Spring Term Week 7

I predicted the second half of term would flash by in my piece before half term, and certainly the holiday itself and this week seem to have disappeared very quickly. Four more weeks and it will be Easter, I wonder how discussions are going on fixing the date of the Easter weekend? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/12102278/Easter-date-to-be-fixed-within-next-five-to-10-years.html

Parent Governor Elections

Today the papers are going out for the parent Governor election, so look out for those in pupils’ bags. 2 x ballot papers will be sent home in an envelope marked “important” with the eldest child in each family.  The reply envelopes containing the ballot papers must be returned to the Senior School Office by 12 noon on Friday 11th March. Parents of EEA boarding pupils will receive their ballot papers by email tonight or tomorrow morning. There are seven nominations which is really good news and I hope we will have a good percentage of parents who participate in the vote. Thanks to the parents putting themselves up for election and to everyone in anticipation of their participation in this important election.

Assemblies

In Tuesday’s Senior Reading we celebrated the achievements of the M5 (Y10) pupils who have participated in the Archbishop of York Young Leaders Award. Archbishop John Sentamu launched this award just a few years ago now with the motto “be the change you want to see” which is a saying of Ghandi and which is an appeal to young people to take responsibility for some aspect of the world around them. 30 members of the year group took part in the Award participated in a variety of community projects in and out of school. Leadership takes many forms as I said in my presentation, and the School is full of all sorts of leaders, at all sorts of levels and is something which anyone can experience with some initiative and a positive attitude towards affecting change.

On Wednesday Y2J did a lovely presentation on the Great Fire of London. After telling us about the key events of that fateful event they showed us the model street they had made out of card and then set fire to so they could all see how closely packed houses could so easily set each other alight in a chain reaction. What a great way of making that point, and all very safely done of course as the children pointed out. It was also good to see photographs of the children at the local fire station and to hear their health and safety tips about fire. Well done 2J and Mrs Johnson!

Sport round up

Earlier in the week Mr Wilkinson popped his head round my door to let me know that the U12 rugby team had come second to Carmel in the town tournament and as a consequence will progress through to the Tees Valley finals. Well done boys, lots of training ahead says Mr Wilkinson! A big well done to Mr Wilkinson too, a great achievement considering we only started admitting boys to the School in 2010. Boys, by the way, now amount to 40% of the school population, that’s about 256 boys, which is more than the total number of pupils we had in the school in the Autumn of 2013 when we announced the free school bid.

Today’s Junior cross country took place in relatively chilly conditions but the children coped well and as usual showed their strong house spirit, encouraging each other to win or to simply complete the course. Many thanks to the parents who turned up to support and to PHPA for serving the refreshments.

Confusions

Last night the senior production of Confusions had its opening night and I have heard good reports. I shall be going to it tonight and I hope it is not as confusing as the title suggests it might be! I am told all will be clear by the end……

http://confusions.alanayckbourn.net/

Careers Fair

Next week there is the careers fair on Saturday and I commend this to all pupils and their parents in years L5 to U6 (Y9-Y13). It is a great opportunity to meet professionals from a wide variety of businesses, professions and industries, as well as alternative post 16 providers and to ask questions in a friendly, relaxed environment. Many of the delegates are former pupils so they know Polam well and they happily give up their time to help and to advise their successors. The event starts at 10.00am and runs until 12.00 noon, it is very informal, please turn up at any time to suit your family arrangements, but don’t arrive too near the end as it won’t give the opportunity to speak to many delegates.

PHPA Easter Egg Hunt

Attention young explorers, grab your Easter basket and come on an egg-cellent adventure finding as many eggs as you can. To get the children all egg-cited for Easter we are having an egg-normous Family Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday 19th March. There will be a fun scavenger egg hunt with an eggy prize for every child, plus egg rolling and an Easter bonnet competition. Egg hunting starts at 11am with tea, coffee and cakes on sale. Entry is only £1 per person. Please pick up your tickets from Miss Yarrow so we can determine how many children will be taking part.

 

 

 

 

Spring Term Week 6

My first weekly blog and something of an anti-climax in one particular sense. It was very easy to use the school website software and to create the blog. So, fingers crossed for equal success when I am further away from the lesson I received on Tuesday!

So, the last week before half term and I am sure everyone is looking forward to the break. A chance for pupils with public examinations to do some consolidating work, press on with coursework (my Upper Sixth historians please note!), or even do some revision once they have caught up with any sleep.

On Monday local candidates for the UK youth Parliament came in to school and were presented to the seniors in an extra assembly. It is good to see democracy in action for the under 18s, hopefully it will encourage everyone to participate in the electoral process once they have reached voting age. Tuesday’s Senior Reading was led by our house captains and appropriately enough they chose the theme of Shrove Tuesday. Inevitably it gave them just the right excuse for an inter house competition – pancake flipping of course. Unfortunately the pancakes were not up to the task, so by about 30 seconds on the countdown clock all four pancakes had started disintegrating and by the end of the minute allotted not one of them was more than a baby’s hand in size and the floor was littered with pancake debris. I can only assume that the world record for pancake flipping was done with a very different kind of pancake – 50% rubber maybe? Our winner managed over 80 flips in one minute, and the world record apparently is 140 flips in 1 minute, presumably with an intact pancake!?

Congratulations to Joshua Mitchell in U4 (Y8) who has won a place in the national final of the English Speaking Union Performing Shakespeare competition. Joshua was one of two pupils from Polam who participated in the regional round, the second being Catherine Kirkland in L4 (Y7) who was commended by the judges for her performance. Joshua will be going to London for the final which is being held on the 8th March at the Gielgud Theatre. Watch this space for further news and good luck to Joshua. www.esu.org 

The building works are taking shape as parents will have seen. The bricklayers arrived on Tuesday and the block work for the Mounsey extension has now started which is exciting to see. After half term Procter will be incorporated into the fencing and the path will be routed through the garden around the fence. Some parents will also have seen that the shipping container has been installed and the PE department have been emptying all their form Procter into it. During the refurbishment of Procter, which will take until half term in the summer, Senior boys will change in the portacabin but there are not any showers in there, so apologies for the extra mud that may come home with them! The refurbished building will have brand new showers for boys and girls!

On Saturday 5th March we are holding our biennial careers morning where students from L5 -U6 (Years 9 to 13) and their parents will have the opportunity to chat to a number of delegates representing a wide variety of careers, ranging from accountancy to veterinary science, talk to representatives from a number of Higher Education establishments, find out about the Armed Services, discover the range of courses offered by Darlington College or find out about apprenticeships. A good number of delegates are Polam Hall alumni who are joining us to share their career choices. Mrs Dobson is always looking for volunteers from a variety of career areas including architecture, medicine and IT, so if you are willing to help out please drop her an email – dobson.s@polamhall.com  Parents please put the date in your diaries if your children are in these year groups, it is a very good opportunity to explore career options in a very friendly and supportive environment as the alumni are always very generous with their time and advice.

I hope everyone has a good half term break. The second half of term is very short and will flash by, so parents of pupils with public examinations keep them focused for the four weeks and four days of term that remain.