NewsletterIssue 31

GCSE Results DayThe class of 2018 took on the challenge of new GCSEs in almost every subject this year with determination and lots of perspiration - and, for many students, all the hard work paid off when they collected their GCSE results. The Arts Theatre was full of smiling and relieved faces as students realised they had achieved a set of results which would guarantee their progression to a post-16 college of their choice or an apprenticeship. There were some stunning individual performances with both Ceri Phenna and Megan Vickers achieving seven Grade 9s and one grade 8, a remarkable achievement. Other performances of note included Alex Whittaker, Cameron Rich, Ben McLaughlin, James Aspden, Krishna Lilley and Katie Hadgraft who all achieved several very challenging Grade 9s alongside excellent other results. As always, beneath the headlines are personal stories of obstacles overcome and many students deserve credit for their fortitude. As a whole, the school continues to make progress and the focus changes to 2019 - the gauntlet has been laid down to the present Year 11 to beat this year’s results and become the highest ever performing year group!

Ski France Le Corbier 2018Le Corbier ski resort, located in the Sybelles region in the northern French Alps, was the location for Westhoughton High’s Ski Trip 2018. 38 students and 4 staff departed for a fantastic week, staying in the Le Mont Club Hotel. The students represented themselves and the school brilliantly during all parts of the trip and thoroughly enjoyed the skiing experience. The staff were so pleased and proud of the resilience shown by students from the very first day, when the skiing experience, new for many of them, brought its challenges. The beginner groups demonstrated perseverance to develop their abilities and show a good level of progression during the trip - even Mr Barwise!

All students were able to develop their skiing and progress from the green slopes to blue slopes higher up the mountain. Even our advanced group challenged themselves on the red slope slaloms, with Tom Kidd doing his very first black run. The teachers couldn’t go without a challenge and Miss Quinn and Mr Dignam diced with the natural half pipe and snow park jumps. The next Winter Olympics may be but a distant dream but well done for trying!

Runshaw College Oxbridge Bound17 students visited Runshaw College on for a taste of what it takes to follow a pathway destined for Oxford and Cambridge Universities. The day was designed to raise students’ aspirations to progress onto a pathway that leads to a prestigious university. The day involved a very nice welcome breakfast followed by introduction from Runshaw students who had been accepted to study at Cambridge.

The Westhoughton students engaged in a series of lessons that looked at Law, Philosophy and History and really enjoyed learning in a new environment. The students hopefully had time to reflect on their experience of the day and understand how this links into their future choices to enable them to pursue the appropriate pathway post 16. All the students represented the school and themselves brilliantly.

This is what a few students had to say about the day,

“I liked the day at Runshaw college, the lessons included Law, Philosophy and History and were jam packed with unique and interesting information to inspire us” Sophia Year 9

“I enjoyed the Runshaw visit, it was really interesting and insightful. I could see a range of high leveled subjects that I could potentially do at A-Levels. Personally I loved the Philosophy session. Maggie Year 9

“ Todays visit was fun because you can get a good feel for college life and how college works. We got to experience subjects that we have never done before and it made me think more about what I want to do after high school. Eleanor Year 9

Children’s UniversityOn Saturday 7th July Westhoughton High School was proud to take part in the North West Children’s University graduation ceremony. The event was held at Bolton University in the Chancellors Hall with a selection of our 2018 Children’s University graduates in attendance. During the ceremony the students enjoyed presentations from ‘Crocodile Joe’ and writer Donavan Christopher.

Please congratulate the following students on achieving their awards:

Bronze Award

Joseph Brookfield Emilie Eckersley Isabelle Gardner

Joshua Hall Katie Mee Joseph Platt

Ellie Rockliffe Alice Southey Niamh Taylor

Samuel Ward

Bronze Certificate

Joshua Firth

Silver Award

Finlay Cooper Tiah Cooper Harrison Nuttall

Maddy Whittaker

Silver Diploma

Hannah Leeper

Gold Diploma

Elijah Deacon

Gold Postgraduate Diploma

Halima Nawaz

Paris - Poitiers May Half Term TripDuring the May 2018 half term break, 44 students and 5 teachers ventured to Poitiers for two nights and then moved on to Paris for three nights. We enjoyed Futuroscope theme park including the water, light and laser show in the evening before visiting the Château d’Ussé where the story of Sleeping Beauty began. Moving on to Paris, we spent the day sightseeing and finished off the afternoon with a Bateaux Mouches cruise on the River Seine. The last day was spent in Parc Astérix where the students enjoyed the rides and bought their final souvenirs. We were all so proud of how confident the students were in using their French in real life situations! Bravo à tous !

Youth Speaks CompetitionIndra, Krishna and Natalie competed in the second round of the Youth Speaks competition against teams from the Wigan area. They were very successful and won the heat for the senior team and will now be competing in the regional finals in Frodsham. This next round will be one of the most difficult yet and the students are giving up their Sunday to partake in this public speaking event.

14-18 NOW World War One DayWe had a visit from the Imperial War Museum and the production company ‘14-18 Now’. We enjoyed the visit a lot! The day started with a history lesson about Pal’s battalions and friendships in the First World War. The lesson was interesting and we enjoyed listening to people’s stories. Then we had an art lesson, instructed by our Art teacher Miss McDowell, where we created collages inspired by other artists. We then shared our collages and the ideas behind them. Afterwards, we had a poem lesson and a visit from poet Johnny C. We then had to write our own poems about our views on the war and record them to create a short film. We were taught how to use Final Cut Pro and we included real footage from the Imperial War Museum archive in our short films. Later on, we presented our films to the class. We learnt new things about friendships during the war andhad a creative andthoughtful day! Amberand Imogen 9P

The fight for the freedom of the world

The death of one man

Caused the death of millions

Upon the shoulders of the world

We remember those

Who fought for the freedom of the world

War times, war crimes

But friendship stays together

Pushing through the hard times

But we stay pals forever

Laughing and jokes in the downtime

But when we’re called up we fight for our lives

We may suffer, we may die

But we live to speak in rhyme

Through the darkest and gloomiest of nights

The ghosts of our brothers watch as we fight.

This poem was written about the

loss of life in WW1

by Gabriel in 9P

Rotary Technology Tournament We took 16 Year 9 students to the Rotary Technology Tournament at Sharples High School. They had an excellent time at the event with focus around STEM and engineering.

There were two different design briefs; The Weight Driven Car Task and The Bridge Task. Students were supplied with a set list of materials, a work station with a range of tools and a written specification for their product.

Each team of designers and engineers had to build their model with a portfolio of working drawings, ideas, developments and solutions.

The products were then tested looking at their design, building and presentation skills.

Sport Relief - Students Vs Staff football matchThe final score is a closely guarded secret but thanks to the brave staff who took on th Year 11s. It is fair to say that the students had youth on their side but it was an enjoyable event for all.

Robots are ComingThirteen of our talented Physics students enjoyed a lecture experience at Manchester University. Westhoughton Rotary Club kindly organised tickets for a lecture by Professor Danielle George titled ‘Robots are Coming’. She demonstrated the capabilities of some of the most cutting edge robots as well as how some everyday gadgets at home can be hacked to do alternative jobs. Students took the opportunity to ask Professor George about how robots might impact on the shape of the employment sector that they will join in years to come. Students also discussed the moral issues surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) and how it could positively and negatively affect us as a species.

Yellow & Blue DayIn April, we held our annual ‘Yellow & Blue’ Day in support of Bolton Lads’ and Girls’ club. The theme of the day was ‘Whatever you do – make in Yellow & Blue’ and our staff and students certainly entered into the spirit of things by dressing up in the club’s colours!

Yellow and Blue cakes were on sale at break time and our school raised £756.35 for the club. Thank you so much for your support Team Westhoughton!

Year 7 Community ProjectAs part of a project to encourage pride in their community, Year 7s wrote letters to members of the community who inspire them; all who were contacted responded positively to the request to come in and take part in an English lesson with the children.

Amongst the guests was Bolton nurse Mrs Rockliffe; professional wrestler and coach for Aspull Warriors Philip Roberts; 94-year-old World War II veteran Mr Redburn and the town crier, John Crook.

Year 7 were also incredibly excited to meet Darren Pratley, Captain of Bolton Wanderers. Darren was generous with his time and supportive of students, posing for pictures, answering questions and signing autographs. He has inspired students in the class to work hard, follow their dreams and persevere; it was the opportunity of a lifetime.

As Crystal, Year 7, said: “This has made me so happy- thank you!”.

Students will use the invaluable research gained from interviewing their local role models to produce work for the school website, including poems, newspaper articles and stories.

Miss Marron, English teacher, said: “It’s such a fantastic experience for the students to meet their community heroes and to hear about their successes and failures! Bolton is a fantastic community, which students should feel proud to be a part of; the quality of their work will (hopefully!) reflect the vibrancy of their experiences!”

“It’s important to make learning engaging so that students can see that its relevance and application and this project is a great example of that. I know this is something they will remember for a long time to come so thanks to Miss Marron and all our guests for giving them such a fabulous opportunity. “ J Bach Deputy Head

“We are delighted that Darren has made the time available to visit our Year 7 students today to support our Literacy work. We work hard to develop the higher order communication skills that all students need to succeed in life and it is experiences such as this that reinforce this to them, whatever your chosen career” P J Hart Headteacher

Our New Facebook PageVisit our new Facebook page at @WesthoughtonHS to keep up to date with all school news, events,

awards and any important information you may need.

Past Students AchievementsCongratulations to two past students at securing their University places! Well done!

Wigan and Leigh Arts CollegeYear 11 students embarked upon a series of exciting after school art work shops at Wigan and Leigh College. Our art students were give the opportunity to work with teaching staff at the college producing work in Textiles and Computer Aided Design. Some students worked in the brand new Apple Mac suite producing character illustrations using graphics tablets and Photoshop, whilst others learned how to screen print; producing a series of fabulous textile pieces. All the work produced was then used as part of their GCSE art portfolio.

‘Stand up to Cancer’ Cake SaleThe Fairbrother sisters, Georgia (8C) and Charli (11S) decided to ‘Stand up to Cancer’ by running a bake sale before half-term. They raised £81.53 for a great charity. Well done girls!

Football AchievementsYear 7 boys football team reached the cup final of the Bolton Schools’ competition against Turton. Unfortunately we lost 2-1 but it’s still a massive achievement for them as it’s their first year as a team. They also got to the 5th round of the English Schools’ Competition which again is a massive achievement. Well done boys!

A number of Year 8 and 9 boys completed the Junior Football Leadership award from the Lancashire FA. The boys were taught how to officiate a game of football, how to coach football to others, how to set up an activity, how to respect the game and who is involved in the game and were directed on how to improve their coaching ability further.

Conway Centre - Art TripIn January Year 10 and 11 art students went to the Conway Centre in Anglesey. When we arrived we had a meal and we were shown to our rooms. On the first night we had our first session which was 3 hours. In this we made a background with paint and stencils and we learnt the culture and background of the masks we were going to create. We then went to our rooms and had ‘free time’ where we could have fun with our friends. There were eight people per room and we could pick our groups.

We chose to do face sculpting for our course so on the second day we had to lie on the table and have a mould made out of alginate on our face or hand. You had to put wax on facial hair and put cling film around your head so you wouldn’t lose your hair! Whilst our masks were drying we made a pillow to put our masks on and cut our backgrounds to size. When the masks had dried, we had to make a cast out of them and use a knife to cut out the excess material and make it smooth. We then used graphite to dye our masks to match the artist that we were influenced by. After this we had food and we were allowed time to ourselves where we could go to our bedrooms or social room.

The next day we had an exhibition to show our work to the other groups where we could give each other feedback on our work. We were allowed to take our work back to school and it will be added to our GCSE portfolios. We all had a good time, learnt new techniques and made new friends!Morgan and Evie Year 10.

Transition week 2018Yet again we had a very successful Year 7 transition week which took place between the 20th and the 24th of August. Students were involved in a range of fun and challenging activities across a number of subject areas. These included, bridge building, languages (constructing an Eiffel Tower), drama, sports, swimming and learning to make delicious bread and cakes. They even looked at how to survive being shipwrecked on a desert island through filtering water and raft building! All the activities encouraged students to problem solve, work in teams and earn merits for prizes in our final assembly. I really enjoyed getting to know so many new faces and seeing students demonstrate real grit and determination to succeed in the tasks they were given.Everyone had a great time meeting new staff and making lots of new friends. As always ourpeer mentor volunteerswere super role models,guiding and working withour new Year 7 studentsthroughout the week.

Junior Presentation Evening 2018Our annual Junior Presentation Evening, for students in Years 7-10, was another fantastic celebratory event. On a warm, sultry evening, the Sports Hall was full of proud parents, staff and excited students who had faced stiff competition to gain their awards. Westhoughton’s Mayor attended to present a special certificate to students who had led the Heartbeats 2020 campaign and to the school for their commitment to the community. The two guests of honour, Dr Stuart Phenna and David Galvin, spoke passionately about their involvement in charity fund raising for MyLife. The efforts of our staff in completing the gruelling Three Peaks Challenge to raise funds for CALLM was recognised and they received a rousing cheer from the audience. The five recipients of this year’s Student Ambassador Awards received resounding applause and greatly deserved the positive citations received. There were additional awards for school teams, town and national competition success and, finally, to our retiring Head Boys and Girls for their excellent service to the school.

Many congratulations to all ouraward winners.

RoundersIt has been another fantastic year for girls’ rounders. Numbers at training on Tuesdays have been outstanding, helped by the glorious sunshine. Congratulations in particular to the Year 7 team who got through to the semi-finals of their tournament, just missing out on a place in the final. Well done girls!

Go4Set - Company VisitEarly 2018 saw the start of Go4Set. This is a national initiative which aims to link Year 8 students with a local business to take part in a 10-week STEM project. Our mentor company for this year’s project is Westhoughton based ‘De La Rue’, who manufacture security features used in Bank notes for countries worldwide and UK passports.

Included in the project is a trip to visit the mentor in their workplace, and our Year 8 students were taken on a tour of the facility and shown how some of the security features are manufactured in polymer bank notes and UK passports. Our mentor, Mr Lukasz Zappart, ensured the Year 8 students were given a first class tour, being taken through high security, shown how the holographic plates are constructed, through to the print being applied onto the polymer substrate, and then finally to the testing laboratory to ensure that all the products are manufactured to high standards.

All of the students involved in the project have shown Westhoughton High School to be a school with high standards. Employees at De La Rue commented on how impressed they were with the type and quality of questions students were asking during the tour, and how well behaved and polite the students were.

Mr Zappart has been supporting this year’s Year 8 students in their challenge to redesign a sports facility in the local community, directing them with their planning of the project and helping them to fine tune their ideas and model making skills.

Go4Set - Competition FinalOn Tuesday 10th July, our talented Design and Technology Year 8 students took part in the competition final and awards ceremony for ‘Go4Set’. This national STEM competition is linked to the Industrial Cadets, with our chosen theme being ‘Sport’, the Year 8 students researched and designed sports facilities that would be beneficial to the Westhoughton community. For our efforts, each student was awarded their Bronze Industrial Cadets certificate and somefantastic feedback was given from the judges on how professional they thought the projects and scaled models were. Well done to Ryan Blakestone, Thomas Hallam, Joe Curme, Lillie Glenister, Amy Powley, Joshua Jones, Antoni Borzymowski, Hayden Skeldon, Leah Senior and Jake Thomas.

Yorkshire 3 Peaks Challange17 members of staff at Westhoughton High School completed the ‘Yorkshire Three Peaks’ challenge on 30th June 2018 for a colleague who lost her brave battle with leukaemia. Our colleague, Liz Williamson, was a fantastic teacher who inspired her students with her passion for her subject, Music. Liz brought warmth to a classroom, joy to her lessons and laughter to the staff room. £4300 was raised and will be donated to Caring for Adults with Leukaemia, Lymphoma and Myeloma (CALLM) fund at Manchester Royal Infirmary who helped care for Liz during her treatment, and MyLife, a charity that helps to make lives better for people of all ages who need support to live a good life. Well done to all staff involved, a fantastic effort and amount of money for great charities.

English Junior Wrestling Champion 2018Alice Briffa won gold at the English junior wrestling championship held at Alfreton Leisure centre in June. 12 year old Alice participated in the 28Kg weight category and faced some tough wrestles to bring a gold medal home with her. The final was a tense encounter but Alice’s favourite move, the leg lace, gave her the win she deserved for her dedicated and never give up attitude. A member of Aspul Warriors, Alice has wrestled for over 5 years and trains up to 3 times a week and in the last year has been invited to the Northern Region Squad to train with her talented wrestlers. Her next challenge is a wrestling camp in Utrecht, Holland in August which will help her prepare for competitions in the autumn months. Alice loves the sport and is keen for more girls to join her. “Wrestling is a tough but brilliant sport and is a great way of keeping fit. I have excellent coaches who make training fun but also push me to improve all the time”

Well done Alice!

BTEC Music concertIn January, the Year 11 BTEC Music group held their first concert. They were tasked with producing a music product as part of their assignment for their qualification and they chose to put together a concert for parents. They had to produce the whole show themselves, taking on all the roles and functions needed to create a concert. The students worked very hard and showed great teamwork skills in the run up to the show, and it was great to see their hard work pay off with a successful concert. The students also performed in this event to showcase their progress over the last two years. The Performing Arts department is incredibly proud of the work these students did. Well done Year 11.

Year 11 Prom 2018The Class of 2018 enjoyed their Leavers Celebration at Kilhey Court in Standish on Thursday 28th June. Many of the students arrived in style after travelling to the venue in a range of vehicles from open top Beauford Tourers to Jacob Jackson’s very own Tractor. We started with a lovely 3 course meal followed by the students and staff alike displaying their best dance moves with the students certainly showing the staff how to move. The evening had a fabulous atmosphere with students thoroughly enjoying the evening with the staff celebrating their time at Westhoughton High School. Throughout the evening the students interactions with each other and staff clearly demonstrated the close connections and friendships that had been created over their 5 years at the school. We hope that these connections with the school are never forgotten and wish all the leavers of 2018 all the success in their futures.

Senior Solutions MeetingLast Tuesday me and 15 of my fellow students, along with Mr Whittle and Miss McDowell, went to the Senior Solutions meeting to go and show our appreciation for the elderly in our community. We entered with biscuits and scones in hand, ready to talk to some of the elderly members. As soon as we entered the room, a warm sense of friendliness overcame all of us. On one side of the room, was a circle of people doing seated exercises, the other was filled with tables holding dominoes and everywhere a smiling sea of faces. Next, we approached a table hoping to join their domino playing fun. We were handed 7 dominoes, hoping to get rid of them all and claim victory. We talked about work during the war, families and other miscellaneous conversations. When we had to leave, a sense of sadness washed over us. All we wanted was one more game! However the feeling of connecting two generations filled us with a warm buzz. Jamie - Year 9

Kindness Army goes out and about in WesthoughtonLast Tuesday, a group of students, Miss Marron and Miss Powell-Roden went out into Westhoughton to spread joy and kindness to the ongoers by handing out flowers and sweets to everybody we passed! We went into local shops and businesses to hand flowers to the owners and customers. I took photos of students in action and chatted with many shop owners. It was a great day and we all had lots of fun. I would totally do it again. Emily - Year 9

Blackpool rewards tripOn Friday 6th July 2018 just over 600 excited students and staff travelled to Blackpool Pleasure Beach for a well-earned reward. This annual celebration of academic success through hard work and positive attitudes involved the thrills of many various roller coaster rides, log flumes, merry-go-rounds, alongside much consumption of candy floss, slushies and ice cream. As you can see, a superb day was enjoyed by all!

Sports DayThe sun was shining again for sports day and it was the second year on the new 4G pitch. The day consisted of fiercely competitive forms going against each other and there were some outstanding performances. In particular, Dennis Ogenete in Year 9, who impressed the crowd with his 1.45m result in the high jump. We had a fabulous day with plenty of cheering and flag-waving from the side-lines; one form even had bandannas! Order was restored with the staff triumphing in the students vs PE staff race after last year’s defeat! Congratulations to all the competitors and well done to everyone for the fabulous support!

Post 16 College VisitsYear 10 students have recently visited a number of colleges including Runshaw, Winstanley, Wigan and Leigh and Bolton College. The trips have given the students an insight into college life getting a feel for the journey, campus life and a taster of the variety of courses that they have sampled. The students have thoroughly enjoyed the experiences and have certainly got an informed opinion of the most appropriate Post 16 college that would benefit them individually. Many students experienced a wide range of A level taster sessions at all colleges whilst a large proportion of students chose to experience a more practical way of learning through the vocational courses on offer. It was really good to see how the students all engaged well throughout all the visits and the colleges have expressed how fantastic the students were on all of the visits.

I am sure that the visits have allowed students to start preparing for life after WHS. Well done to all the students on the trips and thank you to all the colleges.

Senior Citizens Afternoon Tea Party July 2018Year 10 Food Technology students helped to prepare, cook, present and serve, jam and cream scones, mini black forest gateaux, Battenberg sponges and Viennese biscuits for the annual summer senior citizens afternoon tea party.

Guests were then taken to watch the production of Annie. Overall a fantastic day was had by all.

Thank you to everyone for your support, dedication and hard work you really made a difference to the guests form our local community.

Sportspersons’ DinnerOur first Sportsperson’s Dinner was held in July and what a great evening it was! The evening celebrated students’ sporting participation and success, across the school and in the wider community. Students looked fantastic and were definitely dressed for the occasion. An array of trophies including players of the year in each sport, sports leaders and team of the year were awarded. This led up to the most prestigious award at the end of the evening of ‘Sports Personality of the Year’. Blake Livesey and Livia Sutcliffe were the first winners of the award and what thoroughly deserving sportspeople they are, well done! Our guest speaker, Tony Kelly, who had a football career playing for Bolton Wanderers and Wigan Athletic, inspired students with his experiences before the party really started. The dancing did not disappoint and it was lovely to see students celebrating their achievements together. Students need to get down to our extracurricular clubs after school and across the community to book their place for next year. We can’t wait for the next one!

Welcome to Westhoughton Business HubLocated in Westhoughton, the Business Hub aims to assist local businesses with the challenges that they face,

by providing high quality, low cost meeting space. The hub offers practical services to help businesses grow, reduce overheads and thrive for years to come.

With our geographical location close to North West motorway links and the proximity to Logistics North adjacent to junction 4 of the M61 the Hub gives easy access into Greater Manchester,

Lancashire and Cheshire.

For more information, please contact us on 01942 850082, email us at enquiries@westhoughtonbusinesshub.org

You can also keep in touch with us on the following social media platforms:

@Wbusinesshub Westhoughton Business Hub W: westhoughtonhub.communitybookings.co.uk E: enquiries@westhoughtonbusinesshub.org

Translation Bee3 students of French and 2 of Spanish in Year 9 competed against students from across Bolton in our first ever Translation Bee. The students who entered had previously been winners of class competitions and then year group competitions in school so had already achieved so much before we went to the grand final. Each student was amazing in the heats. Hannah Oliver achieved overall 2nd place. Très bien fait and muy bien!

Annie - The sun did come out!This year’s school production was Annie and it ran from 10th-12th July 2018. The musical tells of an orphan Annie and her quest to find her parents, finding help from a wealthy tycoon. The musical features the well-known songs, Maybe, Easy Street and of course Tomorrow. The show ran for three nights and once again we invited our local primary schools and senior citizens. The show obtained fantastic feedback, including three standing ovations which the students were so proud to receive. The main principal behind a school production is that students learn team skills, resilience and communication skills which each and every student who took part in this show was able to develop further. This is one of the most successful team musicals because of the journey this production went through and how the students took on the challenge and rose to it admirably. The cast have been very supportive and rehearsed hard to get the show to its exceptional standard this year.

As the director I would like to thank Mr Taylor for being a constant support and for all the hard work back stage with set and prop changes. Thanks also go to Mrs Brodman for her help with costume. Many staff volunteered to help with vocal coaching and I would like to say a special thanks to Miss Parry who pulled out all the stops to make the show so vocally fantastic. I wish her well as she leaves us to train to be a teacher, I know she’ll be fantastic. Final thanks got to all staff who helped out on the night and in the run up to the production.

Westhoughton High School. Bolton Road, Westhoughton, Bolton. BL5 3DNTel: 01942 814122 l Fax: 01942 817792 Email: WHSOffice@westhoughton-high.org

Follow us on Facebook @WesthoughtonHS or Twitter @WesthoughtonHS

Our New WebpageWe have just launched our brand new website www.westhoughton-high.org check it out! Find useful information, news, forthcoming events, term dates and much more.