Prudhoe Community High School

Newsletter

Summer 2nd

Edition

2017

Year 11 Prom at Matfen Hall Image courtesy of Debbie Young Photography

Contents

o NSGA Golf

o “Mr Corvan’s Music Hall”

o Year 12 First Aid

o Year 11 – 2014 to 2017

o Love Northumberland Awards

o Art Exhibitions

o County Athletics Championships

o English Schools Cup Regional Finals

o Wet & Wild

o Exam Results Days

o Year 13 Leavers & Prom

o Year 9 STEM Day

o “Nature v. Nurture”

o Play-in-a-day

o The European Apprentice

o PCHS Annual Awards Evening

o Madcap Musical Mayhem

o Sports Awards Evening

o Year 12 Celebration Assembly

o Geography Field Trip

o Summer Music Concert

o Headteacher review

o PSHCE Enterprise Project

o Uniform Update & Lost Property

NSGA Golf Competition Winners

Having won the County championships in style the schools golf team made the four hour journey to Woodhall Spa to compete against schools from across the country. The High School team of Dan Del Prete, Oliver Wilson, Josh Mcutcheon and reserve Josh Ward were unlucky with the practice conditions having to play through heavy rain. However, after a good night’s sleep in Lincoln we headed for a warm up session using England's golf academy practice area. The sun was out for the final round and spirits and confidence were high. But again the weather didn't help with a high wind to greet the players on the first. This later died down considerably to aid the later tee offs. On what was a tough course, the boys acquitted themselves with distinction and did the school proud but were some way off from winning this one as the top 3 schools had all played much later in the day in calm conditions. This is the first time in over 20 years that the school has qualified for the national finals.

‘Mr Corvan’s Music Hall’

On Wednesday 7 June our Year 9 students along with drama students from Years 10, 12 and 13, watched a performance of “Mr Covan’s Music Trunk” brought to us by Mr Corvan’s Music Hall Shadow Troupe, a group of four talented young people including one of our own former students. They presented a self-devised piece featuring ten of the songs written by Ned Corvan, the North East’s most famous music hall performer, a superstar of his day, which are featured in the current touring production.

Our students enjoyed a variety of songs both funny and tragic in the 45 minute production with a good old sing along.

Year 12 First Aid

The Year 12 students that study the Cambridge Technical Sport qualification, completed a one day First Aid course with St. John Ambulance. This practical course took them through all aspects of first aid from the recovery position, CPR and bandaging techniques and all students successfully achieved accreditation from the instructor.

Year 11 - 2014 to 2017

Friday 26 May was Year 11's final formal day of Key Stage 4 education at PCHS. After a long and demanding English exam paper, all were invited to a short reception in the Dining Hall where we had the chance to say farewell. The exam period continued after half-term and we are very proud of the professional manner in which all students have conducted themselves throughout the exams. We are confident that their efforts will be rewarded when the results come in on the 24 August. Finally, the 2014 to 2017 cohort has been a pleasure to work with and we wish them the very best fortune in the next stage of their education or career and beyond. Photos of the Prom and photo booth are available to view and purchase from Debbie Young Photography or by clicking here using the password given to Year 11.

A D Gray Head of Achievement and Learning for Year 11

Love Northumberland Awards

The success of the bee project continues at the Love Northumberland awards at the Alnwick Gardens. Molly, Maisie, Louis, Emily, Kelsey, Thomas, Sam and Nathan were announced winners of "The Best Young People's Project", a category for 11-25 year olds across Northumberland. Louis and Emily were there with Miss Earl to receive the award presented by the Duchess of Northumberland.

K Earl

Teacher of Biology

Art Exhibitions

GCSE Art Exhibition on Thursday 4 May with work by over sixty fantastic Art students.

A Level Art Exhibition was on Thursday 18 May attended by students, family, and friends from the local community. Well done to all our hard working and dedicated Art students.

D Wallace Subject Leader for Art

Northumberland County Athletics Championships 2017 The excellent summer of athletics continued with our best showing ever as a school at the County Athletics Championships held at Gateshead International Stadium on Saturday 9 June. With fine performances at the Area Athletics Championships we already had our largest number of qualifiers who all performed exceptionally well in very challenging conditions. High winds and driving rain is what welcomed the performers with the rain only easing over the last hour of the Championships! The performance of the day came in the Junior Boys 200m where Lewis Cant, already the winner of the Junior Boys 100m, set a new County record of 23.17 destroying the previous best by over two tenths - phenomenal. We had another double County Champion in Ellis Leonard who won both the Inter Boys Triple Jump and High Jump. Robyn Bennett just missed out on a personal best in winning the Senior Girls 3000m. Lottie Murphy met the Championship Standard in winning the Inter Girls Long Jump despite jumping into the wind when it was at its strongest. She was also narrowly beaten into third in the 100m. Sam Jolly won the Junior Boys Javelin by almost ten metres from his nearest rival. He showed his versatility by recording a personal best in the 1500m finishing behind an impressive Rowan Bennett who has knocked over 30 seconds off his 1500m personal best this year already. Also qualifying for the County team were Sophie Walsh (JG 75m hurdles), Joe Glenwright (JB 800mts) and Matthew Cant (IB 400mts). They will all compete in the Inter County Championships at Wentworth on 16 June.

County Champions Lewis Cant Junior Boys 100m, 200m Ellis Leonard Inter Boys High Jump Triple Jump Robyn Bennett Senior Girls 3000m Sam Jolly Junior Boys Javelin Lottie Murphy Junior Girls 100m

Silver medallists Matthew Cant Inter Boys 400m Sophie Walsh Junior Girls 75mt Hurdles Rowan Bennett Junior Boys 1500m Joe Glenwright Junior Boys 800m

Bronze medallists Lottie Murphy Junior Girls 100m Laura O’Neil Inter Girls 200m Archie Leonard Junior Boys High Jump Jack Boaden Inter Boys 3000m

English Schools’ Cup Regional Finals

The English Schools’ Cup is the premier school athletics competition of the summer where a team of fourteen have to compete individually in two events, one track and one field and gain points for the level of performance. On yet another cold and windy day the Inter Boys team posted an impressive 376 points in winning the regional finals at Middlesbrough Sports Village on the 12 June. In a tough field the boys competed with tenacity throughout to beat arch rivals Royal Grammar School into second by 15 points. The star performer was again Lewis Cant who ran a superb 11.5 seconds in winning the 100m and also recorded a distance over 10 metres in the shot putt gaining an excellent 44 points. Other high point scorers were:

Archie Leonard 34 High Jump 200m Alex Hall 33 Discus 200m Stephen Wilson 33 Javelin, 300m Dan Blewitt 33 Relay 800m Jack Newman 32 High Jump Relay Sam Jolly 31 Javelin 1500m Tom Stokoe 31 Shot Relay

Wet and Wild

Cameron Daly Year 9 began slalom canoeing this year with Hexham Canoe Club. He is now competing in Division 3. He has competed at Wark, Bingley, Alva and Fairnilee so far this season. He is currently positioned 60th in his division and 101st for his age group nationally. We as a school are very proud of Cameron's achievements so far and wish him every success for the future. Well done Cameron!

Exam Results Day Information

Year 13 Leavers & Prom

Friday 26 May saw our Year 13 students say goodbye to PCHS on their last formal day of Sixth Form.

Tutor groups had been set a challenge by the Sixth Form Tutors to produce a fifteen minute video to be shown in their leavers’ assembly. Much hilarity, laughter and many cringeworthy moments were viewed with lots of hard work and originality and talent in evidence especially from 13AD and 13TS’s dancing, acting and editing skills. 13JPN embraced Wi-Fi technology to produce a Kudos Quiz to test everyone’s knowledge of ‘What went on in Y13’! The assembly was followed by ice creams and goodbyes with staff in the LRC before they all headed off to start their preparations to arrive beautifully presented at the Falcon in Prudhoe, ready to travel to the Prom at The Vermont Hotel in Newcastle for dinner, awards and dancing later that evening.

Our thanks go to everyone in Year 13 for being such a fantastic year group, all on the Prom committee for their hard work and organisational skills, and to everyone who contributed to the Yearbook.

Year 9 STEM Day

STEM Ambassador Ian Buckle from ‘Tomorrow's Engineers’ delivered a Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths day on Tuesday 11 July which encouraged Year 9 students to consider the world's energy problems and the use of alternative renewable energy resources. Students worked in teams to plan and build a solar powered vehicle without instructions. They then had to work out how to charge them enough to be able to compete against the other teams as they raced against each other over a set distance.

Nature v Nurture – Year 13 Performing Arts

Level 3 Cambridge Technical Diploma in Performing Arts students presented their final show piece for the Examiner. The performance was entitled “Nature/Nurture” and was also showcased as a public performance later that day. This hard-hitting subject matter was handled with their usual professionalism and sheer determination and brilliance. Well done to everyone involved, they have put a tremendous amount of work into this course and we know that the results will be fantastic.

PCHS would like to wish everyone every success on your next chosen steps.

CURTAIN UP – PLAY-IN-A-DAY

On Monday 10 July, year 7 students from Ovingham and Highfield Middle Schools came up to Prudhoe Community High School to put together a Play-In-A-Day – “Junk!” written by Mr Boyd.

The aim of the event was to get several departments to work together creatively on the theme on the environment and litter.

In Mrs Clark’s physical theatre group, a mix of eight girls from both schools contributed to the performance by creating movement-based reactions to the script, to perform as a Greek Chorus alongside actors from Mr Boyd’s script group. Our challenge was to rehearse and perform the script wearing white masks and gloves, starting from scratch and performing to a full house of parents and friends at 6pm. We wanted to create a huge and scary Junk Monster which gradually eats up various members of the cast and ultimately the audience!

Five Year 10 Drama students spent the day working with the group during their time in school and performed alongside them in the evening performance. We all enjoyed working with the Year 7s who were enthusiastic and engaging throughout the day. They worked hard and brought a youthful energy to the school and all said they enjoyed their time here. The group were keen to take part in the final performance later that night and gave their all!

It was a fun and productive experience for the Year 10s involved and we hope our joining in encouraged and made the Year 7s feel welcome during the day, giving them an idea of what Drama at the High School is like.

Overall it was an amazing day and the final performance was brilliant!

Edan Barker, Sam Jones, Abbi Potter, Lucy Robinson and Lauren Young – Year 10 Drama

The European Apprentice

The MFL Department accompanied ten of our Year 10 students to Newcastle University to take part in the European Apprentice competition organised by Routes into Languages on Wednesday 12 July.

The students had to use their French skills in order to sell a product looking at customer service using their translation, speaking, listening and writing skills. Students really enjoyed the day and got a lot out of it. We didn’t win but the students showed great teamwork skills and made the school proud.

T Larrateguy Assistant Subject Leader of MFL

PCHS Annual Awards Evening – Year 9

PCHS Annual Awards Evening – Year 10

Photo Courtesy of Debbie Young Photography

MADCAP MUSICAL MAYHEM

Die-hard fans of PCHS school shows have, in the past, been known to turn up dressed for the icy blasts of the old school hall, carrying their own cushions as defence against the bum numbing plastic seats, but confident in the knowledge they were about to be thoroughly entertained. Those days are gone. The new venue is positively balmy in temperature and the seats are comfy. There’s nothing to do but sit back and lose yourself in the typically madcap dark musical magic that’s happening on stage, and that’s what happened last week during the run of ‘Alice’, a brand new musical adaptation from the pens of teachers Karl Boyd and Yvonne Rushmere.

Keeping closely to both ‘Alice’ books by Lewis Carol and incorporating most of his original poems set to music, such as ‘Jabberwocky’ and ‘The Walrus and the Carpenter’ as well as many new songs carrying parts of the narrative, this was a slickly directed, face paced, visually stunning, hilarious adaptation with some incredibly dark moments. Julia Maughan as Wonderland Alice not only looked the part but showed real range as both an actress and a singer as she navigated the weirdness, hardly leaving the stage for over an hour.

She captured Alice’s childlike wonder, confusion and at times, real fear wholly convincingly, handing over the baton to Charlotte Jones as Looking Glass Alice in Act 2, who gave an equally outstanding performance as a sassy, bratty but at times vulnerable and in a couple of numbers, an out and out diva.

Prudhoe productions always involve a strong ensemble cast and ‘Alice’ was no exception, with almost all actors playing at least two roles. Adam Winskill is to be congratulated for his stamina as much as his acting ability, playing just about every incidental small role from a talking crab, to clouds and a station master on top of being the Gryphon and The White King – a great Wonderland running gag. This year’s ensemble performed a cohesive role in maintaining the fluidity of the performance, which included constantly resetting with black and white blocks of different heights. The use of multi-media with projections of the original John Tenniel drawings and live-feed for giant Alice also contributed to the overall effect, as did the illusion of Wonderland Alice and Looking Glass Alice swapping places simultaneously on different sides of the acting space, so hats off to Technical Director Malcolm York who designed it. With original props by Karl Boyd and Technician Conor Browne, who also helped construct the staging blocks and sumptuous costumes from the hand of Mrs June Boyd, no matter where you looked there was something to gladden the eye.

There were so many stand-out performances. Versatile Calum Bruce who went from being a frantic White Rabbit in Wonderland to a Scotch Egg of a Humpty Dumpty and a suave Lion in Looking Glass. Emma Richardson’s wonderful Queen of Hearts / Red Queen underwent unnerving changes of personality mid-sentence, whilst puppeteering her own husband whilst Katie Robinson’s Duchess was similarly unhinged. Thomas Why’s Mad Hatter was terrifying in the best possible way and the whole sequence of his tea party with Lewis Gate’s comic March Hair and Darci Wilson’s inspired French snoozy Dormouse was executed brilliantly. Also comic gold were Megan Goodwin’s tearful Winehouse-esque Mock Turtle and Megan Leonard’s Ska dancing Caterpillar who suffered a salty fate at the hands of the Red Queen, drawing a decided “No!” from the audience who couldn’t quite believe she’d committed the murder. Simon Weatherspoon’s cross-dressing, boozy Cheshire cat was thoroughly entertaining, as was Olivia Grevett’s fragile, scatty but overwhelmingly “glad” White Queen.

The hilarious battle of Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, played by identical twins Cara and Jordan Shipley escalated into full scale tank versus aircraft warfare, whilst in the Looking Glass Garden, chav Daisies with attitude - Louise Withnell and Holly Thorndycraft-Park - took on the more “cultivated” Rose and Tiger-Lily, played with convincing degrees of posh by Selma Bahner (also the Unicorn) and Megan Goodwin. Even with so many stunning voices on display, Lauren Young’s easily offended moody Mouse ballad stood out, as did Holly Thorndycraft-Park’s and Catherine Revill’s in (Ada and Mabel) in ‘Who in the World’. Abi Potter was strong in her range of cameos, particularly as the terrified Knave of Hearts and Lucy Robinson convincing as both the Cook with attitude and the Faun. As with a number of Year 13s, this was Fin Baird’s first school show, and he made his presence felt, particularly during moments of physical theatre.

Special mention must go to veteran of 7 school shows, Year 14 student Amy Connolly, who really showed her comic timing, particularly as the Frog and the youngest member of the company, Louis Boyd, who aged only 7, carried off his roles as Executioner and Messenger entertainingly. Definitely one to watch.

T

This was two hours of sheer entertainment. It always is. What you get with PCHS productions is originality and talented young performers who clearly absolutely love what they are doing. It’s Rushmere & Boyd’s take on ‘Dracula’ next year, so look out for the dates and get them into your diary because if the performance of ‘Eternal Flame’ by new leading actor Selma Bahner which closed Friday’s show is anything to go by, tickets will be like gold.

Y Rushmere Assistant Subject Leader - English

Sports Awards Evening

Year 12 Celebration Assembly

On Friday 14 July we celebrated subjects’ achievement in Year 12 during our final assembly of summer 2017

Our congratulations to all students and we look forward to seeing you continue your successes in Year 13!

Geography Trip to Newbiggin by the Sea The Year 10 Geography GCSE students braved an unseasonably cold day out in Newbiggin by the Sea as part of the fieldwork of their new GCSE. 82 students travelled with staff to the town to complete activities which covered both the Physical and Human Geography components of the course. Students looked at the potential risks of coastal erosion and flooding and how they are being managed by local government. They also looked at whether Newbiggin is a 'clone' or 'home' town and what is being done to regenerate the area. A windy but very successful day out!

T Pollock Subject Leader of Humanities

Summer Music Concert

On Wednesday 28 June, the Music Department at PCHS put on their first school concert this year. Held in the hall, it had students from across the school age performing and even one composition thrown into the mix.

Starting with a soloist, Courtney Heslop sang “Chasing Pavements” by Adele which segued seamlessly into the Y9 Guitar Quintet (Clare Anderson, Matt Erving, Bailey Maughan, Bridie Newton and Ruby Oliver) with Courtney guest singing “Chasing Cars” by Snow Patrol. Three Y10s then delivered solos; Catharine Revill singing “Hallelujah”, Maia Wilcox playing a piano cover of “Zombie” by the Cranberries and Holly Maxwell singing a haunting rendition “Panis Angelicus”.

The Y10s continued to showcase what a fantastic year group they are with a trio of exuberant performers in the guise of Louis Wild (piano), Sam Jones (guitar) and Ruben Hope (drums). They have formed a band called “Presto Pesto” (don’t ask…) and played a trio of songs. Not to be outdone, Tom Histon then performs a highly impressive drum solo to “Disfigure” whilst having to cope without a backing track. Finally, the school band consisting of many of the students who had already performed in addition to rising star Billy Shrimpton (Y9) to “Gimme Gimme Gimme”, “Rolling in the Deep” and “Don’t Stop Believing”.

The tea and scones provided by the kitchen staff as refreshments went down a treat and the concert ran remarkably tightly to its predicted hour runtime. To finish, Mr Tate would like reiterate his thanks; to the students who performed, the family members who came to watch, the SLT for their support, Mr Boyd for the lights, the kitchen staff for the refreshments and the site staff for all their help in shifting equipment and staying late to lock up.

J Tate Subject Leader of Music

Headteacher Review & Farewells

It is hard to believe that it is a year since we were packing up and moving into our new school building. It has been a really positive and busy year and we have been really impressed with how well our students have settled into new school routines and seem to be enjoying school life in fresh and bright surroundings. This term has been eventful, our annual Awards evening for Year 9 and 10 reflected the progress and hard work of our lower school groups, Year 11 celebrated with their Prom at Matfen Hall as did Year 13 at their Vermont Hotel Leavers’ Event. Our PE department have been especially busy, and Performing Arts finished off an eventful year with an exceptional performance of ‘Alice’ as our school show and a performance of ‘Nature v Nurture’. In addition we staged a ‘Summer Music Concert’, where the audience was entertained by a range of beautifully performed musical genres. Art exhibitions celebrated the dedication and creativity of our GCSE and A level artists and were well attended by parents and students.

At time of writing we have a school trip which has just departed to Iceland, a group of students are on a multi sports visit to Spain and students on our annual Paris trip are in Disneyland! Year 10 will begin our World of Work event, the next stage in our supporting students in terms of their potential career planning, as year 12’s also embark on week’s work experience. As the school year draws to a close we say farewell to Mr Marshall and Mr York after a combined total of 75 years’ service to Prudhoe Community High School. Mr O’Brien and Mr Screaton are also moving on having finished maternity covers for Mrs Davies and Mrs Warkman, whom we welcome back in September. Mrs Hope is joining her family over in the Lake District after a year of commuting and so we also welcome Mr J Chaytor to Maths and Mr A Gregory to the PE department. Just a reminder that we open for A Level results on 17 August at 8.00am and for AS/Vocational (Year 12) at 9.30am and for GCSE at 9.00am on Thursday 24 August. We hope that our examination results this summer reflect the dedication and tremendous hard work of both our students and staff, and we thank all our parents/carers for their support too. D Reeman Headteacher

.

Photos from our trips to Barcelona, Iceland and Paris

PSHCE Enterprise Project As part of our Year 9 PSHCE (Personal, Social, Health, Citizenship and Enterprise) Education programme, our teaching team have been working with the Year 9's to promote and understanding of Enterprise and being a 'self-starting entrepreneur'. Last term, the students were encouraged to research, plan and conduct an enterprise activity. The students did an incredible job and came up with a range of ideas from selling cakes to a crazy hair day! Even better than that, all Year 9 classes who together made a total profit of £336.82

9 MY - £226.65 9 TMP £40.51

9 SLW £26.95

9 SPR £18.67

9 KB - £17.85

9 TVM - £6.19

A staggering total of £226.65 was raised by 9 MY (£123.35 boys team and £103.30 girls team) who were the overall winners. Year 9's decided that their profits should go to Breast Cancer Awareness, MacMillan Nurses and Help for Heroes. The rest of the profits will be allocated to the School Council who are planning to get some new outdoor seating soon. We would like to say a huge thank you to all those students who took part in this challenge and the staff and students who bought countless items for the project. Well done Year 9 - we have some potential ‘Entrepreneurs’ in the making.

Uniform Update

Following a number of parental queries we wish to clarify the rules regarding appropriate footwear for school, prior to purchases for the new school year. Our uniform policy states that students should wear ‘Plain Black Shoes’ for school and that: ‘Shoes should be one colour, leather or leather-look, without labels or writing which is often found on trainers, boots e.g. Uggs, are not allowed’.

Increasingly manufacturers are blurring the lines around school shoes including the type of shoes that they display under this heading in their stores. To support you in ensuring that students arrive to school in footwear that is allowed by the school we have looked carefully at the types of shoes that are in the marketplace and that students are currently wearing to school and provide some images below as a guide to what will and will not be acceptable here at PCHS.

Acceptable

All leather or leather look, no markings

No list can ever be exhaustive and if in doubt you should refer to the uniform policy which remains unchanged and is above. We would also like to take this opportunity to remind you that students do require separate and appropriate footwear for PE lessons or activities

Not acceptable

Not all black

Fabric

Trainer

Boot

Ugg type Boot

Fabric & Trainer

Lost property We have two large crates filled with PE kit, trainers, lunch boxes, outdoor wear, jewellery and toiletries. None of these items are named. If you know your child has lost something please contact our Pastoral Area. Any unclaimed items will be taken to the charity shop at the end of term. Finally we wish everyone a good summer break and a reminder that term start times are as follows: Year 9 Tuesday 5 September Year 12 Induction Tuesday 5 September Year 10, 11 and 13 start Wednesday 6 September Year 12 start timetable on Friday 8 September

Prudhoe Community High School Moor Road

Prudhoe Northumberland

NE42 5LJ Tel: 01661 832486

Email: enquiries@pchs.org.uk Web: www.pchs.org.uk