The Blue Coat School

Proud to be p ar t o f The Cr anmer E duca t ion Tr ust

Spring Newsletter – March, 2016

Robotic’s Nationals – Design Award Winners

Congratulations to our BlueBots!

Faith ~ Vision ~ Nurture

Dear Parents, Guardians and Carers, This has been a short and very busy term! It is the business term, when students and staff are all

focused on the exams to come, and the work that has to be submitted, marked and sometimes

improved. Fortunately we haven’t had to contend with much snow (Friday, 4th March presented a few

challenges with transport, but the Snow Zone Policy worked well. Thank you for your support), and

good progress has been made.

The newsletter focuses, as always, on what students have been doing in different areas of the school,

and it is staff who generally tell the story. But this year I have asked Rebecca Howarth from Year 7 to

introduce the term’s news. As an introduction to Blue Coat, and to all those happy (but possibly

slightly apprehensive) Year 6’ers who have just got their letter, it’s a gem! (See below, and thank you).

A Term in the Life at Blue Coat - By Rebecca Howarth 7B

“When I first came to Blue Coat it was quite a shock. My primary school, St Agnes C of E, was very

small with 105 pupils altogether and 15 pupils in Year 6. So coming to Blue Coat, with 249 students

just in my year felt scary at first. Still, I was excited too, and two of my friends from Primary, Zoe and

Sadie, were in my Form. Friends I had known out of primary school, such as Esther and Naomi, also

came to Blue Coat. Soon I had made friends with some girls in my Form and loads of people in my

classes. Before long, after school I was meeting up with a few friends and walking through the gates

with them. I still do now with Zoe, Esther, Becca, Izzy and Casey.

Before I came here, I imagined that all the classes would be extremely difficult, although I’d found

lessons fine in primary. Actually though, the lessons are great and I like challenging myself with things I

haven’t tried before. I can manage the homework I’ve been getting and bringing the right books for the

right lessons in the day. My favourites are English and Drama, as they always have been, but I enjoy

doing the things I wasn’t taught in primary school, like Food and Textiles. At break I usually go to the

library with my friend Harriet, although sometimes I stay on the back pitch and talk with the friends I

walk home with.

The school restaurant is a perfect meeting place for my friends and me

at the start of the day, not to mention the school lunches! There’s

always something delicious to tuck in to, and don’t even get me started

on the dessert!

Overall, Blue Coat has been great. I am used to the bustling corridors

and the rush to get to lessons, and have really enjoyed the time I have

had so far, especially with my friends. Laughing with Ashley, having

fun with Harriet, sitting with Martine at lunch and having fun with the

usual group. Thanks to the teachers and friends that make Blue Coat

amazing!”

We wish all our families a happy and peaceful Easter, and look forward to seeing everyone back, safe

and refreshed, on Monday, 11th April.

Yours sincerely,

Headteacher

School News

Oxbridge Congratulations to all our Oxbridge candidates this year, and especially to the students who secured

places at these and other highly competitive institutions for courses which are heavily oversubscribed.

Aaron Hartnell-Booth: place at Wadham College to read

Physics

Daniel McLoughlin: place at University College to read

Physics

Changes To Curriculum Arrangements This affects all students, and especially Year 8, now and in the future. As a result of major changes

that are being made nationally to the curriculum and assessment, we have decided to bring option

choices into Year 8. All our students take EBacc (unless they have an additional learning need, or

they need extra time for English and maths), and choose either History or Geography (or both), and

either French or German (or both). They then have two choices from an extensive list and we

encourage them to follow their interests and passions. The core of English Language and Literature,

Maths, Double (or Triple) Science, RS, a Humanities subject and a language ensures that all bases

are covered, so they can go for breadth and take creative or technical options, or a GCSE in PE, or

Sociology, or computing, or one of the more applied options.

The GCSE work will not actually start until January of Year 9, as pupils will need to develop their skills

and knowledge base first. But starting in Year 9 will provide more time which will enable pupils to

cover the increased content, and develop the skills for the new assessments which all come at the

end of Year 11. These require embedding, learning and practising for application. We believe that

this approach will help us preserve a broad curriculum offer, where pupils have choice and

ownership, and will support continuing high achievement and progress.

Snow We got off quite lightly in the end this winter (that is assuming there isn’t any more to come….)

The snow zone policy worked well on 4th March, and thank you to parents for working with us on this.

We opened and got the site safe. Some pupils set off, but were defeated by traffic gridlocks and had to

turn back. Other students made it, sometimes brought in by parents, and whilst it wasn’t entirely

normal service, lessons were taught, learning continued, and those who got in had a good day. We

had to release students early because of the forecast, and potential transport difficulties. In the event,

the forecast changed, and the snow stopped not long after the final students were released.

For future reference: a tendency began to surface whereby some pupils in Zone 1 remembered that

they were staying overnight with a pupil in Zone 4……. Or that they were not staying with parent ‘A’ in

Zone 1 that night, but going to parent ‘B’ in Zone 4. Whilst I am sure that some of these late

amendments to personal snow plans were entirely accurate and legitimate, nevertheless our policy

needs to be clear, that students will be released according to their primary residence zone, and that

private sleep-over arrangements cannot be factored in at short notice. I am sure parents will

understand that this is necessary, so we know where students are, where they are going, and that they

are safe.

The Cranmer Education Trust Blue Coat has established a Multi-Academy Trust which two primaries, East Crompton St. George’s,

and Mayfield, have now joined. We are breaking ground because this Trust is cross-phase (it

includes children from nursery to 18-and-about-to-go-to-univeristy) and both schools with a religious

character and those with a community basis. Its rationale is the children and young people, and the

best provision for them and their life chances.

At a time when education is changing rapidly, and coming under increasing financial pressure, the

logic in schools coming together to create economies of scale has never been more powerful. And

whilst all the admissions policies for the school will remain the same, and Blue Coat will continue to

offer our places across the Diocese as well as the town, it makes sense to work closely with primaries

as they develop their new curricula and assessment, so we can ensure that we are fully prepared for

curricular transition at Year 7.

Admissions We continue to be a very popular choice when it comes to

educating our children. We have been significantly

oversubscribed in both Year 7 and Year 12. The Local

Authority has now sent out the offer letters to current Year 6

parents, and admission appeals will soon commence. The

good news is that all Anglican applicants who put us as their

first preference have received a place, as have some

applicants from other Christian denominations who worship

regularly. There is a long waiting list, but we know from past

experience that there will be movement between now and

September 2016.

For Year 12 we have been delighted with the amount of external interest. Our first priority is to ensure

our own students are accommodated, and throughout the year Mr Griffin and Mrs Murray from

Connexions have been working with our young people to ensure that they are all signed up on the

pathway that is right for them. Over 150 students want to come back to our Sixth Form, and they

have all been interviewed to discuss their chosen pathway in detail. Currently we have interviewed

170 external applicants, and have made over 135 offers so far out of the 270 who applied. We expect

this number to reach 150 from the remaining interviews. We wish we could accommodate everyone,

but resources are finite, and we have to ensure we can provide a very good service for everyone

concern.

The curriculum, learning

and achievement

World Book Day

To celebrate World Book Day the Library hosted a week of events including craft

making sessions (bookmarks and book hogs), literary quiz bingo and the Big Read

where we tried to get as many students and staff reading in the Library over lunch.

Students could also enter the “Shelfie” competition guessing the teachers' identity

only by a cryptic clue and a photo of their home book shelf.

During the week over 500 free World Book Day books were given out, along with

book vouchers.

We also took the opportunity to have a half-way Most Words Read competition for Accelerated

Reader to celebrate our first batch of millionaires, who will all receive a prize. So far the school in total

has read a whopping 57,100,078 million words.

Year 7 Millionaires

Rebecca Howarth - 2,951,894 million words

Ashley Idoko - 2,752,960

Oliver Irving - 1,690,161

Elizabeth Corps - 1,533,682

Benjamin Hughes - 1,553,311

Freya Linder - 1,402,236

Matilda Ferreira - 1,260,334

Amy Greer - 1,233,225

Thomas Bull - 1,197,322

Benjamin Slater - 1,193,244

Princess Balogun - 1,151,196

Imogen Tennent - 1,111,911

Amber Kay - 1,029,756

Amelia Crompton - 1,024,954

STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths

In January, the Engineering Education Scheme (EES)

students attended a three-day residential held at the

University of Liverpool. The group met with their industrial

mentor, from local company, Innovative Technologies, and

made excellent progress on their project - to devise a way of

preventing the removal of notes from money validation units.

To achieve this, the group were given use of all of the

University facilities. The students also attended a number of

sample engineering lectures, and presented their progress to

the rest of the scheme participants.

The group are now working towards completing their product,

written report and presentation, ready for the Celebration and

Assessment day next half term.

Robotics

Congratulations to Nadia Edwards, Emma Hawthorne, Maia Lees, Zara Matthews and Sophie Temesi

who recently took part in the VEX IQ Regional Robotic Competition and won the Award for

Excellence.

After being selected for this process in October they designed, built and learned how to drive their

robot both manually and autonomously, in addition to producing an engineer’s notebook and

completing a science based research project. They went on to the National Championships in

Birmingham, and won the Design Award! (See front cover).

Go4Set Project

Year 8 students working on the Go4Set Project - designing stations for the future - enjoyed their trip to

Innovative Technologies.

They were shown around the factory floor learning about quality control and testing of manufactured

validators used in cash collecting machines around the world.

A whistle stop tour of the computer controlled storeroom introduced them to the world of 'the cube'

used to store and organise thousands of machine parts shipped in every week from China.

Once inside the design building they were shown the prototyping workshop where 3d printers

manufacture prototype parts for testing and re-design.

In the design suite they were introduced to mechanical and software engineers working on a range of

design engineering projects for the company.

The students will be working in their teams with company mentors from Innovative Technologies over

the next 10 weeks to design railway stations of the future that incorporate sustainable design

strategies to make the journey experience for passengers more efficient and enjoyable.

The work will culminate in a presentation and celebration day at The University of Manchester in early

June.

Science

This term has been busy in Science. Fly Club, which we started last term, has moved from the

embryonic stage through the pupal phase to maturity. Eleven students (a mix of Years 12 and 13)

attend every week and explore the genetics of the fly Drosophila melanogaster via a range of crosses.

This was a steep learning curve, not just for the students but also for Dr Donnelly who co-ordinates

the group and has never worked with flies before. Students soon became adept at sexing the flies

(which involves the mysterious sex-combs, visible only under a microscope) and anaesthetising them.

The first crosses are now coming to fruition so students will soon be in a position to analyse their

preliminary results. News of Fly Club has also spread across the Oldham area, with Crompton House

asking for advice on setting up their own group.

Dr Donnelly has also established the Biochemistry Reading Group which runs every ‘P’ Friday

lunchtime. Each session, students are given a scientific article to read and digest before coming to

the meeting prepared to discuss their views. So far, we've explored the controversy around the role

of saturated fats in coronary artery disease. The next session will look at a newly discovered group of

giant viruses which are making scientists rethink our understanding of how cells evolved.

This term saw the last meeting of Rat Club (like Fly Club but more gruesome) until next year. Every

week, a hardy and strong-stomached group of Year 13 students meticulously dissected the organ

systems of rats. Woe-betide the hapless Year 7 student who accidentally wandered into the room

mid-dissection only to find their lunch revisiting them. Rat club will be starting again later in 2016.

Thanks to Ms Ormisher for organising this.

The annual Chemistry Olympiad is a chance for Sixth Form chemists to pit their wits against the best

and brightest students in the country. Following on from the success of our 2015 entry, in which Blue

Coat students achieved four silver awards, 19 dedicated students from across the Sixth Form have

entered the 2016 Olympiad, after spending five months preparing during lunchtime sessions. This

year's paper was particularly tough, and all 19 students should be congratulated for attempting it. Six

students have achieved a Bronze award and five have achieved a Silver award, two of whom are in

Year 12. Daniel McLoughlin, our Year 13 highest scorer, narrowly missed out on our first ever Gold

award. Congratulations go to all of the participants, and thanks to Dr Silversides for co-ordinating this.

The Sixth Form Chemistry community has been working hard together, with several Year 13 students

continuing to volunteer their lunchtimes to help Year 12 students as they approach their crucial AS

exams. This has been hugely successful and beneficial for both year groups. We thank every

student who has taken part in these lunchtime sessions, and wish them good luck for their upcoming

exams.

On the Physics front, Mr McGuinness met with the Cuban ambassador to share the Frogs and

Physics activity we organise each year, (details in our Christmas Newsletter). This was covered in the

last newsletter and will be running again this year. On the 16th March, 25 A level physics students will

take part in a trip to a Particle Physics Masterclass to the University of Manchester. Students

will participate in lectures given by scientists working at the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva before

analysing results generated by particle collisions. This will then be reinforced by a lecture at Oldham

Sixth Form College on the same subject on 17th March given by Dr. Yvonne Peters who is a Senior

Lecturer at the University of Manchester. She works on the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large

Hadron Collider and is responsible for the admission of postgraduate students in Particle Physics.

The lecture is aimed at increasing the number of girls that go on to take A-level Physics, but, of

course, both boys and girls are welcome.

Finally, we've been awarded an Ogden grant towards the trip to CERN, so it'll be cheaper for our

pupils and we will be able to organise even more trip activities.

Rocket Science At 0426 hours on Tuesday 2nd March, Commander Scott Kelly of NASA and Russian cosmonauts

Mikhail Kornienko and Sergey Volkov of Roscosmos landed safely back on Earth in Kazakhstan with

a 2 kg bag of rocket seeds which have been held in microgravity for the last six months on board the

International Space Station. The seeds then travelled with Scott Kelly to NASA in Houston on a

charter flight from Moscow, and returned to the UK on Thursday 4th March.

We are delighted to have been selected to

participate in 'Rocket Science', a UK-wide

live science experiment that will contribute

to our understanding of growing plants in

space. On the 12th April, we will receive

100 rocket seeds that have been on the

ISS and 100 seeds that have remained on

Earth. The seeds will be in colour-coded

packets so we won't know which packet

contains which seeds. On Tuesday 19th

April, we will sow the seeds and monitor

their growth over the next six weeks. Our

results, together with those from schools

across the country, will be entered into a

data collection website and the results

analysed by biostatisticians.

This is a fantastic opportunity for our students to work scientifically, to gain horticulture skills and to

contribute to the work of scientists from the Royal Horticultural Society and the European Space

Agency.

Computer Science, Business and Economics Department On Friday 4th March 10 A-level Economics students attended a lecture delivered by Andy Haldane,

Chief Economist at the Bank of England, who featured in the top most 100 influential people in the

world in TIME magazine in 2014. As an influential (and sometimes outspoken) member of the

Monetary Policy Committee, Mr Haldane contributes to decisions affecting UK monetary policy,

including the monthly decision concerning the Bank's minimum lending rate on which mortgage

interest payments are based. Mr Haldane gave an interesting and wide-ranging insight into the

current state of the UK economy, focusing on the consequences of the 2009 banking crisis and

subsequent credit crunch. For those of you thinking of taking out or amending a mortgage,

he predicted that interest rates will stay at the current historically low level for the foreseeable future.

Not good news for the savers amongst us!

Food Technology

Who would think that the humble pizza, with some business acumen, creativity,

flair, economic forecasting, planning and marketing could raise an amazing

£633.92 for Water Aid and their GOAL 6 campaign: to deliver basic access to

water, sanitation and hygiene to everyone, everywhere by 2030!

Year 8 did another brilliant job. Project managers in each group planned and executed their mini

enterprise activity superbly and we raised the most we ever have in all the years we’ve run the

business topic in Food Technology! The overall team with the most profit was headed up by Jacob

Wood Doyle from 8AD with £28.75 and the most profit as a group was 8BE with £82.96. Well done

and thanks to all the people who bought and supported.

Maths STEP Day On March 2nd Blue Coat hosted the third and final inset day of the year for students working towards

the Sixth Term Examination Paper, in preparation for applying to one of the most prestigious

universities in the UK. STEP Mathematics is a well-established mathematics examination (3 hours in

length) designed to test candidates on questions that are similar in style to undergraduate

mathematics, and is used by the University of Cambridge as the basis for conditional offers. Other

universities sometimes ask candidates to take STEP as part of their offer. There are also a number of

candidates who sit STEP papers as a challenge. We have 13 students taking the STEP 1 exam and

2 students taking both the STEP 1 and STEP 2 exam. UKMT challenges This year we had an impressive 120 entries into the Senior UKMT mathematics challenge. This

involved some of our finest mathematicians from across Years 9, 10 and 11 competing in an

extremely testing individual examination.

Huge congratulations are due to Elliott Mellor, who – after spotting a computer error – had

his paper re-marked and earned himself an entry into the Maclaurin Olympiad (the top 500

students in the country). This is the first time the school has ever had a student invited to

such a prestigious stage of the competition and we wish Elliott all the best of luck with the

result. Thankfully, the competition is so high at this stage that humans are required to do

the marking!

Further congratulations are due to James Barker who has earned a place in the prestigious

Pink Kangaroo challenge which will pit some of the best mathematical brains in the country

against one another. Tom Simmonds, also of Year 11, achieved a gold award in addition to 6

students who achieved Silver and 11 students who achieved Bronze.

Results were also very strong in Year 10 with 10 students achieving a Silver award and 11

achieving Bronze - Lucy Kershaw taking the Best in Year Award this time around.

In Year 9, there were some fantastic results. An impressive score was

achieved by both Rachel Diamond (Best in Year) and Manjaka Mananasy, both

of whom not only achieved a Gold award but also made it through to the Grey

Kangaroo round – very well done! 3 other students managed to obtain a Silver

award and a further 10 made it to Bronze.

Music Music is gearing towards the annual Easter Concert where over 150 pupils will perform in the school

hall on Tuesday 22th March. This concert has been revamped and geared towards to the

achievements and contributions of the Year 11 and Year 13 students. It will be a celebration of all of

the musical achievements of our leavers and will feature many of them as soloists and in small

ensembles. Year 13 music students, Sam Noden, James Atkins, Laurie Wood and Ellis Howarth are

planning the concert, preparing a concert running order, approaching pupils to perform solos and

designing a concert programme which will be used on the evening to accompany the music. The skills

that the pupils are learning from this responsibility are invaluable for their future studies and it will be a

valuable addition to their record of achievement. It also allows the ‘leavers’ to organise their own final

farewell to school music and to have a real sense of achievement at the end of the evening.

The concert will once again feature the Blue Coat School Performers of the Year and Musician of the

Year awards. Pupils have been voting in the following categories – Brass Player of the Year,

Percussionist of the Year, Jazz Performer of the Year, String Player of the Year, Chorister of the Year

and the overall Musician of the Year. Last year’s winner of the Musician of the Year, Amy Ellershaw,

has been asked to return from Huddersfield University to be our Guest of Honour, and to present the

awards to this year’s winners. Pupils have been asked to think about the overall contribution the

nominees have made to school ensembles and the music department in general. We will announce

the results on the evening of the concert and they will be published in the next newsletter.

National Festival of Music for Youth On Saturday 19th March the music department will again be taking 2 ensembles to perform at the

regional auditions of the National Festival of Music for Youth at Rochdale Town Hall. The Senior

Choir, and a new ensemble, The Blue Coat Boys of Brass will be performing to 2 adjudicators where

we hope to impress and to be invited to perform at the NFMY finals to be held in June at the

Symphony Hall, Birmingham. The choir will perform modern and classical works by Rutter, Chilcott

and John Farmer, whilst the Boys of Brass will be performing a new arrangement of the West Side

Story Suite by Leonard Bernstein. The Senior Choir feature students from KS4 and KS5, whilst the

Brass Quintet consisting of 2 trumpets (Adam Neild and James Atkins), French Horn (Ben Hartnell-

Booth), Trombone (Sam Noden) and Tuba (Alex Cockburn) are boys from Year 11, 12 and 13.This is

the most prestigious Youth Music festival in Britain where the cream of Youth Music is showcased

and we are confident that the musicians of Blue Coat will produce some performances to remember.

Year 11 Performance evening On Tuesday 12th January, our Year 11 musicians performed in the school hall to parents and friends

as part of their GCSE Music exam. The performance element consists of 2 live pieces of music which

constitute 40% of the final mark so it really is very important that the pupils are as well prepared for

this as possible. It was a lovely evening and the pupils performed very well indeed. Many parents and

staff attended and the comments about the performances were fantastic. Particular standout

performances were Imogen Sleith singing Dear Daddy, accompanied by her father on piano, and

Luke Dood, performing on electric guitar, music by Jimi Hendrix and displaying some superb looping

skills with a specialist loop/effects pedal. Very impressive indeed!

National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain Many of our pupils have been very busy over the past few weeks with their participation in the regional

qualifiers of the National Brass Band Championships held in Bradford and Blackpool. Many of our

musicians were performing with local bands such as Dobcross Youth, Stalybridge Old, Oldham

(Lees), Lees, Hawk Green, Uppermill, Delph, Diggle and Fairey. Although there were no national

qualifiers this year, the pupils gave some fantastic performances and were credited with excellent

comments in the national band press and on social media.

Drama What amazing and talented students we have in Drama. During this busy term we have put on superb

productions, had successful moderations and hosted visiting companies.

Splendid –The Odyssey Early this term we hosted a performance of The Odyssey by ‘Splendid Productions’. All Year 9 Drama

students were part of the audience for a Brechtian Performance based on Homer’s The Odyssey.

Students have completed a series of lessons exploring Brecht’s techniques for political theatre. This

will form another project for Part A of the Arts Award and also a review for Part B. Years 10 - 13 also

watched the performance and took part in a workshop delivered by the actors from Splendid which has

enabled students both to improve coursework and develop the curriculum enrichment so important for

achieving high grades.

GCSE Showcase This year’s GCSE showcase “A Night of Dark Fairy Tales” was a huge success. Year 10 under the

direction of Miss Smith performed a Physical Theatre piece based on Grimm’s tales “Iron Hands” and

“Hansel and Gretel”, a very tight and impressive performance. Year 11 students performed a 45

minute version of the very dark Cinderella story – “Ash Girl”. The group consisted of 20 excellent

actors, a set designer, lighting designer and 2 costume designers.

Bedbug- National Theatre Connections This year’s National Theatre Connections performance was exceptional.

“Bedbug” was both a musical and a challenging political satire. Adam

Neild (Year 11) provided accomplished musical director skills to lead the

cast in often difficult and challenging musical numbers; he really controlled

the piece and dealt with, at times, complicated underscoring.

Following feedback from the two National Theatre Directors who were

assessing the performance we have just been informed that our company

will transfer to the main stage at the Lowry Theatre on 13th May.

Coliseum Miss Smith has been working with enthusiastic and talented Year 8

students who performed their piece “When I grow too old to smile” based

on “Our Gracie” performed on 14th March at the Coliseum Theatre.

Religious Studies Key Stage 3 Big Questions Club Since the last newsletter the Big Questions club has started which all Key Stage 3 students are

invited to. The club discusses life's big questions such as Does God exist? Is there a life after Death?

What it mean to be a 'good' human?

Students have the opportunity to explore these important questions in creative ways such as film, clay

modelling and debate. The first questions being explored are the moral questions that arise from Toy

Story 3 and the regular attendees of the club have enjoyed discussing whether the character Andy is

like a God and whether the toy’s hopes and fears are similar to our own.

Year 9 and 13 work together to show compassion for our community In November, following recent news coverage and latest

John Lewis advert, our form (6SY) felt the need to raise

awareness for an issue we consider extremely important;

loneliness amongst the elderly especially at Christmas time.

After conducting research into charities and facilities

dedicated to the cause, a team of Year 13 students

delivered an assembly to various year groups lower down

the school, informing them of the magnitude of the issue,

unfortunately how common it is, but also how we as a

school community, and as individuals can help. In addition to this, we worked with a group of Year 9 students to actively make a difference to those in

our local community potentially in this situation, by pairing up and writing letters in the form of a

Christmas card, to residents of a local care home for the elderly, The Alexandra Care Home in

Oldham. We explained the research we had been doing, as well as letting them know a bit about us,

asking questions about them, and ensuring they knew they were being thought of. It was really nice to

extend the hand of friendship to someone who may be in need of it, and we are all looking forward to

receiving replies from the residents.

Written by Meg Bowler 6SY

‘All You Need is Love’ At the start of February, a group of our A Level RS Students

attended an intensive full day lecture given by the philosopher Dr

Peter Vardy in Manchester. The day was entitled ‘All You Need is

Love’ and focused on The Bible, Christian Ethics and Love, and

how these can be applied to modern ethical issues such as

Genetic Engineering, Fertility Treatment and Sexual Ethics.

Students were able to learn about the theory of Situation Ethics in

more depth, a vital part of their A level course, and to consider

some of the big ethical questions facing our generation.

They were also asked to consider whether everyone has the right to a child, and this culminated in an

audience debate where some of our students articulated their opinions to students from a wide range of

different schools. Year 12 student Olivia Mulvey said; “The day was really useful and enjoyable as

it challenged me to consider different points of view and ethical theories in more depth. It also gave

me a good taste of what lectures at university will be like.”

English

This term has been a very important one for English, with changes being introduced nationally. We

started our intervention programme, designed to remedy any problem areas seen in the Christmas

mocks for our year 11 students. The intervention provided is bespoke; students attend only those

sessions which will help to rectify an area for development arising from the mock. This maximises the

use of teacher time but also appeals to the logic of the Year 11 student; if they’ve been selected to

attend a particular session then it’s to put right a particular problem, and they can see the benefits of

this. This year sees the last of controlled assessment. All students need to have complete folders

which are representative of their work over the two year course.

Film Club Miss Wild has introduced a film club for Key Stage 3 pupils where interested film-buffs can watch a

film, eat their lunch and then discuss the various strengths and weaknesses of the production. This

club has been very well attended and Miss Wild has been impressed by the insightful and astute

comments made by budding film critics.

Theatre Trips The most recent was organised by Mrs Hargreaves, Miss Nelson and Miss Charnock who took a group

of students to see Macbeth. There is no greater study guide than to see the play performed. Miss

Rothwell arranged for a theatre company to come to school to perform ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ for Year

10 students, a set text for the new exam. This was very successful, with both staff and students

saying that the company really brought the story and the characters to life.

The Accelerated Reader programme continues to foster interest in reading as well as healthy

competition as teachers and students fight it out to be the Biggest Reader in the year. The competitive

element provides an edge to the programme but of course the real bonus is the pleasure to be gained

from watching children enjoying their books, and to reap the rewards in terms of pupil progress; the

students’ work inevitably becomes better as a result of their increased reading rates.

Social Sciences Sociology Sociology support sessions, in preparation for the forthcoming examinations, have been running at

lunchtime for those students aiming for A*/A grade, with the after school sessions trialling a gender-

specific scheme to encourage competition between the boys and girls - Ms Coleman taking the girls’

group and Mr Casey takes the boys’ group.

Child development In Child Development, year 10 students got to experience trying out the pregnancy vest. This is a 12

pound virtual pregnancy “bump” which allows students to feel how difficult and cumbersome being

pregnant can be. The students were challenged to complete a “daily chore assault course”. Students

found simply getting up off the floor a challenge!

In Year 11, all students have now completed the Child Study component of the course. Students

have documented the growth and development of a child over 6 months, producing a detailed report

of how the child has progressed since the initial introductory visit in July 2015. Parents of the child

being studied often request a copy of the Child Study for their own personal records as a result of the

detailed work and photographic evidence collected for the portfolios.

Health and Social Care At Key Stage 5 students have been completing work on their portfolios which make up a third of their

final AS/A level. Year 12s have organised visits to both an early years’ establishment and residential

care home for the elderly as part of their communication portfolio. All students have independently

contacted the establishments, organised visits and organised activities to allow them to compare how

communication skills differ when dealing with these two very different care client environments.

Year 13 students have completed their health promotion portfolios. This entails students researching

a current health issue, creating resources and presenting information to a particular target group.

Students have presented to the elderly, sixth form groups, and Year 7 and 10 forms with health

promotions on obesity and healthy eating, the dangers of smoking and mental health awareness.

Citizenship Ms Ingham’s Year 9 classes have been taking part in the Mosaic Enterprise challenge, whereby

students try to run a successful business, using a virtual computer-based business venture to achieve

maximum profits. The highest profit one of our teams made was £2.5 million, (and this was despite

glitches in the software that affected our teams) Considering this competition is open to older age

groups our Year 9 classes performed extremely well.

Year 7 & 8 Youth Council Elections The Oldham Youth Council is an elected group of youth councillors who are involved in changing the

lives of the young people in Oldham. Youth Councillors are elected to the Oldham Youth Council

every 2 years and run a number of campaigns each year which affect the lives of young people.

This year Miss Richardson arranged for Years 7 and 8 to take part, voting for someone they felt would

be appropriate. Would-be candidates volunteered, created a manifesto which was then sent to the

Youth Council team to derive the list of candidates. The whole of Key stage 3 were then given the

chance to vote in form time for the candidate they felt appropriate to "be the voice of the people". At

the time of going to press, the votes are still being counted.

History Department It’s been a busy term in the History department with the lead up to mock exams starting and external

exams around the corner. Our Key Stage 3 students have been getting stuck into engaging historical

topics and developing key skills to ensure they meet or even exceed their target levels, in good

preparation for our new history GCSE.

Key Stage Three Our Year 7 students have been enjoying learning about the Battle of Hastings and have recently

completed a challenging assessment on ‘Why William won’. More recently they’ve been looking at

how William kept control of Medieval England and have been investigating what it means to be a

successful Medieval king, whilst continuing to develop their literacy skills through a ‘power write’

assessment where students created their own articles. Students will now be moving on to the Tudors,

which ties in with our new GCSE topic on Henry VIII; they will investigate why and how Henry broke

from the Roman Catholic Church, and how it changed England forever.

Year 8 students have been learning about what shaped the places around them with the Industrial

Revolution and have recently investigated the workhouse and written a letter explaining why Blue

Coat was better than the workhouse. Blue Coat opened its doors to pupils in the same year as the Poor Law

Reform Act, which led to the opening of workhouses across England, the destruction of families and the

abandonment of hope. Thomas Henshaw provided an alternative. Understandably all our students decided to

argue that Blue Coat was a much nicer place for a child to be compared to Oldham Workhouse!

Soon pupils will be moving on to looking at the causes of WW1 and the key events and completing a

homework project on the Oldham pals.

Our brand new Votes for Women unit has really

intrigued Year 9. They have been completing an

independent research project on Local Suffragettes,

looking at the Suffragettes who lived in the local area

and the links between Manchester and the key events

of the campaign. Students produced some outstanding

work with many students choosing Annie Kenney from

Saddleworth. They now understand why our

Humanities building is named after her, and we had

some students making use of our local museums,

archives and even Historians who are next door neighbours. Alongside the research project, Year 9

are focusing on developing key skills linked to our new GCSE, with a particular focus on historical

interpretations. Next they will investigate America in the 1920s and will focus on exciting

developments in America during this period such as the Harlem Renaissance.

We had a lot of interest from students at our Year 9 options evening and in our GCSE taster lesson

last month. The course is changing from a Modern World 20th century study to a very broad spectrum

and we are excited by the topics. There will be 3 exams all taken at the end of Year 11 with no

coursework or controlled assessment sections. Paper one is a study of Crime and Punishment over

1000 years starting with William I and highlighting key events including smugglers, medieval

judgements of guilt, witches in Stuart times, Jack the Ripper and the advent of modern policing. Paper

two has two depth studies, the first looking at the politics of Henry VIII, and the second focusing on

the Cold War. The final paper is looking at Weimar and Nazi Germany which will fit in well with Year

9s’ awareness of WW1 and the impact that this had on Germany.

Key Stage Four Our Year 10 students are onto their final topic of their first exam paper and are starting to make links

between the units they have studied. They have learnt about the causes of WW1, the Treaty of

Versailles and peacekeeping in the 1920-1930s and are now studying the causes of WW2 through

analysing Hitler’s foreign policy in the 1930s. They will soon begin learning the key content and carry

out their controlled assessment on Votes for Women and they will need to use all their skills that they

have learnt so far in order to succeed. We know that our Year 10s will work extremely hard and are

looking forward to some excellent work.

Year 11 students are working very hard on the final race towards their GCSE exams. They are

studying for their final paper on British Society, 1939-1975 and they are currently investigating

immigration to Britain during and after WW2 and how this has impacted on British society. History

revision is well underway and students are working very hard to prepare for their GCSEs and are

being supported by their teachers with afterschool revision sessions.

Key Stage Five Students studying A Level History are working extremely hard and have just completed their mock

examinations. Year 12 have been investigating all the causes of the Civil War in America and look

forward to learning about the Civil War battles that took place to analyse the reasons why the

Confederacy lost. In their Tudor unit of study they are working towards their enquiry into the Mid

Tudor Crisis. They are hard at work revising and refining their essay techniques and are taking their

work very seriously. Year 13 are currently working on their final coursework piece on Bismark which

will secure them 20% of their A Level, and in the Unit 3 they have been assessing the impact of

Franklin D. Rooseveldt’s New Deal in America; with over 2/3 of the way through the course, they will

have plenty of time for intense revision ready for their final examination.

Extra-curricular Finally, Mrs. Gartside had the brilliant idea of launching the “brilliant club” on Thursday lunchtimes.

This is for any Y7 and Y8 who love their Rubik's cubes and enjoy codes and problem solving.

Students play chess, and also try to solve a range of brain teasers, from classic wooden puzzles, to

planet’s triomino puzzle, all the way to the latest problem in the Alan Turing Cryptography competition!

Students are about to begin a problem solving tournament devised by Elliott Mellor and Max Roberts,

our resident year 11 expert cryptographers. If students want a challenge, and a chance to be

“brilliant”, they need to visit the Brilliant Club in the extracurricular section of Bloodle and attend the

sessions!

Art

As part of our preparation for Easter, Year 8 pupils have been working hard on a cross-curricular

project with Religious Studies, exploring a variety of artists and religious themes to develop their

understanding of symbols related to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. They have produced

some fantastic art work including papercut stained glass windows and booklets, paintings and 3D

sculptures. To celebrate the success and effort the pupils have put into the project their work will be

on display around the school in time for the Lent communions and Easter service.

PE Department Girls’ PE Netball across all year groups has been at a very high standard. The 7A team have finished second

in division one, only losing one very close game against Saddleworth. They then drew against the

same team in a friendly later on in the season. The aim now is to win the Oldham Schools rally. 7B

also came second in their league and have gained promotion to division one for next year. Both the

Year 8 teams will be in division one next year as the B team have had a successful year and gained

promotion. The A team have also played some very good games and finished mid table overall. The

Year 9s have also had a strong season and finished it off by narrowly missing out on winning the

Oldham Schools rally, which came down to goal difference.

U13 Handball

For the Oldham Schools Tournament our girls successfully turned their

hand to handball. They played against the schools across Oldham and

only missed out on winning the competition due to goal difference. They

won all of their fixtures apart from a 2-3 loss to Royton and Crompton: a

strong performance in a new sport and for a newly formed team.

Football

Both the U13 and U15 girls’ football have had a good season so far with a large number of Y7s

signing up to be part of an ever growing squad. The U15s are joint top of the Oldham Schools table

for the second consecutive year, with one round left to play; let's hope their hard work pays off and

they remain champions for another season. On the Futsal pitch they did not disappoint, winning the

Oldham Schools Futsal Competition and qualifying for the next round representing Oldham in Greater

Manchester. The next big event for the footballers is the Premier League Tournament at Manchester

City FC for the U13 team. They are hoping to match the success of last year’s team and represent City

in the final.

U14 Girls Badminton

The U14 Girls Badminton team qualified for the Greater Manchester

School Games. Although they did not reach the finals, they came second

in their group which is a highly creditable performance when up against

many clubs, county and even regional players from across Manchester. A

special mention to Millie Ravening, team captain, who went undefeated in

both the qualifying stages and at the School Games.

Boys’ PE The Year 7 and Year 9 football teams are through to the Oldham

Schools Cup Final. The finals are due to be played at AVROS just

before Easter. The Year 9 team were involved in a close contest

where they battled to a 2-1 victory away at Newman Academy,

whilst the Year 7 team had a comfortable 6-1 win over Radclyffe.

The Year 8 team will play their semi-final against Hulme, in the

hope we have all our KS3 teams competing in the finals on the

same evening.

Ski Trip to Zell am See

53 students and 6 staff members went on the Ski Trip to Zell am See in Austria during February half

term. After the 30 hour coach journey there, the students had an absolutely fantastic time learning

how to ski. All the students who went managed to negotiate a red run which allowed all groups to

make it to the top of the Kitzsteinhorn glacier at an altitude of 3200m. The weather that day was

fantastic allowing for breathtaking (quite literally) views over Salzburg which will last long in the

memories of all who were there! Their behaviour was immaculate and commented upon on

numerous occasions from everybody that we met. They were a credit to the school and made all the

staff proud.

We have also received some wonderful feedback from parents:

“Our son has a wonderful time, and his memories of the week spent with yourselves and his friends

will remain with him for many years to come. We really appreciate the time given up by staff

members in order to make this happen.”

“My son has had a fantastic time. Without the commitment of staff members giving up their free time

these opportunities would not be available.”

“Our daughter has just returned from Zell am See, Austria and we would just like to take the

opportunity to say how much our daughter and her friends have thoroughly enjoyed the trip. Blue Coat

staff made this a memorable holiday for the students, and we can only say a massive thank you. The

teachers are a credit to your school.

The excitement has already started for Italy 2017.

BBC News School Report

The BBC News School Report team had a busy day on Thursday 10th March. They worked alongside

Mrs Lane, Miss Spragg and Mr Protheroe on every aspect on the news, from researching local,

national and international stories, to producing the final product: a report which was uploaded to the

BBC news and school websites.

Taking on the role and responsibility of editors, researchers, scriptwriters and camera

crew for the day, pupils to put together a news programme covering local, national and

international news stories. Pupils were based in the library, but sent sub-teams to film

across school. Students initially brainstormed stories which included Donald Trump, a

breathing cobbled street and overcharging electric suppliers before making an

executive decision on the four main stories that they wanted to report.

The final reports included a story on space travel to Mars, the death of George Martin and a penguin

that thought he was a human being. We also had a special report on the school production of

Bedbugs which allowed pupils to interview our very own Mrs Edwards Cotton.

The pupils got a real sense of what it was like to investigate news and the time pressure required for

putting a report together. Whilst the day started calmly by lunchtime students were feeling the

pressure of what it felt like to work against deadlines.

At the end of the day, we said goodbye to our longest serving member of the

news team Humair Muir who has been attending BBC news club for four years.

He has demonstrated fantastic enthusiasm and in more recent years been an

excellent role model for younger pupils who have joined BBC School Report.

When asked why Humair had decided to attend the club for four years he said “It

is fun, I have learnt lots and I have learnt to work with other people”. Next year

Humair will be sadly missed.

After a very exciting day, we now have a very professional looking news report

on the school website.

Chaplaincy This term we have continued to focus on the school verse for the year:

“Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid of them and don’t be frightened, because the Lord

your God will go with you. He will not leave you or forget you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6)

Form worship is both active and reflective with many students taking responsibility for leading form

reflection. Students have been contemplating themes such as identity, injustice and temptation by

looking at their own lifestyles and the impact they have on others.

During Lent, every form group has been challenged to complete some of the ’40 acts’. This is a

challenge from the Christian charity ‘Stewardship’ that encourages us to do something generous

during Lent. The acts range from making someone laugh, to sending an anonymous gift to someone

who might be sad or lonely. Form groups have enjoyed the acts and have been challenged to live

more generously.

In the Lenten house communions we will be following on from our Christmas theme ‘Immanuel, God

with us’. As we consider the events of that first Easter, we will see that it is because of the cross that

we now can have a relationship with God, so because of his sacrifice Jesus is our Immanuel, forever.

Many students will be involved in the services in a variety of different ways such as leading the

singing, presenting a reflective piece of music, reading passages of scripture, and presenting staged

drama.

Christian union has grown in number with students from all year groups attending. There is always a

lot of fun to be had, doing craft, drama, hot topic discussion or playing games. This is always linked to

biblical teaching, allowing the students who attend to support on another in their walk of faith. The salt

cellar youth project support the staff leading this club, and also run a drop in club on a Tuesday

lunchtime for students to play games or just stop for a chat.

The worship band have been practising hard each week in proportion for the Lent communions and

Easter services. They have chosen presentation song called ‘Forever’, which describes Jesus as a

resurrected King and will be used as part of whole school worship at Easter.

Duke of Edinburgh DofE is progressing well this term. We are unofficially the second biggest DofE in the country in terms

of registrations. The Bronze groups recently had their annual team building session with Oldham

Sports Development. This has proved to be very successful and gets students thinking about what it

is to be a good leader and a good team member and the skills, such as communication, that are

involved. Four members of staff, including the Head, have been invited to Buckingham Palace as part

of the 60th anniversary celebrations. This reflects the size of our commitment to the scheme, and it

would be lovely…but actually staff are needed in school, with pupils, so Mr Read will represent us.

Year Group and House News

Year 7 Year 7 pupils entered a competition, to see who could write the best description of their early

experiences of Blue Coat.

The winner from BH House was Rebecca Howarth, the winner from LM was Amy Williams and the

winner from RW was Samuel Cookson.

The overall winner was Rebecca Howarth from 7B. Her account has been embedded in the

Headteacher’s opening letter.

Year 8 The spring term has certainly been a busy one for Year 8, particularly seeing huge developments

within the Junior Leadership Team, the Restorative Champions and the Advice and Guidance team,

which looks at careers, progression and information.

The Junior Leadership Team have certainly got into the swing of leadership and have been chairing

their own meetings once per fortnight. During their meetings, the team have been discussing key

issues within the year group, such as improving social spaces and form time. As a result, they will be

launching a film club for Year 8 students every Tuesday lunchtime, which will enable students to

socialise safely and enjoy some community fellowship. During form time, team have arranged for

each form to present an assembly based on a variety of topics ranging from diversity and culture, to

the history of the Blue Coat School. We look forward to seeing the contributions each form makes to

these assemblies next term.

The Restorative Champions have also made great start to their leadership this term in embedding

Restorative Practice in the year group and have spent their first term gathering information from

students in Year 8 about topics and issues which are affecting them and causing concerns at the

moment. The Restorative Champions have since undergone training to lead restorative circles with

each form group, to lead a discussion about how these issues might affect us as a school community

and how we can overcome them. This is an exciting new venture for the school in terms of developing

Restorative Practice approaches and creating opportunities for young people to talk openly about

their feelings and working together to find solutions and strategies to manage their emotions.

In terms of individual success, Ben Marples and Matthew Reynolds have achieved a trophy for long

term service to the Helen O'Grady Drama Academy, whilst Elisabeth Ashton and India Singleton have

won a piano duet competition in Huddersfield for the 4th year in a row! Many congratulations to these

students!

As always, Year 8 is a busy and exciting year and we are looking forward to an equally productive

and exciting summer term. Well done Year 8!

Year 9 Aim Higher – Manchester University As part of the Year 9 Interventions package, 25 students attended the Manchester University Open

Day, which was held on the 2nd February at Manchester University. The places were offered to

students capable of securing access to a degree course and who would benefit from the opportunity

to look in more detail at what such an educational route might offer.

As part of the Manchester Higher programme, the Campus Visit provides learners with the opportunity

to visit Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Manchester campuses. Learners

were able to gain an insight in to student life and the courses available. Through a series of

Workshops and a Campus Tour, they worked closely with current undergraduate students from both

universities to obtain first-hand information about studying at university. There was also a

performance from performing arts company “2Engage” about choosing relevant GCSE options. All in

all students really enjoyed the day and appreciated the opportunities afforded, to look at education

post Key Stage 5 .

Accelerated Learning Programme On the 21st March 2016 all 223 students and in Year 9, along with the Tutor team, will take part in an

introductory session about Accelerated Learning, led by Karim Al-Abbas from Enlighten Education.

Thereafter 3 workshops will run on Tuesday 26th April, Thursday 5th May and Wednesday 11th May

after Easter. The focus will as always be: memory training techniques and the development of a

positive mind set for the most effective learning and revision in the run up to the summer exams

Year 10 Congratulations to Eri-Be Doro, who in the field of Rugby League, has been selected for

the Warrington Wolves Under-16 Academy. This is a tremendous achievement.

Eri-Be has shown real potential and commitment to get to this stage. He must now show

disciple and dedication if he is to progress. A place on the Academy involves trips to

Warrington twice a week and competing in matches.

Year 11 Year 11 students are working as hard, if not harder than ever, going to “Drop In” and Intervention

classes in order to be fully prepared for their GCSEs. On Monday, 16th May normal lessons are

suspended and their exam season timetable starts.

In order to help students prepare, a programme developed in school last year for “Elite Performers”

has been adapted so that all students know the techniques used by the most successful students.

They should all now know about “Task not Time” as a strategy, using past papers to identify their

strengths and weaknesses and even what to look for in examiners’ reports.

Looking beyond the GCSEs, in anticipation of their longest ever summer holiday, some students have

signed up for an amazing opportunity known as “The Challenge” with the National Citizen Service

(NCS). “The Challenge” is a part-residential programme that takes place over 18 days, split into 3

parts over the summer, with breaks in-between. The first two parts are residential, with all meals, kit

and accommodation provided. First, teams develop their leadership and teamwork skills by working

with some of the best outdoor instructors in the UK, enabling them to create friendships and build

confidence. After a short break, young people return for part two where they stay in university style

accommodation and gain new skills in an area they are passionate about. Finally, teams have the

unique opportunity to design, pitch and deliver their own social action project. Then they graduate,

receive a signed certificate from the Prime Minister. The cost of all this to students is mere £30.

It looks like fun because it is. It’s exceptional value for money and truly developmental. The

programme represents and exceptional opportunity for young people.

For more information and to book a place for a Year 11 or Year 12 student visit

www.ncsthechallenge.org or contact Katy Robinson the local NCS Co-ordinator, at

Katy.Robinson@the-challenge.org or on 07880 038 106.

Sixth Form UCAS Convention Thursday the 3rd of March saw Blue Coat Sixth form students attend the annual UCAS

convention at Manchester Central. The careers event gave Blue Coat students the

chance to meet with representatives of over 130 universities. The traditional Higher

Education event is also well attended by big business with over 30 top employers

there to meet students to dispense advice on apprenticeships, internships and

sponsored degrees.

Duke of Edinburgh Gold. Congratulations to Sam Bamford, Siobhan Goudy, James Holderness,

Hannah Lockett, Mathew Macdonald, Jonathan Oswald, Abigail Parkin,

Bryony Rogers, Ruth Sinclair and Eleanor Sleigh who are the first ten

students of the 2014-15 cohort to complete their Duke of Edinburgh Gold

Award.

All ten have completed 12 months of continuous volunteering, 12 months

of skill acquisition, 6 months of a physical activity, a 4 day 3 night

expedition in the lake district and a 5 day residential setting away from

home.

University Survival Cooking Blue Coat Upper Sixth students prepared for life after Blue Coat by attending a university survival

guide hosted by school caterers Mellors. The fun session included an introduction to nutrition and

healthy eating, cooking on a budget, 15 minute meals, cocking with leftovers, essential shopping

guide and the omelette challenge. Special thanks must go to Danielle Bretherton and Andy Hay

nutritionist and development chef for Mellors for giving up their time.

EPQ – Extended Project Qualification The eleventh of February was a big night for our Year 13 Extended Project Qualification students as

parents, pupils and teachers were invited to the EPQ showcase evening. EPQs allow students to

choose a topic of their choice and do some extensive research into that field before compiling an

extensive report on the subject.

This year’s cohort did not disappoint as guests were wowed by the Year 13 students research into a

range of subjects from making money on stocks and shares using mathematical algorithms, to the

contentious issue of fracking, to that of medical developments in the treatment of hand injuries.

Special thanks go to all the students who took part, the EPQ tutors and Miss Elliot and Mr Nalborczyk

who run the programme.

What Next Week? February saw Blue Coat’s annual careers extravaganza “What Next Week?” take place. The week-

long event was kicked off by Newcastle University who gave an introduction to University life.

Tuesday was apprenticeship day with Positive Steps and apprenticeship ambassadors arriving at

Blue Coat. Wednesday was all about individual subject choices and careers with 10 different top

universities

Gap years included former Blue Coat student Emily Dobson-Sharp talking to students about her

experiences teaching in India on a gap year with Project Trust. The week was finished off on

Thursday with no less than 10 University lecturers arriving to deliver sessions on studying individual

courses at the UK’s best universities.

House News

Senior Student Review - Blue Coat Swimming Gala 2016 And the winner of the Blue Coat Swimming Gala 2016 is……. Lord Mothersill. As a House Captain

of the winning team I would like to start by congratulating everyone who took part in the event and

thank you for making it such an amazing event.

We had an excellent evening’s entertainment in the new sports centre in Oldham with races from

every year group and stroke. It was especially good to see swimmers of all capabilities and everyone

supporting each other as the competitors swam the more conventional 25 metres to the finish.

The more professional length also opened up a new opportunity for the school which is to keep

records of the fastest times of the swimmers. Here are just a taster to show how impressive some of

our swimmers are.

Here are the fastest competitors by Year Group and Gender, across all strokes.

Year 7 Girl

J Williams (RW) Freestyle

17:06

Year 9 Girl S Peacock (LM)

Freestyle

13:78

Year 7 Boy

Abdul M (BH) Freestyle

17:22

Year 9 Boy T Hughes (BH)

Freestyle

15:28

Year 8 Girl

N Edwards (BH) Butterfly

16:66

Senior Girl

B Wright (BH) Freestyle

16:19

Year 8 Boy Sam K (RW) Freestyle 16:19 Senior Boy Leo H (LM) Freestyle 12:87

These are excellent times and they are just the fastest for the

year group, there are full records of all the fastest times available

and they will be updated every year, although I imagine some of

these times will be tough to beat.

Once again it was an awesome evening and thrill to watch my

house win in a lively and close competition.

We’d like to add a quick footnote from House Captain, Rebecca Rees (Birley Hall).

“As a BH captain I was sad to come last, but I thought BH was the best at shouting encouragement

for all the years and generally having the best morale. All three houses did brilliantly and I think

everyone had a great time, including the sixth formers who got to swim while reliving old rivalries of

house competitions.”

The event itself attracted over 75 participants and close to 150 spectators.

It highlighted the sense of community that Blue Coat has, with parents,

teachers and children alike all enjoying a memorable night in the brand

new local facilities.

Tom Rosedale & the Senior Student Team.

Fashion Show. Over 60 students entered the first ever Inter-House Fashion Show. They had to complete a full design

brief considering in teams of three or four, which needed to include the full garment design, colours

and materials with details of how they plan to create it. All materials had to be recycled and then

upcycled, nothing can be bought and used as new.

48 students have been successful and will not embark on a two week making process in preparation

for the event which will take place on Friday 18th March.

Teach Meet

On Tuesday, 22nd February, we hosted a very successful and inspiring Teach Meet.

This is a group of teachers and educators who get together to share good practice,

practical innovations and personal insights in teaching. This particular Teach Meet

focused on challenging and meeting the needs of our most able students. There

was an outstanding turn-out with over 60 teachers from 16 schools attending the

event. Shared ideas ranged from strategies to develop curiosity and higher order

thinking in students to promoting independent learning and ownership of

development. Teachers modelled innovative ways of encouraging students to think

‘out of the box’, putting themselves in the shoes of an inventor or a historian, gaining

a fresh perspective on areas of the curriculum. 14 attendees shared a variety of ideas, both visitors

and Blue Coat staff.

Mrs Gartside talked about creating a culture where students are encouraged to aim high and have self-

belief, along with nurturing the notion that it is ‘cool to achieve’. Mrs Rutherford spoke about the use of

video as a tool for teachers to assess and reflect on their own teaching and learning and the impact of

strategies on the different abilities in the classroom. Feedback from attendees was overwhelmingly

positive, with a large number of individuals contacting the school to give their thanks. ‘I would like to

say thank you for the invite to the Teach Meet, it was excellent. I definitely got a lot out of everyone’s

presentation and will be trying some of the initiatives in my own teaching’. This was an excellent

opportunity for teachers to be engaged, inspired and simply to soak up the atmosphere created by the

coming together of so many enthusiastic teachers.

Primary Outreach

As a CAS (Computing At School) Lead School, we were approached by the Deputy

Head of Burnley Brow Primary School in Chadderton to deliver a two hour

introductory session on Coding. Mr Ballantyne, Ms Wright and Mr Lightfoot taught

“Scratch”, a programming language designed for beginners, to two Year 6 classes.

Nicola Malone, the coordinator, emailed the following: "I just wanted to get in touch

to say thank you and pass on how much the staff and children enjoyed the session

on Tuesday. The Y6 children will be following up their learning next half term in

their Computing sessions- the teachers have decided to swap their topics about

so they can use your session as a hook into next term's learning."

Our intention is to maintain the contact and deliver further sessions as part of our

outreach responsibilities

Teacher Taster Days

The school has organised a series of Teacher Taster days. This gives those interested in starting a

career in teaching an insight into what it is like. They get to observe lessons, speak to students, meet

current trainees and understand the process of applying to become a teacher, and on the 24th

February we welcomed 20 interested and talented potentials. We have further days on the 23rd of

March and 6th of May.

Through the School Direct model we recruit, train and 'grow our own' future teachers to work in our

school. The Teacher Taster days are an important way to attract the very best future teachers into our

school.

Spread the word. Change lives. Teach!

School Direct The Blue Coat School is the lead school in The Northern Alliance, a group of

schools that deliver School Direct teacher training. This term our trainees have

been at their second placement schools and are now two thirds of the way

through their course.

Half of our fantastic trainees have already been snapped up for teaching jobs

in September. We are proud of the quality of training we offer and the standard

of our trainees, so wherever possible we seek to employ them within the

Northern Alliance of schools. Three have gained jobs at Blue Coat School: Mr

Rankin in Mathematics, Dr Higginson in Science and Mr Mkandawire in

Computer Science. Others have jobs at Oldham Academy North, Wardle

Academy, North Chadderton School, King James School, Newman College

and Oldham Sixth Form.

If you would like to find out more from them about what the year has entailed, you can read their

inspiring blogs on our school website.

If you know of anyone who might like to train to teach with The Northern Alliance in September 2016,

and gain a PGCE and QTS, they can find out more information here:

http://www.northern-alliance.net/school-direct/

Staffing News

This term we are sad to be saying goodbye to two members of staff who in different ways have been

very important in the development of the school, and whose work has had a great impact on young

people.

Mr Griffin, Deputy Head and Director of Sixth Form, has been at Blue Coat since September, 2007.

He brought the perspective of a very large and successful Sixth Form College – how do

you achieve the highest quality whilst working at scale. Under his leadership, sixth form

numbers almost doubled, and Blue Coat now welcomes young people from across the

town who want an academic education

in a high achieving, multi-faith, multi-ethnic and multi-talented sixth form. Mr Griffin’s work

developing the ethos of our sixth form, and (with Mr Oakes) VESPA – the Vision-Effort-

Systems-Practice-Attitude methodology that underpins all our work – has made Blue Coat

a national leader in post-16 provision. He leaves the strongest foundations for his

successor, Mrs Justine Tipler, who joins us in May – and that gives us great confidence as post-16

education changes radically.

Mr Griffin is, outside teaching, a successful children’s novelist, and he is going to devote more time

now to his writing, and to consultancy work. We wish him every success (and he will teach his Year

12 classes up to their exams!).

Mrs Caroline Lees joined us in February, 2003, originally as an Attendance

Officer, but her job has changed over the years and she has become a

specialist in provision for some of our more vulnerable students, and

supporting their families. Some young people have a lot to contend with, and

Mrs Lees has worked with students who have been bereaved, who are

young carers, who have been very ill or in danger themselves, and those

who need support beyond what the school can provide. A font of

understanding, expertise, insight and compassion, Mrs Lees will be much

missed, and we wish her success in whatever the next stage of her life and career brings.

End of Term Arrangements

During the morning of Thursday, 24th April we will celebrate our Easter services in school and at

Oldham Parish Church.

The Spring term will end on Thursday, 24th April at 1.20pm. The 700 bus has confirmed that it can

accommodate the early finish. However, we are still awaiting information from other bus providers.

Please continue to check the website for further information.

School reopens to all students on Monday, 11th April, 2016.

School will be closed on Monday, 2nd May, 2016 (May Day).

Faith ~ Vision ~ Nurture

Contact Details: The Blue Coat School, Egerton Street, Oldham. OL1 3SQ

Telephone: (0161) 624 1484 E-mail: secretary@blue-coat.org

Website: www.blue-coat.oldham.sch.uk

Headteacher: Mrs J.A. Hollis MA