Exciting New Link with Kenyan Sporting Giant! - Highcliffe School

Exciting New Link with Kenyan Sporting Giant! 

In the most recent issue of this 

newsletter we were able to bring 

you the breaking news that Highcliffe 

School had been successful 

in ‘winning’ a place on the British 

Council/BBC Olympic Dreams programme. 

As a result we were to be 

linked with a school in the Western 

Highlands of Kenya – St.Patrick’s in 

the town of Iten. 

Since then there have been a number 

of developments to report. Mr 

Coughlan , together with Year 11 

student and county level cricketer 

James Underwood attended the 

opening event of the scheme. This 

meant a weekend in London along 

with representatives of the other 

100 schools involved in the programme 

(50 schools in the UK, 50 

from around the world). The weekend 

was filled with meetings and 

workshops aimed at explaining the 

purpose and structure of the project 

to the schools and to give the representatives 

of twinned schools time 

to get to know each other and begin 

the planning process for how they 

would bring their link forward with 

mutually beneficial activities. 

The time we spent with the representatives 

from St Patrick’s, Mr Alex 

Oyuga (Headteacher) and Moses 

Kibet (student) was not only useful 

A World of Challenge, Inspiration and Achievement 

but extremely informative and enjoyable. 

Looking at the materials about 

the schools that each of us brought 

to the seminar made it quickly clear 

how cleverly the British Council and 

the BBC had matched up the schools. 

The aims and outlook of the two 

schools were all but identical with 

a strong focus 

on providing a 

broad educationalexperience 

allied to 

academic excellence 

to equip 

our students 

with the skills 

to be able to 

grasp all the 

opportunities 

that life is going 

to offer them. 

In addition to this there was ample 

opportunity for the students to make 

friends with fellow students from 

around the globe as well as from 

other areas of the UK, the ubiquity 

of Facebook became apparent very 

quickly! One of the more inspiring 

contacts James and Moses made 

was that with Merlyn Diamond, the 

Namibiam 100m sprint record holder 

who is targeting the final of the 100m 

in the 2012 games. 

After the event four tired people 

returned to Highcliffe late on Sunday 

evening to begin the first stage of 

the link and to introduce Mr Oyuga 

and Moses to the whole school. 

They spent two full days with us. 

Some of this time was spent visiting 

areas of the school and other parts 

in meetings with 

various staff to 

start planning the 

projects to take 

the link forward. 

We will be bringing 

you news of 

these events very 

soon, especially in 

the subjects areas 

of PE, Science and 

Mathematics. 

A number of our Gifted & Talented 

young sport stars accompanied our 

visitors on a visit to the 2012 sailing 

centre in Weymouth where they 

were given a tour by the director of 

the centre. So they are some of the 

few people who can claim to have 

already visited a finished Olympic 

venue. 

Since their return to St Patrick’s we 

are now in regular email contact and 

our currently collaborating on designing 

the first link projects – watch 

this space! 

“I believe in using what you have, instead of mourning for that which you do not. In thirty years time, I 

want to be able to look back at my youth and know that I used my talents fully: that I wasted nothing.” 

A former Highcliffe Sixth Form Student 

Volume 10 Issue 3, March 2011

2 

Highcliffe Sixth Form was delighted 

to welcome back the A Level Class 

of 2010 for their Awards Evening on 

Monday 13 th December. The Awards 

Ceremony 

took place 

in the Da 

Vinci Centre 

at Highcliffe 

to a packed 

audience. 

The students 

were 

presented 

with their 

A level 

certificates, 

and awards 

were also 

given out 

for Special 

Achievement, Achievement, Progress, 

Effort, Leadership and Community 

contribution. Highcliffe Sixth Form 

celebrated record exam results this 

summer so the number of awards given 

out this year far surpassed previous 

years. 14% of students achieved A* 

grades at A level which is double the 

national figure for Sixth Form Colleges 

and Comprehensive Schools. Twentyeight 

students received awards for 

outstanding performance in their A 

level or AS level exams. 

Special Achievements 

Special Achievement Awards went to 

Ryan Flanagan and Elizabeth Waters 

for gaining places at Oxford University 

as well as their outstanding performance 

at A level. Adam Sloper was also 

given an award for exceptional performance 

at A level (3 A* grades and 

Sixth Form 

A Great Awards Evening! 

1 A) and showing significant progress 

compared with his GCSE grades. 

Current Year 13 students were also 

presented with awards for exceptional 

performance 

at 

AS level, 

including 

Samantha 

Millard 

who 

achieved 

6 A 

grades at 

AS level. 

Joel Nazar 

was unable 

to 

collect his 

Community 

Award in person as, true to form, he 

is currently working on a Community 

project in Africa as part of his Gap 

Year before university. Some Year 13 

students were unable to attend the 

ceremony as they were attending interviews 

at Oxford University for 2011, 

so the awards were collected on their 

behalf. 

A Mayor’s Support 

The presentations were 

made by Nick Geary 

(Mayor of Christchurch) 

and Judith Potts (Head 

teacher). The Awards 

ceremony was followed 

by wine and canapés. 

Anna Karanja (Director 

of Sixth Form) and Lisa 

Swan (Head of Sixth 

Form) were delighted 

H2U, Volume 10 Issue 3, March 2011 

to have the opportunity to catch 

up with the students and hear 

about their many exciting experiences 

since leaving the Sixth Form. 

Among those in attendance were 

Lottie Kennedy (Head Girl 2009-10) 

and Sammy Joynson (Head Boy 

2009-10). Lottie is currently enjoying 

a Gap Year before university and 

Sammy is studying History at London 

School of Economics. In his first 

term Sammy’s impressive achievements 

and experiences include 

winning two elections, publishing 

a book, winning the Leeds Open 

Debating Competition, meeting the 

Queen, Princess Anne, the Archbishop 

of York and the President 

of Mozambique. (You can catch up 

with Sammy and Joel in detail in 

articles on the next few pages.) 

Onwards and Upwards 

Our congratulations go to the A 

level Class of 2010 for their outstanding 

achievements and we wish 

them every success on their university 

courses and career pathways.

a l umni 

Over the next few pages we bring you up to date with the latest news we 

have had from some of Sixth Formers of previous years, news that always 

finds us excited, proud and just a little bit jealous! 

I arrived in London on the 26 th September 

excited that a new life awaited me. 

Indeed, I enjoyed my time at Highcliffe 

more than any time previously, but it 

was truly exciting to be going to a new 

place which felt like a reward for all the 

hard work of A Levels! London School 

of Economics awaited, an institution 

which lives and breathes politics and 

debate, and I could not wait to get 

started. 

Freshers Week was a blur; so many 

new places, so many new experiences, 

so many new people. We explored, we 

partied and we smiled in one of the 

most exciting weeks of the university 

year. However, before we knew it, the 

first proper reading list was released 

and the library’s gravity took its toll. 

Unlike many of my other friends 

around the country, by the Monday 

of Week 2, we were already deep into 

reading about the subjects that we 

loved. 

But it was hard. Very, very hard. 

Reading totalling about 300 pages per 

week from Week 2 onwards served 

as a baptism of fire, with university 

texts seemingly immeasurably more 

complicated than anything previously 

experienced at A Level. I soon learnt 

that the rumour that it gets easier after 

A Levels, is wrong – very wrong indeed; 

or at least at LSE. I will never forget 

opening my first International Relations 

journal to find the opening sentence 

of ‘Sectoral narrowness: the fact that 

mainstream theorists have confined 

LSE - A Natural Extension of Highcliffe? 

themselves to the military-political sector 

and a tendency towards fragmentation 

encouraged by the fact that they 

have taken too much pleasure in the 

pursuit of ideological, epistemological 

and ontological incommensurability.’ 

My reaction was your reaction. Confusion. 

For a few days, just a few, I felt a bit out 

of my depth. Extremely difficult reading 

lists, the work piling up, and constantly 

being surrounded by the brainiest 

people I had ever met was rather 

intimidating and quite stressful. In my 

first two weeks at LSE, I only met two 

or three fellow state-school students, 

with many students hailing from Eaton, 

Harrow or other world class institutions, 

(one of my classmates is even a 

Filipino Prince!) but I soon learnt that 

these people were interesting, intellectual 

and very kind. 

My friends here are great and we all 

helped each other through the mutually 

stressful first couple of weeks of 

term. They are like nobody I have ever 

met before; they take a real interest 

in history and politics, enjoy active 

debates and love the Conservatives 

(some of them) – for the first time 

in my life, I have found people just 

like me. They come from across the 

world with a great variety of different 

backgrounds. Indeed, one of my best 

friends, a Belgian national, has lived in 

Burma, Barbados, Austria and Nepal, 

being the son of the current UN ambassador 

to Afghanistan, whilst many 


other people in my halls come from 

the Latin Quarter in Paris where their 

parents work in the fashion industry. 

The people are so diverse here that 

you learn so much about the world 

just through talking. This, at LSE especially, 

is imperative, as knowing about 

the international environment here 

appears to be the key to success 

And so far, at least, I believe I have 

been quite successful. Since the 

opening few weeks, 

3 

I have become increasingly involved 

in the prestigious LSE Debate Society 

and was fortunate enough to be 

nominated to run for election for the 

post of first-year representative. After 

a tiring campaign throughout Week 

3, with a campaign-team made up of 

people that I had only just met, I won 

the closely-fought election against 2 

Eton boys, gaining 56% of the vote. I 

was delighted, and I was catapulted 

into my first position of responsibility 

at LSE. 

So far, I have enjoyed the Debate 

Society immensely. Firstly, being on 

the same committee as JFK once 

resided is an honour in itself, and it is 

intriguing to experience the workings 

of a world-class organisation. 

The LSE Debate Society is the 2 nd Best 

Debate Society in the world and the 

professionalism of the organisation 

was apparent since my first training 

session. Outside of the boardroom, 

I have also got involved in debating

4 

on a competitive level. University level 

debating takes a very different format 

to the one that I practised at Highcliffe, 

where one is not allowed to prepare 

a speech and merely has to stand and 

speak for 5mins on any determined 

issue. As one can imagine, these topics 

can be very difficult. I have had to 

argue such topics as ‘This house would 

partition Sudan’ or ‘This house believes 

that a just penal system should have 

no consideration for society’s desire for 

retribution’ and improvising a coherent 

speech with regards to such matters is 

no easy task. However, as I practised 

more and more throughout the 

first few weeks of term, I started 

to dare to try-out for competitions, 

and to my astonishment, in 

a society with over 600 members, 

I was picked for a tournament in 

York in late-October. The weekend 

was great and I really enjoyed it, 

but my team failed to make a real 

impact on the tournament due to 

the standard of the other debaters. 

Yet, last week, I was picked again 

for a tournament in Leeds and was 

paired with a formidable Palestinian 

girl. The tournament started 

in the same fashion as the last, 

with a couple of defeats early on, but, 

miraculously, as the day progressed, 

things suddenly started improving. We 

astonished ourselves by qualifying from 

the group-stages and subsequently battled 

on to gain a place in the national 

final of the Leeds Open; we could not 

believe it. The motion for the final was 

a gift due to the origin of my partner. It 

was ‘This house would make Israeli citizenship 

contingent on military service’ 

and we gave the performance of our 

lives. Standing before 100s of people in 

an 18 th century debate chamber, I had 

never been more nervous than when 

I made the concluding speech for my 

team, knowing that glory was so close. 

And, unbelievably, we won. For the first 

time in my life, I had won an event on 

a national level with 100s of students 

taking part, and I could not believe it. 

My debating has come a long way since 

Highcliffe, but I will never forget the 

day when Mr Bryden approached me 

in the library in Year 10, discussing his 

idea for a new Highcliffe School club. 

But debating hasn’t been my only 

success. As ever, I have been drawn 

towards politics and am involved in 

the LSE Conservative Society and, 

more importantly, my halls of residence 

committee. I returned to halls 

on a rainy Friday evening of Week 5 

to find that the 2010-2011 student/ 

staff committee for my halls was to be 

elected in the coming weeks. Inevitably, 

I put myself forward for the post of 

President, merely as a challenge, and 

quickly assembled a campaign team to 

canvass in my hall. Competing against 

post-grads and long-time residents of 

the hall, I had to work very hard even 

to be in with a chance of victory, but, 

primarily thanks to my campaign team 

for knocking on all of the 550 doors, 

I reached the election day speeches 

with an outside chance. I gave a strong 

speech, receiving a large ovation from 

the hall, and then I waited for the 100s 

of ballot papers to be collected. After 

a long wait, the result was announced 

and I was announced as the President 

of College Hall 2010-2011. I was 

delighted: my role as Head Boy had 

prepared me well! 

I have really enjoyed working with my 

committee over the last few weeks. 

I now have my own secretary (who 

is great) and my entire committee is 

uber-efficient and very effective at 

getting things done. I hope to enjoy a 

long and successful term, which, at the 

moment, seems to be a real possibility. 

Thus, all in all, I believe that my first 

term at university has been very successful 

and very enjoyable indeed. 


However, I have also had some amazing 

experiences so far that I will never 

forget. I was invited by the LSE to a 

conference at Cumberland Lodge (a 

royal lodge in Windsor Great Park) 

regarding leadership and diplomacy 

where I had the honour of meeting 

Queen Elizabeth II. Furthermore, my 

Presidency of my halls allowed me to 

meet Princess Anne, the Archbishop 

of York and the President of Mozambique, 

by providing me with an invitation 

in mid-November to a formal 

dinner in Senate House to celebrate 

the anniversary of The University 

of London’s foundation. I have 

even been invited to a Vogue/ 

Grazia function on Carnaby 

Street, to celebrate the launch 

of a new student fashion range! 

I really have had an astonishing 

few weeks, and my life is more 

exciting than ever before. 

In conclusion, my first term at 

university has been amazing. 

The workload has been vast, 

with a 2,500 word essay every 

single week, but I have adjusted 

to it now and am doing well academically. 

I have found London 

School of Economics to be my dream 

environment and I have enjoyed 

every aspect of student life here. 

LSE has made me believe more than 

ever that anything in my life is possible 

and it has inexorably fuelled my 

desire for a career in politics which I 

honestly believe is achievable. 

However, it was Highcliffe that has 

given me my opportunity at LSE and 

thus it is Highcliffe that I thank. I will 

be eternally grateful for Ms Barrall’s 

commitment to my university 

application, Mr Bryden’s dedication 

to Highcliffe School’s debate, and Ms 

Karanja and Ms Potts’ lessons of leadership 

and personal development. 

As I said just 6 months ago in that oft 

quoted speech, it was Highcliffe that 

gave me my opportunity in life, and 

therefore it will be Highcliffe that I 

will never forget. Thank you. 

Sammy Joynson

Here is the text of an article which appeared in the 

Daily Echo highlighting the talent of yet another former 

student. 

Designer’s Image Soon To Go Public 

A talented young designer from Christchurch will soon 

see her artistic images splashed all over deckchairs 

after winning a competition. 

Laura Coleman, 23, from Mudeford, 

who is at the University of 

Southampton in her third year 

of her degree in Textile, Design 

and Print, won the contest with 

Southsea Deckchairs. 

Her design features a child’s 

seaside spade in a muted British 

colour scheme of red, white and 

blue. 

Stephen Davies, managing 

director of Southsea Deckchairs, 

said: “Laura really researched 

the brief well and knew that her 

original design would appeal to 

the kinds of buyers she knows from the area in which 

she grew up.” 

Laura said: “My inspiration came from where I was 

brought up and seeing the rows of differently coloured 

spades stacked up at the beach shop.” 

As a Bournemouth University Student 

studying a degree in Advertising and 

Marketing Communications, returning 

to Highcliffe School was an unnerving 

process, however very rewarding. 

As a unit of my degree a live brief 

had been issued from BBC Children In 

Need asking all advertising students to 

develop a concept that would increase 

awareness of the brand among the age 

group of secondary school pupils. 

Any idea that would be developed 

would need to resemble the core as- 

Designing Life 

Advertising Alex Smith 

pects of Children In Need as a brand, in 

order to ignite a connectivity that the 

brand has seemed to lack. 

From the huge help that was received 

from Miss Burden, I and two student 

colleagues had the opportunity to ask 

the children in her IT lunchtime class 

their opinions and attitudes towards 

charities and Children In Need in particular. 

The response was significant, and 

hugely impacted our final creative 

concept. 

The feedback from the BBC and 


5 

advertising industry organization 

critics was fantastic and we were 

awarded a 1st from our unit leader. 

This mark and feedback would not 

have been made possible without 

the help and response from Miss 

Burden and the children in her 

lunchtime class. 

I would like to take this opportunity 

to thank all those there on the day 

and of Miss Burden! I look forward 

to returning again! 

Alex Smith

6 

H2U, Volume 10 Issue 3, March 2011

Celebrating Achievement 

Time to celebrate the achievements of just 

some of our students in Art, Design and 

Technology again. Every term the staff in 

Da Vinci nominate students that they think 

have demonstrated particular dedication or 

skill over the term. We then select a winner 

from each Key Stage and their pictures 

are published in the foyer. Every nominated 

student gets a personal card home and a 

mention below. 

Every student named below has been 

identified by their subject teacher for excellent 

work and approach across the creative 

disciplines of Da Vinci. These creative disciplines 

often raise some of the more difficult 

questions for the students during their day 

as there is rarely a single, correct answer to 

a problem. 

Well done to all the nominated students 

and keep up the excellent work and attitude. 

The winners for the Autumn term are: 

Ben Shutler, Jessica Jones and Lee Black. 

The nominated students are listed below: 

Ben Shutler, Holly Broomfield, Jack Hill, 

Charlie Gates, Jessica Jones, Alice Hayden, 

Rebecca Meyrick, Rosie Ashley-East, Michael 

Smith, Charlotte Taylor, Jessica Robbins, 

Amy Marshall, Emil Rose-Caine, Josephine 

Dear, James Brown, Lyndsay King, 

Karl Jeavons, Bart Small, Louise Liddell , 

Ellen Tully, Kathryn Moses, Patrick McCarthy, 

Alfie Anderson, Emma-Louise Brangan, 

Natalie Martin, Aislinn Martin, Alex Harris, 

Lee Black, Benjamin Radford, Paige Stark, 

Curriculum 

art/ e sign /technology 

d 

A Successful Autumn Term in ADT 

Huw Pilley, Bethany Jenkinson, Ben 

Towers, David Johnson 

Mr Nicholls (Senior Curriculum Leader 

of Art, Design and Technology) 

Graphics 

A new year has brought me focus 

and direction. I’m now pleased and 

privileged to be 

Curriculum Leader 

for Graphics. Since 

September I’ve been 

modifying the graphics 

curriculum to reflect 

and support the 

new Art & Design syllabuses followed at 

GCSE and AS/A Level. This has involved 

a new interpretation of projects ensuring 

that our younger students in KS3 

& KS4 are learning the new programs 

for Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator that 

have become a stable design package 

utilized within our design environment. 

Thanks must also be 

given to both Mr. Mant 

and Mr. Elliott who have 

helped me in delivering 

these new programs to 

our students. 

Year 7 have been using 

the CS4 Photoshop & 

Illustrator programs to 

develop and construct 

their own CD covers; 

choosing an artist or 

band and developing a professional 

outcome for the front, internal and rear 

covers. Students have been delighted 


7 

with results and this has helped them 

focus on the familiarity, understanding 

and use of basic features required to 

produce a quality outcome. 

Years 9 & 10 have also been building on 

their foundation knowledge, learning 

some more complex functions through 

supporting modules linked to their GCSE 

coursework tasks. 

6 th Form Graphics students have had a 

busy year, working through their examination 

Units of work. For the first unit 

of coursework year 12 had to design a 

Christmas card (including packaging and 

labels etc). Although sounding basic, this 

had to be presented to the Headteacher 

(Ms Potts), as part of a competition for a 

new school Christmas card. Quality and 

a clear school link had to be visible. Research 

and influences were researched 

and many questions/investigations had to 

take place before designs started to flow. 

Each student in the group 

was involved and final 

outcomes were presented 

to the Headteacher to be 

judged. The winner of the 

competition was David 

Johnson.... Congratulations! 

David received 

a pack of graphic goodies 

and a £20 bookends 

voucher. BUT, the story 

did not finish there. Due 

to the quality of work produced, 

David was asked to support the 

music department (Miss Duddle) with 

a poster and programme design to be

8 

printed for the school Christmas concert. 

This too was a success and helped 

support his continuing graphics coursework 

unit. 

In summary, the year is young but 

we’ve been busy in Graphics! Keep an 

eye on H2U for continuing developments! 

Report by Martin Simmons 

Curriculum Leader for Graphics 

Art 

It’s been a busy term in the Art Department 

with various trips and workshops 

taking place. There was the trip at 

Christmas to London to see the Dior 

Exhibition and Matthew Williamson 

at Somerset House, (see Becky Meyrick’s 

article). Then there have been 2 

workshops at Artsway in Sway. These 

workshops have recently culminated in 

a private view evening presentation at 

Artsway for the students involved and 

their parents. 

Recently in the Art Department 

we have been working with Emma 

Purchase, the Gallery Educator from 

Artsway, a locally funded gallery in 

Sway. She has been participating in a 

1st February – 27th February 

11:00am – 5:00pm daily 

project called 

Watch This 

Space, which 

is funded by 

Engage, a lead 

organisation for 

gallery education 

in the UK. 

The project is 

aimed at developing 

a program 

for galleries, 

teachers, artists 

and gallery educators 

enabling 

them to gain first hand experience of 

each others work, in order to initiate, 

build and sustain relationships. 

Emma has decided to spend this funding 

with us at Highcliffe; she is one of 

only 12 people nationally participating 

in the scheme. The funding allows her 

time out of the gallery to visit us with a 

view to creating workshops and understanding 

more about how our curriculum 

works and how the school works. 

Over 50 students participated in the 

2 workshops run by Emma and the 

reports from the students about the 

workshops were that they were very 


interesting and all the students enjoyed 

the experience of working in a gallery 

with ‘real’ works of art. The next 

workshop will be with Hew Locke and 

year 10 and year 12 students looking at 

the installation that will be in the gallery 

from 5 th February to 3 rd April, this 

workshop will be for a small group of 

students to go and work in the gallery 

creating sculptural pieces based on the 

exhibition. The collaboration between 

Artsway and Highcliffe students is resulting 

in some really exciting art work 

and enhancing the experience of the 

students being able to visit a renowned 

contemporary art gallery. 

To complete the term we are now 

Please join us 

for a private view on 

Thursday 10th February 2011 

4:30pm – 6pm 

RSVP: The School Of� ce 01425 273381 

Or email of� ce@highcliffe.dorset.sch.uk 

You are cordially invited to 

Creative Impression 2011 

A celebration of work produced by Highcliffe School Students Year 7 – Year 13 

Highcliffe Castle, Rothesay Drive, Highcliffe, Christchurch, BH23 4LE | Tel: 01425 278807 | www.highcliffecastle.co.uk

about to open our annual exhibition at 

Highcliffe Castle with a celebration of students’ 

work across all of the Art disciplines 

and all of the year groups have had the 

opportunity to submit work to be exhibited 

at the castle. The exhibition opened on 

1 st February and remained open until 27 th 

February. The exhibition as usual contains 

some excellent work as it celebrates the 

diversity of our students and their capabilities. 

I’m sure that I will see many of you 

and our invited guests at the Private View 

on 10 th February from 4.30 to 6pm. 

Report by Miss Thorp-West 

Food 

For the Christchurch 

Food Festival, as a prize 

for getting through to 

cooking in Christchurch 

square Annabelle Sami 

got an opportunity to 

have a day at Lesley 

Waters’ cookery school 

on the 11 th November. 

However, she couldn’t 

make it so Jazmine Burton 

was lucky enough 

to go as a replacement. 

Lesley’s cookery school, 

is situated between Sherborne and 

Dorchester in the lovely Minterne House, 

it took us about 1 ½ hours to get there. 

On the day Mrs. Rowe and Jazmine arrived 

around 10:30am there were three 

others students with their teachers from 

Twynham and The Grange we made a 

3 course lunch for ourselves and our 

teachers. Lesley gave them a demonstration 

on how to fillet the fish and they 

then cooked. The dishes made were sole 

meuniere a classic French dish, twice 

cooked cheese soufflés with crisp apple 

salad and posh fruit and nut. After they 

had eaten, Lesley gave them a tour of the 

beautiful dining room. 

London! 

Report by Miss Leitch 

KS5 Art, Design and Technology trip to 

London. 

A 7am start saw a group of over 40 6 th 

Form students set-off for London to visit 

various exhibitions to support their A level 

courses. Art, Photography and Graphics 

students went to the Tate Modern and 

National Portrait Gallery as well as fitting 

in a Thameside walk/photo opportunity. 

Art Textiles students visited Somerset 

House for a Dior exhibition and Product 

Design students managed to visit the 

Science Museum, Victoria and Albert 

Museum, Harrods and the Natural History 

Museum. 

The students were supplementing their 

studies by collecting information to help 

with specific units of their study. 

We were very fortunate with the traffic 

conditions 

and made 

a prompt 

return to 

school at 

6.30pm. 

Thanks to all 

students who 

attended and 

for making 

the trip such a success. As you can 

see from the report below the students 

found the day very useful. 

‘It was a very early, very cold start, with 

everyone buried amongst scarves hats 

and coats. We left the school at 7:15; the 

journey was long and the coach was hot 

and some of us drank way too much coffee; 

Starbucks why do you sell such large 

cups of coffee? 

Entering London, heads suddenly appeared 

from seats, as most of us had 

fallen asleep on the person next to us, 

voices raised and girls cooed over Gucci, 

Chanel, Armani and other shopaholic 

havens. We passed the London 

Eye, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, 

Buckingham Palace, and many 

more of London’s iconic buildings. 

On arriving at the Tate Modern, 

some of us, i.e. me, were very much 

in need of using the facilities, like I 

said too much coffee. 

We then made our way across London 

to a beautiful ‘Somerset House’ 

to see the Dior exhibit. A room 


9 

filled with posters; fashion; perfume 

bottles and Dior products, I felt like I was 

in heaven. Each drawing unique, each 

outfit handcrafted and well designed. 

I found the exhibition very inspiring. I 

took ideas from different designers and 

saw how I could incorporate it into my 

work. We then moved downstairs to see 

Mathew Williams’ design collection, and 

what influences him. The colours were so 

vibrant, the designs so creative, I found 

myself being taken over by a world of 

incredible design. I found his 

work unique, every piece was 

different, and each piece almost 

had a story behind it, something 

I would really like to bring into 

my work. 

Once the real work was done, it 

was time to hit the high streets, 

and wear out the debit card. I 

was in wonders over the shear 

amount of shops, how each one 

had something different to offer, 

each with eye catching window 

displays. I felt at home there. 

London has sooooo much to offer and I 

recommend it to everyone, even if you 

are someone who hates the hustle and 

bustle, you can escape to a quiet part of 

town, in the parks, or the small roadside 

cafés. I can now really see the attraction 

to our country’s capital, and what an 

amazing capital it is. 

By Bex Meyrick 

Sixth Form ADFT Student’ 

Report by Mr Nicholls 

Senior Curriculum Leader of Art, Design 

and Technology.

10 

Photography Exhibition 

AUCB University Art and Design College Bournemouth 

Tuesday 8 th February 

Seventeen Sixth Form students travelled by minibus with Mrs Guppy and 

Mrs Bullas to visit the new exhibition space at the AUCB, to see work by 

Phillip Townsend ‘nicknamed’ ‘Mr Sixties’. He graduated himself from this 

Art and Design College in 1959. He was one of the first ‘snappers’ to document 

what became known as the ‘Swinging Sixties’. 

Townsend’s Portraits of a Decade, a new exhibition which opened on January 

24 th until the 4 th May at the Arts University College at Bournemouth 

where Philip is now an honorary fellow. 

He took the first ever publicity shots of The Rolling Stones and captured 

some of the most famous faces of the 20 th century including The Beatles, 

Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, Maria Callas, Twiggy and Harold Wilson. 

He puts it down to a mix of guile and happy accident and he was there 

at the right time. Townsend did not receive any money for his photos but 

maintained the original negatives and right of ownership. 

Students were asked to evaluate their visit and focus in on one particular 

image that is meaningful to them possibly relating to their own personal 

response. 

I looked at the ‘1964 Linda Keith’ photograph which shows her enjoying a 

pint of ‘Skol’ lager at a pub in Hampstead, without her boyfriend Keith Richards. 

It keeps the viewer guessing as whether the hand in photo belongs to 

him. The composition and tonal points are strong in this work and I particularly 

like the surrounding scenery in this picture. In my own project which 

is based on food I will reflect on the way Townsend used ‘reportage’. Mr 

Sixties exhibition is well worth the visit and I hope that students can enjoy 

this space at the AUCB in the near future to inspire them with their work. 

I asked a fellow student for her opinion of this visit. Emily Marsh said “I really enjoyed visiting this exhibition. It gave such an 

interesting perspective on the sixties. I particularly enjoyed the way the exhibition was laid out, it really told a story. These 

images were of more than just iconic stars, they were characters of true interest”. 


Report by David Johnson (Sixth Form photography student)

s c ien 

ce 

STEMNET - Hovercraft Project 

Well...they work!!! The Stemnet team have managed to reverse engineer hovercraft and we now have a vehicle 

that does what it is supposed to do. Even better than that, it actually works better than the commercial kit we have 

cannibalised for parts. The main design challenge we have faced is the issue of creating an effective ‘skirt’ around 

the craft to trap a cushion of air and generate a friction free environment for the craft to manoeuvre on. Much to 

our surprise, the current prototype we have working does a better job at creating lift than the store-bought model. 

The next stage should now be reasonably straightforward, attaching the remote control electronics to control the 

craft and then field testing in a hostile environment ( the Wildlife pond area...) . We should be ready to host the 

first Highcliffe Hovercraft Grand Prix early in the Spring.... 

Well done to all Stemnet members who have persevered with this task-at times it has been very challenging and it 

didn’t always look like we were going to have a successful outcome...! 

If have an interest in engineering and would like to be a part of next years Stemnet team please contact Mr Craven 

or Mr Nicholls early next Term. 


11

12 

Christmas Market Visit 

I really enjoyed the Christmas Market trip to Germany. My favourite 

part was visiting the Market of the Angels; it was amazing to see all the 

different things that were there. Also I enjoyed going round the town we 

were in and visiting the art gallery. It was a fantastic trip and I hope to 

go to Germany again in the future. 

Report by Bethan Spencer Jones (TG 10.1) 

m o dern langua ges 


Another Successful Spanish Visit! 

The exchange programme with our partner school in 

Spain is firmly established now, growing in year both in 

size and in its impact on the students and the curriculum. 

We will be bringing you a full report on the visit 

and follow up activities in future issues. Meanwhile, 

why not have a look at the bi-lingual diary of the trip 

that is on the school website. A few excerpts from it 

are printed below. 

Wednesday 2nd Feb 2011 

After a long journey, we arrived in Bailen at around 

midnight Spanish time and were greeted by our Spanish 

friends and their families. 

Después de nuestra larga jornada de viaje, llegamos 

a Bailen alrededor de la medianoche hora de España 

donde nuestros amigos españoles y sus familias nos 

dieron la cordial bienvenida. 

Thursday 3rd Feb 2011 

Today we visited Granada and the Moorish palace of the Alahambra, where we had a tour of the fortified palace, which 

was constructed during the 14th century. We also went up through the narrow, cobbled streets of Granada´s old town 

to a stunning mirador or viewpoint. We enjoyed an hour in the sunshine, eating our lunch and looking at the stunning 

view of the Alhambra with the snow-capped Sierra Nevada mountains in the background. Later in the afternoon we 

also visited the birth place of Federico Garcia Lorca, the famous Spanish playwright and poet. The house included the 

original furniture and memorabilia from the late 19th century. 

Hoy visitamos Granada y el Palacio de Los Moros llamado La Alhambra, donde hicimos el tour de la fortaleza la cual 

fue construida durante el siglo catorce. Tambien ascendimos por las calles estrechas y empedradas del antiguo pueblo 

de Granada hacia la impresionante vista panorámica de El Mirador. Disfrutamos de una hora de descanso bajo el sol 

al mismo tiempo que comimos nuestro almuerzo mientras mirábamos la deslumbrante Sierra Nevada al frente de 

nosotros. Por la tarde visitamos la casa donde el famoso dramaturgo y poeta español, Federico Garcia Lorca, nació y 

vivio. La casa contiene los muebles y la decoración original de la época del siglo diecinueve. 

Monday 7th Feb 2011 

We are back in school at IES Hermanos Medina-Rivilla, going to lessons. We also visited a local olive oil factory. We had 

a tour of the building and got an understanding of how the whole process works. It was interesting to see the machinery 

in operation and to be able to buy some of the local 

produce. In the evening, we were treated to a flamenco 

display at a local dance school. We were taught some 

basic steps and then were invited (or forced) to dance 

before witnessing an amazing dance show in traditional 

costume. 

Estamos de vuelta en el colegio de IES Hermanos Medina 

Rivilla donde asistimos a clases. También visitamos la 

fábrica local del aceite de Oliva. Recorrimos el edificio y 

pudimos aprender como es el proceso de fabricación del 

aceite. Fue interesante ver todo el funcionamiento de la 

maquinaria y después compramos varios productos. 

Por la noche fuimos a una clase de Flamenco a la 

escuela local. Nos ensenaron los pasos básicos de esta 

danza y luego fuimos invitados (o forzados!) a bailar 

antes de la presentación de dicha danza con vestidos 

tradicionales. 


13

14 

Year 10 Unit 1 Resits 

Some Year 10 are preparing for 

their resit examination for Unit 1. 

Boosters have started and are every 

Tuesday after school in the maths 

huts. 

These sessions cover the main topics 

but students must use mymaths, 

mathswatch CDs, past papers and 

revision books to improve their 

grades. Details of topics and teachers 

have been given to students in 

class. 

Year 11 

Analysis of mock results continues 

within the 14 classroom, with students 

being being helped with key problem 

areas. All Year 11 students will 

need to start practising examination 

questions which can be found with 

answers on www.aqa.org.uk modular 

B, non coursework. 

On a Wednesday lunchtime, some 

Year 11 Students have been coming 

along to Miss Alldiss’s classroom to 

do some extra maths to help boost 

their grades. 

The lunchtime sessions have been 

focusing on the A and A* material 

from Module 5 in preparation 

for their 

final exam 

in June. 

From 3D 

Pythagoras 

to some of 

the trickier 

elements of 

trigonometry, 

it’s all 

aimed at 

boosting 

the high 

m a thema 

tics/ict 

Gearing up for the Exam Season 

end grades in our Year 11 Students. 

Boosters, for all abilities, will follow 

next half term with dates and topics to 

be announced. Borderline days will also 

help our C/D borderline candidates. 

Remember that the final examination is 

worth 55% of the total marks. 

A Level Booster Monday and Tuesday 

lunch 

All A level candidates are able to have 

help during Monday or Tuesday lunchtimes. 

Please come with any maths 

problems. 

My Maths continues to 

improve grades. 

The maths department have decided 

to repeat the mymaths license for 

2010/2011. This is 

software to help 

students achieve 

their potential. 

It is a web based 

software package 

which allows 

GCSE students to 

go over lessons 

on certain topics, 

complete homework 

and try lots 

of maths related puzzles and even 

games. 

Each KS4 and most of KS3 

students have been given 

their own password and 

login number. Parents can 

access the main website: 

Go to www.mymaths.co.uk 

and login at the top of the 

homepage. 

Our school login is highcliffe 


Our school password is square 

This will then open the main page 

and you can access booster lessons 

and tests, lots of lessons on all GCSE 

topics and the games as well! 

A Level candidates also 

have a section. Your 

son/daughter will be 

able to show you the next login 

stage. Homework is marked and 

analysed so the teacher is able to 

use this to improve 

certain topic areas. 

Not all homework 

will be set using 

mymaths but it will 

be used extensively 

by KS4 students. 

Have fun!! 

Year 7 Boardgames 

Year 7 students have been stretching 

their minds witha bit of creative 

thinking recently. They have been 

designing and creating ‘Algebra 

Boardgames’ to expand their 

understanding of the mechanics of 

algebra. 

Some examples of the games they 

produced are shown throughout 

this article.

‘Supermarket Sweep’ 

Gemma: In November we went 

withMiss 

Burden to 

Sainsbury’s 

to look at the 

ICT systems 

currently used 

today. During 

our time 

there, we 

managed to 

look at a different variety of systems 

including the online booking system, 

checkout system and how reports 

are generated for staff at a tactical 

and strategic level. For this, we 

were able to see how each system 

is used to help the staff and what 

the system does in order for the 

staff to complete their daily tasks. 

For example, the online shopping 

system produces labels which, 

when scanned brings up a report of 

everything the customer has bought 

so the staff can go out onto the shop 

floor and pick up all the products to 

then be placed onto a lorry for take 

to the customer. This system enables 

them to find the products fast and 

reduces paper as a whole report 

doesn’t need to be printed. 

Andrew: During November our IT 

group visited Sainsbury’s and Tesco 

to take a look at the ICT system 

which they use and how the store is 

run behind the scenes. The number 

of different systems involved in running 

a big supermarket is huge but 

ICT in the ‘real world’ 

the main ones which we took a closer 

look at were the Online food ordering 

system, Checkout system 

and how and what 

reports are generated. 

Supermarkets nowadays 

rely so much on ICT, it 

makes you think what 

would happen if it were 

to all crash. 

Adam: During November 

2010 we visited two supermarkets 

to look at their information 

and management systems. 

We were presented with and 

discussed a series of procedures 

and software packages used to 

run and maintain the everyday 

management of the organisation. 

This was beneficial to all of us as 

we could use the systems we saw 


Maths Challenge 

Some of the Year 11 students have 

just completed the UKMT Intermediate 

maths challenge. Part of the 

2009 paper is shown in the box. 

Students are asked to complete 25 

of these puzzle type questions in 1 

hour. Have a go! 

Reports by Mr Burgan 

as real life examples and relate this 

into our class revision and work. 

Whilst there we saw and got a understanding 

of how the online food 

ordering system functions. This was 

of particular interest as it wasn’t 

something we usually get to see on 

a everyday visit to a supermarket. 

Reports by Gemma Purkiss, 

Andrew Blight, Andrew Howard 

and Miss Burden 

GCSE ICT Flash Animation 

‘Hello, my name is Barney Gibbins, I am 

a Year 11 student and I’m studying for 

an IT Diploma in Miss Burden’s IT class. 

I have been using Flash animation, using 

the program Adobe Flash CS4. Our 

brief was to design a flash animation 

for a pizza company called “Pizzalicious”. 

In the brief, we were told they 

had just launched an online ordering 

service, and that if the pizza you 

ordered online wasn’t delivered to your 

15 

house within thirty minutes, you get 

your next pizza free. 

Before we began designing our 

own flash animations, we had to 

research other advertisements that 

were similar, but for other companies. 

After that, we had to design 

our flash animation on a story board 

before we could create ours in Flash. 

I learned a lot in this unit. For example, 

I primarily drew the anima-

16 

tion frame by frame, 

similar to the way flip-books are made. 

In this unit, I learned about motion 

tweening, which makes movement 

much smoother in the animation. I also 

learned about shape tweening, which 

is turning one shape into another in a 

smooth way. I was very pleased with the 

final result. Below are some screenshots 

of my animation. 

I found this unit a lot of fun, whether 


it was experimenting with Flash, 

drawing crude drawings but seeing 

them work quite well within the 

flash.’ 

Report by Barney Gibbins

e x pressive a 

rts 

Improvisational Fun! 

Recently, Year 9 Expressive Arts 

students were treated to an exciting 

Drama workshop run by Peter Courtenay 

from Direct Theatre, Southbourne. 

An experienced actor and 

Drama practitioner, Peter introduced 

the Year 9s to a range of imaginative 

improvisational exercises in which 

they had to think and respond spontaneously 

quickly as well as incorporating 

both physical and vocal skills. 

The workshop was great fun and the 

Expressive Arts students worked with 

focus and energy! All these skills are 

sure to help the students as they 

move towards preparing for their 

GCSE examination. 

Junior Jones 

Choreographer, Junior Jones from 

Wise Moves Dance visited Highcliffe 

School recently to work with Year 12 

and 13 students who are busy preparing 

for the Rock Challenge event in 

2011. Junior ran a 2 hour workshop 

which involved a high level of energy 

and some extremely challenging 

choreography. The workshop really 

stretched every student both mentally 

and physically and some students 

were surprised at the high standard 

of choreography achieved in such a 

short time. All Sixth Form students 

really rose to the challenge and by 

the end of the session were performing 

very intricate dance moves which 

may now be able to be incorporated 

into their own piece. 

‘Burn My Heart’ 

Recently, BTEC Acting students attended 

a performance of ‘Burn My 

Heart’ which was based on the novel 

by Beverley Naidoo. The play centred 

on the Kenyan Mau Mau uprising 

during Britain’s colonial past in the 

1950’s. The revolutionary Mau Maus 

A busy time in Dance and Drama 

were fighting for their land and their 

freedom from their colonial masters and 

often used brutal methods to achieve 

this freedom. 

The Mau Mau uprising was not only a 

war against the British, it was also a civil 

war and the Kikuyu workers who sided 

with their masters were often captured 

and violently dealt with. The cast of 5 

actors displayed an amazing range of performance 

skills including multi role-play- 

Congratulations! 

The Christchurch Council, the School Sport Partnership, local companies 

and the local water sports clubs want to provide a legacy 

from the Olympics for young people in Christchurch. Due to this 

they have teamed up and gained sponsorship to enable 6 young 

people within Christchurch to become Young Ambassadors for the 

local water sports clubs. 

Three Highcliffe 6 th Form students; Olivia Bull, Adam Davies and 

Matthew Langdown have been successfully chosen as Christchurch 

Watersports Young Ambassadors. Olivia participates in rowing 

whilst Adam does kayaking; Matthew’s sport is sailing. They will 

each be receiving a bursary to the value of £600. This money will be 

used for them to gain first aid and coaching qualifications. 

Olivia and Adam will be assistant coaches for one week in the summer 

holidays at Hengistbury Head Centre, for secondary schools in 

Christchurch. They will also be helping at a local Christchurch Watersports 

Club in their selected sport and asked to encourage other 

young people to take up watersports. Congratulations to Olivia and 

Adam. 

Report by Mrs Webber 


Bursary Winners 

ing, physical storytelling theatre, 

movement, mime and singing 

and communicated this tragic 

historical event in a powerful 

and moving way. The BTEC Acting 

group were inspired by the 

myriad of drama techniques and 

conventions displayed and are 

looking forward to using some of 

these in their next performance. 

Report by Mrs McGrath 

17

18 

We are very proud of the standards of 

behaviour and the success achieved 

by our students and we are grateful 

for the support offered by parents. An 

important part of this success is our 

“Dressed to Learn” policy which is designed 

to ensure that all students are 

dressed in a way which does not set 

them apart from other students and 

helps to ensure that they start school 

and lessons in the right frame of mind 

to learn. It is in students’ interests 

that the policy be adhered to as this 

will ensure the most positive preparation 

for learning. With this in mind we 

would like to draw your attention to 

the following aspects of our uniform 

policy: 

The recent cold and wet weather has 

highlighted the need for students to 

bring a proper winter coat. Hoodies, 

sweatshirts and jumpers afford 

little protection against the elements 

and as they are not part of our daily 

uniform they should not be brought 

to school. To afford proper protection 

against the elements and for health 

and safety reasons plain black leather 

style shoes should be worn. Black 

training shoes, trainer style shoes and 

boots should not be worn. 

Latest fashion trends have encouraged 

students to wear increasingly 

tight trousers to the point where the 

girls have worn leggings and treggins 

(latest of the ‘legging craze’. They look 

like trousers with a fit and shape of 

leggings). To maintain modesty and 

uniformity trousers should be relaxed 

fit and should not be skin tight. 

Trousers for the boys should be mid 

grey (Years 7-10) or black (Year 11 

only) and should not be of the narrow 

drainpipe style which again seems to 

Community 

Dressed to Learn 

be part of the latest fashion trend. 

Hair should be natural colours and 

again following some recent cases 

where colourings have gone wrong we 

advise parents to seek professional 

advice regarding the dying of hair. 

Some dyes including cherry, burgundy 

and red have produced some brighter 

and deeper colourations than would be 

considered natural. 


If you have any questions regarding 

uniform please do not hesitate 

to contact the relevant Head of 

Achievement. Thank you for your 

cooperation and support in helping 

us to maintain high standards and 

continuing to support our students. 

Report by J.A.Potts 

Headteacher 

Feeling unwell during the school day? 

If you should feel unwell during the school day please would you 

report to the First Aid Room. The First Aider will assess your situation 

and will contact parents if they feel it is necessary for you to 

leave school and obtain further medical advice. If further medical 

advice is not thought to be required, students will be encouraged 

to stay in school and return to the learning environment. 

Please do not telephone your parents direct, this will be done 

through the First Aid Room by the First Aider - (Student mobile 

telephones should be kept in student lockers during the school 

day). 

Prescribed and Non Prescribed medication 

No student should carry medication on their person during the 

school day – except Epipen holders and Inhaler holders. All medication 

should be handed into the Student Support Office with 

a completed consent form. All medication should be in original 

boxes which show dose and expiry date. Prescribed medication 

must include the chemist’s label. Medication is held in the First 

Aid Room until the student is required to take it, they should then 

report to the Student Support Office. Medication will be disposed 

of, by the school, at expiry date.

Attend to Learn 

How attendance impacts on attainment 

Jane is in Year 8 

Her attendance rate is always around 90% 

She thinks this is pretty good! 

90% attendance means that Jane is absent from lessons for the 

equivalent of one half day each week 

In Year 7, Jane’s 90% attendance rate means that she missed 

the equivalent of four whole weeks of lessons in the school 

year. 

September ß------------------------------------------------------------à July 

Absent for four weeks over year 

If Jane continues to attend for 90% of the time over the 5 

years at Highcliffe School, she will miss the equivalent of half 

a school year 

September ß----------------------------------------------------------à July 

Yr 7 

Yr 8 

Yr 9 

Yr 10 

Yr 11 

Below 80% - Persistent non attendees 

80% - 90% - Frequent non-attendees 

90%– 95% - At risk of becoming frequent non-attendees 


19

20 

Holidays and Leave during term time 

By law the school is required to ensure that all our students receive a full time education. 

We are required to indicate on the register whether a student is present or not 

and to give the local Education Authority figures for both absent rates. As a school our 

target is to reduce the number of learning days lost through absence and all students 

are given an attendance target of 95% 

Continuous attendance and good punctuality are essential for each student to learn 

well and to achieve. 

Due to national changes in the structure of examination courses, assessments now 

place more emphasis on classroom based controlled tests. Holidays during term time 

will adversely affect preparation for controlled tests, assessments and coursework 

and they may be missed completely. These changes have made it necessary for the 

school to look at holiday applications during term time and it has been agreed with the 

Governing Body that holiday requests for students in Years 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 will 

not be granted because of the impact on the student’s learning and examination work 

being missed. In exceptional circumstances e.g.: family respite, consideration may be 

given by the Headteacher. 

The school will still accept Holiday requests for Years 7 and 8 and will assess each 

application. The school will look at the impact on learning, attendance record and 

reasons for request. It is important to note that if a student’s attendance is less than 

95% the holiday will not be authorised. 

HOLIDAYS IN TERM TIME 

INFORMATION FOR PARENTS 

Before requesting a holiday you need to think about: 

? The lessons your child will miss 

? The difficulty they will have catching up 

? The effect it will have on how well they do in school 

? The school can refuse permission for you to take 

your child on holiday during term time 

For your information: 

You do not have the right to take your child on 

holiday during term time without the permission 

of your child’s headteacher 

The school will consider the following before authorising 

a holiday during term time or not 

- your child’s age 

- their attendance record 

- the time in the academic year the holiday falls 

Dorset Education Wefare Service 


Congratulations for 100% Attendance 

Year 7 

EleanorAdams, William Airey, Elizabeth Allum, Catherine Arnold, Toby Atkinson, Lucy-Jane Back, Brendon Badley, James Blick, 

Felix Bradley, Maisie Cannon, Michaela Carr, Joseph Cliff, Harry Collie, Daniel Cookman, Jordan Cotterell, Ryan Coyne, Joshua 

Cunningham, Madeleine Davies, Katy Dore-Smith, Katie Elnaugh, Melis Evans, Chloe Finch, George Finlay, James Finn, Emma 

Fletcher, Rowan Gillard, Jasmine Glyde, Oliver Gooch, Luke Goodall, Benjamin Hall, Dean Harburn, Lucy Harris, Sami Hattab, 

Samuel Hill, Oliver Jackson, Oliver Jenkins, Ciaran Johnston, Yasmin Kessel, Esme Killick, Matthew Lockley, James Mantle, 

Henry Marsh, Aislinn Martin, Joseph Maskery, Patrick McCarthy, James Moore, Lucy Moxom, Lydia Myatt, Jessica Newport, 

Nicholas Norman, Abby Parker, Aleksander Parker, Philippa Peters-Cheale, Erikas Petrauskas, Charlotte Pitt, Emma Platts, 

Marisha Powell, William Presland, Jennifer Pugsley, William Pumphrey, Bart Small, Danny Smith, Nathan Smith, Molly Southcombe, 

Holly Spiers, Rebecca Summers, Charlotte Taylor, Amy Thompson, Aimee Tiernan, Jack Towle, Edward Van Wingerden, 

Georgia-Mai Waddock, Lauren White, Katie Whitlock, Emma Williams, Thomas Wood, Rowan Woodley, Jack Wyeth. 

Year 8 

Alicia Adams, Rosie Ashley-East, Katie Baughan, Oliver Bennett, Xavier Bernhardt, Jake Bunting, Donatella Butt, Cristina 

Cassella-Hall, Flynn Cooper, Bradley Corbin, Charlotte Crozier, Ryan Cutler, Olivia Demetriou, Jonathan Dymond, Kyle East, 

Hayden Eatwell, Charlotte Edney, Catherine Elenis, Samuel Field, Grace Flint, Morgan Foakes, Cayton Francis, Christopher 

Franklin, Toby Gill, Harry Glyde, Daniel Green, Scott Harburn, Carys Hartigan, Georgia Hilliard, Seth Horton, Alice Howson, Jay 

Hunter, Zoe Irwin, Louise James, Maddison Johnson, James Langdown, Katie Lean, Thomas Lean, Edward Maidment, Callum 

Maile, Jamie Marsh, Amy Marshall, Lauren Martin, Samuel Maskery, Isaac Matthews, Joseph McCombe, Benjamin Naulleau, 

Saskia Ormrod, Finlay Pipe, Toni Prior, Emily Quinn, Elise Rey-Cambre, Hannah Rice, Max Richardson, Annie Rickman, Isabel 

Riding, Francesca Riggs, Alice Ritchie, Harry Rogers, Jake Rogers, Chloe Roxburgh, Christopher Saloway, Alastair Scott, Ben 

Shutler, Jenna Slade, Felice Southwell, Thomas Spencer Jones, Carmen Sutter, Joseph Swaine, Ben Taylor, Ella Taylor, Grace 

Tebbutt, Matthew Thomson, Jack Thrumble, Joshua Upton, Daniel Ursell, Lauren Warne, Ross Webb, Connor Whitcher, Luis 

Williams, Dominic Woodfine, Emily Worrall, Samuel Young 

Year 9 

Jamie Adams, Alfie Alderson, Rebecca Arnold, Imogen Baker, Matthew Baker, Zak Barrett, Kate Barry, Olivia Boddy, Jack Bradley, 

Jessica Burton, Lewis Caine, Bethany Carter, Sam Clarke, Lucy Coleman, Eleanor Cooper, Leanne Crowe, Joe Densley, Hannah 

Dewey, Thomas Fear, Ethan Forrest, Sonny Gudge, Chloe Hall, Blake Hawksworth, Lillie Hirst, Samuel Holtom, Jake Honeybun, 

Chloe Hughes, Alejandro Ibarguen-Burrows, Tom Jackson, Amy Langdown, Georgia Law, Nicholas Lawrence, Christopher 

Leonard, Charlie Long, Elliot Marsh, Madeline McKay, Tayler Mead, Anya Merry-West, Beren Miles, Eleanor Moore, Hannah 

Murphy, Max Naidoo, Max Nailor, Alice Newport, Tamara Norgan, Aidan Pinner, Jade Pitt, Lauren Scott, Eleanor Sheekey, Kitty 

Sherwood, Alexandra-Eve Shield, Jack Smith, Matthew Speed, Rebecca Symons, Rebecca Tooze, William Van Wingerden, Hannah 

Vickers, Lily Waltham, Olivia Whitehorn, Amber Whitlock, Lauren Willis, Eleanor Wyeth, Harry Young 

Year 10 

Alexander Adams, Chloe Adams, Hannah Angel, Connor Arter, Simon Atkinson, Craig Broomfield, Annamaria Cassella-Hall, 

Sasha Chubb, Daniel Cliff, Jasmine Cooper, James Corbin, Michael Cross, Guy Day, Julia Donald, Nathan Dreifuss, Jordan 

Dunmore, Thomas Dymond, Thomas Finch, Conor Forrest, Chloe Franks, Zoe Gilham, Joe Hamblion, Hettie Hayward, Finn 

Heasman, Daniel Howting, Kyle Hughes, Daniel Jeffs, Ashley Jenkins, Nicholas Jones, Brendan Kirkton, Robert Maidment, 

Sophie Melville, Benjamin Moore, Nicholas Mortimer, Samuel Orford, Charles Page, Emily Paines, George Rowe, Hannah 

Salter, Tamara Searle, Christopher Slade, Gemma Spencer-Sloane, James Stocker, Ben Towers, Thomas Walker, Chelsea Wells, 

Benjamin Zeneli 

Year 11 

Oliver Anderson, Curtis Badley, Ellena Barnes, Emma Barry, Emily Bix, Eleanor Boddy, Holly Broomfield, Ben Buckthorpe, 

Johnathon Cann, Jack Carter, Mitchell Clay, Charlotte Coleman, Sophie Curl, Rebecca Day, Josephine Dear, Emily Dore, Cory Eccleston, 

Alexander Errington, Zak Evernden, Casey Flaxman, Christopher Footner, Teegan Frampton, Niall Gallagher, Barnaby 

Gibbins, Lucy Grisdale, Andrew Hales, Rachael Harris, Lewis Hawkett-Smith, Jacob Horton, Jessica Jones, Rebecca Jones, Matthew 

King, Maisie Lane, Abigail Leakey, Abigail Leary, Stephen Littlefair, Sophie Lockley, Jack Lord, Benjamin Maglio, Hannah 

Marrion, James Marsh, Zoe Martin, Joanne McIntosh, Laura Morris, Joshua Muir, Samantha Oxborrow, Aaron Page, Daniel 

Parkin, Jack Radford, Matthew Runnalls, Patrick Sheekey, Harry Smith, Michelle Stanbury, Megan Stansbie, David Steadman, 

Charlotte Stone, Alex Styles, Paul Summers, Katherine Taylor, Ryan Taylor, Robin Tindill, Sophie Turner, James Underwood, 

Alexander Watson, Calum Wright. 


21

22 

Accessing School Policies 

We continue to make every effort to make it easy for parents to keep fully informed and able 

to find up-to-date information about activities within the school, examinations, homestudy, 

dress code etc. Additionally parents can also access the full range of published school policies 

. 

All parents need to do is log on to the school website (www.highcliffe.dorset.sch.uk), click on 

the ‘Parents’ link on the top menu and scroll down the page to the section of interest to you. 


Help us to keep the school entrance roads safe 

HELP US TO KEEP THE SCHOOL ENTRANCE ROADS SAFE 

Highcliffe is a large secondary school 

– this has many advantages and also 

brings with it the fact that we have a 

lot of traffic in the school vicinity at 

the start and end of the school day. 

Please help us to support the safety 

of our students and also to show 

consideration for out local residents 

by parking in acccordance with the 

parking regulations in force at the 

front of school. 

Please refrain from stopping to drop-off and pick-up on the jagged yellow 

line area, and also please do not stop in the middle of the road to let your 

passengers disembark – we did have a 

recent accident on Parkside caused by 

such an action. 

When parking, even if only for a short 

period, please remember not to block 

the drives of local residents’ houses. 

Adhering to the parking restrictions will 

help us all keep safe, and showing consideration 

for local residents will support 

the school within our community. 


23

24 

Putting something back 

Here is a picture featuring two Year 8 students, Harry Staples and Scott Harburn (both Tutor Group 8.9) with Geraldine 

Staples of Sainsbury’s. The boys regularly help her to take unwanted flowers from the store to Macmillan Cancer in Christchurch. 

Many thanks to the boys. 

Last October, a delegation of 12 

students and 2 staff - Mr Bryden and 

Mrs Dedman - visited Japan and our 

partner school in Hiroshima. This was 

the fifth trip that Highcliffe School 

have organised to Japan and, I think, 

marks a watershed in our developing 

relationship with Johoku School. 

The trip began a day spent in Tokyo, 

Globalised 

Another Great Japan Trip 

visiting the trendy Harajuku district of 

Tokyo. After that we had a view of the 

whole city from the top of the Metropolitan 

Tower. On the following two 

days we visited the ancient capitals of 

Nara and Kyoto where we visited some 

of the most famous and finest temples, 

such as Todaiji and the Zen temple of 

Ryuanji. 


On the third day, we went to Hiroshima. 

We received a fantastically 

warm welcome from our hosts at 

Johoku School. Our students were 

delighted to see the banner “Welcome 

Highcliffe School” and the 

Japanese and UK flags flying. 

Since visiting the school, we have 

always sought to bring something

from our experience in Japan 

back into the curriculum of 

Highcliffe School, so that all 

of our students can in some 

way benefit from the trip. 

In 2008, Mrs Kelly organised 

a survey comparing 

the lifestyles of Johoku and 

Highcliffe students the results 

of which have been incorporated 

into a statistics unit of 

work with Year 8 students. 

This time, Mrs Dedman and I, 

along with the students and 

in consultation with relevant 

staff, organised a range of 

curriculum projects. Annabelle 

Sami and Coral Norton 

have learned a Japanese song 

which they will teach to Year 

7 classes. 

Some keen geographers, Curtis 

Badley and Joe Herbert, 

made notes on talk we were 

given about the geography 

of Japan. What was particularly 

useful, however, was 

the information given about 

emergency procedures for 

earthquakes. The information 

our students gathered about 

this will now be delivered 

to our Year 8 geography 

students who do a project on 

earthquakes. 

Furthermore, Madeline 

Morgan and Sarra Demetriou 

with the help of the Head 

of Science, Ms Cullen, put 

together some questions on 

whaling. These were then 

addressed to some Japanese 

students one of whom wrote 

an essay in response. His 

essay makes for an interesting 

read, introducing a fresh 

cultural angle on the subject 

which had never occurred 

to me before. This essay 

and the other responses can 

now enrich those Year 10s 

who pursue this topic for 

the science unit dealing with 

“Science in the News”. 

Other Highcliffe students worked hard, 

too, producing surveys on religion and 

history in Japan. Their counterparts at 

Johoku School worked hard to respond 

to these surveys. It wasn’t easy for 

them because they had to do a lot 

of translation, but with their help we 

now have a useful body of resources to 

incorporate into our various curriculum 

areas at Highcliffe School, enhancing, 

therefore, the learning experience of 

all our students. 

Our delegation of students also 

contributed to enriching the Johoku 

English curriculum. They worked with 

a Year 9 class, asking and answering 

questions. They also delivered presentations 

about life in Highcliffe. They 

did this 

very 

effectively,ensuring 

that 

the 

material 

was 

kept 

simple 

and 

clear 

for the 

Japanese 

students, showing a sensitive awareness 

of the audience they were addressing. 

We also went into a primary school 

where our students sat with a group 

of students and asked and answered 

some questions. Again our students 

worked cheerfully and effectively, 

doing their utmost to ensure that the 

young Japanese students could feel at 

ease using their English. 

For these reasons in particular, this trip 

to Japan marks a watershed moment. 

Colleagues in each school are now 

working much more closely together 

to ensure that the benefits of the trips 

are now increasingly integrated into 

the wider curriculum. This is ongoing, 

because when the Japanese students 

come over in March they will be working 

with a Year 9 Health and Social Care 


25 

group to find out about each other’s 

lifestyles and daily routines. The Year 

9 class is interested to know about 

how one of the most technologically 

advanced societies succeeds in being 

so healthy. With the Japanese students 

visiting here, they will be able 

to ask them directly. Furthermore, 

English teachers at Johoku will be able 

to use the questions to ask their own 

students and create their own to ask 

ours. 

This kind of co-operation will be of 

mutual benefit to our students’ learning 

experience and, perhaps, students 

really will learn about how they could 

do things differently by interacting 

with their different 

cultures. This 

degree of cooperation 

marks a 

step-change in the 

way in which Johoku 

and Highcliffe 

Schools are working 

together. It is, of 

course, about meeting 

people from 

different cultures 

and making friends. 

However, now it is 

also about actively 

finding out about 

that culture and 

bringing the results of the investigation 

back home for others to benefit 

from. 

It wasn’t all work for our students, 

though. They visited Peace Park and 

the A-Bomb Museum built o commemorate 

the dropping of the atomic 

bomb. We also visited the Mazda factory 

and had a tour round the production 

line which was fascinating. 

All in all, our students had a superb 

experience (see below for just a few of 

their selected experiences) and they 

grasped the opportunities that were 

offered to them whole-heartedly and 

with both hands. Mrs Dedman and I 

would like to express our appreciation 

to the students for working hard, but 

also for getting on with all that needed

26 

to be done there hence making the experience 

for us thoroughly enjoyable. 

We would also like to thank the parents 

for their support, too. 

Finally, we should all like to thank the 

staff and students of Johoku School 

for ensuring that our students had a 

fantastic time and were able to return 

with such treasure chest of wonderful 

memories and experiences. We look 

forward to seeing you in March! 

Student Comments 

Report by Mr Bryden 

Impressions of Japan – Sarra Demetriou 

There aren’t many ways to 

introduce Japanese culture 

in a big and dramatic way 

so here it is: heated toilet 

seats. Yes, anywhere you 

go in Japan; a house, hotel, 

school and I bet anybody 

even random portaloos next 

to dead end road signs have 

them. That is if random 

portaloos next to dead end 

road signs exist, as there is 

nothing on the street, apart 

from what you’d expect, 

cars, tea shops, street 

lamps, huge TVs stuck to 

sky-high buildings, bins... 

No, I’m sorry, there are 

barely any bins. It’s almost 

impossible to find one and 

although there are no bins, there is no 

rubbish either. It is a seriously clean 

place. So clean in fact, you have to 

change shoes everywhere... in case you 

spread germs of the outside and transport 

them into a house. Or a toilet. Or 

a changing room. Or a school. You have 

to change shoes every time you go to 

any of these places and it is inescapable 

to not change your shoes. 

Impressions of Japan – Annabelle Sami 

November 2 nd 2011 

November 2nd was my birthday and it 

happened that we were going to Miyajima 

on this day. It was quite a sunny 

morning which was nice, as we were 

crossing over to Miyajima by ferry. It is 

a little island about a 5 minutes ferry 

ride away from the mainland. Miyajima 

is one of the top sightseeing spots in 

the world as it is such a beautiful place. 

Unfortunately for Coral and me, it has 

many deer that roam freely around 

the island, and so we spent the day 

running away from them and hiding 

behind people (Joe was on Deer-watch 

for us!). They are known for being quite 

violent and stealing people’s food (Sort 

of like a Japanese version of seagulls, 

I suppose?)! Some of us bought some 

food from a bakery and then we got 

on the ferry. Miyajima has a huge torii 

gate that seems to float on the water, 

which we took a picture in front of. After 

successfully dodging all the deer we 

walked around the Itsukushima shrine 

that also floats on water. We then 

walked up to a Buddhist temple at the 

top of the island which was beautiful! 

We ate lunch here and Mr Bryden gave 

me a card from everyone! We walked 

back down from the temple through 

the forest. We then did some shopping 

in the town and returned from the 

ferry port. We had our leaving assembly 

when we got back to school and 

Coral and I sang ‘A Whole New World.’ 

In the evening, my family invited Coral, 

Joe and Lauren’s families to come to 

our house for a party. After everyone 

left, my family had some of their 

friends over and we had sushi. They got 

me a lovely birthday cake and loads of 

presents! I think that this birthday will 


be one I remember for the rest of my 

life, along with the whole trip! 

Impressions of Japan - One particular 

aspect of the trip (friendship and 

meeting people) - Francesca Crisante 

When entering a new country, you 

might expect to feel somewhat isolated 

or different from everybody else. 

Prior to the trip, I felt the exact same 

way, thinking, “What If my host family 

doesn’t like me!?” of course, I felt there 

was also a huge language barrier between 

us, but I’m happy to say that my 

instincts were definitely proven wrong! 

Even at the airport, we were treated 

politely, with nearly everyone greeting 

us with a courteous bow of the head, 

a little wave, and gentle 

instructions and pointing 

out which way to go. 

Then I met my host family, 

and I felt like I’d known 

them for a very long time! 

I think I slotted into their 

way of life like a hand into 

a glove, thanks to their 

kind, hospitable nature 

and amazing efforts to appeal 

to my every need! 

Also the students at 

Johoku were so friendly 

and I came home with a 

huge list of emails and 

addresses- I hope to keep 

in contact with them as I 

know for certain I’m going 

back to Japan! 

It’s hard to chose one particular thing I 

would bring back from Japan because 

I want to bring everything back- but 

I love the old fashioned culture- like 

the temples and monuments we went 

to see, they were all so beautiful and 

just awe inspiring. It’s amazing how 

carefully preserved and maintained 

they are, and I’m glad the Japanese 

place such importance on keeping their 

culture alive, that’s a lesson us English 

people could learn! Another tradition 

was the beautiful kimonos- I loved 

wearing one, and watching a kimono 

fashion show, but then again I’m not 

sure if that would be possible to bring

ack here, as they were so fiddly and 

difficult to put on! 

Impressions of Japan – Madeline 

Morgan 

When I was in Japan, my family took 

me to the Kagura dance festival. 

I had the opportunity to try on a 

300,000,000 yen kimono that one of 

the performers would later wear in 

the dance. 

Kagura (dance of the gods), is the 

oldest form of dance in Japan. It was 

originally performed by shamans. 

Kagura is a “purification” ritual and a 

dance to thank the gods for a bountiful 

harvest. The festival happens once 

a year. In the story which the dance 

has grown from, Amaterasu, the Goddess 

of Light becomes sad and hides 

herself in a cave, leaving the entire 

world in darkness. 

The other gods beg her to come out 

of the cave, but she refuses. Finally, 

the other gods decide to trick her by 

making such a racket by singing and 

dancing outside, that she peeks from 

the cave to see what the commotion 

Some thoughts on the whaling issue 

by Johoku Student – Shunsuke Kimura 

When we went to Japan, two of our 

students, Madeleine Morgan and 

Sarra Demetriou, helped the science 

department by doing some research 

on the issue of whaling for the unit of 

work Science in the News. One Johoku 

student, Shunsuke Kimura, wrote an 

essay in response to the questions. 

He wrote it in Japanese and translated 

it into English himself. Not only 

was this very kind of him – it is also 

a tremendous achievement. Drawing 

on the original, I have re-worked the 

translation a little, but have sought to 

keep the spirit of the original by not 

changing vocabulary and phrasing 

very much at all. 

His comments on his fears about 

is about; and when she does, the other 

gods grab her and pull her from the 

cave, thus restoring light to the world. 

I enjoyed the festival so much and I 

was glad to be given the opportunity to 

experience the Japanese culture. 

Impressions of Japan – Peace Park by 

Kat Marks 

One of the most powerful parts in the 

Japan trip definitely had to be Peace 

Park and the museum. It was amazing 

yet at the same time harrowing 

to learn about the effects that the 

A-bomb had on Hiroshima and how the 

whole city is still recovering. Peace Park 

sent a strong message 

too; there is a memorial 

in the park dedicated to 

the children of Hiroshima 

who died as a result 

from the bombing, one 

of them being Sadako 

Sasaki who believed if 

she was able to fold one 

thousand paper cranes, 

she would be cured of 

her radiation poisoning. 

Outside the museum is 

Whaling - An Alternative Viewpoint 

discrimination are very interesting. 

Below is an edited version of Shunsuke 

Kimura’s essay on whaling. Obviously 

publication of this in no way is meant 

to imply that the views are thoseof 

Highcliffe School or any of its members. 

(Note: In the penultimate paragraph, 

he refers to discrimination in Japan 

towards people who slaughter animals 

for food. He is effectively referring to 

butchers here. Although they killed 

animals for everyone to eat, they were 

still discriminated against because what 

they did was regarded as sinful.) 

“I am against a ban on whaling. 

Regrettably, I am not well informed 

about the environmental situation 

nor am I very familiar with the 


a flame, it is said that the flame will 

burn until all nuclear weapons on 

earth have been destroyed. I very 

much admire the Japanese for their 

ability not to give up. They could 

work through something as fatal as 

the A bomb and still recover and 

grow, they are amazing people. 

The Japan trip is life changing and I 

got so much out of my twelve days 

there. I would recommend it to 

anyone. 

27 

international agreements. Nevertheless, 

I object to a ban. 

Many people, who protest against 

whaling, seem happy to eat other 

meat such as chicken. I want to 

ask those who are against whaling: 

why is it alright to eat chicken 

but not whale? This is not possible 

to explain clearly. 

I have heard that we should 

protect the whale because it is 

a very smart creature. However, 

how much importance should we 

attach to being “smart”? We have 

only learned about how smart 

they are from research. 

Also the reasons for being against

28 

whaling seem to 

be motivated by politics. Attacking 

whaling is a way of “Japanbashing”. 

When the movement to ban 

whaling became active, a movie 

called “The Cove” came out. This 

movie did not obtain permission 

from the local fisherman to 

do the filming. Also, it turns out 

that that the majority of the film 

was a fabrication. Moreover, it 

was confirmed that the producer 

had a dislike towards the local 

population. It was assumed that 

the movie filmed dolphin fishing 

and that the method of fishing 

was presented as cruel. This gave 

impetus to the campaign against 

Japanese Architect Visits After- 

School Japanese Class 

On Tuesday 25 th January, Highcliffe’s 

Japanese class was treated 

to a visit from Shintaro Fufuoka, 

a student of architecture, currently 

undertaking research at 

the Wessex Institute thanks to a 

scholarship programme organised 

by the local Rotary Club. 

Mr Bugler of the Rotary Club was 

able to arrange for Mr Fukuoka 

to deliver a presentation to a 

range of students. The audience 

not only included students of 

Highcliffe School, but also adult 

students from the wider community. 

Mr Fukuoka explained the kind 

of research he is undertaking and 

his educational background. What 

was of particular interest was his 

explanation about how buildings 

can be made more earthquake 

whaling. Putting aside the issue of 

numbers for now, isn’t killing cruel? 

If we cause blood to spill isn’t that 

cruel? But what is the problem with 

that? I don’t like killing and cruelty. 

It’s just that killing does involve 

cruelty. 

Do you know how a chicken is 

killed? The neck is twisted many 

times and the bones are broken. 

Then we all eat that chicken. Do we 

do this in contradiction of morality? 

Killing is the issue. As a result 

of the critical eyes of the world 

being turned on the people who are 

catching whales and dolphins there 

is danger of discrimination towards 

those who do the killing. That I 

fear most. 

Japanese Architect Visits Japanese Class 

resistant and the need to analyse 

soil interactions. This was useful 

for geography students . Francesca 

Crisante took notes on this point in 

particular. She along with two other 

students will be delivering a talk to 

Year 8 students on how Japan deals 

with earthquakes as part of the 

Year 8 curriculum. 

The presentation Mr Fukuoka gave 

was inspiring for our students. It 

was a testimony to how hard-work 

and persistence can enable you to 

pursue something that interests 

you in depth. 

After the talk, students asked questions, 

including some in Japanese. 

Then, he was taken to see our own 

school’s architectural triumph, The 

Da Vinci Centre. He was impressed 

by this building. He was also impressed 

by the amount of Japanese 

influence there was in the rooms in 

the Da Vinci where some teachers 

and students draw upon Japanese 


In Japan there is a history of 

considerably serious discrimination 

taking root towards 

people who slaughter animals 

for food. They were considered 

a cruel person. This situation 

has improved. However, the 

discrimination directed at the 

people who did this is something 

that I fear. 

Because we are living things, it 

is not possible to live without 

eating the thing. Surviving by 

eating a living thing is the fate 

of a living thing. The Japanese 

eat whale and the American 

and European eat beef.” 

style for their own work. 

Overall, it was a great pleasure 

to have Mr Fukuoka with us and 

we would like to extend our 

thanks to him and the Rotary 

Club for organising it.


Aspire 

Gifted and Talented - Arts & Literacy Celebration Evening 

On January 20 th 2011 Highcliffe 

School was very pleased to host its 

first cross-curricular 

evening in Art and 

Literacy for students 

and parents in the 

Da Vinci building. 

Students from Year 

s7 and 8 who have 

been recognised 

for their abilities in 

Art and/or Literacy 

were invited to attend 

an interactive 

workshop with their 

parents from 6.30 – 

8.30pm. The aims of 

the evening were to 

give an opportunity 

for parents to work 

alongside their son/ 

daughter and realise 

the constraints and 

demands that our 

students meet on a 

day to day basis. For some parents it 

has been a while since they last sat in 

a classroom environment and had to 

put pen to paper working to a tight 

deadline! 

Parent Comments 

We were overwhelmed by the response 

and were delighted to welcome 

60 students 

and parents 

to participate 

in what 

turned out 

to be a most 

rewarding 

evening. On 

arrival light 

refreshments 

were 

served and 

then the 

audience 

sat in the Da 

Vinci foyer 

and listened 

to an introduction 

from Mrs 

Vivian Dedman 

(Lead 

Teacher for 

Gifted & Talented), followed by a poem 

entitled ‘The River’s Story’, read by 

Miss Anna Martindale from the English 

faculty. The idea of the poem was to 

act as a stimulus for the art work which 

was to follow. The audience was then 

“Very enjoyable” 

“It was informative and I would come again”. 

“I would love to participate in anything similar – we both enjoyed 

it”. 

“I think it is a great idea and would enjoy doing this with other subjects. 

I also like the idea of meeting different departments”. 

“Really enjoyable and we feel like we’ve accomplished something 

together. Good to meet more staff members too”. 

guided to extract words which 

they could choose to use in their 

portrayal of the poem. Mrs Janet 

Bullas from the Art, Design and 

Technology faculty then gave the 

audience important guidance for 

their art work in relation to tone, 

shading and different hatching 

techniques. David Hockney was 

used as an example of this work 

to highlight different styles of 

outcomes. 

29 

We were also joined by Jane 

Clarke, a visiting artist who assisted 

throughout the evening and Linda 

Devlin, our very own whole school 

art and display technician who had 

put together a pack for the parents 

and students which they could 

refer to as they worked. Adam 

Howard, from Year 13, videoed the 

evening and the outcomes will be 

displayed on the staff inset day. 

The audience were then divided 

into two groups, in two separate 

classrooms where they carried 

out the task of interpreting the 

poem through their own eyes. The 

responses were amazing, revealing 

great artistic ability through the

30 

language of drawing. After 50 minutes 

the groups were asked to complete a 

critique of their work and an evaluation 

of the evening. The critiques were very 

honest, with the parents being a little 

hard on themselves, and the evaluations 

proved very positive. Many parents 

commented on how lovely it was 

to work with their son/daughter and 

what a valuable learning experience 

it was for them.As a plenary, the two 

groups were brought back together in 

the foyer area where everyone shared 

their work. The evening was very 

successful and it is hoped that we can 

build upon this and develop this work 

further in the future. The staff would 

like to thank the parents and students 

for giving up their evening ‘to come 

back to school’ and entering into the 

spirit of the evening wholeheartedly. 

Report by Mrs Dedman, Mrs Bullas, 

Miss Martindale, Mrs Devlin 

Ballard & Highcliffe Lectures 

Sculptor, Rebecca Newnham 

Tuesday 1 st February saw the first twilight 

lecture this year in the third series 

of collaborative lectures between Highcliffe 

and Ballard Schools. Once again 

it was very well attended with friends 

and families from Highcliffe School 

coming out in force. 

Rebecca is a local artist who has been 

designing various forms of sculptures 

over the past 10 years. Previous to that 

her main work was furniture selling her 

it to outlets such as Harrods, Conran 

and Heals to name but a few. Her work 

is recognised both nationally and internationally 

and she regularly exhibits at 

the annual Chelsea and Hampton Court 

flower shows. 

Rebecca explained the various pathways 

in her career which have led to 

her present position through a range 

of slides depicting her styles and her 

thoughts behind her pieces. She is very 

knowledgeable about the botany of 

plants and this plays a key part of her 

designs. Rebecca mainly works with 

fibre glass and glass covering her sculptures 

in mosaic pieces. 

Rebecca brought a relatively small 

piece of work along with her to demonstrate 

her skills which really inspired 

the audience. After the second half 

of the evening Rebecca welcomed 

questions from the audience giving the 

chance for people to enquire further 

about Rebecca’s plans and ideas. 

Rebecca runs workshops for all ages 

from time to time in her studio in Ringwood. 

For details about her work visit 

her website; 

www.rebeccanewnham.co.uk 

Report by Mrs Dedman 

Year 7 Panto Trip 

It was a quick email back in October 

offering pantomime tickets that set 

the ball in motion. After a conversation 

with Ms. Potts we began organising the 

trip. Initially I thought the students may 

be too old for Peter Pan, but a quick 

show of hands in assembly told me 

otherwise! However, I was amazed at 

the support the year group gave to this 

idea and the final numbers meant we 

occupied over 1/3 of the theatre. The 

only condition Ms. Potts put on the trip 

was that she could join it! 

So in the final week of the term off we 

went. 5 coach loads and a minibus of 

staff and students left school at 9 a.m. 

for the 10.30 a.m. show. With sweets, 

eye patches, glow wands and even 

flashing pirate swords being purchased 

in haste, the show began. The Highcliffe 

students were into the swing of 

things very quickly, oh yes they were! 

Full participation was seen and heard, 

even standing up to receive a good 

squirting from the pirates’ water guns 


Leeson House 

Courses 

Gifted & Talented 

at Leeson House. 

New courses have 

just been released by 

Leeson House, Swanage. 

If you are interested 

please look at the Gifted 

and Talented notice board 

outside IT 5 or ask Mrs 

Dedman for further information. 

Alternatively visit their 

website at; 

www.leesonhouse.com 

in some cases. 

The interval saw a mass exodus for 

the ice-cream stall and with the 

queue finally clearing just as the 

curtain call was announced we all 

went back to sit down and enjoy the 

second half. Judging by the students’ 

faces and comments everyone had a 

good time. The students were really 

well behaved and not just because 

the Headteacher was with us! When 

asked in the following assembly if 

they would like to repeat the trip 

next year there was a definite “yes” 

so we wait to see what show will be 

performed! 

I would like to thank Ms Potts for 

allowing us all out of school and for 

coming with us, the students for 

conducting themselves so well and 

for the staff in school who either 

had to cover the year team’s lessons 

or deal with Year 7 in the afternoon 

when they were ever so slightly 

excitable! 

Report by Mr Evans

We had an early start and took 20 

students away for the weekend to the 

Forest of Dean. The purpose of the 

weekend was to expose the group to 

similar challenges 

to those they 

will experience 

in Madagascar in 

about 9 months 

time. 

They got to shop 

for food, cook 

together, set-up 

camp and hike. 

Throughout the 

weekend they 

were outside of 

their comfort 

zone and had to confront the fact that 

if they didn’t organise themselves then 

nothing would get done. No easy task 

for 20 students to agree on things and 

not easy for two teachers, who are 

used to organising people and getting 

Inspire 

World Challenge Training Expedition 

things done, to take a back seat! 

Throughout the weekend the team 

handled themselves brilliantly. They 

began to bond 

better as a 

group and to 

start to make 

group decisions 

more quickly. 

Their behaviour 

was exactly as 

I would have 

hoped and the 

weekend certainly 

helped us 

to focus on the 

adventure we 

will be having 

in only a few months time. I should 

give a special thanks to Callum for his 

assistance with navigation as none of 

us had been to this location before. 

Our team are now much better pre- 


31 

pared for the trip to Madagascar 

and people are now much more 

pro-active about fundraising 

and taking on group roles. Our 

thoughts now turn to all-out 

money making for the R & R 

phase of the trip and general fitness 

work. A little more research 

about our destination is being 

carried out and preparations are 

being made, by some more than 

others, for the quality of the toilets 

that are to be experienced. 

Report by Mr Nicholls 

and Miss Swan.

32 

England’s next World Cup Final referree? 

Below is a selection from the text of a letter we were 

very pleased to receive recently from the Chairman of 

the Hampshire FA Referees Committee, Mr Paul Scobie, 

that was passed on to us by the appropriately proud 

parents of Jack Leatherbarrow (Tutor Group 10.2) 

“Dear Jack 

RE: Hampshire FA Cup Final Appointment 

Congratulations, you have been appointed to officiate a 

Hampshire FA Cup Final. To celebrate and collect your individual 

appointment you are required to attend the Cup 

Final Celebration Evening… details are listed below.… On 

a personal note I would like to add my congratulations 

to you on this prestigious appointment and thank you 

for all your efforts during the season. 

Yours sincerely, 

Paul Scobie” 

Well done to Jack (pictured) and we look forward to his 

write up of the day of the final in a future issue. 

Staying in the realm of ‘the beautiful 

game’ here is the full text of a 

letter received by the school from 

the Dorset County FA in relatio to 

Year 11 student Adam Morley. 

“Dear Ms Potts, 

Student Success – Adam Morley 

I am writing to you to inform you 

that following a recent successful 

trial your pupil Adam Morley has 

been selected to represent Dorset 

as part of the Dorset FA Disability 

Football Development Centre. 

This is a fantastic achievement that 

County Football Representative 

he can be immensely proud of and 

should be highly commended 

for. The development 

centre is based at 

Thomas Hardye Leisure 

Centre, Dorchester where 

he gains access to high 

quality coaching, the opportunity 

to play with and 

against other ‘elite’ players 

and compete against other 

county sides. 

The centre philosophy is to ensure 

that all players are provided the 

most beneficial experience, given 

the opportunity to excel to their 

full potential whilst having owner- 


ship of the activities they are 

involved 

in. 

Once 

again I 

would like 

to congratulate 

Adam 

on his 

achievement and wish him 

every success for the forthcoming 

season. 

Yours sincerely, 

Todd Govan”

Yet another sporting achievement, yet 

another (excerpt from another) letter. 

This time in relation to the selection of 

one of our students to a national excellence 

programme run by the Youth 

Sport Trust. 

“Dear Headteacher, 

We are always particularly happy 

when it is the parents of the 

students who contact us to tell 

us about the successes of our 

young people in all areas . Here is 

a copy of an e-mail we received 

from proud parents recently 

informing us that our community 

had another national champion. 

“Dear Gifted & Talented, 

As parents of one of your students, 

Megan Dixon in Tutor Group 7.2, we 

would like to share our news of Megan’s 

recent success in becoming the 

U11 English Champion in Irish Dancing. 

Megan achieved this yesterday 

after taking part in the All England 

Championships in Hertfordshire 

Megan has been Irish dancing since 

she was 5yrs old, and has won over 

thirty championships. She also has 

Sparks Rising 

Re: The I excel national level athlete 

support programme 

Congratulations to you and your 

school! Josh Sparks a pupil at your 

school, has been selected by Sailing 

for the I excel programme. This government 

backed programme recognises 

and supports school aged young 

athletes who perform at a national 

level in their sport. The programme 

is designed to help Josh and other I 

excel athletes to: 

• Excel in their education and 

their future career 

• Excel in their sport 

• Maintain balanced lifestyles 

The I excel programme is part of the 

Junior Athletic Education framework, 

a package of tools and resources available 

to schools to help them provide 

comprehensive personal development 

support to their young talented 

Talent & Hard Work = Success 

over a hundred medals and trophies 

for her talents. We are the most proud 

parents and wanted to share this with 

Megan’s school and have attached a 


performers… 

Many thanks for your support, 

Louise Davis 

Talent & 

Comp Development Manager 

Youth Sport Trust” 

A Big Fish! 

Well done to Year 7 student and 

keen angler Jaon Voller for his recent 

success in the shingle bank league 

finishing 4 th overall in the competition 

and more importantly as the highest 

placed junior. 

The sugar on the cake was that he 

beat his adult competitors in managing 

to catch the biggest fish of the 

evening, a bream of 1lb 10oz. 

couple of photographs. 

Many Thanks, 

Sally and Martin Dixon”

34 


GCSE Booster Sessions 

For Year 11 students a programme of booster sessions including times, dates and venues for most subjects has been set 

up by subject staff. In some subject areas such as Science, some students are specifically advised to attend whereas in 

other subjects students have been invited to sign up. In option subjects all students are recommended to attend. Most 

sessions are open to all students. General information is given about many of the sessions below but please check for 

full details with your subject teachers and get the exact dates/times in your diaries. 

The coming months will undoubtedly test your resolve and ability to plan your studies. Do remember that hard work is 

normally rewarded but do not forget that parents, teachers and support staff are here to assist and guide you should 

you encounter difficulties. If you need further advice remember the following are here to support you: Tutors, Subject 

Teachers, Heads of Subject, Mr Dean (Head of Achievement), Mr Jones (Assistant Headteacher – Assessment and Student 

Progress), Mrs King (Learning Support) and Mrs Riley (Student Support Worker). 

Stop 

Press! 

Mathematics 

Year 11 Module 5 Revision Sessions Summer 2011 Tuesdays 3.10-4.10pm 

Geography and History 

Thursdays from 3.05 to 4.05pm 

Religious Studies / Philosophy & Ethics 

Thursdays until 17 th March, Wednesdays thereafter until the end of May 

Modern Foreign Language 

Saturday 2 nd April 

Art and Design 

18 th and 19 th April (Full Days During the Easter Holiday) 

Science 

Wednesdays from 4 th May – See teachers for details about papers relevant to each session. 

Music Boosters 

Thursdays from 17 th March. See Miss Dutton for details. 

ICT Coursework 

Every Lunchtime in IT4. Some support will be available after school Mon-Thurs in IT2. 

Rugby – Two pieces of news just in. Full stories to follow in the next issue. 

There were 9 Highcliffe boys representing the New Milton & District ‘Panthers’ team 

which won a historic 6th in a row Hampshire Finals County Cup yesterday. Captain Ciaran 

Johnston (Year 8) playing in all 6 finals over the years. 

While we’re on the subject of success, Hamish Lazenby and a number of our Year 9 boys 

play rugby for Bournemouth and they won the Dorset County Cup yesterday with an 

amazingly talented display of rugby and a final score of 40-0!!! 


Please use this slip to inform us of any achievement, whether in or out of 

school, of which you are proud and would like celebrated in the school newsletter. 

Name of Student : TG: 

Nature of Achievement : 

Please use this slip to inform us of any achievement, whether in or out of 

school, of which you are proud and would like celebrated in the school newsletter. 

Name of Student : TG: 

Nature of Achievement : 

Highcliffe School, Parkside, Highcliffe. BH23 4QD newsletter@highcliffe.dorset.sch.uk

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