Issue 11 • July 2016

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What are we learning? Macbeth, fortunately! Creativity is the highest test of whether we have understood an idea. With some air dry foam clay, a few modelling tools, tracing paper and some felt tip pens, 9A1 and I were going on an adventure … Some of the best ideas come from colliding two separate ideas. In ‘Macbeth’ there are lots of ideas. We decided to make some of them collide: fate and fortune, superstition, appearance and reality and celebration banquets. What did we decide to do? We made fortune cookies to show our understanding of characters and theme in the banquet scene from ‘Macbeth’. 9A1 used lots of skills; some were skills that were familiar to us in English, like working out what fate a character experienced in the play or using aphoristic language (deliberately vague language), working within a team, problem solving (the need to see the fortune and have it encased in a cookie created lots of problem solving discussion), and using Microsoft Publisher; and some were less familiar in English, such as working with clay. During this work, Natasha showed us creative education at its best. She flew with the idea of creating an instruction sheet on how to form a fortune cookie from dough, creating a prototype, modelling how to create the cookies to other members of the class and making links with local businesses (she persuaded her dad to let us have some professional packaging for the cookies). She showed great organisation and flair. Would I take Natasha on as an apprentice if I worked in a creative industry? In a heartbeat! My only fear would be that she would need a pay rise very quickly and probably be better than the boss within months. All the class enjoyed the work and you can see the fruits of their labour in the photographs. Trying to motivate students to enjoy ‘Macbeth’ can sometimes be a hard sell, but the Blackburn Central students were coming to the classroom asking if they could work on their project. I call that a Shakespearean success. I will hand the last words over to Natasha who did so much to make this element of our learning as good as it was: “I myself love the thought of Shakespeare and all his plays so when Mrs Shuttleworth came to me with the idea of making fortune cookies based on the celebratory banquet Macbeth has after being coronated it gave me a blast of enthusiasm. It was exciting to learn about Shakespeare and English in a whole new creative way, it being the cherry on the top! I loved the fact that I got to go out myself and do the extra work to make the process go that much quicker, perfecting the best technique to actually fold the fortune cookies and then going and finding the best way to make it more appealing, coming to the conclusion of using publisher to make a collage using appearance verses reality quotes from ‘Macbeth’ itself to make more packaging for the cookies and to highlight them in more detail. Overall the experience was rejuvenating, bringing English to the doorstep of enjoyment in learning.” 6
Students take inspiration from Falklands hero Simon Weston Simon Weston’s visit to Blackburn Central High School was an experience both staff and students won’t forget in a hurry, he began inspiring everyone as soon as he arrived. During the Falkland Islands’ campaign in 1982, Welsh Guardsman, Simon was on board the RFA Sir Galahad when Argentine jets bombed the vessel, which was loaded with fuel and ammunition, he suffered terrible burns. His injuries were so appalling his own mother couldn’t recognise him when he arrived home. His face had melted in the searing heat. Simon is well known for his struggle to overcome his injuries and redefine his role in life. His message is one of triumph over adversity and seizing the moment. Simon is an inspiring motivational speaker with over 25 years’ experience. As part of Blackburn Central High School’s English Heroes topic Simon talked about overcoming adversity, having a positive mental attitude and working hard to achieve his goals. During lunchtime a group of Year 11 students had the opportunity to speak with Simon about his own experiences and how he managed to motivate himself to overcome his difficulties and rise above the obstacles he had encountered. Throughout the 30 minutes the students listened in silence as Simon presented them with aims and objectives that they could apply to their own lives. In the afternoon Simon met the whole of Year 11 where he spoke about how he had overcome his difficulties and what he believed they should consider the most important thing in life. He said, ‘A positive mental attitude is the key and you should not be bothered about what other people say or think about you; you are your own vehicle for success’. The students were left full of positivity and have, hopefully taken a lot from Simon Weston’s inspirational and motivational talk. The question and answer session could have gone on for hours, it was a fantastic experience for all concerned. Simon is a brilliant example for the students of Blackburn Central High School. World Book Day 2016 In celebration of World Book Day the English Department went “all out” and dressed as their favourite literary characters. The students at Blackburn Central High School enjoyed a day being taught by a number of characters including: Wally, Luke Skywalker from Star Wars, Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games novel, Dracula, The Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland, Beatrice “Tris” Prior from the Divergent novels, The Fairy Godmother and Desperate Dan. 7
Page 1 and 2: Issue 11 • July 2016
Page 3 and 4: Restorative Justice Thirteen studen
Page 5: Photography Competition Last term M
Page 9 and 10: Dance Festival Student from BCHS wi
Page 11 and 12: Ruthless by Ibrahim I think it woul
Page 13 and 14: Year 10 GCSE Art Work Our Year 10 A
Page 15 and 16: Term Dates 2015-2016 Summer Term 20
Page 17 and 18: Stationary Store Forgot your pencil
Page 19 and 20: Community Use at BCHS with Crosshil

Issue 11 • July 2016

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