Newsletter 12 - August 2007 (PDF) - Chapel-en-le-Frith High School

Chapel­en­le­Frith High SchoolNEWSLETTER 12 / 2006­7 Friday, 20 July 2007Dear ParentsAs the school year comes to an end, may I take this opportunity to thank you all for the support youhave given the school over the last year. Without your support and encouragement our youngsterswould not go on to the many successes that they do. I hope you all enjoy a pleasant summer andmaybe even some sunshine.Information for ParentsWith the newsletter you should receive our ‘Information for Parents’ booklet for the next academicyear. We would be grateful if you would take the time to read it over the summer holiday inpreparation for the new academic year. Please ensure that you pass on any changes in your contactdetails to the school office, which will be open over the holiday period.Prizegiving EveningThis year our presenters at our Prizegiving Evening were Mary Alger and Pat Bowers. Mary and Patare retiring from the Support Staff of the school this summer after many years’ service. A full list ofprizewinners will be included in the first newsletter of next term.Summer SchoolsOver the holidays some of our Year 9 students will be involved in a Peak 11 summer school atSheffield Hallam University.Congratulations· Year 10 walkers who raised over £1000 (so far) for the Teenage Cancer Trust on the annualevening walk around the Combs valley. In particular, Emma Elliott from 10RB raised £140 and£184 was raised from wristbands sold to pupils in school.· Year 10 also received excellent feedback from their work experience placements. Many thanks toparents who were able to host a student for the two week placement.· All of our musicians who participated in two very successful ‘Youth Presents Music’ concerts thisweek with our partner primary schools.· The cast of ‘Ernie’s Incredible Illucinations’ who gave a stunning performance to friends andfamilies earlier this month.· All those who braved the weather for our Sports Day events.Sports NewsCongratulations to:· The Year 7 and 8 rounders’ teams who won their respective High Peak tournaments making it aclean sweep for the school in the 5 tournaments; a unique achievement!· Jack Andrew, Jenny Jackson and Gemma Carruthers all performed well at the Midland combinedevents championships in Nuneaton and Jack (3 rd ) has qualified for the English Schools finals inSeptember. Jack also took part in the individual championships at Birmingham last weekend,narrowly missing the final in the hurdles by 9 hundredths of a second! The sport apprenticeshippupils in year 10 officiated at this championships and all featured on Sky Sport’s coverage, anexcellent experience.· The Year 7 athletics team finished 7 th in the Derbyshire championships and both Nicole Daltonand Frances Oakes placed in the top 15 out of 80 competitors.· The school Golf championships was played on a very wet day and the winners were MatthewMellor (Best gross) and Hannah Jones (Stableford). It was great that we had our first girlsentering this year… and winning!· Following his performances for the Derbyshire team, Chris Durham has been selected for theMidlands squad which is the next step towards possible national selection. Good luck to him atthe trials!

· Most fixtures recently have been cancelled due to the weather but the Year 10 girls enjoyed a funrounders match against the female staff to raise money for the minibus. It was played in excellentspirit and the result was not important!· The trip to Wimbledon was wet but about two hours of play was seen. All enjoyed a very long dayout!UniformHeadmasters’ Schoolwear of New Mills (0663­744254), Market Street, New Mills will be open asusual over the summer selling our uniform.FarewellsThe end of term is always a sad occasion as some pupils and colleagues leave us. We say goodbye toa number of staff, some temporary, who have been with us for a relatively short while: Mrs Hearsum,Mrs Catterall, Miss Keates, Miss Varnouse, Ms Munnich, Mr Townsend, Mr Martin,Mrs Featherstone, Mrs Keyes and Mrs Burgess. We also have another group who have had a largerimpact of the schooling of pupils here and are moving on to pastures new, some abroad: Mrs Moss,Mrs Haley, Mrs Goodall and Ms Griffiths. Five colleagues are retiring with over a century of serviceto the school: Mr Batowski, Mrs Dubaic, Miss Middleton, Mrs Alger and Mrs Bowers. We wishthem all a great future.Year 9 SAT results 2007We have recently received our 2007 SAT results for Maths and Sciences from the NationalAssessment Authority (NAA). Having set challenging targets for our pupils back in 2005, I ampleased to report that our pupils performed particularly well:­MathsScience82% achieved Level 5 and above86% achieved Level 5 and aboveThe results from the English papers will not arrive in school until late August. We will issue thelevels to Year 9 parents early in September, with a summary in the next newsletter.P.T.A.v Summer Raffle: The raffle has raised £704 (total at print) towards the minibus appeal. Manythanks to all of you who bought tickets. Raffle winners will be published in the SeptemberNewsletter.v PTA AGM: The PTA Annual General Meeting will be in school on Tuesday, 9 th October at7p.m., preceded by the committee meeting in school at 6.30 p.m.v 600 Club: The draw does not take place in July and August. There are spare numbers available ifanyone would like one ready for the September draw – please contact Ms Wyles in the schooloffice.v Fashion Show: The PTA will be holding a Fizz Fashion Show on Monday, 1 st October in theschool hall. Look out for more details next term.v Car Boot Sale: Coming soon next term another bumper car boot sale.Dinner CardsYour child should retain their “plastic” dinner card as new cards are not issued annually. There is acharge of £3 for replacement cards.Bus passesPlease note that new bus passes should be sent to current Years 7­10 pupils during the holiday by theCounty Council. Please do not destroy the current bus pass your child has been using this term untilyou receive a new one.Lunchtime passes ­ Chapel­en­le­Frith residents only

If you wish your child to go home for lunch, please ensure that he/she collects an application formfrom Ms Higgins and returns it. A new pass will be issued. If a pupil is not on the list he/she will notbe allowed to leave the building as this is an issue of Health and Safety.Holiday leave of absenceWe have been disappointed by the number of requests for holidays in term time; particularly inexamination years such as Year 9 and 11. Holiday dates for 2007­8 and 2008­9 have been publishedin previous newsletters and will be in the Parent Booklets accompanying this newsletter. Please bearthis in mind as you plan your 2008 holiday.ReportsWe always welcome feedback on our reporting system. Please pass any observations to Ms Langford(Deputy Head).ProfileYou may recall that the school governors used to publish an annual report for parents and held asubsequent meeting for interested parents. The government has now discontinued this provision andreplaced it with an electronic profile for each school, partly compiled by the Department forEducation and Skills, partly by the school. The 2005­6 edition has now been published on one oftheir web sites and the one for the 2006­7 academic year just ending will probably be published in thespring of 2008. Paper copies of the document can be obtained from me at school, and the electronicdocument can be found at http://schoolprofile.parentcentre.gov.ukMinibus FundraisingOur projections are that we will have raised £14,000 by the end of term through fundraising, pledgesand donations. We will start the new academic year without a bus as the old one will have gone backto the County Council. We still need to raise £6,000 to replace it. Any fundraising ideas would bewelcome – please contact me at school.Uniform GrantsWe are pleased to be able to give you details of a local charitable organisation who have offered toassist parents living in the Parish of Chapel­en­le­Frith, who will find it difficult to meet the costs ofthe purchase of school uniform. If you wish to apply for some assistance please write to the BowdenHead Educational Fund stating the reason for your application to Mrs S Stockdale, Town Hall, MarketStreet, Chapel­en­le­Frith, High Peak, SK23 0HP by Friday, 10 August 2007.Activities WeekAs always the week was a great success. If you have any comments on how we can continue toimprove it please contact Mr Middleton at school.CalendarFriday, 20 th July 2.00 pm. School breaks up for holidaysThursday, 23 rd July 10.00 am­3.00 pm GCSE resultsMonday, 3 rd SeptemberStaff training dayTuesday, 4 th SeptemberStaff training dayWednesday, 5 th September 8.40 am School re­opensAdditional INSET DayYou will have received the dates for the 2007­8 academic year earlier this term and in the parentbooklet for 2008­9. We now understand as a result of the changes in the secondary curriculum fromSeptember 2008 that secondary schools will be able to take an additional INSET day. When we havemore details and confirmation of this, we will let you know the date in good time.Duke of Edinburgh Award SchemeWe are looking for a small number of committed and self­motivated Year 9 pupils (Year 10 inSeptember) who are interested in a challenging programme of activities that will help you to learn

new skills, help others and experience adventure. For more information on how to enrol on the Dukeof Edinburgh Award Scheme please see Miss Heath.Current Year 10 pupils who have completed their Bronze Award this year will now have theopportunity to progress on to Silver level if they wish.News from the Libraryo Books for SaleScholastic Book Shop will be open in the school hall from Thursday, 20 th to Thursday, 27 thSeptember. Great selection of books for all ages plus competitions, lucky draws and prizes.o Where do you read?Have a picture taken of you READING in exotic locations or at home during the holidays. Send orbring them into school in September. There will be prizes for the most unusual, best picture, mostpeople etc. Expert judges will decide on the best!Youth Presents Music 2007A big thank you to all the pupils and staff who participated in Youth Presents Music. Children fromsix of the partner primary schools entertained parents and friends at two concerts alongside pupilsfrom Chapel­en­le­Frith High School. All proceeds raised on behalf of the High School werecontributed to the minibus appeal.Strawberry Moon Festival 2007Well done to the pupils who performed at a rather wet Strawberry Moon Festival on 31 st June and 1 stJuly. Pupils from years 8, 9 and 10 had worked with representatives from REAP (Rural EducationArts Project) to form a band and write and perform their own material. Students performed alongsidepupils from other Derbyshire schools at Tittersworth Reservoir, Leek, Staffordshire. The StrawberryMoon Festival builds upon the success of the popular Harvest Moon Festival.Please find attached a list of support available for pupils during the summer holidays.Parent Information BookletsYou will receive your annual booklet with this Newsletter. Please take the time to read through itcarefully as there are changes that you will need to be aware of. Please do not allow your children topersuade you that anything other than totally black shoes or any piercings are OK! Trousers shouldbe plain black and no jeans or combat styles are acceptable. If you have any queries or are unsureplease give Ms Higgins a call.Yours faithfullyS AshHeadteacher