March 2010 – ISSUE 2

Calendar‘R’ ECHO- BBC School News Report- STEM club Forensics day- College Charity Performance Evening- Question Time- Post-16 Day Success- An Interview with a Year 11NEWS REPORTSWHAT’S ON?OPTICAL ILLUSIONSREVISION SESSIONSACHIEVEMENTS

IN THIS EDITION

MARCH 2010• Tue 2nd Y10/11 Maths Mod 1 & 3

Resits• Tue 9th Inter-House Rugby/Hockey

Yrs 7 8 9• Year 11 Exam Drama Evening• Wed 10th Inter-House Rugby/Hockey

Yrs 10 11• Thur 18th Yr 7 Parents Evening• Fri 19th Red Nose Day• Thur 25th Post 16 Parents Consultation

eve 2• Fri 26th School closes for Easter

Yr 12 Southport & Morecambefieldtrip

• Fri 26th – 3rd Apr Skiing Trip to Austria

APRIL 2010• Mon 12th School Re-opens• Yrs 11 13 Group photographs• Tues 13th HPV inoculations (am only)• Wed 14th HPV inoculations (am only)• Tues 20th HPV inoculations (am only)• Wed 21st HPV inoculations (am only)• Fri 23rd Moderation Day (school

closed to students•Thurs 29th Yr 8 Junior Maths Challenge

Calendar

GCSE & A LEVELREVISION SESSIONS

SPECIAL FEATURES

‘R’ ECHO

BBC School News Report is a project which aims to get 11-14 year olds thinkingabout the news, and encourages them to take an interest in the world around them.Rainford High will be participating in the BBC School Report on March 11th, so ateam of Year 8 and 9 school reporters have been busy researching and gathering newsstories in preparation for the big day.

The students will be broadcasting their work on the Rainford website, which can beaccessed via the BBC School Report site, giving the students a worldwide audiencefor their news reports. To watch Rainford’s news report, log ontowww.bbc.co.uk/schoolreport from 4pm on March 11th.

BBC School News Report –STEM club Forensics day

On Monday 1st February, the STEM club were involved in a Forensics day in school. A Crime Scene Investigatorvisited our school and showed us how to take fingerprintsusing the special ink they use in real life and how to findfingerprints on dark surfaces by using special silver dust.He showed us photographs from crime scenes which hehad worked on – they were really interesting.

In the afternoon he set up a crime scene for us tobecome CSI’s and we had to investigate a murder. Wehad to wear the white protective suits to get us into character – these were not very flattering! He broughtin a fake body which had been stabbed and we had totake notes about what we saw and how evident it wasto solving the crime. The CSI put police tape aroundthe outside of the room so everyone who walked pastthought there had been a real crime!

Throughout the day we were filmed by a lady fromthe BBC for the school news report and this may beshown on the local news in a few weeks! We hadthree reporters from Year 8 doing interviews to makethe whole day realistic to people who weren’tinvolved.

We all had a really good day and the experience hasdefinitely made us thinkabout careers in ForensicScience!

College Charity Performance Evening is always a night of fun entertainment; there’ssinging, dancing and acting galore. Each student is accredited with showcasing theirtalents, and what talents they are!

This year, though, proves to be a whole lot more special: this year there is a cause. The Ghana Care in the Community Project is supporting Performance Evening on the10th March in the hopes of raising enough money for the expedition. But what is thisproject, and why should you give your money to them? What’s in it for you?

The Care in the Community Project is a part of theProjects Abroad organization, which you can findonline at www.projects-abroad.org. This collectionof volunteers shares the aim to increase livingconditions and education systems in much poorercountries. People are recruited from across thecountry, and are dispatched to the poorest placesaround the world to bring hope and comfort tochildren and adults alike.

The members of the Ghana Project are all SixthFormers at Rainford College, and have beenfundraising for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunitysince September. So far the total raised is over£2,000: considering that it costs £1,800 per person to go, they need all the help they can get!

Your contributions over the night will go to ensuring that children have safe sanctuary, cleanwater and decent learning environments. Andthere’s something in it for you too! A raffle isbeing held on the night, with fabulous prizes like aluxury hamper of bathroom products, chocolates and wine, and even a signed Evertonpicture! There will also be a tea and coffee interval, where various home-made cakeswill be available to purchase. Absolutely all proceeds will go to this fundamental cause,and will honestly make a drastic difference to the lives of children in Ghana.

College Charity Performance Evening promises to be a rip-roaringnight of entertainment, hosted by College students for the

enjoyment of everyoneas a night they won’tsoon forget! So makesure to come along tothe Arts Theatre, at7:00PM on the 10thMarch, and make a difference!

Year 13 students posed tough questions to politicians who visited Rainford College on8th February. Members in the firing line were Conservative representative Betty Lowe,Labour member Andy Bowden, and Liberal-Democrat representative Shirley Evans.

The Year 13 pupils asked a series of questions ranging from international issues tomore personal ones. Students wanted to know what the Councillors’ thoughts were onthe ‘expenses scandal’, as well as their views on the recession. They were also keen tolearn the difference between the three main political parties and what they stand for, aswell as asking about financial issues within Higher Education.

Catherine Benbow who organised the session said: “It was a really positive experiencefor our students and I was pleased to see so many of them getting involved andbecoming enthusiastic about political issues.”

“Many were keen to debate topical issues and some stayed behind at the end of thesession to ask the Councillors more questions.

“It will be interesting to see if the ‘Question Time’ session has inspired the students tofully immerse themselves in the campaign planning activity for the mock election in acouple of weeks’ time.”

All eight Year 13 forms will be taking part in a‘mock election’ at the College. Each Form willstart their own political party for the electionand present their manifesto to the whole yeargroup. Each Form has chosen a charity tocampaign for, and the winning Form will beable to donate £100 to their chosen organisation.

The voting process will be monitored and thevotes counted by staff from St Helens Councilwho have kindly given up their time to support

the College with this opportunity. Realistic ballot papers and booths will be provided toraise awareness of the voting process. The students are not allowed to vote for theirown Form.

On Friday 12th February, Year 11 came to the Sixth Form College to get a taste ofwhat it would be like next year. Current staff and students pitched in together to lend ahand, showing the togetherness that is present in the college due to its small, friendlysize. In addition, local universities came in which highlights the importance RainfordCollege attaches to both the transition into college, and the later transition into HigherEducation.

The day was divided between subject talks with current teachers, as well as talks aboutthe wide range of study facilities and enrichment available to every student.Meanwhile, current students from Years 12 and 13 were on hand to answer any questions ensuring no one was left wondering.

As someone who was helping on the day it was encouraging to see that, for the mostpart, the subject talks seemed to be appreciated by the prospective students, whilstcollege facilities such as the Tuck Shop were proving to be especially popular.Meanwhile, a proportion of the visiting students seemed to be eager to accept theadvice being offered by the Year 12s and 13s. In addition, it was apparent that themajority of subjects were receiving good numbers of interested students.

Overall, it appeared that the day was a success, with the prospective students displaying an interest in the college and the courses available. It was obvious that themajority of the Year 11s found the day a useful step in the process of deciding where to study next year, which hints at a bright future for the college. by Pierre Botcherby

by Pierre Botcherby and Ben Patey

To get an idea of the thoughts of the prospective students, we have conducted aninterview with Rob, a member of Year 11.

Q) What were your first impressions of the college?A) It was good – because you’re connected tothe school, you’ve got all the facilities.

Q) What did you think of the staff?A) Again, they were good. They all gave a positive impression of the subjects they teach.

Q) What did you think of the students that werehelping out?A) They were great and because they had given up a day when they could have beenoff, it showed they thought that coming to the college was a good thing.

Q) What do you think of the courses on offer?A) You’ve got a really nice range, which is great as there’s a lot of choice.!

NewsReports

Thank you to all Year 9 parents for their support with Bag2School!! The nextBag2School will be in conjunction with the Year 7 parents' evening on 18th March.

Jewellery Recycling Week coming soon ...

Friends Of Rainford High are organising a Jewellery Recycling Week, every student will be given an envelope to bring home for them to collect any unwanted jewellery including odd earrings, broken chains or watches and costume jewellery and then return it to school. The envelopes will be brought home on a Friday to be returned to school the following week ready forcollection on an arranged date.

With your help and support in recent fund raising events, FORH have been ableto provide funding towards a new mini-bus; new chairs for the 6th form commonroom, an additional table tennis table for the PE Department and a portable digital clock for use in both examinations and at sports events so any moneyraised from this scheme will be very much appreciated and go towards helpingother departments within school.

As a bonus, all students who return an envelope will be entered into a draw foran MP3 Player.

Please look out for that envelope coming home and thank you in advance foryour support.

What’s On

10HSK are having araffle for Easter Eggs

in support of‘Help for Heroes’

Tickets are 50p each

and there are 2 eggs

so 2 chances to win!

Members of 10 HSK will be

going round to form rooms

over the next few weeks so

have your money ready.

10HSK are having araffle for Easter Eggs

in support of‘Help for Heroes’

Look at this one from a distance.Ask your form teacher to hold it up

REVISION SESSIONSPlease note the result date for GCSE is now Tuesday 24 August 2010. The result datefor AS / A2 remains the same at Thursday 19th August 2010.

Well done to 2 year 8 students Alice Ravenscroft (HBS) andAmy Jones (ALL) who were so moved by some of the images and stories from the recent earthquake disaster in Haiti that they have raised approximately £120 by collecting spare change around the Year 8 forms and selling biscuits at break times.

The Year 7 Basketball team have reached the St. Helens Schools Final following improvingperformances in the central venue competitions held throughout the year so far. 2nd place finishes in all 3 central venue competitions see them play Cowley in the final later this term.

Well done to all the squad!

Prior to Christmas both the boys and girlsteams were involved in the St Helens roundof the Centre Parcs national SchoolsBadminton Competition.

The U16 boys and U14 girls both won theirrespective competitions and therefore qualified for the Merseyside stage. TheMerseyside stage was held in Widnes duringJanuary and involved all the winners from

each of the Merseyside boroughs.

The U16 boys won two matches in theirgroup before losing a close match to astrong Caladay Grammar team. The U14girls also won two matches before loosing toWirral Grammar 3-2, losing the decidinggame 15-13.

Both teams performed very well despite failing to progress beyond their groups andcongratulations must go to the following students:

Rob Winstanley, Liam Thomas, Mike Hughes, Joe Machin, Lucy Whipp, Gigi Ye, Aggie Melonek and Hollie Stirrip.

Rainford’s badminton teams will be visiting Birmingham this week to watch the England Badminton Championships.

Achievements

Get Involved - Students, parents and staff can provide feedback and newsstories by emailing the new address HighNotes@rainford.org.uk

Students: Pierre Botcherby, Ben Patey, Shan Harrison, Rebecca Pickavance, Alasdair Robertson, Christopher McWilliam and Josh Burrows

Staff: Mrs Crinigan, Mrs Hill, Mrs Burrows, Mrs McFadden, Joyce McDonald, Sarah Hobin, Mr Allen, Mr Machin, Mr Reves, Mrs Hibberd, Miss Benbow, Mrs Hillier, Mrs Parker, Mrs Hesketh, PC Lesley Sanderson, Mrs Whittle, Mrs Tomsett, Mrs Press, Mrs Turton, Mr McMillan, Miss Jackson, Mrs Lynch, Miss Trivedi, Mr Sanders, Mr Hart and Mr Makin

Thank you to all the students and staff that contributed to this edition.Arron Harrison

'Well Done to the Year 8 girls football team who won the St Helens Central Venuecompetition at Sutton Sports College. The girls were up against stiff competitionfrom schools around the borough but managed to remain unbeaten and incrediblyonly conceded one goal throughout the whole tournament! The girls were a credit tothe school and a particular mention needs to go to top goal scorer Emma McCartneywho terrorised the opposition defences all afternoon. The winning squad were:-

Azure Anderson, Amber Allford, Laura Ramsey, Lauren Connor, Bethan Grundy, Emma Poole, Emma McCartney, Jessica Fenney

‘Well Done, Mr Allen'

Year 7 Girls Netball v St Aelreds won 10-0v St Augustines 10-1v St Cuthberts 6-0

Thank You