Beech House School

Beech House School

Fifty five pupils from Years 7 to 9 recently took part in the 2012 Independent Schools’ Association essay writing competition.

The first round of the competition was held within the school and Jessica Scott and Jacob Hill won the Intermediate section designed for Years 7 to 8. The pupils could choose from various titles but both Jacob and Jessica chose, ‘The Accident’. Jessica wrote a fast-paced story which was full of emotion and empathy. Jacob started off by lulling the reader into a false sense of security before tragedy struck!

The senior section for Year 9 pupils was won by Sofia Meadowcroft and Hasan Raza. Sofia chose the title ‘In Black and White’ and wrote with great feeling about the problems caused by racism in our society. Hasan chose the title ‘Sleep’ and wrote an atmospheric and thrilling supernatural story.

These four essays have now been entered into the national competition, the results of which are due out in May. The pupils of Beech House School took this competition very seriously and there were many excellent entries. Pupils showing impressive skills in creative writing include Jack Cryer, Kishwar Naaz, Ella Hodgkinson, Jacob Dench, Josie Stansfield and Cecily Morgan. James Riley and Omar Tahir both produced imaginative stories with well-developed plots. Well done everybody!

Having come top at the Internet Safety Challenge in February, five of our Year 9s had the chance of visiting the radio station Key103 in Manchester to record a radio program and an ad against cyber bullying. We saw the radio studios where live radio was being presented and used one of the studios to record our own program, which included music chosen by the pupils, features and a live interview about cyber bullying with a policeman, who is ambassador for CEOP (Child Exploitation & Online Protection). We had to plan the program and questions for the interview, as well as introductions and exit features. For the ad we had to think up the right slogans and then record them. Afterwards we could see how the different parts were mixed and brought together with background music and sound effects to give a finished product which sounded very professional and will be used in future on the radio.

Year 2 and 5 went to Southlands High School for this year’s Primary Engineer Regional Finals. This year, Year 5 entered two teams, boys and girls. The boys team had ‘Rapid Speeder’ a blue racing car. The girls had ‘Ballooning – Aero Flyer’, a lovely orange sunset balloon with a purple/pink woven basket underneath. They even went and made clay models of themselves inside the basket. The Year 1’s had 3 teams, ‘Ice- Cream Anyone’, ‘On the Buses’ and ‘The Hummer’. Competition was fierce as usual. Congratulations go to Lucy Butterworth and Amaara Rafique who came second in their category and go on to the National Finals held on 24 March in Manchester.

It was the NW Skills Exhibition in Event City, Trafford. This year, both Year 10 and Year 11 attended. There, they found stalls by many companies, including Professional Jockeys, Co-Operative Bank and United Utilities. The Armed Forces were well-represented with the usual assault course and climbing wall, which both Ameer Ali and Mr Bauer attempted, with Mr Bauer completing the yellow run.

Key Stage 2 took part recently in the Rochdale Youth Festival of Performing Arts.
In the Elocution categories, Megan Klymowec made 1st place in the Individual Poetry Reading section, with Emily and Milly Cooper making 2nd place. Megan also came 2nd in the Individual Prose Reading section.

For Year 9, Victoria Burnett was awarded ‘Highly Commended’ for her 2 performances of extracts from ‘Kes’ and ‘Epitaph for an Elderly Actress’.

Our Archery students have recently shown their prowess in school, gaining their ‘White Level’ already. Congratulations go to Harry Ashton, Joe Winfield, Heather Gee, Lydia Nightingale, Ameer Ali, Harry Hayden, Anusia Battersby, Yusuf Seoud, Josie Stansfield, Sam Clutton, Ibrahim Hussein, Emily Cooper, Gareth Tattersall, Nicole Healey, Harris Husnain, Amelia Gregory, Milly Cooper and Hira Iqbal.

House Point totals for the week: Mercury 69, Saturn 68, Neptune 52 and Jupiter 40.
Form of the Week goes to 8R.
The Pupil of the Week certificates go to:-
Nursery: Faheem Ali
Reception: Zak Gorton-Rigg
Year 1: Sarah Hussein
Year 2: Hassan Mohammaed
Year 3: Saif Ali Azeez
Year 5: Grace Prime
Year 6: Zechariah Omagbemi 

The Orange Rainbow Award for 100 House points was awarded to Hassan Mohammaed