swan newsletter summer 2013

EnrichmentWeek

Pathway visits

Owl family tree

Carry on CampingCarry on Camping

All WeatherPitch

Year 8 Normandy visit

The Magazine of Christleton High School

wanTheee

SPRING2013

SSShhTT n nwwaaEnrichmentWeek

Pathway visits

Year 8 Normandy visitAll WeatherPitch

Owl family tree

Headteacher’sRReeppoorrttAs we moved into the newtimetable and Enrichment Weekwe were blessed with a week offabulous weather. This enabledone of the most successful schoolcamps ever, and enhanced a reallygood week of enrichment whichincluded Pathways visits, fun days,gifted and talented workshops,study visits (both home andabroad), revision workshops andmany other events. On 10th Junewe began our new timetable andat this point we made severalchanges to internal arrangementsfor registration and lunchtime.These were designed inconsultation with students andlaunched through a number ofassemblies prior to Whitsun. Ihave summarised them below foryour information.

1. We have adjusted the lunchtimeto improve the quality of food andreduce queuing, particularly forYears 7 and 8, by creating a splitlunchtime. This has the addedadvantage of providing doubleform tutor slots for intervention,mentoring and assemblies. It willalso provide opportunity forgreater sporting, musical activityand extra-curricular clubs atlunchtime. All students and staff have acommon core lunch of 30 minutes.

2. On arrival in the morningstudents now go straight to lesson1 where they are given anyimportant notices for the day andlessons begin immediately.Students and staff alike told usthat little useful business wasachieved with the previousregistration system, which forsome students involved movingacross the school and back againin 5 minutes, simply to beregistered.

3. We have adjusted thecomposition of forms, particularlyin the Upper School and SixthForm, to separate the function of

administration, routine tasks,notices etc, from the opportunityto mentor, work with students,listen carefully where there arecomplex problems and designgood solutions. Whilst we havemade every effort to anticipateopportunities and problems, I amsure we will need to take feedbackand adjust as we go along and wewill seek to do this from studentsand yourselves in the Autumnterm.

4. We have set up a pilot schemefor a Lesson 6 to begin inSeptember, and I am currentlyconsulting with Sixth Form on howthis will work. The purpose ofLesson 6 is to try and get moreeffective use of the school facilitiesand synchronise lessons,particularly for the olderadolescents with their biorhythms(if you have an older teenager Isuspect you will agree that theyare not at their most alert andenergetic early in the morning!).Governors wished me to run a pilotfor 12 months with this, and thento seek comprehensive feedbackfrom students, parents andteachers. Lesson 6 will becompensated by a later start in themorning, and will only operate onMonday, Tuesday and Thursday.The pilot will only affect Year 13students.

5. This year a group of staff andstudents have led the introductionof a new learning programme.Research by cognitive scientistsindicates that students canimprove their learning by focusingon four R’s – Resilience,Resourcefulness, Reflectivenessand Reciprocity. Thirteen staffhave undergone extensive trainingin BLP (Building Learning Power)and are leading its introductionacross the school. Lessons andschemes of learning are planned todevelop these habits and studentsare shaped into increasinglyindependent learners. During the

coming year Wednesdayafternoons will be used to providetraining to ensure all studentsexperience BLP in their lessons.Please help us by noticing the 4 r’sin your son or daughters habitsand acknowledging their growth.

6. We have completely revised theLesson Monitor system which wasidentifying exceptionalachievement and enabling us tochallenge under-performance andpoor behaviour, but within the oldsystem students told us it waspossible to hide mediocreperformance and that it did notdiscriminate sufficiently. Studentsworked with the Care &Achievement Team and we havedesigned and launched for the newtimetable a completely different 5point system, which I hope willfurther drive up standards ofachievement, motivation andbehaviour. It should also be muchfairer.

Mrs Evans (Head of Year 11)leaves us after 38 years’ service tothe school and its students. Wesend our very best wishes to herfor a long, happy and well-deserved retirement.

Mrs Platel and Mrs Russell retiredfrom English and Biologyrespectively at Whitsun, with ourthanks and appreciation for manyyears of service. We send our bestwishes with them.We wish Miss Loxam (FoodTechnology) well, she has re-located to Lincolnshire to be closerto family.

2 The Swan Christleton High School Magazine

Goodbye!

Congratulations to...

Mrs Pettener (Biology) who gainedpromotion to Head of Science atBebington Sports College and leftat Whitsun.

Mr Britton (D&T), who leaves usfor Hawarden High School, wherehe will be Assistant CurriculumManager of the Technical andVocational Faculty.

Mrs Hamer (Maths) who joinsBishop Heber High School inSeptember as Head of KS4 Maths.

We send them our thanks and bestwishes.

All their replacements have beenappointed and we will introducethem to you in the Autumn SWAN.In Modern Foreign Languages wehave made some exciting changesin response to the big increase inuptake by our students. Thestaffing has changedfundamentally with teachers whoare native speakers of both Frenchand Spanish joining the establishedLanguages team. By Septemberwe will have re-modelled the wholearea to create a much moredynamic and flexible learningenvironment, with a truly “foreign”feel! I hope your sons anddaughters will report back on thisto you.

The all-weather pitch is nowcomplete and we are phasing itsintroduction to ensure that it isboth properly maintained andcared for, and to maximiseopportunity for our students toplay competitive sport and developtheir talents. We will put the pitchinto use immediately for ourstudents in their PE lessons where,appropriate but initially this will beon a relatively small scale as wehave a number of year groupsmissing due to examinations, andof course we are following asummer sports programme. Assoon as students are briefed to usethe pitch safely and effectivelyduring breaks and lunchtime theywill be given access. Although theusage will be free, students will beexpected to set and maintain veryhigh standards. The bulk ofevening lettings will not commenceimmediately, but from Septemberwe have a full programme duringthe weekday evenings which, I ampleased to say, involves almost allour local children’s football teams

predominantly from Christleton,Waverton and Vicars Cross. Thesebookings are long-term and willenable us to further support youngpeople in our community.Weekend bookings are yet to befinalised.

The budget for the coming year isnow set and there are theoreticallyno cuts being applied byGovernment, which we mustwelcome. The real terms budgethowever is significantly reduced asa result of a national pay rise of1%, inflation, energy costs and anumber of other factors amountingto £200,000+ including cutsresulting from formula change inspecial needs and sixth formfunding. The coming year is goingto be tight but thanks to thefreedoms of academy funding wewill not be be making any cuts tostaffing or services and I willcontinue to seek new andadditional funds.

The last day of term, Friday 19thJuly, will be a charity fun day runby the Sixth Form, with studentsleaving school at 12.30pm. Mythanks go as ever to you for yoursuper children and the support andfeedback which help us servethem. I hope you have awonderful summer holiday withfamily time together, and maybeeven some fine British weather!

Tony LambertonHeadteacher

Art Cookery DT

Eco-School English

Geography History

Hot Scholars Maths

Pathway Performance

Science Sport

Summer Term 2013 3


REMEMBERTHIS?

Summer Term 2013 5

THISIS IT!!


Arriving at school at 6am on asunny June day, 25 sleepy Year 9students (Izzy and Holly lookedlovely in their onesies!) and 3staff started the journey toDover where we boarded a ferryfor Calais before getting back onthe coach and travelling to ourhostel in Belgium.

We received our usual warmwelcome at the hostel in Ypreswhich was followed by the usualconfusion when students weretold they had to make their ownbeds but everyone soon cheeredup after a three course meal andsome free time in the hostelgrounds. The first evening wasrounded off by a visit to a localcemetery – which we foundeventually, despite initially goingthe wrong way – and time in thehostel bar where students couldbuy soft drinks and enjoy use ofthe games room.

On our second day we travelledback into France to visit theSomme, starting with thememorial at Thiepval and then avisit to Ulster Tower trenchmuseum where students sawactual trenches and learnedabout the role of the UlsterDivision in WW1. We thencontinued to NewfoundlandMemorial and then Vimy Ridgewhere students experienced theclaustrophobia but safety of theCanadian tunnels, dug 8 feetunderground in order to avoidthe German attacks; specialpraise goes to Olivia Wood whomanaged all of this whilst oncrutches. We then visitedanother cemetery on the wayback to the hostel and paid ourrespects to Kristie Horrocks’great granddad who lost his lifein WW1. The day was followed

by a relaxing evening in thehostel games room and groundsplaying table tennis and tablefootball and consuming hugequantities of Pepsi.

Day three started slightly laterand after a short journey wearrived at Essex Farm Cemeterywhere John McCrae wasstationed followed by Hill 62 andCrater and Tyne Cott Memorial.We had lunch at the HoogeCrater Museum where studentshad the opportunity to buyreplica bullets and grenades andother souvenirs to bring homewith them. After lunch, our visitto the German Cemetery atLangemark was a huge contrastto our previous visits, wherestudents could see firsthand thedifferences between thegraveyards run by theCommonwealth War GravesCommission and others. AtTalbot House in Poperingestudents learned how thesoldiers lived when they weren’ton the frontline and marvelled atthe wonders of early 20thcentury entertainment. This wasfollowed by a trip to thechocolate shop and an early teaback at the hostel beforereturning to the centre of Ypresfor the Last Post Ceremony atthe Menin Gate.

After a visit to the FlandersFields Museum at the beginningof day four we headed back toCalais and arrived back inChester that evening. I wouldlike to thank all the Year 9’s formaking this such a brilliant trip,their behaviour was exceptionaland the respect and sensitivitythey showed amazing.

Mrs Holme

A Moment toReflect on Heroesof the PastYear 9 visit to the Battlefields

The Year 10 Geography andEnvironmental Science Groupstook part in a field trip to NorthWales in March this year stayingat the Conway Centre andstudying amongst other things,the effect that longshore drift hason beach sediment. The first daytook us directly to Cwm Idwal, acorrie in the Glyderau range ofmountains in northernSnowdonia. The view from the lipof the corrie showed us a perfectexample of a glacial trough, theNant Ffrancon (Valley of thebeavers which died out some 600years ago) fed by water from

Llyn Idwal. We marched up themountain, to view the beautifulcorrie sat before us. After a quickstop at the Conway Centre todrop off our kit, we continued onto Cemlyn Bay a Site of SpecialScientific Interest in NorthAnglesey, world renowned for itsshingle beach, its lagoon andabove all its birdlife. The secondday offered us a day trip toBeaumaris Beach, yet anothershingle beach, once work hadbeen done we were let out intothe local town to enjoy some ofWales’s finest sights and foodand a well-earned hot chocolate.The field trip finished with a long

drive home, which seemed to goon forever. After a good night’ssleep, I was revitalised and readyto complete my ControlledAssessment.Robyn Barrett 11L2

Summer Term 2013 7

Geography Rocks,lliitteerraallllyy!!

Spoon-Feed Me!Hot Scholars are hungry to learn.

We are ready to learn and do things We like to be independent!


Summer Term 2013 9

We don’t want to be spoon-fed. for ourselves! Spoons are out! Independence is in!

HHOOTTSSCCHHOOLLAARRSS

It’sDrawing- after afashionFashion DrawingWorkshop in Art

On 15th May, I went to anamazing and successfulfashion design workshopwith students from Year 8 toYear 10. The workshop tookplace because I mentionedmy hopes to become afashion designer at myparents’ eveningappointment.

We were all enthusiasticabout fashion drawing,designing and using our owncreativity in our drawings.Everyone created their ownfashion drawing usingprofessional techniques thatare used by fashiondesigners. Now weunderstand thesetechniques, they willdefinitely help those of uswho show a passion forfashion design in the future.We had to add our ownunique style to our drawings.Once we had finisheddesigning, we then added arange of different inks usingtechniques which made ourdrawings bolder and morevibrant.

The workshop was sosuccessful that moststudents who took partreturned to their drawings,either in lessons or at breaksand lunches. Everyone who


Summer Term 2013 11

“Evolution”It’s the

wayforward!

Since January I have beeninvolved with a great new Artteam in Year 10 called theEvolution Group. This grouphas been put together byMiss Sykes to help studentsin their Art GCSE. There havebeen many opportunitiesmade available to us being apart of this group and someof these are as follows;Master classes – we have allbeen given the experience ofworking alongside sixth formstudents so we can see thedifference in atmosphere andwork ethic in their lessonscompared to ours; also thetype of work that is done insixth form lessons.

Buddying up – We havebuddied up with a member ofour Art teaching group whowe think are an inspiration tous to try and encourage usand give us support in our Artlessons.

Hot Mustard – This is a staffArt group that we were allgiven to opportunity toattend where we could workalongside members of staff

who like to do their own art.Enrichment – There were 2Wednesday after schoolsessions with Miss Sykesspent on a mini project aboutsmall garden birds. This wasreally fun because I got tolearn new techniques andbroaden my portfolio further.I would do it all again If I hadthe chance!

There are many otheropportunities to come and Iam looking forward to seewhat they are! The EvolutionGroup was put together tohelp students achieve to thebest of their ability andhopefully to push us to get ahigher grade in GCSE Art. Ithas pushed each of us indifferent ways, in my case Iwas not so good at a biroshading technique that wecall star scribble but now Ihave improved loads. All thestudents that are a part ofthe Evolution Group said theyare really enjoying it andthey hope it continues.

By Jonathan Starnes Year 10

took part thoroughly enjoyedthe experience and lovedlearning about fashiondrawing. We all hope that it isorganised again in the future.It will definitely be assuccessful!Caitlin Small 8BY1

A group of Year 10 and Year8 students got the chance togo to an art workshop on15th May 2013 in which wecould do fashion drawingslike those that are usedwithin the fashion industry byfashion designers. We usedthe conventions fashiondesigners use to draw thewomen: they were veryskinny with unusually longlegs and arms. We talkedabout how these are nothealthy bodily proportionsbut how, in the form ofdrawings, thin models showclothing designs off well. Weadded facial features and ourclothing designs and thenfinally inked them whichfinished them off really well. This has been one of ourfavourite workshops becausewe are really interested infashion and it was greatfinding out how fashiondesigners start theirdrawings. Our favouriteaspect of the workshop wasthe fact that it wassomething that we would notusually do in our Art lessonsbut which helped give usdifferent ideas for otherpieces of art that we aredoing in class. We also reallyliked the look of the drawingsand also how quickly theydeveloped in the short timewe had.

We would love to dosomething like this again inthe future.

By Leah Powell-Williams andMatilda Watts – 10L1 and10L3

Top Tips for Learning...

Members of staff and students

give their top advice for how to

be a better learner…


Someone calledit an owl…

hoooooooowas it?Our Art Owl Workshop, involved many stages. The first stage wascovering a wooden frame with cling film. We then covered it inmuslin fabric that had been painted with PVA glue. We then dyedmany strips of fabric, using inks and cut out different sized shapesto create the feathers. The fabric featherswere then glued onto the owlbody and the finishingtouches were made, such asadding the eyes, feet and beak.Some Art Hot Scholars did thisworkshop along with occasionalhelp from Jenny Wilkinson,Maddy Thompson, KatieFlowers and Romey Davies.We enjoyed this workshopvery much and the finishedowl looks GREAT!Ellie WilkinsArt Hot Scholar

“We had loads of funmaking our owl and itturned out to be epic!The greatest thing wasto see the results aftera long period of time.”Happy Chowdhury

…coming soon…lookout for baby owls…..….twit-twit-too-

woooooooooooooooooo……..


Summer Term 2013 13

Learning...Learning...it’s all aboutLearningThe style of learning has certainly changed overthe years... not only in the layout ofclassrooms...

Ever wondered what staff get up to on aWednesday afternoon when students areinvolved in extra-curricular activities? Well, stafftake part in quite a unique ProfessionalDevelopment programme…that has, as its corepurpose, the continued improvement in thestandards of Learning and Teaching.

We want our students to better learners... totake more responsibility for their own Learning...To be more independent... and this means thatteachers have to change the classroom dynamic.In order to be more Independent learners,students need to be more resilient…moreresourceful... to work better together... and tobe more reflective.

The Professional Development programme isfocussed on developing teaching strategies thatwill allow our students to fulfil this vision. It hashad inputs from outside speakers, for example:looking at the impact of IT in learning…andsome students may already have seen theimpact on learning of resources such as Padletwalls. Elements of the programme are often ledby our own staff who are expert practioners invarious new learning and teachingdevelopments. Some of these developments areillustrated on various pages throughout thisedition of The Swan.

Mr Jones was greatly helped in putting thisarticle together by Charlotte Evans andJessica Twigg in 8BA2 – two great HotScholars!


‘Be organised and make sure you

have the right things for the

lesson’ Mrs Goodwin

��

� � � ��

This term Art students fromKS3 and KS4 created piecesof art on the theme of

birds, which was

then exhibited on the WowWall. Art Hot Scholars AbiStevenson, Greg James andSophie Brown put up theexhibition, Sophie explainshow it was created.

A very Wow Wallby Sophie BrownAs you may have seen, arecent Wow Wall was home tomany birds made by differentArt students. This was a bigproject involving Art HotScholars and students.Students made lots ofdifferent types of birds indifferent ways.

As well as the big phoenix,there were some small birdswith words all over them on awhite Gustav Klimt inspiredtree. These were made in aYear 7 workshop run by theYear 8 Hot Scholars SophieBrown and Ellie Kanwar andYear 10 Art Hot Scholars AbiStevenson and Greg James.The birds are made of pagesfrom a book, then colouredusing ink and then dots ofpaint were used to decoratethem. They were then put ona white curly tree cut andmade by Courtney Chadwick,Happy Chowdhury and EllieWilkins It was made out ofcard and sticks out to make itthree dimensional.

Other hanging birds weremade by Zac Hirst, JosephBowes and Harry Ford. Thesewere made out of maps andcast amazing shadows onto

the wall. They were madeusing craft knives.

There were also 4 crochetowls made by Year 9students. They were all indifferent colours and lookedvery cute especially whenthey were on the wall sittingtogether. These had taken along time and they lookedreally good.

Also hanging from the ceilingwere bird puppets, thesewere made by Hot Scholarsand other students in an Artworkshop. These birds arecovered in feathers anddecorated using a colourfamily. They have strings inthem to move their wings togive the effect that they areflying!

This display was full of artwork from talented studentsacross the school. The wholedisplay was put up by AbiStevenson, Greg James andSophie Brown. Thank you toall the people that havehelped to create thiswonderful display.Sophie BrownArt Hot Scholar

“The Wow Walldisplay was greatfun to make andit was awesometo see theresult!”

Courtney Chadwick 8L1


WWOOWW!!


Summer Term 2013 15

Wow Wall ContributorsLeaders :

Ellie KanwarSophie BrownAbi StevensonGreg James

Bethan Hosker

Year 7Elise AllisonHania ArthurEmily Black

Freya BowermanCharis InchleyArthur JessopJessica JonesAnna LambertYannick Wojtan

Year 8Joe Bowes

Oliver BrunskillCourtney ChadwickHappy ChowdhuryEmma CresswallHolly DaviesRomey Davies

Kimberley DuffellHarry Ford

Emily-Rose FordenIsobel Griffin-MorrisTommy Hughes

Zack HirstFfion Jones

Hannah JonesSophie Runciman

Madeline ThompsonEllie Wilkins

Year 9Izzy BowmanEmma CollinsJacob DaviesGaby HarperBecky HerbertLucy Hosker

Emma OgunyemiJosie ProudloveKiran RandhawaNaomi Simm

Charlotte TimmsBlythe Walker

Year 10Greg JamesAbi StevensonLydia Tanner

Year 11Bethan Hosker


Artistic WeekendAAWWAAYYSome of our Art studentswere invited to attend anenrichment weekend at theConway Centre, Anglesey.

They joined with studentsfrom across Cheshire andworked with artists todevelop their GCSEportfolios. The studentslearnt new skills and usedmaterials that they would notusually use in school.

Here are their thoughts;

“It was amazing learning allthe different techniques fromthe artists and learning howto improve my skills further”- Laura Beattie

“Working with new people, ina different environment reallyhelped my ideas for my newart piece and I’m really gladthat the art we created cango towards our GCSEbecause it is not somethingthat we would usually get thechance to do.” - Matilda Watts

“Going to the Conway Centrewas a really good andinteresting experience. Ilearned new techniques withfamiliar paint and pen, whichI will improve and use in myfuture work.” - Becky Bower

“The Conway Art trip gaveme chance to use a lot ofdifferent materials to workwith that I wouldn’t beusually work with at school. Ialso learned different ways tocreate art work. This hashelped with my GCSEbecause I now have more inmy portfolio” - Abi Stevenson

“It was a really beneficialexperience as it helped melearn different techniques andlittle tips that can push upmy grade further. Alsoworking with new peoplefrom different schools wasinteresting; we found outmore about what work theydo at school.” - Harriet Keogh

“The art trip was verybeneficial because I was ableto use materials that schoolsdon’t normally use. Thismeant that we learned newskills that we can then uselater on in life.”- Greg James

“The Conway Art trip was agreat experience as I learntlots of new interestingtechniques and I also learnedabout the way that an artist

worked and how it wasdifferent to the way we workin school. What we madegoes towards our GCSE whichis good as we can carry onour project and use all thetechniques that we used toget a higher grade.” - Hannah Rain

“Conway has given me a lotof new friends and helped meto experience a lot of newways to create art work. Thedays involved learning newskills and the night consistedof fun with friends away fromour work spaces (Greg’stavern!). The work we havedone will go towards our finalgrade for our GCSE; the workwe are now doing is tocontinue a theme of maps. Ihad a great time full oflaughs.” - Ellie Gill

“During the Conway Art Trip Ilearnt a completely new skillcalled ‘casting’, this issomething we hadn’t done inschool. This experience wasgreat because I was able tomix with others from otherschools. It was also a benefitto me because this is anextra project which canimprove my overall grade inGCSE ART!” - Tyler Roberts

Smiling Like

a Cheshire

Cat

My name is ColletteChadwick and I am anEnglish hot scholar.Recently, in a Hot Scholars’prize draw, I won a prize togo to the Cheshire Cat – theprize was a meal for 2.When I went there with myDad to claim my prize, theywere very nice to us andthey were kind enough togive my sister a free meal aswell! This meant three of usate for free.

It was very pleasant and Iwould recommend it toanybody as a very niceplace with a good menu.

Summer Term 2013 17


‘Be prepared and fully equipped

and reflect on your learning’

Mr Sewell Davies

An OwlFamilyTreeAnna Kew, Gaby Harper,Naomi Simm, KiranRandhawa and I havelearned how to make crochetowls. As Art Hot Scholars wehad the opportunity to learnhow to do this from BethHosker in Year 11. Beth wasan Art Hot Scholar last year.First Beth learned how to docrochet and once sheunderstood what she wasdoing, she then taught thefive of us. The owls form afamily tree with Beth’s asthe parent owl. When wefirst started it was verytricky and we all found ithard to understand.

However, once we got going,the owls were easy to make.We were all taught the samemethod but surprisingly, allof the owls in the family treeall turned out differently!Overall we enjoyed makingthe crochet owls and it isgreat to notice theachievement we have made.

Becky Herbert Art Hot Scholar



LensFlair‘‘I really enjoyed discoveringmore about photography. I’mdefinitely going to use theskills I’ve learnt in my futurephotography’’. – Greg James

This term saw students fromYear 7 to 13 enjoy twophotography workshops. Theaim of the Art Department’sworkshops was to developour skills using digital SLRand compact cameras. Welearned about the maincomponents of the cameraand also technical aspectssuch as shutter speed andapertures. The workshop wasvery practical and we wereencouraged to use thetechniques we had learntabout within our experimentsin image making. Everybodycame away from theworkshop with a greaterunderstanding ofphotography.

By Kiera Berry

Summer Term 2013 19

Christleton High School celebrated the success of three of itstalented writers in the recent Waverton Writes competition.Every year the residents of Waverton make an award to thebest British debut novel published in the previous 12 months.This year the Good Read is celebrating its tenth anniversaryand, as part of the celebrations, anyone living or working inChristleton, Waverton, or Rowton, was invited to submitoriginal, unpublished pieces of writing for inclusion in ananthology.

We were delighted that Georgina Taylor (Year 10) was a prizewinner in the children’s writing section, with Meredydd Jones(Year 10) as a runner up. Thomas Adam (Year 13) washighly commended in the adult section; along with a story byBethan Carter (Year13) their writing has been published in theWaverton Writes anthology – you can read it in the iRC.

Waverton Writes Competition Winners


Wendy Smedley and Gwen Goodhew from the Good Read with Georgina Taylor, Thomas Adam and Meredydd Jones

Well done to all the studentswho were in Year 11 inachieving a GCSE in Maths,particularly to those 88%who’ve already gained A* to C grade. Four studentsovercame the disappointmentof getting a grade D twice, byworking extremely hard thisyear to achieve the all-important grade C when they re-sat in March. So huge congratulations go to Charlotte Nutall, KatieThomas, Oliver Ashworth and Ryan Coppock. The girlsare pictured below ripping up their exam papers tocelebrate finally passing!

Good luck to those studentswho re-sat in June with theirresults in August.

Mr Sewell-Davies (KS4 Co-ordinator in Maths)

MMaatthhssThirdTimeLucky

Hot scholars PrizeDraw WinnersTwo of this year’s Hot Scholars have won personalised Tshirts; Jola Mrozek and Abi Stevenson got to design their ownT shirts when Unique, a youth charity printing firm, kindlydonated these prizes.

Jola Mrozek, Hot Scholar in Drama says...I really like my T-shirt because I always dreamed of having aT-shirt with my name on it. I also like the fact that it is madefrom eco-friendly materials because it is good for theenvironment. I'm looking forward to wearing it.

Abi Stevenson, Hot Scholar in Art says...I put my card into the Hot Scholars’ prize draw; I wasn’texpecting to win……..but I did!! I won a T-shirt which I got todesign myself. I created my inky ‘&’ design for the front ofthe T-shirt and put in my order. When I got my t-shirt back Ireally liked it and I was also told that the makers also reallyliked it a lot!! I appreciate the makers’ choice to useenvironmentally friend t-shirts which is really good for oureco-friendly school.

Unique is a young people’s design and textiles club, ashop and a clothing brand all based in Upton on theWirral. They sell vintage clothes, printed T shirts,hoodies and art and craft items. In common with theHot Scholars philosophy, Unique sees each person as anindividual and puts a high emphasis on the value ofevery person and all contributions involved in theproject. We are very grateful for the support thatUnique has given to the Hot Scholars group and for thetop quality T shirts that Jola and Abi are so pleasedwith.

The following Hot Scholars were also winners inrecent prize draws:

Colette Chadwick,-English won a meal for two at the Cheshire Cat.

Our Easter egg winners were Millie Goodwin - Child Development, Harry Hatwell - Classics and Adam Carlile - PE.

Erin Brackenbury from PE will soon be enjoying her £10 voucherfor Cheshire Ice Cream Farm- she is the cat who got the cream.

Art and Business Hot Scholars Sophie Runciman, Charlotte Evansand Fliss Thomas have won boxes of chocolates.

We commend you and your fellow HotScholars on your individual and originalcontributions to our school community.


Summer Term 2013 21

Looks like the warm weatheris (finally!) on its way.....andwhat a better way tocelebrate by attending theChristleton Country FarmersMarket where the fantasticspring produce can beenjoyed. The Ring O’ Bellshas recently taken over therunning of the markets whichwe are very excited about,there will be many returningstalls with the addition ofsome new faces.

We realise the importance ofbuying locally producedeveryday items which wemake available at the

markets, such as bread,cheese, fruit & vegetables,fish & meat as well as themore luxury items ofhomemade cakes and pies,organic soaps and handmadestitch work. We also havethe more unique stalls sellingitems such as homemade dogtreats! It is a great way tomake your shopping basketgreener and healthier!

Traders provide customerswith seasonal, locally grown,reared and produced items,helping support the localfarmers and businesses.

Our farmers markets areguaranteed to be filled withfantastic food and produce,great offers and plenty ofchat, you may even get goodtips and advice from ourfriendly traders. Enjoy theunique shopping experiencewhere the surroundings arepicturesque and qualitygoods are offered.

Make the most of ourmarkets and join us insidethe Ring O’ Bells for freshlyground coffee, real loose teaor a bite to eat off ourdelicious brunch menu. Weopen the pubs doors earlyfrom 9.30am on market daysto assist in giving theshoppers the best experiencepossible.

Christleton Farmers Marketsare a regular event held onthe second Saturday of everymonth from 9.30am –1.30pm. Make sure you getthe date in your diary now forthe next market.


Expect to find...

• Melt in the mouth homemade breads• Delicious homemade cakes and jams• Homemade soups• Beautifully designed greeting cards• Seasonal fruit & vegetables• Locally reared meats• A wide range of fresh fish• Beautiful treat which will make lovely gifts• Dog treat bakers • ...Plus much much more

Christleton CountryFarmers Market

Spanish Society trip toManchester’sVIVA filmfestivalMarch 2013 was packed full ofexams, deadlines and seeminglyendless amounts of courseworkfor the whole of the sixth form,which was why the members ofthe Spanish Society were soexcited to blow off some steamat the Latin film festival ‘VIVA’ inManchester with fellow Hispanicenthusiasts! However, on the day of theeagerly anticipated trip, theNorthwest suffered some of theworst snowfall in years and we

had to decide whether or not togo ahead with our plans! But, intrue CHS spirit we ploughed onagainst the odds and ended uphaving a brilliant night. When we arrived at theCornerhouse Cinema, we choseto watch Gustavo Taretto’s latestfilm ‘Medianeras’ –acontemporary romantic comedy,which is said to be Argentina’sanswer to Marc Webb’s ‘500days of summer’- which provedto be a very good decisionindeed.

After the film, we enjoyed tapasat a Spanish restaurant in theheart of Manchester called LaViña and savoured the relaxedMediterranean atmospherebefore the inevitable hard workbegan once more back at schoolon Monday morning! Cameron TallantA-Level Spanish student.

Food GloriousFood...

This term I decided to takecooking as an option in D&T;this will give me the chance togain a level 2 BTEC qualificationin home cooking skills, this isan equivalent to half a GCSE. Ihave D&T on Mondays andFridays, Mondays are my theorylessons and Fridays are mypractical lessons. For mypractical lessons I cooked arange of foods from bread tostir fry. I was told to takephotos for each cooking stepand annotated them forhomework. I filled in cookingskills records to show proof ofmy work. I was asked tocomplete tasks as a part of thecourse on things such as healthand safety and economisingfood. This benefited me greatlyas I now have a betterknowledge of the food that I eatand also have learned somegreat cooking skills that I cannow adapt at home.

Emma Wilberforce 10L5

Summer Term 2013 23

James Harker was signed byTranmere Rovers FC in March2011 for 2 years to train in theAcademy as a potentialprofessional footballer. He trainsMonday evenings and is on ahalf day release from school totrain on Thursday afternoonsand evenings.

He plays for them at weekendsand also represents Chester

Schools. There are 22 other boysin the Academy at Tranmere andthey have recently undergone anassessment to consider if theywould be offered a new contract.

James is one of 16 boys thathave been retained by Tranmereand offered a new 2 yearcontract which I am sure he willaccept.

Congratulations

JJaammeessTop Tips for Learning...

‘Always read the question’

Miss Howarth


CCllaassss ooff

22001133A l e v e lP r o d u c tD e s i g n :T e x t i l e s

AroundtheWorld......withBread

As part of Enrichment Week,Year 9 students were giventhe opportunity to experiencea range of multi-culturalactivities. Within DT, allstudents were given theopportunity to taste variousbreads and a range of foodswhich they had notexperienced before.Comments ranged from ‘Ididn’t think I liked that’ to ‘Ididn’t know so many breadsexisted’ and ’I’m going tomake some of that’. Somestaff also came andtasted….in fact; some camefor morning break and thenlunch and then afternoon tea!Special thanks to those boyswho responded to theinvitation to ‘hoover’ up thecrumbs/leftovers at the endof the day (sorry not muchwas left!). We have beeninspired to hold more tastingevents throughout next yearso watch for information inthe bulletin.

Summer Term 2013 25

In the Easter holidays four Year 9students from Christleton HighSchool had the opportunity toattend an Engineering Experiencecourse at Liverpool University. Thecourse was run by the SmallpeiceTrust which is a charity that wasfounded by Dr Crosby Smallpeice,a self-taught engineer, who startedan organisation that gave peoplefrom year 6 to year 12 theopportunity to try engineering.Year 9’s from all over the countrycame to Liverpool for 3 days to trya range of engineering activities.

On arrival we were put intogroups. I was in a group withpeople from all over the country.As an ice-breaker we had acompetition to see who couldmake the tallest tower constructedentirely from marshmallows andspaghetti!There were 4 companies thererunning activities: Royal Navy,Rolls Royce, Jaguar Land Roverand Transport for London. Each ofthese companies gave apresentation about engineering inthat company during the course.

Our activity with the Royal Navywas to build a boat that couldfloat, hold bricks and move acrossa pool. We made our boat out ofpolystyrene, plastic and balsawood. Our team also had aparticular liking for the electricalinsulation tape which we coveredour boat with. When it came totest the boats, ours did well in thatit could hold 10 bricks beforecollapsing.On the second day our secondproject was with Rolls Royce andwe had to make a wind turbinethat could generate power from awind tunnel. We made one design

that didn’t work very well so as agroup we designed two morewhich worked better and lookedgood and generated quite a lot ofpower.

On Tuesday evening we had theformal course dinner. We haddrinks before finding out whichtable we were at. The groups weresplit up and we were sitting withpeople we didn’t know so we couldmeet lots of people. The food wasgood and afterwards there was aparty which was a lot of fun.

Although there were fourcompanies present we only got todo two of the activities becausethere wasn’t enough time to dothem all. The groups withTransport for London had to build atunnel out of clay and those withJaguar Land Rover had to make acar that could drive on differenttypes of ground.

The course was a lot of fun and itwas really good getting to try outdifferent types of engineering. Ithought it was nice getting to meetdifferent people from all over thecountry, I made lots of friends andI am still talking to a lot of peopleI met there. I think that the coursewas really useful and it hasdefinitely made me interested inengineering. There are courses allover the country in different areasof engineering. (See: smallpeicetrust.org.uk)

If you get an opportunity to go ona course I would recommend it asit was a lot of fun and I would liketo thank Christleton High MathsDepartment for contributing tofunding my place on this course.

Freya McConnell Year 9

Smallpeice Year 9Engineering Course, Easter 2013

Barton & Heaverto the RESCUE on the slopes of TonaleHaving gained excellentrecommendations from theinstructors at Passo Tonale itwasn't long until Barton andHeaver had a call up to help theBlack Diamond team withemergencies. It was reported inthe local press that Axon andStenhouse (now the former BlackDiamond Duo) were relaxing andhad taken themselves off dutyone afternoon from saving lives.The authorities were straight onthe phone to Barton and Heaverwho were reported at reachingthe scheme in record time sincethe black Diamond emergencyservices started in 1933 (whichwas Mr Stenhouse’ s first year ofservice at the tender age of 21)

Barton and Heaver (pictured onthe snowmobile) were likened toBatman and Robin as a result oftheir professional approach andquick thinking rescued a snowleopard out of a tree high up inthe Italian mountains. TheRSPCA had called it a miracle andhave pushed a case forward tothe Queen to have these twoChristleton High School teacherscommended.

Reports in the press havesuggested that Axon andStenhouse have lost their fundingfor the Black Diamond Duo andthat Barton and Heaver havebeen promoted and are takingover the roll.

Find out more in next year’saddition of the SWAN to see howBarton and Heaver are getting on.


Our Year 11ClassicistsIn June, the Year 10 ClassicalCivilisation students sat theirexam on the Odyssey;bringing to a close yetanother successful year forthe subject at Christleton.

I really enjoyed classics as itgave me a greaterunderstanding of a period ofhistory otherwise leftuntouched in the curriculum-that of the Ancient world.

We began the course inSeptember with thebackground preparation forthe Nero controlledassessment; I found thisespecially interesting as Ihad never previously studiedthe Roman Empire in suchdepth and the Emperor’s lifewas presented in suchinvigorating detail by thescholars of the age. I find ittruly amazing to think thatsuch a powerful (and crazed)despot could fall into suchdisfavour as to be voted unfitby the Senate, as Nero was!

After Christmas we movedonto the study of Homer’sOdyssey; the Ancient Greekepic poem which launchedthe course of westernliterature. We discovered theloyal and respected Penelopeand the cruel man-eating

Scylla whilst also learningAncient Greek words such asxenia (the custom ofhospitality), as well as aboutthe epic poetry and oraltransmission traditions. I wastotally absorbed in Homer’suniversal and moralisticadventure which takes youon Odysseus’ journey homeafter his cunning victory overthe Trojans at Ilium (with themuch lauded “Trojan Horse”saving the day).

I can’t believe that classics isnow over, however I hope torevisit the classicsthroughout my life and build

upon my love of learningabout classical civilisationsand their useful and agelesslanguages. I wouldrecommend classics toanyone without hesitation!

Latterly, I would like toproffer a huge andunquantifiable thank you toMiss Beardsell for enrichingour lives with the study ofthe Ancient empires ofGreece and Rome. Onanother, yet not totallyunrelated note, I would liketo say that as the HotScholar for ClassicalCivilisation I will beendeavouring to work on yetmore fun and excitingexploits throughout the restof the year.

Harry Hatwell 11L4

Summer Term 2013 27

Explore intoEngineeringcourse April2013

I really enjoyed the recentresidential Engineeringcourse held at LiverpoolUniversity as it helped meunderstand the differenttypes of careers thatengineering can offer in thefuture.

Companies such as RollsRoyce, the Royal Navy andLondon Underground all gaveus presentations on whatthey do and how crucialengineers are to them. Theyset us projects to work on insmall teams of four. Myfavourite one was where ourteam made a model of theLondon Underground in clay!

It was fun meeting other like-minded people and theformal dinner/disco and myown room in student digsgave me a real sense ofindependence. The food wasgreat and I would love tohave the opportunity to go onanother similar course in thefuture.

Lewis Gerrard (9BY1)

Teen HatsYear 9 embarked on their DT GCSE foundation courses in April andthe textiles students were given the brief of designing, developingand making hats suitable for the teenage market. Here are someexamples of the original design they came up with……


Summer Term 2013 29

An Introductionto Spanish andGerman for CherryGrove PrimarySchool

On the 22nd May 2013 theYear 9 MFL Hot Scholars(James Bagby, GraceBroughton, Emma Duthie,Emily Freeman, LizzieGornall, Freya McConnell,Emma Ogunyemi, DominikaSadczuk, Adam Stanworth)were joined by Finlay Wojtanfor their second visit toCherry Grove PrimarySchool. Following theirprevious successful visit,teaching French to year 3and 4 pupils, this time theywere given the challenge ofdelivering an introduction toSpanish and German foryear 6. Grace, Emily andLizzie went for Spanishnumbers, colours andanimals (including someSpanish songs), whereasEmma D, Emma O, Freyaand Adam decided to teachSpanish greetings. James,Dominika and Finlaydesigned a lessonintroducing numbers anduseful phrases in Germanand finished off with aGerman quiz.

The students met up eachweek in MFL to plan, prepareand resource their lessonsand were once again, superbambassadors for the school,the department and forlanguage learning. We weremade to feel really welcomeat Cherry Grove and theYear 6 pupils were fantastic,participating really well in allof the activities. Manythanks to Mrs Bailey and theYear 6 staff and pupils atCherry Grove.


A fondfarewell

It was 1975 when it really all began,

a degree then teaching practice for a

student, name of Jan.

A laboratory with Bunsens and chalk

dust on the floor,

not a sign of a computer or mobiles

that’s for sure,

but the sound of children’s voices ring

along the corridor.

A career in teaching Science really

now had started,

with husband and young family on a

path as yet uncharted.

From London, Kent and Berkshire to

Cheshire and time flew,

arriving finally at Christleton which is

where the roots then grew,

beneath a school of glowing quality

with the future shining through.

Staff were friendly, bright and witty,

talented and sound,

matched by students of great promise

with their potential to be found.

Some loud, some contemplative,

some who’d go that extra mile,

and there’s an overwhelming sense

that what you’re doing is worthwhile,

so I’m content as I retire with a fond

farewell and smile!

Mrs Jan Russell

Enrichment week bird boxesAt the beginning of enrichment week a small group of 5 year 8 students werechallenged with designing, developing and manufacturing an innovative birdbox in just one day. Students worked really hard as a team to develop somereally interesting designs. Here are the results!


Year 8 Gifted andTalented, CreativeWriting visit toLlandudno: 4th June 2013On a bright morning on 4th June, 10 of our brightest studentswent to Llandudno with students from 3 other CheshireSchools as part of a Creative Writing Course.

During the morning, students were shown round the Mostyngallery, which contained examples of contemporary conceptart, including; a room containing building blocks, wherestudents were asked to contribute to the piece by buildingtheir own structures. Another exhibit allowed them to usetypewriters to create their own art work. Overall, the arthelped to inspire unique and creative ideas.

After lunch, the students were taken up the Great Orme bytram, to explore the landscape and learn about the “legend ofthe Orme”. Students then produced a creative writing pieceinspired by the history and surroundings of the legendaryplace.

Here is an example by Greame Mochrie which won the inter-school award…

“...Today we arrive in Hera Horma… I can understand

why sailors mistook it for a serpentine creature. Rocks

jut out like jagged teeth and the bay greets you like

open jaws. It’s impressive spine like mountain range,

stretches beyond view where it remains hidden in the

domain of the gods…

As we approached, ominous, long shadows trailed

under and around our long boat, and although we never

saw these mysterious fish, we feared for our lives...”

The whole day helped inspirecreativity and allowed studentsto meet like-minded peoplefrom other schools...


‘You need to find out which

type of learner you are’

Miss Beardsell

Summer Term 2013 31

Memories of an English teacher…

I started teaching at ChristletonHigh in September 1975 in amobile classroom at the edge ofthe junior yard-the middle room ina soulless block of three. That wasthe year the school expanded andbecame a comprehensive -a new,exciting educational concept- so Iwas one of sixteen new staff!

There was a much freer curriculumin those days so we would oftentake younger classes out to the Pitor to Promised Land Lane as astimulus for creative writing-norisk assessment or mobile phonecontact! Lessons in those dayswere seventy minutes long,unthinkable in today’s soundbiteclimate.

Under our highly committed headof department, Pam Pleavin, we allplaced great importance on thepresentation of written work andthere was time to put more workon display in classrooms sostudents took pride in producingwork of a high standard. I thinkhandwriting has inevitably sufferedas a result of children spendingmore time word-processing. Iremember students writing poemsstimulated by the dramatic blowingdown in 1989 of the huge horsechestnut tree which used to standat the front of school-luckily noone was hurt when it crashed tothe ground. I also rememberaccompanying head of maths,Tony Hassall, and his year 7 formon a day trip to London, where wemanaged to leave one of the girlsin the Whispering Gallery in St.Paul’s (not for too long!). One ofthe other girls on the trip wasAnnette Axon who now works inthe finance department at school.

During the 1990s the curriculumbecame increasingly restricted andonerous so that the time and

opportunities for staff social andfundraising activities almostdisappeared; before that therewere autumn fairs, dartscompetitions, treasure hunts,dances, fashion shows-as amember of the CHSA I helped toorganise two of those usingstudents as models. Schoolproductions were also much moreof a whole school event than is thecase today. It has been good tosee the musicals over the last fewyears regain some of the spirit ofthose put on in the 70s and 80s.

Another positive area of ‘rebirth’ isthe school ‘veggie garden’ which Ihave enjoyed being involved withover the last year under theleadership of Jane Parker, our ecoguru. In the 1970s the presentstaff car park was the schoolgarden with greenhouses andRural Studies teacher, BobArmitage, kept bees and goats,which students used to walk roundthe field at lunch time. Incidentallyany parents reading this whoremember Bob may like to knowthat he has just remarried afterseveral years of widowhood.

I have always had a biginvolvement with the sixth formand I will miss the banter ofrelationships with older students.Even as a secondary modern theschool did have a small sixth formso I was involved in teaching Alevel right from the beginning ofmy career. I loved discussing theissues raised in teaching A levelliterature, I was encouraged tointroduce A level language in 1994to a smallish committed group,several of whom were keenlinguists. Teaching myselflinguistics was a challenge andsometimes I was only a few stepsahead of the students but wedeveloped a strong bond and I stillkeep in touch with some of them. Iam proud that the subject hasflourished and proved a popularand successful option for manystudents.

I have also been a sixth form tutorfor most of my time at the school.This involved annual trips toLondon in February half term andthe setting up of an inductioncourse for the new lower sixth

which ran for many years. Morerecently I took part in thememorable trek to AnnapurnaSanctuary in 2009. It has been aprivilege and immensely satisfyingto have been involved insupporting so many young peopleat what is such an importanttransitional time in their lives. Fora few years a maths colleague andfriend, Di Morley, and I ledvolunteer teams of sixth formersto produce yearbooks asmementos for leaving year 13students; sometimes a challengingenterprise teaching teamwork andtime-management skills, it wasalways exciting to see the finalproduct and I hope these are stillcherished objects in somehouseholds-replaced now by thesocial networking sites and theimmediacy of mobile phones, ofcourse. The culmination of thisMorley/Platel collaboration was theproduction of the book celebratingthe school’s 50th anniversary in2008, a demanding yet fascinatingundertaking.

Public Speaking is a life skill I havealways enjoyed nurturing instudents, initially through thecompetitions organised by theEnglish Speaking Union at StanleyPalace and more recently throughthe Rotary Youth Speakscompetitions. It was a nail-bitingexperience to watch two talentedstudents, Neil Ashdown and DanBrattan, verbally sparring with anequally talented duo in thenational final of the ESU Macesixth form debating competition atWestminster School and an equallyproud moment to see them onstage at Cardiff University in thenational final of the Youth Speakscompetition in 2004.

Writing these ‘memoirs’ hasbrought home to me how centralwords have been throughout thewhole of my career. Having spentall of it at this school, reminds methat the three words of the schoolmotto ‘happy, hardworking andcourteous’ have underpinned myworking life and I hope I havealways maintained those values asa member of the “happy schoolfamily” established by Les George,the original head of the school,who appointed me.


Summer Term 2013 33

Design TechnologyYear 8/9

MMeettaallwwoorrkkFor this project we had Mrs Stewart andwere designing and making jewellerywith a Natural theme. Afterresearching nature we thought of some ideas for our product. We alsoproduced a poster of ideas and walkedaround the classroom commenting oneach other’s work.

We decided whatmaterials wewere going touse to make ourjewellery. Wecould use brass,copper,aluminium andpewter. We hadto decide how wewould manufacture it. We could cut,cast, enamel and rivet our materials.

We enjoyed this opportunity of workingwith metals and can’t wait to do it again.

Lucy Joyce 9BY2 and Jasmine Prince 9BA2

ThankYou andFarewell…I nervously startedChristleton SecondaryModern School in 1964. Five Years later, thanks to an inspiring culture andamazing teachers, I leftdetermined to be a PETeacher. Little did I knowthat in 1975, I would bereturning to work at theschool.

I have had the privilege ofbeing Senior Teacher/Headof Year, teaching PE,Geography/EnvironmentalScience and continue to beinspired by those around meon a daily basis.

Annually, I am stunned bythe academic, sporting,music and dramaperformances of our manytalented students. I havehappy memories ofawesome Ski Trips andWater Sports courses inEurope, USA and Canada.I’ve shared the pain and joysof The Duke of EdinburghAward students from Bronzethrough to Gold.

I am so lucky to haveworked with dedicated staff,wonderful students,supportive parents andcaring governors.

I’ve had the best time, thebest job in the best school.

Thank you again

Mrs Linda Evans

130 Year 9 students had thefantastic opportunity to visit theActive Labs at the University ofLiverpool during Enrichmentweek. The objective of the tripwas not only to completeScience, Technology, Engineeringand Maths (STEM) relatedactivities, but also anopportunity for students toexperience the amazing facilitiesat the university campus.Activities included a science quizbased in the universitiesradioactive laboratories, a‘science is cool’ interactivelecture, which involved thelecturers having a lot of fun withliquid nitrogen and finally themagnet challenge, wherestudents had to make a pencilfloat in mid-air!

The real highlight of the day wasthe STEM challenge. Studentshad to act as the engineersbehind the unbelievable Red BullStratos project, the mission tothe Edge of Space andSupersonic free-fall, which wascompleted by Felix Baumgartner

on the 14th October 2012. Inthe challenge, students had touse their knowledge learnt inmaths and science to helpproblem solve this engineeringchallenge. In teams, thestudents had to work out therelationship between thecircumferences of a weatherballoon which was filled withhelium and the mass that it washolding in order to keep theballoon at neutral buoyancy.

Once this information wasdiscovered, the students had tothen decide which size balloonwould support the 3D printedscale model of Felix’s capsule inorder to remain at neutralbuoyancy. This was a realchallenge faced by the Red BullStratos team to work out how tokeep Felix’s capsule still at128,100ft.

The day was engaging and gavestudents the opportunity toappreciate how STEM subjectscan be used together in order tosolve real-life design problems.

Mr Britton

Students Reach New Heightsduring STEM day:


Summer Term 2013 35

On 23rd January AndyHutt from LearningPotential, gave apresentation to all staffon how newtechnologies could beused to enhancelearning and teaching…many of these newinitiatives have sincebeen incorporated intolessons, such as PadletWalls that Mrs Chapmanhas been using in Healthand Social care and MrsRoberts in science.

The first part of this project wasto collect 1,500 2 litre bottles,which took 9 months! Howeverthe worst part was stripping allthe bottles of their labels andremoving all of the lids. This wasthe tedious task set for MrBritton’s final year 9 lesson. Thewhole class contributed and itwas like a manual conveyor belt!We got hundreds of bottles andpeeled off all of the labels andwe threw away all of the Evianbottles as they were notappropriate. The multi-colouredlids were donated to the artdepartment who will be usingthem for a future art project. We

also cut the bottom of thebottles off and these were alsodonated to art to use as brushholders. Finally, we then had tostack this mass of bottles in MrB’s cupboard and this wasridiculously difficult to do as theyall fell down.

In activities week some studentsfrom the Eco club and STEM clubstarted to build the greenhouse.We began with simple jobs;drilling holes in bottles, drillingholes in wood, sanding them,connecting the bottles, cleaningthe bottles, painting the frame,cutting bamboo and actuallybuilding the walls. I begansanding and painting the boards.Everyone else was doing theother jobs. After a while westarted to build one of the walls.In doing this, we ran into someproblems. The bamboo was toolong, there were not enoughbottles and the frame would notfit together. We solved theseissues and by the end of theday,two walls were built and allthe bottles were ready for thenext walls.

Recycled Plastic BottleGGrreeeennhhoouussee Project


Summer Term 2013 37

In STEM club, we continued thework. Some people cut thebottoms off the bottles andwashed them out. Others cut thebamboo to the right size, so thatthe cut bottles could be put onthem; these would be the wallsof the greenhouse. Other peoplepainted with wood preserverwhich stops the framework frombiodegrading and rotting andalso making them always looknice. At the moment the fourwalls are assembled and the roofis ready to be attached. We’realso going to put down pavingslabs that were donated by alocal resident from Christletonand finally attach the roof panelsand the apex frame to completethe project.

To see the finished project,please come and visit the ecogarden.

Patrick Buckley, Emily Freeman 10B5 andGrace Broughton 10B1

Well done to all of the studentswho have been involved in theproject:

Dylan WestobyFreya McConnellGrace BroughtonEmily FreemanSophie RuncimanAnna ThompsonPatrick BuckleyCharlotte Timms Cameron MochrieJames MizenOliver DandyConor AnsteyDominika SadczukBlythe WalkerTyler JonesJack MurphyJordanna MayerMr Britton’s year 9 class!

Congratulations

to the

GCSE Electronic

Products Class

of 2013

Congratulations

to the

GCSE Electronic

Products Class

of 2013


The TransitionProjectOn three days in May, the TransitionProject was held for Year 6’s (ourupcoming Year 7’s) from primaryschools in and around Chester whichgave them the opportunity to meettheir new Year Head, participate infun and interactive activities as wellas get a feel for Christleton HighSchool and getting answers to anyquestions they may have had.Around 60 to 70 students attendedon each day from numerous primaryschools in the area, such as CherryGrove, Christleton Primary, BoughtonHeath, Oldfield, Huntington Primaryand others.

Year 10, (now 11), Media studentsalso participated in the day to helpout with the activities and providetours of the school, as well as answerany questions about what it’s like tobe a student in Christleton.

Each day began at 9am, beginningwith a small introductory talk fromthe organisers to the Year 6 studentsthat showed them how the day wouldrun and what activities they would bedoing. The Year 6 students also gotthe chance to meet Mrs. Lister, whowill be their Year Head in Year 7, andthey were also introduced to Mr.Francis.

The day ensured that the Year 6’swould meet some of the otherstudents who would be in their yearin September, so on each daymultiple, mixed groups were devisedthat allowed them to meet some newpeople and make some new friendsalong the way. With each group,around 2 to 3 of the Year 10 helperswere allocated to help the Year 6’swith the activities, answer anyquestions and show them around theschool. This applied to all 3 days.

On each day, the Year 6 studentswere given the task to create an e-Book all about Christleton HighSchool. i-Pads were issued to eachgroup complete with the app “BookCreator” which allowed the studentsto create an interactive book withinformation and pictures of theschool. Each group was split into 2 or3 pairs, which allowed the Year 6’s tointeract with new people and makesome new friends, as well as

collaborate and work as a team. Afterwe’d all sat down in our groups, weworked together to devise a plan ofour eBook, which involved a lot ofdiscussion and teamwork. It was alsoa great opportunity for the Year 6’sto ask questions and mention areasof the school they wanted to visit.Once we’d finished planning, it wasup to us to create the eBooks usingthe plans we had devised. This gavethe Year 6’s a great chance to visitareas of the school and take picturesas they saw fit, with the Year 10’sanswering questions along the way.The Year 6’s also had both breaktimeand lunchtime on the Junior Yard,where they will be in September, soit gave them yet more opportunity tofamiliarise themselves with the newsurroundings and meet their soon-to-be fellow classmates!

At the end of the day, the groups allgathered together once again andeveryone viewed the books that hadbeen created. It was a really fun andinteractive way for the Year 6’s tolearn more about the school, as wellas visit any areas they had aparticular interest in. It also helpedthem to familiarise themselves withthe layout of the school, the teachersand some of the older studentsalready attending, which was a goodway to help them with their transitionwhen they start in September. TheYear 6’s also had a lot of questionsabout the school day, subjects andhomework that they wanted to haveanswered so the activity and the dayas whole gave them the opportunityto ask and receive answers to thosequestions from experienced students.

As a whole, all 3 days proved to be asuccess, with dozens of creative andinnovative eBooks being created bythe Year 6’s. Everyone collaboratedand worked together really well, andeveryone ensured that the Year 6’sleft without any unansweredquestions before they start inSeptember. It was a lot of fun tomeet with the Year 6’s and listen totheir questions and ideas, andwithout a doubt the day was a hugesuccess!

Paige Johnson 11B4

“It was fun.Although there aremany differencesthere are a lot ofsimilarities also. Atthe end of the daywe are all thesame!” – Josef H

“It was really funand you learned alot.” – Myles

“I learnt a lot andit was fun.” –Finley

“We visited lots of different religions and it was sofun.” – Maggie

“They told us lots of different things and stuff Ialready knew. However, it helped to develop mybrain.” – Emily B

“It was fun. Yougot to learn aboutlots of differentreligions and theygave you food.” –Cara

“It was really funyet still educationalto see howdifferent religionshave so manydifferences andsimilarities. It wasa greatexperience!” –Catherine H

Summer Term 2013 39

Rising to the MathsChallenge

This year was one of our mostsuccessful Years in the UK MathsChallenge. In the JuniorChallenge, 68 students fromYears 7 and 8 achievedcertificates, with 8 Gold, 22Silver and 38 Bronze. For thefirst time, this included 3students from our partnerprimaries, 2two of whomachieved bronze, whilst AlasdairHopwood from Oldfield Primarygained Gold, as well as the Bestin School Certificate!

In the Intermediate Challenge,30 students from Years 9, 10and 11 achieved certificates,with 3 Gold, 14 Silver and 13Bronze. Well done to Yidan Hou,Katy Boyce and Callum Griffithswho all won Gold, with Callumalso qualifying for the pinkkangaroo! Congratulations toGeorgina Taylor (Year 10) andEmma Ogunyemi (Year 9) forgaining silver and being the bestin their respective years.�Pictured from left to right aremost of the Junior Gold winners:Kit Tillotson (Best in Year 8), JoeShaw, Ewan Hearn, SamRichards, Thomas Attwater &David Dentith. Missing from thephoto is Catherine Heath whoachieved the best in Year 7.

Congratulations from the mathsdepartment to all those studentswho participated.

Year 7

‘Places ofWorship’visits June, 2013

On the Monday and Tuesday ofactivities week James Leyland and I(Emily Freeman) got to go on theDux awards trip. The Dux award iswhen one high-performing student ischosen as the Dux for their school.The prize is a visit to a Russell Groupuniversity for the Dux and theirteacher. If there are enough spaces areserve is also taken. I chose to goto the University of Southamptonbecause the day planned involvedPhysics and Astronomy; two subjectsthat I enjoy.

On the Monday we met at Chesterstation (when James realised he’dforgotten his lunch… pfft…), beforetaking the train down to London. InLondon, we took the tube fromWaterloo and we ate our lunchoutside the Natural History Museumand then went into the ScienceMuseum. There were plenty ofexhibits of historical medical devices,which James really didn’t like, andvarious Maths and Physics equipmentused in the past. We also jumpedaround, doing the alternative energysource activity and before leaving,looked at lots of the rockets andspace shuttles… Oh, and a landingcapsule! Finally, before heading backto Euston, we got Ice Creams! NomNom Nom! Once we’d taken the tubeback to Euston, we took the train toSouthampton and the first thing we

did in Southampton was going toWestQuay shopping centre to get ourtea. We eventually managed to findthe Pizza Hut, but not before gettinglost for about 5 minutes, on variouslifts and escalators! They went up,down, here and everywhere! Afterour meal, we got a taxi to our hotel;where we checked in with aconcierge who continuously said“Oookaaaaay” in an almost ‘mock’posh accent. After checking in, wedropped off our bags and went on awalk to find the best way to walk tothe University the following day. Onthe way back to the hotel we saw aman walking a ferret, which was veryfunny.

The next day we went to theUniversity. Firstly, they gave apresentation, telling us about theDux award and Russell GroupUniversities. We then split up intogroups and from our teachers. Thefirst thing that our group did was goto the EEE building and race balloonsas if they were rockets, looking athow their shape and size affectedtheir speed. We also got to play on aspace junk game. We then walkedback to the Physics building, wherewe got to go into the Astrodome andhave a 45 minute talk on some ofthe aspects of space, and how to tellwhat they are doing. The man thatdid the talk was interesting and puteverything into perspective for us.Next, we had a tour of the HighfieldCampus and ate our lunch on one ofthe grassy slopes. Finally, (the a partI’d been looking forward to since thebeginning presentation) we got toexperience the Light Express LaserShow, which was amazing, and welearned that LASER (LightAmplification by Stimulated Emissionof Radiation) should really be LOSER(Light Oscillation by Stimulated

Emission of Radiation), but nobodywanted to be a LOSER specialist!At the end of the day we got a trainback to London. We arrived atEuston over an hour before our trainwas due. We went around on theUnderground again and decided totry out some of the lifts. They arereally awkward to be in and rockedabout lots! We then went to WaterlooStation, ate our tea and chatted for awhile; before realising that our trainwas going to leave in a couple ofminutes. We then had to run to thefurthest away platform, and luckily,managed to get on the train about 1minute before it left. We arrived backin Chester at around 21:15, lookingforward to going to Alton Towers thefollowing day.

Overall it was a really great 2 daysand it gave us a chance toexperience different things. Did youknow they invented the fibre opticthere in Southampton? Thank youMrs Mothersdale for taking us and toeveryone that was involved!

The 2013 Dux Awards – Visitto Southampton University


Summer Term 2013 41

School SupportVoluntary WorkExperienceplacementsChristleton High School is a high performing 11-18 Cheshireschool which became an Academy in 2011. As part of ourcontribution to our community, we are starting a programmeof help, offering work experience to those that are havingdifficulty starting their career.

Are you or someone that you know interested in workexperience where you will develop transferable marketableskills and gain the satisfaction of making a real and valuedcontribution to the school?

Placements for highly motivated individuals are availablewithin School Administration, Finance, ICT Support andFacilities Maintenance.

Excellence: A personalised experience based in a successful school.

Employability:Contrasting school based experiences and a school basedmentor who will know you, and work with you to increaseyour opportunity for employment.

Excitement:School based learning, where you will be working alongsidecommitted professionals.

Enquiry:Please send a covering letter outlining the work experienceyou are interested in and CV [email protected]

Applicants should be aged 18+ and will be required to have aCRB check.

Mr Evans from Science leda session on ‘LayeredLearning’. Using a new appcalled’ Layar’. An iPhone oriPad can be overlaid ontowritten resources such ascase studies andworksheets, and show‘floating’ links to internetbased resources. This willallow students to enhancethe information they haveavailable to increase theirdepth of understanding ofthe topic being studied Itwill also mean that theyare less reliant on theteacher for informationthus encouraging greaterindependence.

Exciting ScienceBaking Soda &Vinegar VolcanoUse baking soda and vinegar tocreate an awesome chemicalreaction! Watch as it rapidly fizzesover the container and make sureyou've got some towels ready toclean up.

What you'll need:• Baking Soda (make sure it's not

baking powder) • Vinegar• A container to hold everything

and avoid a big mess! • Paper towels or a cloth (just in

case)

Instructions:1. Place some of the baking soda

into your container. 2. Pour in some of the vinegar 3. Watch as the reaction takes place!

What's happening?The baking soda (sodiumbicarbonate) is a base while thevinegar (acetic acid) is an acid.When they react together they formcarbonic acid which is veryunstable, it instantly breaks apartinto water and carbon dioxide,which creates all the fizzing as itescapes the solution.For extra effect you can make arealistic looking volcano. It takessome craft skills but it will makeyour vinegar and baking sodaeruptions will look even moreimpressive!

Year 7 CAMP

Both the activities and food werebrilliant! The first activity I didwas raft building… we got verywet! We had to play rock, paper,scissors to see whether the boys’team or the girls’ team shouldsail first. The boys’ team won sothey got to go on first. Only oneperson fell in the boys’ team, sous girls thought it was verystable… it turned out that itwasn’t, the raft completely fell

apart! Even if you didn’t fall in,you still had the opportunity tojump in at the end.

We did many other activitiessuch as: Bush craft, (where wemade nettle tea) climbing,archery, caving, satnav walk,tree tops (where Miss Lister hada go! She was so proud ofherself she took a picture ofherself on her phone when shewas on the highest point), highropes and more.

The food was just delicious! Thebreakfasts, lunches and teas.The first day we had eitherporridge, (the hot optionchanged every day) coco pops,rice crispies, frosties or breadwith jam and butter forbreakfast. Then for lunch therewas a selection of fillings and wegot to make our ownsandwiches. Then for tea wepasta with Bolognese sauce.There was a different option oftea to choose from each night.

Even if you’re not used tocamping in a tent, it doesn’tmatter. They provide you with amat to sleep on and it’s verycosy once you have got the tentall set up. It’s great becauseyou get to stay in a tent with

your friends, even if you aren’tin a tent with any of yourfriends, you make new friendsand you become really close.

Personally I think camp wasgreat, and I would recommend itto anyone.

Year 7 camp was amazing!


I had a good experience at year 7 camp because Ideveloped a lot of skills and got to take part in someexciting activities!

I learnt new skills in climbing and also learnt how tomake rafts. As well as this, we learnt some bush craftskills that may come in handy one day!

I developed skills in teamwork because we took part ina lot of team building activities.

Summer Term 2013 43

I had a good experience because I made new friendsand had good time with my other friends.

I learnt new skills in climbing and bush craft.

I developed skills in teamwork because we did raft-building and orienteering.


‘We always look forwardto Christleton coming toHigh Adventure, but Ithink that you may havebeen the best group yet’.What an amazing thing tohear from the camp leaderat the end of an amazingweek.

The photographs shouldspeak for themselves, butI would like to take thisopportunity to thank HighAdventure for having usand running an amazing

camp, all the staff whocame and were brilliantand finally all the studentsthat attended for beingoutstanding!’

Miss Edwards(A very proud Head of Year)

Summer Term 2013 45

Summer Term 2013 4646 The Swan Christleton High School Magazine

Over the last couple of weeks,Mrs Kelly’s Year 8 Food grouphave been experimenting withdifferent tastes whilst makingfiery wedges and all-in-one‘roux’ sauce. We have beenusing a range of dried herbs andspices and comparing them withfresh chives, parsley, basil andmint from the school garden.

We made loads of differentcombinations of sauces andencouraged each other to trythings we had not tried before.The class had lots to say: ‘Ooh!That is gorgeous!’, ‘I think thatneeds more seasoning’, ‘That’s agood combination’, ‘I don’t likethat, it would be better if….’, ‘Atfirst it is ‘kinda’ weird but then it

is lovely!’, ‘That tastes like it hasa lots of salt in it’. The aim ofthe Year 8 Food course is to getus to be more adventurous bytasting different foods andlearning to make up recipes forourselves... so that we cancontinue cooking at home. Weare having a great time so far...

Favourite sauces included:Mint and saltSalt and pepperCheese, chives andsweetcornCheese and onion Red pepper, onion, cheese,parsley and chivesRed Pepper, onion,sweetcorn and parsley Parsley, mint and chives

It’s all aboutthe taste…

Summer Term 2013 47

On Monday 3rd June and Friday7th June Year 8 Geographystudents visited Wirral CountryPark for a fieldwork investigationinto sustainable tourism. TouristAmenity Surveys were carriedout in four locations within theCountry Park assessing theextent to which the park meetsthe needs of tourists today, thefacilities provided and themethods used to try protect theenvironment for futuregenerations. Students walkedalong the beach identifyingproblems relating to coastalerosion and cliff collapse,assessed the success of somemethods of coastal managementand looked at how the park wastrying to increase biodiversity byencouraging the development ofpond and meadow habitats. Theweather on both days was warmand sunny giving students anopportunity to picnic in the sunand enjoy a well-earned icecream at lunch time.

Here is what one student had tosay:

For me it was a greatexperience, a once in a lifetimeopportunity. The Year 8 class(now the new Year 9) went onthis trip to study sustainabletourism and came back very

positive. It was a greatopportunity to get out there andspend a great day learning andenjoying ourselves. We wereable to study amazing ponds, abeautiful landscape and therelaxing beach. All of these werepacked with fun activities toenjoy. I am sure that the nextyear to go there will enjoy it ismuch as I did.

Bryn Heard 9Ba1

Park Life...Thurstaston Field Trip

Summer Term 2013 4848 The Swan Christleton High School Magazine

June saw the first instalment of‘Geography in the News’ for theWOW Wall. It is a new initiativewithin the Geographydepartment to bring to theattention of all students, currentand relevant news events with ageography link. The firstinstalment featured newsheadlines appearing in globalnewspapers throughout themonth of May and included ‘hottopics’ such as the Bostonbombings, the tornado inOklahoma and the resignation ofthe Pope. It is planned to featurein future such topics as ‘freakyweather’ ‘crime ‘ and ‘naturalhazards’ as they have appearedin the news over the last 12months, with a ‘WOW Wall’edition every term... So watchthis space!

Thanks to Zac Hirst, AlexProbyn, Jack Jones, Ben Graceand Daniel Wait who created thedisplay and to Geography HotScholars Lucy Osborne, JennieWilkinson, Isobel Griffin-Morris,Amber Rigden, Romey Daviesand Lloyd Roberts for theirresearch and input to the newscontent featured.

Mrs Mann

Geography in the News makes it onto the ‘WOW Wall’


‘Always drink water through the

day your brain needs hydrating’

Miss Kelly

STEMChristleton Primary School Year6’s visit to the ScienceDepartment on Thursday 6thJune 2013 with Miss Arends(Head of Chemistry), MissChapman (Biology Teacher), Miss Pitchford (Advanced SkillsTeacher in Maths)

Based on the success of theexciting science assembly, andwanting to keep the momentumgoing, I invited the Year 6’s fromChristleton Primary to come infor a STEM inspired day.

STEM (Science, Technology,Engineering and Mathematics)

The aim of the day was for thestudents to work as part of aresearch and development teamto design, build and test 4different aircraft : airplane,helicopter, parachute and rocket.

It was based on the theory offlight and students were showna video clip of the WrightBrothers first flight in 1903 inNorth Carolina, USA. Wediscussed factors affecting flightsuch as gravity, weight, thrustand drag by air resistance. All ofwhich they had to take intoaccount when designing their aircraft.

This was a half-day session, sothe students had a lot tocomplete in that time.. Thestudents arrived at 9am and leftby 12pm so they had a tighttime schedule to achieve theirgoals. The students respondedbrilliantly and were impeccablybehaved through-out.

In order to help the studentswork independently in theirteams, all groups were issuedwith i-pads. They quickly learnedhow to use the QR readers to beable to access websites whichincluded the clips that I hadshown them on the power point.They would review the links andensure that they could completethe tasks with minimum supportfor the staff. They rose to thechallenge and produced verygood quality air craft to test.

Task 1 : Chose, build and test 2air plane designs : successcriteria : longest distancetravelled.

These were tested out on theschool field, next to our picnicarea.

Top 3 teams got a small prize.Longest distance = 11.2 m byDeath Plane

Task 2 : Build and test ahelicopter : success criteria :quickest speed on falling.These were tested off the metalstair case.

Top 3 teams got a small prize.Students had to calculate thespeed of their helicopter usingthe speed equation.

Fastest helicopter = 9.3 m/s byTeam Pink

Task 3 : Build and test aparachute : success criteria :slowest speed on falling.These were tested off the metalstair case.

Top 3 teams got a small prize.Students had to calculate thespeed of their parachute usingthe speed equation.

Slowest parachute = 0.8 m/s byVirgin Airborne Airlines

Task 4 : Build and test a stomprocket : success criteria : longestdistance travelled.

These were tested out on theschool field, next to our picnicarea.

Top 3 teams got a small prize. Longest distance = 18.4 m bySky High

All students received a smalltreat for their huge efforts duringthe morning.

We are hoping to make this anannual event during activitiesweek.

Miss Shaw from ChristletonPrimary School said: A hugethank you from myself and theyear 6 class - we had a brilliantmorning doing science with you -the children were so engagedand excited by it. Thank you fortaking the time to invite us andorganise such a great event forthe children.

Summer Term 2013 49

A Visit to Number 10

On the 29th April 2013, we wenton a Politics and Law trip toLondon to visit Parliament andthe Supreme Court. From themoment we boarded the trainthings were starting to gowrong. We sat in the wrongseats and had to change lateron, and then it turned out wehad forgotten the passes forParliament. Then on the tube,minus Mrs Holme who waswaiting for the passes, therewere delays due to issues withthe track so we decided toswitch lines. But we didn’trealise that the other half of thegroup hadn’t got off the trainwith us. Which lead to MrsLaidler getting incrediblyworried. Luckily though the othergroup was on the train just afterours so we only had to wait for aminute before continuing on toDowning Street where we werereunited with Mrs Holme and hadour whole group back. AtDowning Street we posed forphotos outside Number 10Downing Street, we also got tomeet Mrs Laidler’s son and BorisJohnson’s brother on his way into Downing Street.

Then we walked down toParliament Square so we couldgo and visit Parliament. Insidewe split into Politics and Lawclasses. The Politics class got tomeet their tour guide Patrick,unfortunately we did not get todo the full tour becauseParliament was preparing for thestate opening, however we didget to look at the House of Lordsand the House of Commons. Wethen waited around for StephenMosley to come and talk tous…he was nowhere to be seen.Mrs Holme rang him, he saidthere had been a ‘mix up’… hewas still in Chester.

During this, we were talking withan armed guard, he was tellingus about his work and of coursethe guys asked about his gun.He was so annoyed with theesteemed MP that he helpedarrange for us to go into thesmall Chapel underneathParliament, which had recentlybeen where Mrs Thatcher hadrested before her funeral.

After the Parliament part thepolitics class got to have free


Summer Term 2013 51

Hand’s up - what is your‘Attitude to Learning’?

During the last term we havebeen looking at how to improvethe way that we use our LessonMonitor grading system. It hasbeen a really useful tool fortracking students’ effort andbehaviour but we felt that itcould be developed further…andthe students agreed! Takingfeedback from staff, studentvoice and parents we have madesome fundamental changes toLesson Monitor that we feelgreatly enhance the way we useit and the data it provides for us.

The new criteria are detailedbelow, but the main changes are:

-A move from 4 grades to 5. Wehave added in a grade to help usto distinguish between thestudents who are quietly workinghard and those who, althoughnot being disruptive, are nottaking part in the lesson fully.The students felt that it was tooeasy to get a ‘2’ and they werelosing their value. With theaddition of the extra grade, ‘2’has been re-stated as ‘good’ andworth achieving.

-Incorporating elements ofBuilding Learning Power (BLP).We describe it to the students asdriving their learning as opposedto being a passenger. Wewanted to be able to giverecognition for developingattributes such as collaborationand perseverance as well asgiving credit for being wellprepared and ready to learn. Ifstudents do not completehomework, or are not preparedfor their lesson they will begraded as a ‘3’ at best.

-Re-branding of the LessonMonitor criteria to ‘Attitude toLearning’ to encompass thevarious elements of successfullearning.

The new criteria have beendeveloped in conjunction withstaff and student groups. Theyhave been shared through

assemblies and form time andare publicised throughout schoolwith artwork, stickers and ‘hand’posters. Abi Stevenson (Y11 ArtHot Scholar) designed a fabulouspiece of artwork to show thecolours and the messagesbehind the grades – thanks foryour help Abi!

We will continue to use theAttitude to Learning data tocelebrate achievement as well aschallenge under-performance.Don’t forget that you can trackyour child’s Attitude to Learninggrades using SIMS LearningGateway (SLG), there is furtherinformation about this on theschool website.

Lisa Begbie Head of Year 9

time, whereas the law group hadlunch then went to the supremecourt. At the Supreme Court wewere all excited. Our lovely tourguide took us into the PrivyCouncil Chamber. She explainedthe ins and outs of what theSupreme Court did. We evengot to sit in on the mostinteresting case. Finally the Lawgroup got to have some free time.

The people in each group variedhow they spent there free time,some went on Boris bikes andpretended to be One Directionothers went sightseeing and sawthe palace. The Law group wentto Harrods, where someonebought a bag. On our way therethough we again had issues withthe underground as the groupgot on the wrong tube again.Then we all began to head backtowards the train station to meetup and get our train back toChester. It was an amazing tripbut we were so tired by the endof the day and couldn’t wait togo home.

Matt Coathupe, Chloe Graves,Matt Fletcher Hunt, HeatherHughes & Ellie Osborne

We had a request from Year 6teacher Miss Shaw to go anddeliver an assembly onScience. Miss Howarth andmyself came up with a rangeof fun and exciting sciencedemonstrations based aroundPhysics, Chemistry andBiology, to give these youngstudents a passion forscience.

The aim was togenerate thatwow factorand thedemonstrationswere short,sharp andeffective, withplenty of ahhhsand oohhhsgeneratedthroughout !

The physicsdemonstrationsincluded :Static balloons,bending water,water spouts,cloud in abottle,explodingmarshmallows.

Chemistry : Lava lamp, firetriangle, whoosh bottle,elephants toothpaste

Biology : Making vomit andmaking poo !

We actually ended updelivering an hour’s assemblyto all of the Juniors (Years 4,5 & 6) . We started thesession by tipping out a hugebag of air filled small balloonsall over the students, whichthe students kept stuck tothem throughout !

The students were askedquestions throughout to testtheir general scienceknowledge and both myselfand Miss Howarth were veryimpressed with theirresponses. The students gavesome truly excellent answers,using scientific language andarticulating their responsesbeautifully. Full credit to thestaff teaching science atChristleton Primary as theyare preparing their youngstudents well for theirsecondary school education.

At the end of the assembly allstudents were given abooklet to take home, whichhad information of 12experiments that they couldsafely do with adultsupervision. These includedmaking their own volcano,bath salt and details onmaking their own lava lamp.

We are hoping to make thisassembly an annual event,filtering down to the evenyounger students.

Mr Harker, Headteacher ofChristleton Primary Schoolsaid:

I just wanted to thank youand your colleague forcoming in to school to dothe science assembly forthe children as part of ourscience week. Thechildren loved it –particularly the ‘beingsick’ bit!! As did the staff!It was great to see thechildren’s reactions andthe fact they were sofocussed for the wholetime showed how goodthe input was. One of thechildren told meafterwards that youobviously were realscientists because youwere wearing white coatsand special glasses!!

Exciting ScienceScience Department visit to Christleton Primary School on Thursday 18th April 2013By Miss Arends (Head of Chemistry) and Miss Howarth (Associate Teacher)


Relax withBeautiful Bath Salts

Whether you're making a specialpresent for someone else,experimenting at home or just wantto relax in a hot bath, give thisexperiment a go. Create your ownbath salts with a variety ofrefreshing fragrances, experimentwith different essential oils to seewhich you like best.

What you'll need:• 1 cup of washing soda• A plastic bag• A rolling pin (or something

similar that can crush lumps)• A bowl• A spoon for stirring• Essential oil• Food colouring

Instructions:1. Take the cup of washing

soda and put it into a plastic bag. Crush the lumps with a rolling pin or similar object.

2. Empty the bag into a bowl and stir in 5 or 6 drops of your favourite essential oil such as rosemary, lavender or mint.

3. Stir in a few drops of food colouring until the mixture is evenly coloured.

4. Put the mixture into clean dry containers and enjoy as you please.

What's happening?Bath Salts are typically made fromEpsom salts (magnesium sulphate),table salt (sodium chloride) orwashing soda (sodium carbonate).The chemical make up of themixture makes it easy to form alather. Bath salts are said toimprove cleaning and deliver anappealing fragrance when bathing.

Summer Term 2013 53

Have you ever seen someone pop aballoon with a needle? Is it possibleto stick a needle through a balloonwithout popping it?

What you'll need:• balloons • long wooden or metalskewers • petroleum jelly • a sharp pin • cellophane tape

Instructions:1. Blow up a balloon – not too full –

and tie the opening shut.

2. Dip the tip of a skewer in Vaselineand spread the Vaseline along the entire length of the skewer. If you are careful, you should be able to push the skewer all the way through the balloon without popping it.

3. Insert the skewer with a gentle twisting motion into the end of the balloon opposite the knot.

4. Continue pushing and twisting the skewer until the tip emerges from the other end, near the knot. Why doesn't the balloon pop?

5. Now try to stick the skewer into the side of the balloon. What happens?

What's happening?The rubber in the balloon consists ofmany long molecules that are linkedtogether. It's similar to the way all ofthe noodles in a plate of spaghettistick together. These long moleculesare called polymers; whenmolecules of a polymer arechemically attached to each other, itis called cross-linking. These linkshold the polymer molecules togetherand allow them to stretch…up to apoint. When the force or tensionpulling on the cross-links is toogreat, they will break, and thepolymer will pull apart.

Look at the rubber near the ends ofthe balloon where you first insertedthe skewer. Does it look lighter ordarker than the rubber in the rest ofthe balloon?

The rubber at the ends of theballoon is stretched out less than inthe middle of the balloon. Therefore,there is less force pulling on it. Thisallows the tip of the skewer to breaksome polymer cross-links, pushaside the molecules of rubber, andslide into the balloon.

Needle through a balloon


On est allé à Paris en Mars,

on a voyagé en bus et quand

nous sommes arrivés, nous

sommes allés à Disneyland

Paris! C'était très passionnant

car j'adore Disney, on a

passé un jour fantastique et

les manèges étaient très

effrayants.

Le deuxième jour, nous

sommes allés voir Paris, on

est monté à la Tour Eiffel,

c’était incroyable! Après la

Tour Eiffel, nous sommes

allés sur un bateau le long de

la Seine, nous avons vu

Notre-Dame, le pont de

l’Archevêché où il y a des

‘cadenas d’amour’.

Ensuite, nous avons marché

pendant un très long temps

pour arriver au restaurant

pour le déjeuner, on a mangé

dans un restaurant qui

s'appelle Flunch, c'était près

du Centre George Pompidou.

J’ai passé un très bon temps

et j'adore Paris!

Kate Gibbons

Year 10

PPAARR SS

Notre voyage à Paris

D’abord j’ai pensé que le

voyage a été très

passionnant, parce que nous

sommes allé à Disneyland

Paris pour une journée. Il y

avait plein de manèges, qui

étaient assez rapides mais

très amusants! Aussi,

Disneyland a beaucoup des

magasins donc j’ai pu

acheter des cadeaux pour

ma famille et des bonbons.

Le jour suivant, nous avons

visité beaucoup d’

attractions touristiques,

telles que la Tour Eiffel et le

Sacré Coeur. Sans aucun

doute la vue de la Tour Eiffel

sur Paris était magnifique, et

j’ai trouvé les peintures dans

la Sacre Cour très belles!

Nous avons logé dans un

grand hôtel qui était assez

moderne. J’ai aimé l’hôtel

parce que les chambres

étaient très spacieuses et la

nourriture délicieuse.

Globalement, j’ai passé des

vacances incroyables, parce

que j’ai pu passer du temps

avec mes amis, visiter des

monuments célèbres et aller

à un assez grand parc

d’attractions !

Megan Russon

Year 10

Summer Term 2013 55

One of the hardest things aboutteaching is that we usually knowthe answers. Teachers arenaturally helpful people and sowe have a tendency to want totell our students what we know.It will help our students get goodexam results and that alsomeans we are doing our jobstoo. However despite the factthat telling students the answersappears to be perfectly logicalthere is a lot of research into thepsychology of how people learnwhich suggests that teachersshould stop themselves tellingtheir students the answers.Instead we should designsituations where the studentsfigure them out for themselves.If we do that they will not onlydo their best in GCSEs and Alevels, but they will take withthem an understanding of theirown learning which will helpthem beyond school.

One of the great things aboutbeing a teacher at Christleton isthat we are always working atways to improve your learning.

We have set aside time onWednesday afternoons so thatwe can work on this togetherwhen we are still fresh ratherthan trying to do this afterteaching five periods as manyschools do. This year a group ofteachers have being meeting tostudy a new system to help youlearn called Building LearningPower. As a teacher I find this areally exciting system because itis intended to make studentstake responsibility for their ownexperiences in school. The ideais to get each student to be ableto understand what learning is attheir own personal level. Theyshould then be able to take astep back and look at what theyare going through in theclassroom. When things get a bitdifficult we want you to realisewhy and know what to do aboutit.

In Sociology and Psychology wehave been trying out variousideas from Building LearningPower. We want students to bemore questioning about the

sources they use. If studentslook critically at the waydifferent books explainsomething they are likely todevelop a deeper understandingand this means they will writebetter answers. We have done alot of work to encouragestudents to think more carefullyabout what exam questions areasking them. Rather than justrepeating what they have learntif you go through the process ofmatching the demands ofquestions in the exam you arebound to do better. Another areaI have sometimes noticed is thatstudents sometimes decide thatsomething is too difficult forthem and they will never be ableto do it. Building Learning Powerencourages students to stick atthings. It suggests that we canall develop our ability to dosomething even though we thinkwe can’t. What BLP has taughtme is that I can help peopleachieve things not by tellingthem the answer but by teachingthem to think about whatlearning is.

Although if you're really, reallystuck we will always help you!

Mr J Llewellyn

RESILIENCE

RESOURCEFUL

REFLECTIVE

RECIPROCITY

Introducing BuildingLearning Power


Helping young people become better learners

On a Monday and a Tuesdaylunchtime in early May HotScholars from a variety ofdifferent subjects met up todiscuss Building LearningPower. The idea of the twomeetings was to spend timetogether with other studentsto discuss the meaning ofthe four R’s or learningdispositions and thecapacities. We spent time insmall groups thinking aboutwhat each of the R’s wasactually about, what it lookslike when it works well andalso when it does not work.We thought about what eachcapacity might look like sothat we could give the ArtHot Scholars some ideas forthe models they would makeon the main points oflearning power. The 4 R's help develop theway you learn and can helpin later life not just school aswe learnt in the secondmeeting. During the Tuesdaylunchtime people from theworld of work came in totalk about how the 4 R'shelp in later life. They toldus that they are key skillsand no R is more importantthan another one. The main points that wedrew from the two meetingswere:

1. Learning power is not just used in school.

2. All of the R's all link in together.

3. More awareness needs to be raised about Building Learning Power.

James Bagby 9L1

Summer Term 2013 57

Building Learning PowerHot Scholars unpack themeaning of the four R’s


The photographs show Art HotScholars developing the modelsbased on the four R’s.


‘The unexpected is powerful’

Mrs Pritchard

THE FOUR R’s OFLEARNING POWERDeveloping learning powermeans working on thefollowing four aspects ofstudents’ learning.

The 4R’S are• RESILIENCE

not giving up

• RESOURCEFULNESSbeing able to use a rangeof learning strategies andknowing what to do whenyou get stuck

• REFLECTIVENESSbeing able to think about yourself as a learner and how you might be able todo this better

• RECIPROCITYbeing able to learn with and from others, as well as on your own.

The 4R’s are known asdispositions and they aremade up of the followingcapacities. Learning in a BLPclassroom allows students togive their brains a workout,focusing on the how andskills of learning not just thecontent.

So how can we developthe mind to learn?


RESILIENCEThis is made up of

ManagingDistractions

Perseverance

Absorption

Noticing

RESOURCEFULNESSThis is made up of

Questioning

Making Links

Imagining

Reasoning

Capitalising

REFLECTIVENESSThis is made up of

Planning

Revising

Distilling

Meta Learning

RECIPROCITYThis is made up of

Collaboration

Imitation

Empathy andListening

Interdependence

What have I done to introduce BLP to my classroom?Mr D Evans

I started by introducing two aspects of Resilience to my Y9 Science set. The two aspects were‘perseverance’ and ‘managing distractions’. After a short introduction students were asked toassess their own resilience and to identify something that they were going to try to do duringthe lesson to improve their resilience. Students are starting to notice the positive effect ofBLP. One student commented that he is now more aware of what distracts him during lessons;he has come up with some strategies to minimise the effect of these distractions such asmoving and working on his own or taking a two minute break outside the room. As a teacherBLP has changed the way that I try to manage the behaviour of students. Instead of metelling a student that he or she is behaving inappropriately I can ask them to use the agreedstrategies to minimise distractions.

RESILIENCEDemonstrate / model sticking at things even if they are difficult.

Talk about how you feel when you are taking on challenges.

Praise your child when they perseverebut also encourage them to take a breakwhen they have had enough.

Help them to findinterests and activitiesthat are reallyabsorbing.

Talk with them aboutwhat helps them toconcentrate andmanage distractions.

RESOURCEFULNESSEncourage questions.

Demonstrate making links between different ideas.

Don’t allow your child’s imagination to shrivel up!

Encourage them to find ways of using resources such as reference books, dictionaries, the Internet.

REFLECTIVENESSEncourage them to take responsibility for preparing for school.

Ask not what they did at school, but what they learned.

Help them to think about, and plan, activities.

Encourage flexibilityand the ability tochange a plan ofnecessary.

RECIPROCITYDemonstrate / model being a good learner.

Work, play and learn alongside your children, enabling them to pickup good habits through imitation.

Encourage working together as a team.

Summer Term 2013 59

How can you help to buildlearning power at home?Draw attention to, and model, positive learning habits


After a two hour drive toCoventry we arrived at the sportscentre in time to warm up aheadof the competition. Thecompetition was opened byintroductions to the Ambassadorsfor badminton, a member of thecurrent under 17 England squadSam Parsons and Steve Butler, exsquad member and currentEngland coach. The atmosphere was buzzing; allparticipants were invited toimprove their skills by playingwith and being coached by theaforementioned Ambassadors forthe sport.

The competition was the NationalFinals sponsored by UNIPART, allplayers had qualified earlier inthe year at various competitionsaround the country. After a toughcompetition against all thecompetitors in my singles grid Iwon through to the final round.This was my hardest game, my

opponent was fast around thecourt and had an array of shotsform which to choose. I playedmy best badminton and kept mynerves in check long enough toensure a win….there I was Year 7Unipart National Finals Singlechampion. I just couldn’t believeit.

I went to be introduced to mydoubles partner ahead of thedoubles competition. Together wehad the opportunity to receive afew minutes coaching from SteveButler which helped us to gelquickly and work together. Noone was more amazed than uswhen we managed to win thedoubles competition. Two winsand two gold medals, what agreat day which was topped offby a master class with SteveBulter.

Tom Foster

Unipart National Finals…a day to remember

The new Christleton HighRugby kit has been in actionwith both year 9 and 11teams testing its durability

throughout the spring term.The year 11 team used it intheir final match which was aGCSE PE moderation match

against Tarporley where 9students from the schoolwere being assessed as partof the final GCSE grade. Theweather wasn't great but theplayers played exceptionallywell and gained some veryhigh grades. Tom Lacey,Jordan Efobi and Ben Walshscored highly and themoderation was a great finishto a fantastic year of rugbyand GCSE PE students. MrLlewellyn was very impressedwith the new kit and he iskeen to watch one of thefixtures next year.

Mr Barton

New Rugby Kit in Actionfor GCSE PE Moderation

Another hugely successful year forthe schools athletics teams this year.The season started on Wednesday1st May with the West Cheshire Cupheld at Cheshire Oaks track. Theboys teams started of the seasonwith an overall win with the girlsteams coming 3rd.

Again, returning to Cheshire Oakstrack on Tuesday 14th May theathletes competed in the first roundof the English schools cup. Allathletes performed superbly wellwith the junior boys teamdominating from the start to scoremore points than all other schools inCheshire. Christy Mageean (Year 8)and Bradley Jackson (Year 9) did sowell in their 300m races their scores

were off the score chart. The juniorboys team then qualified for theNorth-West A Final which was held inBlackpool on Wednesday 12th June.Our success at this event was on thetrack with the team being placed in3rd position in the North-West ofEngland half way through the dayand finishing 7th overall. What agreat achievement!

Tuesday 21st May was the Chester &District championships at Deesidetrack. This gave athletes a chance tocompete for the school against otherschools from Chester and also to tryto be selected for the district team.Individual students who were pickedto represent the district from thisevent were... Christy Mageean (Year8 300m), Isobel Griffin Morris (year8 discus), Jess Renner (Year 9800m), Bradley Jackson (Year 9300m), Sophie Clark (Year 9 javelin),Megan Russon (Year 10 1500m),Georgia Jones (Year 10 long jump),Robyn McNally (Year 10 high jump),Lydia Ward (Year 11 triple jump),Jordan Coxall (year 11 1500m),Dominika Saduczk (Year 9 shotputt), Matt Harland Jones (Year 10triple jump), Mark Hearn (Year 11800m), Scott Evans (Year 10 400m),Connor Rowbottom (Year 9 100m),George Campbell (year 8 200m),Lewis Inchley (year 9 High jump),Ashley Dawson (Year 9 highjump).The Year 8 boys team and theYear 9 girls team were crownedCHESTER & DISTRICT CHAMPIONS!

During school camp week, a group ofvery dedicated Year 7 athletes cameto Deeside to compete in theirMinors Chester & DistrictChampionships. Their journey wasworthwhile with the Year 7 boysteam dominating the events in bothtrack and field to win the competitionby 30 points. Without a full strengthteam (due to camp) the girlsperformed exceptionally well too tocome 3rd. Winners on the day &now district champions are PhilHopkins (100m), Jasper McLoughlin(200m & long jump), Jac Goodall(Javelin), Keane Harrison (shot putt),Boys 100m relay team. Thesestudents, along with Erin Stuart(100m), Grace Austin Lindsay(100m), Madison Sterling (longjump), Sophie Bridgewater (longjump), Max Freeman (hurdles) havenow been selected to compete forChester in the county championshipson Wednesday 19th May at

CumberlandStadium inCrewe.

On top ofthis success,two athleteshavecontinued toexcel andreachexceptionalperformancelevels,competingat a veryhighstandard forboth schooland club.ChristyMageean(junior boys300m) hasdominatedthis event(and others)throughoutthe seasonand has nowbeencrownedcountychampion,competingagainstathletes ayear olderthan him.CameronClark(senior boysjavelin)again hashad anoutstandingseason forhis club andfor the 3rdtime in arow hasbecomecounty champion. Both Christy andCameron have achieved personalbests this season and are very closeto achieving their English schoolsstandards. Christy and Cameron,along with Sophie Clark (juniorjavelin) and Isobel Griffin Morris(junior discus) have representedCheshire this season.

With the athletics season stillongoing am sure there will be a lotmore success to report!

Year 8 Tennis– AEGONChampionshipThe Year 8 tennis team havebeen involved in the AEGONchampionships again this year.Cameron Bradley, Jamie Martin,Jack Goodall and JasperMcLaughlin have all made up theteam and have playedexceptionally well this year. Theteam have beaten The KingsSchool, Hartford High and TheGrange quite convincingly. JackGoodall and Jasper McLaughlinhave played up a year and willalso be involved in thecompetition next year, whileCameron and Jamie willrepresent the school in the Year10 completion.

Well done to all and thank youfor your commitment.

Mr Barton

Summer Term 2013 61

Athletics and West Cheshire ACSchools Track and Cup Final

Jess Dunning competing in Shot putt

Jess Renner Year 9 800m Girls Winner

Phil Hopkins Year 7100m Champion

The Athletics Team

A Phoenix is a mythical birdof great beauty that burnsitself on a funeral pyre andrises from its ashes in thefreshness of youth and livesthrough another cycle ofyears.

The group that helped createour majestic Phoenix were inYears 7, 8 and 9 and allclassed as talented in art. Ittook over three sessions withat least fifteen students ineach session. Students alsospent time creating thePhoenix during lunch times.It needed the skill of beingable to work as a team withpeople from other yeargroups.

First we started by makingthe basic framework of thebody and wings out of awillow branches. Then westarted to layer on a special,strong type of tissue paperwhile the rest of the groupmade the feathers. Oncethese jobs were finished westarted to paint the body inreds, yellows and orangesmaking the bird look like itwas on fire. After that, whilethe rest were busy painting,a group of three people gotto work on making thefarcical more realistic. Withsome extra help from someHot Scholars (Ellie Kanwar,Ffion Jones and BrionyVickers) the Phoenix wascomplete!

By Hannah Jones andSophie Runciman, Art Hot Scholars

HHOOTTSSCCHHOOLLAARRSS Flight of the

PPhhooeenniixx


Sketchbook

Competition

Winners &

Year 7 Art

competitionArt’s spring sketchbookcompetition took place beforethe Easter holidays. Everystudent in Key Stage 3 isentered in this competitionwhich means that winnersand runners up are judgedand chosen out of over 600students! There were 30runners up and 18 winners.

This spring sketchbookcompetition winners were asfollows;

Congratulations to all of thewinners and runners up!

Year 8 Art Hot Scholars gaveYear 7 students a greatopportunity this term! Acompetition was set up toallow budding Artists in Year7 to show off their talents.The lucky winner was SophieNeugebauer 7Ke2.

Well done Sophie!

Summer Term 2013 63

Year 7 Year 8 Year 9Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys

1st ElizabethGlading

MatthewMcDonnell

AnnaThompson Aaron Bird Isobel

BowmanJames

Leyland

2nd CarlyHerbert Joe Ritson Alex

JoinsonJoseph

BaldacchinoJessicaRenner

FinlayWojtan

3rd HaniaArthur Arin Theard Jessica

Dunning Harry Ford LucyHosker

JacobDavies

Year 10 Team Maths ChallengeAlice Russell, Meredydd Jones,Tess Corr and Kieran Trevorrepresented the school in theYear 10 Maths Challenge at UCEA in Ellesmere Port. We were one of 18 teams and there were 5 different rounds in the competition which involved individual and team challenges. We were successful in the Cheshire round and came first. Then we went to Manchester University to take part in the North West heat. Alice Russell and Meredydd Jones


On Friday 8th March 2013, 30students from years 10, 11and 6th form embarked on aweekend football tour toLondon with Mr Barton, MrAlford and Mr Axon.

The tour was a huge successand included:

• Staying at the beautiful Chessington Hotel that overlooks the Chessington Safari Park

• Watching Fulham v QueensPark Rangers

• Playing a match• Going to Fulham FC

Academy and receiving a 2hour training session from their Academy Coaches in the outstanding indoor facility.

This was a packed itineraryand the students’ behaviourwas outstanding. It was agreat experience for allinvolved and we will definitelybe looking to replicate asimilar tour during the nextacademic year!

Fulham Football Tour

As a reward forbecoming District andCounty NetballChampions, Year 7were treated to a tripto watch a top classgame of netball, ManchesterThunder v Northumbria. Itwas a great opportunity forthe girls to pick up some tipsand actually meet and talk tosome of the top players inthe country.

The girls got a chance at halftime to test out their skills ina throwing and catchingcompetition and in front of a

huge enthusiastic netballcrowd Christleton girls cameup trumps with Alex GoreRees being the final winnerand taking home a greatprize.

A huge thank you must go toJo Edwards of Parkers minibuses who provided thetransport and tickets for theevent. Everyone had abrilliant time and are nowlooking forward to the tour to

Condover Hall inSeptember andbuilding on thisseason’s success.

Mrs Leedham

YEAR 7 NETBALLCHAMPS!

Fencing is an increasinglypopular sport today. There arethe weapons used in Fencing,the Foil, Sabre, and Epée.Fencing in Chester is thrivingmainly due to the Chester’smain coach, ValerijsScipanovs. The biggest eventfor young fencers is theBritish Youth Championships(BYCs) which I entered on the5th of May this year.

To enter the BYCs, you mustfirst achieve 3rd or higher inthe regional qualifiers. Fourfrom each region qualify(there are two 3rd places). Afew other high achievers frompast BYCs immediatelyqualify. I came second in thequalifiers.

The competition starts withone round of pools, whereeveryone is mixed uprandomly to form groups of 5-6 of whom they fence against.Two people cannot be in thesame pool if they are from thesame region. I finished mypool only losing one fight witha score of 5-3. I still gotranked 18th because of myperformance.

After the pools, there are theDEs (Direct Eliminations). ADE is a match between twofencers up to 15 points. Thewinner stays in thecompetition, the loser goeshome. Your ranking from yourpool really matters here, asthe better you did in thepools, the easier youropponent in the DEs.

Because of my performance, Iskipped the 1st round of DEs.I beat my first opponent witha score of 15-10. That put methrough to the last 32 fencers.I beat my next opponent, whowas ranked 15th in the pools,with a score of 15-13. I wasfinally knocked out againstthe fencer who finishedsecond overall. I am nowranked as the 16th bestfencer in all of Britain.

The photographs here werefrom the English YouthChampionships in Hatfieldthat took place in June. I wasranked 14th in thecompetition for the U15 agegroup. There were 84entrants in the competition.

Ashley Dawson 10L3

16th Best Fencerin all of Britain...16th Best Fencerin all of Britain...

Summer Term 2013 65

A day in theLakes

On the 26th April a select fewfrom year 7 set 1 baby and lake,went up to the Lake District toDove Cottage, famously WilliamWordsworth’s house. For the firstactivity we were given somepictures based on Wordsworth’spoem and we were told to comeup with a story with just thepictures that were shown. Therewere some bizarre stories! Afterthat, we went to a fascinatingmuseum where I learnt so manythings. Then we went to DoveCottage, the actual home ofWilliam Wordsworth, it was veryinteresting to see how andwhere he lived. These were allenjoyable but the best part ofthe trip was the walk that we allwent on, it was both enjoyableand captivating to see thelandscape that inspired him towrite so many famous poems. Amy Harrowsmith

The Wordsworth trip wasamazing and I learn a great dealfrom the trip, like WilliamWordsworth describedimagination as the inner eye andthat he used to ice skate on thelakes of the Lkae District. Ienjoyed the tour around hissecond house, Dove Cottage,and finding out facts such asWilliam Wordsworth and hisfamily had roughly five to eightpeople staying in the house atany one time. Thanks-a-bunchfor the trip!Yannick Wojtan

Year 7 Wordsworth trip wasreally good. I enjoyed going tothe Lake District because it wasa beautiful place, I can now seewhy Wordsworth cherished hislife there writing poetry.Wordsworth’s poetry is not onlytouching but full of enchantinghistory. Dove Cottage was very


interesting and I learnt a lotabout who he was and hiseveryday life. AnnonymousOn Friday 26th of April, me andsome of my classmates went ona Wordsworth trip to DoveCottage. It was a great and veryeducational day. We learnt aboutWilliam Wordsworth’s best yearsof poetry, it was amazing anddefinitely worth the longjourney! We had a good timeand would, without a doubt, loveto do it again. An unimaginabletrip and one of the best trips Ihave ever been on. Callum Wells“An amazing trip!”Molly Ellis“I would definitely go again!”Josef Holly Wood“It was great”Arin TheardI liked the William Wordsworthtrip because we visited thecottage where he lived and theviews were AMAZING! We learnta lot of facts about his that Inever knew before includingthese: Almost all of his ideascame from his Sister’s diary. Ireally enjoyed it and wouldrecommend you go and visit too!Charlie JamesWe set off from school at around9am and took about two and ahalf hours to get to the LakeDistrict, which is where DoveCottage is. When we got there,we met our guides and settleddown to have our lunch.After we had eaten our lunch, wehad a tour around the cottagethat Wordsworth lived in and themuseum. It was here we learntabout what his life was like. Finally, we went on a short walkaround the countryside wherewe learnt how nature influencedWordsworth’s work. I reallyenjoyed the whole trip!Joe WilliamsThe Wordsworth trip wasamazing and very inspiring.When I was chosen to go I wasreally happy. Dove Cottage wasamazing however; I wouldn’t beable to live there. The roomswere all quite low and the housewas so cold! I really enjoyedfinding out about WilliamWordsworth and I would goagain any day!Curie-Beth Woodard-LordEllie Osborne

Summer Term 2013 67

“Can You tell Me More About What You Do...?”

Advance Notice: Careers Information Evening:

Wednesday 20th November 2013

• Following on from a really successful event last year,

we are now planning our Careers Information

Evening for 2013.

• We hope to have representatives from a wide range

of different occupations on hand to give individual

advice and an insight into what their job involves.

• The evening will be a great opportunity for students

from Years 9, 10, 11, and both lower and upper

sixth-formers, together with interested parents, to

find out more about the future world of work.

• The event is a part of our on-going commitment to

raising students’ aspirations and encouraging them to

think about future pathways; the evening aims to

inspire students to find out more about the career

paths available and to meet people from a variety of

different occupations.

• Please make a note of the date in your diaries. If you

are able to come along as a representative for a

particular business, company or occupation, please

contact Karen Varley by email:

[email protected]

Our Bronze Duke of Edinburghexperience was tiring and hardwork, but we had lots of fun atthe same time! Our team wasvery glad of the practice walksbecause we weren’t veryconfident at map reading, andwe even managed to get lostaround the fields in Waverton.We had to go to variousmeetings to prepare for the finalexpedition, but it was worth itbecause we knew what to dowhen we did our real test. Theweather on the day was brilliantbecause the sun was shining. Weencountered our first realproblem about an hour into thewalk, because one of our teammembers, Sophie, unexpectedlybecame ill and had to go home.That set us back a bit becausewe had to make a few changes,but we carried on without muchtrouble. Our aim of the walkwas to do with litter, so wepicked up any litter that we sawand took photos of ourselvesdoing this. When we reachedthe campsite, we set up ourtent, cooked some pasta for ourtea, and settled down to sleep.The next day we were wokenbright and early, and we set offby 9.00am! We were verydetermined to finish as fast aspossible, so we walked fast withbarely any breaks and read ourmaps efficiently. I havedefinitely improved on my mapreading skills since the practicewalk, and we didn’t get lost atall. There was a great sense ofachievement when we finished,especially as we reached schoolsecond and we were over anhour early!

Olivia said: “Going on the walkwas an amazing experience! We

learnt how to work in a groupand how to put up a tent. Ienjoyed the d of e walk becauseI got to spend time with myfriends and it will look great onmy CV.”

Charli thoughts on DofE: “Idecided to take part in the Dukeof Edinburgh’s Award this yearbecause I fancied a challenge. Ihad never done anything like itbefore so thought I would give ittry. If I'm honest I had no ideawhat it was all about but fromdoing it I have learnt so manynew skills that will help me inthe future, for example, on theexpedition it was essential that Iwas able to read a mapeffectively, before DofE I hadnever done anything like this sodidn't know what I was doing butI can now read a map easily andthat's because of the DofEcourse. I recommend doing Dukeof Edinburgh because it hasmade me much stronger interms of determination andstamina. It has benefitted me inmany ways and was tonnes offun to be a part of.”

Serena: “Going on DofE was alife changing experience becauseit helped me to try out newskills, such as to work better ingroups. I think I learnt a lot ofuseful things that I can use inlater life. I would definitelyrecommend DofE because it is agreat challenge and lots of fun tobe with my friends. It's one ofthe best achievements of mylife, and I am planning tocontinue and do the SilverAward!”

Jess, Olivia, Charli, Serenaand Sophie (Team 6)


Our DofE Experience

Exciting ScienceMake YourOwn FakeSnot

As disgusting as it might sound tosome people, let's make some fakesnot! Snot actually serves animportant purpose in our body sothis experiment is not all aboutgrossing out our friends, althoughthat's certainly part of the fun.

What you'll need: • Boiling water

(be careful with this)• A cup• Gelatin• Corn syrup • A teaspoon• A fork

Instructions:1. Fill half a cup with boiling water. 2. Add three teaspoons of gelatin

to the boiling water.3. Let it soften before stirring with

a fork.4. Add a quarter of a cup of corn

syrup.5. Stir the mixture again with your

fork and look at the long strandsof gunk that have formed.

6. As the mixture cools slowly add more water, small amounts at a time.

What's happening? Mucus is made mostly of sugars andprotein. Although different than theones found in the real thing, this isexactly what you used to make yourfake snot. The long, fine strings youcould see inside your fake snotwhen you moved it around areprotein strands. These proteinstrands make snot sticky andcapable of stretching.

Former student hasfirst novel publishedWe are always delighted to hearfrom our former students aboutwhat pathway they have beenfollowing since leavingChristleton.

Here is what Emma Page hasbeen up to over the last fouryears: -

“My favourite subjects at schoolwere always English, Art,Geography and EnvironmentalScience. They were the ones Itook with me the most after Ileft in 2009. I did a month’swork experience on ChesterZoo’s Rhino Team, not just withthe rhinos, but also with zebras,meerkats, and gemsbok, toname only a few. I then beganmy degree in Animal Behaviourat the University of Chester.While I was there, I also workedwith animals at ReaseheathCollege and the RSPCA, andspent an amazing summer onHilbre Island researching greyseal behaviour for mydissertation.

I eventually graduated lastNovember with a BSc (Hons),and I’ve returned to theuniversity so I can study mymasters in Wildlife Conservation.My Geography andEnvironmental Science fromChristleton helped me greatly,and there was never a momentof regret in choosing my

courses. I’ve also been involvedin representing the universitythroughout my BSc, being aStudent Academic Rep, andUndergraduate Rep to theApplied Sciences Board ofStudies. All that really began inChristleton, where I was a FormRep for five years, and part ofthe Eco-Schools Team when itfirst started.

Last year, I was also luckyenough to become a publishedauthor. While I was at school, Iwas always writing fantasystories, and I was eventuallyaccepted by Staccato inMinnesota, America. My firstbook, “Blindsighted Wanderer”,was released last year under mypen-name E.C. Hibbs, and Idonated a copy to the school’snew i- research centre as athank you for all the help andsupport. In fact, when I wasresearching for the story, I evenfound myself returning to Historyand Geography notes I took inschool!

With a degree in Science, thereare a lot of different careers Ican follow. After I finish my MSc,I’m hoping to either become ateacher, or work in MarineConservation. I have a new bookdue out this year too, and I’llkeep up my writing in the future.Being able to achieve so much isan amazing feeling, and Iwouldn’t change anything for theworld.”

Emma Page (Former Christleton student:2002-2009)

Emma’sBook isa RealPage-Turner!

Summer Term 2013 69

Creative Graphic Design • Print • Web Design • Promotions

Cheshire’s Creative Social Enterprise Part of the Winsford based charityThe NeuroMuscular Centre, all profitsgo towards supporting our vital work.

Contact Alison Evans 01606 863464a l i s o n . e v a n s @ n m c e n t r e . c o mnmcentre.com

At 23:00 on Sunday 2nd of Junethe first few members, one ofwhich was me, gathered outsideschool in preparation for ourgreat journey to Normandy. ByMidnight most people werethere, waiting patiently for thecoach to arrive and for the greatvoyage to begin. The overalljourney took over twelve hours,in which time we all had to findour own sources ofentertainment. In the first hoursof the journey many of us slept,as it was still the early hours ofthe morning. By the tunnel,more of us were awake, and theexcitement was building.

When we finally arrived atChateau Beaumont, at around17:30, we were all exhausted.We were designated our rooms,and then sent to unpack, beforeattending dinner at 18:30. Thiswas the time of dinner everynight, as we soon learnt, andafterwards, at 20:30, we wouldhave an evening activity. This

activity changed each night, andafterwards we would have freetime until about 22:30, when itwas ‘lights-out’.

Our dorm was Bordeaux, and itwas away from the rest. Most ofthe dorms were in the ‘L-block’and outside those dorms was abasketball court which was usedmost evenings. A bit furtheraway from the L-block were theboy’s dorms, hall and tuck shop.The hall was where the eveningactivity took place each night.

Breakfast was at 8:30 on mostdays, bar one where it was at7:45, and our dorm set alarmevery morning so we could bewell prepared. However, onemorning we set it a bit too early,as we discovered it would havebeen equivalent to 5:00 a.m.English time, and every time thealarm went off we, accidently,woke up Madame Cruise, who’sdorm joined onto ours.

Tuesday was the first full day wehad in France. We visited a townmarket, before a supermarketand shopping centre. Mike andLouise, two members of stafffrom the Chateau, were ourguides for the week, along withmore members of staff on theactivities in the grounds of theChateau. The market and thesupermarket were both full ofopportunities for us to practiseour French. Each day we weregiven various work sheets tocomplete. The answers werethen checked when we returnedto the coach. We then stopped ina park for our lunch, where astatue of the lady Mary lookedover us, high on a hill. Afterthese visits we had threeactivities in our groups. Ourgroup did Climbing, Aero-balland Night Line on Tuesdaybefore dinner.

Wednesday welcomed our visitto Mont Saint Michel, where wewere allowed to explore the townand buy souvenirs. This day wasthe longest, and after our visit toMont Saint Michel, we went to StMalo, where we browsed shopsin the town before venturing tothe beach. The weather wasgreat throughout the week,which kept the mood generallyhappy. Wednesday night’sevening activity was Frenchnight. This was where wedressed up to fit a French themeand then participated in a quizabout France. Lucy Osborne andI dressed as the Moulin Rouge,and soon after regretted it dueto embarrassment. After the quizwe then had to do a catwalk,which made the embarrassmentworse, before certain peoplecollected awards for their outfits.It was an early night for ourdorm after that.

Thursday was my favourite day.We visited Roland Réauté, aFrench chocolate factory, wherethere was a variety of chocolate,and I don’t think anyone leftwithout something. We thenwent to an animal sanctuary,were we saw many birds, goats,llamas - one of which had arather off-putting expression, asanyone who went to France shall


Chateau Beaumont

Trip

know - and many morecreatures. We then ate our lunchoutside the café before returningto the Chateau to do some moreactivities. This time our group didArchery, Zip wire (my personalfavourite activity) and aninitiative test. After dinner, wherewe tried snails and frogs legs -and Nathan beat the record formost Snails eaten – there was atalent competition. Everyone whoperformed was very brave, butthe performance we shall allremember is the teachers singingand dancing to DangerousChihuahuas. The evening wasthen finished off with a disco,putting the perfect finish on theweek.

Friday sent us back to the UKwith happy memories that won’tbe soon forgotten. Thank you allthe Christleton staff who camewith us on the trip, it was veryenjoyable!

French trip swan article. Lasemaine denière je suis allée enFrance avec mon collège. Nous

avons voyagé en autocar, et noussommes finalement arrivés àChâteau Beaumont á seizeheures. Après le dîner, nousavons fait une chasse au trésor,c'était super! Mardi, noussommes allés au marché, lesfruits étaient très délicieuxsurtout les fraises. Aussi, noussommes allés à l’ hyper marché,qui était très grand! Le soir,nous avions trois activités. Mongroupe avons fait de l'aeroball, laligne de nuit et de l'escalade.Pendant la semaine, noussommes allés à beaucoupd'endroits, telles que-Mont StMichel, chocolaterie, le centredes animaux et la plage! Nousavons fait trois autres activités,tir à l'arc, d'initiative et unetyrolienne! Aussi, L'animation

était bonne, avec uneperformance de chihuahuadangereux par les enseignants!Nous avons même mangé desescargots et des cuisses degrenouilles! Nathan Houlbrook amangé 15 escargots!

Globalement, le voyage a étéfantastique! J'ai aimé le marchéle meilleur à cause de la grande

variété de la nourriture locale!J'espère que mes amis et moi yallons encore une fois bientôt carétait la meilleur semaine qu'onait jamais vu! :) By Amy Russon

Izzy Griffin-Morris

Summer Term 2013 71

Year 8 trip toNormandy!

Here’s what thekids thought...I really enjoyed the French tripbecause of the fun activities andvisiting places! C’était super! George

Bonjour, the French trip wasgreat fun. We went to manyplaces including the chocolatefactory, the markets and manymore.

My favourite was the animalrefuge. There were loads ofanimals, sheep, tigers, loads ofbirds and many more. It wasgreat fun especially when we gotchased by geese! Afterwards wehad ice cream and coke.I really enjoyed the French trip itwas great fun I would reallyrecommend that you go as itwas great fun.Joe

I really really enjoyed the trip ithas been the best experience. Iloved everything about it and Iwould love to do it again. Thepeople who worked there wevery friendly and everyone lovedthem. We went to a lot of placeswhich were amazing; we went toa refuge, chocolate factory, MontSt Michel, a beach, a town,market and a supermarket. Theworst thing was the journey Ithink I was too long and too hot.Elizabeth Evans

Lorsque nous avons visité laFrance avec Christleton High,nous nous sommes bien amusés.Il faisait chaud et il y avait dusoleil. Nous avons préféré MontSt Michel parce que c'étaitintéressant. Le voyage en Franceétait fatiguant mais ça valait lapeine. Aussi nous sommes allésà la plage et les magasins. Nousavons passé un momentformidable en France. Emma Newnham and Ellie Kanwar

J'ai adoré le voyage en France,c'était incroyable:-) nous avonsgagné beaucoup de confiance!Nous avons visité le marchéfrançais traditionnel et lehypermarché et la plage à SaintMalo. Aussi nous avons visité lafabrique de chocolats et un abride secours des animaux. C'étaittrès bon et le temps étaitmagnifique; c'était très chaud.L'année prochaine de toutel'année 8, c'est incroyable.Charlotte Hampton

I loved the French trip becausewe did lots of different activitiesand visited places we probablywouldn't have visited. J'adore laplage. Il faisait très chaud. Joe Shaw

Bonjour! La semaine dernière, Je suis alléen France. À minuit le dimanchenous avons quitté l'école. Noussommes arrivés au ChâteauBeaumont à quatre heures del'après-midi. Nous avons eubeaucoup de temps libre. Cettesoir nous avons mangéspaghetti bolognaise, il étaitvraiment délicieux. Puis nousavons eu une chasse au trésor. Ila été très excitant. Le lendemain nous avons mangéle petit déjeuner et ensuite visitéle marché et le supermarché. Ilfaisait très chaud. Nous avonsfait du travail en français et unpeu de shopping! Nous sommesretournés au château et avonsfait trois activités. J’ai faitl’escalade, le parcours de nuit etaeroball. J’ai apprécié cejourbeaucoup.Emily- Rose Forden

The French trip to France wasgreat we did so much good stuff.I learned something new everyday. We visited so many amazingplaces and had so much fun too.The places we visited helped uslearn more than we usuallywould as the places were veryFrench for a place with so manytourists. J’ai adoré le voyage Français enNormandie. Nous avons visitébeaucoup et avons passé unbon moment. Les activitésétaient magnifiques et m’ontaidé avec mon français. Eddie Jones

I really enjoyed the French tripto Normandy because we got tosee Mont saint Michel and doloads of fun activities with ourfriends. We also all got to pickour own dorms and try snailsand frogs legs it was great whenNathan ate fifteen and broke theprevious record! The food wasgreat and I thoroughly enjoyedthe trip!

I recently travelled to Francewith the languages departmentand I loved it. I used a lot ofFrench words and phrasesincluding "je voudrais" whichmeans I would like and I alsoused "merci" which means thankyou. We travelled to manydifferent destinations includingsaint Malo and the beach. Wetalked to the shop keepers andthe locals in French which was anice experience.Nathan Houlbrook

This is my report from France:When I went to Normandy withthe school it was so fun! We didloads of different activities likezipwire, archery and climbingwall, and we visited lots ofdifferent places like the beachand Mont St Michael. Myfavourite day was Thursday. Inthe morning we went to thechocolate factory where webought loads of chocolate andsweets and we also went to theanimal refuge, which was wherewe saw loads of rescuedanimals, my favourite animalwas the racoon. In the afternoonwe came back to the chateauand we did activities in ourgroups, my group did archery(which I was rubbish at),zipwire, and initiative exercises,which was where we had tosolve problems using ourinitiative. In the evening we hada talent show which was reallygood, and the teachers evensang 'dangerous chiauaua',which was really funny! Afterthat we had a disco, and that'sit! I would really like to go backto France with the school, if Ihad the opportunity again Iwould definitely say yes! Esther Hughes


We are really excited aboutwelcoming our incoming Year 7students in September having metthem on several occasions over thelast few weeks. Our programme oftransition events includes primaryschool visits, transition projectdays, Maths and Englishintervention sessions, and aSummer School for students thatwe feel would particularly benefit.

Our Transition Project Daysinvolved around 200 students fromnineteen different primary schoolsworking with some of our studentsin Year 10 and 12 to create theirown e-book brochures about theschool. We were delighted towelcome students from thefollowing primaries: -

• Christleton • Overleigh St Marys• Tarvin• Waverton• Oldfield• Saighton• Boughton Heath• Barrow • Helsby Hillside• Upton Heath• Elton• Doddleston• Dee Point• Hoole • Mickle Trafford• Huntington• Cherry Grove• Abbey Gate• Tattenhall

Our Primary School Visits involvedsome of our Year 7 studentstalking to those in Year 6 about thetransition process. Here’s whatthey thought of the experience: -

“In June we went to BoughtonHeath Primary School and spoke tothe up-coming Year 7 aboutstarting Christleton High and beingin Year 7. We were asked toexplain to the Year 6s about thefirst year in high school, and how itmight seem be scary but is reallyfun. We discussed Year 7 camp;this they seemed very interestedin. They also wanted know aboutsport and music. We think theyenjoyed the whole gathering andasked us a lot of questions.” Maciek Cumberford andMaddy Clerkin 8By1

Summer Term 2013 73

Year 6 Transition Events

Maciek Cumberfordand Maddy Clerkin give the thumbs up to incoming Year 7 students from Boughton Heath Primary

School

Maciek Cumberfordand Maddy Clerkin give the thumbs up to incoming Year 7 students from Boughton Heath Primary

School

Lucy Osborne, Josh Johnson and Mrs Lister meet our future Year 7 students from

Mickle Trafford Village School

Our Enrichment Week this yeargave students in Years 8, 9, and10 the chance to take part in awide range of activities andevents to get them thinkingabout future opportunities.

Year 10 students experiencedbeing a ‘Sixth Former For A Day’and attended a range of tastersessions in subjects new tothem, such as Economics,Psychology, Sociology, and Travel& Tourism. A ‘Pathway ResearchDay’ was also on offer, withstudents opting for one of sevenbroad employment areas asfollows: -

1. Building and Construction – architecture, joiner, bricklayer, surveyor, civil engineer

2. Health and Social Care – doctor, nurse, midwife, social worker, psychologist

3. Design and performing arts – fine artist, graphic designer, photographer, actor, dancer

4. Security and Law – barrister, solicitor, fire fighter, army officer, police officer

5. Sports and Tourism – footballer, sports development officer, fitness instructor, travel agent

6. Business and Finance – manager, accountant, banker, stock broker, personal assistant

7. Media – journalist, broadcaster, advertising, film making, publishing

During the day students workedin their ‘employment groups’ toresearch the opportunities inselected areas and were able tohear from a range ofprofessionals who kindly spokewith students and answeredquestions.

Students in Years 8 and 9 tookpart in a wide range of visitsincluding Chester University,West Cheshire College, GlyndwrUniversity & Techniquest,Reaseheath College, FiddlersFerry Power Station, and theUniversity of Leeds. Here’s whattwo of our students thought: -

Last year in activities week, Iwent to Techniquest and FiddlersFerry but this year I chosedifferent options; LeedsUniversity and ReaseheathCollege.

On the Thursday was the Leedstrip. It was the first time that atrip to Leeds has been offeredand I think that it was well worthgoing to. We took a coach tripthere, chatting and listening tomusic, before having a groupphoto when we arrived, in frontof one of the University’s hugelibraries. We were found on thesteps by a few student guidesand were taken to a huge room,where we had a presentationabout what the University had tooffer and the day’s activities. Wewere shown around in anenjoyable way and had a look atnumerous art sculptures, old andnew buildings and being told allsorts about the Uni. Did youknow its bad luck enter some

buildings if you haven’tgraduated?! There were loads,and loads, of rooms! We wereshown to three huge libraries,before we were shown tostudent accommodation. Afterthat, lunch time! We askedquestions and were answeredwell every time. Universitieshave everything you could need!We then went to some revisionexercises and we were showndifferent ways of learning andhow to make passing examseasier with different revisiontechniques. Finally before wewent, we had another briefpresentation and filled in areview form. We took the coachback home and got back in timefor the buses .It was a great dayand I found that this reallyhelped me think of my future.Also, I think that the tips givenfor revision will also come inquite handy.


Enrichment Week:Pathway Days

Year 6 PrimaryMaths Day –June 7th

Primary day wasattended by 90 year 6students fromChristleton, Oldfield andSaighton primaryschools. With the help ofthe Maths Hot Scholarsthe students participatedin activities such asstitching curves fromstraight lines, a treasurehunt and solving outdoormaths problems: theTowers of Hanoi andBridges of Konigsberg.

The day concluded withan inter-school mathsrelay competition.Everyone had a brilliantday and we look forwardto meeting our newstudents again inSeptember.

On the Friday, we went toReaseheath; a agriculture andengineering college. We had ashort coach journey there andthen went to a lecture theatre tobe told where to go. We wereeach handed a special visitorstag to wear throughout the day.We were split into groups andhad a tour of the premises andlooked around inside almostevery part of the college. Mygroup went to the horse’s areafirst and we went around thestables. After that, we went intothe animal’s area and we walkedthrough a zoo like area. We sawfish, tortoises, lizards,porcupines and other animalsinside before going outside tosee wallabies, meer cats, birds,tortoises and some others. Afterthis, we looked at theengineering department. Theyhad welding stations and carsbeing taken apart in classes.They had tractors and enginesbeing build all inside differentbuildings.

Back in school we worked on aPathways website called U-Explore where we created outaccounts and went through thewebsite identifying lots ofdifferent jobs and qualificationsneeded for them. James Leyland 10B2

On the Thursday of EnrichmentWeek a group of Year 9 studentsembarked on a two hour coachjourney to the city of Leeds, tovisit the famous University ofLeeds. Although the trip therewas long and arduous, and theheat on the coach wassweltering, Mr Francis and theother teachers on board thecoach kept the class entertainedwith their witty jokes on the PAsystem… Well, they tried atleast!

Once we had arrived in Leeds,we were escorted by a fourwonderful tour guides into themain building. Here, we weregiven a talk about prospects at

Leeds University by one of theSenior Lecturers at theUniversity. We found out about awhole host of different courseswhich we didn’t know existed!Also we got told all about theoption of studying abroad for ayear, which I am sure made animpression on the group of usthere and made us want to studyabroad. Here’s what MarkHarvey in 9Ba2 had to say aboutit:

“Learning about studyingabroad, has really opened myeyes to the wide array of thingsyou can do at university. It’smade me really think about theoption of going somewhere hotand sunny, like Spain, to studyEnglish Literature for a year!”

After this talk, we got shownaround the university by fourundergraduate students. On thistour of the campus we gotshown all the different parts ofthe university, including its veryimpressive Olympic standardswimming oool. We also gotshown the different types ofaccommodation which you canchoose to stay in; it was such afun and insightful tour!

To end our time at Leeds, wefound out about our preferredlearning style; thanks to this Inow know I am a kinaestheticlearner, and an auditory learner.Everyone found this reallyenjoyable, and learnt a lot abouthow they can revise, and helpthemselves learn better.

Overall the day was amazing,and I can safely say everyonewho went would love to goagain!

Katie Barker 9B4

Summer Term 2013 75

Russia, the Homeland, thebirthplace of Lenin, Stalin andPeter the Great. Our motto forthe trip was leave no manbehind, but upon arrival inMoscow airport we had alreadyleft Harry Jamieson inManchester departures lounge,being gently soothed by ananonymous pensioner. Thejourney to Russia was tiring tosay the least, yet we still madeseveral interesting new friendsincluding an avid reader offarmers weekly and a t-shirtwearing мудак (Mudak).The Hotel Cocmoc, our residencein Moscow for the next twonights, greeted us with a delightful box of picnic items

such as cheese and…rolls. Thehotel itself was a Soviets dream,a concrete slab containingseveral luxurious restaurantsand a funky nightclub. Our firstexperience of Russia’s capitalwas horrendously cold, visitingthe numerous bleak attractionsMoscow has to offer, such asoverlooking the site of Moscow1980 Olympics and St Basil’scathedral. The tour guide waseverything you could expect andmore, bearded, named Serg andhad an iconic hate forMcDonalds. During our time inthe Capital we saw all themagnificent sites such as theKremlin, Red Square and thefamous GUM store, an expanseof photo opportunities. With atrip to the local shopping mall itwas a surprise to see past thecold, stern stereotypical view ofRussian culture and see thatthey too love the same cheap,tacky shops as us. We also hadthe chance to try the Russianfood, an array of unnameablemeats and steamed veg witheverything pretty much tastingthe same, of lard. It wasn’t alldoom and gloom though; wevisited the Great Patriotic Warmuseum dedicated to the manycountless Soviet lives lost in theSecond World War, a hugebuilding of calm and solitude,one of our most uniqueexperiences in Moscow. TheArbat was also a unique area ofMoscow, a large street filled tothe brim with tourist shopsselling a multitude of snowglobes and ‘I heart MOSCOW’ t-shirts, feeling more like aneighties Benidorm than the ex-Soviet centre of the world. Aftertwo days in the hustle of Moscow

we boarded the overnightsleeper train for St Petersburg,waving goodbye to Serg beforecrawling into luxury beds in ourexpansive cabins. This imagecouldn’t have been anywherefurther from reality, we found ourselves in tiny cramped‘cabins’, sleeping on basicallyboards of wood with little spacefor movement.

We arrived in St Petersburg earlythe next morning, half crippledfrom the night on the train andabsolutely shattered. Greeted byAnna a lovely welcoming lady,also our tour guide for our timein the cultural capital of Russia.Immediately the differencesbetween St Petersburg andMoscow were apparent, StPetersburg was a lot morehistorical, cleaner and generallynicer in most aspects. A touraround the city by coachacquainted us with all the sitesincluding The Winter Palace,several grand orthodox churchesand The Cruiser Aurora.Everyone of the sites andbuildings in St Petersburg wereextremely luxurious and fairlymajestic hence why it waspreviously the home to theRussian Royal family and themajority of the aristocracy.Having a bit of spare time toexplore the Nevsky Prospect, themain shopping centre of the city,although spending most of thetime searching for a McDonaldswe also discovered that theRussian people prefer to keepthemselves to themselves and afriendly hello was met with ablank face.

Grasping the Russian Culture


Year 7- Inter-SchoolperformancepoetrycompetitionAfter a successful inter-formperformance poetry competitionheld earlier in the year, our 3strongest performers; AaronTheard, Robin Fowles and OsianWilliams took part in theCheshire inter-schoolsPerformance poetry competitionon 12th June 2013.

The competition, which tookplace at Chester University, wasjudged by Dr Francesca Haig,course leader for creativewriting and a published poetherself!

In round 1, students wereasked to perform the poem thathad got them to the final. Therethen followed round 2 when thetop 5 students performed thepoem “The Sound Collector” byRoger McGough, having onlyhad 15 minutes to prepare it.The standard of theperformances was extremelyhigh, with parents and familyimpressed at the skills shownby the competitors. Despite thishigh standard, however, all 3 ofour competitors made itthrough to the final 5!

After constructive feedbackfrom Dr Haig, the top 3performers were announced,with Robin and Aaron making itinto 2nd and 3rd place.

Overall, the evening was a realsuccess for all the competitors.But special thanks goes toRobin, Aaron and Osian formaking the English departmentso proud!!!

Summer Term 2013 77

The Hotel in St Petersburg was alot more modern than Moscowfeaturing an indoor water parkyet equal amounts of gift shopsselling badly made Russian Dollsand Fur Hats. Yet this Hotel sawa lot less of the Russian Mafiaand Prostitutes we hadpreviously seen. On our secondday in St Petersburg we weregiven the chance to visit theHermitage, the world’s largestmuseum packed with countlessart exhibitions and abundantgold plated objects. To viewevery exhibition in theHermitage it would take over aweek, yet we were finished inabout an hour and a quarter,bogged down with oil paintingsand Greek sculptures. The Peterand Paul Fortress was our nextstop, a mighty symbol of Russianpower built by Peter the Great,but also home of many prisonersover the revolution and Stalin’sreign. Prisoners were forced toremain in tiny, cold cells, with noaccess to the outside world andterrible living conditions. Ourfinal night in Russia consisted ofa trip to a traditional folkloreshow, presented with thegreatest song and dance thecountry has to offer. A variety ofBelarusian dances and fareastern comedy, all set in agrand aristocratic ball room.Everyone was thrilled to watch adisplay featuring two smallpuppets wrestling and falling intothe crowd, Russia’s got talentmust be ecstatic.

The journey home wentsmoothly for most. Theexception being James Listerwho much to the delight of theRussian authorities tried to take

a brass, gun shaped pencilsharpener through security. Afterbeing taken into a suspiciousroom and thoroughly searchedfor at least half an hour, evenJames will admit it wasn’t thebest idea.

So ended our visit to the Soviethomeland, everyone will agree itwas a unique and a valuableexperience, visiting the manysites and grasping the Russianculture.

Students on the SlopesStudents on the Slopes


Ski Trip 2013Passo Tonale

The school ski trip was a hugesuccess this year. 40 studentsattended the trip from all agegroups within the school. As wearrived in resort the snow wasfalling and all students wereexcited about getting on the slopesthe next day. As we entered thehotel we were greeted with awarm and friendly reception fromthe hotel staff at the Negratellaand from this point on, we realisedit was definitely going to be a tripto remember.

The first morning saw an early riseby all, we had to eat breakfast,collect our equipment and head tothe slopes all by 9am. Once thestudents had their skis and mettheir tutors, it was all systems go.There was a warm up session atfirst, where the instructors couldwatch each individual and thenplace them in ability groups.Before we had even started thisactivity we had one student, whoshall remain nameless, whodecided it is was more interestingto join another school group butdidn't realise this until they wereall speaking another language! :-)

Looking back at the trip as awhole, there were so manyentertaining events that took placewith so many wonderfulcharacters, it only seems sensibleto highlight some of them. TomLacey in Year 11 was absolutelyfantastic, at one pointing I thinkhe spent most of the time on thefloor rather than skiing and thecomments made by his instructor

will haunt me forever "get up Tom"or "why is Tom on floor again" inan Italian accent. Freddie Hughes was like a Daredevil for his 'I don'tneed to stop or brake' style ofskiing. Jack Bailey was like ayoung Eddie the Eagle on Skis andMaria England should be takingpart in the next Winter Olympicsfor her superb ability.

Poor Ben Newnham couldn'tremember what hotel we werestaying in and walked straight pastit and must have thought tohimself 'where is everyone going?’Robyn McNally showed everyonehow to look good on the slopeswith her exceptional clothing rangeand skiing prowess. Joe Waltersthought he could fly and thenrealised he couldn't and landed ina heap on the floor. Ben Gregoryflew down the slopes at nightskiing and most people thought hewould end up in Switzerland as hewas going so fast, which in factwas a real credit to him as hepicked the sport up very quickly.Mr Axon and Mr Stenhouse wereonce again on call all week due totheir black diamond commitments,but we won't talk about that!

During the evenings students hadtime to relax, attend a pizza night,tried their skills at night skiing,attended a disco, entered a quizand enjoyed Passo Tonale's versionof 'Take Me Out' only Vanessa fromGavin and Stacy was the host,strange! Connor Reynoldstransformed himself into Shirleyfrom Eastenders and BenNewnham was the lucky who gothimself a date. Mr Barton alsotransformed himself and was thepick of the bunch, so much so thatMr Stenhouse couldn't resists.

Thanks to all staff who gave uptheir Easter break in order to allowthe trip to run and mostimportantly well done to everystudent who attended as yourepresented the school with superbbehaviour and effort. Many of thegeneral public at the airport andon the plan commented at howrespectful the students atChristleton High were and a realcredit to the school. Finally, withso much interest once again, theschool ski trip will be running atEaster 2014, once again at PassoTonale.

G Barton

Summer Term 2013 79


‘Be organised and ask for

help if needed’

Miss Bevan

Our Trip toBarcelona!


Arrival - The Year 8 and 9 footballteams were both ready toboard the plane to Barcelonafrom Liverpool airport, aftersaying their goodbyes andspending all of theirremaining English pounds invarious shops in customs.There was a feeling ofexcitement when the teamswalked onto the plane, amassive roar went up whenthe plane began acceleratingdown the runway!After arriving at the hoteleveryone was tired, so wewent to our rooms, on a fullstomach from the tea at thehotel.

1st Day - On the first day we had atraining session at FCBarcelona and then a matchagainst local opposition. Firstit was Barca training. Thiswas great fun as it was reallygood to experience adifferent way of playingfootball. We did variousdifferent exercises and it wasall just fantastic.

Then each of the four groupshad a game against localopposition. These were verytough matches in toughconditions (because of thehumidity) and we lost threegames and won one. It was agreat atmosphere and theteam learnt a lot from theexperience.

Our Trip toBarcelona!

2nd Day - The second day was quiterelaxing. After the journey toSpain, and then a physicallydemanding day the day after,the staff deciding that we allneeded a rest. Firstly, we hadbreakfast, which was reallytasty, and then we went downto the local beach. It wasreally good fun and a time torelax for all of the boys.We then went to the NouCamp - it was brilliant! Wegot to look at all of theirtrophies (they had quite afew) and Jamie Martin and Ihad our photo taken so itlooked like we were standingnext to Carlos Puyol!

3rd Day - We had more games againstthe local teams. This went alot different to the previousgame because we hadexperience of what theopposition would be like andhow to play against them.One Year 8 team won theirgame 2-1, with another year9 team winning comfortablytoo. Our other teams drewone game and lost one game.Rory Harper scored what hethought to be goal of thecentury, but it wasn’t reallythat good!

After this we watched thechampions league final andate pizza! It was a good laughand there was a bit of asupporters divide throughoutthe whole room!

4th Day - We went to another sessionof Barcelona training whichwas just as good, if notbetter. The session wasdifferent but they were stilltrying to teach us the samething, the FCB philosophy. We then went for our first FCEspanyol training session.This was really good as wellbecause it was teaching usyet another philosophy offootball.

5th Day - We visited a football shopnamed FutbolMania! Wesearched around the shoplooking for things to takehome with us, and it wasgreat to see so many Spanishitems and objects. Our last training session withFC Espanyol! It was anotherfantastic session and a goodend to the football on ourtrip.

6th Day(Departure)- There isn’t really much to sayabout this day apart from thefact that I had an absolutelygreat time, and I’m sure ifyou asked any of the otherboys that went, they’d saythe same. On behalf of theboys that went on the tour,thanks to everyone involved.

Tom Wyatt

Summer Term 2013 81

It’s A StringThing...The music department teamedup with Musical Routes(Cheshire West & Chester MusicHub) in May to provide a pilotwhole-class violin experiencewith some Year 7 students.Mimi Pearce, a string specialistfor Musical Routes, delivered aseries of 6 lessons and evenloaned each student a violin topractise at home.

Comments from some of thestudent include:“I was thrilled at this concept; itreally opened my mind to theviolin and I had a great time(despite how nervous I was!)”

“I have learned a lot over thesepast 6 weeks!”

“I really appreciate that you tookthe time to teach us some violinskills. Thank you!”

“Learning the violin was fun andexciting”

“We learned to play cool songs byMumford & Sons and other bands”

Miss Pearce, who usuallyteaches strings to primaryschool children, said:

“I have thoroughly enjoyedworking with Year 7 at Christleton.Their progress during our FolkFiddle project has been extremelyrapid, and I was delighted to workwith such a well-motivated groupof young people.”

Feedback and instruction videoswere given by means of asecure website so there wascommunication between lessonsas well. Thanks to Miss Pearcefor her exciting teaching and forigniting a new spark withinsome of our children.

Hello again!As I am sure you already knowmy name is Sylvia Wood and Iam the Pathway Careers Advisorfor Christleton High School. I am based here at ChristletonHigh School every Wednesdaywhen I will be involved inactivities such as guidanceinterviews, group work and talkswith students.

Any student who wishes to meetwith me for help, support, adviceor guidance related to careersand future pathways can makean appointment to see methrough Mr Francis or Mrs Varley.I will also be available at mostParents’ Evenings at school andappointments to meet me can bearranged for this as well. I canalso be contacted directly [email protected] this time of year many youngpeople are thinking aboutsummer or part time work. Thiscan be a really valuable way ofdeveloping all sorts of skills andexperience, although there aresome restrictions to bear inmind: -

Children are not allowed to work:

• without an employment permit issued by the education department of the local council, if this is required by local bylaws

• in places like a factory or industrial site

• during school hours

• before 7am or after 7pm

• for more than one hour before school (unless local bylaws allow it)

• for more than four hours without taking a break of at least one hour

• in most jobs in pubs and betting shops and those prohibited in local bylaws

• in any work that may be harmful to their health, well-being or education

• without having a two-week break from any work during the school holidays in each calendar year

There are also special ruleswhich only apply during termtimes and school holiday times.You can find more informationon these rules through thefollowing links:

https://www.gov.uk/child-employment/restrictions-on-child-employmenthttp://www.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk/residents/education_and_learning/early_years_and_childcare/education_welfare_service/child_employment.aspx

Good luck to all students whohave the opportunity for somesummer or part-time work. I look forward to getting to evenmore students in the Autumnterm..

Sylvia WoodPathway Careers Advisor

News from

Sylvia Wood,

our Pathway

Careers

Advisor…


A few weeks ago a group of Year10 and 11 students visited theNational Grid South ManchesterSubstation. We met the managerof the substation who gave us aninteresting talk about the role ofNational Grid in the country anda talk about the future of energy.We also got to walk across thesubstation with its largecomponents includingtransformers and generators.

I found the visit very interestingand it made clear to me howimportant energy conservationand sustainability is for thefuture of this country and ourlives. Kieran Trevor 11L5

Earlier this term a group ofabout twenty students and Iwent on a Pathways trip to theNational Grid. The day startedoff with a presentation on whatenergy actually is and how it’sproduced with some informationon the different types of powerstations there are.

After a quick break in smallgroups we were taken aroundthe site with our very own tour

guide; we had to follow some ofthe health and safety rules so weall put on our hard hats,luminous jackets and safetyglasses. We even got to go rightup to all the machinery wherethe electricity flows.

Later the company kindlyprepared a lovely lunch for ourschool which we all enjoyed.Lastly another man from thenational grid introduced us tothe topic of ‘Energy in theFuture’ mentioning many thingsto do with sustainable energyand new ways on powering ourdaily lives. A lot of his talk wasbased on what we can do to helpour planet to become moreefficient, what the people whowork for this company do andhow they try to predict theamount of electricity England willneed at a specific time of day.

All in all the trip was a greatsuccess and along the way Ilearned many new things; forexample, the weather forecasthelps the employees of theNational Grid to predict whenpeople will need more energyand when less.

Thanks to Mr Burns, MrsCharlton, and Mrs Charlton foraccompanying us.Dominika Sadczuk 10B4

Power to the People

Summer Term 2013 83

Mrs Harding – the head ofGeography – has beenleading a group of staffwho have been looking atan exciting new conceptcalled Building LearningPower.

Guided by an externalConsultant, a group of 14staff have been researchingand developing resourcesthat will promote greaterindependence in ourstudents and help themunderstand how to becomebetter learners.

Year 11:Pathway to a MedicalCareer

Emma Brand, HughGibson & Alice Russelllook forward to apossible future in

Medicine

“We visited Keele UniversitySchool of Medicine for a CareersDay which was veryinformative. The day helped inteaching us what life would belike when studying medicineand what subjects and gradeswe would need beforehand.

We took part in many activitiessuch as testing samples fordiabetes and looking at realorgans.

Overall we had a great day andit has really encouraged us tocontinue to learn aboutmedicine.”

Alice Russell 11B4Emma Brand 11B1Hugh Gibson 11B5 and Katie Gibson 11L2

Many thanks to Keele UniversityMedical School for providing thisfantastic opportunity!


Work Experience: Monday 14thto Friday 18th October 2013

Reminder: the week before October half term is WorkExperience week; this means that Year 11 students will be off-timetable for the week and be able to get valuableexperience of the world of work and a possible future career.

Research continues to show that in a highly competitive jobsmarket relevant work experience can make a huge differenceto students’ employability. Work Experience also helps withfuture decision making about careers; students canunderstand work likes and dislikes better, learn about anoccupation and decide whether it is for them.

At the time of writing we have received confirmation ofplacements for the vast majority of the year group.Companies and organisations kindly offering placementsinclude: -

• Airbus

• Chester District Housing Trust

• Unilever

• Bike Factory

• Blue Planet

• Scottish Power Energy Networks

• UHY Hacker Young Accountants

Thank you to all of the organisations who are assisting,and good luck to all our Year 11 students!

Calling all Year 11 Students…

...Work Experience week is

less than three months away!

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swan newsletter summer 2013

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