015 1st june 2012

Issue 15 1st June 2012

Clifton High School

Chamber Choir sing at Beira Book Launch 2012 sees the 21st Anniversary of the link between Bristol and Beira, Mozambique. To celebrate the relationship between these twinned cities, a book titled ‘Sun, Sea and Solidarity’ has been published. The link between Clifton High School and 1st May School is featured in this book alongside quotes and photographs contributed by Clifton High School staff. There is also an interview with the Head Teacher of 1st May School talking about our link, now in its 6th year, and the impact of her visit to Clifton High School last year. Clifton High School Chamber Choir were invited to sing at the book’s launch at the Central Library. The choir, accompanied by Mr Cleaver, performed 2 songs, one of which ‘I’ve Got The Power In Me,’ aptly echoed aspects of some of the speeches which touched on empowering the people of Beira to build a strong and prosperous future.

The choir impressed their audience of dignitaries including the Lord Mayor and Senora Raivossa, a Mozambican diplomat. Some of the children were interviewed by BCFM.

During the afternoon, Senora Raivossa had a tour of the Lower School and was interviewed by Year 6 children who asked her questions about her country and her role as a diplomat. Please come and have a look at the new display in the Foundation Stage department about the food of Mozambique. It includes a photo of the world famous Mozambican

prawns, enjoyed by Foundation Stage staff on their visits to Beira. There is also a copy of the book if you are interested in finding out more about the link.


Spring Serenade Concert The Spring Serenade concert on Wednesday, 9th May was tinged with a hint of sadness, as it was the last opportunity the departing Year 13s would have to perform in the school hall. However, they were bid farewell in style and took the opportunity to showcase their musical talents. Both Sophie Sturge and Charlie Hanmer-Lloyd sang accomplished solos and performed the duet, What is this Feeling, while the Year 13 Leavers gave a group rendition of When I’m 64 (accompanied by Charlie on guitar) and Fix You by Coldplay. Laura Baines also performed Bach’s Arioso beautifully on the cello. The concert also featured the Senior School’s large ensembles (with a little help from two talented Year 6 pupils). The wind band performed an arrangement of the New World Symphony by Dvořak and were joined by the orchestra for a rousing performance of the Dambusters March. The flute group, which included more students who will be off to pastures new, gave a sensitive performance of the Caribbean Suite by Kelly. The choirs had everybody humming and tapping feet with an Abba medley and Rhythm of Life and the concert was brought to an impressive close with the combined choirs singing Adiemus together, featuring Tabitha Bedford on the flute.

Climate Change Science Café

Climate change – why haven’t we solved it yet? A very good question and one that certainly got the students thinking when Michael Lord, Senior Advisor at the Environmental Agency paid a visit to the Science Café. The causes and effects of climate change have been widely publicised and debated in the media for some time now, but little progress seems to have been made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In his 15 minute presentation, Mr Lord presented students with lots of social, economic and political reasons as to why we are so reliant on the burning of fossil fuels. Lots of exciting, intriguing and novel discussions took place between students as they enjoyed their biscuits and smoothies. There was then just enough time left for the pupils to put their most pressing questions to Mr Lord, who did a very impressive job of answering them. The students were extremely open minded and positive in their responses to such a vast issue. Our next Science Café, and also the last Café of the year will take place on the 18th June. Helen Robson will be visiting from UWE to discuss the differences between forensics as portrayed on the television and in real life. As a special treat, Year 9 pupils will be permitted to come along, to get a taste of what they can expect next year from the Science Café programme. If there are any parents who would be interested in

talking at a Science Café next year, please get in touch.

Creepy Crawlies

Mr Myatt visited Reception 2 to support the work we are doing on insects. Mr Myatt is a Graphic Designer. He told us a bit about his current work designing ‘apps’. He showed the children the process of drawing and colouring pictures of insects on the computer. They had the opportunity to learn how to move these insects across different backgrounds on the interactive whiteboard. Mr Myatt had designed different parts of insects’ bodies for us and the children assembled the parts together again.


Salter’s Chemistry Festival goes with a BANG and a whizz and a pop and a whooshhhh! Harry Miles, Tom Summerill, Lucy Rayter and Laura

Bentley from Year 8 were selected to represent the school

at this year’s Salter’s Chemistry Festival. The day began

with a series of chemistry ‘challenges’ in the Chemistry

Department teaching labs at Bristol University.

The pupils had to work as a team to carry out chemical

investigations using techniques such as chromatography

and flame testing. After lunch there was a short prize

giving ceremony and a

fantastic demonstration of

chemistry experiments

including loud explosions,

balls of flames and liquid

nitrogen. All four agreed

that they had enjoyed a

wonderful day out!

House for Sale

Year 1 recently went on an exciting trip to the Barratt Homes Development at Frampton Cotterell. They explored partially built houses and beautifully designed finished houses as part of their ‘buildings’ topic. Along the way they watched a dazzling display of manoeuvres by diggers, forklift trucks and steamrollers.

What an amazing feat of driving from the Barratt Homes builders! Some of the children even thought the vehicles looked like ‘Transformers’. Thank you to Mrs Gregory and the team at Barratt Homes for organising this unforgettable trip.


Pirates of the Curry Bean

Year 4 have been rehearsing hard this term for their annual play. This year’s production was ‘Pirates of the Curry Bean’ which was performed with real enthusiasm and a sense of fun throughout.

Those of us lucky enough to see it live witnessed an epic performance of music, dance and drama, the like of which will perhaps never be seen again! Very well done to all

the children and staff involved and many thanks to the parents and helpers for costumes, props, make-up and so much more.


Spanish Exchange

During the Easter holidays, from the 30th March to the 14th April, pupils from Years 9 and 10 went to Pamplona in Spain for an exchange visit. This trip gave us an insight into Spanish culture. We spent the first day with our exchange partners getting to know them. On the next three days they were at school, so we visited the beautiful city of Pamplona and on one day we went to Bilbao to the Gügenheim museum. When our partners finished school we all went our own ways to different parts of Spain for the Easter holiday. The exchange was a fantastic opportunity for us to improve our Spanish but we also had an amazing time. We recommend this experience to anyone.

Nadia Clutterbuck and Catherine Allin - Year 9.

Reception 1 Theatre

Reception 1 have recently created their own theatre in their classroom, complete with box office. As well as creating our own tickets and posters for performances, we have created some very imaginative shows and enjoyed an inspiring visit from Mrs. Ramsley-Barrow who told us a little about the history of theatre.

We were intrigued to find out about the importance of theatre for the Ancient Greeks and loved making our own Greek-

style face masks, which we later used on stage.

Morganville Vampires Competition

In order to celebrate the release of the twelfth book in Rachel Caine’s bestselling Morganville Vampires series, the Upper School Library will be giving away a Morganville

Vampires tote bag filled with Morganville goodies AND a signed copy of the latest book. In order to win you must write a book review of no more than 300 words and put it in the competition box in the Fiction Library by Friday 15th June. Don’t forget to write your name and tutor group on your entry. Good luck!


Junior Boys’ Sport The Under 10 boys recently took part in an exhibition match against a Bristol and District development squad, which included the top players from this age group in Bristol. On a sunny Saturday morning, the boys performed superbly well with some excellent bowling, fielding and batting. It was a fantastic experience for the boys to play against opposition that was very strong. The boys eventually lost the fixture but performed to an excellent level and they will no doubt benefit from this experience. The school has now formed a unique link with Bristol and District which means that some of our boys will now attend trials for the U10 category in August this year. An extremely worthwhile experience!

The Under 8 and Under 9 boys recently played in a Kwik cricket fixture against St John’s and performed very well. Some excellent batting led to a fantastic 40 run victory. Well done boys.

U11 Tennis result versus Clifton College The Under 11’s played their first tennis match against Clifton College on Tuesday 15th May. They played very well despite the adverse weather conditions to begin with! One never really expects hail in mid May…! Chloe and Charlotte lost 3-8, Andrew and Dan lost 7-12, Isabel and Alysia lost 4-7 and Rahul and Harry won 7-3. The overall score was 23-30. Well done to all who played and thank you to Miss Poustie for taking them.

Girls’ KS2 Rounders

Since the weather picked up, the girls have participated in numerous matches and have produced some excellent results. The first match of the year for Year 5 and 6 was against Clifton College - 2nds U11 lost and U10 won.

Year 4 then played against a full Clifton College team and this resulted in a draw.

The Year 6 team lost against BGS but the Year 5s won with a large margin with fantastic hitting and fielding skills. The Year 5 team went on to play Red Maids’ and produced a 26-6 win. The B team, playing in their first match, had a steep learning curve and learnt a lot about making decisions but lost to a stronger hitting Red Maids’ side.

The Year 4 teams played against Colston’s School and both teams won. Their standard improved throughout the game along with their decision making and confidence. It was lovely to see the way that they supported each other. They will be playing in a rounders festival after half term.

Athletics results An U10/11 CHS boys’ athletics team competed against Sidcot on Tuesday 29th May. The events were 50m sprint, 150m and 600m races, long jump, shot putt and a 4x100m relay to finish. With only the relay to go, CHS were one point behind but by winning the relay we managed to force a very creditable draw 30 points all. Well done!

Senior Boys’ Sport The Year 8 and 9 boys have taken part in two cricket fixtures already this term. The first fixture was against Sidcot, which the boys won by a lengthy margin. The boys eventually beat Sidcot by over 50 runs. The Year 8 boys took part in their annual fixture against Beechen Cliff School, Bath and also produced some excellent cricket. The boys won again by a comfortable margin by 30 runs, taking many wickets along the way due to some superb bowling. The Year 7 and Year 8 tennis team have played many fixtures already this term with the highlights coming in the form of a victory against QEH and beating St Bedes school. Well done to all of the boys involved.


Half Term Cricket

With Mr. Thompson

and Gary Phillips

Wednesday 6

th June - Friday 8

th June

Venue: Old Bristolians’ Cricket Club

Times: 10am-3pm each day

Ages: 6-12 years old (5 year olds on Friday only)

Cost: £25 a day or £60 for the course

Booking:

[email protected]


Prep Children We would politely request that all Prep children entering school in the morning are accompanied by an adult or older sibling all the way into the Prep building. We have been alarmed recently that children of 5 years old have been dropped off outside school and required to make their own way to the building and their classroom. Your help is much appreciated.

School Contact Details Tel: 0117 973 0201

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

Nursery School Interest in our Nursery School for September 2012 is very encouraging and we are delighted that Mrs Denyer-Warr, ably assisted by Mrs Clancy, will be teaching full-time from September to cater for the increased interest in our “Outstanding” provision.

Women’s History Network Following her successful lectures at the Smithsonian and at Kings College, Cambridge last year, Dr Alison McClean (Head of History and Government and Politics) has been invited to address the annual conference of the Women’s History Network at Cardiff University in September. Dr McClean has also had an article accepted for publication by the “Ransom Edition”, the Journal of the Harry Ransom Centre for Research in Humanities at the University of Texas, where Dr McClean was a Visiting Fellow in 2010/11.

Nursery School – Year 6 Dates for your diary 13/6 KS1 Summer Concert, Main Hall, 1545 14/6 Year 2 PGL Information Evening, 3V classroom,

1930 18/6 Nursery Music Workshop, Prep basement, 1500 20/6 KS2 Instrumentalists’ Concert, New Hall, 1545 21/6 Reception Music Workshop, New Hall, 1030.

KS2 Summer Concert, Main Hall, 1830 for 1900. 23/6 Rose Day 25/6 World Sport Day – School Sports Day at Coombe

Dingle Sports Centre (See separate letter for details) 26/6 Sports Day reserve date 27/6 Starting in Reception Evening, 1915, Beech Room

and Main Hall 28/6 Juniors’ swimming gala, 1400 30/6 Summer Fair, 1200-1500, Coombe Dingle

Annual Pearson Teaching Awards

Our very own Mr Manolis Psarros has received a very special set of personal ‘thank yous’ from students at Clifton High for his innovative teaching of Classics. Submitted to this year’s Thank a Teacher initiative organised by leading learning company Pearson, the messages have become nominations for the annual Pearson Teaching Awards. These nominations are handed over to the teams of judges, many of whom are Teaching Awards winners themselves and who might even come and visit Clifton High to see the brilliant teaching for themselves. Whatever the outcome, we think this shows exactly the calibre of teaching at the School and the profound effect it has on the students and their learning. Our many congratulations go to Mr Psarros. A selection of the wonderful comments made about him: “He’s amazing” “He has a unique way of teaching people “He makes Latin and Greek exciting and relevant to now” And breaking news - we have just heard that Mrs Sue Archer has also been nominated for an Award. Congratulations to them both!

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

015 1st june 2012

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