Highlights%20november%202014

Clifton High School Highlights Issue 8 November 2014

1

Issue 8, November 2014

Marquee and more... So far the Autumn Term has been truly action-packed with exciting activities for our pupils to enjoy. There have

been trips and visits to enhance classroom-based learning, charity events such as the Médecins Sans Frontières

Clothes and Toys Swap, fundraising activities linked to World Challenge, and extra-curricular successes in sport.

In October we welcomed the return of the Marquee to the lawn for a week. Marquee Week gave our girls and boys

the chance to perform, to explore, and to experience the talents of other pupils across the School. The Marquee is

about enrichment and aims to build our pupils’ confidence and to bring the Clifton High School community together

to celebrate what it is that is so different and in particular, special, about our School and our young people. The

Open Morning which took place as part of the week of celebrations brought many people into the School to

experience CHS at this vibrant time. The Open Morning was incredibly busy, and attendance was even greater than

last year. The children, staff and parents have had a truly outstanding term, and we are looking forward to all the

Christmas celebrations that are coming soon.

Inside this issue:

Sixth Form Open Evening

Clifton Highlights

Life

Skills

Shakespeare

Performances

Trips, Visits

And Activities

Sporting

Achievements


2

Shakespeare Performances Senior School ‘The Comedy of Errors’ Mrs Gill Malpass, Head

of Drama and Director.

The Senior School production of Shakespeare's “The Comedy

of Errors” made such an impact that the lead pupils involved

continue to receive superb feedback from pupils, staff and

parents alike. The pupils performed Shakespeare with fluency

and everyone loved the setting of a Greek port with the

audience in the round. Once through passport control, the

audience was treated to a great atmosphere of waiters coming

and going, and townspeople chatting to them whilst they leant

against the working fountain! What was particularly good to

see was they way in which the cast became an ensemble. As

one audience member put it ”even the smaller characters had

their moment and played their part in making this the most

successful production yet at Clifton High School”.

Year 6 ‘Macbeth’ Mrs Sarah Barker, Assistant to Deputy Head,

Years 3—6.

Outstanding! A word which was used during the appraisal of

the Year 6 Macbeth play performed in the Arnolfini. The

abridged version of this Shakespeare classic was performed as

part of the National Shakespeare Festival and Year 6 children

certainly stepped up to the mark, performing as if their lives

depended on it, with enthusiasm, real passion and a sound

knowledge of the meaning of the words. They shone and really

showed off their individual brilliance to an audience of

hundreds. Many congratulations to you all and thank you to

our directors Mrs Tabb and Mrs Bagnall. Year 6 also performed

a short version of their Macbeth production in the Marquee

and in assembly.

Well done to everyone concerned! Next stop the Royal

Shakespeare Company!


3

Sporting Achievements

Oliver from Year 7 has had great success with his running.

Having taken part in the Midland Counties Road Relay Championships at Sutton Coldfield

with his team— North Somerset AC under 13 Boys —finishing fourth, he went on to

compete in the English National Road Relay Championships on Sunday 5th October.

Oliver’s team finished sixth overall from forty six teams with Oliver completing his 2.4

mile leg in fifteen minutes and one second.

Netball...

Boys and girls have excelled in their sporting commitments both in and out of School over this half term.

Year 7’s Eleanor completed the Bath Schools Biathlon time trial at Monkton

Combe School, finishing fifth out of 43 with a points tally of 2111. The biathlon consisted

of a 50 metre swim in which she achieved a personal best, followed by an 800 metre run.

Her aim is to qualify as one the top 160 athletes in the country and compete in the British

Schools' Modern Biathlon Championships next year at Olympic Park.

...Hockey

...Biathlon

Running...

Swimming...

Briony from Year 11 is one of about twenty athletes who have been selected for the South West

Regional Academy in netball. This is a step-up from the Avon County Academy, where she trained last year, and involves

training with other athletes from all around the region. There are nine Regional Academies in the country and they are part of

the England Netball performance pathway. For the lucky few, when they are older and better developed as athletes, this

culminates in selection for the National Academy/England squad. It is early days for Briony but she is looking forward to the

challenge of training at Regional level and developing her skills.

In hockey news, the Year 3 girls were

involved in their first ever hockey fixture away against

Badminton School on Wednesday 1st October. Despite only

having had four practices, the girls demonstrated some

excellent skills and sheer determination. Jessica bravely

volunteered herself to go in goal and easily cleared some direct

shots from the Badminton team. There were some exceptional

runs with the ball from Alice, Lucy and Ines. The fantastic effort

from all of the girls secured a thrilling 3-1 victory to CHS! Since

this fixture the girls have also played Clifton College, Redmaid’s

and Badminton School. They are bonding as a team and their

skills are improving match-on-match.

Eleanor with Mhairi Spence, (British Modern Pentathlete, competitor in the 2012 Olympics)

Last but definitely not least, Year 9’s Isabelle competed in the Multi Regional Synchronised

Swimming Age Group Championships. She managed achieve a fantastic result within the 13-14 year age group, she was second

in the first individual event, swam her routine and managed to jump into first place, she also achieved first place in the duet

and team events. She won the South West Regional title in solo, duet and team and also the overall Southern Champion in all

three events. Isabelle flew to Scotland for the Scottish Nationals at the end of term.


4

Pupils’ Studies Come Alive! Nursery to Year 2 Music On Wednesday 5th November,

children in Nursery School to Year 2 were visited by Celso

Paco, a musician and storyteller from Mozambique. We have

established a successful link with a school in Beira,

Mozambique since 2007. Celso’s visit helped give our children

a greater understanding of the Mozambican culture and of

beat and dance. Celso involved the children in his music and

stories. They loved participating in the rhythms and sounds of

Africa.

Year 2 English At the end of their

poetry unit ‘Patterns on a page’ 2S

were treated to a poetry recital by

Susanna’s mother—who is a poet by

profession! As well as reading us

several of her own poems including

one about Susanna’s guinea pig, Ms Cato had written a poem

especially for 2S called ‘Sixes and Sevens’.

Here are the first two lines..

It’s hard to be grown up when your belly’s in a knot.

It’s hard to grown up when Mrs Sutcliffe says you’re a clot!’

Year 2 History Year 2 enjoyed a visit from King Arthur (a.k.a.

Mr Arthur), who taught the children more about knights,

supporting their History work. He told the children about the

long training involved to become a knight, explained knights’

main roles and their code of conduct. The children had the

chance to ask him questions after. Also, four new Year 2 pupils

were knighted by King Arthur.

Year 2 Topic Year 2 travelled

to Berkeley Castle on

September 22nd to explore

the castle as part of their

Topic learning. They looked

up at the ‘murder hole’,

avoided the trip steps,

performed a medieval dance

in the Great Hall and dressed

up as knights and ladies.

Finally they finished off their

adventure with a stroll

through the amazingly

colourful butterfly house.

Year 4 Topic Year 4 were lucky enough to visit the City

Museum to support their work on the Egyptians. Walking

down to the museum, the children were thinking about their

recent Egyptian Topic and were excited at the prospect of

seeing actual objects and artefacts from that period in time.

They were not disappointed! They were amazed at the array

of coffins and sarcophagus; a child’s death mask; mummified

cats; marble friezes. This was such an exciting way of rounding

off their Egyptian Topic in class by consolidating their learning

in an active and hands-on way!


5

Year 2 Topic Year 2 finished off their Castles Topic studies with a Medieval Feast! Everyone got dressed up in Medieval outfits

and enjoyed themed activities and food.


6

Year 3 Science On Tuesday 18th November, Year 3 went to

visit Dr Camacho’s Science lab in the Senior School. This was

exciting enough for many of the Year 3’s but then they

enjoyed fun, interactive experiments too! The children looked

at different types of magnets, where magnets occur, magnetic

fields and creating electricity.

Year 9 Religious Studies On Thursday 6th November, Year 9

visited Bristol’s Amitabha Buddhist centre. Here are the pupils’

experiences of the trip in their own words.

We all learnt lots of new things from the experience and it

really helped us realise that what we are learning in class is

reality. We learnt that there is no god that Buddhists worship

but instead they respect Buddha, who is a real person.

Everyone enjoyed it greatly, and meeting Buddhists was very

interesting seeing how they live and transferring our

knowledge from the classroom into reality. It was really great

also because we could learn from them and understand more

their way of life and what Buddhism is about. We really

appreciated the trip, and so thanks to all the teachers who

took us and helped organise this trip. Laura and Charlotte

Our trip to the Bristol Buddhist Centre was a very enlightening

trip. I say enlightening because we got to see how some

people lived, in silence, (in several ways) solitude, and in a

community. Though in some ways this may seem boring, I saw

that there was peace in this house. The people were nice,

inviting and willing to give us an insight into the life of a

Buddhist monk/nun. These people were pleasant to be around

and they showed us their way of living and what they worship.

From this trip, I now know how a huge percentage of people

in the world live; in peace, serenity, and in acceptance. Though

I will probably never become a Buddhist, I can take away the

lessons I learnt there and apply it to my life. Django

I appreciated it when the nuns taught us to meditate. I

experienced a peaceful mind. Leah

I really enjoyed seeing the different statues of the male and

female Buddhas. I also liked meditating and learning more

about Buddhism. Rachel

I really enjoyed this trip. The women who were at the Centre

were very devoted to their religion, which made the trip

factual and fun. Anon


7

I really enjoyed

doing

meditation. It

was an

experience I

would love to

continue with. I

loved learning

about Buddhism

in general and I

learned that there can be more than one Buddha. Rosie

It was fun and informative. The women had a certain style that

we all loved. Barney, Charlotte and Jemima

Thank you so much for arranging and taking us on the trip to

the Buddhist Centre. Before I went I had very little idea about

how Buddhists live, but now I have a much better insight into

how they live their life. Not only did I learn about meditating

myself, I found this very benefiting and feel the trip taught me

a lot and has inspired me. Anon

Year 9 Spanish On Tuesday 30th September the Year 9s had a

surprise dance class for their Spanish lesson! The class was

taught by Señorita Roman and Señorita Sobey and students

were instructed solely in Spanish. They managed to learn a

choreographed dance then finished with a limbo competition.

Both the boys and girls really enjoyed this lesson, being active

and learning about Latin American dance.

Year 10 and 11 Life Skills This year both Year 10 and 11 are

following the new Life Skills programme which has been

introduced by Mr Goldsmith and Miss Sobey. The students

have enjoyed learning a wide range of skills which have been

taught by specialists in areas such as money and finance,

kinesiology and

alternative

medicines, study

techniques and how

to best prepare for

exams,

communication for

business, and

international

relations. In the

second half of the Autumn Term students embark on options

that they have chosen. These units will again be taught by

experts in that field and include photography, Duke of

Edinburgh preparation, Chinese, journalism, first aid, Italian,

ceramics, communication skills and food hygiene, amongst

others. For most of these courses pupils will be able to achieve

a qualification which can then be added to their national

curriculum.

Year 12 Spanish The Year 12 Spanish class had a very special

lesson on Tuesday 21st of October as Señorita Sobey took the

group to the Tomatina restaurant on Park Street to try out a

number of Spanish tapas and practise their Spanish with the

waiting staff. A great opportunity to use their Spanish in an

authentic situation here in Bristol.

Year 12 and 13 Spanish A fantastic evening was had on

Monday 10th of November at Clifton College where our Sixth

Form Spanish students took part in debates against Clifton

College and Badminton School. The debates where closely

contested and the students came away feeling confident in

their speaking ability and a great time was had by all.


8

Don’t forget….

Friday 28th November

Christmas Fair Mufti Day

Wednesday 3rd December

Reception-Year 2 sing at Christ

Church Senior Lunch Club

Thursday 4th December

Reception-Year 2 Christmas

Performance

Saturday 6th December

Christmas Fair

Wednesday 10th December

Nursery School Christmas

Performance

Please be aware that this is a

change of date.

Thursday 11th December

Year 3-6 Christmas Performance

Friday 12th-Wednesday 17th

December

Year 6-11 Ski Trip to Les Deux Alps

Monday 15th December

Carol Service

Tuesday 16th December

Term Ends

Contact us:

Tel: 0117 973 0201

Email: [email protected]

To report an absence: [email protected]

www.cliftonhigh.bristol.sch.uk

Visit our Facebook page

at: facebook.com/

CliftonHighSchoolBristol

The Sixth Form Open Evening took place on the 11th November and was a great success. The Rose Theatre was filled with

interested students and their families. We hope that all of Year 11s enjoyed their Taster Day and the Open Evening and are

now looking forward to choosing their A levels and the challenges and excitement the CHS Sixth Form has to offer.

Sixth Form Open Evening

Highlights%20november%202014

Documents

Transcript of Highlights%20november%202014