Blog April – May 2024
Exams! Exams! Exams!
Hi All,
Well, school has been really busy in the final run up to the exam season for our Year 11s. Students are almost half-way through their GCSEs now and they are really putting in a superb effort. The feedback from them is broadly very positive, which means that all of the hard work in school during lessons, revision sessions and Period 6, along with independent revision at home, has been worthwhile.
It is a massively stressful time for students and we do everything we can to support them in school, as I know you all do at home. The most successful students are those who come into the exams knowing that they are fully prepared, so please encourage them to spend some time each evening on revision; this is the last big push before they get that very long, well deserved summer break.
We wish them every success and look forward to sharing some fantastic outcomes when they get their results in August.
With the focus on GCSEs, it is easy to forget that there are so many other amazing things happening both in school and out in the community all of the time. I have included some of them below that represent just a flavour of the fantastic range of activities and experiences that our students participate in day to day.
Odds-on, this was a favourite
On 19th April a group of Year 9 students enjoyed a day at the races when they went on a Careers and Maths trip to Chester Racecourse.
The objective of the trip was to provide students with insights into the diverse career opportunities within the racing industry and to explore the mathematical concepts inherent in horse racing.
Students were able to visit the weighing room, where they learned about the meticulous process of weighing jockeys before and after races. Next, they visited the parade ring, where they watched the pre-race preparations of horses and jockeys, and witnessed the excitement and anticipation leading up to a race, as well as learning about the roles of trainers and stable staff.
A comprehensive tour of the racecourse provided students with insights into the facilities and infrastructure required for hosting sporting events. They learned about track maintenance, spectator facilities, and the logistics involved in organising race meetings. One of the highlights of the trip was a presentation by industry professionals who highlighted the diverse roles and career opportunities available, within the industry.
The day at Chester Racecourse proved how immersive learning experiences are invaluable in helping students make informed decisions about their future careers, while getting an appreciation of mathematics and its real-world applications.
Combined Cadet Force
Students in our Combined Cadet Force (CCF) enjoyed a weekend at Fox Barracks where cadets had great fun practising their accuracy on a live-firing shooting range. This was followed by a night camping out in the field. Fortunately, the weather was very kind and everyone had a really enjoyable educational and fulfilling time.
What a great experience!
SPORT
Football
Congratulations to six of our Year 10s and the rest of the Chester School Boys’ Team who won the Inter District Senior Trophy. The game remained at 0-0 at full time, with Chester eventually winning 5-4 on penalties. After saving a penalty, Callum Mackin went on to score scoring the winning goal with his own penalty.
We have now received details of the National Plate Final that is being held at Northampton's ground on Saturday 22nd June; kick off is at 1.30pm. The game will be streamed live, so we will share the link closer to the time as I’m sure lots of you will want to watch the match and support the team.
Well done lads.
Athletics
Over the last week, lots of our students have been representing the school at the Chester and District Athletics Competition, which was held at the Deeside Stadium. There are lots of successes to share:
Brooklyn Amanda (Yr 10) won his event and is now the is Chester Inters (u16) Triple Jump Champion
Morgan Massey (Yr 9) came 3rd in Triple Jump
Brooklyn Amanda (Yr 10) came 3rd in the 400m
Fabian Baran (Yr 10) came 4th in Shot Putt
Leon Watson (Yr 10) came 5th in the 100m Final
Ethan Field (Yr 8) came 5th in the 100m Final
Alfie Bath (Yr 7) came 2nd in Shot Putt
Rylee Sharp (Yr 7) came 2nd in Discus
Head of PE Mr Cairns said that it is very likely that anyone who was placed in the top three in any event is likely to be invited to represent Chester Athletics in Cheshire. We will look out for that.
Well done to everyone who took part and congratulations to all of those who were placed.
BEV Democracy Group
Last week, representatives from our School Parliament joined forces with the Student Councils from the primary schools to discuss how services and facilities for young people can be improved in Blacon. They were completing some preparatory work ahead of their planned presentation to the Board of Directors of Avenue Services at their Annual General Meeting in July.
Student representatives from all of the schools in the BEV are the voice of youth in our community. Earlier in the year, they were asked by Avenue Services to consider what areas and services they felt needed the greatest financial investment in order to further support the young people of Blacon. Having done this in two meetings, they are now hard at work prioritising their ideas and are working on the presentations they will deliver at the Avenue Services AGM.
They really do understand the power of using their voice and are a credit to the community.
Italian Students
As we have done in previous years, we were delighted to host a group of Italian students who joined us form the Liceo Scientifico High School in Fabriano, Italy, for a three week ‘language immersion’ placement earlier in the term.
These visits offer numerous opportunities for our students, mostly in Year 10, to interact with students from another culture. Whilst we don’t offer Italian as a language choice in MFL, activities of this nature still offer a great chance to learn about other countries, languages, cultures and, what we always discover is that, despite the language barrier, how much teenagers have in common, regardless of where they come from.
Lots of our Year 10 students volunteered to be ‘buddies’ for the duration of the trip and, very quickly, made friends, and many of them have remained in contact via social media, which is just brilliant. Students demonstrated maturity, resilience and developed their skills in communication and compromise.
As always, even after a very short visit, there were tears as our visitors left and their feedback to us as a school, and the individuals who acted as buddies was superb. Also, we are hoping to maintain contact with our Italian colleagues who were keen to develop the idea of offering a student exchange. Although there is potentially a year of planning that goes into offering an opportunity of this nature, watch this space!
We plan to continue to offer these opportunities and remain committed to widening our international links and developing our profile on the global stage.
Youth Café
We are very conscious that there is never a wide enough variety of opportunities or relevant activities for young people in the afternoons and evenings and, often, this is simply a lack of appropriate social spaces. At Blacon High School, we strive constantly to think of more ways that we can support our students both within the school day and beyond. To this end, and in response to Student voice, we will be running a pilot for a Youth Café, which will run, initially, each Thursday from 3.15pm – 5.15pm during the second half of the summer term.
Students want somewhere to go where they actually can choose to join in a range of activities or simply chill out and chat to friends. The main thing was that they felt they had ownership of their own time in a comfortable environment. Initially, the Youth Café will only serve Blacon High School students but we may review this as the project develops.
The Youth Café will be housed in the Bistro, in the new building; there won’t be access to any other part of the school building. In response to Student Voice, there will be a tuck shop, hot and cold drinks, a variety of hot snacks including, or perhaps especially, chips. We are hoping to have a games console, some soft furnishing like bean bags and a foosball table. The café will be self-financing and we will use any profit from the sale of refreshments to fund additional equipment.
The pilot will run for the six weeks after half term and then we will consider how we move it forward in the new school year from September.
Please keep an eye on the school website and on social media for further information.
Hola!
This week we were very lucky to welcome Ruben Prado, a native Spanish speaker, into school.
Ruben is very experienced at working with young people and delivered sessions on Spanish language and culture to students in both Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4. Students were able to practise their spoken Spanish in a really informal way and even stayed to talk to him during their break.
Ruben also really enjoyed the day. He was very complimentary about how engaged all of our students were and has offered to come back to deliver more sessions. In terms of developing our profile in MFL (languages), and an opportunity for students to practise and improve their Spanish speaking skills, this is really great news.
Thank you Ruben and we look forward to welcoming you back.
And finally…
As always, this is just a flavour of the huge range of activities that are always a feature of what we strive consistently to offer our students.
I would like to congratulate our Year 11s for the superb way they have approached their GCSEs so far; they have been punctual, prepared, mature and their behaviour has been exemplary.
It is half term and everyone needs a rest. However, for our hardworking Year 11s, please encourage them to continue to devote some time during the holiday to revision. They are more than half way through their exams now and the end is in sight.
To everyone else, I hope that you have a wonderful break and we look forward to seeing you all when on Monday 3rd June when school reopens.
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