Springhill High School

The School will close on Friday 12 February and will restart after the half term holiday on Monday February 22.

On the 28th January a group of GCSE Media students went to Middleton CLC to film their animations using the clay models they had carefully constructed. The technique they used is called stop-motion animation and requires the students to move the models a tiny amount per shot. The smaller the movement, the smoother the finished film.

The day went very well, and now the pupils will use the editing facilities at Springhill High School to add special effects, dialogue and credit sequences to produce their finished product. The event was successful and will be repeated on 2 more occasions.

All lost property will be available in the dining hall on Friday 12 February at break time.
Anything not collected after this will be disposed of. A reminder that Pupils can call in to Pupil Reception at any break or lunch time to check lost property.

On Wednesday 10 February 2010 we will be holding our Option Guidance Evening for Year 9 students. The evening will run from 6-7pm and will be the opportunity for students to make the right decisions about the subjects they study in Year 10 and 11. On the evening, Option Booklets will be distributed and teachers will be available to discuss and give advice for the best choices for pupils.

There will also be an opportunity to speak to representatives from Connexions, Apprenticeship Schemes; Hopwood Hall College and Rochdale Sixth Form College.
It is essential that parents attend as this year Option Evening the students will be choosing subjects to study at the new Kingsway Park High School. Light refreshments will be served throughout the evening. Parents are asked to confirm their attendance by returning the slip on the bottom of the Options letter to Form Tutors in school.

On Tuesday 2 February 2 students Dillon Skinner and Humza Manan represented Rochdale in the Design and Technology Gifted and Talented Challenge held at the MMU.
The 2 students were paired with 2 students from a Failsworth School to compete in the challenge. The challenged comprised of the building and programming of a Robot to complete a series of challenges following a line, finding an object and avoiding an obstruction.The Team worked together to build a robust robot and successfully completed all the tasks.

The judges were impressed with the teamwork and challenge skills that they were awarded First Place. This builds on the success that the students and department have displayed over the last year with winning the Rochdale Challenge and reaching the National Final of the Greenpower challenge. We would like to say Congratulations and we are very proud.

External Science exams will be happening after the holiday and we advise students to use the half term to use the advice and support given on revision techniques.

We request that if any student who left last year has not collected their GCSE certificates from school please call the Examination Officer between 9am and 3pm to arrange collection. These certificates are very important when applying for jobs and are expensive to replace if misplaced

As part of the National Storytelling Week last week daily story telling sessions were held in the Library at lunchtime. Teachers and support staff had kindly offered to give up their time to tell some of their favourite stories to pupils and staff.

Mrs Taylor the Librarian would like to thank all those who joined in especially Jo Wild and the pupils from Speaking and Listening Group who read sections from their exam work; Ms Jackson and Ms Emanuel-Smith who read a story and poetry in the Library and also Ms Storer who organised the storytelling theme in last weeks assemblies.

On Tuesday Springhill High school had 4 students selected to row in the Greater Manchester Indoor Championships at Robin Park Wigan. Zoe Stewart, Musalim Ali and Stuart Neate performed brilliantly coming 4th in their races, but the highlight of the day was when year 7 Hamad Ali took 1st place to become Greater Manchester champion for year 7.

On Monday 8 February Springhill played host to the Lady Tavners Indoor cricket competion.the under 13s and 15s girls played some great cricket but unfortunately did not qualify. The team from Woodhey School qualified and we wish them good luck in the final rounds.

Springhill Year 11 basketball team are through to the finals of the Rochdale schools tournament after qualifying through the group stages. Great performances by Dymitry Russian, Lewis Blackley and Stuart Neate ensured Springhill has a place in the finals which is to be held at Springhill on the 23 February

Huge congratulations to all cast crew and staff that made the last Springhill school production such a fantastic success. As well as showcasing a huge amount of talent, the cast and crew demonstrated great teamwork, discipline and commitment. Thank you to Mrs Tustin for directing, Mr Eden for the fantastic music and Mr Bharmal for organising the front of house. Another mention must be to Neelam Khaliq who devised some great choreography and taught the dance to the pupils so professionally. Photos of the production will be available to buy very soon. Keep an eye on the noticeboards.
Well done to all!

Thursday 4 February was peer mentor training day. Two pupils from each form were trained to identify ways to pre-empt problems amongst fellow form members and defuse them calmly. The pupils were outstanding and responded well to the range of training provided. The pupils will begin their work within their forms after half term.