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Dinner Time Rota (No bags in Dining Hall)

B Hall Packed Lunch

Sitting 1 Year 9 Year 7 N4 and N8

Sitting 2 Year 8 & 7 Year 8 B Hall and N3

Year 9 Social Area D Floor Rotating lunchtime sittings will be for Years 7, 8 and 9 only. Years 10 and 11 have optional sittings. Bags must not be taken into B Hall/The Courtyard Cafe at lunchtime unless you have essential medication (i.e. Epipen or Diabetic equipment).

School Nurse Drop-in Session: Tuesday 18th March – Medical Room No appointments required – they are here to listen not to tell!

iPad drop in session: Tuesdays and Thursdays 12.15pm - K3

Independent Learning (click here for the link)

Count the Bounce How you made a guess? Have you worked out (either via some complicated maths equation or randomly picking a number out of thin air) how many bounces Mr Milburn will need to get the Basketball from the bottom of Cowpasture to the top? There’s still time to make a guess, at the Key Stage 3 Hub, before the Challenge this Friday 12.15pm. There’s a prize for the student who guesses closest.

Friday 21st March at 12.15pm in the Sports Hall is the time and place to see our Post 16 team (younger/fitter) take on our staff team (older/less agile) in the charity basketball match. Who is your money on to win? Don’t just wait to hear the result from your friends, get a ticket and watch the humiliation closely fought contest. Tickets are only 50p and can be bought from the Key Stage 3 Hub. If you raise over £200 Mr Milburn will play the basketball match in a tutu! If you raise over £500 he will do it with his legs waxed! (Have you seen his beard…he’s hairy!).

So visit the Key Stage Three Hub and get giving!

17-21st March

B @ilkleygrammar

Sport Relief: 21st March Next Friday, 21st March, is Sport Relief. Sporty attire is required by all on that day. Pay £1 for a sport non-uniform day (£2 if it’s not sporty enough!) Get creative…how sporty can you look?

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Sad News It has been a time of very sad news for IGS this week. We heard on Monday about the death of ex-student Joe Preston, who was with us until Year 11 and went on to Craven College in 2012, and who died over the weekend from a suspected drug overdose. Many of you may have known Joe or had older brothers and sisters who were friends with him. Joe is remembered as a quiet, but popular student with a large circle of friends. It is a tragic waste of a young life and devastating for his parents and brothers. Our thoughts and prayers are with Joe’s parents, his brothers, Oliver and James, his family and friends

NUT Strike Action Following the official notification from the NUT informing me that 35 of our 100 teachers will be on national strike on the 26th, I can now confirm that the school will be open for all Year 11 and Post 16 (Years 12 and 13) students only. School buses will run as usual, as will the school day from 8.30-3pm for these 3 year groups. I regret we cannot have other years in school, but I am pleased we can open for those in examination years. As far as I am aware, the majority of local and Bradford schools are also closed to all but Years 11-13. So if you are in Year 7-10, why not use this time to look at your Independent Learning for this half term. Details for your Year can be found here.

Use a Tree…Plant a Tree You may be aware that we are using new photocopiers and printers in school. The new printers will help us on our journey to be more eco-friendly, with automatic double sided functionality alongside pin code printing authorisation. We would like to take our green campaign one step further and we are planning to plant a tree as we use a tree. Watch this space for more information on how many trees we have used and planted.

I Dreamed a Dream…that Les Mis was coming to Ilkley The next Upstagers performance is Les Miserables. It is the longest running musical in the world with over 28 years of performances in London and around the world. It has won numerous awards and had a recent blockbuster film adaptation. The show is being performed at the King’s Hall and runs from the 20th to the 23rd March. There are 6 shows including two matinees. As always there are plenty of IGS students in the cast and their professionalism and work ethic in rehearsals are always noticed. Good luck if you are involved. If you fancy catching a show then book your ticket by visiting their website upstagers.org.uk.

Options Timings The deadline for Year 9 returning their options forms is Friday 21st March. All of Year 9 have had assemblies, new subject talks, meetings with Mrs Purnell and Parents’ Evenings to help with the process of choosing options. Don’t forget that next Wednesday 19th March we have the Careers Fair.

March

Wednesday 19 Careers Fair: Years 10 and 11, 1-3pm, Other Years 3pm

Friday 21 Deadline for the return of Options Forms

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Sharing Success

Well done to our dancers: Bea Debney (12SSM), Rebecca Nixon (10ACD), Alex Wright (9JLF), Sophie Gurung (9SCB), Harriet Day (9SCB), Alice Rich (9SMD), Bex Gray (9AHF), Ellie Dennis (9AHF), Sarah Fullerton (9AHF) and Mary Warren (9LO) who took part in the Bradford Dance Showcase event at Oakbank School on Tuesday. Primary and secondary schools from the Bradford region participated in the non-competitive event. IGS dancers performed a piece from The Seven Ages of Man. Well done to all involved.

Congratulations to our Year 11 football team who played some great passing football to beat St Mary's 5 - 2 last week.

Congratulations to Sophie Kirkup and India Sahota, both 7LAM, who are the first students in the school to achieve their Gold Certificate. This is an outstanding achievement: 120 credits so far this year. Well done girls.

Rugby News Well done to our Year 10 team who played Whitcliffe Mount on Tuesday but lost 38-0. Particular praise goes to the Year 9s who played. Congratulations to our Year 11 team who enjoyed success at Prince Henry's Grammar School in the semi-final of the Yorkshire Cup. The final score was 35-17. They will now play in the Yorkshire Cup Final on Saturday 22nd March; this is a magnificent achievement. Good luck boys!

Sophie Kirkup India Sahota

Banana and Girl Power! Well done to our Year 10 and 11 girls who made a difference to mark the end of Fairtrade Fortnight and International Women's Day. They helped out at the Make Food Fair event at Ben Rhydding Methodist Church. As well as dressing up as a banana, the girls made and sold Fairtrade banana smoothies, raising £25.00 for the Fairtrade Foundation.

From left to right the girls are Robyn Chambers, Catrina Saxton, Joanne Williamson, Natalie Portwood, Mollie Harris, Isobel Almond and Isobel Hirst.

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Well done to our Cross Country team who were in action on Tuesday at the annual Ermysted's Invitational Relay Race at Aireville Park, Skipton. The U12 race was a thriller! Ilkley Team A consisting of Dominic Coy, Bethan Morley, Robbie Matthews and Arran Burnett were in second place for the majority of the race until Dominic closed in on the St. Aidan's team in the final lap to take the gold medal in the last ten metres. Dominic, on his birthday, took the title of the Fastest U12 Lap in a time of 6:17 minutes. All four runners were in the top 10 U12 fastest runners. The Ilkley B Team: Emily Field, Elise Crabtree, Ella Shouler-Harris and Ethan Whiteside were the 3rd B Team and finished a respectable 8th overall out of 14 teams. The U14 race was equally as exciting with the A Team: George Dey, Ben Thompson, George Hardesty and Jacob Hellewell finishing in 2nd place and the B Team: Oscar Stapleton, Henry Ackroyd, Joe Haigh and Cameron Reilly finishing in 4th overall. Cameron Reilly ran the 2nd fastest lap in the U14 race, only two seconds behind the winner but 19 seconds faster than any other IGS runner! Special mention to Joe Haigh for being a last minute stand-in after his football match was cancelled and offering to fill the spare space in the B Team.

Bethan Morley (7PDH), Dominic Coy (7SP), Robbie Matthews (7PB) and Arran Burnett (7HED/KE).

Ben Thompson (9LO), George Dey (8MWC), George Hardesty (9BJS) and Jacob Hellewell (9BJS).

Cameron Reilly (8ADM), Joe Haigh (8GPS), Henry Ackroyd (8ALC) and Oscar Stapleton (8CW/SF)

Elise Crabtree (7DSF), Ella Shouler-Harris (7HED/KE), Emily Field (7LAM) and Ethan Whiteside (7PDH)

Congratulations to our Year 8 football team who continued to play some great football on Wednesday night. They secured a 2-0 win over Prince Henry’s followed by a tense 0-0 draw with St Mary's in which we had the majority of the play and were very unlucky not to score. The boys' attitude as usual was excellent and all players in the squad made a valuable contribution.

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Our World Book Day event and the recent Primary

Maths afternoon made the news this week

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The Power of Poetry You may remember a news item a couple of months ago when we received notification that two of our students, Isla Lury (9JI) and Saffron Cockcroft (11MH) were going to be included in a poetry book. The book, ‘The Power of Poetry’, has now been published. Saffron and Isla’s poems are titled ‘Autumn’ and ‘Gone’.

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Career of the Week: Engineering

The Work: part of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) group of subjects highly valued by employers and crucial for the economic development of the UK. The range of engineering career opportunities is huge. Engineers are employed at craft, technician and professional levels in industries including: aerospace, agriculture, chemical, construction, energy supply and delivery, food, marine and transport. Entry Requirements: level 2/3 full time college courses require good GCSEs including Maths, English and Science ideally. Apprenticeships usually require good GCSEs again in Maths, English and Science. Professional engineering careers require a degree or foundation degree which may be available via Apprenticeships at Level 4/5. Training & Development: you will usually train on the job as part of your Apprenticeship or graduate training scheme. Employers will expect you to continue to develop your skills and knowledge throughout your career. Many of the industries mentioned above have professional bodies who can offer advice on courses leading to incorporated or chartered engineer status. Pay: craft/technician qualified engineers start on between £12,000 and £18,000 per year. Graduate engineers can start on £22,000 and £25,000 a year and with experience and chartership over £40,000 a year. (These figures are intended as a guideline only). Further Information: Tomorrow’s Engineers - www.tomorrowsengineers.org.uk

Engineering Council - www.engc.org.uk National Careers Service - www.nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk

For an electronic copy of this see Mrs Mitchell, Careers Coordinator in KS4 Hub or Mr Cole, Independent Careers Adviser.

Mrs Mitchell

GCSE Overview

Mr Swain

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March 20th – The March Equinox An equinox occurs twice a year (around 20th March and 22nd September), when the plane of Earth's equator passes the centre of the Sun. At this time the tilt of the Earth's axis is inclined neither away from nor towards the Sun. The term equinox can also be used in a broader sense, meaning the date when such a passage happens. The name "equinox" is derived from the Latin aequus (equal) and nox (night), because around the equinox, night and day are about equal length. The equinoxes are the only times when the sub solar point (the place on Earth's surface where the centre of the Sun is exactly overhead) is on the Equator. The sub solar point crosses the Equator moving northward at the March equinox and moving southward at the September equinox. The equinoxes are the only times when the Northern and Southern hemispheres are illuminated equally. Another meaning of equinox is the date when day and night are the same length. So, in a nutshell, longer lighter days: spring is here!

St Patrick’s Day March 17th

The patron saint of Ireland, St Patrick, is celebrated on March 17th .Originally, the colour associated with Saint Patrick was blue. Over the years the colour green and its association with Saint Patrick's Day grew. Green ribbons and shamrocks were worn in celebration of St Patrick's Day as early as the 17th century and Saint Patrick is said to have used the shamrock, a three-leaved plant, to explain the Holy Trinity to the pagan Irish, and the wearing and display of shamrocks and shamrock-inspired designs has become a feature of the day. In 1903, Saint Patrick's Day became an official public holiday in Ireland and by the 1990s it was used as a festival and showcase of Irish culture. In Dublin this year they are marking the occasion by holding a Festival all week culminating in St Patrick’s Day Parade on the day itself.

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