TERM DATES 2016-17

End of Spring Term

Friday 31st Mar 2017

Start of Summer Term

Tuesday 18th April 2017

Bank Holiday

Monday 1st May 2017

Half Term

Mon 29th May - Fri 2nd June 17

End of Summer Term

Thursday 20th July 2017

EASTER NEWSLETTER—2017

School Uniform:

I would like to take this

opportunity to thank you for your

continuing support with school

uniform. The vast majority of

pupils look smart every day. As

the warmer weather approaches

there is no need for hoodies.

Please ensure they are NOT

worn or brought into school.

Dear Parents/Carers As I am quickly approaching the end of my first year as Headteacher of Philips High School I would like

to congratulate the pupils and staff on the successful outcome of our visit from Ofsted. We are judged to be a “good school” which is a much more

difficult judgement to achieve than it was a few years ago. They acknowledged our “culture of high

expectations” and “the schools collaborative, respectful and aspirational values”.

They identified how positive pupils are and how they

appreciate the school’s “Respect” Campaign. We have identified our areas to improve and I look

forward to working with all stakeholders to reach the outstanding grade in the future.

Improving attendance is a particular area of focus

over the coming months. Holidays will not be authorised. Please ensure your child’s

attendance is at least 96%.

I would also like to say goodbye to three valuable long serving members of staff, Mrs. Carol Soesan,

School Business Manager, Mr. Tony Holt, Site Manager and Mrs Carolyn Butterworth, Teaching

Assistant, on behalf of myself and all at Philips High School we wish them all the very best for the future.

I am sure you will join me in wishing our year 11

pupils every success in their forthcoming examinations.

Wishing you all a very Happy Easter!

Ms T Owen

HEADTEACHER

HEAD TEACHER

AWARD

CONGRATULATIONS

Pupdate One – Form 10I hear from their guide dogs

L ast October, 10 Ineson ran a number of fundraising activities and raised enough money to

sponsor three guide dog puppies!

In November, the form received their welcome pack from ‘Guide Dogs’. The puppies that

they are sponsoring are called Una, Zac and Lexi. Over the next two years, they will

receive ‘Pupdates’ detailing the puppies’ progress.

The form class have recently received their first ‘pupdate’ and have begun following the puppies

on their journey to become fully trained guide dogs.

Una is now living in Cambridge. Her ‘puppy walker’ has two other

dogs called Frizz and Phoebe. Una loves playing with Frizz.

Zac has moved to Kent. His puppy walkers have walked 13 other

dogs and Zac makes 14!

Lexi lives in Hertfordshire. She is the 15th dog that her puppy

walker has worked with. Lexi’s sister Luna is a star of ITV’s ‘This

Morning’.

Mrs Hazzelby-Owens

P hilips High School are proud to have contributed to the Rotary Club's Purple4Polio weekend Schools Virtual Parade. Pupils from 8L provided silhouettes which were displayed alongside silhouettes

from other schools to form the Schools Virtual Parade in Mill Gate Shopping Centre and nearby shops on Saturday 18

th March and Sunday 19

th March.

Mrs K Burrow

PURPLE4POLIO

http://www.rotarygbi.org/media/2016/06/P4P_Polio-The-Basics.pdf

Eradicating polio has been Rotary's main humanitarian focus for over 30 years. Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland's Purple4Polio campaign is providing communities with ideas and opportunities to get involved in ridding the world of polio.

HOLOCAUST COMMEMORATION

The Holocaust was a genocide in which some six million European Jews were murdered by Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany. The victims included 1.5 million children and about two-thirds of the nine million Jews who lived in Europe. This was mass murder which was based on biological factors and people who were mentally or physically disabled. Therefore, to raise public awareness of all genocides and to show respect to all victims, who have sacrificed themselves to save their loved ones. there is an annual Holocaust Memorial Day. The Memorial Day is where bury council and the Mayor of bury come together along with two representatives of each school in bury. This year the Holocaust

Memorial Day was dedicated to Mayer Hurst, unfortunately Mayer passed away a few months before the memorial so sadly he could not be with us that day.

Spending time listening to the experience really made you think to yourself how the world can be an unfair place and makes you realise how much you can do by making people aware of all genocides. Taking part in this memorial service was a great experience. It was a very emotional and heartfelt memorial that showed people the devastation caused by the Holocaust.

Melissa Lee & Joshua McLaughlin

Invisible

Since last July, we have been working alongside 4 other actors to

create a play regarding child sexual exploitation. This play was written

by Jo Fisher from Footlights, our performing arts company. She chose

young actors to play the children at risk in our performance, as it

creates a more realistic piece and better depicts the seriousness of

young girls and boys getting involved with dangerous adults.

We have been sponsored by Trafford Housing Trust and with this

money we have toured our production to schools in and around

Manchester, to pupils aged 12+, who may be at risk of child sexual

exploitation. As well as this, we took part in a “love safely” event on the

18th February 2017. This was shown to youth workers and children in

care, who are especially vulnerable to groomers.

This is a difficult play to take part in as it surrounds a sensitive subject

that may lie close to home to some members of the audience,

especially considering it is based on real events which unfolded in 2012

in Rochdale. Because of this, we understand we are raising awareness

for an often ignored issue in our society and this is very important to us.

In doing this, we have learnt the warning signs of an unhealthy

relationship and what to do if we become aware that one is taking

place.

Lizzie Somerville and Rhianna Gold 10S

WoW! Workshop

O n Tuesday 21st March, 30 Year 7 pupils who had collected 3

or more Wow’s in their Art work were invited to a special

workshop to reward them for all of their hard work. They

made origami gift bags and at least one piece of jewellery

out of glass or resin. They have also learned how to emboss using

sheet metal.

Year 7 loved the evening, even if we did over-run slightly – time flies

when you are having fun!

Everyone enjoyed the biscuits and cakes too!

To get a Wow! On your work, it needs to be a piece of work that is of a

really high standard. To be invited to the workshop, you need to collect

at least 3 Wows.

We are currently planning WoW! workshops for Years 8 and 9, so look

for your invitation and work hard. The skills we will teach you in these

workshops are something we will never be able to teach to a whole

class, so they really are special.

Keep up the hard work Year 7! We’d like to see you at the next work-

shop – so you’ll need to collect at least 3 more WoWs!

Miss Craig, Mrs Diamond and Miss Lindsay

World Book Day 2 March 2017

On Thursday 2 March it was the 20th Annual World Book Day. Every year at Philips we do something to celebrate this and this year we had a whole

week of events.

Reading for pleasure is one of the best activities we can participate in to improve reading attainment and writing ability. It will improve text

comprehension and grammar and breadth of vocabulary. It fosters positive reading attitudes and greater self-confidence as a reader. It also improves

general knowledge and gives a better understanding of other cultures; community participation; and a greater insight into human nature and

decision-making.

On Monday we launched Readathon for years 7 and 8. This is a sponsored read which raises money for children in hospital and provides them with

much needed books and storyteller visits. This runs until 31 March and last time we raised over £200.

On The Tuesday we had a Spelling Bee in the library which was participated

in enthusiastically by pupils from all years.

On Wednesday 1 March we launched the DVD Library so pupils can now borrow from a small selection of DVDs in the library at no cost.

On World Book Day itself staff dressed as their favourite literary characters

so we had James Bond (Mr Lee) and a Death Eater (Mr Coldwell) mixing with Annie (Mrs McCafferty) and Bellatrix Lestrange (Mrs Burrow).

On the Friday we had a visit from Becky Fitzgerald author of Chroma; Imogen’s Secret who came in to talk to the pupils. The pupils loved talking to a published

author about the writing process.

All in all it was another wonderful celebration of books and reading at Philips. If you want to know more about what is going on at the School Library you can

follow us on Twitter @PHS_Liby.

Graphic novels

G raphic

novels are

books that

consist of

images used to tell

stories using speech

bubbles in reported

speech. Such

companies like Marvel

and DC ,(Detective

Comics,) The biggest

creators are: Stan Lee

and Jack Kirby.

Stan Lee & Jack Kirby

The two iconic marvels

that started the golden

age of comics, Stan

Lee and Jack Kirby

carried Marvel through

the golden age then

silver age finally

bronze age ending in

the death of Jack Kirby.

The first characters

were the Human Torch,

Captain America and

Namor the Submariner.

Eras

Eras effect both titans

of comics (DC and

Marvel,). There are 4

ages . The golden age

is the jump off point of

comics .1937-1952 was

the period of the golden

age. The silver age of

comics were when

comics were checked

for any violent content.

There was no punching

or guns. This was the

birth of many new

iconic characters and

ideas of a team :

The Barry Allen Flash,

the Fantastic Four, the

Justice League and the

X -men.

Graphic Novels are an

excellent way of

encouraging reluctant

readers and we have a

large selection in the

School Library.

By Ibrahim Ahmed and Cole Schofield (Year 8)

Black Pens 20p

Red Pens 20p

Pencils 20p

Rulers 30p

Erasers 15p

Pencil Sharpeners 15p

Highlighters 50p

Glue Stick 80p

Pencil Case £1.20

Filled Pencil Case £2.50

To Samuel Lewis and Anna Keeling who came 2nd and 3rd in the Rockover school climbing competition held Wednesday 22nd March.

CONGRATULATIONS

To the following pupils who took part in the Pi Day Challenge. Pupils recited the decimal places of Pi: Mariam Ahmed 8K- did all 100 and some more! Charlie Hall 8I - 73 Zain Qureshi 8P - 38 Charlie Carroll - 8I - 11 All pupils have put in extra time

and effort to attempt this.

Criccieth Pathfinder Camp is a 9 day Christian activity camp for young people

aged 11+ which has been running since 1962. Set in the beautiful coastal town

of Criccieth, North Wales, we offer young people the opportunity to try a range

of activities such as outdoor rock climbing, sea swimming, gorge walking,

archery, cave exploration, llama trekking, trips to local towns and the

opportunity to climb Mt. Snowdon. This camp provides an exciting chance for

children to make new friends, try new activities and get to know more about the

Christian faith through evening meetings, worship and music. The price of this

year’s camp is £257, however if the cost of this is an issue please contact us at

cricciethpathfinder@gmail.com for information about our bursary. Return

coach transport is also available from Tesco Prestwich.

The dates of this year’s holiday are 1-10th August 2017 and bookings are now

open. You can secure a place for your child with a £30 deposit. Bookings can

either be made online at

www.ventures.org.uk/venture-holidays/details/2806

or you can alternatively fill in a booking form and post to

Rev. Avis Gordon, 47 Agecroft Road West, Prestwich, M25 9RF.

We hope to see you in sunny Criccieth this summer!

The Criccieth Pathfinder Team

www.cricciethpfc.sitey.me/ @cricciethpfc

Criccieth 2 Pathfinder Camp @cricciethpfc

Parents/Carers should be considerate when parking around the school area. You should NOT block any residents' driveways. The Police and the Traffic Enforcement Officers from the Local Authority are now patrolling all schools in the Whitefield Area on a rota basis. They have and will issue fines for vehicles incorrectly parked/blocking driveways etc.

Thanking you in anticipation.

Ms T Owen

Parking around Philips High School

Appointments

Years 7-9

All pupils must be collected from reception by a parent / carer or responsible adult aged over 18

years. A letter or appointment card to be handed in at reception when signing out.

Years 10 & 11:

Pupils are allowed to make their own way to appointments if they have a letter of authorisation from a

parent / carer or a phone call has been received by office staff (letters must be handed in at reception

and either copied or kept as confirmation evidence)

Unwell Pupils

Head Of Year must authorise pupils to go home (unless medical emergency).

All pupils to be collected from reception by a parent / carer or responsible adult over 18 years. De-

pending on the nature of illness some pupils are allowed to be sent home via taxi if the parent /carer

requests – Head Of Year must authorise this.

Online /telephone payment for school meals

To help make it as easy as possible for you to pay for school meals we have introduced an e-

payments system which allows you to pay for school meals over the internet www.bury.gov.uk/

payforit or by phone 0845 305 2197.

Please contact school should you require your child's individual log in details to enable you to

benefit from this system.

OFFICE NEWS

E-Portal Management information System

A few years ago, as part of our ongoing commitment to improve efficiency, we introduced E-portal which has the capacity to establish greater links between school and home by providing

you with regular updates.

These updates can include any student behaviour events both positive and negative and also list the detentions your child has received for the week.

User names and passwords were issued to parents when your child started Philips. If you re-

quire these details to be sent out to yourself please contact the school office.

Mrs Sarah Donohue

Hillock & Oakgate Community Association need your help!

We have 105 trees to plant and need as many hands as possible to support us. It would be a

perfect opportunity for your child to learn about and care for their local environment and leave a legacy for the future.

We will be meeting at the Ball Zone in Boz Park, at 2pm on Friday 7th April please come and join us, bring a spade if you have one.

Children must be accompanied by an adult

Hillock & Oakgate Community Association

PHILIPS BASKETBALL TEAMS CONTINUE TO CREATE NEW BURY RECORDS AND MAKE

THE STEP UP TO THE NEXT LEVEL

T he school Basketball teams have continued with their successful season and continue the schools unbeaten record against other

Bury schools since October 2015. Since Christmas, in similar fashion to last year the Year 9 team have won the Bury Schools League by winning every game, dropping 1/2 league point out of a possible 40. In the end of season play offs they beat Bury Church in the semi-final before beating St Gabriels in the final.

Bury Schools Greater Manchester

Qualifying competition

An entry of 5 teams for the Greater Manchester qualifying competition saw the team win all their games to qualify.

U.14 Greater Manchester Competition

The Year 9 team came through the group stages of this competition with 4 straight wins v St Peters (Manchester), Sale Grammar (Trafford), Abraham Guest (Wigan) and Moorside (Salford). Their convincing form saw them win both their semi-final v Middleton (Rochdale) and their final v Crompton House (Oldham) by over 20 points.

English Schools Competition

By winning the Greater Manchester competition the team qualified for the English schools competition. Their first match was at home to Helsby (Cheshire) and the team won 49-19. This put the team into the North of England semi-final where they met their opponents from the Greater Manchester final, Crompton House. Played at Crompton this proved more difficult than last time but they won 43 – 30. They now travel to either Liverpool or Newcastle for the North of England final. They are already in the last 8 of the English schools and were they to win the next match the last 4 teams play in the National Finals at the National Basketball Centre Belle Vue.

U.16 Greater Manchester Competiton

The U16 team made a convincing start in the group stage of the competition with 4 straight wins v Urmston Grammar (Trafford), Abraham Guest (Wigan), Canon Slade (Bolton) and Mossley (Thameside), scoring over 30 points in each game. Unfortunately defeat to St Peters (Manchester) meant the team had to play for the bronze medal which they dually won with a 30 – 11 point victory over Canon Slade.

Year 7 Greater Manchester Junior NBA

Competition

The Year 7 team have been playing in the second running of this competition run on the same lines as the American NBA competition. The team played in the Boston Celtics kit. The team finished top of their group with 8 wins v Swinton High, Elton High, Abraham Moss and the ESSA Academy. In the quarter final they had a 49 – 13 win v Wright Robinson School to qualify for the finals day held at Leicester. England Basketball held the London, Birmingham and Manchester finals on the same day which meant a long day but one

that proved worthwhile, In the semi final they beat Manchester Grammar school and in the final an exciting game saw the team come from 10 points down at half time to win the match 33 – 30.

Year 7 and 8 Invitation tournaments.

Since the building of the new sports hall Philips has continued to host both Year 7 and 8 tournaments

The Year 8’s entered an “A” team and “B” team in their tournament against 8 other schools and finished as “A” team winners and “B” team runners up in their group by one basket.

The Year 7’s have also played an invitation tournament against 5 other schools and finished as winners.

Year 8 Bury Schools Competition

Played over two weeks against 9 other Bury schools the Year 8 team remained unbeaten in 8 matches to win the Bury Schools competition.

Senior Girls Hockey Rally

The recent competition at Woodhey saw the senior girls team produce an excellent performance to finish runners up to the hosts in the round robin competition.

Year 9 Boys Rugby

Hosting the rugby tournament at Philips with the help of Salford Reds RL Club the team finished runners up in the round robin competition but the top two qualify for the Greater Manchester tournament hosted at the Salford Reds Stadium.

Mr G Davies

Key dates for your diaries

Tuesday 27 June Induction Evening

Wednesday 28 June Induction Day

Wednesday 5 July Year 11 Prom

Thursday 20 July End of School Year

Please Note – See separate timetables on the website for Exam Dates,

Controlled Assessments and summer GCSE Examinations

GOODBYES Sadly we say !goodbye to the following colleagues whom we wish all the very

best for the future;

Mrs Carol Soesan - School Business Manager - 25 years service

Mr Tony Holt - Site Manager - 4 years service

Mrs Carolyn Butterworth—Teaching Assistant—8 years

Mr Aaron Wardle - Cleaner/Caretaker

Mrs Jennifer Burt - Welfare Assistant 18 years service

They will all be missed by both staff and pupils and we wish them Good Luck for the

future.

Produced and edited by Mrs L Waring