End-of-Term

EDT 4 NEWSLETTER March 2018

Number day

QUESTION. Can you make the number 100 using only the number 3 and the operations +, –, x, and ÷ ?

MHCC took part in the NSPCC's Number Day on 2nd February 2018.

Pupils and teachers went head to head in our fun and engaging maths activities including ‘Who Wants to be a Mathionaire?’ during Maths and Science lessons. There were also numeracy related activities throughout the day at break and lunch including ‘Guess the sum of the dice in a jar’ and ‘How many squares?'.

A big thanks to all those that made the day a success!

Mr. Yasin and Mrs. Khalique

ANSWER: Many answers possible e.g. 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 + 3 x 3 + 3 x 3 + 3/3 = 100!

The Yu-Gi-Oh! An extremely popular lunch time club has been created this term.

The Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game is a Japanese collectible card battle game developed and published by Konami. Based on the Duel Monsters concept from the original manga series, the game sees players using a combination of monsters, spells, and traps to defeat their opponent. First launched in Japan in 1999, the game has received various changes over the years, such as the inclusion of new monster types to coincide with the release of a new anime series. Some people believe it to be the top selling trading card game in history, with more than 25 billion cards sold worldwide. Students from all year groups attend daily to "battle" their opponents and this has developed new friendships, communication and strategic skills and critical thinking.

Maths Challenge Some of our Year 9 and year 10 students were entered for the Intermediate Maths Challenge run by

UKMT on February 1st. This is a series of challenging mathematical problems and is designed for

students with good mathematical skills. I am delighted to tell you that 5 of our students achieved scores

which gave them Bronze awards. In March, a team of Year 8 and Year 9 top students entered the UKMT

Team Challenge and competed against 28 other teams over at Manchester Grammar School. Although

we didn't win, the team did very well and thoroughly enjoyed the day.

Careers Advice & Guidance The Job Junction Year 11 have being receiving Careers Advice and Guidance interviews carried out by Level 6 qualified Careers Advisors via our partnership with Job Junction. All Year 11 students will have two independent and impartial interviews.

Futaba Engineering Trip Students, who expressed an interest in Engineering visited Futaba Engineering in Burnley. Futaba are an engineering company who make parts for Jaguar and Land Rover. The trip allowed students, who want to become engineers in the future, to have experience of one of the pathways available to them in this ever-growing sector.

STAR Games Years 7 & 8 forms have taken part in 'STAR Game' devised by the Job Junction, with a clear focus on 'Apprenticeships' This will raise students' awareness of another future pathway available to them. This will ensure that almost 400 MHCC students are better informed.

Work Inspiration February 2018 all Year 9 students attended a 'Work Inspiration' session hosted by Nelson & Colne College. Students had the opportunity to meet with a wide range of employers, to help them consider future pathways and the qualifications they will need for the future. This is particularly important bearing in mind the imminent 'Options' process. They have also had a Citizenship lesson where future pathways and qualifications were discussed.

“ENJOYneering” Competion

This month 12 students will be taking part in an 'Enjoyneering' competition, hosted by Burnley College. The competition tests students' abilities in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths, as well as developing their employability skills; such as team work, communication, resilience and creative thinking.

Business and Enterprise

The College also has a Business and Enterprise Coordinator, Penny Heys, and a Business and Enterprise Advisor, Jenny Woodward, director of the Printed Paper Cup Company. They work along side Mr Price, Mrs Pinder and Mrs Semple and Miss Webster to create further careers advice and experience to all of our students. This work is invaluable in terms of creating employer access for our students and improving students' employability skills for the future. More to come - watch this space!

This half term all Year 8 PSHCE classes have been looking at Careers. They are all being visited by Nelson & Colne College and Burnley College, looking at stereotyping in careers and employability skills.

PSHCE College Visits

Mr. Price carried out a Careers Survey before Christmas with Years 9, 10 & 11, so students could express an interest in certain career pathways and he is now collating this information in order that local/national employers can come into College to speak to students with a specific career path in mind. To that end we have planned for a barrister and a solicitor to come in and meet students wanting to focus on the legal profession in the future. There is also a 'Careers in Nursing' trip to Blackburn Royal Hospital planned after Easter for 12 students.

Career Pathways

British Science Week Reaction Time Year 10 Students took part in their first reaction time competition. Students from Positive Voices took the lead and instructed their peers on how to take the test. They had to hit the tablet button each time the saw a sheep run past. The quicker they anticipated the sheep, the faster their reaction time was.

It was a close competition, with teachers and students taking part.

The winners were:

Fastest reaction time girl: Helina Noor 0.213s

Fastest reaction time boy: Hassan Ali 0.3036s

Fastest reaction time House: NINOX 0.549s

Fastest Teacher: A Dickinson 0.2674s

Chester Zoo We took 165 Year 8 students to spend the day at the second most popular tourist attraction In the UK, Chester Zoo! Students had an amazing time observing over 21,000 animals from 500 different species, including some of the most exotic and endangered in the world. Some of the highlights of their day were: the bat cave; watching the monkeys swing around the ropes; seeing the elephants interact with one another and view the beauty of the cheetah.

Royal Society of

Biology Competition Year 9 and Year 10 students took part in the annual Royal Society of Biology competition. Biology Challenge stimulates students’ curiosity for the natural world and encourages them to take an interest in biology outside of school. Students completed two online tests, which explore a variety of biological processes and phenomena.

Science investigations These are some of the science experiments students have been exploring during British Science Week

Investigating the changes in concentration and temperature of Sodium Thiosulphate Magnetic fields using compasses Surface area of limestone and its effect on the rate of reaction Exploring size of forces using Newton meters Catalytic reactions Chromatography Diffusion of potassium permanganate Cultures of microbes Refraction Reflection Filtration Testing a leaf for starch Collapsing can Gas pressure Amylase enzyme activity

The theme for this year’s Science week was ‘Exploration and Discovery’ and this is how the whole college got involved!

Poster Competition Year 7, 8 and 9 students took part in the British Science week poster competition. During form time students worked on making posters which focussed around this year’s theme of ‘exploration and discovery’. Please get your entries to your head of year as soon as possible so that they can be submitted for national judging.

English Mrs Bevan explored the impact of modern technology, in particular mobile phones. Her Year 10 group carried out a debate on whether mobile phones should always be listening. They used the outcome of their debate to facilitate their ability to write an article on mobile phones.

RE Mr Anwar has been looking at the Sikhism faith with Year 8. They have been looking at key tenants of the faith and exploring the ways in which followers practise their faith. Geography

Mr Collinge’s classes have been discovering the cause and effect of ‘Extreme Weather’.

Communication Year 7 and Year 8 communication lessons have been focussed around comprehension tasks with science as their theme.

History Students explored how to attack castles and how great inventions were made in order to better attack them, in particular Trebuchets, with Year 7.

MFL MFL got involved by debating ‘si la tecnología es una herramienta importante o un peligro para todos’ (if technology is an important tool or a danger to us all)

DNA in a DAY Year 11 are focusing on the written exam paper on May 18th. The focus will be in-depth understanding of the play, characters and themes, with particular focus on the types of questions that will be asked and learning the formula for success in answering each type of question. The day will be invaluable as students will only have 5 weeks before the exam after the Easter holidays

20th March saw 12 MHCC students taking on West

Craven, Our Lady & St John and Burnley College

engineering students, in an 'Enjoyneering' Challenge.

Split into teams of four, the students had to cost,

design, create and race their own race cars over a

20m time trial, propelled by compressed air.

After practice runs, two of Marsden Heights’ Year 9

teams were in 2nd and 4th place. At the end of the

competition one team had moved into first place,

'Team Zap' and the final team to race were the

Marsden Heights’ Year 9 team, in fourth place, 'Team

Tyson V2'. With some amazing last second

alterations to their car, they managed to take first

place by 1/100th of a second. Well done to all our

teams; 1st, 2nd and Year 10 in a creditable 5th

place.

Happy Easter to all.

We look forward to seeing staff and students

back on Monday 9th April 2018.

This term we have been running our “Be Inspired” programme which is focused all around apprenticeships. We have launched a form time model of the Star Game competition within the Year 7 and 8 forms. This has been the first time that this model has been tested and has been well received; we are looking forward to seeing the results.

Alongside this we have continued to run our lunch time sessions on Monday and Thursday’s. We have had good attendance from these sessions and a positive interest from the Year 11 students for help on their CVs as well as help applying for college. The finalists for the Star Job competition have been interviewed by Johnny and Chloe from Blackburn College. The students did a great job of selling themselves and each gave a great interview, however there has to be a winner and this was Mohammed Ali Altaf from Year 10.

As well as the lunch time model, Karen and Matt from the Job Junction have been delivering 1:1 careers guidance to the Year 11 students in preparation for their next steps and making sure that they are ready for whatever comes next. We hope to see you next term where we will be running the Sports programme which looks at careers within the sports sector. There are far more than you think, why not come along on a Monday or Thursday lunch to find out more? We have received great feedback from the students with one commenting that they now understand more about apprentice-ships and the advantages that they offer.

The Job Junction Be Inspired Programme (Jan 18 – Mar 18)

Useful Dates Start of Summer Term Monday 9th April Students return to college Monday 7th May May Day Closure Monday 28th May – Friday 1st June (inclusive) Mid Term closure Friday 20th July Closure after college End of Summer Term

Easter Holiday Revision Classes

Date Subject / classes Times

Monday 26th

Drama Modern Foreign Languages Food DT Resistant Materials ICT Maths

10am - 2pm 10am - 1pm 10am - 2pm 10am - 3pm 9am - 2pm 9am - 11am

Tuesday 27th

ICT DT Resistant Materials (year 10) Media Science Science Maths Maths

9am – 2pm 10am – 3pm 1pm – 3pm 10am – 2pm 10am – 2pm 9am - 11am 9am - 11am

Wednesday 28th History History History English English English Maths

10am – 12:30pm 10am – 12:30pm 10am – 12:30pm 10am – 12:30pm 10am – 12:30pm 10am – 12:30pm 10am – 12pm

Thursday 29th Music – Music room Psychology

9:30 – 3:30pm 10am – 12pm

Friday 30th BANK HOLIDAY

Monday BANK HOLIDAY BANK HOLIDAY

3rd April Music Modern Foreign Languages RE RE Maths

9:30 – 3:30pm 11am – 1pm 10 am – 2pm 10 am – 2pm 9am – 11am

4th April Music English English English RE Textiles Maths

9:30- 3:30pm 1pm – 3pm 1pm – 3pm 1pm - 3pm 10am – 12pm 10am - 2pm 12pm – 2pm

5th April English English Textiles

10am - 12:30pm 10am - 12:30pm 10am - 2pm