A big congratulations to the 60 Year 8 students who took part in the BBC's School Report event on Thursday 11th March.

As well as preparing and delivering their own news content, some pupils appeared live throughout the day and on the BBC 6 o'clock news! Our budding researchers, journalists, photographers, editors and presenters got the chance to show off their skills and made the day a great success. Well done!

See their live broadcast and interviews at the Metro Centre on ictGateshead's School Report Website here

A number of our enthusiastic readers in year 7 attended the North East Book Awards at the Centre for Life on Thursday 30th April.

The pupils read and reviewed the short-listed books, before voting for their favourites. At the ceremony, they were able to meet the winning authors. The group will continue to meet to read, discuss and explore books in the future

Our year 9 book reviewers once again attended the prestigious North East Book Awards at the Centre for Life on Friday 30th January.

After reading the short listed books, they voted for their favourites and submitted reviews. On Friday, they were able to meet the shortlisted writers and see which novel had been voted best by the student audience.

Last week, 6 year 7 students received book vouchers for their progress in the Accelerated Reading scheme in year 7. Pupils read books that stretch their reading levels and interests and afterwards sit a short test assessing their general understanding.

All of year 7 students are now participating in the scheme and we hope all pupils read at least 3 books between now and Easter. In the final week before Easter, we will be awarding prizes for those pupils who have both read the most books and made the most progress.

The term is barely a week old and already students from years 9 to 13 are travelling to Glasgow this weekend to take part in the national quarterfinals of The Speaker public speaking competition organised by the BBC. Whickham students won an incredible 10 of the 40 available quarterfinal places from the entire northern region and their performances will be filmed in preparation for the BBC 2 series.

We wish our students good luck as they endeavour to progress to the semi – finals of this prestigious national competition.

Our superb ream of year 12 debaters took part in the regional finals of the Debating Matters competition at Newcastle University on April 21st. They participated in a series of challenging and intellectually rigorous debates. They narrowly missed progression to the national finals as a result of a rather arbitrary streaming rule, despite beating the eventual winners in the qualifying rounds.

On Friday 25th January, Year 10 English Students attended the prestigious North East Book awards at The Sage. The students had established their own Book Club and had read all 6 of the titles nominated for the prize. Many of the authors were in attendance and the students themselves voted for the best book of the year.

Craig Hinds and Daniel Hinds of year 10 won prizes as best reviewers for their reviews of Frozen Fire and The Innocents.

Students in Year 11 will be sitting GCSE English examinations in November. The two examinations take place on the mornings of Monday 5th and Thursday 8th November. The coursework deadline has now passed and many parents will have met with English teachers at the recent Parents’ Evening, to discuss students’ targets, progress and general attitude in the build up to the exams in November.

English teachers are working hard to ensure that students in Year 11 reach their potential. Another significant factor in their success, of course, is parental involvement. The continued support of parents can help to ensure that students commit to thorough revision in the next few weeks. We can’t stress enough the importance of gaining a good grade in this vital core subject; it is unquestionably a springboard to success in the future. Success in November will have the added benefit of boosting students’ confidence as well as decreasing some of the pressure on the summer exams.

Students’ revision should now be well underway and should continue through the half-term break. After the half-term break, we have a senior AQA examiner coming into school to work with groups of students. With the determination of everyone involved and with parents’ added encouragement, I hope we will see some positive results. In the meantime if you have any questions, please contact me here at school.

Dan Crosland
Head of English

Useful Revision Links for GCSE English:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english/

http://www.universalteacher.org.uk/contents.htm#anth

A Level English Language Study Days at Sheffield University

The English Department is committed to enriching the educational experience of students studying English subjects in the sixth form. We are therefore delighted to be able to offer English Language students in Years 12 and 13 places on excellent Study Days at the University of Sheffield on Tuesday 13th November (Year 12) and Wednesday 21st November (Year 13). The days are geared specifically towards students studying A Level English Language and are closely tied to the exam board’s Specification.

The days boast some renowned speakers, all language experts in their own fields. We are certain that students will gain some extremely invaluable insights. (To view the specific itinerary and topics for each day, please click on the links below). We have managed to secure funding to cover the cost of transport to Sheffield which means that the only cost is the fee for the day itself which is £13.00. In order to allow time to travel down to Sheffield, the coach will depart from school at 7am prompt and return to school at approximately 7pm.

Students have already received letters and we would be grateful if parents could complete and return the tear-off slip, along with payment, as soon as possible so that numbers can be finalised. Cheques should be made payable to ‘Whickham School Fund’ and returned to the Finance Office at breaks or lunchtimes.

Whickham School English Department @ The University of Sheffield – AS Level Study Day – Tuesday 13th November 2007 (Word: 26KB)

Whickham School English Department @ The University of Sheffield – A2 Level Study Day – Wednesday 21st November 2007 - Itinerary (Word: 28KB)

Dan Crosland
Head of English