Dear Parents and Carers 17 January 2018

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1 Dear Parents and Carers 17 January 2018 I hope that you will have seen our wrap in the local Champion newspaper today. As the 2017 performance tables are published this week, we felt that it was an appropriate time to celebrate our success as a school and remind our community of what a fantastic school they have on their doorstep (I am biased I know) and how amazing our boys truly are. This does not mean that we are in any way complacent or resting on our laurels. We continue to strive to improve, and identify, with your support, new ways to develop, innovate and deliver a better overall educational provision for your son. As a teacher who has worked in a variety of settings (state, independent, mixed, all girls, faith school, challenging circumstances, outstanding, 11-18, maintained, academy and more) over the last 30 years, one of my most significant personal discoveries has been the sense of purpose, self-confidence and acceptance of others so clearly apparent in a boys only environment. My absolute conversion to the advantages and benefits of an all-boys education was not something that I anticipated when I joined the school but I have become a passionate advocate and I hope that it is reflected in this newspaper piece. I am aware that we do need to get better at sharing our successes, initiatives and innovations with the wider community, as well as ensuring that our boys achievements and contributions in all their forms are celebrated more widely and this represents, I hope, a step in the right direction. As always, I would welcome your views, comments and suggestions. It gives me tremendous pleasure to inform you of the wonderful effort Joel Lippa, 8SHW, has made in raising money for ROOF (remember our outdoor friends). ROOF is a charity that helps the homeless in Liverpool. Joel arranged and completed a sleep out on Saturday 6 th January, one of the coldest nights of the season so far. His goal of 100 has been greatly succeeded and, having received many generous donations, his total is now standing at a remarkable 950, and rising. Should you wish to donate to this wonderful cause, Joel has a Just Giving page. Congratulations Joel on a wonderful effort, I am sure many people will benefit from your support. Year 8 Exams The Year 8 Exams start on Monday 22 nd January and the boys should be revising for each of their subjects. I want to wish them good luck with the exams and they should make sure they are suitably prepared for each exam. Mr Thorne Southport College Drop In Southport College are doing their final drop in session on Tuesday 23 rd January. They will be offering help to pupils with their College Application. This will be held in U13 from 12.25pm -1.00pm.

2 Master Class Programme at KGV KGV will be running a Masterclass Programme at the College for Yr 11 students who are interested in applying or have already applied. The Masterclass Programme will run from 17 th January 7 th February with sessions taking place after school every Wednesday afternoon from 4pm - 5pm. Each week will focus on and include masterclasses from the following specific subject areas; Science, Maths and Social Sciences; Sport; Creative Arts, English and Languages; and Business and Enterprise and Future world leaders. Year 11 students can choose to attend the programme for the full four weeks or just selected weeks whatever suits them! Further details can be found on the attached flyer. Students wishing to sign up to the programme should click the below link and it will take them to an application form to complete. Miss Bailey Apprenticeships - BAE Systems BAE are holding an Apprentice Careers Event at Preston North End on Monday 22 nd January 2018 (Invincible and Guild Lounge) from 4.30pm till 7.30pm. (Flyer attached) This event will showcase, by BAE current apprentices, the wide range of apprenticeships that BAE Systems has to offer, ranging from advanced through to degree apprentices and its open for all to attend. Miss Bailey The Historical Association The Historical Association has launched their Young Quills book awards for 2018 and I am delighted to report that ten avid year 7 readers have agreed to help me review these books. We have been given twenty books on topics as diverse as the Romans on Hadrian s Wall to Rasputin s dagger. Each book is to be read and reviewed by two students before the end of the spring term. We have vacancies for a few more volunteers so if this is something you are interested in doing, please see Miss Bailey. Miss Bailey English Revision Following on from the recent mock examinations, it has become apparent that our year 11 students need to focus more of their revision efforts on their set texts for GCSE English Literature: Macbeth, A Christmas Carol, Blood Brothers and the Power and Conflict Poetry Anthology for AQA. Having reflected on their performance on their mock exam in this subject, a lot of students have realised that a lack of revision let them down. English Literature is a subject that you can, and absolutely must, revise to ensure success. In order to further support your son's efforts to revise this subject the following resources have been created to support him. Please encourage him to make full use of them; thank you for your continued support. Mrs Follett English@Birkdale Department Revision Website The English Department have created a website to help Year 11 with their revision. It combines a range of information and resources for all the AQA English Language and Literature GCSE exams. The website address is englishatbirkdale.edublogs.org We have also created a YouTube channel with a range of revision videos, found at: Mrs Keating Elliott Clarke Performing Arts Open Evening and Audition Dates Elliott Clarke Performing Arts are holding a Centre of Excellence Open Evening on Thursday 25th January. The evening will run between 5pm and 8pm, and is an excellent opportunity to watch some classes, chat with staff and students and ask any questions you may have about studying with them. If any pupils would like to attend the open evening please visit to reserve your place. College entry is via audition. Dates for September entry are 15th February and 21st June. A letter and application form are attached to this letter.

3 You can also visit their Facebook and Instagram pages for news and events! Mrs Jeffery Reading Club Reading Club has re-commenced after the Christmas Holidays and any new-comers to Reading Club will be made very welcome, full details are below: - Reading Club - to encourage reading for pleasure and in so doing improve reading skills - Every Monday 3.15pm 4.00pm - In G16 (Mrs Keating s English classroom) - Pupils are welcomed with juice and biscuits whilst having a general social chat, then reading begins. At some point pupils will read 1-1 with an adult for a short period in order to develop reading skills - For every Reading Club session attended pupils are awarded a merit - Regular attendees are rewarded with an invitation to the end of term Reading Club party - Reading Club is overseen by Mrs Bradley and Mrs Stirling (Teaching Assistants), so if you have any queries please speak to either of these ladies Why not make it a New Year s resolution to read more and come along to Reading Club in order to do this? Mrs Bradley and Mrs Stirling December Maths Class Champions The following boys are the current class champions for their class in maths. Most of these hold the record for the highest module test score. U1 Mrs U2 Mrs U7 Mrs U8 U9 Mr McGarry Thompson U3 Mr Linley Woodcock Mrs Duffy Crossfield Year 7 Thomas Dance William Green Alex Johnson (7M3) Richard Konons Jake Crompton 7.1 Ben Davies- Jack Hesketh (7M4) Brough 7.6 Year 8 Josh Hall Antony Hindle James Taylor-Dayus Ethan Barnes Zac Wildish Daniel Watt Year 9 Sammy Hunt Faysal Patel Joshua Nelson Douglas Hatton Charlie Blott Jack Marrin Year 10 Will Cook - Haigh Mateusz Mikolajewski Sife Davies Sam Pring Marco Pinto Ventura Year 11 Sam Cooper Dan Hames- Godfrey Anthony Lahive Alessio Francis Jamie Ball Alex Stewart

4 Scholars Programme On Thursday 11 th of January 2018 twelve pupils from Year 9 and 10 attended the University of Manchester for the launch trip of the Scholars Programme, ran by the Brilliant Club. As well as an introduction to University life the pupils started a 7 week program, with a PhD tutor, on a project called Cyber Security Futurists Series: What will the hackers target next? Thanks also to Dr Deeks, who assisted me on the trip and who will be helping with the school sessions over the next 7 weeks. The Green Machine Members of The Green Machine welcomed one of our governors, Libby Wilson, to their meeting on Monday. It was really good to get to know her and she gave us some very helpful ideas. Libby started by explaining what school governors do, for example monitoring how the school is doing, asking questions to try and move the school forward and making sure that the money is properly looked after. Each link governor has a specific area of concern. Libby s is environmental. Personally speaking, she is concerned about rubbish and has a particular disgust of dropped gum. A lively discussion followed, with the rest of us mentioning issues that we feel strongly about and what could be done about these issues. We have a long list of things we could and would like to do, so watch this space for details of our next activities and campaigns! Anyone wishing to join us would be most welcome. Our next meeting will be in Mrs. Marshall s room at lunch time on Monday, 29 January. Mrs Bradley Mellor s Charity Hat Day Thank you to everyone for their contribution towards Mellor s Charity Hat Day 100 was raised. Special thanks to 10CW who had a collection in class. Also soul food in the canteen will start this week and will be available up until Easter dishes such as chicken jambalaya, Southern fried chicken, fajitas, Cajun chicken etc. Mellors Catering Ski Trip The fitness sessions for the upcoming ski trip will take place on Tuesday lunchtimes from 12:30-1pm in the fitness suite. Please encourage all skiers to attend as we will be doing ski specific fitness programmes that will enable them to have a more enjoyable experience when we are away in Italy. Mr Thorne

5 Lost Property We appreciate that replacing lost uniform and equipment is expensive. In order to try and reduce the amount of lost property in school, we would ask that all uniform and equipment, where possible, is clearly labelled with your son s name. All misplaced items will be taken to the school office; any named item will be returned to its rightful owner. Should your son misplace an item he should come directly to the school office. Those without names will be held until the end of each term, then they will be disposed of. Below is a sample of jackets and school jumpers, without names, currently in lost property. Should you recognise any of the items please either come into school, or ask your son, to collect. Yours faithfully Mr G Bourgade Headteacher

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