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TELL ME

MOREGrease sells out

FeaturingPresentation evening

Holocaust educational trust

Pta craft extravaganza

Cheshire rugby success

Mfl normandy visit

Btec rome trip

Port alliance

School production

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TELL ME MORe

Teacher?Are you are interested in becoming a primary or secondary teacher?

Would you like to be trained by experienced subject mentors committed todeveloping and supporting the next generation of teachers?

Would you like to feel part of the school from the very first day?

APPLY NOWto The Port Alliance School Direct programme

www.whitbyhs.cheshire.sch.uk/teacher-training

This year saw forty staff and oversixty students working together toproduce a quite exceptionalperformance of Grease. Four sellout performances plus a matineeworked the cast and crew hard butthe result was the best yet. A trulyoutstanding achievement andexcellent example of staff andstudents collaborating together,team work and of a focuseddetermination to succeed. I thankall parents, family and friends forattending the performances andsupporting the school.

The newsletter also outlines someimportant information regardingattendance and punctuality.Students will only achieve their fullpotential if they are in school andon time. As the demands onstudents continue to increasethrough changes to examinationcourses this has never been moreimportant. Your continuedsupport in this matter is muchappreciated.

FROM THE HEADTEACHER

This newsletter, the last of 2015signals the end of a very busy year forstaff and student at The WhitbyHigh School.

As the Christmas break approaches itseems like no time at all has passedsince we were preparing for thebreak last year. However, when welook back over the past twelvemonths so much has happenedacross every area of the school.

The autumn term is a long and busyterm and the newsletter give someindication of what has happenedsince September.

Continued sporting success, fundraising, visits to Rome, Normandyand Germany, Open Evening andPresentation Evening have allshowcased the school and theexcellent attributes of our youngpeople. This excellence isdemonstrated in every aspect ofschool but never more so than in thebringing together of our annualschool production.

In October, the school hosted afantastic Craft Fair that broughttogether many local people to buyand sell a stunning array ofproducts. The fair organised by ourPTA was a huge success raisingfunds for charities and for theschool. The PTA do a fantastic jobin supporting the school anddeserve our thanks for the hoursthey give up to provide opportunityfor our students. Well done andthank you.

May I take this opportunity to wishyou all a wonderful Christmasbreak and a happy, safe and pros-perous 2016. Remember schoolreopens of Monday 4 January.

The Whitby High School enjoyed anotherevening of celebrating success at theirAnnual Presentation Evening held onThursday 19th November.

Guest of honour this year was ex-student,Alex McCosh-Dixon. Alex left school at 16to take up an apprenticeship at TTE. Shewas successful in gaining sponsorship fromShell Oil and is now a highly regardedProcess Operator working for Essar OilUK. In her speech she spoke fondly of hertime at The Whitby High School and gavepraise and credit to the teachers thatworked tirelessly to help her fulfil herdream of becoming an engineer.

The evening centred on recognising theendeavour and progress that The WhitbyHigh School’s students have made over thelast year and to celebrate success in bothGCSE and A Level Results.

Amongst many worthy recipients of specialawards presented on the night awardswhere Rhianne Hallmark, Denis Usov andGemma Warden each receiving two ormore awards for their hard work.

Rhianne received three awards for DesignTechnology, The J.G. Davies Award andthe award for gaining the highest A Levelgrade in Engineering. Denis received twoawards for KS3 Design Technology and aProgress Award and Gemma received twoawards, one from the PTA Committee andanother for Endeavour.

The evening concluded with a vote ofthanks and a reminder from our Head Boy,Daniel Finlay and Head Girl MollyHawker, that hard work does pay off andthat to succeed students need to grasp everyopportunity that The Whitby High Schoolcan offer.

ALEX-CELLENCE

AN EVENINGOF

It has been another very successful year for the students whochose to train to become teachers through The Port AllianceSchool Direct course. We had a cohort of 14 trainees, 9 primarytrainees and 5 secondary trainees, all trainees who completed thecourse are now employed either within alliance schools or withinschools local to their homes. Our trainees really enjoyed thecourse and gave feedback such as:

“I trained with the Port Alliance in 2014-2015 and thoroughlyenjoyed my experience. It was great working in a cluster ofschools where other students and I could share ourexperiences and tips! The course ran very smoothly andtraining took place at the different schools where we couldsee different settings and classrooms. I would highlyrecommend training with the Port Alliance as there is so muchsupport from brilliant, experienced teachers and I haveobtained a job with one of my placement schools!”

“The Port Alliance School Direct course was a  fantastic wayfor me to experience, from day one, school life, timetables,opportunities to meet other trainees on a weekly basis todiscuss experiences and gave me a much more ’holistic’ viewof the day to day running of a school.”

“School Direct provided me with consistent experience within'Good’ & ‘Outstanding' schools, supported not only by mymentor and class teacher, but also subject experts from withinThe Port Alliance.   As a mature student, the decision to followthis route was to provide me with as much hands onexperience as possible, which proved to be ’essential’ ingaining my first teaching post.”

Our training follows the School Direct route into teachertraining in partnership with The University of Chester. Thisallows us to personally select and interview our candidates andcarefully assign them to a home school and decide on apersonalised experience in a contrasting school. Working inpartnership with the university enables each trainee to exit thecourse with Masters level credits, a Post Graduate Certificate inEducation and Qualified Teacher Status (PGCE & QTS.)

Training someone to become a teacher is a very rewarding job;as you can see from the feedback some of the trainees gave theyreally appreciate the challenge and personalised learning thatthey received from our magnificent team of mentors within ThePort Alliance. Do you think you have what it takes for becomean outstanding teacher? If so we are taking applications for2016/17 please contact Miss H Speed at The Whitby HighSchool or email schooldirect@whitbyhs.cheshire.sch.uk

TEACHERTRAINING

On Saturday 17th October, the school hosteda Craft Extravaganza. Around 40 tradersattended, selling a range of products forChristmas. Hundreds of people from the localcommunity attended and the main school hallwas buzzing with excitement all morning. Wemanaged to raise over a thousand pounds,which will be shared between the PTA,Teenage Cancer Trust and the YouthFederation. One of the highlights of themorning was the cake decorating competitionthat students entered. The standard was veryhigh and the winning student was NiallBurghall in Year 9. Well done to Niall and allthe entrants. Sheila Icke, who judged thecontest, found it really difficult to decide onthe winner. Many thanks must go to Lisa Belland the school PTA who organised thisfantastic event. Many stallholders asked tobook for next year!

Christmas

The PTA does some fantastic work for the school and all of themoney raised is used to improve facilities and learningexperiences for students. In recent years the PTA has fundednew staging for the school productions, new kits for sportsteams and given funds to departments to allow them to offerenrichment activities to bring learning to life for students.

We have now decided to re-brand the PTA to name it ‘TheFriends of Whitby High School’. The group will continue to dothe excellent fundraising work it does. However, it will also bea ‘sounding board’ for new ideas about how to improve theschool. The meetings are chaired by Mr Gray, DeputyHeadteacher, and Mr Heeley attends most meetings. Therefore,the new structure will allow parents/carers to discuss key issueswhich will shape the future of the school. A list of meeting datesis given below. Please feel free to join us. If you would like toattend a meeting, please come to the main reception and youwill be made very welcome.

Our meetings take place at 7pm on Tuesday 19th January, 15thMarch, 19th April and 21st June of 2016.

Car-boot& Crafts

THE FUTUREOF THE PTA

The MFL visit to France took place at the end ofthe Summer Term and 52 pupils and 6 stafftravelled to the fishing port of Port-en-Bessin, notfar from Arromanches and the NormandyBeaches.

We were able to return to the organic bakery LesCo-Pains, where pupils learnt about bread-making and then made their own loaf, then thefollowing day we visited Normandy’s smallestgoats’ cheese farm and tasted some of theproduce.

Other visits included a tour round William theConqueror’s castle at Falaise and the town ofBayeux, with its Saturday market for souvenir-shopping.

No visit to Normandy is complete without somereference to the D-Day Landings, and pupilsexplored the former German Gun-Battery atLongues, and then the sobering AmericanCemetery on the cliff-top at Colleville. Therehad already been a visit to the British MilitaryCemetery at Bayeux, where some pupils hadlocated the graves of relatives who had fought inWW2.

FRENCHSTUDENTSLAND ONNORMANDY

IS THE WORDOnce again, the talented pupils and staff of TheWhitby High have collaborated to produce a perform-ance of outstanding calibre. With the additionalchallenge of working a double cast of Pink Ladies dueto the superb quality of auditions, this production wasdefinitely one to remember.

The dedication of the more than 60 students involvedis evident through the attendance of rehearsals afterschool, at lunchtimes, weekends and even duringschool holidays. As rehearsals went on, it was a realpleasure to see how close the students got and howthey worked together to epitomise the roles they wereto play.

The students involved ranged from Y7 through to Y13and brought a dynamic mix of talented personalities.

This year’s main roles included Danny (Reiss BarberY11) and Sandy (Tanisha Adolph Y13 / Izzy JohnsonY11), who brought the stage to life alongside thecomical T Birds – Roger (Bradley Bowcett Y12), Doo-dy (Jack Parry Y11), Kenickie (Joe Fletcher Y10) andSonny (Aaron McGinn Y9).

“Just wanted to say that I loved everysecond of Grease!!

Well done to you and all the crew!!Thanks for a great night.”

This year, we opted for a more simplistic set design forthe majority of the production, which meant the featureof a real car – engine stripped, roof removed FordFiesta, which was lifted on to the stage by approx. 10supportive staff – generated an incredible buzz forGreased Lightnin’. The visual impact of the car wasmatched by the vibrant, styles of the 50s costumes.

Once again, I would like to thank all those who gave uptheir time, energy and enthusiasm to create anoutstanding production, which will live in thememories of those involved for a very long time.

“Thank you all for your contribution tomaking the production of Grease lastweek such a resounding success. . .”

“I was lucky enough to see last night’sproduction of Grease and I was once againamazed by the quality of the production. . .”

The T Birds were partnered by the sassy Pink Ladies– Rizzo (Beth Cox Y11 / Emma Jarman Y10),Frenchy (Eve Nicholson Y11), Marty (Ellie BegleyY11 / Rebecca Davies Y10) and Jan (Georgia JonesY11 / Teigan Elsdon Y10).

Not forgetting the disciplinarian approach of MissLynch (Georgia Leach Y11 / Aisha Abdel SamieY10) or the hand-jiving Vince Fontaine, crooningTeen Angel and hilarious film character voices(Daniel Finlay Y13)

In this production, we also had the privilege ofhearing the beautiful harmonies of our fantasticradio singers (Hannah Graham Y13, Ashleigh WoodY12, Sophie Dutton Y11, Alisha Millington Y11and Kathryn Graham Y9)

The quality of all four public performances wasundisputable as these youngsters drew the audienceinto the magic of Grease-mania, which has mostdefinitely caused quite a stir!

As always, the show would not be the same withoutour wonderful KS3 chorus and dancers who helpedto bring the stage to life with energy and smiles asthey supported our main cast.

The band, which consisted of our music departmentstaff working alongside students past and presentwere, as always, mindblowingly good but fortunatelydidn’t literally bring the house down from their 6ftbackstage platform!

Jed Young our stage manager (Y11), workedtirelessly to ensure his crew knew what they neededto do to ensure the smooth running of theperformances.

We also had superb support from past students JoeKervin and Joe Miley along with Jack Wilson Y13and Brad Done as our lighting sound technicians,who were kept on their toes as they overcamenumerous technical difficulties to ensure that ouraudience got to experience an amazing show.

“. . .we could imagine thesteeply stacked stands fullof frenzied spectatorsscreaming for blood– a chilling thought.”

ALL ROADS LEAD TO

ROMEAs part of the Travel and Tourism course, ourstudents have to complete an in depth studyof a European tourist destination and whatbetter way to do this than to visit the placeitself.

We had a very early start on Friday 9thOctober, leaving Ellesmere Port at 4.00am inorder to catch a 6.30am flight. We arrivedsafely and were keen to get started. We hadordered an Omnea card before our visitwhich gave us unlimited travel on local buses,tour buses, entrance into attractions and mostimportantly fast track entry into the Vaticanso this made getting around the city easy (ifyou could find the bus stop that is!!!)

Our first stop was the cathedral of SanGiovanni in Laterano, followed by a visit tothe Colosseum. This was an amazing site andwe could imagine the steeply stacked standsfull of frenzied spectators screaming for blood– a chilling thought. The evening was spenteating pizza and pasta in a local restaurantand the weather was so warm and pleasant wewere able to sit outdoors.

Our second morning was spent in theVatican, which was just as well due to the badweather. It was amazing to see how the longqueue weaved its way around the VaticanCity walls and we were able to go straight tothe front! On our tour we were impressed bythe wealth of artefacts - sculptures, paintingsand tapestries. Eventually they led us into thejewel in the Vatican crown, the SistineChapel where we could wonder at two of theworld’s most famous works of art;Michelangelo’s ceiling frescoes showing thecreation and his ‘Last Judgement’, a trulyspectacular sight. I think Alfie Moon(Eastenders fame) agreed with us as he was inour group for the visit!

We then moved to the famous StPeter’s Basilica which is Rome’slargest and most spectacular church.The sweeping piazza leads to thegrand facade and opulent interior. Wehad little time to do much moresightseeing but we did visit thePantheon and the Trevi Fountainbefore leaving on the Sunday.

A fabulous visit that left us with thethought that we would like to go backas there were so many other things wewould have liked to have seen.

“On our tourwe wereimpressed bythe wealth ofartefacts -sculptures,paintings andtapestries.”

A GLIMPSEINTO life atauschwitz

Since 1999, over 28,000 students and teachers havetaken part in the Holocaust Educational Trust'sgroundbreaking Lessons from Auschwitz Project.

Based on the premise that 'hearing is not like seeing',this four-part course explores the universal lessons ofthe Holocaust and its relevance for today. The Learn-ing From Auschwitz Project aims to increase knowl-edge and understanding of the Holocaust for youngpeople and to clearly highlight what can happen ifprejudice and racism become acceptable.

The visits to the former Nazi extermination and con-centration camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau are precededand followed by half-day seminars in order to ensurean exceptional educational experience.

The visit to Poland begins with participants seeing apre­war  Jewish  site  in  the  Polish  town  of O wi cim.This new element in the programme helps the studentsto learn more about the victims lives and begins tore-humanise them as individuals. However, the dayfocuses on seeing Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Sites that are visited include several barracks at Ausch-witz I – registration documents of inmates, piles ofhair, shoes, clothes and other items seized from theprisoners as they entered the camps are displayedwithin these buildings along with a general history ofthe camp. Participants are then taken the short dis-tance to Birkenau. This is the site that most peopleassociate with the word "Auschwitz" and where thevast majority of victims were murdered. The remnantsof barracks, crematoria and gas chambers are in starkcontrast to Auschwitz I and many people feel this hasa greater impact on them.

On November the 4th Whitby students LauraCarruthers and Daniel Finlay got the opportunity tovisit Auschwitz in Poland with the HolocaustEducational Trust. Two people from every school in theNorth West were chosen to go. Here is Laura’s account-

“The day consisted of checking into ManchesterAirport at 5:00am to fly out to Krakow. The day’s planstarted with visiting a site of pre-war Jewish life inO wi cim, then on towards Auschwitz I before visitingBirkenau. Lastly, before we returned to Krakow airportfor 9:00pm, we held a memorial service at the ruins ofCrematoria II, Birkenau.”

“On the coach we got the chance to see the traditionalpolish homes and countryside whilst passing the forestarea where escapees could have hidden if they werelucky enough to get out.”

“The site of Birkenau was the definitely the mostoverwhelming part of the trip to me, as I was so shockedto see how big the site actually was. It is a lot differentwhen you see it in real life after you are so used to seeingit in the textbooks.”

“To all students who have the opportunity to visitAuschwitz I deeply recommend it, as upsetting as it canbe, it will be an experience you will never forget. Fromthis experience, I learnt a lot more about Poland and thecamps, as well as making several new friends who I aimto keep in touch with.”

The year 9 rugby team continued Whitby’s growingsuccess in rugby competitions as they won all 5 of theirfixtures at the Cheshire RFU emerging schoolscompetition.

The competition was held at Northwich Rugby Cluband saw some of the best schools in Cheshirecompeting. Whitby were drawn in a strong group withMiddlewich, Holmes Chapel, Helsby, Weaverhamand Hartford.

The Whitby team was made up of some fantasticplayers, the majority of which play outside of schoolfor Ellesmere Port Rugby Club further supporting thegreat relationship the school has with the club. Year

The year 9 students won four of their fixturescomfortably scoring at least 4 tries in each andconceding no tries. The team from Helsby proved tobe the toughest opposition with Whitby running outwinners, 2 tries to 1.

House KeepingMuscular Dystrophy UK came into school to collecta cheque for £436.52. The speaker explained to thestudents of Tudor House how the money they raisedwill be spent.

Congratulations to Caitlin Stuffin and HeatherBeeston for being awarded the most Grade 1’s in thewhole of Tudor House for last half term.

Congratulations to all Windsor pupils for winninglast half term’s house competitions. Windsor pupilshave gained the most house points, the top Attitudeto Learning scores, the best punctuality and aresecond with their attendance. Well done to all thosein Windsor house who are working so hard.

Windsor House Homework club is on Monday’s3.15-4pm in N7. This is a chance to catch up onyour homework, use the computers or ask for anyhelp.

ATTENDANCE

ON THE RISESchool attendance figures are up this termcompared with this time last year. We cannotstress enough how important attendance is to achild’s welfare and educational attainment.

From September, the government changed thethreshold for at school to90%. Please be reminded that school policystates that students who have attendance belowthis rate persistently will not have absencesauthorised without medical evidence. Furtherabsences are then unauthorised and tenunauthorised absences in a term will lead to aFixed Penalty Notice (FPN) being issued.

Please be reminded that it is highly unlikely thatholidays during term time will be authorised. Inline with Department for Education guidelines,leave of absence can only be granted in

circumstances. This is mainly forfamilies with personnel serving in the armedforces. Please be advised that making financialsavings and attending weddings abroad do notmeet the criteria for exceptional circumstances.Should you remove your child for more thanfive days for a holiday, in all likelihood you willreceive a Fixed Penalty Notice from the LocalAuthority. This is certainly the case with thevast majority of cases the school deals with.

We realise organising quality family time can bedifficult but missing school, even for a few dayscan have a detrimental impact on your child’seducation.

Punctuality to school is improving this year andwe would like to thank you for your support onthis issue. We would also like to remind youthat it is a parent’s/carer’s responsibility toensure their child is in school on time. We willcontinue with daily detentions for those whoare late to school and longer detentions on aFriday for those who are late to school twice ormore in any week.

& PUNCTUALITY

On 30th November all students in Years 7 to 10 wereinvolved in CWAC’s ‘Keeping Safe’ presentations. Thepresentations aim to raise awareness of road sense andhighlight the potential dangers of using roads as apedestrian, a cyclist, a car passenger and, for the olderstudents, as potential drivers. Feedback from students wasexcellent and our thanks go to Lue Ellis, Road SafetyOfficer for her time.

All students wishing to bring a bicycle to school must havea school cycle permit. These can be obtained from MrsHill.

Road Safety

NEW ADMISSIONSPOLICY PROPOSALThe school is consulting on its admissions policy for2017. The existing and proposed arrangements canbe viewed on the school website. Comments areinvited within the six weeks consultation period fromWednesday 9 December to Wednesday 20 Januaryand should be returned to Mrs D Fields, Clerk toGovernors.

W* SYCAMORE DRIVE

ELLESMERE PORT CH66 2NU

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