Dear Parents and Carers 28 November 2018

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1 Dear Parents and Carers 28 November 2018 This week it has been the week for welcoming ex-students with Mike Smith being our guest of honour at the GCSE awards evening and Andrew Bailey on Monday delivering two assemblies to our linguists on where languages can take you. Mike is a recording artist and sought after session musician and Andrew works as the cultural attaché to the Canadian embassy in London and both provided inspiring role models for our students. I would like to thank them both for taking time out of their schedule to support their old school and our students. Staff have been busy marking mock exam papers and results will be officially released to the Year 11 students tomorrow. We are also collating tracking data for Years 7 to 10 and you should receive the report in two weeks, more details to follow. As parents and teachers we know how crucial attendance is to long term academic and personal success. It is, therefore, so incredible to see that 409 students have 100% attendance so far this half term. We will continue to praise these students in form and I thank you for your support in ensuring that they keep up this high attendance. Last but not least, Friday is Mufti day to raise money for Movember. This has been a theme throughout the month and has sparked a lot of interest and conversations across the school. Suicide and poor mental wellbeing are chronic issues for young men and we are all trying to be Men of More Words and encourage the boys to talk about their feelings and not be afraid of seeking support. If your child comes into school in his own clothes on Friday, we are asking for a 1 donation for the Movember charity that will be collected in form. MOVEMBER The MOVEMBER charity aims to make a difference for men's health in prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health and suicide prevention. Well done to the Year 11 students who have presented to the whole school in form time this week to raise awareness of the charity and the work it does and to explain where the money goes. Their message this month is If someone you know seems to be going through a tough time, they might not talk about it even if they want to. The first step in looking out for them is reaching out. All students have been made aware of the key staff members to speak to in school if they feel they have any worries they would like to share. On Friday 30 November we will hold a whole school Mufti day. Please send in your suggested 1 donation for the MOVEMBER Charity. Mrs Sinclair CHARITY FUNDRAISING Three of our boys have come up with a different way to raise money for the Movember Foundation. While the teachers are growing moustaches, Ben Bianchi, Danny Sanders and Lewis McLoughlin are shaving their heads tomorrow evening to help support the Movember charity! Woolly hats are at the ready and photos will be posted on Twitter. If you would like to donate to the cause, you can visit their Just Giving page: ANIMAL CLUB The Animal Club members have created a new video to accompany other tutorials we have done. How to set up a Vivarium for your Corn Snake is the latest addition to our list. As well as allowing the general public to share the Club s experiences of keeping these animals, it develops our Club members technology skills, including producing and editing video footage. Also, our members have gained confidence in speaking to a small group of pupils which includes producing scripts and narrating. The boys thoroughly enjoyed making this video, and are keen to make more of the same in the future. We hope you enjoy the video link below. Mr Leece

2 THE IMPORTANCE OF LANGUAGES It was an absolute pleasure to have an ex-pupil coming back to Birkdale on Monday to speak to the Year 10 and Year 11 linguists about the importance of languages and where they can take you in life. Andrew Bailey studied French at University and works as the cultural attaché for the Québec Embassy in London using his French on a daily basis. He is one of our great success stories. Thank you Andrew. Mrs Devlin STEM ROBOTICS CHALLENGE On Tuesday 27 November Mr Burcher, Mr Hanson and 7 Year 9 pupils attended the All About Stem Robotics Challenge - Sefton Heat. Both teams entered by Birkdale had good wins in the group stage. The team of Edward Sinclair, James Davies and Harrison Eccles reached the knockout stage where they beat Sacred Heart 4-1 in the semi final. The final was a local derby against Greenbank. It lived up to the hype and was a very close match with Greenbank winning overall 7-5. Fun was had by all and it was a great chance for the pupils involved to talk to local STEM ambassadors from the fields of electronics and robotics. Mr Burcher YEAR 11 MOCK GCSE EXAM RESULTS Your son will receive his mock GCSE results during period 5 this Thursday 29 November. At the same time he will reflect on his performance and complete a self-evaluation form saying what he felt went well and what he still needs to do to improve. He will be bringing home a copy of his mock results tomorrow and you will receive a copy of the evaluation, along with his full report from staff, in January. If your son is absent on Thursday, he must see Mrs Duffy on his return to school. Mrs Duffy HEGARTY MATHS NUMBER OF TASK REATTEMPTS TOP 10 (AS OF 25 NOVEMBER 2018) These are the top 10 boys for the greatest number of Hegarty Maths tasks reattempted in the school. When students complete a task they are given a score. The students on the list have all attempted at least 9 tasks again as they ve been dissatisfied with their first attempt score. This demonstrates strong resilience which is key for successful mathematicians. Well done! Mr Crossfield 1. Mathew Batcheler 2. Steven Snow 3. Liam Laing 4. Billy Davies 5. Marco Valesi 6. Freddy Bradley 7. Jack Ransom 8. Oliver Crockett 9. Haydn Lonorgon 10. Jamie Roberts

3 UNNAMED LOST PROPERTY RETURN EVENT Another reminder that there is a huge amount of unnamed, unclaimed lost property which the school must now clear out (over 30 pairs of footwear, over 30 coats etc), worth hundreds and hundreds of pounds. Thus, the school is holding an 'Unnamed Lost Property Return Event' to allow pupils and/or parents/carers to view all the items and claim anything that is theirs/their child's from Tuesday 27 November to Thursday 29 November before school ( am), at lunch time ( pm) and after school ( pm). Please take advantage of this opportunity as after Thursday the lost property is going to be environmentally disposed of. School cannot emphasise enough that it is very easy for us to return lost property items to pupils if they are named, so please, please, please ensure all school uniform and equipment is named - thank you. Mrs Stirling DUKE OF EDINBURGH AWARDS 2018 The deadline for inputting information for the SKILL, VOLUNTEERING & PHYSICAL sections of the Duke of Edinburgh Award is 31 December EdofE Support sessions will be available in O16 after school on the following dates: Tuesday 4 December, Wednesday 12 December and Thursday 13 December. Please encourage your son to attend so that he can complete his award as soon as possible. GCSE ENGLISH LITERATURE REVISION FLASHCARDS YEARS 11 AND 10 It has become apparent from marking the Year 11 English Literature Mock Examinations that some students have not completed enough independent revision. The new English Literature GCSEs are very content heavy and students do need to complete independent revision to supplement work done in lessons. There will be a second Literature Mock Examination in February which will test students on A Christmas Carol, Blood Brothers and unseen poetry. For their actual GCSE in English Literature, they will be tested on five topics these three and also Macbeth and Power and Conflict Poetry. To support students with their independent revision, we are offering you the chance to purchase these fantastic, colour illustrated flashcards for each of our four set texts. The flashcards include plot summaries, key quotations for key characters and themes, key vocabulary and exam technique reminders. They are available to students in Years 10 and 11 to purchase. The cost for all four of these sets is 10.50, please pay via ParentPay by Friday 30 November. Mrs Follett BPA NEWS Our next meeting is Tuesday 4 December 2018 at 7.00pm. All are welcome. Our next Cake Sale will take place on Friday 14 December at morning break. Any cake donations gratefully received.

4 GREENBANK CHRISTMAS MARKET FRIDAY 30 NOVEMBER 2018 Please support Greenbank High School s Christmas Market on Friday 30 November 2018 from 6.30pm 9.00pm. Further details attached to this newsletter. PE/SPORTS REPORT Year 7 Basketball Team are Sefton Champions! Congratulations to the members of our Year 7 Basketball Team who won all of their seven matches to be crowned Sefton Schools Champions at Edge Hill last Wednesday afternoon. Our 'B' Team players also performed brilliantly on the day and finished third out of the eight teams that competed in the tournament. Well done to everyone involved! Mr Quirk Year 8, 9 and 10 Basketball Finals The competitions for our other year groups are also scheduled to take place at Edge Hill University over the next few weeks. The Year 8 team are competing today, the Year 9 team are involved next Wednesday and the Year 10 team will be competing on Wednesday 12th December. All team members should make sure they attend Basketball Club (Mondays after school and Tuesdays and Fridays at lunchtimes) in preparation for these big events. Mr Quirk Yours faithfully Mr G Bourgade Headteacher

5 THE WEEK IN TWEETS

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