Clifton High School Highlights Issue 9 March 2015

1

Issue 9, March 2015

Spring has sprung...

The Spring Term has arrived at Clifton High School and the whole school has enjoyed a multitude of academic,

sporting and extra-curricular activities. Clifton High shone in the academic league tables, and not only this but so

much went on beyond the classroom. We began the term in January with the Clifton High School Ski Team having

just returned from a successful ski tour to Les Deux Alpes in France, where one of our Year 11s, Lia, gained a top

twenty result in her race! We begin the new half term with our Senior netball and cricket teams returning from a

fantastic sports tour to Barbados, where they not only won many of their matches but also had many enriching

opportunities to take part in activities around the island including a Jeep safari and a boat trip.

The younger children have also enjoyed varied educational visits, to Forest School, Tyntesfield House and Cadbury

World to name but a few. Our Year 6 boys and girls also treated the Nursery and Junior School pupils to an all-

singing, all-dancing performance of the musical Ye-Ha! which was also enjoyed by friends and family.

Inside this issue:

ECO-PHOTO Competition

Clifton Highlights

Charity

Events

Academic

Excellence

Year 6 Play

Ye-Ha!

Sports

Tours

Clifton High School Highlights Issue 9 March 2015

2

Academic Excellence! Clifton High Shines

in League Tables

We are in the:-

Top 3 schools in Bristol for

GCSE results

Top 3 independent day

schools in Bristol for A level

results

At the end of January the

Department of Education

released its performance

figures for secondary schools

in England for the 2013/2014

academic year and we are delighted with our performance.

Clifton High School has been listed as the second best school in Bristol for GCSE results. 88% of our pupils achieve 5+ A*- C

GCSEs including English and Mathematics. We are also listed as the second best independent day school in Bristol for A level

results. We are delighted with these results which once again provide evidence that the Diamond Model of education really

does work.

Sports Tours

Les Deux Alpes

The Clifton High School ski team began

their training at Mendip Outdoor Centre a

year ago, and this winter they had the chance to hone their skills further on the slopes at the Independent Schools Ski and

Snowboard Championships in Les Deux Alpes, France. 180 competitors of a very high standard took part in the event and the

chance to ski competitively enhanced their team spirit and increased their confidence in their skiing ability. Lia from Year 11

gained a particularly impressive top twenty result in her race. Barbados

Clifton High’s netball and cricket

teams have enjoyed a fantastic sports

tour to Barbados. Matches played

included wins from our Senior netball

and cricket teams, a draw from our

Junior netball team and a lot of

extremely close matches. The boys and

girls also had a chance to explore the island between their fixtures and took part in a range of exciting activities including a jeep

safari and a boat trip.

Clifton High School Highlights Issue 9 March 2015

3

New Pre-School Class

Reception Experience Sessions

Our Nursery Class is now full until September 2015 and a new Pre-School Class has been introduced to cater for our expanding

Nursery School. We opened the doors of our new Pre-School Class in January and the boys and girls have been settling in well.

The younger children continue to enjoy their Nursery Class, with the Pre-School Class proving very popular especially with those

children who will be progressing into Reception this September. The indoor and outdoor facilities are excellent and the children

are thoroughly enjoying the new space.

...Year 1 Explore Forces

The staff and children in the Early Years Department have been busy this term

welcoming prospective parents and children into the school. We have held

four Reception Experience Sessions over the past months, many of which have

been fully booked. The Reception Experience Sessions have been attended by

children who may join the Reception Class in September including our own Pre

-School boys and girls. All our visitors received the warmest of welcomes and

have been encouraged to join in with a number of activities including planting

bulbs to keep and grow at home. The children also enjoyed a music workshop

with Mr Cleaver, undertook construction tasks and had the opportunity to

meet the Reception teachers and teaching assistants.

The Nursery School and Reception Open Morning will take place on Thursday

23rd April. Please contact Mrs Johnson, Admissions Registrar, on 0117 933

9087 or admissions@cliftonhigh.bristol.sch.uk if you would like to book a

place.

Year 1 have thoroughly enjoyed learning

about natural forces. They made kites in

their lessons to explore the topic in a

practical way. The children enjoyed flying

their kites outside in their playground to

see how the force of the wind acted on

their creations. Learning by doing is both

enjoyable and effective!

Clifton High School Highlights Issue 9 March 2015

4

Learning Experiences

Year 1 Tyntesfield

The theme for

learning in Year 1 this

term has been ‘Toys

Past and Present’.

The boys and girls

visited Tyntesfield

Estate to explore

toys of the past in a

wonderful educational workshop. They saw the children’s

room and the nursery, played with historic wooden toys and

couldn’t believe that on Sundays children had to play quietly

all day long! Year 1 also learnt that the servants’ children

enjoyed playing marbles, OXO and hopscotch.

Year 1 Toy Sale As a PSHCE

project the children brought

their unwanted toys from

home to sell to the

Reception Classes. Everyone

had to work collaboratively

to decide which toys should

be the cheapest (20p) and

which should be the most

expensive (£1).

The event was marketed by

publicity posters drawn by

the children and they learnt

about coin values and giving

change in a practical way.

Year 1 raised a fantastic £57 with which they are going to

adopt an endangered tiger from the World Wildlife Fund.

Year 3 ’Big Cats’ Topic Year 3 have been studying Big Cats in

their Topic lessons

and Teeth in Science.

Year 3 attended a

workshop on Food,

Fangs and Molars

and a talk about lions

at Bristol Zoo as part

of these studies. The

children examined

skulls and had to look at their teeth to decide whether the

animals were herbivores, carnivores or omnivores. They also

looked at animals’ diets and, if they were brave enough, held

some animals including a hissing cockroach!

Year 3-6 Athletics Congratulations to all our Year 3, 4, 5 and 6 girls who took part in the Sports Hall Athletics competition at Red Maid’s school. There was a huge level of energy, determination and enthusiasm shown by all competitors with particular congratulations going to Gabby, Greer, Tilly and Ines for all coming 1st in their individual events.

Year 3-6 Cadbury World Years 3 to 6 enjoyed an exciting trip

to Cadbury World as

part of their Education

Alive programme. The

children listened to an

educational talk - ‘From

Bean to Bar,’ and also

had a tour around

Cadbury World.

Year 4-8 Gymnastics Years 4-8 have been impressing Mrs

Williams with their hard work perfecting their balancing skills

in gymnastics. Here are some of their fantastic balances.

Year 5 Mathematics Challenge Year 5 took part in a

mathematics challenge at Bristol Grammar School. The

competition was split into two groups of roughly thirty teams

each. Henry Wilkinson and Fergus McVeigh came in the top

ten of their group (7th out of 30) and Megan Hornung and Tom

Rayson came in the top twenty (14th out of 29).

Congratulations to you all!

Clifton High School Highlights Issue 9 March 2015

5

Year 7-8 Netball The teams played Red Maid’s in what proved

to be a very tough encounter. They learned a great deal from

their experience. The Year 8 A team fought particularly

admirably against an excellent squad and despite going a few

goals down early in the match, they held their heads high and

persevered, showing true potential and building their

performance level in each successive quarter. They took the

lead with just minutes to go. However, the final result, an

excellent and well deserved draw, proved that both teams

were equally well matched. Well done!

Year 7-9 Author Visit Bristol-based author Tracy Alexander

visited School to talk to Years 7-9 about her latest book

Hacked and about careers in writing. Tracy successfully

involved the pupils in exploring how to write a book;

stimulating lots of questions and laughter, and inspired boys

and girls to read and write more.

Year 9 Flying Start The Flying Start challenge aims to teach

pupils about basic engineering concepts and interest them in

the aviation industry. Congratulations to the Year 9 team who

have got through to the national finals, which will be held at

Fleet Air Museum in Somerset, with their glider design! The

team got through two rounds of heats to reach the final.

Senior School Cricket

David Graveney OBE

came into school to pay

a visit to the Senior

boys cricketers. He is a

leading figure in English

Cricket, former

chairman of the England

test selectors, a first-class batsman and left arm spinner who

represented Gloucestershire, Somerset and Durham.

Having toured and visited Barbados eight times in his career,

David gave first hand advice to the boys about their Barbados

tour! He advised on how to deal with the tropical conditions

and the types of pitches to expect.

Being British The Junior School boys and girls have been learning about

what it is to be British in their lessons. They were asked to

think about the things which made them British and they

created wonderful pieces of work in their learning logs

documenting their ideas. Some of the children suggested our

government was part of their ‘Britishness’, others suggested

cultural diversity, some suggested language and some even

suggested food—the full English breakfast!

Head Boy and Head Girl Announced Congratulations to Thomas James and Martha Loach who have been announced as Head Boy and Head Girl for the coming year.

The Deputies in Dr Neill’s new team will be Catherine Allin, Joshua Bishop, Nadia Clutterbuck and Eliza Raffle. Well done to you all!

Clifton High School Highlights Issue 9 March 2015

6

...House Charity

Week

Winkworth and Wollaston’s House Charity

Week saw a variety of activities take place,

raising £432 in total for the House charities

and winning the pupils points for their

Houses. Following House Charity Week the

current House points totals stand at:-

Events included charity bingo, a coin race, a

cake sale and the annual House Pancake

Race. The pancake race took place in the

Main Hall as sadly the English wet weather

got in the way of racing outdoors as usual!

Winners of the Junior House Pancake Race

Winkworth

Winners of the Senior House Pancake Race

Wollaston

Winners of the House Coin Race

Wollaston

Charity Tuck

Sale and

Walk...

Pupils, parents and staff together

have raised over £5000 for Penny

Brohn Cancer Care via a tuck sale

and a sponsored walk in aid of the

charity, which is based in Pill just

outside of Bristol. Many

congratulations to Sam in Year 4,

who had the amazing idea to

organise the tuck sale with his

friends. The tuck sale helped as an

extra contribution to the funds

raised from the parents and

teachers’ twelve mile sponsored

walk from Bristol to Pill. The

children’s tuck sale took place both

during break time and after school

and raised an impressive £323.23

for this worthy cause.

House Points

Wollaston 3095

Percival and Winkworth 2578

Pears 2436

Clifton High School Highlights Issue 9 March 2015

7

Ye-Ha! for Year 6 Just before the February half term break, Year 6 impressed both an audience of Nursery School to Year 5 pupils and staff, and an

audience of friends and family, with their performance of the musical Ye-Ha!. The humorous story of ‘Splodge City’ was enjoyed

by all. Their sense of enthusiasm and excitement was palpable during the evening performance, permeating the Main Hall

whereafter the pupils and their families went home relieved, delighted and euphoric in equal measure. The boys and girls have

written about their experiences, and their accounts are on display outside the Year 6 classrooms; please take a look. Year 6

worked extremely hard and would like to thank all involved with Ye-Ha! –

staff, parents, relatives and each other, for making this cooperative venture

such a success.

ECO-PHOTO Competition

A photography competition is taking place for

all budding (and practising!) wildlife

photographers in the Clifton High School

community. The competition is being run by

Clifton High’s Lead Specialist on Photography

and the Environment, Mr Walmsley, and there

are a variety of prizes on offer! To download a

pdf of the full competition details including

age groups, subject categories, submission

details, rules and prizes visit the Clifton High

School website and search ‘Eco Photo’.

Eco issues are important to us at Clifton High

and we currently hold the Silver Eco Schools

award. Our pupil-driven Eco Committee is

currently working very hard to implement an

improved recycling scheme across the school

so we can gain the prestigious Green Flag

award - the highest accolade that the Eco

Schools scheme offers.

We are proud of our environmental activity and hope you will be eager to get involved with this new opportunity.

Clifton High School Highlights Issue 9 March 2015

8

Don’t forget….

Friday 6th March

PA Quiz Night

Tuesday 10th—Monday 16th

March

Book Week

Tuesday 10th March

Futures and Skills Evening

Friday 13th March

Red Nose Day

Monday 16th March

Clifton Residents Parking Scheme

Introduced

Tuesday 17th March

Spring Concert

Thursday 19th—Sunday 22nd

March

Food and Nutrition/German Visit

to Vienna

Friday 20th March

Nursery Experience Session

End of Season Rugby Awards

Evening

Monday 23rd March

School Discos

Tuesday 24th March

Term Ends

Year 11 Prom

Contact us:

Tel: 0117 973 0201

Email: enquiries@cliftonhigh.bristol.sch.uk

To report an absence: absence@cliftonhigh.bristol.sch.uk

www.cliftonhigh.bristol.sch.uk

Visit our Facebook page

at: facebook.com/

CliftonHighSchoolBristol

The Parent’s Association organised a Coffee Morning to welcome new parents to the

Clifton High School community and it was a great success. New families had the

opportunity to meet existing parents from across the school, and found out more

about our school from the parent community. Their next event will be a quiz night.

Welcome to New Parents!