Weekly Newsletter ~ keeping you in touch Tuesday 20 November 2018 News Round Square News One of our Year 4 girls said, it was exciting and nerve wracking, but at least we won! Congratulations to the whole squad, who are proud to be gold medalists. As a Round Square School we are committed to service to others and one way of doing that is through fundraising. Since September 2017 the café has raised 1700. With this money we have been able to pay the school fees for Catherine Mueni who attends the Starehe Girls College in Nairobi in Kenya. She is 12 years old and has just finished her first year at the College. Without our contribution, Catherine would not be able to go to school at all. Thank you to all pupils for continuing to support the Round Square Café and a special thank you to the pupils who give up their time to do service there by helping at break and lunchtimes. Congratulations to.. pupils from Years 2, 3 and 4 who took part in a swimming gala last Thursday. They swam with enthusiasm and good teamwork. There were individual races and relays and once the points were all added up, we waited with anticipation for the results. Climbing Competition Last week, the OEd Department took 5 keen climbers to the first round of the Awesome Walls Winter Boulder League. This is a series of 5 nights where competitors have 4 hours to work through 30 routes on the boulder wall. If you climb the problem in the first attempt you achieve 10 pts, second attempt = 7pts, third attempt = 5pts and above 4 attempts = 1pt. This was the first time any students from Abbotsholme have competed in a climbing competition, enthusiasm was high and all students were slightly nervous and apprehensive. As we started the competition it was evident that the
standard (and difficulty of the problems) were high! The atmosphere was very calm and relaxed. Our students were in the junior category but all categories had the same problems. After a while all the students relaxed and really started pushing themselves with all the challenges. They were very encouraging to each other and really got into the friendliness of the competition. All students behaved exceptionally well and were good ambassadors for Abbotsholme School. Well done to all students involved. As the details of the league standings come in, we will post them. We re already looking forward to the next round! White Water Weekend This weekend, the OEd Department took 8 hearty adventurers to North Wales for the prospect of a wet and wild weekend. Leaving early on Saturday morning we took the 2 and a half hour drive to Llanberis. Once there, we got changed and headed to Llyn Padarn, an open water venue to work on, and hone our skills before the next day on the river. A sunny clear day in North Wales with a fresh wind and very cold water. Let s try and keep dry for as long as possible was one of the instructions, this lasted for about 45 seconds for one unfortunate Year 10 boy, all in good spirits, he got back in and continued with a wisp of complaint. We worked on paddling forwards, direction changes, going upwind, going downwind, edging, rotation forces, and the three infamous B's (body, blade, boot) a great first day with an opportunity to capsize at the end. After pizza and table tennis in the evening we headed on to the river Dee the next day. We put our new found skills onto moving water and Grade 1 and 2 rapids. All students performed really well and pushed their comfort zones. The day was finished by running the river which included 3 rapids that had a lot of potential to capsize the unwary, how many capsizes? none. Well done everyone! A Level Business Studies Manchester United Trip Upper & Lower Sixth Business Studies students travelled to Old Trafford the home of Manchester United on Friday 16 November. Before attending a marketing and finance talk from their in house education team students had an indepth tour of the stadium including the changing rooms, tunnel, dugout, VIP sections and other areas behind the scenes. The two tour guides informed the students how Manchester United, the brand, maximised sales revenue by having a variety of ticket prices and hospitality packages. We learned a 16 seater box is priced at 180,000 for a season and their capacity utilisation of this product is 100%. On the other hand it was also demonstrated to the students how Manchester United took their corporate social responsibility seriously and offered many tickets to disabled and underprivileged parties free of charge. The lesson focused on the financial and marketing aspects of Manchester United. Explaining to the students how they effectively use social media and sponsorship to ensure Manchester United remain the number one football brand around the world. Costs of wages were discussed and students now have enough knowledge and information to answer their assignment question "To what extent will Manchester United be financially successful in the future? (16 marks)". This trip has improved engagement and overall understanding. The more examples students have to draw upon in their essays the stronger their explanation will be leading to higher grades. Overall a very successful trip and one enjoyed by all football fans or not. English Winter Fair Students enjoyed a fun filled weekend at the English winter fair. The lambs were washed by Year 12 & 13 students on Friday afternoon and taken to the show ground by Miss Morris on Friday evening. On the first day, students took part in a sausage making competition which achieved a silver award.
The students then took part in the schools competition and young handler s competition, unfortunately no prizes were won this year but everybody had a brilliant time. The end of Christmas term is fast approaching. Please email Miss Morris with sizes required to reserve your turkey today! The Reception pupils proudly displayed their follow up Chester Zoo trip work in the library. They painted zoo animals, learned and performed the story Dear Zoo and drew an animal they would like to be sent as a pet. We also displayed the photos we took including our favourites, the baby bear, the tigers and the crocodile. The Prep School welcomed friends and family of Abbotsholme into school to see the beautifully produced artwork and fantastic written work from our recent Chester Zoo visit. Reception children performed a song with actions based on the Dear Zoo book and showed off their painted pictures. Year 1 & 2 decorated their table with painted animal prints. Wearing animal face masks and carrying paper bags inscribed with a riddle, visitors had to work out the animal from the riddle before looking inside the bag to see a picture that had been drawn and painted. Barnfield Christmas Shopping Trip On Saturday Barnfield house went to Birmingham for a Christmas shopping trip, we arrived at around 10.30 am. Year 3 & 4 researched a variety of animals before writing this information in their own words on decorated paper. Year 5 also researched an animal from the zoo before looking at persuasive techniques to ensure that readers definitely wanted to visit their animal from their piece of writing. Using paint and crayons, Year 5 & 6 created animal pictures in their specialist art lessons which they showcased. Year 6 wrote poems about their favourite animal which featured similes, metaphors, rhyme and personification.
Our first stop on arrival in the city was to find somewhere to eat, we booked into Wagamama s for 12.00pm. This gave us a bit of time to have a quick look around the markets and Bullring. Many of the retailers had already launched their Black Friday sales. After a scrumptious meal in Wagamama s we headed for the Frankfurt Christmas Market which is the largest authentic German Christmas market outside of Germany or Austria. There were a considerable number of stalls offering a range of traditional goods and a selection of tempting food and drink. The churros doughnuts and chocolate proved too tempting for some. Having exhausted the markets, Bullring and Grand Central we headed back to school for a takeaway pizza supper. What a fantastic effort. We truly are very lucky to have such a good student and staff body here. And, all of this effort has seen over 900 raised so far. If you have not yet brought in your sponsorship money, please do and if you already have, then thank you so, so much. A fantastic, fantastic effort by fantastic people. Well done. Last Tuesday all of Flaxfield boarders enjoyed a very enjoyable evening out, having supper out and Ice- skating! Thankfully there was no injuries, but lots of giggles and fun had by all! It was great to see the older year 9 girls helping and supporting the younger girls to skate and gain their confidence on the ice within the hour that we were there! Notices Fixtures this Week Wednesday 21 November Pudsey Power 1st Team Girls v Mount St Mary s (A) ~ 2.30pm 2nd Team Girls v WGS 1st Team (H) ~ 2.30pm 3rd Team Girls A & B v Friary (A) ~ 3.15pm 2nd Team Boys v King Ed 5 Ways (A) ~ 2.30pm 3rd Team Boys A v NULS (A) ~ 4.00pm 3rd Team Boys B v Old Vics (A) ~ 2.30pm Thursday 22 November On Friday evening, during the activities slot, the whole school came together to walk the final miles of our Land s End to John O Groats challenge for Children in Need. Each student and staff member was asked to complete 6 laps of the school, which meant everyone would have completed 2 miles. Of course, Abbotsholmians don t do anything by halves and so some people just ran and ran. The outcome of our week s efforts meant that not only did we walk the full length of Great Britain, we made it half way back again too, completing a staggering 1338 miles in just one week. Year 7/8 Girls Sports Hall Athletics 4.00-6.00pm Robert Sutton Burton Friday 23 November U16 Girls Hockey Midlands Finals at Rugby School 8am-4.00pm U13 Boys Hockey v RGS Worcester (H) ~ 3.15pm