Oulder Hill Community School and Language College

Oulder Hill Community School

On Monday 7 March artist Jill Randall came into school to work with groups of students from Years 10, 11 and 13. 
Jill is a sculpture artist and teaches Visual Arts at Salford University. She showed art work and sculpture from her recent visit to Mexico focusing on “The Day of the Dead.” The imagery was full of colour and pattern as well as cultural meaning. Students were asked to create their own designs and sketches based on The Day of the Dead skeleton characters. Jill then demonstrated various 3D modeling techniques to the students using wire, wood and Model Magic, after which they made their own 3D model using a range of materials. This was a fantastic and really worthwhile event – all students worked really hard and were able to develop some useful techniques to help them produce elements of their coursework, which will also be displayed in school. Jill said ‘I really enjoyed working with your students - what a talented and creative bunch.’ It was a pleasure to work with you too Jill.

Congratulations to our highest attending forms for week commencing 28 February 2011. Forms 7B and 7C both achieved a fabulous 100% attendance. This is the second week in succession that these two forms can boast this achievement – they are certainly laying down the challenge to the rest of the school, who it has to be said, are also doing very well anyway. Forms 8A, 9F, 10E and 11H were the highest attending forms in their respective years, each falling just below 100%.

Earlier this week our Year 10 basketball team played in the regional quarter finals against Maghull School of Liverpool. It was an enthralling match with both teams playing basketball of a very high standard. Unfortunately our team lost narrowly - by just 3 points – to a very good side. This was a fantastic achievement considering that there were a number of players missing due to illness or injury, so well done lads.

Great news for our Year 9 rugby team, who played against Waterhead Academy last week. Although they were narrowly beaten 26 points to 24, they played extremely well and were a credit to the school. Congratulations to Abdul Shahid, Ben Lee, Thomas Williams, Sam Gilchrist, Anthony Burleigh, Liam Hagan, Joe Vandenburg, Joe Whitworth, Michael Moore, Jack Hadfield, Josh Hughes, Connor Fitton, Alex Maughan, Joe Hill and Daniel Buckley.

Over the past 10 weeks we have been delighted to welcome 5 local schools (Marland Hill Primary, St Edwards C of E Primary, Brimrod Primary, Castleton Primary and Matthew Moss High School) to our very own Gracie Fields Theatre. The purpose has been to explore different aspects of the Arts and allow students from all participating schools the chance to hone there skills in a real life, fully operational Theatre. This experience culminated in a wonderful show where the students were able to showcase their acting, dancing, musical and artistic talents for a live audience consisting of staff, other students and some very proud family members. Congratulations to everyone involved on what has been a brilliant project and a great example of collaboration between local schools, but particularly Penny Greenwood of Marland Hill who co-ordinated the project. A final thanks also to the Gracie Fields Theatre staff and in particular Emily Clegg for all her support.

Some of our most talented students have been competing in the prestigious Rochdale Music Festival. So far we have had a lot of success in a variety of categories. More details will follow in due course.