Spooked!
The winners of the pumpkin carving competition have been announced. Congratulations to the winner Daniel Steane, whose skull design was praised for its simple but effective design. Also highly commended were Sam Thorpe for the cat design and Charlotte Tait-Mellor’s ghost.
SciTech Fun draws huge crowds
For the fourth year in a row the crowds flocked in their hundreds to Chapel-en-le-Frith High School’s annual SciTech Family Fun Day. More than 1000 guests from across the country enjoyed a wealth of fun educational activities which ranged from falconry displays, fire breathing, exploding custard and family cooking to robotics, laser cutting and exotic animal handling.
Designed for the whole family, the event puts the enjoyment of science, maths and technology very much to the fore. And whether they were creating a smog-smothered sunset in the Lab on a Lorry or exploring the history of technology through changes in toys over time or handling a nine-foot python, the kids, their parents and their grandparents were clearly enjoying learning.
The school, a specialist Technology college, saw record numbers of guests enjoying the many attractions throughout the day. Headteacher Stuart Ash was very pleased by the whole event. “It’s clearly a big day for us as a school. We’ve been planning for many months as a team and seeing it all come to fruition, seeing so many families coming through the main doors and enjoying what we had on offer was such a thrill. We understand that the community round here has a rich heritage of science and technology and we’re extremely proud of our place in the heart of that community. Being able to put on an event like this which gives something unique back to people in this area is one of the delights of the day.”
Guests were similarly delighted by what they saw. Raymond Watson was visiting with his family from Sheffield. “Last year we were passing, saw the sign and came in. This year, we made sure that we had the date in our diary. I just don’t know of anything else like it – a free day of entertainment for the whole family. My wife and I have been just as taken by what we’ve seen as the kids have: she’s made some perfume and programmed a robot with one of our boys while me and our other son have been doing kitchen science and playing with the radio-controlled planes. It’s a really excellent event. We’ll certainly be back in 2010!”
And one local family confirmed that view. “We had a fab time! Everyone was so helpful and polite. You must all be very proud of your school.”
Students Brew Up for Charity
Year 11 students from Chapel-en-le-Frith high School donned their cooks’ whites and rolled up their sleeves for a coffee morning in aid of Macmillan cancer charity.
Macmillan Caterers
Trudi Mayo, teacher of Food Technology, who supported the students in preparing for the event was full of praise: “It’s daunting, preparing food for your own teachers. Everyone knows how much teachers like their coffee so being set the target of providing them with a memorable experience was a challenge. I’m delighted to say that they’ve really risen to the occasion. There were some fabulous pastries and cakes on offer. I don’t think my colleagues in the staff room have ever been so spoiled.”
“I’ve had loads of requests to make this a regular occurrence!”
And the students themselves clearly relished the challenge. “It was great!” one student commented. “We served up in the staff room and the teachers were really supportive of what we were doing. Some even asked us for the recipes. It was really great to work as a team and raise such a large some of money for such a good cause. It’s really opened my eyes to what we could all do to make life that bit more bearable for the poorly people who’ll benefit from what we’ve done.”
Team Chapel Builds for Success
Team work can be the secret of success, that’s the message given out loud and clear to Year 7 students from Chapel-en-le-Frith High School.
The students, who joined the school in September, were set a series of tasks to challenge their ability to work as a team. These ranged from blindfolded tent assemblage to logic problems, ‘night’ walks along a rope course to water races, each reliant on good communication and a strong team ethic.
The school recently moved to a vertical tutoring system in which tutor groups are made up of students from across all five year groups. Teaching groups remain year focussed and this was one of the motivating factors behind the team building event.
“We want to make the whole High School experience as exciting as possible,” explained Headteacher, Stuart Ash. “Some students take to secondary school instantly, others find the transition from junior school more difficult and so we’ve worked really hard to make them feel welcome and enthuse them about being here. The new year 7s have taken to their vertical tutor groups really well, finding friendship and guidance among their older classmates. As a year group, we’ve taken them to Castleton for a History and Geography field trip to strengthen their sense of being a group and now this.”
Speaking of the team building event, Michelle Heath, PE teacher and the school’s Duke of Edinburgh Award Co-ordinator was delighted by the results. “We’ve really challenged them. They’ve spent the whole time working in groups with people they wouldn’t usually have worked with which has forced them to work hard at their communication. We’ve had older students out running some of the activities which has had the added benefit of further building links across the year groups.”