Find out more: www.worldbookday.com

Congratulations to Fraser Ashman who has been selected for the Sainsbury’s 2012 School Games in London, from 6th to 9th May 2012.

Fraser’s selection was confirmed in a letter from Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP , the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport.   This fantastic achievement follows his success from last year when he won the Scottish Under 16 shot and discus championships.

The School Games is the pinnacle of the nationwide School Games competition for the best school-aged athletes in the UK.  The last day of the competition will take place in the Olympic Stadium.  With a total of twelve sports, around 1650 competitors and around 30,000 spectators, the event promises to be a fantastic celebration of competitive youth sport.

Well done Fraser!

For more information please visit: www.2012schoolgames.com

Bad Weather?  As you will be aware, we do our utmost to keep the school open, even when weather conditions are very bad.

It will however be extremely unlikely that we are able to give advance notice of closure of the school and therefore we will use local radio on the morning of any difficult weather conditions to communicate whether the school is open or closed.

The broadcasts will be made on Radio Stoke, Signal Radio and Century FM if necessary.  The school website will also be used to provide up to date information about any closure or changed arrangements for the school day.

This was a highly successful event with Lea House eventually reigning supreme!

The day began with the Years 7 & 8 performing an extract from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. The studio was transformed into the magical world of the albatross. All boys performed with a sense of flair, discipline and self-confidence resulting in a number of spectacular re-enactments. The judging proved very difficult with the houses only being split by the thinnest of margins.

The Year 9 Public Speaking focused on “Vivre le livre!” Asking the boys to discuss the decline of the book in favour of new technologies.
The subject matter was clearly close to their hearts as the speeches were rich in content and posed very valid and pertinent questions. They were delivered with confidence, poise and left the audience questioning their own ideas and opinions.

Next came the Year 10 Drama groups who performed an extract from Macbeth. This was a very challenging piece and we were highly impressed with the quality of movement and the innovative staging.

Finally, the day ended with the Sixth Form debating The Sex Pistols’ lyric of ‘’ There is no future in England’s dreaming.” They were asked to discuss whether the current younger generation in this country have a future worth looking forward to.
The level of passion displayed by the boys showed that this was a very relevant subject and something they have all had to consider when planning their futures either in or out of education. The winning presentation (Lea House) combined detailed arguments along with a unique and engaging presentation style.

The day was extremely enjoyable for judges, performers and audience members alike.

Final Result – First place Lea House, Second Ward House, Third place Welles and fourth place going to Craig.

Mrs M. Cutler

We are pleased to announce that the school has organised another textile collection with Bag2School in order to raise funds for the New Zealand expedition 2012.

Bag2School are the UK’s leading textile recycler and fundraiser working with schools and since its inception in 2001 they have now paid out over £10 million.

As well as raising vitally needed funds for our school, it also helps the environment by helping to divert unwanted textiles away from landfill. A recent DEFRA report has shown that textile collection schemes are helping to reduce the volume of textiles discarded as municipal solid waste. However it is a fact that as a nation we still send 1,081,000 tonnes of textiles to landfill every year.

By getting involved in our Bag2School collection, you have an opportunity to sort through your cupboards and wardrobes and donate unwanted textiles in the bag provided – this can include adults’ and children’s clothes, shoes (tied together please), hats, belts, bags, soft toys, curtains and bedding (not duvets or pillows). We will receive £500 per tonne or £0.50/kg which will be a great boost for our fundraising. In addition it will also raise awareness amongst the children of the benefits of recycling and reuse.

If you fill the donation bag and still have more then you can use any other bag to donate your items and don’t forget to ask grandparents, friends and neighbours to have a sort out as well!

We will be collecting bags after the Half Term holidays from the Monday 27th February to Monday 5th March. Please bring your bag (or bags!) to the cricket pavilion at the front of school at 8:00-8:30am each morning and help us have a really good collection.

Many thanks indeed for helping us with this unique fundraising opportunity.

The Geography New Zealand fundraising team.

Jake Benson,  a member of the school’s Combined Cadet Force has been selected as one of only 12 CCF cadets from across the country, and the only one from the North West, to attend a 6 week Cadet Expedition, Leader & Instructor Course in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada this summer

As one of the 12 British cadets, Jake, a Year 10 pupil and a Cadet Lance Corporal will be integrated within 120 Canadian cadets on the course which is held predominantly on camp. The aim of the course is to instil basic field-craft skills and to develop cadets’ ability to instruct others junior to them.

The camp itself is quite isolated and is not fenced so Jake may come across bears and wolves in the camp itself.  He will be working amongst a socially diverse group of cadets including Inuits, Native Canadian Indians and Quebecoise.

Lieutenant Colonel Richard Ayres commented that this is a high profile camp and Jake will have to maintain his high standards to be successful.  Jake stated that this was a “life changing opportunity” and one that he is looking forward to.

The PSHCE Day on 3rd February saw a variety of activities going on across the Year groups.

Report written and interviews undertaken by Matthew Stark and photos taken by Sam Brunsdon (both of Year 11).

The Year 7 boys were working on charities and deciding on a Form Charity to support for the rest of the academic year. Each form was ‘loaned’ £20 to try to double before half term in the summer term.

The picture above shows some of the form captains checking that the £20 notes are real!

The forms chose a wide variety of local and national charities to support:
7S – Guide Dogs for the Blind
7A – East Cheshire Deaf Children’s Society
7N – DebRA
7D – St Luke’s Cheshire Hospice
7B – Brain Aneurysm Foundation
7E – Help For Heroes
7C – Alder Hey Children’s Hospital

Fund raising suggestions included: throwing sponges at the teachers, football tournaments, wellie throwing, cake sales, raffles and the world’s longest space hop! Good luck to the Year 7s in their fundraising activities.

The Year 8s were involved in a day of health awareness activities including a presentation about health related fitness (pictured below) and session on smoking, drugs, mental health, alcohol and lifestyle choices.

The Year 12s undertook an “Oils Well that Ends Well” – Financial Capability event. The task was to make the most amount of money by using commodities. The event was organised by Mrs Rupani, Mr Storey and Mr Robertson.

Rachel and Helen from the St Johns Ambulance in Chester came to talk to the Year 13s about essential first aid. The boys took part in activities (pictured) on the recovery position, choking and CPR. The importance of these kind of sessions is explained here:

Have your Say on the Mentoring Process:  please find the  link below for a brief questionnaire regarding Sandbach School Mentoring,  for parents of boys in Years 8 to 11 only.

It is a totally anonymous questionnaire and should only take you approximately 5 minutes to complete.

It is made up of 2 sections; Section 1 looks at the current mentoring system that we use and your thoughts on this, Section 2 looks at your choices if you could change the current system.

The questionnaire will close on Friday 2nd March.

Once completed we will analyse the results with a view to improving the Mentoring process.

Thank you in advance for your input.

(Years 8 to 11 only)

Click here to take survey

A small selection of photographs from the 1st XI hockey fixture against Altrincham Grammar School on Wednesday 1st February.