picture - Brigshaw High School

Issue 11 May 2012
The magazine of Brigshaw High School and Language College
Brig
g
THE
PICTURE
Olympic dreams!
Brigshaw preparations set to claim a piece of the action – Page 4
Free tickets
for Olympic
hosts
Greetings
for the
Games
Students
are as good
as gold
P3
P6
P8
EXCELLENCE AND INSPIRATION
Students help
to celebrate
Fairtrade!
Our pupils have been celebrating
FairTrade Fortnight and learning
about equality and fairness
and the FairTrade ethos. Year 8
pupils Amelia Furness and Ella
Richardson attended a Fairtrade
conference at Leeds University,
shared ideas with other schools
and talked about the amazing
work we do at Brigshaw!
In school students took part
in lots of fun learning activities
such as international cooking,
storytelling and making their
own wallets. They were intrigued
to hear from producer Joseph
Kiprono K. Cheruiyot, who spoke
to them about his Co-operative
and tea plantation in Kenya. They
were especially keen to learn how
FairTrade values helped Joseph
and other farmers in Kenya.
Students get stuck in
A group of Year 9 students were
given the opportunity to work
with Arts Live community
artist Lisa Roberts to produce
Brigshaw’s contribution to
the Trust’s ‘Olympic Mosaics’
artwork. The project involves
each Trust school’s children
designing and creating a mosaic
based around the Olympic
and Paralymic values of
Respect, Excellence, Friendship,
Courage, Inspiration,
Determination and Equality.
Brigshaw students decided
that their mosaic would be the
Co-operative Trust Olympic
logo and they worked hard
to recreate this design using
tiny pieces of glass tile to
depict the tangram image
of an athlete carrying the
Olympic Torch to represent
the many values of the event.
The wonderful mosaics
will be displayed together as
a set of nine at Vicar’s Court,
Allerton Bywater as part of
our Trust celebration of the
Olympic and Paralympic event.
SEE PAGE 4 FOR THE VERY LATEST ON
BRIGSHAW’S OLYMPIC PREPARATIONS
Amnesty
International
So we think you can dance!
Once again our students excelled
themselves in this year’s annual
Dance Showcase. They worked
incredibly hard and demonstrated
immense determination to ensure that
they gave a stunning performance
to parents/carers and peers.
During the evening, students from
2 May 2012 THEBrigPICTURE
WELL COVERED:
Y9s Chelsea Batty
and Michael Woliter
Years 7-13 showcased their terrific
talents through a wide range of dance
routines including contemporary, street
dance and our very own British Invasion!
The audience were thrilled by the event
and we are incredibly proud of our students’
achievements. Our enthusiastic dancers are
already starting to plan for next year’s event.
We have been working extremely
hard to raise awareness and
work with Amnesty International
to promote equality for all
throughout the world. The people
we help have an amazing amount
of courage and deserve to have
the same human rights as the
rest of us. Throughout form time
we have made cards
and letters of
support to the
victims and the
Governments of
their countries.
Post-16s
Ellie Dickinson
and Mark Albon
Free tickets for
Olympic hosts!
An epic drama of
ns
Olympic proportions
Drama club students are on a
mission to create a fantastic
performance to showcase at
the Cabaret evening during
our Olympic week. The newly
formed artistic group, Brigshaw
BigStars, are working together
to share creative inspiration
as they develop ideas for their
debut performance in June.
Enthusiastic pupils are busy
working on different ideas
and creating routines. They
explained why they got
involved in the Drama Club
Olympic project. For Year 7
pupil, Matthew Illingworth
Drama Club provides “a great
place to make new friends”
and Callum Maundrill, Y9, felt
that the friendships made in
the Club will be key to why
Brigshaw’s Bigstars will be
so successful saying “Drama
club is a place to inspire and
to be inspired. We strive
to do our best, together!”
Out of this world...
After many hours of rehearsal, set
building and technical preparation,
the performance of Return to the
Forbidden Planet was ready to
run… and it was amazing! As one
audience member commented, “It
truly was out of this world”.
The dashing Captain Tempest was
played with a cool, laid back manner
that only Callum Woods could pull off
and Henry Jarrett’s edgy, utterly mad
Dr Prospero contrasted well. Sweet,
innocent Miranda was played by our
blossoming star Rachel Cooper and
Megan Dempster played the moody,
feisty Gloria with such passion that
not a dry eye was in the house when
she sung ‘Go Now’. The cheeky duo
Cookie and Bosan, played by James
Orr and Callum Maundrill, had
audiences chuckling and ‘ahhing’
almost at the same time! Stupendous
in Silver, Ryanne Errington played a
very quirky robot, with at-ti-tude!
And finally, holding the highest level
of professionalism, our veteran of
the stage, Kirsty Malloch, steered
us successfully around the plot as
the fantastic Navigation Officer.
All our students who participated
in this year’s school production
have given both inspirational
and excelling performances.
We’re currently looking for a
group of amazing students to
help look after our two hundred
and twenty international students
from 16-25 June. If you think you
could play the perfect host and
provide our overseas Olympic
ambassadors with accommodation
during our exciting week of
Olympic events at Brigshaw, then
we want to hear from you! By
signing up as one of our Olympic
hosts, you’ll gain full access to
the Brigshaw Trust Olympic week
activities. By signing up as a
host, you could win free tickets
(and travel) to the London 2012
Paralympic Games in September.
If you’d like to help with what
promises to be an incredible
opportunity, just ask yourself:
● Do you want to make history?
● Do you want to take part in the
biggest celebration our
community has ever seen?
● Are you interested in taking part
in free visits and activities?
● Would you like to forge
new friendships with
overseas students?
● Would you like to receive a
free theme park trip as a
reward for being a host?
If you answered yes to any of
these questions, complete the
application form already sent to
you, visit www.brigshaw.com
or contact Mrs Flanagan or
Mr Brass for further
information.
May 2012 THEBrigPICTURE 3
COURAGE AND DETERMINATION
RINGING THE CHANGES: (from left) Y9 Chloe Campbell, Y8 Adam Parker,
Y7s Danielle Wilkinson and Sam Worsnop with local historian, George Parkinson.
Designer T-shirts
commemorate
Olympic dreams
We were thrilled to learn that the
Outer East Leeds Area Committee
and the Leeds Community
Foundation were able to donate
funds to our Olympic Project
enabling us to provide every
child and young person across
the Trust, Methley Primary and
our international guests with
a commemorative T-shirt.
The keepsake T-shirt boasts the
winning Brigshaw Co-operative
Trust 2012 Olympic logo design
by Matthew Charleston, a
Year 7 pupil at Brigshaw.
4 May 2012 THEBrigPICTURE
Olympic countdo
There’s a sense of excitement
and anticipation building
across Brigshaw as we count
down to our Brigshaw
Co-operative Trust
Olympics event which
aims to promote multicultural understanding and
reinforce co-operative, Olympic
and Paralympic values.
From 16-25 June three
thousand young people from
the Brigshaw Co-operative
Trust will celebrate the 2012
Olympics with more than two
hundred and twenty students
from sixteen partner schools
across Europe, Asia and Africa.
Our International guests will
spend time in the Brigshaw
Trust schools and Methley
Primary and will stay with host
families. They will be treated
to a week of sporting and
cultural activities including
visits to York and Leeds.
As you can see from
the Itinerary, Olympic
Ambassadors from each school
have been busy organising
an action packed week of
exciting events for international
guests. In advance of all this
we are holding a ‘Cultural
Olympiad’, sponsored by the
Get Set Network where our
young people will explore the
Olympic and Paralympic values.
There’s also the opportunity
for (great)grandparents
and elderly members of
the community to share
their memories of the 1948
UK Olympics and the 1966
World Cup, which is exactly
what local historian George
Parkinson did (above
right) when he popped in
to chat with our students.
These memories, together
with experiences of the 2012
event will be celebrated
through the creation of
an Olympic installation
at the Trust building
in Allerton Bywater.
Look out for more details
of the event and how you
can get involved, visit our
website at www.brigshaw.com
and make sure you put our
Gala Day on Saturday 23
June, in your diary now!
own
BRIGSHAW OLYMPIC
ITINERY: JUNE 2012
Sunday 17
Thursday 21
■ Evening barbeque
■ Visit to Leeds
and social event
■ Civic Reception and Tour
Monday 18
Friday 22
■ Full English breakfast
■ Brigshaw Co-operative
■ ‘It is a Knockout!’
■ Guinness Book
of World Records’
largest Zumba class
■ Mimika Puppet
Theatre
Tuesday 19
■ Visit to primary schools
■ Cabaret/concert
■ Paralympic Games
■ Mimika Puppet Theatre
Wednesday 20
■ Visit to York
■ Mimika Puppet Theatre
■ Ten-pin bowling
Trust Olympic Games
■ Disco (evening)
Saturday 23
■ Community Gala
Day featuring the Ben
Manning Foundation
Stage, stalls, music, food,
displays, games and
family fun for everyone
Sunday 24
■ Celebrate the arrival
of the Olympic Torch
in Leeds at the Breezeorganised youth festival
at Temple Newsam
Ambassador roles
Twenty Brigshaw students
were appointed as Olympic
and Paralympic Ambassadors
to help lead arrangements
for this ambitious event.
They have been busy raising
funds and organising activities
for our visitors including
games, visits and sightseeing.
Two Year 10 students, Miffie
Shields and Laura Fairbank
wrote to local businesses
inviting them to support our
project by donating prizes for
our Olympic Raffle. We were
amazed by the overwhelming
generosity of local businesses
and community partners
who are determined to
support our Olympic event.
Year 11 student, Josh
Gardner (above) has also been
heavily involved in promoting
the Trust event through his
beloved sport, Basketball.
Josh plays basketball for
the Leeds Spiders Wheelchair
Basketball Team and has
received numerous awards,
his most recent being
Young Disability Sports
Person of the Year 2012.
May 2012 THEBrigPICTURE 5
FRIENDSHIP AND RESPECT
Exploring language through folk music
We are expanding our
international links again and
this year we’re delighted
to be involved in a
Multilateral Comenius
project entitled: “A journey
to the past by Folk Song”
and our students will work
with other young people
from schools in Spain, Greece,
Holland, Poland and Italy to
create their own Folk songs,
dances, stories and costumes.
The British Council funded
Friendly words...
“We want to come to Leeds because
we think seeing England will be
interesting. Talking in English is
going to help us a lot. We are going
to do many activities in reference
to the Olympic Games and also
the arrival of the Olympic Torch.
And the best, we will get to know
new customs and meet a lot of
new people from other countries.
Irene Núñez and Mihaela Stoilkova,
students from Calasanz school in Spain.
Comenius programme is a
great way for our students to
learn about other cultures and
languages by experiencing
first-hand, everyday life in
other countries. The courage
they show when taking part
in visits abroad, staying with
host families and learning new
languages will equip them
with skills and confidence for
life. We’re looking forward
to welcoming our Comenius
friends to Leeds in September.
We at Murewa High Zimbabwe are
proud to add value to BCTO and
contribute to its resounding success.
Nicholas Kuzanga
Greetings from the Czech “Olympic
team”! We all are looking forward
to visiting Leeds and meeting lots
and lots of new friends in June!
Nuevous amigos!
We were part of the group
of twenty one students
who travelled to Cordoba
on a Spanish exchange in
February. This was a bilateral
Comenius project funded
by the British Council.
We spent a fantastic ten
days meeting and making
friends with Spanish students
and visiting various famous
historical places such as
‘La Mezquita’ cathedral in
6 May 2012 THEBrigPICTURE
Córdoba. We also saw some
amazing sights in Sevilla and
Granada, such as ‘La Plaza de
Espana’ and ‘La Alhmabra’.
The experience helped us
improve our language skills
and knowledge of Spain and
has inspired us to learn even
more Spanish so that we can
welcome our friends from
Spain to Leeds later this year!
We met some of the best
friends ever on this trip and
meeting pupils from another
country really helped
build our confidence and
language skills. We really
enjoyed the exchange.
It was an amazing
opportunity and easily,
the best ten days of
our lives. We’d
recommend it
to anyone!’
Beckie and Abbie, Year 10.
Ich bin
ein Berliner
Thirty Year 10 students took
part in our Berlin Immersion
Weekend recently. They practised
their German language skills
and improved their cultural and
historical knowledge through
visits to places such as the German
Parliament, the Brandenburg Gate,
Sachsenhausen and the Ku’Damm.
Es hat viel Spaß gemacht!
A trip filled
with sweet
memories
We battled through snow
and bad weather determined
to visit Belgium and when
we finally arrived, we had an
inspiring, stimulating and
all-round unforgettable trip.
There are always two
sides to visiting the WWI
battlefields: the chance for
some deep reflection and to
show respect for the men who
lost their lives fighting for their
countries which contrasted
sharply with the fun of a
holiday away with friends.
We visited the areas where
brave soldiers fought, lived and
died in the Great War and this
was an experience that will stay
with us forever.
There were
some very
moving
moments
especially
when students
found the
names of their
family members
at Tyne Cot cemetery and also
on the Menin Gate memorial.
One of our students said: “The
Last Post ceremony at the
Menin Gate was the best thing
– it sent a shiver up my spine
and put a lump in my throat”.
We also had time to fit in a great
deal of fun during our trip –
holidaying with friends was
fantastic and we got the chance
to know each other better. In
between visiting the memorial
sites we enjoyed lots of activities
such as bowling, snowballing
and as much Belgian
chocolate as we could eat!
May 2012 THEBrigPICTURE 7
EQUALITY
As good as gold...
The Brigshaw Co-operative Trust
would like to thank partners and
sponsors for their generosity in
support of our Olympic event
and for providing our community
with such a wonderful legacy.
Our generous sponsors include:
The Big Lottery Fund, Get Set
Network, Leeds City Council, Leeds
Community Foundation, The Garforth
Holiday Inn, The Garforth Lions,
Xscape, Xplore, Castleford Tigers
RLFC, The Vast Agency, Laserzone,
Snowzone, Deltaforce Paintballing,
Leeds Rhinos RLFC, Warburtons, TGI
Friday, Raceway Karting, Diggerland,
Kari-Anne Hair Studio, The Jorvik
Centre, West Yorkshire Playhouse,
Thorpe Park Hotel…and many more!
Being diplomatic...
Two Year 12 students, Joe Smith
and Ellie Dickinson (above),
attended the European Union
Mock Council at Lancaster
House in London. They enjoyed
debating and deliberating on
behalf of Spain regarding key
issues within the European
Union and whilst listening to
other speakers, they discovered
the virtues of considering the
good ideas set forward by others.
Although it was rather
nerve-racking to contribute
to a debate in a room with
many other students and
teachers present, Joe and
Ellie were able to contribute
to a draft Resolution that
will be considered by the
real European Council. It
was excellent to see Joe and
Ellie put the views of Spain
forward at the conference
and both certainly learnt a
lot about what it meant to
be a diplomat for a day!
We’re delighted to be on track for our
largest sixth form ever! In September
we’re looking forward to welcoming
around one hundred and thirty
determined new students who will
join our current Year 12s bringing
the total number of students to
more than two hundred and thirty.
A group of Post 16 students recently
worked with Arts Live artist Robert
Sharples exploring movement and
time. They produced some fantastic
work (above) which they have used
to enhance their exam portfolios.
Students from our Lifeskills and Nurture
groups worked with Sarah-Jane Mason from
the Royal Horticultural Society to transform
the garden environment at Brigshaw.
They prepared raised beds to grow
vegetables, learned how to use hand tools
and plant seeds and onion sets. They grew
cabbages, potatoes, raspberries, blueberries
and rhubarb; constructed wigwams and net
frames to support beans and peas and a net
cage to protect the cabbages from butterflies
and caterpillars. Students used old CDs to scare
the birds and spent countless hours weeding.
Their hard work paid off – along with a fabulous
harvest they were presented with a prestigious
Award from the RHS and a Cox’s Orange
Pippin tree. We’re looking forward to tasting
the first crop of the finest English apples!
Brigshaw High School and Language College, Brigshaw Lane, Allerton Bywater, Castleford. WF10 2HR
Tel: 0113 336 8100 Fax: 0113 286 4105 Email: office@brigshaw.com Website: www.brigshaw.com
GREEN FINGERS: Jason Hockworth, Y8 and Rachael Jaques, Y7
get some seed-planting tips from Sarah-Jane Mason
DESIGNED
Bright future
at Brigshaw
WWW.GETTING-THERE.CO.UK
How does your garden grow?