Cardinal Allen Catholic High School

School Newsletter February 2017 Name: …………………………...

INTERACT GROUP NOW OFFICIAL!

Up to date news items, reminders and comments relevant to the education of our pupils and our work in the community.

Now with over 1400 followers. @cardinalallen

Our Interact group is now official! Rotary President Roy Haskett presented our students with the Certificate of Recognition (equivalent to the Rotary Charter) that means our Interact Club is now official and recognised under the rules &

regulations of Rotary International. The Club are currently working on Water Aid Day and the Pet Show—details of which are contained in this newsletter.

SCHOOL COUNCIL NEWS

The function of a School Council is to listen, represent, consult and co-operate, inform and investigate!! With this in mind, the student council have been working hard listening to your opinions and putting them into action. A reminder that we are now on Twitter! If you have a Twitter account, please follow @CASchoolCouncil for regular updates about what is being discussed during our meetings. Working with the Eco group at school, Mr Harding continues to inform us that litter can still be a problem in and around school. Always bin your litter! A special thank you to CAFCA who have generously provided us with four new school benches to be placed in the courtyard. Charity Fundraising: Last November we welcomed ex student and current Miss Lancashire 2016, Olivia Seed. Olivia currently represents and fundraises for Variety, the Children’s Charity. Variety supports children throughout the UK who are sick, disabled or disadvantaged. Olivia spoke to the school council about her work with Variety, her fundraising activities and how money raised went towards local children and schools. In December, we welcomed Olivia back to school with guest Cameron Scott, Vice Chairman of the local North West Variety. Cardinal Allen’s Head Boy and Head Girl, Jamie Johnson and Sofia Raseta were delighted to present them with a cheque to help support this amazing charity.

For the third year, CAHS have taken part in the Save the Children Christmas Jumper Day. Our local children’s hospice, Brian House also invited us to hold a Festive Dress Up Day to raise funds for their 21st anniversary this year.

The council voted to amalgamate the two events and split the money raised between the two charities. Pictured enjoying the Christmas festivities in the Aquinas Centre are some of our senior team and students proudly wearing their Christmas jumpers. In January we welcomed Emma Padgett, Community Fundraiser for Brian House who spoke to the council about the outstanding work and support that the hospice offers to local families. We were delighted to

present Brian House Hospice with a donation which will help keep Brian House open and provide special care to the 86 families they currently support. Both charities have since sent thank you letters and certificates which are displayed on the School Council notice board. A massive thank you to the students, staff and families at Cardinal Allen who help support our chosen charities and who make a huge difference to so many lives across the world and the Fylde Coast. House of Lords Visitor: We recently received confirmation from the Lord Speaker’s office at the House of Lords confirming that on March 17th Lord Goddard of Stockport will be visiting our school council as part of the “Peers in Schools” outreach programme. We look forward to welcoming Lord Goddard and hearing more about what the House of Lords do and learning about politics and parliament. We are open to any suggestions and try our hardest to make the school a better place, so if you have any concerns or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to approach the council- WE ARE HERE FOR YOU!

YOUR SCHOOL COUNCIL – YOUR VOICE!

Present a PET SHOW on Saturday Ist April in our School Hall 2-4pm. The categories are as follows:

Proceeds to the RSPCA Entry- £1.00 per person— Pet entry- (and owner) £2 .00 for 2 categories. Please contact Mr Harding to reserve a place: Tel 01253 872659 or email a.harding@cardinalallen.co.uk Please note that due to a current local bird flu infection we cannot accept birds in this show. Please can pets be brought in suitable containers. Dogs on leads please . CAFCA Meetings: A big thank you to the NEST and Safehaven teams who delivered really informative workshops to parents on identifying the risk of Sexual exploitation in today’s digital age. The next CAFCA meeting is 27th February at 6pm in PE1. All parents are most welcome to attend. ECO—Big School Birdwatch: Many schools in our Eco cluster have been involved with the RSPB big school birdwatch. This is an annual survey to gauge the population health of our country’s bird population. Apart from our usual high numbers of gulls and magpies we also spotted an increased number of starlings, geese and oystercatchers compared to previous years.

Please complete and return the slip below if you would like to enter our PET SHOW. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. I would like to reserve places in the following categories _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ My pet’s name is ________________________________ I wish to purchase ____ tickets for the show________________________ My Name ______________________________Contact number___________________________ I enclose payment of £_____ (Cheques made payable to Cardinal Allen High School please)

Community News

‘Waggiest’ Dog Tail Loudest Dog

Poshest Dog Scruffiest Dog

Best Behaved Dog Best Dog Trick

‘Smiliest’ Pet Fashion Rabbit

Fluffy Bunny Cutest Hamster

Pretty Kitty (Pictures only) Grumpiest Cat (Pictures only)

Fattest Guinea Pig Strangest Pet

Most Affectionate reptile Fastest Snail

Best Looking Pet Best Dressed Pet

Woodland: Our Eco group have been busy developing a bird watching hide, and a new pathway through our woodland in recent weeks. Our resident woodpeckers have been enjoying our bird boxes which are now being repaired. Litter: Our most recent litter analysis is showing a big increase in ‘chewit’ wrappers. Please can these sweets not be brought into school. Darts: Our darts group numbers are encouraging. We meet every Thursday in the community room and will soon be ready to compete against other schools D of E Night Navigation walks: Our night navigation walks are now complete as we prepare for

our practise expeditions next half term. Transgenerational IT group: This national award winning group meets every Tuesday 3.05- 4.15 with the aim of improving IT skills for older members of our community. Tuition is delivered by students from Cardinal Allen and is tailormade for your individual needs. This term we are working on a project, ‘Hobbies’

MFL News

December 2016 saw yet another successful MFL trip to the North of France. An overnight stop in London included a trip to see the amazing stage show ‘Wicked’ and a visit to the impressive Natural History Museum with the chance to see ‘Dippy’ the diplodocus prior to his tour of the UK. The group then journeyed on through the Eurotunnel to France. An action packed couple of days followed, involving practising and learning new French language, sampling some delicious French foods, including snails, and visits to a sweet factory, traditional French bakery and the festive Lille Christmas market where pupils had further opportunity to converse with the locals. A fantastic time was had by all, behaviour and manners were commended by our hosts and driver and we all returned home with lots of special memories.

Year 11 English Revision

Chess Club in the LRC—make the right move

If you are an avid chess player, come along to the Aquinas Centre during break and lunch to practice your chess skills. Players of all abilities are welcome. Our chess club is steadily growing with approximately 20 students attending. Simon Rogers from Cleveleys Junior Chess Club (and also an ex student) currently volunteers to come into school during a lunch hour to help our players develop their chess. Students interested in joining Cleveleys Junior Chess Club can go along to Cleveleys Park Methodist Church on a Thursday night between 6.30 to 8.30pm. Entrance fee is £2.00. Cardinal Allen would also like to ask parents/guardians to consider donating any spare chess board sets lying around at home that are no longer required. These can be sent along to the Aquinas Centre where they will be gratefully received!

Get ahead over half term and try some of these websites: http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/subjects/zckw2hv (revision and activities) http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/subjects/zr9d7ty (revision and activities) ENGLISH LITERATURE (ALL AQA): http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/english/gcse/english-

literature-8702/assessment-resources (specimen papers) ENGLISH LANGUAGE AQA: http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/english/gcse/english-language-

8700/assessment-resources (specimen papers) ENGLISH LANGUAGE WJEC/EDUQAS: http://www.eduqas.co.uk/qualifications/english-

language/gcse/ (specimen papers) http://www.litcharts.com/ (revision materials) http://mrbruff.com/

On Moodle, there are also some sample answers and resource packs so check them out and follow your revision timetable.

WORLD BOOK DAY is the biggest celebration of books and reading in the world Celebrating its 20th Anniversary in 2017, World Book Day on the 2nd March 2017 aims to encourage children to explore the pleasures of books and reading - a perfect chance to sit down with an old classic or even find a new favourite! Not only is it a fantastic celebration of authors and illustrators, most importantly it is a celebration of reading. Reading develops the

imagination. With reading, a person can go anywhere in the world or even out of it – the possibilities are endless! All school children are entitled to receive a World Book Day £1.00 book token to exchange for a FREE £1.00 World Book Day book. Students at Cardinal Allen will be issued with their token during English classes at the end of February. Make sure you swap yours during the redemption period of 27th February to 26th March 2017. The World Book Day book token can be exchanged for one of ten specially published World Book Day books, or can be used to get £1.00 off any book or audio book costing £2.99 or more at a participating bookshop. World Book Day is also the start of a month of activities in the library with various competitions running. Further information on World Book Day is available at www.worldbookday.com

Advance Warning…..

English Department News

Accelerated Reader Millionaires/Multi-Millionaires: How do you become a Millionaire? Read one million words! Cardinal Allen students who have read over a million words this school year belong to a select group of Accelerated Reader Millionaires. A word count is generated each time a student reads a book and then takes a reading practice quiz online using our Accelerated Reader software. But what is Accelerated Reader and how does it work? For the past three years, Years 7, 8 and 9 students at Cardinal Allen have successfully participated in the Accelerated Reader programme, a powerful tool for monitoring and managing independent reading practice and reading for pleasure. Once a book has been read, the student takes an online quiz to demonstrate their understanding. If the student passes the quiz, the programme will then set appropriate reading targets and total the number of words read to date. Accelerated Reader ties in well with the school’s Pick-Up- A-Book lesson (PUAB). PUAB runs on a rolling timetable every week for one hour. During this hour students literally PUAB and read for pleasure. Reading for pleasure, or recreational reading as some prefer to say, refers to any reading that we do of our own free will, for our own enjoyment and which involves reading materials that reflect our own choice. We are keen to share reading success and are delighted to announce more Word Millionaires for this academic year. For Year 7 we have RUBY MANGNALL – 7AL. To date, Ruby has read and quizzed on 28 books since September with a current word count of 2,030741. This has pushed Ruby into the Multi-millionaire bracket which is a tremendous achievement for any student. Well done Ruby. For Year 8 we have HARRY COUREAU – 8AG. To date, Harry has read and quizzed on 15 books since September with a current word count of 1,011812 words. Well done Harry. Close on the heels of Ruby and Harry is KELSEY HOYLE, 8BE – keep reading Kelsey, you are very close to joining the Millionaire’s club with 945,915 words. Students will receive their awards during the Easter assembly. We are hoping for many more millionaires before the school year ends so keep reading years 7,8 and 9! Year 7 and 8 Sponsored Spell: This will take place week beginning Monday, 20th February, during English lessons. Please sponsor your child and challenge them to learn all fifty spellings. Certificates will be awarded to students who spell all fifty spellings correctly, those who raise the most sponsorship. The class who raise the most in each year group will be invited to pick new class readers for use across key stage 3. Good luck! Year 8 Tempest Trip Saturday, 4th March 2017—The Grand Theatre, Blackpool, 2-4p.m: Letters have been sent out about the above trip to parents and carers of students in Year 8. Please return payment this week to secure a place on the trip. This is a great opportunity to see a brilliant production of the play we will cover in the summer term. Contact Mrs. Hilton for further details.

School Term & Holiday Pattern 2017—2018

Autumn Term 2017 Re-open for all pupils on Wednesday 6th September 2017 Early closure—12.20 Thursday 28th September (Preparation for Open Evening) Half Term Monday 30th October—Friday 3rd November Last day of term—12.20 finish Friday 22nd December Spring Term 2018 Re-open for all pupils on Monday 8th January 2018 Half Term Monday 12th February—Friday 16th February Last day of term—12.20 finish Wednesday 28th March Summer Term 2018 Re-open for all pupils on Monday 16th April May Day Monday 7th May Half Term Monday 28th May—Friday 1st June

Cardinal Allen pupils are learning to be all they can be!

Before the Christmas break pupils in Years 7, 8 and 9 were all asked to think about what makes the "perfect pupil" and during assemblies delivered in the New Year, pupils had the opportunity to see what each other thought. Resilient, patient, hardworking and dedicated were just a few of the characteristics that Cardinal Allen pupils agreed would help to make the "perfect pupil" and whilst there are lots of characteristics, we'd like the pupils to start with the small things, that add up to make a big difference! To inspire the pupils to "be all you can be" Miss Brown has put together a display board showing some of the fantastic achievements of some of our pupils; both inside and outside of school life.

Please see below for the school’s term dates for 2017-2018. These dates will be available on the school website shortly. Please disregard dates published on any other web-site. In the extremely unlikely event that there are changes to these dates, we will notify parents.