SPRING 2011

WeatherheadHigh School

MEDIA ARTS COLLEGE

Weatherhead High School Media Arts CollegeBreck Road, Wallasey, Wirral CH44 3HS Tel: 0151-631 4400 Fax: 0151-637 1805 Email: admin@weatherhead.wirral.sch.uk

Website: www.weatherhead.wirral.sch.uk

he Senior Awards Evening took place in December where over two hundred students received awards for theiracademic attainment and endeavour. A number of special awards were also presented to students for Leadership andServices to the Community. Our guest speaker was author and ex-Weatherhead teacher, Mr John Mayhew, whose

thoughtful and inspirational speech was well received by teachers and parents. Pictured below is Mr Mayhew with Mrs JaneOwens, Chair of Governors, Headgirl, Faye Mather and Deputy Headgirl, Charlotte West, alongside Headteacher, Mr Dyment.

Annual Awards Evening

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efore starting their university courses, embarking on a gap year travelling the globe, or starting jobs, the class of 2010were invited back to Weatherhead for an ‘Oscar style’ event held in September to celebrate their achievements in overtwenty five curriculum areas. The awards reflected the hard work and success of the year group and individuals during

their time in the Sixth Form which was evident in their outstanding A level results last summer and the fact that over onehundred and twenty students were about to embark on their university courses. It was a lovely event, attended by lots ofstudents and staff and we are delighted that many students continue to keep in touch and update us on life after Weatherhead.

An Evening of Celebration

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he Sports Award Evening in October celebrated ourstudents’ achievements and sporting success with everyyear group represented. Our special guest on the evening

was ex-Weatherhead student and 2012 Olympic hopeful inLightweight Boxing, Natasha Jones. Awards were presented forexcellence and achievement in a variety of disciplines includingnetball, trampolining, rounders, football, handball, gymnastics andathletics. Special mentions were given to four particular studentswho compete in trampolining, hurdles, ten pin bowling andTaekwondo at county and national level. The evening showcasedthe sporting talent we have at Weatherhead. Here’s hoping wehave a future Olympian in our midst!

Sports Success

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Mr Dyment, Mrs Owens, Miss Byrne and studentswith guest Natasha Jones

I am delighted to introduce the Spring edition of Weather Report. As youwill see when reading this edition, Weatherhead students are extremelytalented and have been involved in many different activities and events. I amextremely proud of all the students and also thank parents for theirongoing support and commitment to the school. We continue to ensurethat the school focuses on developing the academic performance ofstudents and I am delighted to report that the Year 11 early entry initiativefor English resulted in 75% of the students gaining a high grade GCSE inJanuary. This early result will relieve the pressure for some students in theSummer exams, however, many are keen to have another go and furtherimprove their grades.

Students and staff at Weatherhead are rightly concerned in relation toincreased tuition fees and also the removal/reduction in educationalmaintenance allowances. In the Autumn Term a petition was signed byhundreds of our students and presented to our local MP, Angela Eagle.Student members who are on the Youth Parliament will also be makingtheir representations. The benefits of higher education remain very positiveand even with higher tuition fees it is expected that students will still becompeting for places. Outline details of the new system for financingschools can be found on the Weatherhead website. I would like to remindparents that I continue to offer an open surgery for any parents who wishto see me on any issues of concern. The next open surgery will be onThursday 15th March from 5.00pm to 6.30pm and no appointments arerequired.

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Headteacher’s Welcome

Dates forYour DiaryEaster HolidaysMonday 18th- Friday 29th April

INSET dayTuesday 3rd May

May Half TermMonday 30th - Friday 3rd June

Forthcoming Trips

ICT trip to ParisSaturday 5th- Tuesday 8th March

Year 12 cultural trip to LondonThursday 23rd - Friday 24th June

AS/A2 Geography trip to ItalyMonday 4th - Wednesday 7th July

Year 12 History & Sociology tripto BerlinMonday 11th - Friday 15th July

Year 7 residential to ConwayMonday 11th - Friday 15th July

Orchestra Trip to HollandMonday 19th- Thursday 21st July

Look out for the next episodeof Weatherhead TV due forlaunch on the school websitein April.

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen,Good Bye

taff and students bid a very fond farewellto Mr Boston who retired at the end ofDecember after nearly twenty years at

Weatherhead. Over the years he has inspiredmany students through his passionate teachingof Drama and English, sought, applied for andsuccessfully gained our Media Arts status andoverseen the school’s move from MountPleasant to the existing site on Breck Road. AsDeputy Headteacher, he was also responsiblefor Student Services and was a respected andmuch loved member of staff. He is alreadymissed by staff and students alike and we wishhim a very happy and relaxing retirement.

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Student Achievements

Instrumental Exam Success 2010Grade 1 Violin Lauren RushGrade 2 French Horn Elly ThomasGrade 5 French Horn Jasmine ScarisbrickGrade 4 Horn Alice OwenGrade 5 Tenor Horn Frances JoryGrade 3 Cornet Elizabeth CallisterGrade 3 Trumpet Jenna Doswell

Hannah LambChloe Rowlands

Grade 4 Trumpet Lottie SutcliffeGrade 5 Trumpet Esther RichardsonGrade 3 Flute Danielle HeskethGrade 5 Clarinet Tamar Lee Hart

Hannah PerryLauren Arrowsmith

Grade 3 Alto Saxophone Tamar Lee HartNichole Buntain

Grade 4 Theory Jessica WrightGrade 5 Theory Reyhan AkkurtGrade 7 Drumkit Adam Price

Jessica Wright

Bowled Overast summer, Year 13student, Rachel Arthur,was selected to play for

the England under 19 Ten PinBowling Team havingsuccessfully competed inevents around the country andfinishing sixth in the trials. InOctober, she won gold at theBelgian European Tournamentand after competing in threeEuropean events is lying fifth inthe rankings and hopes to playin the finals in France this year.Rachel is a member ofWallasey Youth Bowling Club,along with her Dad who is alsoher coach, and is the firstbowler from the club to playfor England. Rachel says shehas worked hard to get whereshe is, “it has taken me a lot toget into the England Team, it ismy third attempt.” The clubmeets every Saturday morningat Wallasey Bowl from10.15am - anyone interested injoining the club can just turnup and play.

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Frances JoryWell done Year 7 student, Frances Jory,who has achieved Grade 5 in theTenor Horn, an outstandingachievement for someone so young. Inrecognition of her success she waspresented with a certificate ofachievement by Mr Dyment.

Year 8 Students to the Rescuegroup of Year 8 students sprang into action on a cold weekend in February and helped to save

a man’s life! Anna Flint, Emily Hooper, Leah Hoggarth, Lexi Jones, Rebecca Pritchard and MeganRalph were walking along New Brighton promenade and spotted a man stuck in the mud. Their

quick thinking in alerting the RNLI station in New Brighton ensured a swift rescue. The man was inserious difficulty and had already lost feeling in one of his legs. The girls telephoned the coast guard and

the lifeboat hovercraft was called and a special board pushed out to the manto help him to get out of the mud. He waslater taken to hospital and recovered well. Amember of the public as well as Mr BobWarwick, Press Officer at New BrightonLifeboat, telephoned the school personally toinform us about the incident and could notspeak highly enough of our girls who he saidacted quickly and responsibly. The girlsshowed great responsibility, citizenship andcourage and should all be very proud ofthemselves, as is the school.

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School Council Voice Their Opinionsour of Weatherhead’s School Councillors attended the 8th Annual Youth Voice Conference and 5thYouth Parliament held during Local Democracy Week in October. Alex Cooke, Lauren Davies, ChloeRowlands and Kathryn Dutton spent the day at the conference taking part in a series of workshops

and hot-seating sessions before attending the Youth Parliament in the evening. The Parliament started withtea with Elected Members and was followed by group discussions. The evening culminated with an opendebate in the Council Chamber where Elected Members gave up their seats for the young people. The students had a fantastic day but thehighlight was definitely the open debate. The girls thought, “it was amazing to be in the actual Council Chamber.”

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Rachel shows off her medals

Catering for Your Every Needt the end of the Autumn Term, the Sixth Form NVQ Level 2 Food Preparation andCooking students produced a delicious Christmas buffet lunch for fifteen Year 11 topIRIS point earners and invited guests. Students were treated to a feast of samosas,

sausage rolls, pinwheels, pizza slices, filled rolls, cookies, double chocolate muffins, crispsand drinks. Mr Dyment and Year 11 Leader, Mrs Hepke attended the lunch which wasa double celebration of Year 11 achievement and Sixth Form catering success. This isthe first year that the NVQ Level 2 course has run, and it is proving a great successfor the Year 12 students involved.

The Food Technology Department ran a Christmas Cake Club for Year 10 GCSECatering students from October half term until Christmas. The group spent weeksmaking, icing and decorating their cakes which they were able to take home to theirfamilies. As you can see from the photograph, the standard of the girls’ work was impressive,proving their dedication and showing off their talent.

Mind the GapFormer student, Stephanie Stewart,who left Weatherhead last July, istaking a gap year before she beginsstudying Medicine at the University ofLiverpool in September. At the startof February, she flew to Malawi inSouth Africa to undertake workexperience in an orphanage and

hospital. Before she left, staff and studentshelped her to fill two suitcases with donations of medical suppliesfor the patients of the hospital as well as pens, pencils, rulers,crayons, pencil cases and notebooks to take for the children ofthe orphanage.

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Student Achievements

Catering students

A Tale of Two Schoolsannah Longden recently joined Weatherhead after spending sevenyears living in Turkey. She has been able to share her experiences ofattending a Turkish school and has highlighted some of the major

differences. Pupils attend Primary School from the age of seven until theage of fourteen, they then move on to High School. Older pupils startschool at 7.30am until 12.40pm and younger pupils attend from 1.00pm till6.00pm. The rest of the day is then theirs to do with as they wish. There isno form time or assemblies and the school day is structured with fortyminute lessons each followed by a five minute break with a ten minutebreak for lunchtime when students can grab a snack. Homework is set inevery lesson, every day and students stay in the same class where differentteachers come to them to deliver their subjects. Hannah has noticed bothsimilarities and differences between both schools in the two countries.

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x-Weatherhead student, FayeHoward, has been keeping us up todate with her gap year in Ghana,

where she is teaching at the Heavenly HomeAcademy Primary School. Faye has beenvery busy teaching five classes of English,Maths, ICT, PE and Art. All the children areamazed by coloured paper, glue, glitter andenjoyed making paper chains for Christmas.With an average of forty pupils in each class,sitting three to a table in woodenclassrooms which get very hot and wetwhen it rains, it is a very different learningenvironment from the UK. Aside fromschool, Faye’s host family has given her a realinsight into Ghanaian life and she has learnta lot from them. Faye was lucky to travelaround Ghana over the Christmas holidaysand will continue to travel around the east ofthe country for two weeks at the end of herplacement. Returning in Spring, Faye will takeup her place at Queen’s University, Belfast inSeptember to study Social Anthropologyand Sociology.

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Leadership

Weatherhead Leads the Wayn October, Weatherhead was proud to host a meeting of theWirral Leadership Academy. Over one hundred students fromacross Wirral, who had been selected by their school as

Leadership Academy members, came to Weatherhead to developtheir leadership skills and be part of the Academy. Weatherheadstudents, Rebecca Blacklock, Sian Crilly, Lauren Davies, Joe Deer,Coral Evans, Lauren Gibney, Leah Kent, Jenny Kettell, FreyaSharples, Faye Mather, Kirsty Moore, Jessica Robb, Nadine Sword,Erin Walsh, Erin White and Amy Wrigley mixed with othermembers of the Leadership Academy. Students listened to talksfrom coaches, planned a speed bounce event, learnt about theVolunteer Passport project, were informed about LeadershipAcademy courses run throughout the year and participated in aLeadership Activity of their choice including Dance, Badminton,Football, Tri-Golf and Indoor Athletics.

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A Meeting ofMinds

t the beginning of December our Student SeniorLeadership Team (SSLT) played host to MountPrimary School’s School Council, made up of

eight bright and inspiring Year 5 and 6 pupils. The pupilscame to learn about the SSLT, its role within schooland the different leadership roles our students have.The council toured the school and took part in a‘speed dating’ style question and answer session whichallowed Mount pupils and Weatherhead students tolearn about each other. By the end of the day,everyone felt inspired and proud of what they do andthe difference they make to their school.

StudentLeadershipTraining

n conjunction with the Heath School, aLeadership School in Runcorn, thirteen studentsfrom our Student Leadership Team, together with

Sports and Arts Ambassadors, attended the final partof a two-day leadership course run by TFL Educationat Edge Hill University. The students enjoyed theleadership training and after a day of team buildingfelt they were able to take some useful skills awaywith them to put into practice both in and out ofschool. They were presented with certificates fromDr Louise May, Head of Undergraduate Studies atEdge Hill, to mark their achievement.

Weatherhead leaders

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Students receive their certificates

Pupils from Mount Primary visit Weatherhead

Active Draman November, Birkenhead based ActiveDrama came to Weatherhead as part ofits touring programme to stage its

production of ‘Bully’ to Year 7 and 8students. Focussing on the lives of a groupof students in a school, ‘Bully’ looked at theeffects bullying can have on both youngand old people. This powerful andinnovative theatre production coincidedwith National Anti-Bullying Week and hada huge impact on our students, informingthem about bullying, bullies and what canbe done about it.

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Strengthening Links with Chorlton High School ollowing on from last summer’s trip to Chorlton High School in Manchester, we were delighted towelcome a group of their students and staff to Weatherhead in September. Staff organised a day ofinteresting activities including making recordings for Iceradio and working on Weatherhead TV (an

aspect of our school that they are very keen on). They heard allabout Lead Learning and Leadership and were given a whistle stoptour of the VLE. Sixth Form catering students did a fantastic jobproviding food and refreshments throughout. Sadly, the badweather in December prevented our students from attendingChorlton’s school production of ‘Hairspray’ and they wereunable to come to Weatherhead to watch ‘Beauty and theBeast’. However, we will continue to strengthen our links with Chorlton andwelcome any ideas for future initiatives. If you fancy blogging with the exchange school, this can beaccessed via the VLE - Widening Communities.

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Visitors to the School

Weatherhead Welcomes Richard Alstonn November, Weatherhead’s Dance department were honouredto host a professional dance workshop with the prestigiousRichard Alston Dance Company from London. The contemporary

dance company teach and perform under the direction ofinternationally acclaimed choreographer, Richard Alston, whosework is studied at GCSE and A level. During the day, students learntrepertoire direct from company members, which they can use forexam performances as solo and group work. The day was alsorecorded to document and facilitate learning and to preparestudents for the practical exam.

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Richard Alston dancer

The Science MuseumExperiment at Weatherhead

he Science Museum, London, opened a new permanent climate sciencegallery ‘Atmosphere: exploring climate science’ in December 2010. Inorder to prepare for the launch and to help prepare new materials for

the Science Museum website, staff travelled to Weatherhead High School inNovember to work with fifty of our most talented Year 10 Scientists. Ourstudents were involved in practicalactivities relating to the ‘CarbonCycle’, trialling tasks which willbecome part of the ScienceMuseum’s web provision forteachers across the country. TheHead of the Museum’s LearningResources described the group ofgirls as, “amazing and very focussed,”and said, “it was fabulous that theschool was prepared so quickly totrial the activity for the Science Museum.Testing activity ideas and products withteachers and students like yourselves (atWeatherhead) helps us focus ourthinking and creates a better product forstudents and teachers.” Staff andstudents were excited and extremelypleased to have been asked toparticipate in such a prestigious project.

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Chorlton students experience our media suite

Students participate in Science Museum workshop

Author Weekor the third successive year, the LearningResource Centre hosted ‘Author Week’ inOctober, which turned out to be the most

successful one yet. We were lucky enough to welcomeLucy Christopher, Hayley Long, Rachel Ward, SusieDay, Emily Diamond and performance poet Kate Tym.The authors performed their work in the LearningResource Centre and English classrooms, entertainingstudents with tales of deadly pirates and thrilling themwith tales of someone who had the power to predictthe date of your death! T here was a book sale theweek before so that students had the opportunity topurchase a book written by one of the authors to getsigned during their visit. Surprise hits this time aroundwere Lucy Christopher, Susie Day and Hayley Long,with students queuing out of the LRC and down thecorridor to meet the authors and get their bookssigned! Lucy Christopher even managed to bring hertale of kidnap in the outback ofAustralia to life by filling the pages ofher book ‘Stolen’ with sand. Thingswere more light hearted with SusieDay and Hayley Long who bothhad students in hystericswith tales of imaginaryboyfriends and veryembarrassing situations. Thanksto everyone who took part andkeep on the look out for morevisiting authors in2011.

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t has already been a busy year in the PSHCE Department. Students in Years 7 and 10have attended talks from Wirral Road Safety, Year 7 about walking to and from schoolsafely and Year 10 about the importance of wearing seatbelts when travelling in a car.

These thought-provoking sessions provided the girls with essential information that willhelp to keep them safe.

Our Well-Being Coordinator has been informing Year 8 about Healthy Eating, its benefitsand what are considered ‘healthy options’ whilst our School Nurse has been addressingthe issue of STIs and contraception with Year 10 girls.

The local Anti-Social Behaviour Team and local magistrates visited Year 9 to highlight thecauses of anti-social behaviour, what counts as anti-social behaviour, how the courtswork and the consequences of such behaviour. They also listened to a presentation fromthe CASM group (Churches Against Substance Misuse) about the dangers of drug andalcohol misuse.

Connexions ran a session for Year 11 students regarding moving into the Sixth Form andfurther education.

Year 12 Subject Ambassadors, LeahSnelgrove and Hannah Smith, haveworked hard attending OpenEvening and designing postcards.

The department is grateful to thePTA who recently donated £1,000which will be used to fund aBitesize Brooke event for Year 11during December. The donation ismuch appreciated and will make avaluable contribution to thePSHCE programme.

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Visitors to the School

Year 10 students accept PTA cheque

Extra Curricular

TheSpellFactor

s a fun way ofi m p r o v i n gspelling in Year

8, Year 8 Leader, MissSmith organised acompetition helped by Sixth Form volunteers called ‘the SpellFactor’. The competition began during form time with the winningteam being chosen to represent their form in the next stage.Several rounds of heats took place over the course of a few weeksand teams fought hard for a place in the grand final. Eventually, 8GTand 8JCR battled it out in the final which took place during anassembly. It was a tough game filled with anticipation which waseventually won by 8JCR whose team was made up of Tia-LouiseDerby, Anna Flint, Lauren Francom, Ellen Gill and Isobel Gisborne.

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Blinded by Sciencecience Club meets every Friday, developing thescientific knowledge of thirty Year 7 students withexciting experiments and demonstrations. In

previous weeks, students have created explosions, usedmagic paper and made fireworks. Students are currentlymaking volcanoes which will be tested and exploded inthe coming weeks, after which students will build andrace hovercrafts. Science Club is always recruiting newmembers. It’s a great chance to do fun experiments andthey meet every Friday lunch time in D205 if you areinterested in joining.

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Science Club students

Visiting author, Kate Tym

Students are spellbound

Silent Witnessuring ‘National Pathology Week’ in November and as part ofWeatherhead’s Aimhigher programme, fifteen Year 12 studentsvisited Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. Students spent the

afternoon working with Dr Daniel Hurrell, Senior Registrar inHistopathology, and were able to observe a virtual autopsy. They lookedat samples from biopsies, considered four case histories to try andestablish the cause of death and listened to presentations on careers inPathology.

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Students visit Alder HeyAn Insight intoLife at LIPA

n December, as part of Weatherhead’s Aimhigher programme, Year 10and 11 Dance students enjoyed an opportunity to take part in aworkshop held by Dance tutors at the prestigious LIPA. The students

attended a Saturday workshop and were asked to choreograph a danceroutine which they then performed. The girls enjoyed the experience andgained a good insight into what being a student at LIPA is like. The girlsalso performed their fantastic routine during the Christmas assemblies atschool. Well done!

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n the weeks leading up to Christmas, Year 8 tookpart in the Global Enterprise Week ‘£5.00Challenge’. This was an opportunity for students to

demonstrate their entrepreneurial skills and some ofthem proved that they could give Lord Sugar a run forhis money! Each form group took responsibility forturning £5.00 into a profit. They could not sell cakesor sweets, but otherwise could be as enterprising asthey liked. Students showed excellent leadership andteam working skills as well as developing somebusiness and financial sense as they had to thinkcarefully about how to invest their money. Some formgroups made crafts and jewellery, some had film clubsand fitness sessions and others took photographs andsold key rings. The winning form was 8CK whomanaged to turn their £5.00 into £58.14! In total Year8 made an incredible £231.54. Well done to all FormTutors and students involved.

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Urenco ‘Make itEnterprising’ Challenge

n November, Year 9 students, Jess Mole, Emma Watts, Morgan Hodgin,Molly Brislen, Sarah-Jane Crotty, Aimee Foster, Joitpreet Singh andIsabel Stubbs took part in an enterprise challenge organised by the

Manufacturing Institute and makeit.org.uk. Working as a team, the girlswere tasked with a design and make challenge, in competition withteams from other schools in the greater Merseyside area. The teamsthen had to pitch their design to a ‘Dragon’s Den’ of Urenco directorswho selected the winning team. Our students demonstrated the typesof skills needed at university and in the work place - leadership, teamwork, innovation and creativity, decision making, confidence andpresentation skills.

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Work Related Learning & Enterprise

Weatherhead’s enterprise design

Winning form 8CK

…Modern

Foreign

Languages In November, wehosted an event forstudents from all yeargroups and theirparents to find outmore about careero p p o r t u n i t i e savailable through thestudy of a ModernForeign Language. Representatives from a variety oflocal and national businesses, universities and the Armed Forcesattended, giving advice and information to over one hundred andfifty parents and students. The feedback from providers, parentsand students was very positive with students commenting, “I gotideas about careers pathways,” “lots of interesting information tohelp me decide what way I want to go,” “interesting discussionabout industry and the use of foreign languages.” Parents weredelighted to see their daughters’ enthusiasm for their future.

…the Armed Forces In the Autumn Term, students had theopportunity to find out more aboutthe wide range of careers that areavailable to them in the Armed Forces.Representatives from each of the ArmedForces came to school and gave talksduring lunchtime. Students were amazedto find out the varied careers in theArmed Forces ranging from engineers,translators and medics to working inhospitality and communications.

…TechnologyFollowing the success oflast year’s event, theTechnology Departmentran its second ‘Futures withTechnology’ event at the endof January. Year 8 and 9 students were invitedto attend a two-hour workshop after schoolto learn a new skill and find out more aboutthe career opportunities available to themthrough studying a technology subject. Withsomething for everyone, students took part ina variety of workshops run by professionalproviders from practical careers including

bricklaying and architecture to more artistic careers in cakedecorating and Photoshop mug designing.

DIY Skills Workshop Building on last year’s programme of skills workshops, localproperty restorations company, JHS, came intoschool in Octoberto work withstudents fromYears 9 to 11 todevelop their tiling,grouting, plasteringand bricklaying skillsthat will prove veryuseful in later life.Staff and studentsalso had theopportunity toattend workshopsafter school.

Opportunities in languages

FUTURES WITH…

DIY demonstration

Visit from Alder Heyt the end of last term, SixthForm Applied Science studentswere treated to a visit from an

expert Radiographer from AlderHey who specialises in NuclearMedicine. Miss Donough taught ourstudents about different imagingtechniques and how they are used.As legislation controlling the safetyof human life is becoming moredetailed, it was a fantastic opportunity to hear from an expertfrom the NHS, and the girls were particularly keen to hearabout dose badges and infection control. Of particular interestwere the real life experiences which our students were able tohear about. This ranged from having to calm especially nervouspatients to children running around the X-ray room. To finishthe session students were able to test their diagnostic skills bylooking at images and were left pondering how a toddler gets apenny up his nose!

AWhat’s up Doc?

n December, Harriet Cavanaghand Annabel Sullivan from Year12 had the opportunity to

attend ‘Medlink’ at NottinghamTrent University. The girls spentfour days living the life of amedical student. They lived instudent accommodation, metstudents from all over thecountry, dined in the studentrefectory and attended lectures, seminars and workshops. Bythe end of four days they were exhausted but learned a lot andare keener than ever to study medicine. The girls felt it was areally positive and worthwhile experience giving them a truetaste of what it takes to be a medical student and how muchhard work it really is. They are now even more motivated andare working really hard to ensure they achieve the grades theyneed to achieve their ambition to study medicine.

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Work Related Learning & Enterprise

DAY TRIPPINGn an early Saturday morning back in October, twenty Year 12Art students took a day trip to London. During their short visitthey were able to visit Covent Garden market, taking in the

shops, the atmosphere and pavement artists. In the afternoon theytook time to view the magnificent art work on display at Tate Modern,taking inspiration for their art coursework from the contemporaryand modern art collections.

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A Weekend in Parisn December, Year 11 and 12 students of French enjoyed a spectacularweekend in Paris, braving the cold weather and an early departure fromLiverpool on a Saturday morning! Arriving early in the day allowed the

group to take in the Arc de Triomphe and a walk down the Champs-Elyséesto browse the Christmas market. To end the day, the group enjoyed a visitto Notre-Dame Cathedral and a stroll on the banks of the River Seinebefore returning to the hotel for dinner, a disco and an early night. OnSunday students enjoyed a fun packed day with a trip up the Eiffel Tower,lunch in front of the Sacré Coeur, shopping in Rue Steinkerque andwatching the artists at the Place du Tertre. The day ended with adelicious traditional meal ata restaurant inMontmartre. On thelast day students weretreated to a visit to thefamous Louvre, adelightful cruise downthe Seine, shopping inGalleries Lafayettes anda stroll in the LatinQuarter. A trip toremember.

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Trips & Visits

They’re Behind You!t the beginning of February our Year 11 Drama students tooktheir pantomime on tour to Mount Primary School. The groupof twenty students performed their pantomime to a packed

audience of ninety pupils from Years 4, 5 and 6.The performance was not only an important assessment for theirGCSE course but an exciting opportunity for students to perform infront of an audience. The children loved the show and our studentsovercame any stage fright to give an outstanding performance.

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Clothes Makeththe Show

n December, the Art Department took a group ofGCSE and A level Art students to visit the ClothesShow Live at the NEC in Birmingham. The girls were

able to visit exhibition stands and speak torepresentatives from colleges and universities aboutstudying Art and Design. They also had a chance to doa spot of designer, high street and vintage fashionshopping and enjoyed a catwalk fashion and danceshow, the largest in Europe, showcasing couture andhigh street collections hosted by the truly fabulousGok Wan! The group were fortunately not caught inthe snow and all concerned had an amazing day out.

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Inspiration from Italyo help them to prepare for their Fine Art and Textilesexams, A level students flew to Venice in February halfterm. They visited the Guggenheim and world famous

Doges Palace and many of the local artisans and craftsmen forwhich ‘La Serenissima’ (theRepublic of Venice) is justifiablyrenowned. The group also soakedup the beauty of Venice in winterand experienced the culture,cuisine and hospitality of theVenetians. The students returnedto school fired up with enthusiasmand inspiration for their exams!

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Venice Students in front of the Eiffel Tower

Students perform ‘Peter Pan’

Wisemindss part of the Year 7 ‘Wiseminds’ curriculum, students in 7Astudy Liverpool’s history and culture. The group weretreated to a day trip to Liverpool taking in the city’s famous

landmarks including the Town Hall and the Liver Buildings andvisited the Maritime Museum to look at the impact of the slavetrade on Liverpool. Back in the classroom, using the informationthey had discovered on their visit, each student produced abooklet entitled ‘Liverpool’s Culture’ and created a model of thecity for their homework task, which were displayed in class.

Some of the Wiseminds students

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Singing with Gleeeatherhead Sings’ has returned and been re-named ‘Glee Glub’, inspired by the

popular television series. With over forty members from Year 7, Miss Hartley’snewly formed lunchtime club is proving hugely popular. The group were invited to

perform at the end of January at a charity concert in the Cherry Tree Shopping Centrein Liscard in aid of Claire House. For their first public performance the group sang theeighties classic ‘Don’t Stop Believin’ by Journey to an appreciative audience and helpedraise much needed funds for a much loved local charity.

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Trips & Visits

Performing in Liscard

Time to GetTheatrical!

CSE and A level Drama students visited the RoyalCourt Theatre in November to watch aperformance of Willy Russell’s much loved play

‘Our Day Out’. The play tells the story of a group ofchildren from a deprived school in Liverpool and a day tripto North Wales and focuses on the highs and lows ofgrowing up, with a dark reminder of the bleak future someof the children can expect. A level Drama students werealso treated to a performance of ‘Sweeney Todd’ at theUnity Theatre in October. ‘Finger in the Pie Theatre’ used acombination of music, physical theatre, shadow puppets,humour and audience interaction to tell the story ofBenjamin Barker’s life and how he became the DemonBarber of Fleet Street. Both theatre visits provided anexcellent opportunity for students to review a theatreperformance which is a large part of their writtenexamination.

Staff in the English Department organised a trip for twentyYear 12 English students to see ‘The World's Wife' atTheatre Clwyd in October, Poet Laureate Carol AnnDuffy's witty sequence of poems of historical and mythicalrelationships. A month later Year 12 and 13 students weretreated to a performance of Shakespeare’s epic tragedy ofpassion and empire, 'Antony and Cleopatra' at thePlayhouse, Liverpool, starring Kim Cattrall.

Viva la Vinat the beginning

of December,

Year 8 Spanish

students visited ‘La

Viña’, an authentic

Spanish tapas

restaurant in

Liverpool. A group

of eighty students

feasted on paella,

tortilla, patatas

bravas (roast potatoes in spicy sauce), albondigas (meatballs)

and calamares (squid) and were entertained by Enrique and

Leon, flamenco guitarists. Forty Year 9 students visited the

same restaurant on a

separate trip and

enjoyed the excellent

cuisine. Students

found the visits an

excellent opportunity

to speak Spanish to

the staff, order their

meals, try new food

and experience

Flamenco dancing!

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Paella

Flamenco guitarists at La Viña

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Students Have a Field Dayear 10 GCSE Geography students took a day trip to Snowdonia to study glaciatedlandscapes and tourism in the beautiful North Wales town of Betws-y-coed inOctober. The group walked up to Cwm-Idwal to look at the glaciated features as

part of their GCSE curriculum.

At the start of the Autumn Term, in preparation for their A2 exams, Year 13 Geographerstook a day trip to Snowdonia, North Wales,with Mrs Jones and Mr Owen to study theRiver Peris.

At the beginning of November, twenty five ASGeography students spent the weekend at the Preston Montford Field Studies Centre inShrewsbury. Students spent the first day investigating changing channel characteristics alongthe Ashes Hollow and on Saturday morning they studied flood risk. The field trips are vitalfor the students to prepare for their exams in the summer.

Year 10 Geographers in SnowdoniaY

A Level Geographers

Football FocusYear 7footballers, JanieAllen, AbbieBuckenham,ChloeBuckenham,Emily Cotgrave,Becky Martin,Jade Moore,GemmaMoreland andGeorgiaMurphy playedtheir first awayfixture againstBebingtonHigh SportsCollege in October and won 7-1. Our Under 13s team (Roisin Bescoby, Chloe Buckenham, SophieBuckenham, Elouise Edwards, Shannon Gower, Sophie Harding,Becky Martin, Jade Moore, Gemma Moreland, Georgia Murphy,Rebekah Williams and Amy Wyatt) competed in the AnnualTranmere Rovers Football Club tournament. The girls played atotal of seven games against teams from Whitby High, Ridgeway,Wallasey and Wirral Grammar Schools and won two, drew twoand lost three. They continued their winning streak beating WadeDeacon High School 4 - 0 in the first round of the National Cup,and beat the Stanley High School 5 - 1 in the second round. Our Under 15s Football team, Taylor Brewster, Charly Cassidy,Lydia Connell, Kim Harding, Chloe Hughes, Natalie Jenner, MelissaLopez, Georgia Moss, Eleanor Raftery, Alli Reid andOlivia Stowell-Smith played a home fixture against St. John BoscoHigh School in November and won 4 - 0. Goal scorers were

Charly (2), Alli and Olivia.

Handball

News Merseyside CountyHandball trials wereheld in November atWoodchurch HighSchool. Olivia Stowell-Smith, Chloe Hughes,Lydia Connell,Charlotte Abrahamand Hannah Burgess

from Year 11 attended and were all selected for the Merseysidegirls team. The girls represented Merseyside at the RegionalChampionships held in Birmingham at the end of November anddid extremely well, finishing in second place. Handball was onlyintroduced at Weatherhead last year through the School SportCoordinator scheme and has proved a big hit with students.

‘MiniKickers’‘MiniKickers’ returns for the second year running with EvertonFootball Club coach Ray Redmond. Students will be trained sothat they can lead sessions for Key Stage 1 pupils from ourpartner primary schools. This is an amazing opportunity for ourstudents to train with a Premiership club coach and developtheir leadership skills.

Netball NewsCongratulations to Chelsea Collinge-Wray, Lydia Connell,Chloe Hughes, Kirsty Moore and Jade Riddiough whocompleted the Young Netball Organisers Course inOctober.

Interform Netball

Results, December 2010

Pentathlon ChallengeCongratulations to all the Year 7 students who competed in theYear 7 Pentathlon Challenge last term. The winners were, firstplace, Alex Collins, second place, Megan Berry and third place,Lucy Morris.

Trampolining Success The National Schools’ Trampoline Championships is an annualcompetition held by the British Schools Gymnastic Association.Twenty five students represented Weatherhead at this year’sevent from Years 8 to 13 and achieved amazing success. OurUnder 13 Novice and Elite teams both finished fifth in theircategories. The Under 15 Novice team came seventh and the

Under 15 Eliteteam finishedfifth overall.Chloe Warrenachieved thirdplace (out offorty twocompetitors)in the Under19 GirlsN o v i c ec a t e g o r ywith the

team (made up of Chloe, Freya Sharples and JessicaSweeney) coming third. Rebecca Blacklock won the Under 19Girls Elite category making her the North West NationalChampion. The Under 19 Girls Elite team made up of Rebecca,Melissa Edwards, Jessica Jones and Hannah Thurlow also wonthe team category. The girls are now the North West NationalChampions and qualified for the next round in Ireland whichtook place last month in which the team came third. The girlswere outstanding and completed their routines to a highstandard.

Year 7 footballers

Handball players

Year 7

1st - 7CHN2nd - 7KMN3rd - 7GRO4th - 7RD

Year 10

1st - 10KM2nd - 10SP3rd - 10DW4th - 10LL

Year 8

1st - 8LCO2nd - 8GT3rd - 8LCH4th - 8WR

Year 11

1st - 11JTO2nd - 11PH3rd - 11CA4th - 11MBW

Year 9

1st - 9MRE2nd - 9DR3rd - 9MA4th - 9NBY

Weatherhead trampolinists

A Question of Sport

Let’s Get PhysicalBadminton ResultsThe Year 10 and 11 Badminton teammade up of Charlotte Abraham,Lauren Buchannan Lloyd, BroganHayes and Ellen Strachan, played ahome fixture against Wallasey HighSchool and Oldershaw High Schooland won five of their ten games.

Basketball

ResultsOur Year 10 and Year 11 basketball team comprising TaylorBrewster, Nicole Comber, Laura Cook, Katie Doran, PaigeJones, Catherine Lockwood, Jenny Miller, Eleanor Raftery, AlexRuse, Hannah Thurlow, Sally Jo Whitlow, Rebecca Wilkinson andLeah Williams played two away fixtures in December againstWirral Grammar School which they won 8 - 5.

Bench Ball Competition Weatherhead’s Leadership Ambassadors ran a Year 8 InterformBench Ball competition throughout November. Led by RebeccaBlacklock, Head Leadership Ambassador and Amy Wrigley,Deputy Leadership Ambassador, Leadership Ambassadors from

Years 7 to 13 planned, organised and ranthe whole event. The tournament wasgreat fun with 8LCO being crowned thewinners and receiving certificates fortheir achievement.

Cross-Country Congratulations to Rachel Beattie,Rhiannon Candeland, Beth Chick, ShaunaDavies, Faye Dean, Abbie Dillon, JudyDiamond, Faye Hampson, Hannah

Hughes, Layla Johnstone, Gabrielle Jones, Becky Lloyd, MeganSmyth, Sophie Turner and Megan Williams who competed in theYear 7 and 8 Wirral Schools’ Relay Cross-CountryChampionships in October.

Badminton team

A Question of Sport

Fanatical About Filmeatherhead’s Film Club was launched last term withstudents from Years 7 to 9 enjoying free screenings of‘Chicken Run’, ‘Back to the Future’ and ‘Elf’. Film Club is

a national scheme, founded by a film critic and a film directorwho work in association with LOVEFILM.com, BAFTA and TheGuardian to encourage schools to run an after-school film clubscreening classic films, cult movies and films from world cinema. Students have thechance to see films for free and be involved in discussions about the films, take partin on-line film reviews and even get to choose the next film!

W

Ladies who Lunchvery Wednesday lunch

time a group of students

from Year 8 and Year 10

have been producing tasty treats

in our Food Technology

Department. With support from

Mrs Daly, Miss McCoy and Mr

Thornton the emphasis is placed

upon healthy eating on a budget.

Once the food is prepared,

students and staff sit down to

enjoy the fruits of their labour.

This gives the girls a chance to

'catch-up' and decide what they are

going to make the following week.

Students enjoy the fruits of their labour

Beecome Betterat Spelling

ollowing Weatherhead’s first performance atthe Times Spelling Bee competition last year,five fabulous Year 7 students will compete in

this year’s championship. Grace Riazi, Alex Tolond,Stephanie Goodsell, Georgia McDowell and RosieHughes have successfully secured a place in theteam to represent Weatherhead at the regionalheats in March. They hope to beat other local teamsto win a place in the televised final in London. Theyhave been practising hard with Miss Harji and MrsCrawford and will be coached by our SubjectAmbassadors to be super spellers! Wish them luckand watch out for them in an assembly near you...

F

Year 7 spellers

Extra Curricular

E

Community Arts

Curious Mindse are delighted that we have been awarded funding todevelop a new and exciting project at Weatherhead focusingaround ‘Digital Stories’. Since the beginning of November, a

group of seventeen girls from Years 7 to 10 have been working withtwo arts practitioners who they employed following a rigorousinterview process. The project entitled ‘Curious Minds’ will be projectmanaged by the students and at the end of the process they will have developed their leadershipand independent learning skills. The project will culminate in a media based event (which mayinvolve radio, film, theatre, song or storytelling) at the beginning of May. The planning for this willinvolve working with residents at Mariner’s Park and Primrose Court.

OnceUpon aTime...

uring the October halfterm, pupils fromSomerville, St. Alban’s,

Riverside and Park PrimarySchools were invited toparticipate in a four-daydrama workshop. During theweek, the pupils exploredthe theme of storytellingand learnt a range of basicdrama techniques andperformance skills usingfairy tales. Family memberswere invited to attend ashort performance on thefinal day where pupilsshowcased their skills.

Film 2011he Spring term is a busy time forCommunity Arts with many excitingprojects on the horizon. Our two

Media Demonstrators are facilitating Film

projects at Mount Primary School andEgremont Primary School for Year 6 pupils.Pupils will spend ten weeks becoming buddingfilm directors, script writers, camera andsound operators creating their very own filmwhich will be entered into this year’s WirralSchools’ Film Festival in June.

Arts Ambassadors ed by Year 13 students, Sophie Griffiths and JackClarke, our newly appointed Arts Ambassadors,made up of representatives from each year group,

are working hard to establishthemselves. Similar to theSchool Council, theAmbassadors exist toinform and develop theschool’s Arts policy and arebusy planning somerevolutionary events for thisterm. Watch this space!

FutureClassrooms

s part of our Gifted and Talentedprogramme, we are once againdelighted to be working with the

Foundation for Art and CreativeTechnology (FACT) in Liverpool. Agroup of Year 7 and 8 students aremeeting with artist Neil Winterburnonce a week to explore the theme‘Future Classrooms’, discussing ideas ofhow learning will change and develop inthe future, culminating in an exhibitionat FACT from March to May. This is ahighly prestigious project and anexciting and invaluable experience forthe girls.

ArtsAward

ifteen Year 12 ArtsLeaders are learning howto plan and deliver

projects in primary schools inorder to gain their Silver ArtsAward qualification. They havealready delivered an afternoonof drama games and exercisesto sixty Year 5 pupils at St.George’s Primary School andsixty pupils at SomervillePrimary School and arecurrently planning long-termprojects to start before Easter.

Spaced Outow in its third year, Miss Elliottand Mr Blake are delivering theCreative Literacy Project at

Somerville Primary School and St.George’s Primary School, engagingfifty Gifted and Talented Year 4 and 5pupils. The pupils are exploring thetheme of ‘Space’ and during theprocess complete a form to apply toNASA, imagine flying to space tocarry out a reconnaissance missionand report back to their fellow spaceexplorers. The project will culminatein each pupil recording their missionreport as a radio programme.

Cyber C@fés part of our ongoing Community programme, theCyber Café has returned for the fourth year running.The Café is open to local residents over the age of 60

who attend weekly classes to improve their ICT skills. Theclasses cover using the internet, digital photography, makingChristmas cards, producing a personalised calendar, designingdocuments and e-Safety. A group of Health and Social CareSixth Form students help out with the Café every Fridayafternoon and enjoy interacting with the members.

PC Know Howhe ‘PC Know How’ course is available to staff,friends of Weatherhead and students’ familiesaged 18 and over who would like to learn more

about technology and understand Twitter and email oreven just write a letter. Join us for a free Spring/Summercourse which starts Tuesday 1st March 2011 3.30pm -5.00pm and runs until June 2011. Please call school toreserve your place and look out for letters going homesoon with further details of how to book.

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Lead Arts Ambassaders

Boxes of DelightsAs Christmas drew nearer, Year 7students were challenged by theirForm Tutors to create five shoe boxesper form for the charity OperationChristmas Child. Led by their CharityRepresentatives, each form spentweeks collecting and buying items

for inclusion in the shoeboxes, which were carefullywrapped and filled with gifts suitable for young people aged 1-15.

Students surpassed the challenge and filled 98 shoe boxes with gifts of toys,toiletries, sweets and stationery. The boxes were presented to Bill Lewis,North West representative of the charity, at the end of November. He wasthrilled to receive so many boxes, a testament to the students’ commitmentto helping young people around the world. The boxes were distributed bythe charity to orphans and vulnerable children living in difficult circumstancesoverseas in countries such as Belarus, Bosnia, Liberia, Romania, Serbia,Swaziland and Mozambique.

Money Comes Flooding InSince September, Year 8 have raised an amazing£925.51 which they have decided to donate to thePakistan Flood Appeal, helping millions of families inthe Punjab region. Almost a third of the money wasraised via enterprising activities and the rest was raisedselling cakes and sweets, bracelets and pens.

Charity Begins at Home Year 11 decided that they wanted to use some of the money they haveraised this year to help local charities and chose the ‘Ark Project’ inBirkenhead which runs a homeless hostel. A group of students boughtChristmas treats for the hostel’s residents which were delivered on a verycold day just before Christmas. The manager of the hostel took time toexplain the work that they did and although it was a sobering experience,it was good to know that our students have been able to help this veryworthy cause, especially at Christmas.

All the Fun of the FairLast term students in Year 11 decided to hold aChristmas Fair with each form hosting their ownstalls. Some forms baked Christmas biscuits to sellwhilst others made biscuits for students todecorate and ran tuck shops and cake stalls. Someof the forms held competitions such as ‘Guess theBaby’ (teachers brought in pictures of themselves as babies)and a lucky dip. This was a very festive occasion which raised £132.50 forcharity. Well done, Year 11.

Sixth Formers are Tickled Pink Since September the Sixth Form have raised a staggering £2,500 for

charity. In addition to a whole school non-uniformday, students staged a lunchtime performance ofsong, dance and entertainment for ‘Children inNeed’, collecting over £950. Students decoratedthe Common Room in pink in aid of CancerResearch’s ‘Tickled Pink’ campaign. At Halloweenstudents dressed up in some weird and wonderfuloutfits and held a disco for Year 7 students, which

was hugely popular. Additional money was raised throughindividual form activities with 12SJ alone raising £646.

Toys R UsThe week before Christmas, members of the School Council hadgreat fun spending £400.00 which had been raised by students, buyingtoys for the Radio Merseyside Toy Appeal. School Councillorsdelivered them in person to the Appeal which donates presents tolocal underprivileged and sick children. Three of our Councillors,Victoria Cooper, Alex Cooke and Kathryn Dutton were interviewedlive on the Radio Merseyside breakfast show and discussed thefundraising efforts of Weatherhead students.

On a Mission to HelpEvery year, Weatherhead students support the Charles ThompsonMission, a church based charity that provides food, hot drinks and freshdry clothing to the poor and needy in Birkenhead. This year was nodifferent and each form was asked to fill a box with non-perishable fooditems that could help provide three meals a day to people in need overthe festive period. As usual, the response was amazing and on a snowy day,fifty boxes were loaded into the school mini bus and delivered to thepastor at the Mission who was quite taken aback by our generosity.

Kenya UpdateJust over three yearsago Drama Teacher,Mrs Ellison, went toKenya for the holidayof a lifetime. She hadexpected to seeelephants and lions, butwhat moved her mostwas visiting The GodOur Father Orphanagewhich cares for over 130children. When he heardabout it, Mr Dyment wasvery keen to give theschool’s support to the orphanage which inspired our students to raisemoney to help their new Kenyan friends. There have been sponsoredevents, cake sales and Sixth Formers have organised concerts and talentshows. As a result we have raised almost £12,000, a fantastic achievement.The money has been used for several developments including the

purchase of a mini bus and dairy cows help to teach the childrenfarming techniques as well as provide them with milk.

The orphanage buildings were very cramped, with children sharing twoor three to a bed, they cooked outside on a camp fire, the water tapwas outside for washing plates and people, and there were only twotoilets. The remainder of the funds raised have been used to fund newbuildings. Thanks to the generosity of the students at Weatherhead, thechildren now all sleep in their own beds, drink clean tap water and freshmilk, and they have a dining room and play room. We continue to receiveletters and pictures from the children and Sussy, who runs theorphanage, said that she can notthank the pupilsenough, she said, “it’s alltears of joy! God blessyou Weatherhead HighSchool.”

Fantastic Fundraising

he Christmas production of the Disney classic, ‘Beauty and the Beast’ was a huge success,thanks to months of hard work by a dedicated team of actors, singers, dancers, musicians andtechnical crew from all year groups, led by Mrs Henderson, Director, and the Performing Arts

Department. Students transformed themselves into an array of household items including a candelabra,teapot and tea cup, grandfather clock, wardrobe, plates and feather dusters. Over one hundred andthirty students from all year groups took part in the show, including thirty two BTEC Performing Artsstudents who were formally assessed during the performances for their roles as the Stage Crew andMake-Up artists. The Band, led by Mr Brown, provided live accompaniment to the show whilst dancersand tap dancers added flamboyance.

Year 7 ICT students were invited to design a logo for posters to promote the show and for use ontickets and the official programme. The competition was won by Megan Woosey, whose winning designis featured at the top of the page.

The elaborate costumes were especially designed and made for the cast by local company ‘Diana andCo’ who did a fantastic job recreating costumes for the stage. Audiences were thrilled by the beautifuldresses worn by Abigail Kent (Year 10) who played Belle, and by the amazing outfit used to turnConnor Hodgson (Year 12) into the Beast.

The hard work and commitment put in by the cast, dancers, the orchestra and staff was evident andmade the show an amazing success enjoyed by over 1,000 audience members over three nights. Someparents commented that it was the best school production yet!

TBeauty and the Beast’