inside this issue: new beginnings - blacon high school · new beginnings welcome to the first issue...

Edition #11

September ‘16

Special Edition

New Beginnings Welcome to the first issue of Blacon High

Times for the year 2016-17!

As the newspaper enters its second academic

year of production, our school begins its first

year in our brand new building.

Every previous issue of Blacon High Times has

focused on the planning and preparation that

has gone into creating a stunning,

multi-million pound building that now houses

our 400+ students.

At the end of last year, we left behind our

leaking roof, old-fashioned décor and a host of

tired classrooms. Although there were many

memories held in our old building, staff and

students couldn’t wait to enter through the

new doors and begin a new journey of

learning in the high-tech classrooms.

After what felt like an eternity of waiting, our

hopes and dreams for Blacon High School

finally became a reality when we returned in

September after a well-deserved summer

break.

We entered on our first day with high

expectations...our new building met and

exceeded them!

Our corridors are high and bright; our

classrooms are spacious and clean. We have a

large hall where we conduct assemblies and a

huge Sports Hall for our PE lessons. In

addition, there is new IT provision and

stunning new workrooms for Science,

Technology and ICT.

We feel very lucky to have such a beautiful

new building and we have enjoyed showing it

off to our many visitors in our first half-term!

Inside this issue:

New Beginnings 1

Head Teacher’s Coments

1

New Build Photo Gallery

2

Opening Ceremony 3

Welcome to Year 7s 3

Results Day 4

Tremendous Trips and Excellent Extra-Curricular

5

From Blacon to Bulgaria...and back again!

6

Bulgarian Photo Gallery

7

Extra-Curricular Timetable

8

Mrs Yates’ Comments This September finally brought our years of planning and preparation to end as we moved into our stunning new school building. It seems like a long time ago that we embarked on our journey to house our children in what promised to be an exceptional place for learning. We have had an incredibly positive start to our school year: students and staff have settled in well and we now have a fully functioning purposeful learning environment that sees students making progress every day. I would like to take this opportunity to address just how exemplary our students have been since they returned to us after the summer holidays—well done! I hope everybody has a fantastic half-term break and I look forward to seeing you in November.

New Build Photo Gallery

Planning for our new school building began five years ago. Our building started just over one year ago; it’s incredible to think how far our school has come in such a short amount of time! This is how our school looked halfway through the building

process. The following photographs below show just some

areas of our new school building...

Top-of-the-range IT provision and Music equipment allows students to unleash their creative sides and showcase their musical

skills

The Learning Resource Centre offers a wealth of books and other resources and is a

purposeful environment to study and revise

Our Activity Studio provides the perfect opportunity for students to ‘climb’ their way

to the peak of their success!

The Diner—a place to eat, socialise and refresh during breaktimes. A wide selection of foods are available each and every day to suit

all tastes

Appointments to view our new school building are available on request. Our Inaugural Celebration Evening takes place on the 28th of October and offers the chance to view the school and

commemorate our opening.

Opening Ceremony

Our official Opening Ceremony took place on the 9th of September.

Staff were joined by Morgan Sindall (the building company

responsible for the planning and creating of our school), governors,

our Head Boy and Girl team and Razia Daniels, Deputy Lord Mayor of

Chester.

Mrs Yates gave a presentation where she referred to our old building

which has seen thousands of students pass through over the years.

She talked about how we will not miss the leaking roof and old

windows, but how we will certainly miss the memories created within the school walls.

Speaking of our new building, Mrs Yates said, ‘I can’t wait to welcome our students through the doors on

the first day of term. I know they will be overwhelmed with just how different our new building is, and I

know that it will have an extremely positive effect on learning.’

Mrs Yates then handed over to Governor, David Peachey, who spoke of our increasingly positive reputation

in the local community. Students from areas other than Blacon are now flocking to learn in a supportive

environment, now housed in a place with a wealth of resources.

Finally, Deputy Lord Mayor Razia Daniels emphasised just how proud she is to call Blacon High School a part

of Chester, and spoke extremely highly of everyone involved in the process of the creation of the new

Blacon High School. She emphasised just how overwhelmed she was by the positivity that has surrounded

the project since day one, and of how amazed she was by the dedication of staff and students to the

concept of a new era for us. We look forward to our Inaugural Celebration Concert to celebrate once again!

Welcome to Year 7s The first day of the new school year was an unusual event for all students as they saw the new Blacon High

School for the first time. However, Year 7 students also experienced many ‘firsts’ of their own as they began

their high school careers.

The day began with an assembly from Head of Year 7, Mrs Wright, and Head Teacher, Mrs Yates. They

talked of the promise that the next five years will hold for our students and the expectations of high school.

With a record number of Year 7s entering our school, our five tutor groups filled the hall! Our new forms

are named after a selection of inspirational people: Einstein, Mandela, Shakespeare, Bolt and Parks.

Year 7 delivered individual assemblies on their respective tutor ‘icons’, presenting on who they are and why

they inspire us. 7Bolt summarised our use of the five central figures, stating ‘The famous people who

represent our groups are important because they strived to be the best they could be. This links directly to

our school motto which encourages us to be the best we can be every single day. Seeing the names of such

motivational people on our planners and exercise books is a constant reminder to be the best.’

Results Day On the 25th August, Blacon High School celebrated its annual Results Day. Year 11 students anxiously anticipated the long-awaited day following on from their final revision sessions, official examinations and Prom Evening. After five years of learning, preparing and revising, the day finally arrived. Staff had high hopes for what had been an extremely successful year group throughout their school careers, but no-one could have predicted just how well the Class of 2016 would ultimately do. Despite their nerves as they entered the building to collect their envelopes, our students achieved record results: the best our school has ever done in its history! Overall, 62% of students achieved 5 A*-C grades, a fantastic improvement from last year. In addition, 82% of students did better than expected in their English GCSE results, and 66% exceeded their predicted Maths grades. Our high fliers included Lochlan Hardy (1A*/3A/2B/2C) and Amber Sconce (1A*/5A/3B/2C) who will both be going on to Repton School and Headington School respectively as part of our bursary scheme. Our incredible results are testament to the hard work and dedication that students and staff have shown over the last five years, and particularly during their final year at our school. Our Year 11s are now going on to a number of fields in further education, including local sixth forms, colleges, apprenticeships and careers. We wish them the very best of luck in their future ventures and encourage all of our students to keep us updated with their successes. Congratulations to the Class of 2016!

Tremendous Trips and Excellent Extra Curricular Theatrical Treat

We have only been back at school for seven weeks, but we have already been on many trips to some exciting places in order to enhance our understanding of different subjects. In English, Years 10 and 11 have been studying the renowned musical, Blood Brothers, for their GCSE studies. Miss McFetridge, Mrs Williams, Mrs Wait and Mrs Lloyd took a group of students to the Liverpool Empire Theatre to watch an incredible cast bring an emotional rollercoaster of a plot to life. Year 10 student Ellie Irvine said, ‘I’ve seen clips of past productions on YouTube, but nothing is quite like seeing it play out in front of your eyes. There is something amazing about being in the theatre, especially to see a play that you have read and studied.’ The play was so popular, even Prince Edward had turned up to see it on the night!

Superb Scientists Science has been awash with practical lessons and exciting experiments this half-term. Students from year 7 made model cells out of sweets, cakes and plasticine to kick off their biology unit of work on cells and the human body. Declan Chaloner is extremely proud of his cell cake, which looks good enough to eat (see photo). WISE Club (Women in Science and Engineering) have made body scrubs and popcorn; who knew Science could be so relaxing?! They will also be creating a ‘buzz’ after the holiday as they will be making Christmas tree buzzer games for the festive season.

Crafty Canoeists Year 8 students, Miss Jones and Miss Ward enjoyed a leisurely jaunt down the Chester waterways on September 22nd. After meeting at the Tattenhall

Canoe centre, the group was debriefed about safety instructions and how to be 'sea-cure'; it was then time to set sail! Like ducks to water, groups of 2/3 steered their canoes (impressively!) to the campsite where they set up tents and home for the night. They all enjoyed some campfire songs and ghost stories. And of course, their camping trip wouldn't have been complete without toasted marshmallows! The seafarers awoke bright and early, had breakfast, packed up and traipsed back to the canoes to 'seas the day'. After a brief encounter with some curious cows, students and staff travelled all the way back to the Tattenhall Canoe centre. There, the students had lunch and awaited the arrival of Miss Perry and the minibus to take sleepy students and tired teachers back to Blacon. Buoy, it sounds like it was a good trip!

From Blacon to Bulgaria...and back again! Our final week of our first half-term has seen many celebrations: the first half-term completed in our new building, successes from various exams and testing and most importantly, a happy and productive start to the academic year for all. One of our main celebrations, however, has been that of our relationship with Vasil Levski School in Bulgaria. Last year, students began communicating with pen pals from our ‘twinned’ school, writing letters to find out all about what school life is like in Bulgaria. Mrs Yates, Mr Stockdale and Rob Williams (school governor) paid a visit to the school last year to tour their building and observe lessons. This half-term, our Bulgarian counterparts returned our visit and came to see what school is like in Blacon High School. Vasil Levski School’s Head Teacher and teaching staff were amazed by the look and feel of our new building. Head Teacher Ms Mancheva said, ‘You have a beautiful school and we can see just how purposeful every single lesson is. Even more notably, there is clearly a lot of love in this school; staff and students have fantastic relationships. We look forward to returning to Vasil Levski school to put some of your methods into practise to improve our school even further.’ Blacon High School students took the opportunity to present to the staff, with Head Boy, Head Girl and their assistants presenting the staff with traditional English food upon their arrival, followed by a tour around the school. Mr Stockdale also took the teachers into Chester to see our incredible Roman heritage. They particularly enjoyed the Roman amphitheatre, saying that it was ‘an amazing example of what every Cestrian should be proud of; we feel lucky to have seen it.’ In addition, they took a cruise down the River Dee on the Lady Diana showboat which allowed them to see the stunning scenery that surrounds Chester town centre. Staff met with the Bulgarian teachers to discuss the similarities and differences between our two schools. Mrs Yates discussed how she saw a fantastic command of students when she visited Vasil Levksi school, and admired the students’ attitude to their culture and heritage (particularly for their national hero and namesake, Vasil Levksi, who led their people to independence). In addition, Mrs Yates and Mr Stockdale were amazed by just how fluent the Bulgarian students were in speaking English after Mrs Stefanova showed staff a clip of their students. Mrs Stefanova, Ms Mancheva and Ms Todorova praised the high levels of group work we execute in lessons, and said that they hoped to employ this in their school to improve engagement and enjoyment of lessons. The next step for Blacon High School and Vasil Levski High School is to create an opportunity for students to exchange for one week to experience the similarities and differences between our two schools. There has already been a huge amount of interest in this project: Emily Shrigley in Year 9 said, ‘What an amazing experience this would be! I’ve heard so much about just how different teaching and learning can be between two countries and I would love to see it for myself.’

Bulgaria Visit Photo Gallery

Upon arrival at Blacon High School, the Bulgarian staff were met by Mrs Yates, Rob Williams (Governor) and Head Boy,

Head Girl and Assistant Head Boy

Students had even prepared food and drink for our tired guests!

The staff went into lessons to see how teaching and learning is conducted

Mr Stockdale and our visitors went for a scenic cruise along the River Dee

We hope you enjoyed visiting our school and seeing our beautiful city! We can’t wait to see you again on our

exchange visits. ще се видим скоро (See you soon!)

Extra Curricular Activities

Monday Activity Time Location Year Group

Brass Lessons During Lessons 123 All

ICT Homework Club Lunchtime 201 All

School Choir 3-4.30pm 124 All

ICT Homework Club 3-4pm 210 All

Football Club 3-4pm Astro 7, 8, 9

Netball Club 3-4pm Sports Hall 7, 8, 9

Homework Club 3-4pm Avenue LRC All

Tuesday Drum Lessons 9-12am 123 All


Classical Civilisation Lunchtime 205 8


Netball Club 3-4pm Sports Hall 7, 8


Wednesday Science Drop-In Sessions Before School 316 11

Woodwind Lessons During Lessons 123 All


Coding Club Lunchtime 201 All

Press Club Lunchtime Avenue LRC All

Keyboard Club 3-4pm 124 All

DJ Club 3-4pm 124 All

WISE Science (Wk2 only) 3-4pm 315 7-10


Sports Fixtures 3-4pm Sports Hall/Field All

Year 8 Science Club 3-4pm 316 All


Thursday Guitar Lessons During lessons 123 All


School Band 3-4pm 124 All


Science Crest Award 3-4pm 314 9, 10

PE Indoor Club 3-4pm Sports Hall All

Year 7 Science Club 3-4pm 316 7

Duke of Edinburgh 3-4pm 202 9, 10, 11


Friday School Band 3-4pm 124 All

Table Tennis Club 3-4pm Main Hall All

A reminder that students are expected back in school on the 4th November at the usual start time of 8.45. Enjoy your well-deserved half-term holiday!

There is a wide-range of extra-curricular activities available to students before, during and after school. Take a look at our timetable below to find one that suits you:

inside this issue: new beginnings - blacon high school · new beginnings welcome to the first issue...

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