010 2nd march 2012

Issue 10 2nd March 2012

Clifton High School

Food Glorious Food!

Tuesday 28th February was our Food Glorious Food day and, as the lyrics go, there was even ‘hot sausage and mustard’. During the day Years 5 – 9 had a food spin put on their lessons. There were French breakfasts being served, senses being explored, rations being recreated, cookies being created and the famous scene from ‘Oliver!’ was re-enacted by the Year 7s. Also participating were a number of Year 7s-to-be who are joining us from other schools. A ‘Six Nations’-themed lunch was offered to all the students and staff that saw all of the Six Nations rugby tournament countries (England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales) represented by a different dish… and no gruel allowed.

The day was a huge success and the students definitely enjoyed the activities! A big ‘thank you’ to all who were involved in the day and made it such an entertaining experience.


Thank you to Mrs Barker and Mrs Tabb for co-directing the musical – it was really superb and it was great to see all the Year 6 perform together and remind everyone what an amazing, friendly and tight-knit year group they are; they gelled so well!

A final thank you to Year 6 – you really performed so well and made us all very proud.

Year 6 Musical – ‘Gel’ “Congratulations for a super production last night”. “It is so emotional to see all those lovely Year 6s as young people all confident and at ease with themselves”. Year 6 performed their musical ‘Gel’ this week with enthusiasm and gusto! It was truly a wonderful show and was a real highlight for the children. They were all able to showcase their singing and acting abilities with lots of parts/duets/solos for all. The amazing choreography from Mrs Barker enabled all of them to be involved in each song and have their own chance to shine at the front of the stage. Mr Cleaver wowed us all again by having the children sing beautifully and loudly to all the audience. Mrs Vinson, with her props and scenery club brought the stage to life.


Adventures Through the Human Body

The Year 1 children thoroughly enjoyed their recent visit to the senior school laboratories.

Mr Johnson kindly put out a varied selection of animal skeletons and bones, and even a life size human skeleton for them to investigate as part of their ‘Bodies’ topic.

In addition, they explored the organs in the human body and found it a challenge to put them all back together again in the correct place!

Robots and Raspberry Jam

Our dedicated Year 11 went to Bristol University Computer Science department in February (and will be going again in March). The “Tech-days” are part of the support that the mentors from Bristol and Southampton Universities provide for the student robotics competition. The enthusiasm the mentors show for this competition and the skills they share with our students is fantastic.

The Saturday was spent in a flurry of activity with groups doing design work, mechanical building work and programming during the day. Effort to be ready for the competition in April is ramping up, with robotics sessions after school now, as well as continuing the regular lunchtime slot; powered by scrumptious, raspberry-jam-filled, chocolate brownies! Thank you to all the student robotics mentors but especially Steve Haywood and Sam Phippen from Bristol University.


Flat-out for Pancake Day!

Pupils and staff from across the school were flipping mad on Shrove Tuesday for the first inter-house pancake day race. There were two relay races, one for Years 3 to 6 and their teachers and one from Years 7 to 13 and their teachers. The races were very close but in the end Wollaston pipped the others to the post and finish first in both competitions. The houses will continue to compete across the school in subjects, sport and fundraising before House Challenge Day in July! The final results were: - Year 3 – 6: Wollaston 1st , Percival 2nd , Pears 3rd and Winkworth 4th Year 7 – 13: Wollaston 1st, Winkworth 2nd, Percival 3rd and Pears 4th.

Strengthening Links with Mozambique We have not had any contact with our link school in Beira for several months since Catharine Bass, the VSO officer who facilitated the communication between our schools, was relocated to Vilanculos. However, this situation should hopefully be resolved soon as we are helping the school ‘May 1st’ to purchase a dongle and 12 months’ internet access with monies donated kindly at our Christmas production. A Bristol University student, who acted as a translator for us during the visit of the head teacher and teacher to CHS last March, is currently on a placement in Beira as part of his Portuguese degree. He has offered to help set up the internet connection. It will be very exciting to finally have email contact between our schools and it will open up many possibilities of activities we can do to strengthen our link in the future.

The Bristol/Beira link would like to thank the members of Clifton High School who purchased recently calendars with images of Beira. We were able to send this charity a cheque for £125 which will be used for projects in Beira supported by Bristol. Please come and see our recent display in Ogilvie House

about the lives of children in Mozambique, with

photographs of some of the children that Foundation

Stage Staff had the privilege to meet in Beira. There is also

a new number line in the outdoor area using images from

our previous visits to Beira.


CHS Gets Ready for Tournaments and Tag Rugby

There’s a busy month ahead for the CHS team selectors!

Some of our Year 2 rugby players will be getting their first taste of competitive tag rugby when we host a 7-a-side tournament on 16th March. This is the second time we have run the tournament on the grassed area at CHS and this year we have four teams taking part: Northleaze Primary, Worlebury St Paul’s Primary, Clifton College and Clifton High. The nature of the competition dictates that we will be fielding one CHS team and the enthusiasm and commitment of our children is going to make team selection quite a challenge. We look forward to a great day’s sport as, in the afternoon, we are hosting a much bigger Year 4 football tournament at Coombe Dingle. This will see twelve teams battling to be crowned champs and the standard of competition promises to be very high. The following week, on Tuesday 20th March, we are holding our fourth annual Year 5 Netball tournament on the netball courts at the main school site, when seven teams will be participating in what is always a highly competitive event. Come on CHS!

Can you feel the Love? Students in Year 8 Chemistry lessons were shocked to learn about the negative effect our lifestyles can have upon the environment. When they learnt about the amount of rubbish society creates they decided to

do something positive about the situation. The students had a go at creating their own recycled paper. A small group of pupils then gave up several lunch breaks to create 50 Valentine cards, incorporating their recycled paper into their designs. Mrs Baños was on hand to offer expert craft tips and bonbons! The cards looked fantastic and the students raised £53 by selling them to friends, family and members of staff. The students are going to put the money to good use — they will be sponsoring an orang-utan through the WWF.

Sunny Studies Last week we were privileged to be visited by one of the very supportive members of the Bristol Astronomical Society (BAS). John Willis brought with him a 6 inch reflecting telescope for Clifton High School to keep on an extended loan, with a Baader filter sheet. Additionally we now have, temporarily, the Society’s Personal Solar Telescope (PST). Both of these instruments will allow us to study

the sun. Mr Willis told the Astronomy Club about the new 18 inch telescope that has recently been installed at the BAS observatory in Failand. The observatory is open every clear Saturday night. Up-to-date opening details can be found on the BAS website (http://www.bristolastrosoc.org.uk/wb/index.php). If any friends of Clifton High would like to visit the observatory please send an e-mail to Dr Camacho ([email protected]) or to BAS directly ([email protected]). Visiting is free and Jupiter and its moons are currently a spectacular sight through a big telescope. A huge ‘thank you’ to the BAS, and Mr Willis in particular, for the loan of this valuable equipment which will allow our budding astronomers to satisfy their thirst for knowledge about our local star.

WARNING: Never look directly at the sun, and especially not through a telescope as this may result in permanent damage to sight including blindness.

http://www.bristolastrosoc.org.uk/wb/index.php

http://www.bristolastrosoc.org.uk/wb/index.php

mailto:[email protected]



Paris in the Winter! Thirty Year 11 and 12 students started half term in Paris. Hopes of early spring weather were crushed on the first evening as we walked the ten icy minutes to Notre Dame to enjoy the floodlit cathedral, a distant glimpse of the Eiffel tower and the sheer excitement of being in Paris.

Trying to look chic despite thermal underwear and multiple layers, we spent four days walking along the Seine, exploring Montmartre, the Marais and the Champs Élysées, visiting the Musée d’Orsay, the Louvre, Versailles and, of course, climbing the Eiffel Tower.

The freezing temperatures limited our time on the roof of the Tour Montparnasse and kept us out of the park at Versailles. The sun shone brightly and a brilliant time was had by all.

A Budding Actor It is always pleasing to see examples of the success achieved by our pupils. Barney Picton from Year 6 has already performed in many plays and films, but it was still pleasing to hear that a film in which Barney played the lead role has been chosen to be included in an educational initiative in India. As you will see from the poster, the film also recently featured in a film festival in Stoke. We watch your burgeoning career in film with great interest, Barney.


CHS Factor 2

Year 2 children have once again experienced an additional coaching session by members of our specialist PE team who delivered sessions on soccer and unihoc at our Coombe Dingle Sports Centre. These are both popular sports that our Junior children are able to play competitively from Year 3 onwards.

Playground Buddies

Our playground buddies have worked brilliantly offering support and friendship to those children who may feel a little lonely a break times. Here you see Amy, Macy, William and Tom all proudly wearing their coloured bibs which means they are easy to recognise by even our youngest children. Well done Year 2 – you are helping all your younger friends!

CHS Factor 2 continued

Our up and coming Year 2 sports children learnt new skills, are developing in confidence and agility all the time, and were thrilled to receive recognition awards from Mr Collins and Mrs Winn.


Trails Through Terrace Gardens

Reception 2 wrapped up warmly and went on a winter walk around Worcester Terrace gardens. The gardens looked very different to when we went on our previous walk in the autumn. The children recorded their journey using natural materials to make a visual map of the route that they took.

We cooked hot dogs on our portable gas stove to warm ourselves up at the end. The children were excited to see all the footprints that they had left behind them in the snow and were interested to see the footprints of other visitors such as birds.

Evolving Lower School Maths The Lower School staff, after a busy 2010-2011 researching and trialling alternative maths schemes, finally chose Abacus Evolve which we felt met the requirements of the Renewed Maths Framework (produced by the Government in the Primary National Strategy) and would certainly benefit our children. We introduced it in September 2011 for Years 1 to 6 and now, halfway through this year, thought the parents would be keen to have an update on how maths is evolving in the Lower School. Abacus Evolve is a maths scheme which offers plenty of differentiation for mixed-ability classes, including challenge for our gifted and talented pupils. It is structured and systematic with open ended and problem solving activities. The parents who attended the Lower School Maths Evening in January, were introduced to the new scheme and looked through textbooks and worked at some of the interactive activities that their children have worked through. Ofsted’s view is that maths tasks need to be matched exactly to a child’s level of understanding so throughout the scheme there is clear differentiation and progression with ‘Owl questions’ which extend high-achievers as do the Challenge books. Children requiring more support work through practical activities to ensure they understand the concept before working through written examples. At any point in the latter part of the maths session, children could be working on any one of three differentiated activities. Problem solving is integrated throughout the units and includes word problems, number puzzles, investigations and more. It uses a variety of approaches, e.g. bingo, dice games, sequences and interactive resources for engaging the children’s interest and ensuring maximum participation from all pupils. Homework activities often require support from an older member of the family for the child to engage in a fun activity or game which will consolidate their understanding. So far the new maths has certainly engaged the children and the staff are able to see the benefits of the clearly- presented attractive materials, which are adaptable to our children’s needs and abilities.


Year 6 Get Wet…. Again!

We became inquisitive river investigators this week to ignite our river topic this half term. We did field work around the rivers in our wellie boots, including measuring the flow of the river water. We all stood in the river and dropped corks and measured their speeds over different distances — great fun, ending in a game of “Pooh sticks”!

Then we became scientists and tested the river water to see if there were any chemicals in it. Fortunately, there were normal levels of nitrate, oxygen and chlorine! We also discovered how to test for soft and hard water. Did you know we have hard water in Bristol so it can be difficult to work up soap suds? What an exhausting day! Many thanks to Mrs Tabb and Mrs Barker for organising an informative and action packed trip.


Whizzing Ahead in the Maths Challenge

On Thursday 9th February six excited members of Year 5 set out to represent CHS in the first ever Year 5 Maths Challenge. We had little idea of the activities ahead, only that we wouldn’t need to bring anything with us or be able to ‘swot up’ beforehand. The children all worked in pairs and collaboration in these pairs was actively encouraged. There were seven activities, each lasting eight minutes, such as how to work out particular calculations on calculators with ‘broken’ keys, ordering pentominos, and figuring out a domino jigsaw to more traditional maths such as times tables requirements and shopping list totals. There were 63 teams in all and we fielded a very rewarding 9th place with a score not much below the winners from Millfield School.

Kick-a-Thon

The chosen charity for Wollaston house is CLIC Sargent UK, a charity aiding children with cancer and their families. The school took part in a kick-a-thon in which the pupils paid to take part in a penalty shoot out with Mr Collins in the goal. Even the teachers took part including the science technician Mrs Power and Mr Gunter, for whom we had to decrease the shooting distance and who still only managed to score 1 out of 5! In total we raised £10.50 which we add to the other monies raised on the day. All money raised will be donated to the charity and the final amount announced later in the term after the Readathon has been completed.

Spellathon A reminder to all parents from Year 1 to Year 6. Please can you ensure your child is registered on the Spellathon website by Monday 5th March. During the week of 5th March, children will compete in the online Spellathon Challenge in their ICT lesson. www.spellathon.net

Professor Berman Visits CHS

Professor Berman spoke to the Year 3-13 assembly this week. Professor Berman is a professor of philosophy at the University of St Louis, USA but is lecturing at Bristol University this academic year. His daughter Gili has joined us and is in Year 11.

Addressing an audience ranging in age from 7-18 years can be a daunting task. To explain to them what is meant by philosophy makes the task even more challenging. Professor Berman rose to the challenge and generated much discussion amongst the pupils. Many thanks to Professor Berman for giving his time to deliver the assembly and for making us think about the more fundamental questions facing humanity.

http://www.spellathon.net/


Barry Hutchison’s Friendship Visit On Thursday 8th March we have arranged a visit to Clifton High School by Barry Hutchison, the author of ‘The 13th Horseman’. He will be talking to Years 6, 7 and 8. Barry is an extremely funny and inspiring author who has previously had success with his award-winning Invisible Fiends series, something which horror legend Darren Shan described as “deliciously nightmarish”. Books will be available to buy on the day.

World Book Day This week every student at Clifton High School received a World Book Day book token. All you need to do is take it to your local bookshop and swap it for one of these eight special £1 World Book Day books! Or, if you’d prefer, you can use your book token to get £1 off any full price book instead! You can exchange your book token in Blackwell Books, Durdham Down Bookshop, Waterstones or WHSmith.

What Would You Put in an Anderson Shelter? As part of their theme, Year 4 were set the task of making an Anderson shelter. These are some of the creative models which the children designed and made. Their models were complete with vegetable gardens and included various additions inside the shelters such as tins of food and the potty in case they were there for a long time!

Getting Our Groove on for Sport Relief

On Friday March 23rd the school will be getting active, by gathering together to fund raise for Sport Relief Day. All pupils will be allowed to spend the school day in their mufti sports kit. Pupils may wear their favourite football strip, school PE kit or tracksuits, joggers or any appropriate sporting wear of their choice. All pupils must have trainers to take part in a mass Zumba experience, which will take place during an extended break time on the day, lead by a qualified Zumba instructor!

Pupils and staff will be asked for a minimum £1 donation and hopefully more for the good causes supported by Sport Relief. The Beech café will be closed at break on the day, so pupils are reminded to bring a drink and snack with them, and could even consider donating the money they may have spent in the café to those less privileged then we are. So join in and enjoy the Zumba experience!

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=zumba+logos&um=1&hl=en&safe=active&sa=N&tbm=isch&tbnid=YJFt-dbi1uUMbM:&imgrefurl=http://www.zumbawithcarie.com/&docid=tPoqwfZvwkirHM&imgurl=http://www.zumbawithcarie.com/images/vertical_zumba_logo_v2.jpg&w=278&h=719&ei=HO9MT-G


Arctic Experience for Year 2

To support our topic work on the Arctic our Year 2 children walked along to Bristol Zoo. They encountered an Arctic explorer and wondered at all

the layers of clothing he needed to keep warm in temperatures that can drop to -40o! We learnt about Arctic wildlife and recreated life as a male penguin carefully nurturing eggs balanced on their feet of all places! Our active learning experience concluded with stroking a live ferret and giving a ‘high five’ to a real stuffed polar bear.

Outstanding Success in Netball Tournament Winners The U12 netball team represented school on Wednesday and in glorious sunshine took on six teams. They have only been beaten once this year and have been a focused and determined group of players. All their hard work paid off and they played accurate and controlled netball throughout the tournament. Congratulations to Ella, Lucy, Olivia, Louisa, Alice, Carys, Zephne, Amy and Hannah on winning the Tournament. The results v Bristol Cathedral won 10-0 v Red Maids’ won 5-0 v Colston’s won 4-2 v Redland won 5-1 v Monmouth won 6-3 v St Mary and Temple School won 5-2


Mark Pearn’s Hockey Visit On Monday 20th February we welcomed GB hockey player Mark Pearn, who attended the Yr8 House IN2 Hockey Tournament at 2pm at our playing fields at Coombe Dingle. Mark

is supporting England Hockey’s promotion of the mini-version of the full game re-branded as IN2 hockey, aimed at bringing more youngsters into the game. The school is delighted with Mark’s visit ahead of the Olympic games in which both GB men and women will be competing for their leading countries.

Pictured above: GB hockey player Mark Pearn presenting U13 captain Laura Bentley with the team's county runners-up Trophy. The team are making their final preparations for representing Avon at the West U13 IN2 hockey tournament on March 18th at Millfield.

Pictured below: Year 8 asking questions to Mark Pearn about what they need to do to play for the Great Britain hockey team!

Pictured above: GB hockey player Mark Pearn with year 8 Pears house hockey team who finished second in their annual House tournament.

Netting Wins in the Juniors The Junior school girls have been taking part in a vast netball fixture list covering all age groups over the last few weeks. They have had to battle not only with strong opposition but also the challenges of the British weather. After being inspired by the trip to see Team Bath, the U11 team rose to the challenge extremely well especially against Christchurch School. They played their best netball of the year so far and came out 8-4 winners after a very equal initial first half. They also won against Colston’s in extremely difficult conditions. Both U10 teams lost but they are building to play in the Clifton High U10 tournament on the 20th March. The U9A and B had successes against BGS, Christchurch and Red Maids’ playing the full 7 a side version. On Friday we took all the Year 3 and 4 girls to participate in their first experience of competitive away matches against Colston’s. The format was High Five, which involves rotation of all the children to experience different positions. On the trip over there were many emotions - excitement and angst - but after a fun and chaotic afternoon the children came away having learnt a huge amount and thoroughly enjoying themselves.

Superb Hockey for Year 7, 8 and 9 Boys The year 7, 8 and 9 boys took part in hockey fixtures against Redland Green school. The Year 9 team played an entertaining match and narrowly lost by 5 goals to 4. The Year 7 and 8 boys team performed superbly well and ran out 3-1. Well done to all the boys involved.


Congratulations Issy!

Prior to half term, Issy Hoskins spent time training in Norway with the English Schools’ Ski Squad, which provided valuable experience for the competition that followed. Twelve-year-old Issy competed in the U16 English Alpine Championships in Bormio in Italy over the half term break and finished overall 4th in the slalom event. Other competitors from the home nations secured places in the top four as well, which meant that Issy actually finished equal 2nd in England. Our congratulations go to Issy for this outstanding personal performance. Issy will continue to train with ESSkiA which may offer her the opportunity to attend the World School Games in Italy in 2014, where she will still qualify for the under 16 age group. Issy will next be representing Clifton High at the at the British Schools Championships in Chamonix on 9th and 10th March.

Lucy Catapults into 2012 Sixteen-year-old Lucy Bryan has been performing very comfortably alongside world class athletes at major international indoor athletics events recently. Although all eyes were on UK No 1 Holly Bleasedale at the Aviva Grand Prix in Birmingham on February 18th, Lucy very much caught the public’s attention with a personal best jump

of 4.11 metres. At the England Under 20 indoor athletics championships in Birmingham on 25th February Lucy won the national title with a vault of 3.80 metres. The previous week Lucy came 5th in Sheffield at the Aviva European Indoor trials and UK championships with a jump of 3.90m. Congratulations Lucy - a fantastic start to 2012!

Alysia’s County Swimming Success The county swimming championships are taking place in February and March. Alysia Maestri in Year 5 has started the competitions very successfully, gaining a gold in the 50m breast stroke and a silver in the 50m and 200m freestyle as well as the 50m butterfly. Congratulations and good luck in the other galas!

Alice and Tami Bouncing High Congratulations to Alice Clubb and Tami Dandeniya who recently competed in the North Bristol Trampolining Club Competition. Both girls performed superbly well with Alice coming joint 2nd in the Under 15 category and Tami

coming 4th in the Under 13 category. Well done Alice and Tami.


School Contact Details Tel: 0117 973 0201

For general communication: [email protected] To report an absence: [email protected]

Clifton High Traffic Survey

Mrs Barnes, with the assistance of many parents and staff who have kindly lent their support, has completed the first of a two week survey of dropoff- and pickup-time traffic. The results so far have been enlightening and we look forward to the analysis of the final set of results soon. One aspect that has come to light, however, is that we have some serial offenders who park on the yellow zig-zag lines on a daily basis. A recent Bristol Evening Post article mentioned that 280 fixed-penalty notices had been issued in the single week before February half term to those parking illegally on zig-zig lines outside schools. These infringements had been picked up by a £36,000 mobile enforcement car mounted with cameras.




On disco day, children in Reception to Year 2 may come to school in their “disco gear” to avoid the need to change at the end of the school day.

Disco

Wednesday 28th March 2012

Reception – Year 2: 3.45pm - 5pm

Years 3 - 6:

5.30pm - 7pm

Tickets £3 in advance or £3.50 on the door

(includes drink and packet of crisps.)

Venue: The Beech Room & Main Hall

Please put payment in a named envelope by

27th March 2012 and pop into one of the PA

boxes.

EEEaaasssttteeerrr HHHooollliiidddaaayyy DDDrrraaammmaaa CCCooouuurrrssseee Devising workshops based on fairytales

with a performance at the end

Sun 15th April 2pm to 5pm Mon 16th April 9am to 5pm Tues 17th April 9am to 5pm Wed 18th April 9am to 5pm Thurs 19th April 9am to 5pm (with an evening public performance of work 7pm to 9pm)

Open to Year 7- 13; max 45 places To book a place e-mail Mrs Malpass [email protected] Hurry because numbers are restricted!

Cost of the Course: £50

TICKETS FOR THE

CHORAL CONCERT CAN ALSO BE

BOUGHT ON THE NIGHT.

010 2nd march 2012

Documents

Transcript of 010 2nd march 2012