As the days get longer and - following a final sprinkling of April
snow - the spring weather finally seems to be on its way, it’s good to reflect
on another busy half term at Selby High School.
As always our curriculum has been enriched by a variety of
activities. Year 10 enjoyed the “Inside
Out” drama performance which explored a range of issues including mental health
and staying safe online. Three members
of the Fire Service came in to school to deliver some important messages to
year 11s about staying safe when driving or travelling with friends in cars, in
the Drivewise assembly. The year 8s
developed their enterprise and marketing skills as they explored different
fashions from around the world, during their Enterprise Day. In visits out of school, a group of year 7
and 8 students took part in the Leeds Festival of Science at Leeds University,
designing DNA bracelets, and we were also represented at the “Girls and Gadgets”
event at Keele University.
Students have continued to benefit from participation in the NCOP
”FutureHy” project, which encourages students to aspire towards University or
higher level apprenticeships. Activities
this term including a second Project Dare with engineering firm ARUP. In
addition, a group of year 9 students attended a careers conference at York
University and students have been receiving additional careers support sessions
on Tuesday mornings. A number of exciting opportunities are planned for the
summer term. GCSE Pod continues to be used extensively by students in
supporting their revision studies; we are now one of the top users in the country!
Several events this half term have highlighted the skills and
determination of Selby High School Students.
The Talent Show in March was a roaring success, with all tickets sold in
advance of the event. The audience was
treated to a feast of singing, music, drama and comedy. The Sports Relief event on Friday, 23rd
May, involved lots of students and staff running a mile around the school field,
many being sponsored for their efforts.
A fantastic £1,826 was raised for the charity. Numerous other fundraising events have taken
place during lunchtimes, highlighting the generosity and hard work of our
students.
We’ve had another very successful and enjoyable half term for sport
at the school. The Year 8 Boys’ football team are through to the North Yorkshire County
Cup final after beating Bedale in the quarter finals and King James,
Knaresborough in the semi-finals. The Under 13 Girls’ football team have also
made it through to the North Riding Cup Final, beating Rossett School 3-2 in an
exciting encounter. The boys and girls Under 13
and Under 15 are through to the regional round of the Kinder Futsal competition
having had success in earlier area rounds against Doncaster schools.
Our young
equestrian team continue to go from strength to strength, competing recently at
the National Schools Equestrian Association (NSEA) show jumping qualifiers
on Sunday 25th February. Held at Northallerton Equestrian Centre, our 90cm team
of Lucy Williams, Sarah Wheatley, Isabella Khosla and Martha Ward were placed
third at their first qualifier, out of nearly twenty teams. Riding Captain, Lucy Williams, won the class
and will now represent Selby High School at the NSEA National Championships in
Bedfordshire on Saturday 21st April, as Champion for North Yorkshire. The 80cm team, where Kaytlyn Fella replaced
Sarah Wheatley, finished on a very respectable eight faults, with Lucy placed
third individually.
Seven budding young coaches embarked upon the North
Yorkshire Sport Coaches Academy Workshop to develop their sports coaching
potential. The conference at Fulford
High School, brought together the best young sports leaders from all seven districts
covered by North Yorkshire to offer them specialist sports coaching
sessions. Pupils from various schools
and colleges were invited to take part in this county wide conference. The sports represented included, rugby union,
football, tennis, netball, cricket and hockey.
Each young leader from Selby chose a sport in which to develop their
coaching and leading abilities. The
pupils were also fortunate to listen to an inspiring speech by Paralympian
Craig McCann, hearing how important future coaches are to inspiring future
sporting greats.
This term, in lessons, we’ve had a significant focus on literacy
in all subjects, helping our students to read a range of challenging texts and
to produce high quality extended writing.
One of the strategies we have used is the Independent Zone, which gives
students the opportunity to write independently for a period of time in a
lesson. More recently our focus on Tier
Two Vocabulary has also started to have a powerful impact. Tier Two Vocabulary
refers to the kinds of words that are used in more formal written and spoken
situations, but which are not commonly used in everyday conversation.
As always we have some goodbyes to say. Mrs Walmsley (maths), Mr Lewis (science) and
Mr Birchall (science) are all moving on, and we are very pleased to be
welcoming Mrs Leetham to the science team and Miss Clarke to the geography team. I’d like to pass on my thanks to these
colleagues, and to the rest of the Selby High School staff for their continued
hard work on behalf of the school community.
With very best wishes,
Nick Hinchliffe
Principal
Principal
Forthcoming dates
Thursday 19th April Year 10 trip to Leeds University
Monday 23rd April Business trip to Yorkshire Wildlife Park
Thursday 26th April Intermediate Maths Challenge
Monday 30th April Year 9 trip to Hull University
Wednesday 2nd May Year 11 Leavers’ photographs
Monday 7th May School
closed for Bank Holiday
Friday 11th May Duke of Edinburgh practice weekend
Tuesday 15th May Year 10 Parents’/Carers’/Guardians’ Evening
Friday 25th May Year 10 Mock Interview day
Friday 25th May School closes for holidays (3.25pm)
For full details of all forthcoming events please see the
school calendar www.selbyhigh.n-yorks.sch.uk/Calendar/
