ContactWinter ‘19

The magazine of

Welcome from Mr Shannon, Headteacher:

Welcome to another edition of Contact. I am amazed at how quickly my first term has gone at Great Sankey and have really appreciated how welcoming and supportive students, staff and parents have been. We have had an exceptionally busy Autumn term with much to celebrate and I hope you enjoy reading this edition.

It was fantastic to see so many of our students receive their bronze and silver Duke of Edinburgh Awards in November and amazing that record numbers have signed up for their bronze, silver and gold awards for this year.

On a community front, students have raised over £3000 for various charities since September and also donated a large number of festive boxes for operation Christmas Child, items for the Warrington foodbank and a supply of winter clothing for the Salvation Army homeless appeal. I was particularly proud of the Year 10 girls involved in the Soroptimists launch event it was an incredible evening, not only promoting women in science but also to take action in charitable causes.

Music at school continues to go from strength to strength. Our annual Christmas concert took place and it was lovely to hear the traditional live Christmas performances in the main reception at break and lunch time, as always we have much to celebrate on the sporting front both on land and in the swimming pool!

May I take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy new year, I am looking forward to another exciting term in January.

AUSTENWhat a great term this has been! I’ve been so impressed with how hard all of our students have worked and its been wonderful to see all of the different activities that have been going on across the House.

Austen’s help the homeless in Warrington was a huge success and the students collected a large amount of hats, socks and gloves to donate to the Salvation Army. I was so proud of everyone involved.

Austen’s poppy appeal was a huge success again this year and it was wonderful to see how many students contributed again and wrote some heartfelt messages. Well done to all our wonderful students that helped throughout the day too.

Well done to our Year 11 students, 11AA and 11AB, for working so hard on their GCSE Mock exams. It has been a tough couple of weeks but I know that all of that hard work and effort will be worth it on Mock results day.

What a great end to 2019 for Austen House and I’m looking forward to seeing you all again in the New Year.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Take care and enjoy the break,

Mrs Masher xx

BANNISTER

PARKSCongratulations to Katie in 10PH who competed in the British Challenge Cup for gymnastics. Katie had an amazing weekend and achieved a superb 26th as a Junior.

Merry Christmas and Best wishes for the New Year

Mrs Lee

It’s been a positive first term for Bannister House and I am very proud of all of their achievements, I look forward to seeing more successes in 2020.Have a very merry Christmas and a happy new year. Stay safe and well.

Mrs Bayne

NEWTON

It has been another action packed term for pupils in Newton House with students being involved in a number of Inter-house and extra curricular activities as well as an array of individual achievements outside of school. Inter-house achievements have include Year 7 boys football winners, year 10 bake off winners and also winners of the cross country.

A huge congratulations to Natasha Gayter 10NW (far right) who was part of a successful relay team who won the regional championships qualifying for ESSA Swimming National Competition in the Olympic Aquatic Centre. Great Sankey were the best state school in the country! Also well done to Toby Hill who continues to excel and has recently been competing in the National Championships.

I would like to congratulate all Year 11 students for their conduct during the mock exams and wish everyone in Newton House a Happy Christmas.

This is my last edition of contact magazine as Head of Newton House. I would like to thank all students that I have worked with over the past four years and wish everyone happiness and success in 2020 and beyond.

Mr Bate

THOMPSONLet me begin by saying that it has been a great privilege taking on the role of Head of House this year and I have thoroughly enjoyed working alongside our young people and it has become apparent very quickly that Thompson house is full of talent, ability and potential and I look forward to seeing how our students will challenge these abilities into contributing to the house, the whole school and our local community.

Since September we have had a very productive term. The Thompson students have been playing their part and taking pride in their community through various charitable events. Some of our forms have been exceptionally busy with cake sales and raffles in order to support several charities that mean a great deal to the students. They have supported MacMillan Cancer through the selling of homemade goodies, joining with the nation on the national MacMillan Coffee Morning. They have also helped to raise money for Comic Relief and Children in Need with through running various stalls, showing off the immense range of skills and talents that they have.

The Thompson students took leadership in co-ordinating the annual shoe-box appeal where we able to donate over 200 shoeboxes to Samaritan’s Purse with boxes filled with both essentials and some luxuries for those less fortunate.

Some of our students who attend the Community Group on a Friday week B after-school have launched a collection for unwanted toiletries and sweets. In the new year they wish to bundle these items into care packages that will then be donated to those who have been freed from human trafficking and domestic abuse. If you receive anything over the Christmas period such as shower gels, soaps, moisturisers, deodorants, sweets etc. that you feel you have no need for please feel free to donate and send them into school in the new year as I know the students will be very grateful and those who end up with the care package will be especially appreciative.

In the new year we look forward to running events which will raise funds to support the work of our chosen charity, which is Child Bereavement UK. A significant proportion of the students in our house and our school unfortunately know what it is to lose a loved one, therefore supporting the services of such a charity that seek to support children and young people who have suffered a loss means a great deal to our students.Thompson is a house filled with compassion and ability. These are exciting times for the house and I am particularly excited to see lies ahead for Thompson. Have a very Happy Christmas and Blessed New Year. Mr Stewart

STEPHENSON

Term 1 has almost finished – it has been a long one but some fabulous efforts from the Stephenson students has seen us achieve lots of House points already.

I am pleased to introduce the Stephenson Student Leaders:A great start to the Inter-house competitions with the Year 11 Inter-house Bake-off – an amazing effort by Charis!

We had a fantastic Rewards breakfast for being Champion House with the Waffles being voted the best breakfast item!

It has been another frantic half-term of fund-raising with some fantastic efforts from the Stephenson forms and certain individuals, especially for our chosen House Charity - Charlie’s Chance

9SL have led the way on the charity front selling items related to Halloween and ChristmasWe raised a lot of money for Children In Need Day too with some of our fabulous Year 10’s rocking the stage at lunch time.

The Year 11’s have been working really hard on their GCSE mock exams – it has been a stressful time and they have put in lots of hard work so well done to all of you!

All that’s left to say is have a Merry Christmas and a cracking New Year!

Mrs Steele

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Well done to Year 11 who have just completed their mock exams. SLT and invigilators have been really impressed with the punctuality, organisation and attitude of students – this bodes well for the exams in the summer.

Mock results will be issued on Friday 10th January – Good Luck!

Well done to our amazing students for providing 140 shoe boxes for the Samaritan’s Purse Christmas Child Project.

This term in Code Club, pupils have been programming with BBC micro:bits.

A BBC micro:bit is a pocket-sized computer that our fantastic Code Club members have been customising and modifying to create their own digital ideas, games and apps.

CODE CLUB

Year 11 Mock Exams

Christopher and Jack from Year 8 helped win gold at the Inter-regional Water Polo Championships in Walsall with Warrington Swimming and Water Polo Club.

Playing for the North West Tigers, they helped their team clock up a goal difference of 27 in group stage victories over Ireland, East Midlands and East to book meetings with fellow group

winners London and West Midlands in the play-offs.

They then finished that mini-series unbeaten to claim the gold medal. Congratulations to both students.

Water Polo Champions

On 11th December 2019, girls from Great Sankey High School attended a ceremony to charter their newly-formed SOROPTISTARS School Club. This initiative grew out of the ongoing collaboration between the GSHS and Soroptimist International of Warrington (www.sigbi.org/warrington), a women’s volunteer organisation that works in the community to transform the lives of women and girls through education, empowerment and enabling opportunities. Founded in the USA in 1921, there are currently around 75,000 members in 122 countries, and there has been a Soroptimist Club in Warrington since 1945. The School Club project is intended to support young women in developing leadership and organizational skills and building greater social awareness which will prepare them to become truly global citizens as they mature. Since 2017 the collaboration has resulted in two annual STEM events for 60+ girls in Year 9, in the run-up to their selection of GCSE subjects. The half-day session, generously hosted by United Utilities plc at their Lingley Green site, provides girls with an opportunity to meet graduates and apprentices of six diverse companies and hear from them what kind of career possibilities are on offer if they pursue subjects in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics at GCSE-level and beyond. A third STEM event is planned for early 2020; each year these STEM events evolve further, and now include a follow-up workshop at the school, led by United Utilities staff, where the girls are asked to come up with solutions to current environmental challenges facing the North West’s water company. The new School Club, under the guidance of both teachers and the Warrington Soroptimists, will pursue numerous community-oriented projects, raising money for good causes and raising awareness on issues which the girls themselves identify.

The 16 founding members, who came up with the club name “Soroptistars”, have already held a bake sale, raising £73.50 for the charity Freedom for Girls which campaigns against period poverty and provides sanitary products to women and girls in the UK, Kenya and Uganda. There is also an ongoing project to collect clothes for the charity Clothe Me - Thank You . Other projects are planned for the new year, including support for the charity Beads of Courage UK which supports families coping with the severe illness of a child.

SOROPTIMIST SCHOOL CLUB AT GREAT SANKEY HIGH SCHOOL

In November we were delighted to present Year 7 students with a fantastic opportunity to meet award winning author and illustrator Curtis Jobling. Curtis is the Patron of Reading for Omega Multi-Academy Trust, and as such is a regular visitor to the school and its partner primary schools.

During three action-packed creative writing workshops, students were given advice on how to construct a story using descriptive writing techniques and strategies to make their stories more appealing to the reader. As students are also learning about writing stories in English this has provided them with an additional opportunity to help them develop their creativity.

Those who took part in the workshops all wrote a short horror story entitled ‘The Box’ and ‘The Awakening.’Curtis gave them invaluable tips and advice on how a story should be structured make them more appealing to the reader. He also read an extract from his books ’Haunt’ and ‘Rise of the Wolf.’’Students were then given the chance to buy a selection of signed books.

Quotes from students:“This workshop has really helped me and inspired me to write.”

“It was an inspirational experience. I enjoyed writing my own story and asking Curtis questions.”

“I enjoyed this experience because it’s helped with my English skills.” “I think it was amazing because it taught me how to structure a story.”

Curtis Jobling Author Workshop

Old Trafford Trip The Business Studies department arranged a visit to Old Trafford with a number of Year 12 and Year 13 students across both the BTEC Level 3 and A-Level Business courses. The trip included a walking tour of the stadium with behind the scenes access, in addition to a session presented by Manchester United’s educational team which focused on a range of key business topics that students could relate to their in class learning. The lecture included topics such as International Branding, the role and growth of social media, share value and the importance of sponsorship along with other key advertising platforms. It was a fantastic day had by all – with (most) students able to put their differing club allegiances to one side for the afternoon!

BEICT Term One Update

Westbrook Old Hall Primary School Computing Years 3-6

On Tuesday 3rd December 120 Year 5 and 6 students from Westbrook Old Hall Primary School had a skills workshop at GSHS on Kodu, Scratch and Flowol and on Friday 6th December 120 year 3 and 4 students, from Westbrook Old Hall, experienced MS Office packages, Turtle logo and Scratch. For some students this was the first time using a desktop computer instead of a tablet. Both days were a massive success with all students and teachers having lots of fun and learning new skills. All students left with a certificate of achievement and a few students said “it was the best day ever!”. I hope the students will continue to work on the skills they have learnt in these workshops and keep coding!

Business Breakfasts

Our business breakfast meetings have commenced with the first being held back in November and another at the start of this month. We invite business leaders from around the local/regional area to attend in order to share ideas with the school and wider MAT and provide an ideal platform for businesses to network with each other. The meetings are proving to be popular with now more than 25 local businesses on our contact list. Awareness and understanding of the world of work is integral to the delivery of education and this is best achieved through business and schools working in partnership. We have already had some of our Young Enterprise students attending other business meetings as a result of these business breakfasts in addition to businesses offering to help with our enterprise week challenge. We are looking forward to growing this venture and developing our links with businesses and the wider community as we enter 2020.

Global Entrepreneurship Week 2019

As part of Global Entrepreneurship Week, Year 10 Business Studies students have taken part in a Christmas Marketing competition endorsed by a local stationary business ‘Recognition Express’. Students were challenged with the task of designing a Christmas promotional campaign which included a TV advert and poster. The best teams from each class will be selected to present their campaign to the owner of Recognition Express before the end of the Christmas term. Stay tuned for an update on the winning team!

The Geography Department is pleased to announce the confirmation of this trip for next year. Demand was phenomenal and the trip sold out within 24 hours!

Letters have been sent out to parents via the students, with more information regarding the exact dates, costings and payment instalments.Thank youMr S James

‘Congratulations to the following students for their music exam success’ ABRSMZoe 10AC Violin Grade 4 PassLaura 8BG Violin Grade 1 PassLauren 10SE Cello Grade 2 MeritPrabhnoor 9BG Violin Grade 2 Merit

Rock SchoolDaniel 8TMElectric Guitar Grade 1MeritDjango 10SEElectric Guitar Grade 1DistinctionAylish 9PTVocals Grade 3MeritBen 9NTDrums Grade 1Distinction

In November 2019 we were awarded Accent MEH Music Ambassador School Status which recognises Great Sankey High School as a lead music school within Warrington and Halton.

LCEP- Local Cultural Educational Partnerships- Student Voice

The Warrington LCEP steering group are keen for young people to collate ideas and suggestions for what they would like to happen in Warrington in terms of arts, culture and heritage, either in their schools or for Warrington generally.

Miss Foster (Head of Music) and Mrs Quigley (Deputy Head at our MAT school, Park Road Primary School) worked with youngsters from over twenty different primary schools at the Town Hall in Warrington in order to devise a plan of how we move our town forward. This will all be fed back to the council and embedded in the local cultural plan.

Barrow Hall College President, Lara, performed on her clarinet and also helped bridge the gap between Year 5 students and the LCEP steering group.

Music Deprtment News

Christmas Concert

dates for 2020:- Fri 24th January- GCSE & A Level Music Trip to Bridgewater HallThurs 12th March– The Great S Factor9th– 23th March– Omega MAT workshops- Manchester CamerataThurs 26th March– Omega MAT Trip to Stoller Hall, ManchesterThurs 4th June– GCSE Solo and Ensemble Performance ConcertTues 25th June– Summer ConcertThurs 16th July– Reward’s Trip: Bowling

Towards the of term we held our annual Christmas Concert. We were entertained by an array of talent, ranging from choirs to rock bands and featuring students from every Year group.

Well done to all of the followiing performers: Sankey Singers, The Hit Men, String Ensemble, BHC Soloist, Young Musicians, Rock Bands, Junior Ensemble and Bellas & Fellas Accapella.

Jack can’t wait for the school trip to the D-Day landing beaches. It’s his chance to learn more about the war heroes he has ways admired – brave men like his dad, who is a reserve soldier. But when his dad is called up to action and things at home spiral out of control, everything Jack believes about war is thrown into question.

Finding comfort only in the presence of his loyal dog, Finn, Jack is drawn to the heart-wrenching true story of one particular D-Day paratrooper. On 6 June 1944, Emile Corteil parachuted into France with his dog, Glen – and Jack is determined to discover their fate …

A beautifully written and compelling novel, perfect for the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

Tom will be giving a talk in BHT to year 7 and 8 boys Workshops inc. Penalty shoot-out in the LRC will follow on

Thursday 30th January! ALL pupils will be given the opportunity to buy

Signed copies of his book for £6

Also available to borrow from the LRC.

Instructions for setting up SIMS Parent App Before you start, some points to note; - It’s a 2 stage process - you are required to register first and then install the SIMS Parent App on your smart

phone or device (or just use the website, if you prefer) - Close all other windows during the registration process - Any usernames/passwords will relate to the account you are using to register for the app (so whatever you

set up when you created your facebook/twitter/google/Microsoft/etc account)

Registration Instructions;

Step 1: Open the invitation email that was sent from noreply@sims.co.uk to the email address you have provided us. Check your junk mail if it has not arrived in your Inbox.

Step 2: Click on the “click this link” link within the email

Step 3: Choose the account type you would like to register with. Be aware that SIMS ID can't be used!

Step 4: Check your name and click on the Register button

Step 5: Answer the security question – this will usually be the date of birth for one of your children, following the format of dd/mm/yyyy. For example 26/02/2005

Step 6: After clicking on the Verify button you might see the “Registration – Account Verification” screen for a few seconds. That is OK

Step 7: Once complete, you have registered and are logged in to the web version of the Parent App From here you have two options. The preferred one is to install the SIMS Parent App from the Google Play store or from the Apple store. Or you can use the web version of the Parent App which can be accessed from https://www.sims-parent.co.uk.

Setting up the SIMS Parent App; Step 1: Go to the Google Play store or the Apple store and search for SIMS Parent

Step 2: Install the App...

Step 3: Open the App

Step 4: After the welcome screen you might get the Sign In page. If so then click on the Sign In button which will take you back to the page that you saw during registration. On the Choose Account Type page select the option you registered with and login using your credentials

Step 5: The Parent App welcome screen opens. From here you can view reports, request updates to contact information, view timetables and see attendance information.

sports newsWarrington Guardian Inspiration Awards The Year 8 rugby team were proud winners of the Sports Team of the Year at the annual Warrington Guardian Inspiration Awards as a result of their National final victory at Wembley in the summer. Mr Gee was also nominated for Teacher of the Year!

Warrington Wolves Foundation Man of Steel AwardsThe awards continued for the rugby team at the Warrington Wolves Foundation Man of Steel Awards. The school were awarded the trophy for High School of the Year and Junior was voted as U12 Man of Steel.

Warrington Wolves Legends FinalsBoth Year 9 and Year 8 rugby teams qualified for the finals at the ASICS stadium Victoria Park. The Year 9 came up against a very strong Bridgewater HS team and lost 40-0. The Year 8 team continued their winning streak from Year 7, beating St Greg’s 14-8.

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Year 8 futsalCongratulations to the Year 8 Futsal team who won today’s district competition with 100% record. The lads will now go on to the Cheshire finals in the new year.

Swimming National Relays FinalsCongratulations to the inter girls swim team who competed in the National Relays finals at the London Aquatics Centre. The team qualified for the final finishing an amazing 7th in the country (and the first non-selective comprehensive school).

International Rugby LeagueCongratulations to Sam who has been selected to represent England Lions in a test match against New South Wales (Australia).