Friday 6th July 2018

Dear Parents and Guardians

Mrs Amanda Ryan

Weekly Literacy Focus is ‘Improving Spellings’

Leader Readers These pupils have been

nominated as excep onal readers by their teachers.

Owen Davies 7RS

Thomas Murphy 7DH

Michael Crilly 8SJA

Top A enders

(Week Commencing: 25.06.18)

7MW

8PT

9SC

10VSS

Lexia Superstar: Harry Cannon, Kaitlyn Brown

and Tomas Benes

Leader Readers: Owen Davies, Thomas Murphy

and Michael Crilly

It is my great pleasure to share this week's newsle er, which contains stories about two of my favourite events at Hillside.

Tuesday 26th June was our annual Fes val of Sport and the day certainly lived up to our expecta ons. It was wonderful to see so many pupils and staff involved in sport and working in their teams.

The fantas c weather was a lovely finishing touch to a day, which is now an annual highlight of the school year. I look forward to awarding all the prize winners in next week's Fes val of Sports assemblies.

Thursday was our Prom and for the first year ever we held this event at the Isla Gladstone. I am struggling to put into words how wonderful the Prom was: the venue, the pupils, the dancing, the Prom Awards all came together to make a truly spectacular evening and certainly one the Year 11 of 2018 will never forget. The photos included here give a snapshot of the evening; please have a look at the website to see many more memories. The class of 2018 have been a credit to our school, their families and themselves throughout the year and last Thursday was a most fi ng way to say goodbye and thank you to them. The class of 2018 will always have a special place in our hearts.

Spelling – the magic six

Use mnemonics. Remembering informa on can be difficult so make up a silly phrase to help you remember. In primary school, you might have learned ‘big elephants can always understand small elephants’ to help you remember how to spell ‘because’. Learn commonly misspelled words. If you know you always muddle ‘there’ and ‘their’ drill yourself on them un l you know you can get them right. Make a list of the words you have trouble spelling. Go back through your books to find key words you repeatedly get wrong. Make a list and keep referring back to it. Check word origins in the dic onary. Some mes understanding the root word can help. Chunk it. Split the word into shorter sec ons and learn the le er order for each sec on. Sound it out. Try deliberately mis-pronouncing the word. Eg. Saying “Par – li –a – ment” for parliament.

Sports Day July 2018

On Tuesday 26th June it was Hillside High Schools annual Fes val of Sport. This year followed on from last year’s format and pupils were divided into teams compe ng in a range of spor ng ac vi es across the day. These included: bench ball, football, a sports related quiz, track and field events. The day was a huge success and it was so pleasing to see the whole school community par cipa ng in spor ng ac vity, having fun and demonstra ng a wide range of quali es such as teamwork, leadership and effort.

There were some outstanding performances across the day, most notably Harrison Beesley who achieved over 40 metres in the javelin. Next week pupils are being recognised for their achievements in special celebra on assemblies, where spor ng endeavour and achievement are being acknowledged. Each year group will also have a winning team too and there will also be an overall winning team, which combines the results from all year groups. This overall winning team will have the prize of a morning off metable to enjoy spor ng ac vity on the last day of term.

The PE department wishes to thank everybody for their efforts on the day and congratulates those who par cipated and achieved success.

Mr Ward

Prom—Class of 2018 Bright and light with plenty of glamour and sparkle are the words that come to mind to describe saying good bye to our Year 11 at their Prom last Thursday evening. Decorated in Hillside's blue and white, the Isla Gladstone conservatory oozed class and style as it welcomed our Year 11s to a well deserved evening of celebra on. Our pupils looked picture perfect as they walked up the red carpet to enter the stunning venue for the night they had been wai ng for all year. The blue sky and the bandstand provided the perfect backdrop for photos and Mr Murphy led the awards crowning James Harris and Amber Buchanan prom king and queen. Then the party really started as music played and the dancing began. Pupils and staff came together at the end of the evening for the final send off, singing and dancing to New York, New York. It was a truly memorable evening for a phenomenal year group. Good luck Year 11, we'll miss you!

Hillside High School

Class of 2018

Mr Murphy & Miss Collins

Thought for the Week Dates for the Diary

End of term: Thursday 19th July 2018 Year 7 finish at 11.30am

Year 8 finish at 12.00pm

Year 9 finish at 12.10pm

Year 10 finish at 11.50am

GCSE Results Day: Thursday 23rd August 2018

Start of term: Tuesday 4th September 2018

Open Evening: Thursday 20th September 2018

Mrs Cross

Mr Sco ’s Mind-Blowing Maths Puzzles

Use of aerosols in school As we are enjoying this warm weather there have been some concerns raised about pupils using deodorant sprays in public areas. Can I please draw your a en on to the ar cle below and can we please stress that whilst we appreciate pupils may want to use deodorants to stay fresh during the warm weather, they must be considerate of those around. As I am sure you can appreciate aerosol sprays can cause pupils who have asthma, difficul es with their condi on par cularly when sprayed in a confined space such as changing rooms. We ask that all pupils show respect to their peers and if using a spray deodorant that they do this only within their personal space and that they are aware of those around them. We appreciate that pupils may want to bring a deodorant into school; however we would ask that where possible pupils bring in a roll-on deodorant. Please note that the use of aerosol spray outside of private areas such as the toilet is not necessary, or permi ed. May we also remind pupils that aerosols such as hairspray are not appropriate or necessary to bring into school.

Mrs Cross