N e w s l e t t e rFebruary 2015 Issue 51

what an incredibly busy term this has been … and that was before the snow arrived to provide us with an extra challenge.

thank you to all parents and carers for your support during the adverse weather conditions - we will always keep our website and twitter account updated of any changes to the school day due to the weather.

As you would expect, we don’t stand still at skipton Girls’ and as we start 2015 we are keen to ensure our progress continues. last August we heard that our application to deliver school Centred Initial teacher training (sCItt) had been successfully granted by the Dfe. this means that from september 2015 we will be delivering the PGCe course with Master accreditation, in partnership with leeds trinity University. throughout the next term we will be holding Open mornings at different Alliance schools for anyone interested in pursuing a career in teaching - to find out more please do read the featured article inside this Newsletter.

Our Year 8 students are busy making their GCse choices and will have the opportunity to discuss subject choices and next steps with teachers at the Year 8 Curriculum Parents’ evening on Monday 23rd February 2015 from 6pm. we appreciate making these choices may feel daunting and complex, so provide students with plenty of personalised support, advice and guidance leading up to the decision.

throughout this term the senior leadership team have had the pleasure of interviewing all of our Year 11 students in preparation for their Post 16 choices. the wealth of extra-curricular activities our students are involved in is so impressive whilst studying for their GCse examinations; it was heartening to learn about how our Year 11 students balance school and life and some of the things they do to support or volunteer in their local

communities. they are wonderful role models for our younger students!

Finally, I hope you find this Newsletter informative, giving you a flavour of life at skipton Girls’ High school. From the end of March 2015 we will be launching our new look websites - in the meantime we hope you can find the information you are looking for, if not, do let us know.

Mrs J Plews Head Teacher

An Update from Mrs Plews

As you would expect we don’t stand still at skipton Girls’ and as we start 2015 we are keen to ensure our progress continues.

Page 2 // skipton Girls’ High school Newsletter // Issue 51

February 2015 editorial

the lights were set low, the excitement before the event was growing, and the stage was set for a fantastic celebration. Yes, on 7th January, it was our annual A level Prizegiving evening for our girls who left sGHs in the summer of 2014. Mrs Plews, our Headteacher, gave an inspiring speech praising the former students on their outstanding results which were truly excellent. we also welcomed back as guest speaker one of our former students, sally Ormiston, who is now an extremely successful businesswoman. sally has gone on to work for Deloitte and was the company’s Command, Control and Communications lead at the 2012 Olympic Games in london. Please read the full article inside. the evening concluded with a buffet and girls, along with their parents, caught up with friends and their former teachers. As always, we wish all our student leavers of 2014 the very best for the future.

well done also to a small group of Year 9 students who are studying GCse Computer science. they joined teachers in representing our school in london at the annual Bett show this term, presenting their projects to an audience of teachers and delegates from schools all over the world. the girls came up with a set of products including a robotic Dyson vacuum cleaner which is controlled by thoughts, a robot drinks maker and an automated bedroom blind which opens and closes on its own. All these amazing gadgets were fully functional and will no doubt become available in the near future. I will definitely be ordering the vacuum cleaner which I will look forward to operating by just mind control!

Our strong links with rolls royce continue to grow and ten members of our steM club visited the rolls royce factory at Barnoldswick to see for themselves how science, technology, engineering and Maths are put into practice. the next phase of this programme is an outward bound leadership course in wales funded by rolls royce. It is worth mentioning that the two rolls royce engineering mentors are both former sGHs students who studied engineering at our school. this is proof indeed that we are breaking down gender stereotyping at our school with girls entering many different steM (science, technology, engineering and Mathematics) courses at universities and then pursuing steM related careers.

Our History department have also been busy and on the 3rd of February we had our Year 9 visit to York Castle Museum. Our young students were clearly moved by the world war One section in which they travelled from the start of the war to its end in 1918. students experienced the life of the soldiers in the trenches and the impact it had on our brave soldiers fighting for our country at that time. Keeping their memory alive and recognising the sacrifices they made is something very important and visits like this are designed to do just this. students said it was a great experience and they learned a great deal from the day.

Diagnostic radiography was on the agenda at the University of Bradford last month when our Medics society received a visit from one of the radiography lecturers from the University. the role of the radiographer within the NHs and the various types of equipment they use on a daily basis were all discussed

along with current issues facing the NHs such as waiting time targets in A&e and litigation. well worth reading, this article draws attention to key topics currently under discussion by all our major political parties in this General election year.

this is just a preview of some of the many interesting and diverse articles in this half term’s Newsletter. Please enjoy reading the full Newsletter and, as always, feel free to give feedback on anything you read.

Mr Dyson Senior Assistant Headteacher

Issue 51 // skipton Girls’ High school Newsletter // Page 3

Girls who left sGHs in the summer of 2014 returned to school on 7th January 2015 for a special A level Prizegiving ceremony. Before their A level certificates were awarded, there was an address from Mr Martin Kelly (Chair of Governors) in which he summarised the year’s achievements. Mrs Plews then gave a speech praising the former students on their outstanding results and individual achievements.

Mrs McMillan acted as compère for the evening and welcomed sally Ormiston to the stage. sally is a former sGHs student who has gone on to work for Deloitte; as part of this role, she was the company’s Command, Control and Communications lead at the 2012 Olympic

Games in london. After presenting the students with their certificates, sally then spoke about her experiences since leaving sGHs and the importance of seeking out opportunities once you enter the world of work.

A full list of prize winners can be seen on the next page. to find out more about the leavers’ destinations, please visit the school website: www.sghs.org.uk/2014-leaver-destinations/

On behalf of all the staff we would like to wish all the student leavers of 2014 the very best for the future, and don’t forget to keep in touch!

A level Prizegiving evening

Page 4 // skipton Girls’ High school Newsletter // Issue 51

Prize winners

Head Girl sophie O’Hara

Deputy Head Girls Charlotte reay & Frankie leighton

Jessie Broadbent Prize for Highest Academic Achievement

lorna wills

Jackson Bell Award for service to the school

Frankie leighton

longden smith Prize for Best All round student

sian stott (pictured, left, with her Prize)

the Julie Hyde Memorial Award for endeavour

tara stokes

Jean walker Prize for Art eppie westwood

Helen Hogg Prize for engineering

Imogen Doyle

Monica sanderson Prize for english

Heather Booton

Felicia larner Prize for Drama

sophie Howarth (Year 12)

enid wise Prize for Mathematics

rachel Newhouse

the Olive Harries trophy for languages

Jenny Hutchinson

the Grace stapleton Award for Medical science

Charlotte reay

sarah woolmer Prize for History

eleanor rice-Birchall

Individual Attainment Awards

Abbie Peach, rita Haynes, Anne Cockshott & Charlotte Alton

subject Prize winners

Biology Katherine Moran

Business studies sally Clarke

Chemistry elizabeth roulston

english language ella sandoe

english literature Frances Ketteman

Further Maths lorna wills

General studies Anne Cockshott

Geography Natalie Brown

Government & Politics ellie Maudsley

Music Catherine Hosker

Pe Georgina smith

Physics rosemary tawn

Philosophy & ethics/re Jenni Green

Psychology Martha radley

Issue 51 // skipton Girls’ High school Newsletter // Page 5

students studying GCse Computer science joined teachers in representing our school in london at the annual Bett show this term. Charlotte south and rosie Owen-James (Year 9) have been working on a series of innovative projects at the weekly Computing Club and their hard work got noticed!

the director of CBis education - Chris Burgess, kindly sponsored the school to send both students, along with Mr Kuznetsov and Miss smith, to london for 2 days to show off their project to an audience of teachers and delegates from schools all over the world at the prestigious show.

the girls were tasked with creating their idea of “the bedroom of the future” and came up with a set of

products including a robotic Dyson vacuum cleaner which is controlled by your thoughts, a robot drinks maker and an automated bedroom blind which opens and closes on its own.

the projects were put together by the girls and used a raspberry Pi to control their functions. the girls have excelled in learning to program this year as part of their course and have had some amazing feedback on their project at the show.

the Bett show happens every year with an aim to exhibit the best in educational technology available from some of the world’s biggest manufacturers. there were also guest speakers at the show such as the founder of wikipedia,

Jimmy wales and the UK education secretary, Nicky Morgan.

we all had a fantastic time at Bett 2015 and I’m very proud of how the girls represented our school at the show. we are now looking forward to building a humanoid robot for our next project!

Mr Kuznetsov Curriculum Leader: Design Technology

sGHs Computer science at the 2015 Bett show

Page 6 // skipton Girls’ High school Newsletter // Issue 51

On tuesday 20th January, ten members of steM club visited the rolls royce factory at Barnoldswick to see for themselves how science, technology, engineering and Maths are put into practice. the visit started with us receiving our safety equipment comprising of safety boots and googles, followed by a brief presentation about the company and the varied work of each division. In total, there are 11,000 people employed at rolls royce and they generate 40 billion pounds worth of orders!

the Barnoldswick division is responsible for the production of fan blades for the trent family of gas turbine engines; these are the large blades at the front of the engine that you see when boarding an aircraft. After the presentation, we were given a tour of the production facility accompanied by Megan and Amy who are apprentice engineers and ex-sGHs pupils.

the process begins with titanium sheets that form the basis of the finished fan blade. three sheets of titanium are bonded together to make a sandwich which is then twisted into shape before being heated in a furnace to 900 degrees and inflated with argon to stretch the inner cavity. this process requires an engineer to stand at the open furnace door wearing a heat resistant suit, which we were allowed to try on!

we learnt that titanium is used because of its light weight, strength, and high melting point. each blade has to withstand the weight equivalent of thirteen double-decker buses when at full speed. the secret manufacturing process invented by rolls royce creates a hollow blade which is light, efficient but yet very strong.

there are 20 fan blades in each engine with each fan blade being worth as much as the average family car. each blade has a slightly different mass and frequency which determines its position in the final engine assembly so that the engine runs smoothly. the fan blades produce 75% of the engine’s thrust and each engine will fly 50 million miles in its lifetime, shifting 1.2 tonnes of air per second. this makes it the most efficient engine flying in the world.

During our visit, we witnessed some of the most advanced engineering technology currently available and it is happening on our doorstep. It seemed like a really exciting and rewarding place to work with lots of opportunities. so next time you fly on holiday, spare a thought for the technology involved in getting you there!

Katie Reader Year 10

Year 10 steM Club Visit to rolls royce, Barnoldswick

Issue 51 // skipton Girls’ High school Newsletter // Page 7

On the 3rd of February we went to York Castle Museum as our Year 9 history trip organised by Ms Doyle.

we travelled on a coach to reach the museum at around 10:30am. Once we had got into our groups we split up to look at the exhibitions. Our group entered the ww1 section. we travelled from the start of ww1 to the end in 1918. we experienced the life of the people in the trenches, the impact it had on everyone and what it was like to be at home during that time.

From here we travelled to the sixties exhibition, where we were met with bright colours, a booming juke box and the original series of Doctor who (and a Dalek). From this led the entrance to the dungeons/ prison in which we discovered the awful conditions the inmates lived with; quite a few were debtors. the cells were dismal and the projected images and voices told us what it was like. we discovered some interesting facts on crime and punishment, for example it took until 1964 before hanging was abolished.

After this we had a quick look around the shop before heading off to lunch.

then we went through a section of replicated rooms from different time periods and classes along with the toys for that time period. this lead onto a beautifully replicated Victorian street; which included multiple rescued shops that had been renovated to create the effect of one full street.

It was a great experience and the staff were very helpful!

Abi Gleghorn Year 9

Year 9 trip to York Castle Museum

the As Biologists are studying Cell division, specifically Mitosis, and have just done a root tip squash of garlic roots. this microscope slide was prepared by ellie Chapman and the photo was taken by lydia Otulakowski. Can you spot the cells in different stages of mitosis?

Mrs L Katterfield Teacher of Biology

РУССКИЙ ЯЗЫКrussian club has started again on Monday lunchtimes with Mrs. Berry. some Year 7 and 8 girls and Miss Hassell from the english department are enjoying getting to grips with a new alphabet as well as learning some basic conversation. How many of these cognate words can you match up?

МОСКВА КОСМОС МОТОР НОC

ТАНК ТРАКТОР НЕТ МЕТРО

НЕРВ РЕСТОРАН АППЕТИТ ВОДКА

ДА ДОСТОЕВСКИЙ ИДИОТ ТУРИСТ

КОФЕ МИР ЛИФТ ПУДИНГ

РОСТБИФ СПУТНИК ТОЛСТОЙ ПАСПОРТ

ТАКСИ ЧАЙКОВСКИЙ ЧЕХОВ БОРЩ

Nerve restaurant Appetite Vodka

taxi tchaikovsky Chekov Borsch

Da Dostoyevsky Idiot tourist

Coffee Mir lift Pudding

Moscow (Moskva) Cosmos Motor Nose

tank tractor No (nyet) Metro

roast beef sputnik tolstoy Passport

Diagnostic radiography at the University of Bradford

last month the Medics society were fortunate enough to receive a visit from one of the radiography lecturers from the University of Bradford. His talk included an interesting look at the role of the radiographer within the NHs and the various types of equipment they use on a daily basis. As I have recently applied to study Diagnostic radiography at university in september, I found the talk very useful, especially in preparation for my upcoming interviews. we discussed many of the current issues facing the NHs such as waiting time targets in A&e and litigation, which are key topics to understand in preparation for any medical interview and also a future career within the NHs.

Lucy Hirst Year 13

Post 16 News

Issue 51 // skipton Girls’ High school Newsletter // Page 9

the As level Business studies course at skipton Girls’ High school consists of two units of coursework and a finance exam at the end of the academic year. From the start of the As course in september, we looked at the marketing side of running a business, with our main focus on wM Morrisons. we used information from Morrisons about their marketing techniques in order to complete our first coursework unit; with a deadline of December 2014. After the Christmas holidays, we began our second unit of coursework which focused on recruitment within a business. For this piece of Coursework, we focused on skipton Building society. After researching and writing up about the different aspects of recruitment within a business, we progressed to designing our own recruitment process in small groups.

Designing our own recruitment process included writing our own recruitment documents; for example a job description, a person specification, and an application form. After completing these individual tasks, we then worked in our groups to decide on our interview questions and a structure for the interview. Once our process had been finalised, we went to visit the head office of skipton Building society in order for us to experience recruitment in a working environment. Our visit to the business began with a talk from the recruitment team who

gave us a brief history of skipton Building society, and then went on to explain how they would carry out their recruitment

process. we then split off into our groups and carried out our interviews with members of staff acting as applicants to the receptionist role we were interviewing for. After analysing the different ‘candidates’ we then all met back together and discussed the strengths and weaknesses of our interviews. Finally the recruitment team gave us some advice on designing an effective recruitment process, which we took away with us in order to improve our coursework. the visit to skipton Building society’s head office was very effective in allowing our Business class to witness recruitment within a working environment and helped us to improve our interviewing and recruitment skills which will continue to help us as we continue through our As and A2 Business studies course.

Agatha Cooper Year 12

As Business studies visit to skipton Building society

Post 16 News

Page 10 // skipton Girls’ High school Newsletter // Issue 51

Our products are now packaged and ready to be sold: our Power Purse is retailing at £19.99 and our personal alarms are being sold from £4.99.

For more information a catalogue has been sent out to your simply Click accounts and we also have a promotional video which is available to watch on the school website and on the school Youtube channel.

Currently we are busy preparing for our first competition which is on the 18th March. we will be selling our products at all upcoming parents’ evenings and they are also available on Parentpay. we are also busy organising our official product launch

on the 12th March where we hope to have the Police there to help us promote personal safety and also demonstrations of what to do if we were ever found in a situation where our safety was at risk. we will also have local businesses holding stalls of gifts, beauty and food and other entertainment. More information about our event will follow nearer the time.

For more information about the products or event, please contact us on our Facebook page:‘My Guardian Angel’, our twitter: @YEGuardianAngel or via our email, myguardianangelpurse@gmail.com

Young enterprise Update

Post 16 News

A promotional video for the girls’ products is now available on the school website at: www.sghs.org.uk

It is also available on the school Youtube channel. Just search for ‘Skipton Girls’

Issue 51 // skipton Girls’ High school Newsletter // Page 11

the Government and Politics groups waited with anticipation for the visit from the skipton and ripon Constituency, Mr Julian smith on Friday 6th February. Mr smith had squeezed a visit into his busy schedule as the General election looms in May and he said that he was looking forward to answering questions from our students.

On his arrival, the atmosphere was relaxed as Julian leant nonchalantly against a table and gave a brief introduction into his life at westminster. He also explained how he is committed to supporting his constituents and was with George Osborne and David Cameron the previous day in the Dales, discussing the problems that dairy farmers are currently experiencing.

Once the floor was opened to the students, the questions came thick and fast ranging from ‘how does the government plan to help young people?’ to the more personal questions such as ‘what made you want to become an MP?’ Caroline Ibbetson said ‘he was interesting and useful to observe his techniques towards answering questions’ and Beth roberts asked several questions regarding how he supports his constituents.

the half hour whizzed by and before Julian left, he offered to arrange another visit or even a visit to the Houses of Parliament with a personalised tour by himself.

Ms S Doyle Teacher of Humanities

local MP Julian smith Visits our Government & Politics Groups

Page 12 // skipton Girls’ High school Newsletter // Issue 51

Year 11 Art trip to liverpool

the beach was breezy but fun and tate liverpool interesting and unique.

Becca and Izzy

Good photos from the beach and the gallery was interesting.

Grace and Nemone

the beach was cold and windy but fun and the sculptures were good but revealing!

Honor and Hannah

Duke of edinburgh News

we are on our way towards the expedition season: come April we will be out on the hills. so at the moment all the groups are working hard planning their practice and assessed routes. And of course all the training that goes with it like campcraft skills, first aid etc.

However, other parts of the Award are going forward, for instance volunteering, when girls maybe help at a charity shop or Brownies, visit a neighbour or perhaps raise money for a charity via a sponsored event.

Or for the skills section: learn a musical instrument, photography, cookery, first aid or even about the four emergency services in our area: Fire, Police, Ambulance and Fell rescue. this opportunity is running at the moment thanks to all the services.

On the surrounding photographs we see a joint course with ermysted’s Grammar school, where students are looking at how the Police combat rioting, or how the Fire Brigade search a smoke-filled room using breathing apparatus. More to come from the Police, the dog section, Crime scene Investigation and hopefully an armed response team. And from Fire and rescue: running out and using hose reels and possibly cutting up a car to show how they rescue a trapped passenger at a road traffic accident!

Next on to Fell rescue, learning about the apparatus they use to get people off the fells in the case of an accident.

they will then take part in a mock fell rescue, where the group will have to find the person and assess the casualty, get them onto a stretcher and get across the moor to the awaiting land rover ambulance.

the last input will be from the Ambulance service, however we are not quite sure what they intend to do.

All of these are new experiences for the young people that are doing their Duke of edinburgh Award.

On Monday 2nd February sue emmerson, an Operations Officer from the North england Award Office, presented the school with its Operating licence, and some girls with their bronze and silver awards. two girls also received gold brooches. they will receive their certificates from the Duke down at st James’s Palace later in the year.

Mr G Fothergill Independent Duke of Edinburgh Coordinator

On Monday 2nd February, sue emmerson presented the school with its Operating licence.

Page 14 // skipton Girls’ High school Newsletter // Issue 51

this september the Northern lights teaching school Alliance launched its new school Centred Initial teacher training programme (sCItt). Continuing the high quality of the school Direct programme running this academic year, trainee teachers will be able to train in core curriculum subject areas in schools located across the Alliance area.

Joining the Northern lights team is emma Hollis-Brown, the new sCItt Director. emma will be based at skipton Girls’ High school and comes with a wealth of experience of teacher training, having run a specialist PGCe programme in london as well as leading training for subject leaders and partnership programmes in Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire.

recruitment to the new sCItt programmes is open and the tsA is running open events for this and for our Primary teacher training from 9.30 am - 12.30 pm in the following school locations:

wednesday 11th February skipton Girls’ High school

Monday 2nd March Harrogate High school

tuesday 17th March Feversham College, Bradford

For more details on the activities of the new sCItt email: hollisbrowne@northernlightstsa.org

If you’re interested in training to be a Primary teacher, please email: schooldirect@northernlightstsa.org

Information is also available on our website: northernlightstsa.org/teacher-training

(Right) Emma Hollis-Brown, the

new SCITT Director for Northern

Lights Teaching School Alliance.

we still have places available for our 2015-16 secondary PGCe courses in the following subjects:

• Biology

• Chemistry

• english

• Geography

• History

• Mathematics

• Physics

• engineering

Courses are offered in partnership with:

Skipton Girls’ High School, Gargrave Road, Skipton, North Yorkshire BD23 1QL

Tel: 01756 707600

Fax: 01756 701068

Email: reception@sghs.org.uk

Website: www.sghs.org.uk

Tweet: @skiptongirls

This Edition, and previous issues of the Newsletter, can also be viewed on the School Website... www.sghs.org.uk/newsletter