On Friday, 9th November, House Captains attended the Remembrance Service at Selby Cemetery; this was particularly poignant this year as it is the 100 year commemoration of the end of the First World War. Oliver Tranter played the last post, and Sapphire Loring in Year 8, played a key role in the ceremony, having already produced our beautiful poppy display within school. The Remembrance Service was the culmination of a powerful piece of work, led by our history team, and celebrated through assemblies, in which staff and students remembered the sacrifices of relatives who had been involved in the war.
Students have been demonstrating their leadership skills in other ways too. Through cake sales, donation of gifts and other fund raising activities, Selby students continue to show their commitment to others in the community. Selby High School has supported the Selby Hands of Hope Christmas campaign, raised over a thousand pounds for Children in Need, and contributed to a range of other charities. Closer to home, our Student Leadership group, including the School Council, have been working hard to raise money for a project of their own choosing. Over the coming months, the group will be running a variety of activities to raise money for outdoor coverings to provide a better experience for students at break and lunch time. The Pop-Up Cinema in the week running up to Christmas was a great success, and the non-uniform day on the last day of term will raise additional funds.
As always, we’ve had numerous additional activities to support our curriculum. The Careers Fair on Monday, 12th November, was very well supported by local colleges, businesses and organisations, and it was great to see so many students, parents and carers at the event. We also had a very successful trip to York University for the Medical School Taster Day. Key stage 4 media students recently took part in a tour of the Emmerdale Studios, learning about a wide range of roles involved with the production of a hit TV show. In school, Year 9 explored risky behaviours through the YOLO Theatre performance, and year 8s created and marketed an outfit assigned to a given country in their Enterprise Day. On the last day of term, year7s enjoyed their science fair, as the best experiments in the year group were presented by the young scientists.
The festive period has been celebrated in lots of different ways. The LRC has run a wide range of quizzes and other activities, including Christmas Crafts for year7; students have also been keen to borrow the Christmas themed books that have been available. The school choir entertained residents at a local care home, and were also a central part of our fantastic Christmas Concert; in the first half we enjoyed brilliant performances from a number of our singers and dancers and in the second half we were treated to Selby’s very own Christmas pantomime; Aladdin. A huge thanks to the talented cast, and all the staff who put so much time and effort in to presenting such a fun-filled evening.
It’s been another action-packed half-term for our sports teams. The Christmas season was enlivened as always with the Inter-House Indoor Tug of War, which this year was won by Mason. I was so pleased to see so many different students participating in and enjoying this event.
As usual, we’ve entered teams into an impressive range of sports. We had a brilliant afternoon at Askham Bryan College with 14 schools competing in a York & District cross country event. A total of 140 students, representing all year groups competed, with many of our students placing in the top 20. Well done everyone!
The U13 girls played really well in their first hockey game against Reed School this year but unfortunately were not quite strong enough to get a winning result. However, the U14 team drew on their experience with an impressive victory. Following the qualifying heats, our Year 9 and 10 girls have progressed to the North Yorkshire rugby union finals after Christmas, and congratulations are also in order for our Year 7 and 8 girls who finished runners up in the EFL Cup. They were unbeaten all tournament and only conceded two goals, but didn’t win due to goal difference. The Year 7 girls’ football team have had a great start to the term. A win against Carlton and draws with Barlby A and Barlby B means they have finished 2nd in the local fixtures. Huge congratulations to our U14 Girls Football team who have progressed to the next round of their cup after beating Norton 7-1. There was also a fantastic effort against strong competition from our SHS equestrian team, who took part in the NSEA UK national show-jumping championships at Keysoe. The girls should be very proud of themselves coming 9th in the country, narrowly missing out on 8th place rosettes.
The Year 8 boys football team showed true resilience and character to come from behind three times to win their North Yorkshire County Cup game away at Rossett; the game was decided on penalties after a thrilling contest and the boys now progress to the next round where further challenges await; this victory will provide good belief in their ability to be successful in the face of adversity.
The boys’ Year 7 football squad also proved their winning credentials by securing victory in the York District School Football Association 5-a-side competition. The team narrowly beat Sherburn 2-1 to set up the final against Fulford. The game was entering its dying stages when Sheraz Henderson latched onto a poor clearance and rocketed a shot into the top left corner: 2-1 Selby. The game management showed by the Selby boys was exceptional and again, all the boys played their part in securing the win. We await the next round where we hope to compete against the winners from the other district winners from North Yorkshire.
Well done and thank you to the 20 year 9 sports leaders who ran the local primary schools sports hall athletics completion. 10 primaries and nearly 300 year 5 and 6 pupils took part. We’ve also had a successful first term with the PE primary link with Selby CP, which has allowed primary school students to access a range of sports they would not normally have the opportunity to, with the support of Selby High staff and pupils.
Could I finish by saying a huge thank you to all the staff who have made this range of fixtures possible, and to all the other staff in the school who go above and beyond to provide such a great experience for the students of Selby High. Finally, may I wish you all a happy, safe and successful Christmas and New Year.
Dates for the Diary
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Monday 7th January
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School re-opens
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Monday 14th – Friday 18th January
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Year 11 mock exams
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Tuesday 15th & Thursday 17th January
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Year 11 Taster Days at York College
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Monday 4th February
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Year 8 girls HPV vaccinations
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Thursday 21st February
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Consultation Day
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Year 11 Mock Results Assembly
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