. We hope you agree that this captures our commitment to working together to increase opportunity and excellence for young people in our community.

Federation Vision

A federation of schools united and strengthened by a shared commitment to working collaboratively, to limitless aspirations for every student, and to unlocking the potential in our community.

Values

• Fostering a positive learning climate for all
• Promoting academic success and high standards
• Encouraging positive, confident, and respectful citizens
• Equipping students for success in a changing world
• Building a culture of collaboration and partnership across the federation

Looking ahead, next week Year 9 will be demonstrating their progress during their exam week and we’ll look forward to Year 7 Parent/Carer Evening on Wednesday 7^th February from 4-6.30p.m. The event is held online. The Public Consultation Meeting regarding the proposal to change the age range at Boroughbridge High School by ceasing the Sixth Form Provision with effect from 31^st August 2024 will be held at 6p.m. on Thursday 8^th February.

We break up next Friday for half term and a reminder that we have a Professional Development Day on Thursday 14^th March when students do not attend school.

Have a lovely weekend!