As the early blossom appears at the front of school, there’s been a definite feeling of Spring in the air. In Forest School, Mr. Woodward reports, ‘Superb teamwork and communication skills were demonstrated this week in our tree-house challenge. Students learnt to tie and use a square lashing to secure horizontal beams to tree trunks before building up a sturdy platform, strong enough to hold their whole team. Later students learnt to use storm kettles safely with a 100% success rate.’
Our congratulations go to Alyssa in Year 11 who has been elected as North Yorkshire Regional Member of Youth Parliament. The role includes representing North Yorkshire’s young people locally, regionally, and nationally, including at the annual sitting of Youth Parliament in the House of Commons in Parliament, Westminster.
Alyssa’s manifesto is based around progressiveness, caring for minorities, supporting the needy and aiding social issues and we look forward to seeing her impact in the role. Well done Alyssa.
You may be wondering how our Year 9 team football team got on in their semi-final. Mr. Field reports,
‘Friday 6th March presented a momentous opportunity for the Yr9 boys football team, an opportunity to reach the final of a national competition and play on a Championship football club’s pitch. The team standing between them in the semi-final was the current ESFA Small Schools Cup holders, St Mary’s College, Crosby. The away fixture meant that the boys faced a long trip to and from the game, but the boys were in buoyant mood ready for the challenge that awaited on the opposite side of the Pennines.
There were obvious nerves at the start of the game, the boys had done research and had some understanding of the challenge the St Mary’s team posed. As the game got underway the Boroughbridge boys faced a barrage of attacking football but worked well together to prevent St Mary’s taking an early lead and did their best to force their way into the game. The resilience shown was commendable but the half time score of 4-0 demonstrated the strength of the opposition that the boys were facing. A refocus of efforts in the second half helped the team probe the St Mary’s defence and made it apparent that Boroughbridge came to compete. Some noteworthy performances from Eaton, Godley, Burrell, Stoakes and Chapman in defence persevered against numerous attacks from St Marys forward line and performed well to limit their attacking threat. The game ebbed away from Boroughbridge as the opposition showed their title holding credentials. A late consolation goal from ‘Hatrick Patrick’ achieved a feat no other team since the first round had managed by scoring against the reigning champions. The game ended 8-1 to St Mary’s but the Boroughbridge team were commended by their coach for their resilience throughout and ensuring they had to be at their best to secure the place in the final.
Despite the result not favouring our boys, they have won plaudits from all of their opposition on their journey to the semi-final stage of the competition. Well wishes of success had been received from previous schools’ staff in the lead up to the semi-final proving that the boys had won more than just football matches with their gameplay and personal conduct. The standard of football that they have played to achieve the amazing feat of being the last state school in this national competition has been a joy to witness, as has the growth of teamwork and comradery within the boys. Although there will be disappointment that they did not achieve their ambition of reaching and winning the final of this competition, the resolve to keep going and striving to achieve even more has not waived. The boys have already shown the desire to enter the competition as they progress into Yr10, their aspiration to achieve the next level has been strengthened by this season’s exploits. Well done boys, we are all immensely proud of you.’
Mr. Groves reports, ‘On Tuesday, a group of 8 Year 9 students attended a Rotary Schools Technology Tournament at St Aidan’s School in Harrogate where they competed against other schools from across North Yorkshire. Each team was asked to design and build a bridge from card, wooden dowel and other materials. Both teams showed excellent construction and group working skills. Although their designs were well thought out, they didn’t come away with a prize. All of the students enjoyed the experience and should be commended for their efforts. They tell me they will be choosing DT for their GCSE’s. I was proud of all of them, well done from Mr Groves!’
Mrs. Ennis reports, ‘In History, Year 7 were tasked with creating a newspaper front page reporting on either the Peasant Revolt or Black Death. They were building on their lesson knowledge about life in medieval England. The work produced by Year 7 was outstanding, there is not enough space to display all the amazing work.’
Sustainability has been the focus of Mr. Scott’s assemblies this week. Having looked at the finite nature of some resources, Mr. Scott discussed the changes that we can make to utilise and conserve resources before looking at the importance of green skills for jobs of the future.
It was lovely to welcome Year 9 students and their parents and carers to Options Evening. This is always an exciting time for Year 9 as they start to make choices to personalise their Year 10 curriculum. Once we’d talked about our ambitious curriculum model, there was the opportunity to find out about individual progress made in Core subjects and to ask lots of questions about Option subjects to inform choices. This follows our Futures Week where students had the opportunity to experience new subjects along with those studied at Key Stage 3. It was a such a positive evening and we were all energised by hearing of the ambitious aspirations of so many of our young people.
We’ve been thinking of others today, raising money for Comic Relief. Alongside this, we had a number of other fundraising activities including a Bake Sale and competitions where we have, so far, raised an impressive £385. Thank you for your support.
A reminder that the Spring Term ends on Friday 27th March when we start our Easter break.
Have a lovely weekend!