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Weekly Newsletter

27 January 2012

 
A five foot crocodile made by the ceramics activity last seen on the roof. But which roof? 

MUSICAL EVENING

On Friday 3rd February, the Bootham School Chamber choir along with individual musicians will be taking part in a musical evening at St Helen's Church in aid of YPNAid. Margaret Sentamu will also give one or more poetry readings. Tickets, priced at £10 will include a glass of wine and nibbles. The event is planned to start at 7 p.m. and end at approximately 9 p.m. YPNAid is a local charity that sends Yorkshire nurses to assist in hospitals in Uganda, especially to Kagando Hospital. Tickets are available from Bootham School reception (please pay by cash and bring the correct money) or for further information and ticket details click here. Parents attending the event may park in school up until 9.30 p.m. (please use the staff car park rather than the playground).

DRAMA PERFORMANCE

Next week, College Two Drama & Theatre Studies students will be performing an original, devised piece of theatre called “Passions of the Flesh”. Rooted in an exploration of Lorca’s 1936 play The House of Bernarda Alba, this original theatre piece explores the roles of lust and religion in the lives of two women – both of whom are competing for the same man. “Passions of the Flesh” will be staged in the main hall on Tuesday 31st January and Thursday 2nd February – performances begin at 7pm and will last for 30-40 minutes. Parents are welcome.

INFORMATION FOR PARENTS OF UPPER SENIOR GCSE ART STUDENTS

On Thursday 26th and Friday 27th of January we will be issuing the Externally Set Assignment paper to all GCSE Art students. This paper marks the start of the "exam project" preparation period which will run until May 4th. During this period students are expected to produce a project in response to the title given in the assignment paper. The project then culminates with 10 hours of controlled time, during which students will make their final responses without guidance or assistance from their teachers. This is a very important time for GCSE artists as the Externally Set Assignment accounts for 40% of the overall GCSE grade. To help students structure their project over the coming months we will also be issuing a guidance schedule explaining the various targets and requirements that must be adhered to. We encourage parents to be aware of this schedule as it does require students to be very active in the development of their work outside of lesson and during prep time. If you have any queries, please contact David Swales, Head of Art.  

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CAKE SALE

Megan and Gemma Merrifield's delicious strawberry coloured cupcakes were for sale in this week's cake sale to raise money for Amnesty International. As usual the cakes went like hot cakes and were hugely popular at bars on Saturday morning. Thank you to all those pupils who bought cakes and baked for the sale. 

BSA NEWS

BSA St Patrick’s Day Ceilidh - Saturday 17th March 2012 - put this in your diary!
The BSA are organising a St Patrick’s Day Ceilidh this year instead of the Daffodil Ball. The aim is to put on an social event that will be informal, fun(!) and good value for money. Ticket prices will be £15 per adult and £5 for any accompanying Bootham students. This will be a non-profit event that covers a finger food buffet, fruit punch and soft drinks, a ceilidh band and caller, and the staff needed to run the event. It will be held in the school hall from 7 p.m. till 10 p.m. Click here for the ticket request form. These forms can be handed into reception and the tickets will then be made available for collection.
Bootham Badminton
BSA badminton takes place in the school sports hall on Thursday evenings during term time. Play commences at 7 p.m. and ends at about 8.30 p.m. Parents and accompanied children of all standards are welcome to join us. For any further information or to ensure that we will be there on a particular night contact Nigel Stainforth Tel. 07810753183, or email nigel@stainf.demon.co.uk
Nearly New Shop
Please note there will be no second hand uniform sales on 4th of February but there be a big sale in March instead – watch this space for further details. Please remember that all offers of uniform are gratefully received.

FAIR TRADE AWARENESS

The Fair Trade activity got off to an exciting start this year with a trip to York St John's on Tuesday to participate in the conference organised by the Centre for Global Education. Pupils enjoyed a number of activities raising their awareness about fair trade products and learning about the communities from which the products came. Pupils were also presented with a certificate to encourage their endeavours to become more of a Fair Trade school. Pupils will also be thinking of ways to mark Fair Trade fortnight which is from 27th February to13th March.

BOOTHAM’S ROCK BAND HOPE TO BE “THE NEXT BRIT THING”

Bootham's very own band - "White Psychic Circles" - are through to the regional finals of the national music competition: Next Brit Thing - https://www.nextbritthing.com/  The band - Toby Jackson, Andrew Taylor and Andrew Woodmansey - entered the competition with 2 recordings of their own songs and has been shortlisted in both the song writing and the live performance categories. They are down to the last 80 in the UK, from thousands of entries, and the last 15 in the North of England. The prizes include a recording session in Abbey Road studios, tickets to the Brits and their song being included on the next "Brits" album plus up to £10k music equipment for them and their school. Needless to say they are very excited! The band formed in 2010 and released their first single "Ever After" in September last year - available on iTunes and Amazon.

LOST PROPERTY

There are a number of items currently in lost property and students are welcome to claim the following items from the Junior Common Room office: pencil cases, umbrellas (including a Kath Kidston one), wallets, watches, jewellery, memory stick, ipod, earphones, Samsung mobile phone, black Dublin wellies, Jack Wills hoodie, Nike zoom football boots, shin pads, trainers, various items of school uniform, school hoodies. George Trifan is the person to contact.

GEOGRAPHY NEWS

On Tuesday Professor David Petley from the Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience at Durham University gave us an excellent lecture on earthquake induced landslides in mountainous areas. His fascinating research is revealing our lack of understanding of the mechanisms involved in these deadly secondary hazards that have killed up to 85,000 people in the last 5 years alone. Sadly the people most at risk from this hazard are often in the world’s poorest areas but if this poverty can be addressed David’s belief is that lives can be saved as resilience is improved.
Iceland Trip
Could parents of those students participating in the Iceland trip be aware of the email containing crucial travel information that was sent home last week. The forms (available here) need to be back in school by February 10th.

SCHOOL INSPECTION

Suzanne Hall (Acting Deputy Head) asks parents to be aware that we are still due a school inspection within the next twelve months. As soon as we are notified, we hope that as many of you as possible will complete the questionnaire which will be sent electronically at that time.

Year 4 Vikings

YEAR 4 VISIT TO THE YORKSHIRE MUSEUM

As part of their study of the Vikings, the children in Year 4 took part in the Viking workshop "From Warriors to Settlers" at the Yorkshire Museum. Dressed as Vikings, the children left Denmark by longship to settle in Jorvik. During the course of the morning, they ground wheat to make flour, wrote in Runes, wove, made a brooch and played the Viking game of Trip Trap Troll!

ART CAMP OPPORTUNITY

The Art Department have been made aware of an exciting opportunity available to our younger students over the February half-term period. York based gallery, According To McGee, is offering a one week ‘Art Camp’ event for enthusiastic young artists. Gallery owner Greg McGee is aware of the outstanding work produced each year by Bootham students and has approached the school in the hope that some students may be interested in taking part in the event. For further details, please email David Swales, Head of Art swalesd@boothamschool.com

BIG GARDEN BIRDWATCH

This weekend is the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch survey. All you need is a pen, some scrap paper and an hour to spend watching the birds in your garden, or local park, on either Saturday 28, or Sunday 29 January. Simply make a note of the highest number of each bird species seen on the ground (not flying over) at any one time. Full details of how to register and submit results can be found at http://www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch/

EXAM LEAVE

Exam Leave for Summer term 2012 has been approved as follows:
Upper Seniors: Begins at 16:00 on Thursday, 10th May
College One: Begins at 16:00 on Thursday, 10th May; return to lessons Monday 11th June (straight after half term)
College Two: Begins at 12:25 Saturday 26th May 2012 

SPORTS RESULTS

Netball: On Saturday we welcomed Pocklington to Bootham to play netball. A great afternoon with the following results: U12s won 11-2, U13s lost 11-5, U14s won 21-11, U15s lost 21-10 and the U18s lost 33-4. On Wednesday Archbishop Holgates brought their U18 netball team to play at Bootham. It was a great game, with a high level of skill shown by both teams, ending in a victory for our opponents 19-9 (a much closer match than the score suggests). Also on Wednesday, St Peter’s came to Bootham with three netball teams: a win for both our U15 and U14 teams by 20-19 and 23-15 respectively, and a loss for our U13s by 28-13. On Thursday, there were convincing wins for Bootham teams against Manor school; the U12s won 12-5 and the U13s won 14-0.
Swimming: On Monday afternoon Archbishop Holgates school came to swim against teams from Schoolrooms and Seniors. It was a fantastic gala with the following results – Schoolrooms girls won 46-30, Schoolroom boys won 45-33, Senior girls narrowly lost 41-39 and Senior boys won 45-31. The overall result was a win for Bootham 175-125.
Football: The 1st team played in an 8 a side tournament on Wednesday at Hull Collegiate. The team managed to win one, draw two and lose two games. The U16 team struggled on Tuesday against Leeds Grammar's U16 A team. Bootham had a few key players missing through injury and were defeated 7-1.
Basketball: The U14 team managed to beat Boston Spa on Wednesday in another thrilling game. Boston Spa won last years District title, and proved tough opposition for the team. However, some strong attacking play by Bootham enabled the team to run out 45-44 winners.

All Bootham teams have just completed their regular league seasons and have produced some outstanding results. Collectively, they have managed to win 19 games out of the 21 games played. The U13s, U14s, U15s and U16s have all reached the District Trophy Final, with the U13 and U14 teams finishing their leagues on top and undefeated. This is an amazing achievement from all the boys involved.

Bootham U13's play in the final this coming Tuesday (4.15pm) at Bootham
Bootham U14's play in the final this coming Thursday (4.15pm) at Bootham

All support very welcome!