NTS NEWSLETTER AUTUMN TERM October 2014 Compiled by Mrs C. Crone School Librarian Mr Beechey KEEPING YOU INFORMED AT HOME The Nelson Thomlinson School High Street Wigton Cumbria CA7 9PX Tel. 016973 42160 Fax. 016973 49160 www.nts.cumbria. sch.uk Headmaster: Mr D.S. Northwood The Nelson Thomlinson School prize week ceremonies took place during the week beginning 22nd September. One day was designated for each year group and our main event, to celebrate the successes of our senior students, was held in St Mary’s Church, Wigton. The academic, sporting and musical achievements and the attitude and service of our pupils were all rewarded. We also gave prizes for students who achieved 100% attendance for the last academic year. This year, 143 students received awards and 183 received 100% attendance awards, our highest number ever! The School celebrates its Tercentenary this year with our Prize Ceremony being one of our many school events that draws upon the traditions of the School. Each year, it is a humbling experience to pay tribute to the academic talents of our students as well as to recognise formally the sheer hard work that goes into shaping their musical and sporting success. We are also proud to reward wider efforts such as outstanding contributions to the community as well as exemplary attendance. Founders Week this year was even more significant, of course, with the School celebrating 300 years of education in Wigton. Preston Newton was awarded The Innovia Films Community Award for co-ordinating the collection of 130 charity bags for the Great North Ambulance. The Year 9 student was touched by their help in rescuing a friend at a motocross rally. He decided to organise this and other events for the worthy charity. Clubs and Activities This year we have 50 lunchtime and 17 after school activities on offer. This gives the students an opportunity to get to know each other out of lessons in a more informal setting. Our clubs list is made available at the Year 6 Open Evening. It is also published on our school web site. School Council News In addition, a special award was made to four students who achieved 100% attendance during their whole school career, from Year 7 to Year 11. This amounts to 920 school days without a day off! Pictured are Sarah Wolstoncroft, Sam Mead, and Emily Turnbull (Kieran Litt also received an award). Founders’ Week 2014: A Significant Milestone During Founders’ Week, each year group has a Founders’ assembly where co-head prefects reflect on the history of the School. We also have a formal Founders’ service in St. Mary’s Church, Wigton, for our oldest and youngest students. This takes place on the nearest Thursday to the 11th October when the Boys’ Grammar School and Girls’ Grammar School officially opened their doors. The School Council had its first meeting of the year and voted Astrud Turner as Chair (12LP) for this year. In the same meeting Form representatives agreed upon our 3 charities for the year. These were: Crohns Colitis, Doctors Without Borders and Wigton Rotary Club and during our Founders’ Day service, over £400 was donated to these worthy charities. Sixth Form Ski Trip 2016 Our next ski trip is scheduled for 2016. With lots of skiing, a fancy dress day and plenty of opportunities to improve your technique together with your friends, the next trip to Clavier should be a good one. Our ski pass will give us wider access to the bigger resort! See Mr Beechey for details. We are currently six short of our minimum number. Do you want to win cash prizes? Yes! Then have a go at some of this year’s Hallewell Competitions! Competition 1 (open to Years 7-13) ‘Life at Nelson Thomlinson’ Take a picture which captures life at NTS. Use a camera or phone or sign out a camera from the ICT technicians via Mr Beechey. Be creative! Your winning entry will be featured on the school website. Year 8 Molly Armstrong 8CT, Cecilia Carlsson 8GDC, Joseph O’Regan 8MAH & Jodie Roberts 8DRF. Year 9 Shania Burgess 9SC, Eireann Devlin 9KLT, Beth Jennings 9CJ, Josh Pearson 9LJ & Joe Tweddle 9KLT. The standard was particularly high this year and all winners received a book prize. Well done! Bookbuzz – Free books for all Year 7s! Prize money is £50 in total for this competition. You can submit one image only. Deadline is Wednesday 12th November. Present the digital image to Mr Beechey on the day. Competition 2 (open to Years 8-10) History-Remembering the Great War. Produce a video presentation. Deadline for entries to Mr Priddle is before 11.25 am on 11th November. Prize money is £50 in total for this competition. Competition 3 (open to Years 7-9) Innovation and Enterprise Come with a product or service that will encourage reading and improved literacy skills in young people! It can be imaginary. Produce a mock prototype and present it in Dragons Den style to Miss Walker (Head of Business Studies) and Mr Beechey. Pictured above are some Year 7 pupils with a selection of the free books they were able to order from the Booktrust’s reading programme, Bookbuzz. This programme, ‘encourages reading for pleasure and independent choice and helps to develop a whole school reading culture’. For more information visit the parents and carers section of the Bookbuzz website at www.bookbuzz.org.uk/parents-andcarers/. FONTS Winners Mrs Hoskins Deadline for entries is Monday 3rd November. Total prize money for this competition is £50. Library News Mrs Crone National Poetry Day National Poetry Day was on Thursday 2nd October and the fitting theme this year was ‘Remembrance’. Students from Years 7-9 were invited to submit a poem relating to this theme and the winners were: We are fast approaching the end of this year’s 100 Club – only three months left! If you would like to join the 100 Club for next year, please email Mrs Hoskins who will send you the details: Year 7 Suzannah Brooks 7RCT, Sam Carruthers 7PAW, Oscar Delbourgo 7PAW, Alisa Hogg 7RCT, Hannah Martin 7RCT, Amber Riddick 7PAW, Daniel Scott 7RCT, Kate Southwell 7PJC, George Spark 7JES, Edward Stewart 7JES, Jessica Thompson 7PAW & Jodie Thompson 7RCT. [email protected] Please aim to return these before 31st January 2015 to be in with a chance of winning from the very beginning. Hard copies of the letter to join the 100 Club will also be issued in December. Geography Department News Miss Reynolds Mount Ontake Project A group of pupils from Years 7, 8 and 9 has undertaken research on the recent volcanic eruption of Mount Ontake in Japan. The group included: Josh Maggs-Rimmer, Keenan Baxter, Aaron Green, Sophie Naylor, Aiden Wright, Liam Harrison, Millie Watson, Taylor Newall, Will Gray, John Jackson, Jacob Fisher, Ethan Howard and Sol Fursdon. The pupils completed a variety of tasks ranging from a labelled model of a volcano to a newspaper article on the event. They have all been motivated to take part and have produced outstanding work. The end result is a display, showing the work produced, outside the Geography office. It was unveiled by Mrs Banks on 13th October velocity of the river at their particular sites. Some got to roll their sleeves up and test the water temperature up close as load samples were needed from the river bed ...brrrrr! Pupils worked really efficiently and even had time to take a few ‘selfies’ before we headed down to Keswick to look at the flood defences which help protect the town. (Pictured above - Sadie Jackson, Joanne Ridley, John Swainson, Matthew Birkett, Will Carter) Keswick wasn’t too busy with tourists as we navigated round the town discussing the variety of flood defences on offer there. Flood walls, embankments, land zoned areas and flood gates were all analysed to determine whether they were advantageous or a problem to Keswick in terms of its flood management. Overall a cracking day was had and enjoyed by all. Year 12 Rivers Fieldtrip – Mungrisdale Mr Knott and Miss Reynolds The weather was favourable and the pupils excited for our annual Year 12 fieldtrip to Mungrisdale/Keswick on 14TH October to study how the morphology of the rivers, Glenderamackin and Greta, changes as they flow downstream. Miss Reynolds, Mr Knott and nineteen intrepid students collected their equipment and set off up Bullfell Beck (a tributary of the Glenderamackin) to take their first measurements of a river in its upper course. This was followed by three other sites further downstream. Tape measures were stretched out and metre rulers were dipped to take width and depth readings, and pupils managed to get the hang of using the sophisticated flow-meter equipment to calculate the (Pictured above - Megan Taylor and Will Wrathall) Sports News Mrs Lee Netball Once again, a great start to the season with the U14s and U19s going through to the county finals in November at Sedbergh. Hockey Miss Wilson It has been a busy half term for the senior hockey teams, with most rounds of the county competitions for senior students being held before October 15th. The U19s travelled to Keswick to compete against teams from QEGS, Kirby Stephen, Appleby, Austin Friars, Keswick and Cockermouth schools. After a round-robin competition and excellent match play, NTS were runners-up losing to QEGS, Penrith by one goal. They now play against Sedbergh, QEGS and Queen Elizabeth, Kirby Lonsdale in the County Final in November. U19 Team Emily Ostritch (capt.), Holly Gordon, Beth Gebbie, Shakayla Okesene, Vicky Deane, Tabby Graham, Sophie Studholme, Amy Dixon, Molly Tweddle and Aimee Watson. The U14s travelled to West Lakes Academy last Thursday to play in the Allerdale and Copeland Tournament, which is the local round in the English Schools’ Competition. They finished top of the group and proceeded to the semi-finals against St. Benedicts, which they won. In the final, they defeated Keswick 13-9 and are now Allerdale and Copeland Champions. They proceed to the County Finals in November to play against schools from other Cumbrian districts. U14 Team Charlotte Bewley(capt.), Hannah McTear, Heidi Todhunter, Anna Middleton, Lissie Airey, Ella Southwell, Gabby Haugh and Emma Barwise. At U16 level, the newly established team missed out in their respective tournaments but are playing well in the league producing good results. At the U12 and U13 levels, all teams are keen and enthusiastic with the A teams in the respective age groups remaining unbeaten in their leagues. The First XI (pictured above), recently took part in the first round of the Cumbria U18 Tournament, which was hosted by Nelson Thomlinson at Wigton Astroturf. Having beaten QEGS, Penrith and Keswick School and been drawn against St. Bees School during the round-robin competition, the team qualified for the Cumbria U18 County Final, representing North Cumbria. The County Final was held a Sedbergh School on Wednesday 8 th October. The team faced strong opposition from the hosts from the off, eventually losing 2-0 to Sedbergh. Nelson Thomlinson then faced QEGS, Penrith. After a tight game, NTS scored with 10 seconds left on the clock to win the game. In their final match, the team faced an excellent team from Queen Elizabeth School, Kirkby Lonsdale, who went on to win the competition. Nelson Thomlinson eventually finished in 3rd place in Cumbria, a highly respectable position for all involved. Well done to all the players on another excellent start to the season! Cross-Country A long journey to Walney Island for the first round of the English Schools’ Cup saw our four teams compete against other Cumbrian schools. There were many good individual performances from Sarah Brookes, Molly Wren, Annie Bell, Adam Gordon and Ross Groves. However, as teams, the only team to qualify for the North West round was the Junior Girls’. Biathlon North West (Saturday 8th October) Molly Wren, Sam Clark and Hannah Gaddes competed as NTS in the above event. On the day, they ran and swam to finish as a school team in 4th position. Individually, Sam came 13th , Molly 15th and Hannah 28th. Congratulations to all three of them! The U14 (Year 9) team pictured above, also followed the success of the First XI and qualified as North Cumbria representatives in the County U14 Final. Again, Nelson Thomlinson hosted 5 teams at one section of the first round competition at Wigton Astroturf, with another 5 teams being hosted at Austin Friars School. The Year 9s faced strong opposition from Cockermouth School, Keswick School, UCC and St Bees School. However, they remained solid in defence and demonstrated some excellent attacking hockey to complete the afternoon undefeated, scoring 9 goals and only conceding 1, which meant they progressed to the county finals as section winners. The U14 County Final was held at Kirkby Stephen School on Wednesday 15th, where the team finished 3rd. An excellent achievement for a promising young squad. The U16 team has also played in its first round of the county U16 Competition at Cockermouth School. A slightly depleted team played with enthusiasm, determination and showed some promising team play, but did not progress through to the county finals on this occasion. Congratulations to all those who have represented the school this half term and to Zoe Irving (Year 10), who has been selected to represent the North of England hockey team. As a school, we have numerous players representing Allerdale Schools’ District and County Schools’ Football teams. This year has seen Liam Lightfoot & Jarrad Branthwaite added to that list, representing the district at Year 8 level. The pair had a successful debut beating Copeland Schools 3-2 AET, with Jarrad Branthwaite scoring the winner and Liam displaying a ‘Man of the Match’ performance. Overall, the first part of the season has been a successful one. On the field we are hoping that this continues and that, towards the end of the season, we have teams representing the school in the county finals and going as far as possible in the national competitions. Year 12 Health and Social Care Sign Language Lesson with Mr Whelpdale Mrs Cass and Mrs Johnston Football Mr Rudd So far this year, all NTS football teams have had a successful season. Last week was the annual Allerdale Schools’ District Finals at Cockermouth and we had 4 out of 5 teams which reached the finals, a tremendous achievement! At the finals, our pupils were magnificent, supporting and encouraging each other as well as performing in a competitive but sporting manner. We returned home with 2 out of the 4 trophies and the 2 games we lost were 3-2 and 2-1, which could have gone either way. School football practice has again been very well attended this year with players attending after school on Thursdays. At times, we have seen 80 players of all abilities attending, which is brilliant and we hope to see them continue to be committed to practices and fixtures throughout the year. Well done, boys! The Year 7 football players have had a great start to the season. They beat William Howard School, Brampton in the County Cup and are due to play Richard Rose Morton after half term. They also reached the Allerdale Schools’ finals by beating St. Josephs at home. Unfortunately, we lost out 3-2 in the final after having taken the lead and performing so well. It has been encouraging to see so many young players attending the training sessions, full of enthusiasm at both the lunchtime and after school practices - we hope this continues throughout the year as they are all part of the team. Our 6th Form football team has also made a good start to the season and remains in both the County Cup and is in the last 128 in the National Cup, where we will be looking to making progress into the last 64 in the country! So far, the boys have beaten Caldew School, Dalston and Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Penrith in very competitive games. The team will play Cockermouth School in the quarter final of the County Cup and Trinity School, Carlisle in the National Cup. On Thursday 18th September 2014, the two Health and Social Care groups were fortunate to have the benefit of learning some sign language techniques. As part of the A-Level course, AS students enjoyed investigating and demonstrating effective communication skills using only their hands and faces. The fun of being expressive and communicating accurately was made entertaining by Mr Whelpdale who graciously and competently demonstrated and encouraged us all to communicate clearly. Mr Whelpdale gave up his time to come and demonstrate greetings, conversation starters, colours and life skills which will all help our students to communicate appropriately and confidently with more people of all ages. The experience was lively with students and teachers conversing with each other in a friendly and sensitive way. The lesson was a lovely introduction and we are again grateful for Mr Whelpdale’s expertise and efforts. He continues to be a support and positive example to try new ways of communicating effectively with all.