Woodhey Bulletin: Issue 57

Issue 57, February 2004

Trampolining
Following their recent success in the North West round of the National Schools’ competition, four Year 7 and 8 pupils – Julia Davis, Samantha Baxter, Lauren Godfrey and Sophie Smith – took part in the North of England Under 13 round at Temple Park Leisure Centre, South Shields.
After a nail-biting competition, where each competitor had to perform a set routine followed by a voluntary routine, the girls finished in a fantastic second place, meaning that they qualify for the 2004 National Schools’ Championships to be held in Birmingham on 20 March.
The girls are now busy signing up family and friends for their sponsored bounce in order to raise money towards their accommodation etc. If asked please help them raise the necessary funds. Many thanks in advance.
HF

Young Citizens of the World
Pupils of Woodhey this year took part in Amnesty International’s Greetings Card Campaign at Christmas. Six cases were selected and presented by senior pupils in assemblies on the last day of term, and pupils chose the case they wished to support and wrote a greetings card to send.
In all, we sent over 750 cards to support people who have had their human rights violated in areas of the world such as El Salvador, Nigeria, Mexico and Bulgaria.
A special thanks to Paul and staff at Bury’s Card and Party Store for generously donating all the greeting cards, and thanks to all pupils who not only sent the cards, but also donated enough money to cover the postage and donate £25 to Amnesty International.
PB

Friends of Woodhey
Bedding Plants
Look out for the order form which will be available after half-term. Orders will have to be back in school by Thursday 1 April.
Excellent quality plants at reasonable prices!
JG

Welcome to the Big Bounce
On Friday, 26 March pupils in school and people all over the country will get bouncing to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.
The Trust, as well as raising money, is also trying to get into the Guinness Book of Records by getting as many people as possible to bounce on just about anything at 12 noon on Friday, 26 March.
The Big Bounce is a brilliant way for everyone to support the CF Trust in its 40th Anniversary year. Big Bounce is for everyone of all ages from little toddlers on Space Hoppers to Grandmas on Pogo Sticks. As well as being fun, Big Bounce carries a serious message. Bouncing on a trampoline is an excellent way for people with Cystic Fibrosis to do their physiotherapy and keep fit at the same time.
HF

Scholastic Book Fair
A Scholastic Book Fair will take place in the Library from 15 – 18 March as part of the World Book Day celebrations. Pupils will be able to use their World Book Day vouchers towards the cost of their books.
Please support the event; the school will receive 60% commission, which will be used to purchase new library books.
JF

Friends of Woodhey
Waste Paper Collection
There will be waste paper collection as usual on Sunday 15th February and Sunday 21st March from 10.00 am. to 12.00 noon. Please support our waste paper collecting, as it is an excellent fundraiser. Collections are held on the third Sunday of every month.

Annual Chess Tournament
Forty-two pupils entered the 2004 Chess Tournament; the standard of play was excellent. Three Year 7 pupils reached the last 16 and proved to be quite a challenge for some of the older pupils.
1st place went, for the second year running, to Anthony Burdaky (11P), 2nd place went to Alex Chadwick (10K), 3rd place to Tom Isaac (9C) and 4th place to Callan Clayton (10A).
As a follow up to the tournament, Anthony has agreed to play the remaining quarter finalists at once plus one other nominated player. It should be an interesting event and a suitable finale for our retiring chess champion.
Thank you to everyone who took part and I hope that you will enter again next year.
JF

Have Your Say!
It’s not often that we encourage our pupils to carry out graffiti, but in January we did just that!
Representatives from the Bury Area Youth Action Groups, including Leanne Freeman, Youth Participation Coordinator, came to speak to Year 9 and 10 pupils to encourage them to become actively involved in the Ramsbottom and Tottington Area Youth Action Group. In order to gather young people’s thoughts and feelings about living in the Ramsbottom and Tottington area, pupils were encouraged to write their ideas and suggestions on a coloured paper ’brick’. All the ‘bricks’ were built up into a huge graffiti wall, over 4 metres long, which was later presented to a meeting of the local Youth Action Group.
We look forward to seeing the response to our pupils’ ideas.
PB

Success in the Art Department
If you cast your mind back to the first half term in Autumn, you will remember an article about The National Campaign for Drawing. This is an annual drawing competition that is open to all schools (primary and secondary), colleges and art establishments across the UK. It is to promote the fact that everybody can draw, and is linked to present day research on drawing www.drawingpower.org.uk and is supported by the National Society for Education in Art and Design.
As a department we felt it necessary to keep up to date with new and developing issues, and decided not only to challenge ourselves as ‘art educators’, but also our pupils in order to encourage them to draw. We gave the pupils across Key Stage 3 (Yrs 7, 8 and 9) the opportunity to draw a mini portrait (realistic or stylised, colour or black and white) and once we had accumulated literally hundreds of these we presented the project in a folio which was safely sent off to the competition well before the Christmas break.
It was only last week that we received the results and discovered that our project was selected as the runner up, with our prize being £250 of Walker Books. This is a fantastic result and the books will be used as a visual resource for many future projects.
We would like to thank all the pupils who committed themselves to the challenge and who within their one-hour lessons managed to produce some wonderful drawings. They showed an immense variety of individual drawings styles confirming the fact, ‘actually everybody can draw’.
The Art Department

Parents’ Surgery
Once a month, I will stay behind after school and hold a ‘surgery’ which is open to any parent who would like to discuss anything with me. No appointment is necessary and the meeting will be quite informal. Parents will be seen on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. Next term the meeting will be from 4.00 – 6.00 pm in the Library at school on Thursday, 18 March 2004.
This meeting is intended to be for parents who consider the usual channels inappropriate. The ’surgery’ is in addition to the current procedure, not a replacement for it.
Reminder: If you have a concern about your child the usual route is
- Contact the Form Tutor to discuss the situation.
- Contact the Head of Year to discuss the situation.
- Contact Mr Cutting – the Assistant Headteacher (Pastoral).
- Contact the Headteacher – Mr Braidley.
From September 2003 the Heads of Year are:
Year 7 – Mrs Gander
Year 8 – Mr Giles
Year 9 – Mrs Bennett
Year 10 – Mrs Farrell
Year 11– Mrs Macwilliam
It would be extremely helpful if you would keep to this structure and not contact the more senior staff members directly, unless it is an emergency.
M Braidley, Headteacher

Friends of Woodhey
Annual Dinner
Staff and parents from FOW Committee held their Annual Dinner on Friday 23rd January at Bellini’s Restaurant in Ramsbottom. This is just one of the social events held by Friends of Woodhey each year. If you would like to know more about the work that we do and possibly joining as a Committee Member or occasional helper please contact Bob on 01706 828617.
Summer bulbs
Thanks to all who have supported our Summer Bulb Campaign. Bulbs will be available from school from approximately 4 March 2004. School funds will benefit from a contribution for each purchase from the supplier. The total sum raised will be published in the next School Bulletin. Look out for our Bedding Plants in April this year.

Coming soon -
Score, by Malcom Sircom.
A tale of love and football based on William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.
Tickets available nearer the time for performances on Wednesday 24th - Saturday 27th March 2004, at the Theatre Royal, Ramsbottom.

	Football Results Year 7 5-a-side The year 7 team represented Bury at the Greater Manchester 5-a-side tournament in Stalybridge. This followed their success at the Bury Schools’ Competition in December. Future Fixtures - Bury Metro Cup (Round 2) Year 7 v St Monica’s Year 9 v Radcliffe Year 10 v Monica’s HT
	Girls Football Congratulations to the Year 7 girls team – Chantelle Johnson (captain), Lauren Taylor, Eleanor Jones, Rhiannon Brooks, Elizabeth Lunn, Grace Parfitt, Amanda Kelly, Jessica Hoy and Roisin Huggins who were runners up in Tuesday’s 5-a-side National Schools’ Cup Zonal round at St Joseph’s. They played winners of other County Schools’ competitions, beating Cardinal Langley 2 – 0, Reddish Vale 2 – 0 and narrowly losing 2 –1 to Fairfield, with goals scored by Chantelle (4) and Lizzy (1). The girls now go through as Greater Manchester representatives to play in the North West finals in Preston on Wednesday, 11 February. Well done and good luck girls! League matches 7-a-side at Castlebrook Year 10 and 11: Thursday 12 February Year 7: Thursday 26 February Year 8 and 9: Thursday 4 March Year 7: Thursday 18 March
Netball Fixtures Year 8 and Year 10 v St Monica’s (home), Tuesday 10 February Year 7 and Year 8 v Bury Grammar (home), Tuesday 24 February Year 8 and Year 10 v Parrenthorn (away), Tuesday 2 March Year 11 Rally at Prestwich, Tuesday 16 March Year10 Rally, Thursday 18 March Year 9 Rally, Tuesday 23 March Year 8 Rally, Thursday 25 March Year 7 Rally, Tuesday 30 March	Rugby Results v Ashton on Mersey and v St Bedes: Both games were postponed owing to the weather. v King Edward VII Lytham: U14 lost 10-5; U12 lost 60-0 This was the U12’s first game against a very experienced team. Well done to all boys who played. They enjoyed the trip, particularly the food after the game and journey in a brand new coach! They have a series of ‘local’ fixtures after half-term together with a Greater Manchester Tournament at Sedgley Park on 9 March. The U12 team train on Mondays at 3.45 pm – all boys are welcome. HT
Cross Country On 15 January 60 pupils and 4 staff endured the wettest, coldest and most distressing afternoon in the history of school’s cross-country! All pupils deserve a medal for their efforts in such awful conditions. The most successful runners were selected to run at the Greater Manchester Championships on 7 February. The following pupils finished in the top 12 of their respective race Boys: A Chadwick (Yr10), K Trippier (Yr8), C Baines (Yr9), N Lamont (Yr9), A Seed (Yr10) Girls: J Hodkinson (Yr11), O Barber (Yr10), E Garrett (Yr8), L Godfrey (Yr7), E Jones (Yr7) HT

Winter Warmers
Now that the cold and wet weather is here, please could we respectfully remind parents that pupils should have a sensible outer coat to wear to school. Hooded tops and sweatshirts are not part of our uniform and do not look smart; nor are they appropriate for the winter weather.
Pupils should wear a plain, warm, weatherproof jacket which covers the school blazer. Hats are not allowed, and will be confiscated from pupils if worn.
Also, may I remind parents that girls wearing trousers to school must wear the standard ’Honeybees’ design, as stated in the uniform list. No other trousers are acceptable for girls.
P Burrow, Deputy Headteacher

Friends of Woodhey
Forthcoming Events
Cookery Utensil Demonstration and Sale – 31 March, date to be confirmed
The Annual Family Quiz - 24 April (this year being held at the Grant’s Arms)
Bedding Plants – May 2004
Sponsored Walk – date to be confirmed
Year 7 Disco – date and venue to be confirmed

Calendar

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