ASPIRE

The news magazine of Manor College of Technology
04 ASPIRE
05
Spotlight
on e-safety Past masters
Acts of discovery
DISCOVER is a combination of Geography,
History, RE and Citizenship, providing an
alternative curriculum for Pascal pupils in
Years 7, 8 and 9.
It allows pupils to use investigation
and questioning skills and promotes the
development of literacy skills and higher
order thinking.
Each pupil is given regular written
assessments and a marking grid, which has
been specially designed for literacy skills.
The grid is colour coded; red for writing tasks,
green for reading tasks and blue for speaking
and listening tasks.
Pupils take pre- and post-tests for each unit
and are given progress charts to colour in.
IN early July, the College hosted its first
e-safety event for parents and guardians.
Simon Finch, an e-safety specialist
from Northern Grid for Learning (NGfL),
ran sessions throughout the day, which
covered areas such as cyber-bullying,
passwords and the consequences of
online behaviour for Further Education
and employment.
For further information, check out
www.esafety.northerngrid.org
Leisure and
Tourism reports
AFTER working tirelessly for eight months,
Year 11 Leisure and Tourism pupils
have finally completed their controlled
assessment into the facilities available at
Hartlepool Maritime Experience.
All reports are of a high standard and
many have been presented in a very
professional fashion. Pupils will soon have
the opportunity to impress employers, such
as Hayes Travel, with their findings – one
or two fortunate pupils may even earn a
place on an apprenticeship scheme.
THE History department has recently
provided pupils at Manor College with
some exciting opportunities, including
an overnight trip to London in March
for Year 11 pupils where they visited the
Science Museum. The trip was such a
success that it will run annually.
The History department will also be
running a trip to visit WWI battlefields
in November 2014 to commemorate
the 100th anniversary of the outbreak
of the war.
Meanwhile, with 107 pupils opting for
GCSE History last year, Year 10 Gifted and
Talented pupils have the opportunity to
study for an extra qualification – GCSE
Classical Civilisations.
Stage set for ‘Oliver!’
TRADITIONALLY, the next College production remains a
secret until launch day. So, it was with some excitement
that 150 eager pupils gathered in the Drama Studio on
28 th June to find out the answer.
Coincidentally, it was also Induction Day, resulting in
30 new Year 7 pupils taking part in the day’s auditions.
After showing participants a range of
props to give them the opportunity to guess
which musical had been chosen,
staff finally announced that this year’s
production is Oliver! And, if the
audition song of Consider Yourself
is anything to go by, it is set to be
another showstopper.
The production will be staged from 10 th to 12 th
December, inclusive, in Grange Hall at 7pm.
Tickets will go on sale in pupil services at the
beginning of November.
Field day in
Whitley Bay
A FIELD trip to Whitley Bay, Tyne and
Wear, gave 60 GCSE Geography pupils
the opportunity to collect primary data
for a local area study – a specific,
controlled assessment requirement – in
response to the question: Is Whitley Bay
a seaside resort in decline?
Soon after arriving, pupils began
finding out how many visitors had
travelled to Whitley Bay that day,
where they had travelled from, and
how long they were planning to stay.
However, with only four hours to collect
information, we still managed to
squeeze in time for fish and chips.
Returning to College, they began
the long process of presenting and
evaluating the data collected.
THIS has been an excellent year for pupils opting for one of the five GCSE courses
offered by the Humanities faculty. Since its introduction in 2010, GCSE Humanities,
which consists of the holistic study of History, Geography, RE, Citizenship and Sociology,
has been growing in popularity.
Many pupils have taken it in conjunction with other Humanities GCSEs. The current
Year 10 class consists of 28 highly motivated and talented individuals.
Pupils will be required to demonstrate high levels of awareness of the world around
them as they investigate case studies from pre-historic hunter-gatherers to current affairs.
In
good
faith
High five
RELIGIOUS Education at Manor College is becoming increasingly
popular. The GCSE uptake for the academic year 2013-14 is an
impressive 58 pupils.
Once again GCSE results for RE were notably high, with many
pupils achieving A*-B grades. Congratulations to last year’s Year
11 pupils on all their hard work and the very best of luck to the
incoming Year 10 pupils.