Q news 48 Trinity 2015

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Q NEW S. NEW S IN BRIEF Skiing Summer Concert The weather could not be described as a balmy summer evening but the heating was on. The scudding clouds and wind were perhaps more reminiscent of autumn, but the summer concert in Singleton House was the perfect antidote to the weather and potential election overload, as the mood set by the music was one to while away troubles and relax. Opening proceedings was the Jazz Band who manage consistently to produce good performances year on year, despite the change in personnel. It is, perhaps, one of the most difficult aspects of producing good musical ensembles; to produce the supply of musicians capable of playing to such a standard on the required instrument. If, for example, a trumpet player leaves, it is not just a case of handing a trumpet to a pupil and saying ‘carry on’. It takes a lot of time and dedication to achieve the standard required to play in public and Director of Music Miss Thomas, along with Miss Berry and the team of peripatetic teachers should be congratulated for their efforts. Having already been impressed by the Chamber Choir, it was the turn of the full choir to close the concert, and how well they did it. They produced a performance full of tonal contrast and dynamics and were the perfect ending to a wonderful concert. It might have been a bit chilly outside but we all went home with a warm glow. Thirty very excited pupils and three staff departed for the annual ski trip at the start of the Easter holidays. This year Claviere, Italy, was the destination for a week of sport in the snow. It was a little too exciting for one pupil who, after a collision on the slopes, was airlifted to hospital, but all was fine except for a few missing teeth. Jacob makes progress In only his 3rd biathlon, Jacob Gibson was competing at The Olympic Stadium. Unfortunately, nerves did get the better of him and he was a little disappointed with himself as he didn't manage to gain any personal best times. But, Jacob did do well and his overall position was 79th out of 133. The event was good experience and should he qualify to compete next year at least he knows what to expect and hopefully he will feel more relaxed competing. For two of our pupils writing looks to be the way forward as both have won regional prizes for their work. Year 10 pupil, Matthew Fenton, has been awarded a prize from the Young Writers company for his work in the ‘Grim Tales –stories from Lancashire book. His short mini-saga was selected as the best from this county publication. For Year 11 pupil, Lucy Hargreaves success came via the Rotary Club writing competition. A flair for creative writing is a special gift and this competition promotes and encourages the work of young people who show talent. The winning writers are subsequently published in Rotary magazines. Lucy Hargreaves was the winner of this year’s Senior Section of the Blackburn with Darwen Young Writers’ Competition. The theme was 'Light up the Community' and Lucy is to be highly commended on her success. 70 pupils and 8 staff enjoyed an educational trip to Berck-sur-Mer, France. Language skills were put to the test during various visits including the beach, a war cemetery and a snail farm. 2
No. 48 Trinity Term 2015 Dominic Brown, Jamie Parker, Alfie Jones and Yaseen Khan all played extremely well in the recent Lancashire Emerging Schools table tennis competition where they were representing Blackburn, having won the local round. The first phase of the competition, held at Garstang School, was to compete in a group with All Saints (Rossendale), St Michael’s (Chorley) and Garstang (Wyre). The boys showed superior technique and swept all 3 teams away with convincing wins. They progressed to the semi-final as group winners. Here they came up against stronger opposition in Broughton High (Preston). After a close start, with Dominic and Jamie dropping their first sets, the team came through with a 12-4 victory. The final was against St Augustine’s (Hyndburn). Dominic played his best table tennis in the first game up against a skilled player. He convincingly won the first set, but could not maintain this level, narrowly losing the second. The matches from then on followed a similar pattern with close wins and losses. With just a little more strength in depth St Augustine’s came out on top 10-6. NEW S IN BRIEF The annual Readathon meant that an extra 400 non-fiction titles were recently loaned out from the school library. Over £350 has been raised this year – which will be split between the four Roald Dahl charities. In June, East Lancashire Cricket Club came alive with 60 girls and 2 boys having fun playing rounders. QEGS Juniors and Year 7 challenged Westholme School and they kindly accepted. The games were very evenly matched with fantastic bowling, batting and fielding from both sides. The evening finished in a draw with a cumulative score of 12 ½ each. The boys did extremely well to get to the final. It is a measure of how much they have progressed in the last year. The same team of players did not progress past the Blackburn round last season. Three of our A level PE students put together a fine team performance to achieve second place in the York Tri Relay last Sunday. Katie Gaffing started proceedings in the pool with the third fastest 400m swim in the relay section in a time of 05.44. Nick Cooper then set the second fastest 18k bike time out of all the competitors in a blistering 28.21 before handing over to Katie Buckingham for the 5k run which she duly completed in 21.31. They were competing against teams from established triathlon clubs and only lost out on first place to all male team, Jackpot Racing, in a very competitive event by 35 seconds, 28 of which were lost in transition. Hardly surprising as it was their first competition! It was a fantastic result and I am sure it will inspire other pupils to have a go at team triathlon. The Sixth Form Uganda Team have been involved in all sorts of activities to raise money for the Good Samaritan School in Uganda including singing for one night at a pub, a supper evening at home, a film night and cake sales, running half marathons and packing bags in supermarkets. They raised over £5000 and while in Uganda they worked hard painting the new classroom block, clothing needy children and forming a cohesive and close knit group whose common experiences will make them friends for life. A group of students recently visited Blackburn Central Library to take part in the annual tour/end of year celebrations and to join in with the presentation of awards. These had been put together for our Carnegie Shadowing Group, Year 8 Pupil Librarians and Year 7 Reading Millionaires for Accelerated Reader. Head of Library, Mrs Dewhurst and Mrs Barnett, from Blackburn Library, awarded certificates, badges, personalised sketches by author and illustrator Chris Riddell (recently awarded Children’s Laureate) and the ever popular book bags. 3
Page 1: NEWS. No. 48 Trinity Term 2015 Head
Page 5 and 6: No. 48 Trinity Term 2015 Vargo Year
Page 7 and 8: No. 48 Trinity Term 2015 NEW S FOR

Q news 48 Trinity 2015

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?