School news

GCSE Applied Science Health Care Interviews
Year 11 GCSE Applied Science students had the opportunity to interview health care professionals. They will use these interviews as the starting point for one of their pieces of coursework. The students were able to speak to a clinical psychologist, GP, radiologist, dietician, midwife, educational psychologist, mountain rescue and pharmacologist. The pupils commented on how interesting the session was and how it was better than a normal lesson! Thank you to all the health care professionals who took the time to help them with their work.

Lost Property:

1. All found items should be handed in to Student Services or PE

2. If an item is named the staff will contact the student and let them know their property has been found

3. If an item is not named it will be placed in the Lost Property storage areas in Student Services and PE

4. Students wishing to look for lost property should ask at Student Services or PE

5. Once each Half Term the Lost Property is brought out at 15:00 into a classroom and students invited to come and look through for missing items

6. At the end of each Term (December, March/April, July) the items are sorted as follows:

   • Damaged/worn/torn items disposed off
   • Good quality items donated to charity/Great Generation projects
   • Items of school uniform in good quality washed and stored for school use

Playwright visits Calder High

On 2 December, Year 8 students were privileged to have an audience with Willy Russell, writer of plays and muscials including Educating Rita, Shirley Valentine, Blood Brothers and a novel, The Wrong Boy. Mrs May introduced Willy to the students and he then spoke to them in a very natural and genuine way, giving them a flavour of what he experienced in his school days and what motivated him to learn and to keep on learning. After his talk, the students were invited to ask questions and they did. They were particularly interested in the process of writing and how the writer relates to his audience. The visit was truly inspirational for the students and the staff who attended the session. Thank you to Mrs May for organising the event and to Willy for giving us some of his time to inspire another generation of aspiring writers.

Rotary Shoebox Appeal

Many thanks to everyone who responded to the Shoebox Appeal. Over 100 boxes were collected from the school on Friday, 25 November.

Year 11 Prom
After months of build-up and planning on both sides, students and staff from Calder High School came together to celebrate the success of Year 11, at the annual Prom, hosted at Liquid Night Club. Staff gathered early to welcome students as they arrived at the venue in Halifax town centre, in all manners of style and ostentation. Vintage vehicles, luxurious limousines, and a variety of trendy transport appeared to deliver the stylish students to their red carpet reception.

“It was a lovely evening” said Headteacher, Mrs Spillane “and a fitting end to a year of hard work by both students and staff.”

With GCSE exams complete, students were relaxed and feeling nostalgic over their time spent at Calder. Midway into the night, a celebratory ceremony was held to congratulate the excellent educational achievements of students. Pseudo Oscar awards were handed out to acknowledge some of the characters in the year group and certificates given for outstanding achievement in different subjects. There were also awards for 100% attendance and the best dressed male and female. The finale of the ceremony was the “Grand Draw” for the much sought after iPad, kindly supported by PC Solutions in Mytholmroyd.

Mrs Kaye, Raising Attainment Coordinator and Personal Tutor at Calder High, said: “the build up to the Prom Celebrations is always frenetic because both students and staff are working hard to make the most of every opportunity to improve the students final exam results. Our Year 11 have worked really hard and deserved their night of celebrations; I am so proud of them all and pleased that I could share it with them.” 

The dress ensembles on the night are a testament to the diversity in character of students at Calder High. Girls adorned an array of dresses, from the chic contemporary, to classically beautiful; and the boys were not to be outdone on the style front, sporting statements of experimental interpretations of traditional, formal fashion; combining their own young style with the typical tuxedo.

Students and teachers danced into a glamorous night that marked the end of a memorable era, but the start of a promising future.

Written by Lyndsey Ashton


Year 6 Mathematics Challenge

Primary schools from the local area sent some of their children to Calder High to take part in a Maths morning organised by some of the Maths staff. Pupils in the morning experienced just how fun Maths can be by working around some practical Maths activites.

The second session saw the pupils competing in a Maths race around the LRC which saw pupils from Riverside take the top spot. All pupils were a credit to their primary schools and fun was had by all.

Mr R Glascodine, Mathematics teacher


Eco Garden update (report by Miss C Tooth)
Lots of seeds were set in Feb/March by some Year 7 and Year 8 Catering classes (with Miss Black and Mr Penson). The aim was to grow vegetables to make some delicious dishes with in class. We had a greenhouse full of seedlings which have now been planted out and are all doing really well! There are peas and borlotti beans, runner beans, onions, tomatoes, courgettes, rocket and fennel. Already, we can see baby courgettes, strawberries, peas and some fabulous bright purple turnips! We have planted marigolds with the tomatoes to deter pests and we're using organic fertiliser!

In April, the Orange Pathways group spent an afternoon improving the garden; they helped repair the greenhouses, planted some fruit trees and built a new raised bed which is now full of vegetables.

New additions to the fruit bed include Apple, Cherry and Elder trees, joining the gooseberries, rhubarb and blackcurrants. The Year 7 Girls in the Garden Group planted sunflower seeds (with Miss Tooth)and the race is on for the tallest and the biggest sunflowers!

Arts news (More images: Photo Gallery)

Showstoppers

It’s that time of year again when GCSE Drama students step out on the boards, to perform a variety of songs and dances from the best known musicals. On 27 June, almost 70 Year 10 Drama students took part in the Expressive Arts department’s annual production of ‘Showstoppers’. An audience of over 200 people were treated to an evening of entertainment from the future stars of Calder High School.

The evening was full of numbers from musicals such as Hairspray, Grease, High School Musical, Oliver, and many, many more. As it is Mrs Leicester’s last performance at Calder High School, there were staff performances in there as well! Mrs Melnyk and  Mrs Leicester would like to say a big ‘well done’ to all the students who took part in the evening, and thank you to all staff and parents who came to support the students, the faculty and the school. 

Netball highlights

Year 10 Netball star
Olga Machado-Legal has represented the Calderdale area team in a district competition.~

Olga was selected to play for the first team as Goal Defence, making some fantastic interceptions and attacking the ball well through the court.

The tournament, held at Bradford College was one of four competitions that Olga trains for every other week with the squad .

Coach McKinney
Mrs McKinney coached the Calderdale under 15 netball teams in an inter-area tournament this month. The girls are selected from schools throughout Calderdale and train every other week. They are representing their area against other regions; Wakefield, Leeds, Kirklees and Bradford. The first team were very successful and were undefeated champions heading into their last game of the day. They missed out on winning by one goal but performed well. We have two training sessions before the next tournament and we will be aiming to win!

SuperLeague Netball action!
The Yorkshire Jets Superleague netball team is a brand new netball franchise that has been born out of Leeds Carnegie. The team is one of eight top teams in the UK who play netball on Sky Sports. Mrs McKinney plays for the Yorkshire Jets. The team recently played in the Fast Net Grand Prix tournament. The games went to elimination with Yorkshire Jets eliminating Celtic Dragons and the home favourites Surrey Storm in hotly contested games. Jets were in the final but lost out to another northern team. The first Superleague game of the season is on Monday January 23 and 30 young Calder High Netball players will be in the crowd supporting the Jets!

Calder United Net Mondays
PE teacher, Mrs J McKinney (nee Davies) is encouraging older female pupils to continue to be involved in sport as they mature and motivate them to play netball when they leave school and become adults. The other aim of setting up the Calder United Netballl team is working on the England Netball 'back to netball' programme to encourage those members of staff who have not played competitive sport for a few years to be reignite their passion and play for 'Calder United'. And to achieve this she has put together a Netball team of staff members and Year 11 girls and they are now playing in Division Three of the North Bridge LC Monday League. They have some tough fixtures ahead in the new year but Mrs Mckinney feels they are up to the challenge. Her experience of playing for Wales in the world championships in July and also playng for the Yorkshire Jets in Super League is motivating the team to improve and gain confidence.

Boys' Football Fixtures and Results

Calderdale Schools Football Association results 2011
Calder High's Football Teams were awarded 2nd place in Calderdale after just one season in the top division.

Results from the Year 7, year 8 and year 9 leagues were put together with Calder finishing behind Brooksbank as the overall Champions. The Year 7 team actually finished 2nd in the particular league, Year 8 finished 3rd and Year 10s ended in 4th position.

Our Year 9 team finished above Brooksbank as Champions of Calderdale having played 5, won 4 and drew 1. The team included: Sam Bragg, Jacob Dobson, Cal Bowmer, George Hampshire, Alfie Farrington, Sam Sharkey, Finley King, Joe Faz, Toby Standring, Dan Vile, Sam Parkinson, Bertany Moukela, Cal Wheelwright, Joe Lally.

Year 9 rounders tournament: Semi finalists!!
The girls were fantastic beating 4/ 5 teams to make the semi final!

St Catherines: 7 1/2 to their 3 1/2
Sowerby Bridge: 9 to their 2 1/2
Rishworth: 81/2 to their 5 1/2
Hipperholme and Lightcliffe: 6 to their 3 1/2
Brooksbank beat us in the Semi-final: 7 to 2 1/2

English Schools Fell Running Championships (16 October 2011)

The Year 10 and 11 team finished 2nd and were beaten by Bingley Grammar by only 2 points. The team results were: Max Wharton, 1st ; Edan Whitelaw, 21st; Finley King, 30th. There were 43 runners in total.

Year 8 runner, Martin Howard came 24th out of 64...a great achievement!

Year 7 were competing in a field of 48 runners and had excellent results: Thomas Nelson, 5th; Ralph Boggis, 21st; Dylan Brereton, 34th; Rory Joe Stocks, 39th; Fergal Myers Hill, 44th.

It was a fantastic effort from all the Calder High runners. Well done!

Science teacher, Mr Emberton, has been selected again this year for the England Orienteering Team competing at the Veteran Home International Match taking place near Aberdeen on the weekend of 8th- 9th October. His selection comes after a year of good training and results. His local clubs, Calder Valley Fell Runners and East Pennine Orienteers are both really active and if anyone would like to find out about getting involved in either sport, he is more than happy to give them advice. His sponsorship by local Physiotherapy Clinic, "Back to Fitness" has made a big impact this year. They are about to open a new clinic in Cragg Vale and work with both athletic and other general injuries.

Calder High student and CVFR runner, Max Wharton, has also made his international junior debut for the England Under 16 squad. He finished in a close second place on his first international race at Llamberis, Snowdon.

Visits

French Exchange: October 2011
In the week before half term, 42 students from Years 9 to 11 travelled to Hebden Bridge's twin town in France, St Pol Sur Ternoise, to take part in our annual exchange visit.

As well as staying with their host families and practicing their French language skills, the students enjoyed visits to Paris, Brussels, Arras and some of the sites marking the areas' involvement with both World Wars. A fantastic trip and we look forward to the French student's return visit to Calder in March next year.



Photos:

Triple Science students in London (More images: Photo Gallery)

In July, 29 triple science students from year 11 travelled to London to visit two museums, the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum. They also got the opportunity to see the theatre production of 'The Lion King'.  Both the museums were excellent and had many exhibits that were relevant to the curriculum that the students are studying. The trip was an absolute delight to lead, our students were excellent ambassadors for the school and their behaviour was impeccable. The current year 10 triple students will be offered the opportunity to attend a similar trip next year.

Mrs C Swain
Curriculum Leader Biology


Year 7 French Trip: May 2011 (More images: Photo Gallery)

In May a group of Year 7 French students hopped over the channel to practise their French and sample the delights of French culture. As part of the journey down to Paris, we made a detour to Boulogne to see the fantastic National Sealife Cente - Nausicca - where stroking the Stingray was essential.

In the action-packed few days the students managed to squeeze in romping up the hundreds of steps to the second floor of the Eiffel tower, as well as visiting other famous sites like Notre Dame and Montmartre. The Chateau de Grande Romaine was the base for the three nights - where there was the opportunity for students to swim and participate in fun team games.

As well as stopping at the market town of Brie-Comte-Robert on the way home, there was time to go to Parc Asterix and experience dolphin and acrobatic shows.


Bangladesh 2011 update


The Pirganj Government High School and Calder High partnership is in its third year. We are fortunate enough to have frequent communication with our school in Bangladesh and are coming up with some exciting ways to link our exciting new leadership ventures to the work that they are doing with their handball and cricket teams.

It is nice to be moving forward together.