Dear Parents and Carers,
I begin by asking all parents and carers to help us by completing a questionnaire, giving us your views on where you feel we are as a school at this point in time. As you know, I have been very keen to gather the views of parents since I arrived at the school and intend to continue seeking feedback in a variety of forms on an ongoing basis (including more ‘parent forum’ events). This particular questionnaire is a provided by Ofsted and, as such, provides very useful information with which we can benchmark ourselves against other schools and identify areas for improvement. The more parents who complete the questionnaire, the more useful the results will be so I would be very grateful if you could spend a few minutes doing so. Please go to the ‘give my views’ section of the Parent View website at www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk/. If you haven’t done so already, you will need to register first. Thank you in anticipation of your support.
Even though half-term break is in sight, we still have a busy week ahead at Lymm. On Wednesday Dr Kirsten Vickers, Admissions Director and fellow in the Natural Sciences (Material Science) at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge University, will be in school to deliver a variety of workshops and talks to our Scholars and Gateway Programme students to assist them in writing references as well as provide support with competitive applications.
Also this week we have our Year 10 Parents Evening on Thursday, from 5-8pm. Students should have now made appointments with their subject tutors in their planners. We look forward to seeing you there!
The PE faculty is currently selling raffle tickets for a special edition signed Wayne Rooney England Shirt, which is one of only 50 made worldwide. The shirt has been personally donated by Wayne himself, to help us raise money for our Football Tour. Tickets are £1 each or 5 for £4. Please contact Mr Mason if you are interested in purchasing a ticket – email: smason@lymmhigh.org.uk.
Mr Pickles would like to remind our rugby students and parents, to purchase their tickets for the Rugby Awards and Presentation Evening on Friday 26th February at 6pm. Tickets cost £7.50. Students should see Mr Pickles to purchase their tickets.
It has been a busy season for the indoor hockey squads who over recent weeks have enjoyed participating the finals of both the U16 and U19 tournaments.
The U19 kicked off with a convincing win over Fallibromme. I’m told that the girls looked controlled under pressure and executed attacking play with finesse to ensure their victory. The positioning came down to the final game against Kings Chester who took an early lead to go 2 goals ahead. Despite weathering pressure well as the game progressed the girls were unable to come back from such a damming start, however finished runners up. The girls took home silver medals and are now second in Cheshire. Well done to all involved!
The U16s faced a grueling first round in November but fought well and qualified in second place. In the final they faced three well drilled teams who applied pressure well. Centre forward Toni Mason was firing in the goals and notable performances were made by Rana Proctor and Ruby Kelly. Anna Dempsy worked hard to support in all areas of the pitch, particularly supporting the back line who remained strong despite ongoing pressure. With excellent tackling and short corner organisation Lottie Butler, Jess Murray and Lizzi Coy made life difficult for the attacking opposition. The girls fought hard to finish a respectable third place in the county.
Our Afritwin team has begun their preparations for their bi-annual ‘Auction of Promises’ which will be held on Friday 11th March. I recommend you put this date in your diaries, as this is an event not to be missed! Over the years this has proved to be a really enjoyable evening and, thanks to the generosity of a number of people, a very lucrative one for our project. This year the funds raised from the evening will be split equally between helping us to develop a food programme for Qhasana High School, our partner school in the Eastern Cape of South Africa and, to support the cost of making the trip out there for 21 students and 6 staff during our summer holidays.
The list of “lots” for the Auction is growing and we are hoping that you may be able to help further. Are you, or any of your family and friends, in a position to offer us something that we can auction? Any donations of items or promises will be gratefully accepted. Items that have been offered so far include; rounds of golf, hospitality at Warrington Wolves, £250 holiday vouchers, hours of babysitting, hours of cleaning, a taxi service to the airport (Liverpool or Manchester), meal vouchers, and a weekend at a hotel in Grasmere to mention only a few. A full list of the promises/items already offered can be found by clicking here, along with details of how you might be able to bid on any item. If you have any questions or think you may be able to help in any way, please get in touch by emailing Mr Burnett: cburnett@lymmhigh.org.uk
Finally, on Wednesday 2nd March, our Visual Arts Faculty will be hosting a Graffiti workshop, ran by Zap Graffiti. Any student wishing to get involved in the workshop should contact a member of the Visual Arts Faculty to receive a letter with more information. The workshop will begin at 3:30pm and is scheduled to finish at 5:30pm. This is set to be an exciting and creative evening, in which students will gain some additional art skills and techniques. This is not to be missed by any of our budding artists!
