HIGH NOTES June2011 - ISSUE 122nd Summer Edition

Stimulating Engaging Inspiring Motivating

If you want to see the best our Year 11 students can o�er . . .

p5. Silver Surfers

p3. Year 7 Map Walk p4. D of E Silver Award p12. Cricket

2. Calendar

CALENDAR

ACADEMIC YEAR 2010/ 2011

• Close for the Summer Holiday on the evening of: Thursday 21st July 2011

ACADEMIC YEAR 2011/2012

AUTUMN TERM

• Staff INSET Day (School Closed): Thursday, 1st September 2011 • Staff INSET Day (School Closed): Friday, 2nd September 2011 • Re-Open after the Summer Holiday on: Monday, 5th September 2011

Half Term:• Close for the October Half-Term on the evening of: Friday, 21st October 2011 • Re-open after October Half-Term on the morning of: Monday, 7th November 2011 • Close for the Christmas Holiday on the evening of: Friday, 16th December 2011

SPRING TERM

• Re-Open after the Christmas Holiday on the morning of: Tuesday, 3rd January 2012

Half-Term:• Close for the February Half-Term on the evening of: Friday, 10th February 2012 • Re-open after February Half-Term on the morning of: Monday, 20th February 2012 • Close for the Easter Holidays on the evening of: Friday, 30th March 2012

SUMMER TERM

• Re-open after Easter Holidays on the morning of: Monday, 16th April 2012 • Staff INSET Day (School Closed): Friday, 27th April 2012 • May Bank Holiday (School Closed): Monday, 7th May 2012

Half-Term:• Close for the Half-Term on the evening of: Friday, 1st June 2012 • Re-open after Half-Term on the morning of: Monday, 11th June 2012 • Close for the Summer Holiday on the evening of: Thursday, 19th July 2012

3. Year 7 Mapwalk

Geography is not just about countries and capital cities! We teach students about the landscape, natural processes and about people and their place within the environ-ment. We also cover some essential life skills and an example of this is when we focus on Ordnance Survey maps.

Year 7 Geography students have now completed the O.S. Map Skills Topic and �nished their studies with a local ‘map walk’. In order to further develop the skills developed within the classroom, each group were taken out during lesson time. Provided with an enlarged map of the school and immediate area, students had to follow a circular route along local roads and footpaths. However, I had carefully removed some vital details from their maps! As the students followed the set route they were asked various questions and had to place missing symbols in the correct places.

All students behaved extremely well and enjoyed this novel Geography lesson outside of the usual classroom environment. Mrs Hibberd, Mrs Quinn, Mr Prentice and I were all very pleased with how hard the students worked. If you wish to view this lesson, in power-point form, students can connect to the school Shared Area via the VPN (link from the website) and �nd the presentation in the Year 7 folder which is within the Geography Department folder. It‘s called ‘Local walk & symbols activity’.

Although our Year 7’s have now �nished this topic they will revisit their map skills from time-to-time in Year 8. This has been the last year that we have been able to provide all students with their own free copy of an O.S. Explorer map. This is theirs to keep and I hope all students will continue to make use of it at home.

Please do have a look at the most recent photographs of our students completing their map walk. These can be found on the photo gallery of the Geography pages on the school website.

Mr HalewoodHead of Geography

4. Duke of Ed Silver Award

Silver practice expedition 16th – 18th April 2011

If you want to see the best our Year 11 students can o�er . . .

An essential part of the Silver Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award is completing a three day practice expedition and another, later three day qualifying expedition. All students are involved in planning their routes prior to the expedition.

This involves students, in small groups, completing three days of walking and two nights camping. They each carry all of their own gear, tents, food, clothing and so on with a total weight of up to 30lbs with most students. This may seem a little tough but some of the criteria for successfully completing the expedition section of the award include;

•‘Completing an expedition by the participants’ own physical e�ort without motorised assistance’•‘All expeditions must be self-sufficient’•‘All participants must be properly equipped’.

If you want to ever see the best our Year 11 students have to o�er then come along on one of these expeditions. We were fortunate to have three days of �ne weather back in April on the second Silver practice weekend. The wind and rain can make navigating using a map a little more difficult! This expedition

is a real physical challenge but despite this, all students were a credit to both themselves and the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme. There were the sore feet, the occasional blister and aches and pains from the physical exertion and having to carry a heavy pack but all 36 students successfully completed the three days of walking. The students behav-iour over the three days was exemplary and sta� were impressed with how organised each group was with their camp-craft skills.

It was a really enjoyable three days away with the young people in a beautiful part of Yorkshire. Thanks must go to the sta� and helpers who gave up their free time so that this expedition could take place: Mrs Blundell, Mr Halewood, Bob Kenyon, Colin Horlick, Ian Thomas, Mike Rowbottom, Andrew Ross, Greg Roughley and Paul Agnew.

The �nal two weekends, where students will complete their qualifying Silver expeditions, will take place on:• 25th – 27th June• 2nd – 4th July

If you wish to give up your weekend to come along and help then please contact:

Mrs Hillier on 01744 887317 or DeniseH@rainford.org.uk

Four year 10 and Two year 8 pupils were asked to go and support a Silver Surfersclub in Billinge with their ICT skills.

Pupils taught the members to surf the internet and buy things online. Pupils also had a go at playing on the Wii against members of the club.

Sta� and members of the Silver Surfers club were very impressed and happy with all the help given to them by the pupils of Rainford High and hope they will return and help them again soon.

Students support Silver Surfers

5. Silver Surfers

Rainford CollegeHead of College: Danny Hubball

Post 16 Enrolment Day The best things come in small packages!

A small sixth form with personalised

pastoral support and individual

opportunities to ensure you achieve your

best. The friendly atmosphere of

Rainford College welcomes you.

We offer:

1. Outstanding academic results

2. Excellent progression to Higher Education

3. Effective guidance and support

4. A range of enrichment activities

5. A brand NEW purpose built College Unit

We welcome individual appointments, if this date is inconvenient please contact us: Rainford High Technology College, Higher Lane, Rainford, St.Helens WA11 8NY01744 885914 info@rainford.org.uk www.rainfordcollege.org.uk

Thursday 25th August 2011

Staff are also available on the morning of Friday 26th August

99% Pass Rate40% A-B Grades

Reviewer of the Week Winner!

Congratulations to Charlotte-Louise in Year 8 for winning FILMCLUB's Reviewer of the Week!

By uploading her review of ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ onto www.�lmclub.org, classmates and students from other schools get to �nd out exactly what she thought of this �lm and helps them decide what to watch.

Gold Certi�cates

Joseph Yates (& best in school)

Lewis Morgan

Silver Certi�cates

Anna ConsidineAlex WrightJessica JohnsonOlivia PowellJohn DelaneyF�on BrownRebecca ClineLucy HarrisonJulian LeeSaiteja GogineniAlex Walton

Bronze Certi�cates

Laura KemelMegan OliverNathan KellySam BleakleyLauren DugganLewis TravisHollie SpencerCallum ChisnallSophie McwilliamHiten PatelGeorgia HemingwayNatasha Powell

7. Maths Challenge & Film Club News

If you would like to get involved with Rainford FILMCLUB, we meet every Monday in A104 from 3.30 to 4.30pm. Please ask Miss Purcell for a permission slip and look out for posters around school advertising screenings. Come along, all welcome!

8. BSF Update

Ariel photoof progress so far

The construction of the concrete frame for South block is now complete and the next stage of the work is now underway; external windows and brickwork to be installed and built. In addition to this some of the work on the internal �ttings has also begun. We will also be saying ‘goodbye’ to the tower crane at the end of June.

The refurbishment of the College is making huge leaps forward. Externally, new windows have now been �tted and the openings for the new entrances have been created. Roof lights have been �tted along with a new roof. Internally, walls have been removed to create more open plan spaces and new walls have

been built in conjunction with the new design. Cabling for power and lighting has also been installed.

Students from Maths (year 9) and History (year 10) have visited the site and sta� from Interserve have made contributions to their learning by taking part in some lessons and relating the work on the new building to speci�c parts of the curriculum that the students are following. More subject areas have requested visits and an input from specialists from Interserve at appropriate times in the next academic year to enhance the learning of our students.

In GCSE Classical Civilisation we have been studying Pompeii and the group was especially interested to compare the hypocaust system with the engineering which will be used to heat our new school. We visited the new site and were given a very informative talk by two of the site engineers which the students really enjoyed. They asked many questions not just about the water system but also the new build in general. We were then shown the up to date model of the new school and the engineers were bombarded with more questions as the students were really keen to �nd out as much information as they could!

Both sta� and students found the site visit to be very informative and interesting and hope

to repeat the visit with other groups of students in the next academic year.

Mrs Turton

Some of our Year 7 and 8 Mathematics students went over to the new site as part of a dinosaur project to get an idea of how big an enclosure would have to be to house a T-Rex and what types of materials would be strong enough to contain such a ferocious creature! Students were provided with a hard hat and a brief glimpse into the daily life of a building site before having the opportunity to �re questions at the site manager. One of the interesting facts students discovered was that the crane is 28m tall, much shorter than their 100m estimation!

Kim Hughes

Close up ariel photoof progress so far

10. Proud to advertise in Rainford High Notes

11. Sporting Achievements 2010/2011

Congratulations to all our sports teams this year, your hard work and dedication to wanting to be successful has been rewarded in the amount of cups and awards we have won. These are shown below:

• YEAR 7 RUGBY LEAGUE NWC REGIONAL FINAL WINNERS

• YEAR 7 BASKETBALL ST.HELENS FINAL WINNERS

• YEAR 11 BASKETBALL ST.HELENS FINAL WINNERS

• GIRLS U16 FA MERSEYSIDE CUP FINAL WINNERS

• YEAR 7 FOOTBALL 5 A SIDE ST.HELENS WINNERS

• YEAR 10 FOOTBALL 7 A SIDE ST.HELENS WINNERS

• U13 GIRLS FOOTBALL 7 A SIDE ST.HELENS WINNERS

• YEAR 7 FOOTBALL ST.HELENS CUP WINNERS

• YEAR 10 FOOTBALL ST.HELENS CUP WINNERS

• YEAR 7 NETBALL ST.HELENS FINAL WINNERS

• YEAR 8 NETBALL ST.HELENS FINAL WINNERS

• YEAR 11 NETBALL ST.HELENS FINAL WINNERS

• YEAR 11 NETBALL COUNTY FINAL WINNERS

• YEAR 7 INDOOR CRICKET REGIONAL WINNERS

• YEAR 7 BOYS AVIVA INDOOR ATHLETICS COUNTY MERSEYSIDE CHAMPIONS

• YEAR 7 BOYS AVIVA INDOOR ATHLETICS REGIONAL NORTH WEST

• YEAR 7 & 8 GIRLS AVIVA INDOOR ATHLETICS COUNTY MERSEYSIDE CHAMPIONS

• YEAR 7 & 8 GIRLS AVIVA INDOOR ATHLETICS REGIONAL NORTH WEST 3RD PLACE

• U14’S & U16’S BOYS & GIRLS ST.HELENS BADMINTON WINNERS

Lancashire Honours

Congratulations to Cameron McCulloch and Ellie Threlkeld who have both been selected to represent Lancashire Schools. This is an outstanding achievement and few Rainford students reach this high standard.

Congratulations also to James Ashton who has been selected for the Lancashire Schools U15 'B' squad.

Cameron McCulloch

Ellie Threlkeld

Year 10 Cricket Rainford beat Cowley by 37 runs.Rainford 147 for 7 in 20 overs (S. Scott 43, J. Bibby 37, W. Tabern 21, H. Shaw 14no). Cowley 110 for 5 (J. Bibby 3 wickets for 10 runs)

Year 10 Cricket Year 10 lost to Rainhill by 128 runs.Rainhill 169 for 5 wickets.Rainford 41 all out (Jack Tinsley 18)

Year 9 CricketRainford lost in the quarter �nal of the Lancashire Cup to St Mary's College, Crosby by 36 runs. (see p.13 team photo)St Marys 99 for 7 in 20 overs (J. Bibby 3 wickets for 9 runs, J. Coslett-Greene 3 wickets for 11 runs)Rainford 63 all out (C. McCulloch 22, W. Tabern 15)

Year 9 Cricket Year 9 reached the 4th round of the Lancashire Cup with a comfortable victory by 171 runs against Rainhill.Scorecards:Rainford 195 for 3 in 20 overs (W. Tabern 117no, J. Coslett-Greene 32)Rainhill 24 all out (C. McCulloch 4 wickets for 5 runs, J. Bibby 4 wickets for 14 runs)

Year 9 Cricket Rainford beat Cowley by 5 wickets.Cowley 152 for 9 in 20 overs (C. Sephton 3 wickets for 4 runs, including a hat-trick)Rainford 154 for 5 (J. Bibby 67, W. Tabern 37, A. Gillespie 10)

Year 9 Cricket Rainford beat Birkdale by 8 wickets.Birkdale 167 for 4 in 20 overs.Rainford 168 for 2 (W. Tabern 76, J. Bibby 21, C. McCulloch 23no, J. Coslett-Greene 23no)

Year 9 Cricket Rainford beat St Cuthberts by 6 wickets.St Cuthberts 58 all out (J Coslett-Greene 5 wickets for 10 runs, C McCulloch 3 wickets for 13 runs)Rainford 62 for 4 (J Coslett-Greene 20, J Bibby 17)

U17 CricketRainford U17 beat Formby by 111 runs to reach Lancashire Schools quarter �nal.Rainford 187 for 3 wickets in 20 overs (W. Tabern 61no, S. Cline 31, W Threlkeld 30, S. Scott 23no)Formby 76 all out. (M. Bailey 5 wickets for 15 runs, D. McDermott 2 wickets for 14 runs)

Team News: U17, Yr10 & Yr9 Here are our school results so far as the season is not �nished yet.

12. Cricket

Year 8 Cricket Rainford beat Cowley by 56 runs.Rainford 103 for 7 in 20 overs (C. Duke 30no, G. Reid 27, E. Bailey 14)Cowley 47 all out (T. Davies 5 wickets for 7 runs)

Year 8 Cricket Rainford lost to Birkdale by 8 wicketsRainford 42 all out.Birkdale 43 for 2

Year 8 Cricket Year 8 beat St Augustines by 37 runsRainford 83 for 5 in 20 overs (C. Duke 33, T. Davies 10)St Augustines 46 for 8 (M. Aldridge 4 wickets for 3 runs, E. Bailey 2 wickets for 6 runs, S. Gogineni 2 wickets for 8 runs)

Year 7 Cricket Year 7 progressed to the quarter �nal of the Lancashire Cup with a comfortable 9 wicket victory at Parrs Wood High School.Scorecard:Parrs Wood 63 for 8 in 20 overs (T. Ashton 2 wickets for 5 runs)Rainford 64 for 1 (T. Ashton 24no, C. McCulloch 19, E. Threlkeld 8no)

Year 7 CricketYear 7 beat Cowley by 9 wickets.Cowley 63 for 8 in 20 overs (J Hemingway 3 wickets for 5 runs)Rainford 64 for 1 (C McCulloch 30no)

13. Team News: Yr 8 & 7

Year 9 Lancashire Cup Quarter�nalists

15. What’s on

DramaStage Combat level 2 - Armed Combat Learn how to �ght safely with foils, sta�s and sticks, learn how to fall and react when 'hit', learn how to choreograph your own �ght sequence

Circus Skills workshop - have the opportunity to juggle, walk on stilts, plate spin and much much more

Young Chefs Club- Make and decorate your own Christmas Cake- Develop you pastry skills using sweet and savoury short crust, pu� and �lo pastries- Enhance your cake making skills learning how to make delicious deserts

Jewellery ClubLike to be di�erent, come and design and make your own jewellery using a range of materials, wood, plastic, beads, enamel work and more

What’s coming? Activities from September 11 running through to July 12

To advertise your business please contact school Email: info@rainford.org.uk Tel: 01744 885914

16. Thank you

Sta�: Mr Halewood, Miss Burgess, Kim Hughes, Ms Purcell, Miss Wells, Mr Halliwell, Mr Hughes, Mrs McDonald and Mrs Turton