With a somewhat mixed weather forecast, the Duke of Edinburgh’s Bronze Award Qualifying Expedition could have been thwarted but the resilience of our young people made sure that the expedition was a great success!
Mrs. Murphy reported that ‘All the students did brilliantly with a rather testing weekend. On Saturday they were given false hope, with a lovely sunny start, but within 2 hours it had started raining, with thunder at times and it didn’t let up for another 5 hours! Luckily it did stop in time for everyone to get to the campsite, so tents were pitched in the dry. They cooked their food and had a relaxing evening by the tents chatting, no energy for sports this time. Overnight there was rain, thunder and lightning but everyone stayed dry and it was brighter with clear skies in the morning. The walking conditions were much nicer on Sunday, but we had lots of sore shoulders, backs and feet to contend with! The groups worked really well together, keeping up their morale and finished in good time. A fantastic achievement, completed by all the 21 students who started!’
As a reward for the excellent contribution that our Sports Leaders have made to young people in our local primary schools and for representing the school in sports teams, on Tuesday, they went on a trip to Manchester City Football Club. They had the experience of ‘A day in the life of a professional footballer’ which included visiting many parts of the stadium, home and away dressing rooms, media conferencing, executive hospitality, the stands and match day gym facilities for the players. Throughout the tour the psychology behind all decisions was explained.
They watched video clips of the players talking about their routines as well as having the explanation of the psychology behind the different parts of the stadium such as the colour of the dressing rooms and the entry points of the different teams. The day was thoroughly enjoyed by all.
As part of their GCSE, the Key Stage 4 Geographers went on fieldwork on Wednesday or Thursday to Leeds, where they investigated the urban environment. The focus of the day was to study how the quality of housing and the environment varies between different areas of the city and how the waterfront area has been redeveloped. They were two incredibly productive days with high quality primary data being collected and staff praising students for their enthusiastic, focused approach. In the Autumn term, they have a trip to the Holderness Coast, where they’ll investigate coastal processes.
In assemblies this week, Mrs. Godsell-Wright and Mr. Grierson have talked with students about Summer safety, looking at the 5 ways of wellbeing to ensure that students look after both their physical and mental health whilst they’re aware from school.
You’ll be aware that we had originally scheduled Sports Day for today but with wet weather forecast, we’ve postponed it to next Wednesday which appears, looking at the rain bouncing off the windows, to have been the right decision!
So we’re three weeks into the new timetable and, with one week to go to the Summer break, we’ve got lots to fit in including the rewards trip to Flamingo Land, Sports Day, an EcoGroup trip and a whole school assembly. We’ll certainly make the most of the final week.
A reminder that school will close for the Summer break at 1.30p.m. on Friday 21st July.
Have a lovely weekend!