Monday 4 June 2018

Principal's Blog - May 2018

The sunshine has been out and it’s been another busy, exciting half term at Selby High School.

Year 11 are currently in the midst of their GCSE examinations. After a fun-filled Celebration Assembly on the 11th May, Year 11s have returned to the hard work of exams and booster sessions. The attitude and commitment of students in their exams has been outstanding so far. Half term will be an important time to do some final revision and preparations, and I wish all year 11 students the best of luck with their remaining examinations. The Year 11 Prom takes place on Wednesday 27th June and this will be a great opportunity to celebrate their time at the school.

As always, there have been a wide range of additional activities taking place to support the curriculum. Year 10 students have visited Leeds University, and Year 9 students have been to Hull University, as part of our extensive guidance on future choices. Students have continued to benefit from participation in the NCOP project with activities this term including a Project Dare follow up activity with students working as a team with the support of outreach workers to prepare a whole school resource. A number of exciting opportunities are planned for the remainder of the summer term including an e-mentoring opportunity for year 9 NCOP students. GCSE Pod will be officially launched with all Year 9 students after half term. The Year 10 Mock Interview Day, during which representatives from local businesses come in to give students a real-life interview experience, was also a great success. In addition to this there has been a Business Studies visit to Yorkshire Wildlife Park Education Centre, we’ve participated in the Intermediate Maths Challenge, and a group of our intrepid Year 10s have taken part in their Duke of Edinburgh practice weekend. Finally, a group of Year 9 girls represented the school at the North Yorkshire School Games Dance Festival; this event also gave six of our Sports Leaders a chance to demonstrate their skills, and make Selby High School proud.

The sporting calendar has once again been action-packed, and we’ve experienced some great successes. This week, our Year 9 and 10 boys took part in the National Futsal Finals, representing Doncaster Rovers. After winning all three of the group games, we progressed into the semi-finals where we played the pre-tournament favourites, Chelsea FC. In what was a tight game, James Hymers scored the winner which led to a contest with Exeter City in the final. Nerves were at their highest in what was an evenly matched game, but the match winner came from Jacob Braybrooke to finish off a great team move. Well done to all involved, who are now National Champions.

There have been many other achievements for Selby High School this half term. Our Year 8 Boys and Year 9 Girls rugby teams took part in the RUFU Tournament in Leeds. We saw a great demonstration of all the rugby core values as the boys managed to walk away with the Fair Play Trophy and the girls team won all their games, finishing top of the table. The Year 8 Boys Football team brought another trophy home for Selby High School, winning the York and District FA Cup Final, 5-4 against Fulford. The U13 Girls and the Year 8 Boys also put in fantastic performances, with both teams finishing runners-up in the North Yorkshire Cup Finals. Meanwhile our Equestrians have continued to perform well in competition, with Lucy Williams performing very creditably in the County Show Jumping Championships.

This week the new General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) came into force. We’ve done a full review of our data processes, and have updated all relevant policies. Included with this principal’s blog is a copy of our updated main Privacy Notice, which is also available on the website in our new GDPR section. The Privacy Notice lets you know exactly how and why we use your data, and gives you information about how to contact our Data Protection Officer (DPO). Our DPO is a company called Veritau, who will support and challenge the school in its use of data.

Selby High Students have also been doing some great work in support of charity this half term. Jessica Machin, Kelsey Elgie, Caitlin Machin and Emily John recently raised money for Stand up for Cancer. A big thank you to staff and students who purchased cakes, buns and key rings to raise money for a great cause and their bake sale raised a total of £45.47.

I’d like to finish by wishing you all a happy and healthy half term break. We’ve got lots planned for the final half term of the summer, including Bewerley Park for Year 8, and Activities Week for the whole school.

Yours sincerely,

Mr Nick Hinchliffe
Principal