TSHS Awarded Sportsmark
Sportsmark is Sport England’s accreditation scheme for secondary schools. It is a developmental and auditing tool that rewards and recognises a school for its balanced PE curriculum and out of hours sports provision.
The Swinton High School has gained this award by meeting the scheme’s criteria. Providing leadership awards for pupils is an integral part of the scheme. At The Swinton High School a number of year 7 and 8 pupils have taken part in the sports leadership programme gaining sports leaders’ awards. They have put their experience into practice by helping to organise and run primary school sports festivals including the Salford mini games. Older pupils take the junior football and rugby organisers award where the long term aim is to get pupils to coach youngsters at local clubs and encourage more youngsters to play sport. The Swinton High School is committed to forging links with local sports clubs including Swinton and Pendlebury anglers, Folly Lane Rugby Club and Pendlebury United to name a few. Many of the school’s pupils go to these clubs to play sport out of school and help with coaching.
Inclusion is a characteristic of sport at The Swinton High School with a wide range of activities offered in both curriculum and extra curricular time. Activities range from football, rugby and lacrosse to trampolining, table tennis and cheerleading.
Through school there is the opportunity for students to extend their experience in both competitive and recreational settings. The school competes successfully across Salford and nationally in several sports. At The Swinton High School we encourage all pupils to adopt healthy lifestyles, enjoy their learning and achieve their potential through sport and this operates in conjunction with our status as a Healthy School.
Malcolm Dodd, School Sports Coordinator at the school said, “Here at The Swinton High School, we feel it is imperative that children grow up enjoying a full and active lifestyle. As part of our Healthy School’s agenda, we feel that this award raises that profile and encourages our pupils to be even more aware of sport and PE. All of the pupils involved in helping us gain it have worked really hard and we are all very proud of them”.
Warburton's Bakery Visit
Year 10 GCSE food technology students, accompanied by Mrs Carter, Ms Hargrave, Mr Goldie and Karen Priest (from Salford B.E.P.), spent an afternoon in March at Warburton’s bakery in Bolton – a nationally renowned producer of traditional bread loaves of every description. We were excited to be visiting the original Warburton’s Bakery and were surprised at how vast the site is.
Before we were allowed into the production area, we were reminded of the importance of following bakery rules regarding safety and hygiene. For many, this just involved removing watches and ensuring that mobile phones were safely locked away. Much amusement was felt when we all had to put on a hairnet and white coat.
Having experienced the factory-style hand washing facilities, we were all ready for our tour. We saw the whole process, from flour and other raw ingredients being mixed at the beginning, all the way through until the finished loaves were sliced and bagged. We were surprised to learn that although the production lines operate around the clock, only twenty or so operatives are needed to keep it running smoothly. We were also interested to learn about the computer controls installed at every step of the making process. These checks ensure that the lines operate problem-free and produce end products that are perfect every time. This brought CAD/CAM to life – what we had previously thought was a meaningless diagram now makes sense!
We are now looking forward to trying out the school’s new bread making machines to see if our own creations are any way as good as Warburton’s free samples which were guzzled by some pupils before they even arrived home!
Most Improved Arts School in the Country
High Performing Specialist School for the Arts, The Swinton High School was recently acknowledged by the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust as the most improved school of all the arts colleges across the UK. Based on 5 A*-C grade improvements from 2005 – 2008, The Swinton High School has more than doubled its 5 A*-C grades from 38% to 82%, a figure significantly above the national average.
The Pendlebury based school first achieved arts college status in 2004 and has made annual improvements across the board in examination results as well as attendance. Since becoming a specialist arts college, a remarkable 500 more pupils have achieved 5 A*-C grades than would previously have done.
Overjoyed headteacher John Biddlestone said, “We’re delighted that our work has been recognised. Above all, it’s marvellous to know that so many more of our 16 year olds can now look to the future with optimism and high expectations. They deserve it!”
This award follows the recent publication of national league tables which show that pupils at The Swinton High School make more progress from Key Stage 2 - 4 than any other community high school in Greater Manchester with a Contextual Value Added (CVA) score of 1050.
Ready Steady Cook 2009
On the morning of Thursday 5th March, fifteen year 10 food technology students took part in a Ready Steady Cook competition in groups of five. The event, jointly organised by Sally Carter (Head of Design and Technology at the school) and Vickie Winstanley of Salford Foundation, was thoroughly enjoyed by all concerned. The resulting mouth-watering dishes were judged by a panel including Mrs Gillmon (Assistant Headteacher) and Mrs Robb (Head of Year 10 at the school).
Following a healthy theme, the pupils had cooked up a delicious range of dishes using the compulsory ingredients of chicken, salmon, potato, apricots and a citrus fruit. The finished dishes were beautifully presented and tasted divine. It was very difficult to pick a winning team but team ”Baby Cakes” (Megan Corfield, Robyn Marsh, Shelby Sackfield, Jade Sands-Filer and Olivia Williams) just had the edge with their winning menu which was-
Poached Salmon Quenelles with Grated Potato Cakes
Roast Breast of Chicken on a bed of Creamy Mushroom Risotto
Apricot and Grape Cheesecake
The winning team’s prize is to be an all-expenses paid lunch at Pendleton College Training Restaurant.
All of the pupils were winners in the end as they all learned many new skills and impressed the judges with their ability to work in a team under pressure. Unlike some well-known restaurant kitchens, no swearing at all was heard and the atmosphere was pleasant all morning, which is a credit to the pupils, their parents and teachers.
Visit to the Mayor of Salford's Parlour
Mathew Connolly and I were invited to the Mayor’s Parlour and we were both very pleased and honoured to be chosen to attend the event one recent Thursday.
We were invited to the Mayor’s Parlour because we helped with the Mayor’s Charity and it was great fun. We raised over £178 by packing shopping bags one Saturday at Morrison’s Supermarket. We found everyone was very supportive and we were pleased to have raised that amount between three of us: Mahum Khan, Matthew Connolly and Zoe Hardman
During our time at the Mayor’s Parlour we learned about the history of royalty and the historical things about the Town Hall. We also had some light refreshments and Madam Mayor showed us all her prized possessions and she also showed us the Conference Room. Madam Mayor also let us sit in the Mayor’s chair in the Council Chamber and that chair seemed overpowering.
Mathew and I thought that the experience we had was absolutely spectacular because it was something we had not done before. We would also like to thank Madam Mayor for taking the time to show us around the Town Hall.
I thought, “That was a chance of a lifetime and I hope we can do it again someday”.
Mathew says, “That experience was one of the best ones I have ever had and I am going to treasure it for the rest of my life”.
We would like to thank PC Grimshaw our School Based Police Office for organising the bag packing and accompanying us with Mr Biddlestone our headteacher to the Mayor’s Parlour.
By Mahum Khan and Mathew Connolly
Year 8 pupils at The Swinton High School
Mad Hair Day at TSHS
On Friday 13th February, The Swinton High School held a charity fundraiser with a difference – a mad hair day. It was organised by six Year 10 pupils and used as part of their portfolio and coursework.
Pupils who took part paid 50p for the privilege of turning up to school with the weirdest and wackiest hair styles they could.
The charity event, which was in aid of The Special Care Baby Unit at Salford Royal Hospital, was inspired by Steve West, a science technician at the school, whose grandson was born prematurely and spent time in the unit.
Steve said “When Jack was born prematurely at just 29 weeks, we were very upset as he was very poorly. But, with the care and expertise of Salford Royal Special Care Baby Unit he is now on the road to recovery. I would like to say a big thank you to all at The Swinton High School, both staff and pupils, who gave me support through this difficult time and for raising so much money for a cause so close to my heart.”
Katie Whitehouse, one of the year 10 girls who organised the event, said, “We picked the special care baby unit as our charity because we think it is a very worthwhile cause. Mr. West’s grandson is only alive now because of the great work that they do. I am glad that we managed to raise so much money and am really proud to have helped organise it.”
The pupils really enjoyed the day, and in the process managed to raise in excess of £200.
Meeting the Prime Minister
By Mishal Tariq, Amandah Moyo, Charlotte Evans, Jacob Graves, Adam Morris, Matthew Bracegirdle
On Thursday 8th January, six of our Able, Gifted and Talented pupils attended the Cabinet meeting in Liverpool. Although we had received prior notification of the event (special thanks to Cath Connor for nominating us) we learnt only 48 hours before that we had been accepted to attend, so lots to do & organise in a short space of time. However all went according to plan and Thursday morning soon arrived. With parents’ approval forms and passports (for identification purposes) in hand we set off on our exciting journey to meet the country’s decision makers, whom we had been told that we would be meeting!!!!
All of us were excited and could not wait to get there. Arriving in Liverpool, after getting through various police checks (we had never seen so many police in one place!) we eventually got to the venue where we were escorted into the building. All of us were then asked for our personal invitation letters and the security was really tight with even our Baby Barneys being searched and x-rayed!!! Fortunately, all of us got through safely including our cuddly friends!!!!
In the room we were all given a badge with our name and table number on, each of us being allocated a different table. Most exciting of all was that each table had a senior cabinet minster on it, one of which was Gordon Brown himself.
Whilst waiting for the meeting to start light refreshments were served and we got the opportunity to mingle with the crowd and speak to several cabinet ministers and have our photos taken with them. These included Jack Straw, Margaret Beckett, Alan Johnson and our local cabinet minister Hazel Blears whom we have met before. We were also introduced to The Chief Constable of Merseyside, Bernard Howe. All very exciting.
Eventually we were all summoned to go to the main hall for the meeting to start and we each introduced ourselves to the other adults sitting on our respective tables. Then a voice introduced Gordon Brown and he walked through the hall, shaking lots of hands on the way, including ours. It was just unbelievable.
We all sat down and talked to our Senior Cabinet Minister for next forty five minutes, discussing various issues in the North West region. Afterwards there was a Question and Answer session, with questions being directed at particular ministers. Matthew Bracegirdle, one of our students, was one of the few people given the opportunity to speak. He asked why the Government had put money into saving Car industry jobs, yet had done nothing to save the closure of Woolworths. It was a fantastic moment and, being the only school children to attend the event, we were all very proud of him. The reaction to this question was immense, with lots of people clapping Matthew. Alistair Darling then stood up to answer his question as best he could !!!!
Afterwards Matthew had a lot of people, even Government ministers, congratulating him on his question. Jack Straw even sent Matthew a personalized signed note praising him, saying that it was the best question.
Once the meeting had finished, two more of our pupils, Mishal and Charlotte, who were sitting next to Gordon Brown, gave him two Baby Barneys as mementoes, one for each of his sons. Mr Brown was really pleased with these and said his sons would love the bears. A photo was then taken of the three of them together, along with Barney.
After a hectic five hours, the day was finished with lunch, when the main subject was how much we had all enjoyed the day and how we shall never ever forget meeting these influential people. It was also a great feeling for us to have represented not only our school, but our local community. Just fantastic.
We Will Rock You - Production 2008
This year The Swinton High School committed itself to perhaps it most technically and visually demanding show we have ever produced – our very own version of the award winning musical production “We Will Rock You”.
This version of We Will Rock You has been adapted from the stage version especially for schools. Stephen Kerns, the school’s community manager and the show’s technical director said, “This has been the most challenging of our shows to date. Everybody knows the songs of Queen, a world renowned band, so our pupils certainly had a lot to live up to. Our stage crew also had their hands busy, as we used more lights and more effects than ever before.”
Played out on stage together with a live band, over 100 pupils eventually took part as a performer as or as part of the technical crew.
Anna Welsh, Director of The Arts said, “The commitment shown by the pupils has been second to none. Rehearsals have run well into the evenings and even weekends. I’d just like to take this opportunity to thank them all for their hard work. How we will top this next year is anybody’s guess – watch this space!”
The performances began on Monday 15th and Tuesday 16th December with two performances playing to over 450 local primary school children, all of who thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Evening performances over 3 nights eventually saw the audience numbers swell to well over 1000 – another record for the school.
The Future’s Bright for Moorside and The Swinton High Schools
Planning has already begun as the respective head teachers and head boy and girl of Moorside and The Swinton High Schools met on the proposed site for their new school to celebrate news of their future together as one new school in Salford’s Building Schools for the Future programme.
Our new school will have all the best possible features to educate a young person for the future and the unprecedented levels of investment will give our pupils a great start in life. ICT, building design and approaches to teaching and learning, will retain the best traditions while incorporating the best of the new approaches.
The new school will be open in September 2012 on the field opposite Moorside High School on the East Lancashire Road and is likely to be designated a High Performing Specialist School for the arts, mathematics and computing.
National Award for Sustained Improvement!
Headteacher John Biddlestone was privileged to attend an Awards Ceremony in London recently where The Swinton High School’s outstanding achievements in adding value and pupil progress where recognised.
Picking up the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust RATL Award for sustained improvement 2006-2008, a delighted John Biddlestone said, “Fantastic. It’s great to think that hundreds of young people have left The Swinton High School with results well above average expectations. It’s particularly pleasing that our ability to sustain this high level of adding value has been recognised. Let no-one be in any doubt, we’re still as hungry as ever to perform above expectations because our pupils and our community deserve it.”
Annual Awards and Presentation Evening
On Tuesday 11th November, The Swinton High School hosted its annual awards and presentation evening. This is a very important night in the life of a student, as it is the night when they celebrate all the hard years of being in school, receiving their awards and GCSE certificates.
The Swinton Globe was packed to the rafters, with standing room only, as ex-students, parents, staff and Governors all arrived to celebrate the successes of this record breaking group.
This year's guest speaker was Mr Tony Craven, principal of Salford College, who inspired and entertained all with his speech about choices and how they affect your life.
Helen Wright, a student from two years ago, who is now studying at Salford University, won the CAMPUS Scholarship, which comes with £250 of funding to support her with her study.
Mr Rowlinson, organiser of the event, said, “What a fantastic night. It was a record turnout of students and their parents – we are always amazed at peoples enthusiasm for this event. The entertainment provided by our performing arts department was once again first class. Well done to everybody involved.”
Harvest 2008
On the morning Wednesday 15th October, we held our annual Harvest Assembly.
During the afternoon, under the supervision and guidance of Mrs Carter and Mrs Denley a number of year 11 food technology students unpacked the boxes of produce that had been donated by each form group and made up the harvest parcels and boxes, ready to deliver the following day.
Some year 11 food technology students then delivered 148 parcels and boxes to:
- Age Concern
- Heath Cottage
- Agnes Hopkins Day Centre
- The Fountains
- Rainbow Nursery
- Pennine Court
- Crandon Court
- Sindsley Court
- Laurence Lowry Court
Marianne, of Laurence Lowry Court receiving a harvest gift from pupils Liam, Soloma and Fatima and Head of Design and Technology
Mrs Carter, together with warden Angela
A further 34 bags were delivered later in the day by individual pupils to their nominated elderly people.
We have been pleased to receive many messages from the recipients and they would like to pass on their thanks to all who took part. Many thanks are also due to staff, parents and pupils who contributed so generously.
A special thank you should also go to the year 11 pupils who were the best ever helpers and excellent ambassadors for the school.
Open Evening 2008
In spite of some of the heaviest rainfall of the year, on Tuesday 7th October The Swinton High School hosted perhaps its most successful open evening yet!
We estimate that over 800 people attended on the night itself, enjoying activities in all areas of the school, from exploding cans in science, cooking in food technology, drama performances, French lessons and more.
The staff and pupils worked enthusiastically all night, entertaining visitors, answering questions and guiding our potential new recruits around the school.
We received a lot of comments from parents and pupils about the night, here is what a few of them had to say:
“A pleasant and informative evening. Our guide was very enthusiastic about the school and answered all our questions.”
“My eldest daughter has done fantastically well at your school so my youngest daughter will hopefully do the same. Many thanks to you all.”
“Overall, I saw very good standards, also the school guide was extremely helpful. My child felt very welcome and I hope my child can attend this school."
If you were unable to attend the open evening, and would like to arrange a visit, please contact the school by telephone to arrange an appointment to see Miss Withers, Assistant Headteacher.
0161 794 6215.
Science do the Can-Can
Year 7 had a can collecting competition for the science department in preparation for open evening. It was a splendid effort by everyone. Mr Woodward and Mr Robinson had their work cut out during open evening trying to explode all 480 cans.
The three winning forms were Miss Pashley’s, with 110 cans, Miss Smith’s, with 103 cans and Miss Meadows’s with 90 cans.
Well done to all of year 7!!
Ballet Rambert visits TSHS
The Swinton High School played host to a workshop by the prestigious Ballet Rambert Dance Company, after their successful premiere of their new work “Eternal Light” at the Lowry Theatre. Pupils from the school took part in music and dance workshops, composing their own songs and creating contemporary movement pieces, taking inspiration from the Eternal Light choreography and musical score, composed by Howard Goodall, and Rambert’s Artistic Director Mark Baldwin.
Heather Talbot, The Swinton High School’s Head of Dance said of the day, “We were delighted to host a workshop from such a prestigious company, and our pupils were very fortunate to have such experienced animateurs on hand to give them a glimpse into the demanding pace of a professional dancer’s daily life! The pupils have already asked me if we can perform their devised pieces in front of an audience, so watch this space!”
Stephen Kerns, Community Arts Director at the school added, “For Ballet Rambert to have premiered their new work, “Eternal Light” in Salford, at the Lowry Theatre, and then run workshops exclusively with our pupils is a great honour, and underlines The Swinton High School’s belief in the importance of the role that the Arts play in a child’s development. We hope they’ll come back again soon.”
Exam Results - August 2008
82% 5A*-C Grades
This year The Swinton High School once again surpassed all expectations
and gained its best ever GCSE results.
Congratulations to all of our year 11 leavers who achieved 82% 5A*-C grades this summer.
This was our:
- Seventh successive year of GCSE A*-C grade improvements
- Third successive year we have performed above the national averages
- Best ever A*-C grades in maths, science and ICT
- Best ever 5A*-C grades including English and mathematics
- Best ever A* and A grades
- Fourth successive year that we expect to be members of the elite Specialist Schools and Academies Trust most Improved Schools Club.
Headteacher John Biddlestone said, "Fantastic! It’s been a joy to work with such a fine group of young people and it’s been a privilege for us to have the opportunity to give them such a good start in life. We look forward to hearing of their future successes and wish them all the very best!”
Outstanding Individual Achievement in this year’s GCSEs
Our congratulations this year go to Danny Orwin, who achieved outstanding results of 13 A*-C grade GCSEs, with 11 of those being either an A or an A* grade.
Danny himself said, “I’m ecstatic with my results; all of the hard work that I have put in has really paid off. I would like to say a big thank you to all of the teachers and staff at The Swinton High School, for all of their help, guidance and support over my school career.”
The Swinton High School is officially designated a High Performing Specialist School
Outstanding news arrived by letter last term from DCSF to John Biddlestone, headteacher of The Swinton High School:
with effect from September The Swinton High School will be officially designated a high performing specialist school (HPSS) an invitation only made to a minority of all secondary schools across the country.
In order to achieve HPSS a secondary school must meet the most challenging targets in all aspects of it’s performance
- Pupils must make outstanding progress when compared with all other schools across the country.
- English and mathematics GCSE results must significantly exceed challenging targets.
- The school’s most recent ofsted inspection judgement must be good or outstanding.
- The school must prove itself to have been a successful specialist school for at least four years.
HPSS comes with a responsibility and a commitment from The Swinton High School to:
- Maintain its position as a good and outstanding school in all aspects of its work.
- Support and advise other schools as a Leading Edge agent for wider school improvement.
- Continue to develop as a centre of excellence as a specialist school for the arts, music, dance, drama, music technology and art.
- Take on the additional specialisms likely to be in mathematics and computing as a centre of excellence.
- Spend the additional funding given to us as a High Performing Specialist School to maintain this high level of progress over the next four years.
A delighted chair of the full governing body Mrs Jacky Davies said: “Amazing. We’ve come a long way to get to this point. Watch us go now!”
Headteacher, John Biddlestone said: “It’s a privilege to be asked by DCSF to become a High Performing Specialist School. Our pupils, staff, parents, governors and community deserve this. We can’t wait to get started and continue to make a difference for all of our pupils!”
New Frutina Drinks in the Canteen
Earlier this year we had an idea. Because it is so hot at dinner times in the summer, we thought that we would ask Mr Biddlestone if the school could get a slush puppy machine in the canteen. We are pleased to say that our views were listened to.
You may be thinking that slush puppies are sugary and unhealthy, so we managed to get some healthy slushies made from real fruit. These are called Fruitinas. There are many different flavours, including apple and blackcurrant, lemon and lime, strawberry, apple and mango and more.
You can buy fruitinas from the canteen at lunchtimes for 50p. They have been very popular and we hope that this continues in the future. We were glad that our opinion was considered and that we now have a healthy real fruit drink.
Outstanding Attendance!!
During the last academic year The Swinton High School achieved levels of attendance significantly above the national average. Since becoming a specialist school for the performing arts in September 2004 our attendance has rocketed by a remarkable 4.3%!
Carole Craven, The Swinton High School’s Social Inclusion Officer responsible for attendance puts it down to hard work, good teaching and learning and effective partnerships.
“All absences must be explained by a parental note and all parents of absent pupils are contacted from day one, no question. Every day of absence from The Swinton High School is a missed opportunity for our pupils and we find our parents invariably work with us to ensure their children make the most of the first class teaching and learning that our school offers.”
Mrs Craven also paid tribute to the outstanding support and advice given to The Swinton High School by Salford local authority attendance experts Joanne Marsh, Elaine Duke and Carole Saunders.