Summer 2014

Look what’s happening to Lobjoit Court

Remembering past pupilswho gave their lives

Our poets Enterprising events Crowned champions

By Jakob Ward

Philips High students are visiting the World War 1 battlefields this summer.

The trip will be even more poignant as this year marks the centenary of the start of the Great War. The students will be visiting France and Belgium to see the Somme and Ypres battlefields. They will also visit many famous sights such as the Lochnagar Crater and the

Menin Gate at which they will lay a wreath as part of the daily Service of Remembrance for the people lost in the war.

At the Thiepval Memorial they will be able to see the names of soldiers who attended secondary school on the same site as our present school. There is a memorial plaque in our main corridor near Mr Trees’ office, commemorating these former pupils who lost their lives whilst fighting to defend our country.

The trench experience in Ypres is where some of our students will be able to dress up as soldiers, representing the nations that were involved in the war.

They will also be visiting many more interesting museums, cemeteries and historical sites around the area. The WW1 Battlefields trip is an annual event at Philips High and the pictures shown were taken during last year’s visit.

Over the last six months we have been working with the Groundwork team and Mr Lockwood (Head of Governors) to improve Lobjoit Court.

After removing three large skips of waste bricks, concrete and the old shed, we levelled the main area. The weather has been mostly against us during this time, but with the help of some Year 7, 8 and 11 students we assembled two raised beds and filled them with good soil for planting. The students pictured are attaching the Lottery Funded logo in recognition of that organisation’s funding via the Groundwork charity. See page 2 for our new look Lobjoit Court.

Non-uniform day for teachers!

By Megan Nicholson

Philips High teachers have been dressing up as famous characters from stories and films.

They did this on World Book Day to promote reading and raise awareness about books. Throughout the day our students had to figure out who each teacher was dressed as, and submit a form with their answers. Whoever got the most characters correct received a certificate and the overall winner also received a £5 book voucher.

A big thank you to all the teachers for taking part and putting so much effort into this fantastic day. A special thank you goes to Miss Owens who handmade her costume which was the Mad Hatter out of Alice in Wonderland. Also, thanks to the Science department for having a Winnie the Pooh theme.

The organiser of this marvellous event was Mrs Fox who said: “Mr Hardland’s costume was one of my favourites because of its individuality and obscurity.” She added that she would like to do this next year, but involve the students. Other competitions are being considered because of the positive feedback and these could raise money for reading charities in the future.

Philips students lay a wreath at the Menin Gate.

Dressing up as WW1 soldiers.

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Our editorial teamMeet the Philips High students responsible for this edition of Serviam.

Back row (left to right) Jamie Nickisson, Jake Bacon and Jakob Ward. Front row: Lilly Orton, Megan Nicholson and Colin Sigee Henseler. Project coordinator: Mr Carinci.

Philips’ past pupils

Continued from page 1……

Look what’s happening to Lobjoit Court

Our poets are heading for the finals!By Lily Orton

Students from Philips High could soon be seeing their poems published.

They have entered The Poetry Games, a competition for 11-18 year old writers from a wide range of schools. It was created to let passionate teenagers express themselves and voice their opinions on important matters. Through their poems they can express their thoughts about subjects they are enthusiastic about. These could be anything from bullying to environmental issues.

Every poem submitted to The Poetry Games is read by the editorial team who will decide which poems should be published. Philips’ poets have a chance of being chosen as one of the 12 finalists from across the UK. They will represent their region in an online public vote. The student with the most votes will win an iPad and become the 2014 champion of The Poetry Games. The 11 runners-up will each win a Kindle and there are also cash prizes for their schools.

We are pictured creating poems based on the weather and set around places like Blackpool and the coastline of Wales when the wind and rain was fierce and there were lots of floods. We are now waiting to hear the results of the competition. Good luck to everyone!

Jack Davis Jack Davis is studying Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oxford University. He gained very good grades at Philips High where he was also a member of the Young Enterprise group. He made it to the Manchester area finals with the group’s Cube’it (a folding cube which they invented). It was later sold to Slaterys and Polyfloor. He is secretary of the Junior Common Room at Oxford and raised money for charity by taking part in a hitchhiking and walking sponsored event to get as far away from the university as possible. People donated more money the further he travelled and Jack made it all the way to Germany!

We are connected to ‘incredible edibles’ and intend to grow vegetables and flowers together. We already have a sensory area which is planted with many bushes. We also intend to design an oriental garden near the hall doorway.

Our latest acquisition has been some astroturf which lends colour to a very shaded part of Lobjoit Court. To raise money for this, we held a ‘wear something red day’ on Valentine’s Day. We also held a chocolate hamper raffle before Easter, to raise funds for developing the oriental garden.

Thank you to everyone who has helped raise the profile of Lobjoit Court. We can now enjoy being in the area and help to maintain its new look.

Jessica Richards Jessica has been pursuing her dream of working in medicine since she was a 15 year old student at Philips High. She has completed a degree in Public Health and is on her way to finishing her medical degree at Leeds University. At school, Jessica was a member of the Young Enterprise team and this helped to build her confidence and develop important skills such as teamwork. If she had her time back at school she says she wouldn’t stress over minor details! She attended Holy Cross College and got three As at A level. Jessica has a Saturday job in a shop which is adding to her experience of dealing with the public.

Kate WilliamsKate is starting work for Barclays Investment Bank in Canary Wharf, London. During her time at Philips High she gained commercial acumen in the business world via Young Enterprise. She also joined sports teams and music ensembles. All these interests made her a more rounded individual and contributed to her success in later years. At Holy Cross College, Kate gained A Levels in Maths, Further Maths and Music. She then attended Bath University for four years where she studied maths and also captained a university sports team. After graduation she worked for JP Morgan and spent time as a volunteer at the London 2012 Olympics.

By Jake Bacon

New computer course is key to success By Colin Sigee Henseler

Philips High has introduced a new computer course in Key Stage 4.

It is taught by Mr Coldwell and is more about programming and what is inside a computer rather than spreadsheets and word processing. There are sixteen Year 10s doing the course this year and all of us have enjoyed it. Because it can be continued at college, Philips’ students will have an edge over other students when they continue their studies.

A large amount of the course has been computer programming in Python and many programs have been made including a binary converter, a magic eight ball and a very simple text based game. We have also learned about binary, logic gates and types of memory in a computer, all of which can be helpful for future jobs. Mr Coldwell is an amazing teacher and we thank him for helping everybody to improve their IT skills while also learning more complex programming.

Learning about the world of work

Selling in the city

Enterprising eventsBy Jakob Ward

An enterprise team from Philips High has got through to the Regional Final of the Real Business Challenge.

Only ten teams from across the North West were chosen by sponsors, Coca Cola, to compete in the regional final, from over 100 taking part. It was held at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. Schools from as far away as Keswick competed to attend the London final.

The brief was to create a promotional campaign for the multi-sport Street Games Festival to be hosted in Manchester in August. The teams had to create posters, make a viral video, design an app and finance it all. The competition was very strong and, unfortunately, Philips did not win. The team had, however, won the school’s internal competition at the Year 10 Enterprise Day when they had to create a healthy fruit drink and support a local charity.

The winning team (pictured) which went on to compete in Manchester were: Jakob Ward; Colin Sigee Henseler; Philip Orton; Joe Ryan; Farid Saraei; Connor Lewis; Hamza Fahad. Thank you to Coca Cola Enterprises for setting up the Regional Final and to Mr Regan for organising the internal competition and taking the winning team to the event.

By Megan Nicholson

Author, Sufiya Ahmed, has visited our school to talk about her books and how she became a writer.

She was born in India and arrived in the UK as a baby. She lived in Bolton before moving to London where she still lives as a full-time author. Sufiya has worked in advertising and also for a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons. In 2010 she set up the BIBI Foundation, a non-profit organisation, to arrange visits to the Houses of Parliament for underprivileged schoolchildren.

Her book, Secrets of the Henna Girl, gives a strong message about forced marriage and is about a girl called Zeba who is being forced to marry her cousin in Pakistan. The book can be borrowed from the school library.

Selected students from Years 7-9 got the chance to meet Sufiya and learn about her life and about forced marriage. There was a reading from the book and students acted out one of the most important scenes.

Mrs Day said: “It was a rewarding and valuable visit from an author for World Book Day and a pleasure to meet her.” Student, Emily Francis, added: “It was very informative and engaging. Sufiya Ahmed is very interesting and I would love to read her book.” Sufiya will be speaking at the Bolton Children’s Fiction Award and her latest book is coming out soon.Sufiya is pictured with Philips High students.

By Charlotte Cheadle

Philips High enterprise teams have been selling their products in Manchester.

Before embarking on the project, Young Enterprise staff had given us advice and encouragement. Everyone was ambitious and eager to start selling. Our product, the memory board, was covered in fabric and ribbon. Photographs, tickets and pictures etc could be hung from it. Other teams were selling a huge variety of products including Christmas cards, sweet jars and phone cases.

When it came to actually selling our product, the day could have gone better. Our location, Piccadilly Gardens, is a place where office workers tend to wander through, without the intention of buying from market stalls. The public were not really interested in an A2 size memory board and we only sold four boards on the day.

However, despite the lack of sales and bitterly chilling December weather, selling on the markets was definitely an experience that we are all grateful for and we learnt a lot from the day. We are now far better prepared for our next selling adventure!

By Jamie Nickisson

As part of the Engineering Young Talent programme, a leading UK company has held an Open Day for Bury students.

Hargreaves, a provider of ventilation ductwork, organised a tour of its headquarters and manufacturing facility, for Year 7 students. The day also involved a 3D walkthrough of an ongoing project, courtesy of Wolverhampton University, and a ductwork installation task.

Local and national training providers were present to give students advice on selecting a career path in engineering. They gained practical experience working on engineering projects and acquired greater understanding of opportunities in this ever-growing and profitable industry.

Hargreaves also ran competitions for Years 7, 8 and 10 from Philips and Woodhey high schools. The students gave presentations to the company director and each Philips High group won their respective competitions. The event was followed by a tour of the Museum of Science and Industry.

A Year 11 student from Philips, Joshua Jackson, was granted an apprenticeship with Hargreaves as a CAD/CAM draughtsman. This followed a competitive interview with students from both schools. Hargreaves’ staff were impressed with our students, finding them respectable, well behaved and intelligent. We are looking forward to maintaining our partnership with this leading company.Pictured are students involved in the competition and two of Hargreaves’ projects – the Lloyds building and Sizewell B nuclear power building.

“The brief was to create a promotional campaign for the multi-sport Street Games

Festival to be hosted in Manchester in August. The teams had to create posters, make a viral

video, design an app and finance it all.”

Winning writer visitson World Book Day

“There was a reading from the

book and students acted out one of

the most important scenes.”

Read all about it!

Basketball nets winners

It’s all downhill

By Megan Nicholson

Philips High students are helping to decide the winner of a book competition.

The group of students (pictured) have been invited to Bolton School to decide which book will win the Bolton Children’s Fiction Award this year. Each student and teacher will read all six books on the shortlist and choose their three favourites. Back at the school they will be meeting the authors at the awards presentation later this term.

One of the group, Hannah Carter, said: “I loved the book Nowhere because it was packed full of action and it kept me interested in what was going to happen next. The only bad thing was that it ended on a cliffhanger which I really hated because of the suspense you are left with.”

The students involved with Mrs Day and Mrs Fox in the awards are: Bethany Howden-Smith; Chloe Cain; Emily Francis; Megan Nicholson; Lauren Eyles; Rebecca Whelan; Hannah Carter; Irsa Judge; Shakira Lewis; Ammar Jamali; Lewis Fox.

The chosen books are: Chasing the Dark by Sam Hepburn; Constable and Toop by Gareth P Jones; Nowhere by Jon Robinson; After Tomorrow by Gillian Cross; Moon Bear by Gill Lewis; Young Knights of The Round Table by Julia Golding. For more information go to www.fictionaward.boltonschool.me

By Alen Ramic

Two Philips High basketball players could soon be playing for England!

Jason Parr-Hilton and Hasan Ramic are through to the final trials for the national basketball squad. In addition, a number of our boys are playing for Manchester Magic, Bury Blue Devils or their own teams on Saturdays at the Sport for All Centre.

The influence of our new sports hall continues to be seen on the basketball courts, with some outstanding results. So far this season our Year 11 team has won the league and play-offs double, while the Year 10 team has won the league but lost by two points with nine seconds to go in the play-offs. Our Year 9 team has won the league and play-offs double as well as the Bury Greater Manchester Qualifying Tourna-ment.

Both the Year 11 team, which qualified for the Greater Manchester competition by winning the Bury play-offs, and the Year 9 team, finished fifth out of ten teams. Our Year 9 team lost by four points to the team that are likely to win the English Schools title. The Year 8s played their first match against Cannon Slade and won, while the Year 7s lost to a Year 7-8 team from Cannon Slade.

Students travel to school in Hong Kong!

By Jamie Nickisson

‘Absolutely worth it’ were the words used by Christna Govind and Adolphe Wandji to describe their educational adventure.

The Year 9 students experienced life in a military academy during their week long 12,000 mile round trip, courtesy of the BBC programme, Extreme Schools. The project involves sending UK students to experience life in different schools around the world.

They took part in a variety of activities and lessons, such as Dragon Boat Racing and learning how to fold flags in the proper naval fashion. Both Adolphe and Christna were taught naval discipline at the school, which they put into practice when entering and leaving the academy’s assembly.

The students said the visit was a valuable lesson and it taught them how important it was to put your head down and focus in class. Christna added: “I would definitely go again. Even though it was tough we had a great time.”

Another record-breaking year has seen Philips High win five trophies out of a possible seven in the Bury Athletics Championships.

The athletics team had arrived at the Championships with some optimism as Philips High is renowned in Bury as one of the best schools for athletic prowess. The event is the pinnacle of the athletic calendar and Philips’ students are always proud to represent their school. The fact that they get a day off the academic challenges of school life gives them an added incentive to get into the squad!

The girls were crowned champions in Year 7 as well as in Years 8-9 and 10-11 while the boys were champions in Years 10-11. Charlotte Plant, Year 7, led the team to the 4x100m relay Gold and finished with Silver and Bronze

for her 100m and 200m respectively. The Year 8-9 girls’ team won Gold in the 4x100m relay and had individual Gold success in the High Jump (Katie Oakley), Discus (Shawna Gittens) and 100m (Mash Bonzo).

Adolphe Wandji had a double Gold success in the 800m and 1500m events for the Year 8-9 team. Ellie Green capped a great day by winning the 200m race and leading the girls to the relay Gold medal.

In the boys, Kane Dickens and Callum O’Malley helped the relay team break a long-standing Bury Championship record. These boys also received Gold medals in their individual events of 100m and long jump. Since starting at Philips High School five years ago, these boys have been Bury Champions in their age group every single year. Let’s hope we can repeat our success next year.

“I loved the book Nowhere because it was packed full of action and it kept me interested in what was going to

happen next.”

Crowned championsof track and field

Jason Parr-Hilton

Hasan Ramic