December 2018

Atherton Community School Newsletter

Message from the Executive Head Teacher

Dear Parents, carers and friends of Atherton Community School,

As we fast approach the Christmas festivities it is always a lovely time to reflect on the year gone by and take stock of some the amazing accomplishments that our staff and young people have achieved so far.

Atherton Community School went through significant change in 2018, and I am extremely proud to say that our staff and learners excelled in the face of diversity. A recent visit from one of our Governors highlighted to me just how far the school has travelled in such a short space of time. The school has a calm, purposeful and engaging atmosphere as you wander in and out of lessons and our learners are grappling with new knowledge at every opportunity. Our new be-haviour and teaching and learning policies are now becoming embedded and understood by all and having a huge impact on everyday life at ACS.

I am excited to see the school continue to go from strength to strength in the new year, however, as always this is only possible with your continued dedication and support to the school and for that you have my sincere gratitude and thanks.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you a very restful, peaceful and fun filled Christmas season and I look forward to welcoming you to an event at ACS in the new year.

Miss Povey

Love Grace Fellowship

Message from the Head of School

Dear Parents, carers and friends of Atherton Community School,

As we come to the end of my first full term at Atherton Community School, please can I take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support and I am sure you will agree that it is vital we continue to work together to ensure success and happiness for every child. I am extremely proud to say that the school has been transformed by this renewed approach from pupils, teachers and parents but also understand that we still have a jour-ney ahead of us; however I am tremendously excited about the future. Christmas is a time of rest, especially for Year 11, as they prepare for the most important term of their education to date.

Mr Layzell

CHILDREN IN NEED AT ACS

Staff and students worked tirelessly on a day of fundrais-

ing and raised a grand total of £781 for CIN. Well done

everyone!

SCIENCE SCIENCE SCIENCE!

Pupils from years 7, 8 & 9 were invited to enter a competition to win tickets for the “Flash

Bang Science Show” at Winstanley College during the last week of term.

Their challenge was to use /science to find a way to help Santa deliver his presents.

There was a fantastic range of entries and amongst the winners, the three that stood out were:

Courtney Lennon (Year 8) for an AMAZING description of how the theory of

“Quantum Enlargement” could help

Seth Cutajar (Year 7) for a hugely impressive model of a new and improved rocket pow-

ered sleigh.

Georgia Woodward & Thorn-Trinity Smith (Year 7) for a FANTASTIC joint project

on the use of a jet engine sleigh designed to travel faster than the speed of sound.

Congratulations to ALL the competition winners – hope you enjoy your re-ward of a morning at the “Flash Bang Science Show”!! Merry Christmas!

REMEMBERANCE On Friday the 9th November a whole school assembly was organised to remember the fallen from both past and recent conflict. The assembly began with some words and memories from Mr Cook who himself is an ex soldier and now teaches pupils through his passion for History. A drama performance which fo-cussed on the impact war had on the local area was then delivered by our students.

This was done through a variety of techniques including still im-ages and slow motion movement and took the audience on a journey from a soldiers and their families perspective. Soldiers information from the local area was included to reinforce to the audience how close to home the conflict was. The piece ended with the infamous 'We will remember them' speech and was perfectly timed to co-inside with the two mi-nute silence. The students and staff honoured this wonderfully and a huge sense of community was felt around the hall. The

drama piece was also taken into two local primary schools where the students in years 8-10 performed their work then lead workshops with the students from the primary schools to cre-ate drama of their own. The feedback we received from both the primary schools and staff and students at Atherton was extremely positive and spurs us on to create something even bigger and better next year.

YEAR 9 ‘GO BEYOND’ WITH WIGAN AND LEIGH COLLEGE Pupils from year 9 have had two fantastic opportunities to work with staff at Wigan &

Leigh College:

The first visit was to Leigh College and focussed on Forensic Science; five pupils were pre-

sented with a crime scene and had to use their knowledge of biology, chemistry and psy-

chology to identify the criminal, from a line-up of suspects. During the day they viewed

CCTV footage, used thin layered chromatography to identify mystery substances, investi-

gated blood spatter patterns, assessed finger printing and interviewed/ profiled suspects in

order to arrive at their conclusions. It was fantastic when all their hard work came together

and they were able to correctly identify the offender!

The second visit was to the Parsons Walk campus in Wigan; four pupils who had expressed

interest in becoming a vet went to learn more about what training involves. In the morning

they carried out a dissection of a rat to thoroughly explore its anatomy – they absolutely

LOVED this part!

Later on, they got to work in the animal management labs to learn more about a specific

branch of Veterinary Science – reptiles. They learned fundamentals of caring for this ani-

mal species (including how to correctly identify males/ females) and they got to handle a

Bearded Dragon, Snake and a Tortoise!

Across both visits - each of the pupils had a really worthwhile experience to raise their as-

pirations further than they even imagined!

Hamilton St

Atherton

Manchester

M46 0AY

Telephone: 01942 885500

Email: enquiries@atherton-cs.org

www.athertoncommunityschool.com

GIVING YOUNG PEOPLE THE VOICE THEY DESERVE

This half-term, year 10 students, Darren Ashcroft and Ellie Taylor, not only represented ACS, but

gave every young person in Atherton a much needed voice.

After a Youth Parliament poll, taken by all students across Wigan, the incredibly relevant topic of

mental health services for young people in Wigan was chosen. Over 20 different schools, colleges

and youth services were represented in the official setting of the Parliamentary Suite at Wigan

Town Hall during the event, which was hosted by Wigan’s Youth Cabinet and attended by the

Mayor herself! Each representative had just one minute to assert their views, followed by a pas-

sionate and informed debate amongst participants.

Chaperoned by Miss Wright from the English Department, Darren and Ellie did a truly exception-

al job! Darren spoke passionately about a lack of provision in the area and the distinct feeling that

the community of Atherton is somewhat left out when it comes to providing places to go and peo-

ple to see regarding worries about mental health; Ellie, on the other hand, highlighted many dif-

ferent routes to access help more widely, and when quality of provi-

sion in schools was questioned, took the chance to highlight ACS’s

fantastic new in-school services provided by CANW, leaving us very

proud of our ACS family.

Our students were congratulated on their mature insights and as-

sured that their views would be taken forward to make support

more effective and accessible for all. We have already been invited

back next year and eagerly await the 2019 debate topic!

Check out the best bits and see Darren and Ellie in action on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCL1mAlAtBw

This term, as part of our enrichment programme, we launched a new club; The Gen-re Group. The club explores a range of genres from various platforms: film, litera-

ture and stage allowing students the opportunity to discover and develop particular passions and tal-ents. As the term comes to an end and we quite rightly finish with the genre of Christmas (the stu-dents are currently making home-made Christmas decorations to decorate the Mezzanine with), we reflect on the genres studied so far: Horror, Come-dy and Marvel and rest assured, Atherton Commu-nity School has the future Stephen King, Peter Kay and Stan Lee!

ENRICHMENT